Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata Episode 4 Recap & Characters (Spoiler-Free)

Episode Summary

Budget, Deadline and New Development

Tomoya Aki interviews Utaha Kasumigaoka for her editor Sonoko Machida, and after a stalled session Utaha agrees to join his circle. Eriri Sawamura joins too, and the circle sets out to finish its game by December for Winter Comiket, with Tomoya covering the costs. Later he finds Megumi Kato out with her cousin Keiichi Kato and asks her to keep away from him until the game is done; when she mentions their weekend trip to Rokutenba Mall, he asks her to go with him instead, and she agrees.

• Interview with Utaha

  Utaha Kasumigaoka's editor Sonoko Machida has booked an exclusive interview and, through his website, brought in Tomoya Aki as interviewer. Utaha dozes and gives terse answers, Machida reveals her debut series only took off after Tomoya's blog featured it, and Utaha finally thanks her readers and agrees to join his circle the following week.

• Circle formation

  Eriri Sawamura arrives at the circle meeting insisting she has not decided to join, then joins anyway. Tomoya announces a schedule to finish in December and debut at Winter Comiket; amid arguments over the schedule and costs, Eriri takes the character designs, Utaha the plot, and Tomoya the funding.

• Megumi and her cousin

  Working at a family restaurant, Tomoya sees Megumi Kato dining with her cousin Keiichi Kato and asks her not to see him until the game is finished. When she says they are already going to Rokutenba Mall that weekend, he tells her to go with him instead, and she casually agrees.

Recent Timeline

• Rejected pitches and the girl on the hill (Episode 1)

  Tomoya Aki pitched his dating-game proposal separately to Eriri Sawamura and Utaha Kasumigaoka, and both turned him down; after school the two waited for him in the audiovisual room, trading insults, but he never came. Megumi Kato had just thanked him for picking up her white beret in spring, and he realized she was the girl from the hill, concluding from how little he knew her that his 'destined' encounter had been a misunderstanding.

• Proposal rejected again and Megumi joins (Episode 2)

  Tomoya Aki introduced Megumi Kato to Eriri Sawamura and Utaha Kasumigaoka as his circle's main heroine, but the two rejected his proposal again for failing to convey what he truly wanted to make, and he vowed to keep rewriting until they approved. Megumi, who reminded him they had first met at the entrance ceremony a year earlier, played dating sims at his house through the night and sleepily agreed to join his circle.

• Golden Week deadline and Megumi's performance (Episode 3)

  Eriri Sawamura slipped into Tomoya Aki's home to work on an adult manuscript for a weekend event, having fled her father's garden party; she told him to give up but let slip that she had been worried about him. Utaha Kasumigaoka came to check the work, kept the deadline unchanged, and urged him to get every member seriously involved. Megumi Kato then came back early from Hokkaido and, dressed by Eriri and coached by Utaha, acted out his ideal heroine on the hill; she asked him to make her a happy heroine, and he promised.

• Interview and circle meeting (Episode 4)

  Tomoya Aki interviewed Utaha Kasumigaoka at the request of her editor, who had contacted him through his website; the interview stalled over her terse answers until she thanked her readers and agreed to join his circle the following week. At the circle meeting Eriri Sawamura arrived late, insisting she had not decided to join. Tomoya announced a December finish with a debut at Winter Comiket, which both called impossible, and he ended the squabbling over the schedule and money by taking on the funding himself while asking the two for art and scenario.

• Restaurant encounter with Keiichi Kato (Episode 4)

  At the family restaurant where he works, Tomoya Aki found Megumi Kato dining with her cousin Keiichi Kato and asked her not to see him until the game was complete. When she said she was already going to Rokutenba Mall with Keiichi that weekend, Tomoya told her to go with him instead, and she agreed.

Character Graph

Eriri Sawamura

student · illustrator

Second-year in class G, Tomoya's childhood friend and secretly the popular doujin artist Kashiwagi Eri. She arrived at the circle meeting insisting she hadn't decided to join, then took on the character designs while protesting that the December schedule is impossible alongside her art club and her own circle.

• Game role

  Character designer and key artist for Tomoya's dating sim, which aims to debut at Winter Comiket.

• Tomoya Aki (Colleague, Mixed)

  Childhood friend whose circle she joins grudgingly, saying she will help 'just a little'; she calls his schedule impossible.

• Utaha Kasumigaoka (Other, Colleague, Hostility)

  Senior who teases her for always needing to come first; they clash over the schedule and over Utaha's offer to lend Tomoya money.

• Megumi Kato (Colleague, Neutral)

  Fellow circle member and the main heroine whose look she is to design.

Keiichi Kato

Cousin of Megumi Kato who goes out to dinner with her.

• Megumi Kato (Family, Affinity)

  Her cousin; they go out to dinner together while their parents attend a play.

Megumi Kato

student · classmate · circle member

Tomoya's classmate and his circle's main heroine, who has just finished reading Utaha's debut series. Spotted with her cousin Keiichi at the restaurant where Tomoya works, she is asked to stay a heroine only for the players, and agrees to go to Rokutenba Mall with Tomoya instead of Keiichi.

• Beret owner

  The girl from Tomoya's spring encounter on the hill, whose white beret he picked up during spring vacation.

• Heroine role

  Tomoya wants to turn her into a main heroine who makes every player's heart race, despite her lack of distinctive traits.

• Past encounter

  Gave the beret from that day to a visiting cousin's child, deflating Tomoya's romantic view of their meeting.

• Tomoya Aki (Colleague, Mixed)

  Circle leader who wants her to stay a heroine only for the players and keep away from other boys; he asks her to go to Rokutenba Mall with him, and she agrees.

• Eriri Sawamura (Colleague, Affinity)

  Fellow circle member she felt she could get along with after Eriri redesigned her heroine outfit.

• Keiichi Kato (Family, Affinity)

  Her cousin, visiting with his family; she cancelled their weekend trip to Rokutenba Mall to go with Tomoya instead.

Sonoko Machida

Utaha Kasumigaoka's editor and the deputy editor at her publisher, who calls her 'Shii-chan'. She arranged Utaha's exclusive interview, brought in Tomoya Aki as interviewer through his website, and revealed that Utaha's debut series took off only after his blog featured it.

• Utaha Kasumigaoka (Colleague, Mixed)

  Presses Utaha on deadlines and reliability while arranging her interview.

Tomoya Aki

student · otaku · game creator

Second-year otaku and well-known blogger who leads the circle as its representative, producer, and director. He interviewed Utaha for her editor and won her over, set a December finish with a Winter Comiket debut, took on the funding himself, and asked Megumi to go to Rokutenba Mall with him instead of her cousin.

• Core ambition

  Wants to create a dating sim with a main heroine who makes every player's heart race, modeled on the girl he met on the hill in spring.

• Game project

  Leads the circle as representative, producer, and director, with Eriri Sawamura on character design and Utaha Kasumigaoka on the plot; the game is due in December for a Winter Comiket debut, and he has taken on the production costs himself.

• Eriri Sawamura (Colleague, Mixed)

  Childhood friend who joins as character designer while insisting she is only helping a little.

• Utaha Kasumigaoka (Colleague, Mixed)

  Senior he interviewed; she joins his circle as its writer and offers to lend him the production money, but he says he will handle the money himself.

• Megumi Kato (Colleague, Affinity)

  Main heroine he asks to avoid her cousin until the game is done; he ends up asking her to go to Rokutenba Mall with him instead.

Utaha Kasumigaoka

student · writer

Third-year senior and top student, secretly the bestselling light novelist Kasumi Utako. After a stilted magazine interview with Tomoya as interviewer, she thanked her readers and agreed to join his circle as its writer, taking on the plot.

• Light-novel author

  Won the Fushikawa Fantastic Award in her first year and sold 500,000 copies of her five-volume debut series; her new series is now being launched, and her editor credits Tomoya's blog for the debut's success.

• Game role

  Writes the plot and scenario for Tomoya's game alongside her own new novel.

• Tomoya Aki (Colleague, Mentor, Mixed)

  Junior who interviewed her; she agrees to join his circle and offers to lend him the production money in return for a 'small favor'.

• Eriri Sawamura (Other, Colleague, Hostility)

  Second-year she teases for always needing to come first; they argue over the schedule and money at the circle meeting.

• Megumi Kato (Colleague, Neutral)

  Heroine whose lines she wrote and whose performance she coached strictly.

World Memo

• Tomoya's game circle

  Tomoya Aki is the representative, producer, and director of the doujin circle he formed to make 'the ultimate dating sim'. Eriri Sawamura handles character design and art, Utaha Kasumigaoka the plot and scenario, and his classmate Megumi Kato is the model for the main heroine.

• Schedule and budget

  The game is to be finished in December and debut at Winter Comiket. Tomoya Aki has taken on the production costs, several hundred thousand to a million yen, by himself and is working several part-time jobs to cover them.

• Comiket and doujin circles

  Comiket is a huge convention where doujin circles present works they make themselves, such as doujinshi and doujin games. Eriri Sawamura also runs her own circle as Kashiwagi Eri.

• Doujin artist Kashiwagi Eri

  Eriri Sawamura, Tomoya's childhood friend, is a second-year and the Art Club ace. Though she hides it at school, she is secretly the popular adult doujin artist Kashiwagi Eri.

• Light novelist Kasumi Utako

  Third-year Utaha Kasumigaoka, top of her year since enrolling, is secretly the bestselling light novelist Kasumi Utako. Her five-volume debut series sold 500,000 copies, she is now preparing a new series, and her editor is Sonoko Machida.

• Otaku blogger Tomoya Aki

  Tomoya Aki is a second-year otaku known for his anime and light-novel blog, counted among the school's three most famous students for bringing light novels into the library and holding anime screenings at the school festival. Kasumi Utako's debut series only took off after his blog featured it.

Clue Board

• A childhood friend who keeps her distance at school (Episode 1)

  Eriri Sawamura is Tomoya Aki's childhood friend, yet she insists he not talk to her at school and won't let him bring up her work as a doujin artist there. Why two people who have known each other since childhood keep their distance at school has not been explained.

• Disputed childhood promise (Episode 1)

  A flashback shows a childhood promise that Tomoya Aki would found a game company and hire Eriri Sawamura as its artist. Eriri denies ever making such an implausibly specific promise, so whether it really happened remains in dispute.

• An 'impossible' December schedule (Episode 4)

  Tomoya Aki plans to finish the game in December and debut it at Winter Comiket, but Eriri Sawamura protests that the schedule is impossible alongside her art club and her own circle. Tomoya must also raise the production costs, several hundred thousand to a million yen, alone through part-time work, so whether the schedule can hold is still unknown.

Season Summary

Season 1 — Season 1

Episodes 1–4

Convinced a spring encounter on a cherry-blossom hill was destiny, Tomoya Aki sets out to make the ultimate dating sim, only to learn the girl was his unremarkable classmate Megumi Kato. He makes her his circle's main heroine, and after a night of playing dating sims at his house she agrees to join.

His childhood friend Eriri Sawamura, secretly a popular doujin artist, and senior Utaha Kasumigaoka, a bestselling light novelist, keep rejecting his proposal, but just before the Golden Week deadline Megumi, dressed and coached by the two, appears on the hill as his ideal heroine, and he promises to make her a happy one.

Utaha then agrees to join after a stilted magazine interview Tomoya conducts for her editor, Eriri follows, and the circle sets out to finish by December and debut at Winter Comiket, with Tomoya covering the costs. When he finds Megumi out with her cousin Keiichi Kato, he asks her to keep away from him until the game is done, then asks her to go to Rokutenba Mall with him instead, and she agrees.

Music Releases

• Kimiiro Signal (OP)
• Colorful. (ED)