Saya no Uta: The coming-of-age drama depicting the lives of ordinary college students
A look at Saya no Uta prerelease, going over early assets and its initially deceptive marketing.
If you can't read the post on tumblr, it's available here https://sayademo.carrd.co/
Madoka Magica’s famous episode 3 twist was not the only time Gen Urobuchi attempted to mess with audience expectations, as Saya no Uta actually had something quite similar. During its initial announcement and magazine appearances the game was advertised completely differently.
Saya's Debut
Dengeki Hime December 2003
Saya would have several announcement articles in the biggest bishoujo game magazines of the time all saying the same thing. This work would be something entirely different from anything the creators had made previous.
After Gen Urobuchi and Chuuou Higashiguchi’s worked together on Vampirdzhija Vjedogonia and Kikokugai - The Cyber Slayer, their next title would be going in a totally different direction. This time, it would be a love story of four people set in medical college. The duo state they wanted to make something more in the vein of bishoujo games, focusing on the feelings and relationships between characters instead of their usual action focus. The work would be much more experimental and tackle the issues of young adults.
The protagonist is a young man with troubles no one else knows about. Through encounters and partings with various people he’ll begin to create a life of his own.
Tech Gian December 2003
Our protagonist Fuminori has recently lost his parents in an accident and is struggling with the relationships he has with the people around him. Suddenly one day the mysterious girl Saya appears in his house and stirs up trouble. Apparently the reason she came to this town is to look for her father, but right now she’s much more focused on Fuminori. The longer Fuminori stays with Saya, the more his state of mind begins to change.
-In it’s initial reporting, its never stated that Fuminori was also involved in the accident.
-The “love story of four people” is emphasized on, and it’s said other love stories asides from the protagonist will be focused on (this being Oumi and Koji)
This deceptive marketing didn’t last long and wasn’t really planned to be. All the magazines reporting the game like this were in December 2003, and Saya would release near the end of that very month on the 26th. But the reveal would actually come much sooner on the website.
Saya's Website
footage provided by niconico user ぶーにん
The website, initially presents itself as normal as Saya welcomes you to the page. You can look through character bios, download wallpapers, etc. You can totally view the page normally like this and not realize anything. But as you browse, tiny Saya’s will pop up on your screen. As you click the Saya’s an icon on the bottom of the page will appear. Once you click the final one it turns completely red.
Once it reaches this point the front page will violently shake and the music changes. All pages are now changed to the “real” Saya no uta.
-The story synopsis’ text has been mosaic blurred and unreadable.
-In the character gallery, Fuminori and Saya are totally normal, but every other character has a mosaic blur over them as well as a red tint
CGs in the gallery have changed to what appears in the final game
-Fuminori’s bed cg
-Saya sitting cg
-Saya standing cg
Now that we’ve gone over it’s marketing, it’s time to go over early assets that differ from the final game, these assets come from the website, magazine appearances, and the trailer
Website Cg
PRERELEASE - FINAL
These cg were exclusively shown on the website.
It's not known if cgs like Fuminori's were made for the site or were in an earlier version of the game, but judging by later prerelease cgs I'll go over you can tell the red textured effect present in the final is missing from many other prerelease cg and was likely added later in development.
The difference with Ryouko's cg is so slight I nearly missed it, very simple change in coloring (most present in the skin shading)
Magazine and website Cgs
PRERELEASE - FINAL
-You's choker is missing in the first cg, along with it being added the color of her shirt was altered
-The middle Saya cg was used most in magazine promotions as well as being prominent on the website, the red texture overlay was added in final
-Interestingly, the more ominously lit You cg was used prerelease quite prominently as well. But it's clear that the time of day where the scene happens changed
Demo Movie CG
PRERELEASE - FINAL
-Totally different colors as well as missing red texture, Saya's ribbon is also missing
-Missing red texture
That just about covers it, since you actually clicked and read through everything I'll leave you with a fun fact
Saya briefly cameos in the 2005 Densha Otoko Drama as a poster in the arcade
She also appears in the background of the anime Doujin Work (Episode 2)
Sources
Tech Gian 2003 December
Dengeki Hime 2003 December issue
Pasocom Paradise December 2003
Saya no Uta website footage
Saya no Uta demo video
Original getchu page sc