Recent PostsHarukanaru Toki no Naka de Hachiyō Shō
遙かなる時空の中で ～八葉抄～
(In A Distant Time – Hachiyō Chapter)
Genre
Fantasy, Romance
Manga
Author
Tohko Mizuno
Publisher
Hakusensha
VIZ Media
Demographic
Shōjo
Original run
July 2000 – ongoing
Volumes
14
TV anime
Director
Aki Tsunaki
Studio
Yumeta Company
Other networks:
Original run
5 October 2004 – 29 March 2005
Episodes
26
Game
Developer
Ruby Party
Publisher
Koei
Genre
Otome game
Platform
PlayStation 2
Released
April 1, 2005
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de – Hachiyō Shō (遙かなる時空の中で ～八葉抄～, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de – Hachiyō Shō?) is a Neoromance anime series based on the PlayStation 2 romantic adventure video game developed by Ruby Party and published by Koei. The series features the characters from the original Harukanaru Toki no Naka de game, whilst the PlayStation 2 game is an enhanced remake of the original game.
Contents
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Release History (Manga and Anime)
To date, fourteen volumes of Harukanaru Toki no Naka De manga have been released in the original Japanese. The series is still ongoing with volume fifteen expected at some point in 2008. Harukanaru Toki no Naka De’s manga has begun to be printed in English. Chapters have featured in Shoujo Beat magazine, and two volumes of the manga have also been produced in English. The animated series concluded in Japan at episode twenty six, although the final DVD featured omake optional endings for each of the characters. This was so that, in keeping with the game’s Neoromance theme, viewers could choose for themselves which of the Hachiyou Akane liked the best. The anime and manga have recently begun to be released in English under the name ‘Haruka: Beyond the Stream Of Time: A Tale of the Eight Guardians’. A further movie release, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de – Maihitoyo (遙かなる時空の中で ～舞一夜～, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de – Maihitoyo?) featuring the Harukanaru Toki no Naka De original characters was produced and released in Japan in 2007. As yet there have been no indications of an English language release.
Plot
On her walk to school, ordinary Kyoto High school student Motomiya Akane hears a voice calling to her from an old well in an abandoned historical estate. The voice is that of the oni leader Akuram, and Akane finds herself summoned into another world that resembles the city of Kyoto during the Heian Period (approx. 800-1200 C.E.). Here she is asked to be the Ryuujin no Miko (龍神の神子, Priestess of the Dragon God?), a legendary figure who possesses the power of the gods. Akane is told that she must defend this world, called Kyou (京, Kyou?), from the encroachment of the Oni Clan (鬼の一族, Oni Clan?) before she can return home. Fortunately、her school friends Tenma and Shimon are on hand to help her out and along with six Kyou natives they become members of the Hachiyou (八葉, Eight Leaves?), a group of specially chosen men who act as the Miko’s protectors.
Characters
Main Characters
Ryuujin no Miko
Akane Motomiya (元宮あかね, Motomiya Akane?)
See Motomiya Akane
Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami
Hachiyou
Minamoto no Yorihisa (源頼久, Minamoto no Yorihisa?)
Seiryū of Heaven (天の青龍, Seiryū of Heaven?).
See Minamoto no Yorihisa
Voiced by: Miki Shinichirou
Tenma Morimura (森村天真, Morimura Tenma?)
Seiryū of Earth (地の青龍, Seiryū of Earth?).
See Morimura Tenma.
Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki
Inori (イノリ, Inori?)
Suzaku of Heaven (天の朱雀, Suzaku of Heaven?).
See Inori
Voiced by: Naozumi Takahashi
Shimon Nagareyama (流山詩紋, Nagareyama Shimon?)
Suzaku of Earth (地の朱雀, Suzaku of Earth?).
See Nagareyama Shimon
Voiced by: Kouki Miyata
Fujiwara no Takamichi (藤原鷹通, Fujiwara no Takamichi?)
Byakko of Heaven (天の白虎, Byakko of Heaven?).
See Fujiwara no Takamichi
Voiced by: Shigeru Nakahara
Tachibana no Tomomasa (橘友雅, Tachibana no Tomomasa?)
Byakko of Earth (地の白虎, Byakko of Earth?).
See Tachibana no Tomomasa
Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue
Eisen (永泉, Eisen?)
Genbu of Heaven (天の玄武, Genbu of Heaven?).
See Eisen
Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi
Abe no Yasuaki (安倍泰明, Abe no Yasuaki?)
Genbu of Earth (地の玄武, Genbu of Earth?).
See Abe no Yasuaki
Voiced by: Akira Ishida
Oni Clan
Akuram (アクラム, Akuram?)
The leader of the Oni Clan, who summoned Akane to Kyou in order to utilise her power to gain full domination over the city. Akuram is said to be the most powerful of recent leaders of the Oni Clan, and his power stretches to such a level that even his close associates aren’t sure how to deal with it. Akuram inherited the mask of the Oni Clan, allowing him to lead them, because he had the greatest potential to do so as a young boy. Even now he is still young despite his position. On one occasion the mask is shattered, breaking his spell and forcing him to retreat, and it seems that the mask itself is a way of focusing the magic of the Oni.
Akuram’s motivation is not always clear. Sometimes it appears that he simply wants to dominate all of Kyou, however on occasion he suggests that part of his motivation is revenge for the deaths of many of his kinsfolk over the past generations of conflict between the Oni and the people of Kyou. His interest in Akane seems to be predominately a matter of obtaining power, although he often refers to her as ‘his’ Miko, and gets quite angry when any of his subordinates bring harm to her without his permissionVoiced by: Ryoutarou Okiayu
Ikutidaru (イクティダール, Ikutidaru?)
Ikutidaru is Akuram’s right hand man and probably the oldest of the surviving oni. Of all of the oni clan he has the greatest sense of conscience, and is often torn between his loyalty to his people and his love for Inori’s older sister Seri. In the anime, he once disobeyed Akuram and had his eye removed as punishment for the crime (although in the manga it is not explained how he came to lose his eye). Despite the fact he does not always agree with the things Akuram orders, he often carries them out with resolute seriousness, even though at times it makes Kyou’s predicament worse. He has a strongly protective – almost paternal – instinct where Sefuru is concerned (although Sefuru is rarely appreciative of that fact). Voiced by: Koji Ishii
Shirin (シリン, Shirin?)
The only female among the surviving members of the Oni Clan, Shirin holds a strong affection for Akuram which will allow her to do pretty much anything he tells her to do. She is very jealous of Akane because of Akuram’s interest in her, and on one occasion goes behind Akuram’s back and assaults the Miko because of this jealousy. Akuram seems to have no affection for her, discarding her from the clan towards the end, however in the anime conclusion Shirin offers to exchange her life for Akane’s in order to be with Akuram in the afterlife. Shirin’s key power is the ability to use her beauty to seduce and then manipulate the actions of men, and therefore she is angered by Takamichi who refuses to submit to her seduction spell. She and Takamichi maintain a chemistry throughout the story on account of this, with Takamichi once saving her life despite her attempts to kill him. Shirin’s physical attacks often involve a rose, whose vines and thorns she can manipulate at will. Voiced by: Maria Kawamura
Sefuru (セフル, Sefuru?)
Sefuru is the youngest surviving Oni, probably no more than fourteen or fifteen years old. He is technically half and half, since his mother was a normal resident of Kyou. Sefuru is bitter and hates the people of Kyou because his mother abandoned him based on his appearance when he was just a small child. It was at this time that Akuram took him in and began to train him to use him for his own purpose. For this reason, despite his half blood, Sefuru has been accepted as an Oni by the rest of the clan. However, he has a deep rooted fear of being abandoned and alone again, which often drives him to desperate acts. At one point he befriends Shimon, thinking that he’s an Oni in the same situation, though he becomes indignant when he thinks that Shimon has betrayed the Oni by joining up with people in the city and is even more perturbed when he discovers that Shimon is one of the Hachiyou. Despite his aggression, however, Shimon is sure that Sefuru is more hurt than anyone by the encounter, and refuses to bear him a grudge. In the end, Sefuru is shown with Ikutidaru, Seri and their new baby, indicating that his hatred is based in his loneliness, and all he really needed was a proper place to belong. Voiced by: Yuu Asakawa
Morimura Ran (森村蘭, Morimura Ran?)
Technically not a blood member of the oni clan, Ran is actually Tenma’s long lost sister from modern day Kyouto. She was summoned into Kyou by Akuram some time earlier, but was too frightened to be able to connect with Ryuujin and become Ryuujin no Miko. In her despair, she reached out instead to the black dragon Kokuryuu (黒龍, Kokuryuu?) and became engulfed by its power, erasing her memories of her past life and putting her under Akuram’s control. Ran continues to battle with her alter-ego throughout both manga and anime, though perhaps more significantly in the manga. Probably on account of her association with the oni clan, Ran’s name is also occasionally written in Katakana as 「ラン」 and features this way on the anime credits. However, in the manga it is given with its correct kanji, as shown above.
Voiced by: Hoko Kuwashima
Others
Fuji-hime (藤姫, Fuji-hime?)
The descendant of the Star Clan (星の一族, Star Clan?) who assists the Ryūjin no Miko. She looks very young, and is in fact only ten years old, but she’s also very wise for her age. She is the daughter of the Minister of the Left, an important ranking figure at the imperial court, and therefore speaks very formally at all times. The ‘hime’ in her name indicates that she is the daughter of a wealthy and influential individual. She is the first person Akane meets when she enters Kyou, appearing as she does in the Star Clan’s mansion house. Voiced by: Ikue Otani
Kotengu (小天狗, Kotengu?)
Kotengu (literally, “little tengu Voiced by: Junko Shimakata
Seri (セリ, Seri?)
Inori’s sister, who is in love with Ikutidaru despite knowing that he is a member of the oni tribe. Seri is weak physically, but mentally very strong. It is hinted (though not openly said) at several points in the anime that Seri is pregnant with Ikutidaru’s child – and at the close of the anime it is shown that they have a newborn baby. Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa
Minamoto no Sanehisa (源実久, Minamoto no Sanehisa?)
Yorihisa’s elder brother, who is deceased by the time Akane arrives in Kyou. There is a significant age gap between Yorihisa and Sanehisa and it appears that Sanehisa was largely involved in Yorihisa’s training and his upbringing. The way in which Sanehisa’s role in proceedings is portrayed varies from anime to manga, although he appears in flashback quite often when a situation relates closely to Yorihisa (for example his memories of the Nue). In the anime, Yorihisa and Tenma both receive a brief dream message from Sanehisa telling them to go East to find the Eastern Seal. This is then followed by a scenario surreally sinister to the events that led up to Sanehisa’s death, for which Yorihisa holds himself responsible.
Unlike Yorihisa, who is generally quite serious and focused in how he deals with situations, Sanehisa is a lot more light-hearted and is willing to tease both Akane and Yorihisa in the manga when he visits them in dreams. It is clear that he and Yorihisa shared a close bond and that he does not hold his brother responsible for his death – rather he sacrificed his life to ensure that Yorihisa survived.
Though Sanehisa’s name appears briefly in the anime, it is screamed rather than spoken, thus causing it to have been mis-heard and mis-written as a result. However on both anime credits and in the manga it is written as above, with the reading as given.Voiced by: Horiuchi Kenyuu
Episodes
The twenty-six episode anime series has been licensed by Bandai Visual and will be released in a series of nine volumes under the title HARUKA: Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians. A new volume will be released monthly with the first volume being released April 22, 2008 and the final volume due January 13, 2009.
See Harukanaru Toki no Naka De: Hachiyou Episodes
References
- ^ Haruka -Beyond the Stream of Time- A Tale of the eight guardians OFFICIAL WEBSITE
- ^ Hachiyou Shou Episode 24, 26
- ^ Harukanaru Toki no Naka De Manga Volume 10
- ^ Hachiyou Shou Episode 26
- ^ Harukanaru Toki no Naka De Hachiyou Shou Episode 16
- ^ Harukanaru Toki no Naka De Hachiyou Shou Episode 19
- ^ Harukanaru Toki no Naka De manga volume 12
- ^ Bandai Visual (2008-01-15). “Bandai Visual USA Announces Release of Anime Based on Popular Shōjo Game Franchise” (pdf). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
External links
- Neoromance official site
- TV Tokyo website
- Haruhachi Koei official fansite
- Harukanaru Toki no Naka de Hachiyō Shō (anime) at Anime News Network’s Encyclopedia
- J!-ENT interview with “HARUKA” director Tsunaki Aki (4/2008) By Dennis A. Amith and Michelle Tymon
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harukanaru_Toki_no_Naka_de_Hachiy%C5%8D_Sh%C5%8D”
Categories: Manga series | Anime series | 2005 video games | Animated series based on video games | Fantasy anime and manga | PlayStation 2 games | PlayStation 2-only games | Romance anime and manga | Visual novels