Across the sunflower field — A foreword on the Boku no Natsuyasumi series

Boku no Natsuyasumi, Millennium Kitchen (2000). The iconic sunflower field is the subject of many moving conversations in the first entry in the series. It also happens to be my favorite location shown in the entire franchise.

For many, one of the main appeals of fiction resides in the way it allows us to explore past experiences, whether they relate to our personal ones or not. This seems to be the ethos guiding the PlayStation-exclusive Boku no Natsuyasumi series (My Summer Vacation in English, or Bokunatsu for short), which is built around the mundane concept of making the absolute most of your summer vacation. Along its four numbered titles (all of them independent from each other, with the first three being alternative versions of the summer of 1975, and the fourth one taking place exactly ten years after that), the player takes the role of the titular Boku, a nine-year-old boy who arrives at his relatives’ place in order to spend his summer vacation away from home, all while his parents prepare for the arrival of a new baby. While the games do not shy away from narrative flashforwards, implemented through the off voice of an adult Boku, the series immerses the player in the simplistic worldview of a boy who has to gradually familiarize himself with the places — and people — that will become his home during the entire month of August, all with the implicit objective of making this particular summer as memorable as possible.

Ultimately, how memorable this summer is for Boku (something the character actually reflects upon in the game’s different epilogues) is entirely up to the player’s actions; be it that they favor exploring or trying to unravel many of the character arcs available throughout each different installment, the implementation of simplified gameplay mechanics (which often require the player to just interact with objects and characters via pressing a single button) seems to follow the purpose of making the interactive experience as minimalist and immersive as possible, with development team Millenium Kitchen (under the direction of Kaz Ayabe) going as far as making the game’s menus display in the form of Boku’s desk, where many of his bags, trinkets, and personal possessions will take the player through different options and submenus.

Boku no Natsuyasumi, Millennium Kitchen (2000). By making many of the menus and assets look like objects a real-life kid would have, the games manage to stay grounded in an elementary school-like reality, which works wonders for the loose history it tries to immerse the players in.

Whether the player decides to have Boku dedicate his summer to fishing, taking care of flowers, making new friends, or to just walk around the beautiful landscapes where each title take place (all based in real-life locations), the franchise aims to generate lasting impressions and memories for Boku, who will -regardless of player choices- capitulate each day’s most notable events in a personal diary that will include visual depictions of his daily adventures, along with little captions that will reflect his thoughts on the events he experiences as summer passes by. By implementing this simple mechanic, not only does the series subtly invite the player try out new stuff each day, but it also makes it likely for each playthrough of the same game to be — at least — slightly different from the previous one.

Boku no Natsuyasumi, Millennium Kitchen (2000). Each Bokus’ summer experiences will make them go through beautiful locations, while every entry offering its protagonist the possibility of becoming closer to the diverse cast of characters they will come to share spaces with. Choosing to interact with these different elements will generate different outcomes, which will, in turn, alter the way each boy comes to think of his summer vacation.

Through the inclusion of narrative devices like the aforementioned flashforward voices and diary entries, each Bokunatsu title creates an evocative aura of nostalgia that is impossible -and honestly kind of pointless- to separate these games from. Beyond these feelings, however, lies a collection of titles that invites its players to create routines, and to gradually become more and more familiar (and attached) to its environments and characters, all while also exploring every little corner and getting to discover as many things as possible within a month. This balance of familiarity and possible discovery is probably the main reason I grew so attached to these games, to the point where trying to play each entry during August became a tradition of sorts for me. Even though next year marks the 20th anniversary since the release of the first Bokunatsu title, this year will be my first time playing the third installment (meaning I would have played each game in the series at least once). In anticipation of both these events, I have prepared several short essays that aim to highlight many of the aspects that, in my opinion, grant the Boku no Natsuyasumi series its very unique identity.