Draft:Leaf

Background
Leaf was a subunit of the company Aquaplus that produced bishoujo visual novels. Most notably, one of the company's first titles, Shizuku (1996), is regarded to be one of the earliest games to be marketed as a visual novel. The following games in Leaf's own visual novel catalogue, ToHeart and White Album, garnered notable reputation in the otaku community, with both later spawning official sequels and anime adaptations by multiple studios. Their most notable competitor was Key, with both of their catalogues becoming frequently compared to each other. The Leaf brand was mainly used by Aquaplus as their adult video game label, with all-ages releases using the latter's own brand. In 2013, the Leaf brand was seemingly abandoned as Aquaplus started to focus towards a more general audience.

1st Logo (June 28, 1996-May 28, 1999)


Visuals: A white background fades in. Near the center, a drawing of a sprout fades in. Next to the sprout, "Leaf" appears in multiple bright colors. The text then turns blue, and black borders appear growing in vertically to briefly form a letterbox-like shape. The logo then fades out.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A soothing ambient theme with synths and bells.

Availability: Seen on the PC releases of Kizuato, To Heart, Hatsune no Naisho!!, White Album and Comic Party. It does not appear in most console ports of their titles, as these have the Aquaplus logo instead.

2nd Logo (January 28, 2000)
Visuals: Essentially just the Leaf logo from before on a white background, with the text in black.

Technique: A digital graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on Inagawa de Ikou!!.

3rd Logo (April 28, 2000)
Visuals: On a black background, Sphie from the game falls down. The letters of "Lear" magically appear one-by-one with clouds coming out. The "r" turns blocky as another "r" grows to the top and slighty shakes, forming an "f". Sphie giggles and disappears via a cloud effect. The background turns white, the letters turn blue, and a sprout appears on the left.

Technique: Sprite animation.

Audio: A five-note chime theme, with piano-like notes.

Availability: Seen on Magical☆Antique.

4th Logo (February 9, 2001)
Visuals: On a black background, the blurred white letters of "Leaf" zoom out with each letter varying vertically in position. The background turns white with letterbox borders, with the text turning black. Transparent copies of the letters appear behind them and move far from the initial position, as the text settles in. A static effect happens on the background, and the sprout appears at the left of the text. The logo then fades out.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A harp, and a rising white noise sound effect.

Availability: Seen on Tasogare.

5th Logo (April 26, 2002)
Visuals: On a black background, the Leaf logo briefly appears with flames inside it.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: Essentially just a brief sound of a flame.

Availability: Seen on the original PC release of Utawarerumono.