Harukanaru Toki no Naka de: Hachiyou Shou

Harukanary Toki no Naka de ~Hachiyo Shou~ is a dating sim-gone-anime type story, that leads any fangirl into a world of hot men, and engaging story. This anime, though only 26 episodes, I can easily see as an instant classic.

Story
Harukanary Toki no Naka de ~Hachiyo Shou~ is the story of a modern day girl, Akane, and her two friends Shimon and Tenma. On the way to school one day, Akane is called to the world of Kyou as the "Priestess of Ryuujin" in the country of Kyou. Shimon and Tenma attempt to stop her from being pulled in, but fail, and join her as ... well.

Akane must gather the eight hachinyou of the four gods to help her protect Kyou from Akram, an evil demon out to take control of the world.
The purpose of my rating is though as the story goes along, it gets better, the basic plot reminded me way to much of Fushigi Yuugi.

Animation
The animation style fits the series well. While it\'s not the most top notch, it does have well done colouring, and nicely done backgrounds and landscapes. While some of the colour scheming seems a bit odd in the clothing, the show is based off an game, so they did remain true to the original style.

Sound
I enjoyed the music in this series quite a bit. The opening theme is incredibly catchy, with a good ending theme that matches the opening. The in series music was well done, and I did enjoy the occasional snippets of character image themes.

Though we did not hear Akane\'s song, or for that matter, two of the four villians, it did give us a taste of the characters themselves, because they occured in their \'special\' episodes. All the characters were decent singers as well, which is always a bonus.

Character
This is where the series truly ranks above and beyond. While the series makes me think of Fushigi Yuugi, it is above and beyond in the character developement. All the characters got an episode or two to themselves, and they did their best to keep no one from disappearing in the shadows.

While I was reminded of other anime characters (Tenma was lovingly nicknames \'Kyo\', Shimon was for awhile known as \'Shimizu\' and Akane by \'Kahoko\') each character did develope well, and had their own personality. While Tenma bugged me with how much he looked and acted like Kyo from Fruits Basket, I suppose he was a necessary character since many of the other characters had a bit more toned down personalities.

The anime also favourited Tenma, and Yasuaki, I found. Tenma was favoured as a possible love interest, while Yasuaki was favoured as a simply cool character. Even though these two were favourites, everyone else did develope still.

Enjoyment
I at first was a bit unsure of this series because of my obvious bias towards it being a Fushigi Yuugi rip, the series, in my opinion, developed better in many aspects. The characters in this all developed, while in Fushigi Yuugi, some characters pretty well disappeared. The music in both series\' are well placed, but I feel the this series did better in their use of it\'s mood effecting power. Though I did have one fairly major issue with this series, I do feel my enjoyment was at its highest by the end of the series.

Overall / My Comments / My Feelings
Overall, it was a well thought out, and developed story. I enjoy the characters Eisen, Yasuaki, and Shimon the most, but of course I can\'t think of anyone I truly didn\'t like (other than their annoying mascot-like friend..)

My major issue with the series is the four gods. In actual history, they were known as \'The Genbu Turtle of the North\', \'The Azure Dragon of the East\', \'The Red Bird/Pheonix of the South\', and \'The White Tiger of the East\'. In Fushigi Yuugi, Yuu Watase CREATED the names Genbu, Seriyu, Suzaku, and Byakko for the Gods. This series used those names, which... I suppose is okay, but are technically the rights of Watase. Oh well, no real harm done.

The one thing that hindered my enjoyment of the series at the beginning however, was Tenma. He looks, and acts SO much like Kyo, I always referred to him as Kyo as I watched the series. I didn\'t know his real name for a while because I was calling him Kyo. Also, Shimon and Akane look similar to Keiichi Shimizu and Kahoko Hino of La Corda. Another ehhhh...

However, some of the character similarities I embraced. Such as Yasuaki being like a completely personality-less Chichiri. Or perhaps Eisen reminding me so strongly of Amiboshi at first because of his flute. Should I mention Yorihisa looking so similar to historical pretty boy Ranmaru Mori when shown in his flashbacks? (I\'m referring to the Koei interpetation of Ranmaru).

As my sister had mentioned, I greatly enjoyed the lack of \'friend gone evil rival\' in this series that most teleport to another world stories seem to have. Though Ran\'s appearance kind of turned out to be like that, she wasn\'t half as bad as some other stories (*coughYuicough*).

All in all, I reccomend this anime to anyone. I do mean that. It\'s not so overly Shojo that a guy will be scared off, and it\'s not so overly Shonen that some girls will loose their attention span. Their is a good mix of fighting along with a bit of sexual tension (though nothing comes out of this in the end). I personally think any guy will simply enjoy the coolness that is Yasuaki, he is also very appealing to us fangirls. The series brings a bit of both worlds into a good mix, and is being delivered for us to watch. So do it.

Harukanaru's plot--or rather, lack thereof--bothered me. Aside from the premise, which has to be taken with a grain of salt due to its inherent cliche nature [teenage girl is transported to magical era: see Twelve Kingdoms, Inuyasha, Fushigi Yuugi--all published before Harukanaru, firmly establishing the genre], the plot is badly constructed, forcing the story along at a jerky pace. The revelations were utterly predictable, and the only thing that was surprising was the lack of ingenuity and bewildering logic of some of the so-called "twists." I was never actually clear on the basic motivations of good and evil, because they were never actually stated. It's ... clear what the characters are doing--finding the Hachiyou, finding seals, causing angst/consternation--but they never say why.

The strongest thing this series has going for it is the characters, which, as it's based on an otome game, isn't terribly surprising. The main male characters are all at least a little engaging, despite how easily they are pigeon-holed into stereotypes; I found myself having sympathy for them anyway, increasingly over the course of the series as they each got a bit of backstory to bolster them. Akane, however, inspired nothing in me. As she is supposed to be the player-character in the game, I'm supposed to identify with her and feel her pain and cheer for her success. I found myself cheering for the Hachiyou because I actually liked them. Akane is erratic and nonsensical, blushing and worrying over the Hachiyou one minute, and then obsessing over her completely unexplained, irrational love for Akuram the next. She says she wants to go home, but she never says why--she never even gives an indication that she misses her family or her classmates [...does she actually have a family? or, like. friends?], and so at the end when she claims she wants to go back "to the world with the people I care about most," that should be Kyou, where she has at least eight utterly devoted men who would die for her and live to make her happy. But no, that world is apparently her version of Earth, with Shimon, Tenma, and Ran all dragged back with her, despite the fact that they all had purposes and futures in Kyou that frankly seemed more interesting than going to high school. It would make more sense if Tenma had persevered in trying to get them all home, as he seemed determined to do for a few early episodes.

The animation isn't bad. It has its wonky moments, but the fight sequences at least are nicely executed. The character designs are also interesting, especially to someone like me who is facinated with Heian designs--Tomomasa's sokutai in particular is very lovely. The one thing that pushed it too far was how the designs made it too easy to pick out special characters. Like how if a male character has a wildly unnatural hair color--green, blue, purple, bright red--then he is a member of the Hachiyou, thus making things a bit too obvious.

The voice acting is another strong point in this series. With actors like Tomakazu Seki, Kouki Miyata, Akira Ishida, Souichirou Houshi, Shinichirou Miki, and Kazuhiko Inoue, it's wildly impressive on paper, let alone actually on-screen, and they all naturally do a bang-up job. The music, composed by Yoshihisa Hirano, is also very strong; it has Hirano's trademark drama, and its simple melodies add much to the action.

Overall: this could have been so much stronger. The series has a lot going for it, but the plot and character development get tangled up in each other and it falls on its face. I personally think it would have been a totally awesome series if Akane actually used her supposed huge amount of power, spent time learning to control it, and her useless bodyguards against demon attacks were actually redundant and they had to protect her from herself instead, despite the fact that she's more powerful than they are. It would have been much more interesting than 26 episodes of Akane alternately plastering a smile on her face and crying.

Harukanaru Toki takes place in a capital called Kyou - it is of another dimension and 3 teenagers from the present are summoned there. One of them is a girl named Akane who is the dragon priestess and basically the storyline focuses on her fighting the demons with the aid of the Hachiyou - 8 sworn protectors of the priestess - to save the world.

I have to admit, I started watching this because I loved Saiunkoku Monogatari and someone said that this one was similar. At first, the story wasn\'t that engaging and seemed to be a hodgepodge of different anime stories, characters ... and plots. However, the music is absolutely amazing so I kept on watching and AM I GLAD THAT I DID.

As the story progresses and characters are discovered, it becomes absolutely engaging. The initial efforts to discover the Hachiyou was good but the development of the Hachiyou - heaven and earth of the four divinations - is super fantastic. The anime slowly and surely builds up momentum. If you can hold yourself through the first couple episodes, it will definitely be worth it!!

-INTRODUCTION-

The very first time I encountered the world of HaruToki was when I saw the live performance of one of Akuram's character songs (Nisshoku no Kagiana), performed by his seiyuu Okiayu Ryôtarô. I became curious and researched Akuram, but sadly could not find any pictures of him without the mask. After many days of searching, I finally found a scan that showed his face, and was awed to say the least. That eventually led me to become even more interested in the anime, and even though I only heard rather bad things about it, I will never regret that I watched it and I'll make ... sure to watch it again.

-STORY- 7/10

"No matter how beautiful or kind, you must never let a demon into your heart."

This is definitely not the most original plotline. A normal high school girl gets pulled into a different world, and has to fight the evil while being surrounded by a male harem... at first, sounds very familiar to many other plots. The reason is that HaruToki is based on a dating game, and this fact cannot be disregarded when judging the anime. Personally, I don't think I can name more than a couple romantic simulators with a strong plot. In fact, a romantic simulator has no need for a deep plot. Because its true strength lies in a different category -- the characters.

-CHARACTERS- 10/10

Romantic simulators (and anything based on them) are all about characters; if it doesn't get full marks in this category, it immediately fails in this genre. However, HaruToki does not fail, in fact it passes with flying colors. It is a collection of many unique individuals, each with their own inner troubles, dreams, reasons, and weaknesses. Each of the Hachiyou get an episode or two to themselves, to let the viewer look a little deeper into their past and their hearts, to understand them better. Not only the eight guardians. The Oni leader Akuram with his eternal hatred toward humans, as well as his loyal subordinates; the seemingly strong yet vulnerable princess Fuji; the proud little Tengu of the North Mountains... There is not a single dull personality in this anime; if there is anything I enjoyed the most while watching it, then it definitely is the variety of characters.

-ART/ANIMATION- 9/10

The original characters designs are amazing, all of them. You might have expected the creators to focus mostly on the eight guardiands, HaruToki being a dating game for girls and all, but this is not the case. Each design is unique and beautiful, for both main and minor characters. The clothes designs are especially lovely.

The transition into anime was good too, but somehow did not deliver that same feeling of being completely in awe before something truly beautiful. It's understandable that the anime version had to be modified and maybe simplified to an extent, but I still believe that there is room for improvement. However, that does not change the fact that the anime adaptation was nontheless great, and some of the scenes were truly stunning.

-SOUND- 10/10

My personal opinion is that HaruToki has one of the best soundtracks ever. There is probably not a single scene in this series that is not accompanied by music. Not just any music, but beautiful music that greatly increases the emotional level of the overall situation. Even while listening to the soundtrack separately, it's impossible not to recall the events that went with it.

Aside from the instrumental pieces, there are also many character songs -- songs performed from the characters' point of view by their respective seiyuu. Usually, these are released outside of the anime as separate singles or albums. In the case of HaruToki, however, those songs were a moderate part of the story. They appeared during the most crucial moments of the anime to intensify the atmosphere, and most of them talked about the characters' inner thoughts and feelings that would have been left unspoken otherwise.

---

This is the kind of anime that you must really judge as something individual. If you plan to compare and contrast HaruToki with other reverse harem series, then I suggest you walk away from it right now -- chances are, you simply won't enjoy it.

Surprisingly daring anime, considering that even at the beginning it copies horribly Fushigi Yuugi. The girl is naïve and stupid. The story is predictable andboring. And to top it all off every single man in the anime seems to be in love with the “heroine”. All in all, something that will probably only make you angry as you watch it. Better not then…

Well, this is my first review so please bear with me.
First, I must say i wasn't expecting much of this series, because i read some reviews and it seemed so-so. However I still decided to give it a try, and i must say i was kinda disappointed. Not because the series is totally bad, but after watching the first episode i was kinda hopeful that it could turn into an interesting story, however that's it.

STORY (5/10)
The story itself is not bad, it had a lot of potential, its a shame it wasn't take advantage of. It all starts with a girl and ... her two male friends being taken to another land/world. Nothing new in this kind of series really. A demon summoned her, and the world was in danger of being destroyed. Good vs Evil ...
The story starts with a good pace, in the first couple of episodes you kinda enjoy it and wanna see what happens next. But along the way, it all blows up. The ups and downs are all very predictable, there's a lot of things which are not explained and dont make sense, at all. It just turn into a cliche plot. They rush everything...

Art (7/10)
This is actually one of the good points of the show. Having in account the year it was made it has nice and clear animation and art. Lots of colour and different faces. And the boys, one or two kinda remember girls sometimes.

Sound ( 7/10)
Another good thing. I actually enjoyed this. You see, for me a great part of liking series is about the sound and how it connects us with the moments and the characters. It kinda helps us understand what they feel. And in this, there's no fail. Good soundtracks that go well this each moment, both happy and sad. Challenging or wtv.

Characters (6/10)
Its not bad, but it could be better. Like i said before, they rush with the story... The bonds and feelings of the characters could be well developed but they didnt really bother... Its true that they take some time to show and talk about the past of some of them, but its unbalanced. Some have more references than others. And the connections between them, just seem so shalow sometimes. For example, Akane and the other 8. So many interaction between some and the others are just left out. And Shimon and Tenma. They are supposed to be the closest to her, but Shimon is always hidden and Tenma is doing god knows what. And Akane, no missing home, family, friends... like wtf? She's taken to another world against her own will and doesn't even bother thinking how other people might be. She falls in love with the demon that summoned her basically at first sight... and attention. She didnt even saw his face.

Enjoyment (6/10)
Once again, not good not bad. Could have enjoyed a lot more, but the plot itself wasnt original. Too similar to Fushigi Yuugi, and i love FY so it makes it kinda hard. Too rushed, lacks deepness.

Overall ( 6/10)
Just because i didnt adore it, doesnt mean that you guys wont. It is worth a try... If you want something too pass time and you may be willing to watch this series.

In short: If you're a fan of reverse harems you might get some enjoyment out of this, but I warn you it's fairly mediocre, everything about it is mediocre, from simple characters, to simple story, to its sort of episodic structure to it's art and its sound. If you're not a fan I don't think this will blow your mind in the least and might result in a painful experience.

I recently started going on a journey to watch and read all reverse harems I manage to come across and this is one of the first I started with. Am I disappointed? Sort of. Do ... I regret putting my time into it? Actually... not really.
Hear me out.

My overall main issue with this show is that the story isn't very fleshed out and everything appears to be inconsequential even if it pretends it isn't. It's a very character driven story, as otome game adaptations often are, and unfortunately most of the characters aren't interesting enough in my opinion to manage to make up for the lack of overarching plot (besides defeat the demons, purify the town, bring peace), safe for few exceptions such as Yasuaki and Tomomasa which offer some sort of character complexity, but even here would be stretching it since their arcs (and those of the others) are usually dealt with in one episode almost as if they were swept under a rug for how easy it was for all of their issues to disappear. There are also a couple characters defined by their flaws such as Inori and Tenma which provided some interesting episodes, but again, in Inori's case the resolution is so easy that his character being centered on hating demons seemed basically inconsequential in the end and Tenma started as a control freak and remained a control freak making him one of the most dislikeable characters of the show, which I doubt was actually the intent. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Honorable mention to Yorihisa and Eisen being, while still pretty average in execution, probably some of the most likeable, despite their lack of character building.

The heroine doesn't provide a much different experience either, since she tends to be the typical average highschooler whose only purpose is to get protected by her guardians. She does get a level up in the end and becomes more active, but unfortunately it was too late for me to manage to find any sort of interest in her struggles. It's also sort of unforgivable how her crush on the villain of the show is forgotten for like more than 15 episodes only to be suddenly brought back at the end. lol It's also amazing how the show basically got a "choose your own ending" feature with different ending clips. Not sure how much of a spoiler that is but if you expect a canon end romance, you might once again be disappointed...

That said though, the anime is FINE. Like really, it's just fine! I might have sounded like I tore it to pieces but, while simple and not ground-breaking (even for the time it got released in since we already had stuff like Angelique and Fuushigi Yugi released a bit earlier), there's nothing wrong in being mediocre. I think the anime can be enjoyed just fine if you like more of the cheesy, dramatical, sorta cliché experience of the genre (which is typical of the 90ties, early 2000s overall). Personally, i really would like playing the otome game for this and it makes me sad there's no English release of it or any translation to be found online. But eh, so be it.

Pros:
-Love the OP and ED songs (they're too good)
-Love the art and character designs (Male and female)
-Love the setting taking place in.
-Love the VA cast and the VAing
-Really got the Fushigi Yuugi vibe in it. The good issekai that there is an endgoal.
Cons:
-I'm slightly annoyed with the MC. First impressions of her would be her having a strong character: Red hair, Green eyes (reminds me from other anime like Snow White with red Hair/Chise in Magus Bride). But no, she weak. I can't really stand weak characters, but thats a preference thing for me. She could at least learn ... how to defend herself rather than the Guardians to protect her all the time.
-I'm also confused of what makes MC so attracted for the Akram. He brought you into the world, injured your friends and say some horrible stuff. Akram is great handsome character, dont get me wrong. But I'm trying to understand why MC likes him in a romantic way?? I dont get it. >:I

Overall for Now: I like it, but I wouldn't watch it again after finishing the series. Its not one of the series I would look back again. But not the songs cuz they're a bop. :) In my opinion, Fushigi Yuugi is better when it comes to story building, romance, and enjoyment. It could be that its my first issekai and manga to read as a child as nostalgia feel. But even now, FY a pretty good series comparing to Hachiyou Shou.

This my first review. Now to the review itself.

Harukanaru Toki no Naku de: Hachiyou Shou is anime that at first glance seems to be different, and sorry folks but its not. Girl from other world comes to this new world. Girl encounters many hot guys fawning over her. She needs to save said world. The sadness that a story had so many possibilities and yet to not polish this story to make it a rare gem. If your bored and have a few hours to waste this a great watch.

This anime is mediocre. It left a bitter taste after I got to the end.
Its an anime where girl is pulled into another world via well... if it sounds familiar thats because the first episode is basically InuYasha.
The story was its weakest part. Evils actions made no sense and were so easily thwarted that it makes you wonder why they even bothered. I love a good villain but this guy was a let down. The anime could literally be over in the first episode.... he literally has her in his embrace.... if he really wanted her ... instead of doing the IM A ... VILLAIN LET ME GLOAT ABOUT KILLING PEOPLE. She would of probably trusted the guy.
I feel bas bringing it up but as its the closest anime to it I feel it will help explain where this falls flat. InuYasha had a fantastic villain his plans made sense. They had thought behind them and you dont always expect good to win. The sense of infallibility made it nerve wracking to watch. This anime doesn't have that. Every time evil tries to do something evil... good just walks over it and you find yourself asking if evil is even taking things seriously.
From what I made out evil wants to destroy the human world because they attacked the daemons. But instead of having numbers/ good clear objectives/ well thought through plans.... theres 4 bad guys. The bad actions are often carried out by one bad guy.... and no one really seems to know what is going on.
The ending really irritated me. This anime is a reverse harem girl has lots of suitors. So if you find yourself routing for anyone 7/8 chance you will be disappointed. There was a point I thought it was going to spice things up and not go for the obvious. But the ending felt unsatisfying.
The world building wasn't too bad you do understand the world by the end. Characters are interesting. Its just too bad this anime wasn't handled differently. Its not a bad anime...its just nothing new and missed the mark on being better.
I would recommend InuYasha if that anime has not been watched... but I guess if your bored and liked InuYasha you could tick this anime off as well.

so far only on the third episode and can honestly say if you like classic older japaneese type animes then you will love this. i can already tell the anime was clear and has just the right hint romance and seriousness, this anime reminds me a lot of inuyasha acutually like when kagome traveled down the well and ended up in a different time period. i was amazed at how put together the show was even though the the story was made to be a lot in general it was easy to read which is a lot like this show which i have yet to ... remember the name lol, anyway yeah the show is great so far. kyp

I watched Harukanaru Toki no Naka de. Specifically, the Hachiyou Shou series, associated OVAs and specials (including prequels and sequels), and the Maihitoyo movie. These various anime are related to otome visual novels which have the same title. These media may also be known by the titles Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, or In a Distant Time. Here are my thoughts on the anime content:

Harukanaru is a reverse harem but don't judge it based solely on this fact. It is a reverse harem but without cheap trashy fanservice. It actually has lots of nice romantic scenes. The show has artistic merit.

Large cast, most of ... whom are well developed and decently characterized. Unlike so many others, this anime takes advantage of its length by developing its characters. Character development augments romance so well, so in this case it is of particular importance. Similarly, despite the large cast, within the harem there is a diverse variety of personalities; each character is distinctly unique from the others. Takamichi, Yasuaki, and Eisen are my favourite characters. The female MC is a comparatively bland character relative to the male cast, which is regrettable but not surprising since this is a reverse harem series.

Romance, lust, love, envy, teamwork, prejudice, duty and various other themes are explored in an emotionally engaging manner.

Really nice soundtrack which uses traditional Japanese instruments extensively. Although the number of songs in the OST is relatively low, especially when the length of the anime (26 episodes) is taken into account. Consequently, some tracks are repeated quite frequently. The quality of the music is high but I simply wish they produced more of it. Regardless, the OST was enjoyable enough to be placed on my portable music device. The voice acting is decent as well.

Nice traditional Japanese outfits. Character designs in general are attractive despite the production year. The animation is serviceable. The character animations are generally crude but they did an okay job at animating facial expressions, which to me is far more important than any action scene (Note: this aired around early 2000s).

The historical setting felt genuine and immersive. After the credits they even have these cute short "guide to traditional japan" segments. Sometimes there are old Japanese poems displayed at the end of episodes as well. Supposedly the story takes place in and around the coetaneous capital city during the Heian period of Japanese history (and the sequels take place progressively further in time).

The pacing is slow but I was fine with it because it allowed for richer characters and setting. That said, much of the actual plot I found kind of dull. Specifically, the demons-versus-guardians plot device felt repetitive and boring after a while. This is my most significant issue with the anime. The show was at its best when it focused on character development and character interaction, instead of the boring unengaging plot.

In terms of direction, again this was most flawed in regard to the plot. Specifically, I was sometimes confused by what was happening and why the characters were doing what they were doing.


My overall rating: 7/10

I think it's worth mentioning that I was forced to suffer the indignity of streaming this because the one torrent I managed to download only had french subs (unbeknownst to me beforehand). Anyway, my point is that this anime has a high probability of being lost in the sands of time (pun intended -- see anime title harhar), and for this reason you might want to watch it soon if it sounds appealing.

I'd also like to make some comments that are specific to the 2006 "Maihitoyo" movie:
- the tone/atmosphere was notably darker than the original TV series.
- comparatively better animation, unsurprisingly. Furthermore, a lot more care was put into lighting, cinematography, and artistic detail. Overall visuals were definitely much stronger than the TV show.
- entirely fresh soundtrack which was just as great as the original TV series.
- I liked the demon love interest more in this than in the TV series.
- the focus was mainly on the female MC and her character arc during this movie. However, this comes at the cost of not using the usual male characters for anything more than trivial plot advancement. Which is unfortunate because this series is good at using the males for character-driven story arcs. That said, I actually thought the movie's story was excellent, even though the usual male characters of the TV series weren't used in any meaningful way. In fact I might even rewatch this movie because of how much I liked the story (or perhaps read the VN it's based upon if I can find it).

The sequel OVAs are all kind of bad and my enjoyment of them was at best lukewarm (although the music is quite good). These OVAs were probably meant to be paired with the visual novels, as opposed to the TV anime and Maihitoyo movie, both of which can be enjoyed by a viewer otherwise unacquainted with the franchise. I dropped the second of the animated sequels (Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3), mainly because all of the characters and backstory had presumably been explained in other franchise media, making the viewing experience incomprehensible from my anime-only perspective.

Finally, here's a list of the animated franchise content with my corresponding numerical ratings.
Ajisai Yumegatari: 5/10
Hachiyou Shou: 7/10
Maihitoyo: 7/10
Shiroki Ryuu no Miko: 5/10
Kurenai no Tsuki: dropped ~30 minutes in.