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Harukanaru Toki no Nakade - Hachiyosho -
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Animation - 9.4 |
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Sound - 9.1 |
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Story - 8.1 |
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Character - 8.7 |
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Value - 8.5 |
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Enjoyment - 8.9 |
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Average - 8.8 |
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Haruka 8 is a pretty decent show. There are a lot of comparisons between this show and Fushigi Yuugi, this review will not be about that because aside from the OBVIOUS similarities such as the historical setting and the fact there's a modern day school girl playing the role of priestess in the Land of the Four Gods, there is no other real similarity. So if you are contemplating this series but have heard some negative comments about this show or that it is a Fushigi Yuugi ripoff, then you should set those opinions aside and look at a few other reviews or just watch the anime itself and form your own judgment. As I've said I don't see how this show is a rip, I see a very cool show with a nice story with a lot of very nice looking bishounen. Actually this is a show that any bishounen lover worth her [or his] grain of salt should NOT be without!
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Rinoa |
2008-03-20 02:04:30 |
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| First, let me say that if you reach episode 26 and think you've reached the end of Hachiyosho, you're wrong. There are 8 3-min or so endings you get to choose from as your own ending. I think this stems from the fact that this anime is based on a Neoromance game, which if I understand correctly, allows you to pick the male character your leading lady will end up with.
Harukanaru is about a high school girl, Akane, who gets sucked into the ancient world of Kyou, along with two friends who try to save her. There, she is told she is the priestess of Ryujin and must save Kyou, which is facing a humans vs. demons war, along with her eight guardians (the Hachiyo).
Pros:
- Good animation;
- Voices suit the characters well;
- Moving music;
- Unique concept of choose-your-own couple.
Cons:
- Been there, done that story;
- Character motivations lacking;
- Weird pacing... slow for 25 eps, then whole plot resolved in one episode.
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| The Universe set within the realm of the Four Gods-Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryuu- is nothing new to the world of anime adaptation. Yet, one would probably recognize the names of the gods as presented in one of the more classic shoujo romances: Fushigi Yuugi. I've even heard comparisons of this series to 12 Kingdoms, which I have not watched as of the date this review was completed.
Harukanaru Toki no Nakade is a series that has an alternative take on the Chinese myth (indeed, it shares similarities with Fushigi Yuugi, but it's definitely not a clone), when Akane Motomiya is summoned to the ancient world with her friends Tenma and Shimon. Add in a cast of rather handsome bishounen as Akane's "prime 8" and a villain toward whom Akane's affections seem to gravitate, and you have the main cast of the series.
Animation standards are very nice: from the cel production values to the character design-all were well animated and I couldn't complain in most regards concerning this. The music was also very good: "Harukanaru Toki no Naka de..." performed by some of the actors in the series (including Seki Tomokazu), is a catchy theme with a nice electronic beat and overall flow. The ending themes (a total of five) also make for pleasant listens, and inseries music/BGM ranks along the same caliber, fitting to each scene and quite memorable, even on a stand-alone note.
The problem: I really didn't get into the heart of this story-it was quite episodic in most modes, but while episodic natures don't bother me-this one did because it didn't seem all that interesting, even somewhat flat. The plot lacked in so many areas, it was hard to get across, and there wasn't much of a romantic plot in this series (well, there was, it just wasn't strong). Granted, I did enjoy most of the characters (and not because the guys were bishounen...though that was part of it XD), save for Akane-I felt for an anime heroine, there wasn't much to define her-and she seemed more weak than strongly constructed-even after the series ended, I still didn't know much about her character. The guys were presented better in terms of their overall personalities, interactions, and willingness to protect the girl who was called upon to save their kingdom-yet it's more apparent as the series progresses than in the initial episodes. Still, even with watching them...there really wasn't much heart to them...they were incredibly static without much development or flesh.
The problem on other measures...the emotions are really constrained in measures-the humor's there, but not prominent; the romance is there, but also not prominent. There's not even really true suspense because the characters are so constricted. As a result, I couldn't really get into any of the characters or the storyline as well as peer series.
The story begins with Akane, Tenma, and Shimon's journey into this alternate universe with Akram's (the villain's) summoning. With little chance of getting home otherwise, they seekthe remaining guardians and setting on a journey to recover the 4 gods stolen from their perch. There are some episodes that are stronger than others (such as the episode regarding the Nue-that was rather tragic in its own terms, and probably one of the episodes that caught along with me...and yet another that would be too much of a spoiler to say here).
I think I enjoyed Haruka 8 a little more than I otherwise would have because I didn't come into it with too many expectations, nor did I make too many comparisons and I genuinely liked some of the characters, yet I still felt disappointed with the lack of an engaging (developed) storyline.
Overall, I have a lukewarm opinion of Haruka 8, I enjoyed it in watching it twice, but I probably would not add this to my favorites list. I'd definitely recommend it for those who love shoujo anime series and for those who have the guilty pleasure of watching traditional bishounen stories.
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jacks81x |
(2007-01-27 17:46:48) 2007-01-27 17:45:39 |
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| Average |
4.7 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| I realized people's first impression was that this is another Fushigi Yuugi clone. Yes, they both share a similar premise of the Miko from another world destined to save a feudal Chinese kingdom. However, this isn't exactly Fushigi Yuugi original material either. It's just based on a widely popular Chinese folklore.
With that said, Harukanaru was a huge disappointment in all the major aspects. The plot was painfully linear and uninspiring. By the end of the series, you can't help but ask yourself why did this take 26 episodes to complete when it could've been done in half the length? What made it even more painful to sit through were the generic characters that throughout the series had virtually zero character development. Even after watching the series in its entirety, chances are you'll have trouble naming all the major characters. Mainly due to the fact that most of them didn't leave much of an impression on the viewing audience.
So what do you get when you have a poorly conceived plot with little to no character development? You get a series that's better left unwatched and archived into your DVDR collection. If you are interested in the genre, Fushigi Yuugi is a much better pick.
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poko |
(2006-09-04 21:17:32) 2006-09-04 21:16:06 |
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Well, the first thing that popped in my mind after reading the synopsis was, "WTF, a Fushigi Yuugi copy?" But after seeing that it had such great reviews, I thought I'd give it a try.
First off, I must say that this anime is NOT at all a copy of Fushigi Yuugi. Some people may think its an attempt but I see an attempt to steer clear of the FY storyline, which I'm proud of in this anime. There are too many anime copycats out there and this certainly is not one of them.
Since I was a great fan of FY, its obvious that as I watch Haruka 8, I'll be comparing it to it.
I found that, despite what people believe, the art quality and designs were similar. Both had beautiful characters that were physically pleasing. Both were filled with delicious bishonens and were generally eye candy.
Both had good music, although H8 has slightly better music. FY's music was not ear-catching, if you get my drift. You often saw the entire episode without even noticing the background music (except for certain scenes where the music had me bawling ^^). H8's music has caught my attention (I'm a BIG fan of anime soundtracks so I tend to notice these things).
However, in comparing, I found H8 lacked two things that FY greatly excelled in: plot, and character development.
Although not a devastating plotline, H8's plot is no where near as fulfilling and thick as FY. In FY, there are many twists, including Yui, Miaka's best friend, being made to be her enemy as well as the fake Chiriko, Amiboshi. In H8, she is called to save Kyou because demons are running amuck, causing trouble. No love triangles, no ruined friendship, nothing seriously conflicting, ie. no great conflict. It gave me the feeling of soup gone too watery. Wow, demons terrorizing people, big deal, I thought. None of the MAIN characters themselves were at conflict with themselves, etc.
Speaking of characters, I feel as if I hardly know the H8's characters. The expressions they take on and their interaction are only the tip of the iceberg. Where's the JUICE in this steak?! Because all I see is a piece of meat. There is a slight scratch on their pasts but its abandoned much too quickly. I believe 26 episodes is MUCH too short for an anime with this much potential.
Although not as important, this anime fails in the comedy scenes. It tries but fails. Although Fushigi Yuugi was also, at times, a heart-breaking anime, it excelled in making bursts of laughter spring from my throat.
I've seen many great anime that range from school life (School Rumble) to sports (Slam Dunk) to fantasy (Jyu Oh Sei) to mecha (Full Metal Panic, Gundam Wing) to music (Kaikan Phrase, Beck) and to great, great tragedies (Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien. I'm certainly not being biased about this anime.
All in all, Harukanaru Toki no Naka - Hachiyoshou- had great potential but that's all it had; potential. It was a "could be", not a "was".
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| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I was thoroughly impressed with this anime. It kept me entertained from beginning to end, with it's beautiful animation, intriguing characters, wonderful music and impressive storyline.
The only complaint I have, is it lacked somewhat in the "Romance" department, which is something I was hoping for from the very beginning! The lack of romance was more than made up for with the lashings of bishounen (everywhere you looked, gorgeous, sexy male characters *lol*).
Shoujo and fantasy fans should watch this anime!
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| The first that hit me about this series was a feel to it that I could best describe as "soft". One, the animation tends towards that, it detected a bit of flushedness to it, collors a bit warm and not contrasted to hell, giving an animation feel a bit behind it's time.
But the biggest key to the feeling of this series is that it doesn't purposely try to do a billion things to set it apart from the rest, which makes it stand out miles apart from everything else. This studio has caught me totally off guard, the few titles they've had featured premises so basically original, and then just built a really good anime off that. This series has nothing to set it apart if you just browsed all anime in existance, it is simply very very well made. There was no attempt at "we're gona mix formula A with formula X and add some of P,O,R,B then put in robots and lesbians to top it off".
The plot is presented PERFECTLY. The excution was absolutley beautifull. I fell in love with the voice acting and the character design.
Maybe i would agree if you made the argument that it is a bit similar to a few older animes, but compared to anything I've seen in the last year (a lot), it is quite a bit of fresh air. But the world set up was really quite cliche, just basic anime it seemed. We have ppl dressed funny, there are deamons living in the forest, people have superpowers, but only as they relate to the main plot, that just wasn't the selling point.
This is still only about a half-way review. I curse myself for missing the raw episodes when i had a chance, and all the groups are being completley slow on this, so i'll update whenever i get them all.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I have to say, I absolutely love this anime. Granted, it's really quite shoujo, which is why I'm unable to recommend it to most of my friends (sadly they are by and large the guns-cars-mechas-and-fanservice crowd, although they're into anime too, which makes it all OK, even -if- they don't understand why I continually refer to one of them only as "Seguchi Tohma"...), but it's -really- really good. It's easy to look at a review of this anime and say that it's a rip of Fushigi Yuugi, but the basic premise isn't really all -that- similar past a very superficial level.
The animation is definitely the most beautiful animation I've ever seen. Some of the scenes took my breath away, quite literally, and I've watched a lot of stuff. Nothing (so far) that makes me want to hurl, or throw a brick at the screen, either ^_^ The sound and music are really, really nice, I'm probably going to buy the soundtrack to this, if I can. The voiceacting is also amazing; I'll readily admit to being a Inoue fanboy, but you can't help it, his character is -really-... *purr* sorry.
Plus, the bad guy seems to have, if not redeeming qualities, a nature and motive that makes you (and Akane) do a mental double-take, which I always like. I didn't really hate his guts until the seventh episode where he did something I really can't forgive; but still there's more to this backstory than meets the eye and I'm -really- looking forward to watching to the conclusion to see what happens, and to shed some light on the (obvious) relationships between the characters.
I don't know if this anime is 13 or 26 or more episodes. Does anyone else? I tried looking at Japanese websites about the anime, but either none of them had it, or my Japanese isn't as proficient as I thought it was.
All in all, after I watched the first 8 episodes of this, I could only think that it was the best anime I'd ever watched, at least in -artistry- if not in originality of plot. Also keep in mind that, even if this anime is 13 episodes long, there's still almost half of the series left to go and it hasn't finished introducing the characters, so there's still plenty of room for it to move and grow on many levels.
This is a great series, not everyone would like it, but it seems to have all the best elements of "Girl trapped in another world, has many really awesome bishie-protectors." Not really very epic (yet), but this anime seems to be concentrating more on the relationships between the Hachiyou (and the Hachiyou and Akane).
If you've read the reviews and it sounds interesting, -watch it-. You'll agree. Even if you don't think it'll be good, watch it anyways, there's enough to surprise you. I believe a new fansub group is working on carrying the anime past Episode 8, as well.
-kobayashi
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| Average |
9.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is so trageted at girls, and I just love it. It's indeed very similar to Fishugi Yugi, but much better, given that the animation is better made these days. Also, I believe that an effort has been made to take away some of the repetition in FY, when drafting Harukanaru. It's really an improvement, even if they might very well be completely unconnected animes.
The only thing that bothers me is that the story is quite shallow, and the interest is kept up only by the characters and their interactions - thought that already great! It's not a groundbreaking anime that will change everything about Japanese animation. It's an extremely good fantasy about eight beautiful men serving as warriors to a priestess, who's fallen out of our world into theirs.
Overall, I am quite upset with the fansubbing having stopped at episode 8. I need more!
Because of the intro and end songs, I am even starting to like techno music... That is to say!
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xs_spiritx |
(2005-03-17 23:26:46) 2005-03-05 15:52:17 |
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| Average |
9.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Based on the first 8 episodes, I really think this anime is great and interesting.
The Animation is awesome and the characters are drawn beautifully (especially guys).
I am absolutely obsessed with the opening and ending. They are both upbeat and techo. What makes it even more excellent is the Seiyuus sing them. The music in the anime is also great. (Too bad I can't find the OST anywhere)
The story is interesting. So far, each episode focuses on one character becoming a Hachiyou. The story moves at a medium pace which is great.
In each episode, you know a little more about each character. The eight Hachiyou are all very different from eachother.
Everytime I finish an episode, I just keep wanting more. I definately give it a 10 for enjoyment!
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| Average |
9.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I watched this anime, coz i was goad into buying and watching it by the store clerk. Looking at the cover,man this looks boring. But my instincts are again proven wrong.
The story is somehow similar to FY that a girl is summoned to go to another world to save it. The premise is also the same with the four gods, suzaku, seeiyu, byakko, genbu. But that is just about everything that is similar. The characters are well developed with their relationships and they really have their unique individuality. I specially liked Akane, she has such a strong spirit and heart. She feels for someone's misfortune or happiness. Which makes her a great Miko than FY Miaka. So far I have seen 1-13 episodes and it shows great development for the storyline, the lines(voice acting) are greatly delivered. (Spoiler: Ep 13,man that was good, i was amazed by akane's powers!!)
The opening music is addicting and i can distinguish that somehow each lines are sung by each of the characters (that is what I think.)
Overall Enjoyment a whopping 10!! To persons that might be hesitating on getting this one, I suggest you get IT! You wont regret it..
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Haruko |
(2005-07-14 10:11:03) 2004-12-06 17:45:41 |
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I rediscovered the fangirl in me with Harukanaru, but some friends of the opposite gender like this (think it's ok) as well.
This strikes me as similar to Fushugi Yugi and 12 Kingdoms. It has less "personal issues" since the friends are not separated for very long.
Better than FY (I think), it has more likely chararters, or just more fun. Its spirit is much lighter, even if there is drama.
Not as good as 12 Kindoms (also IMO), its story is not as deep (or does not seem to be so far). There are far less politics and complex social issues promised to be explored... (sight!)
I really hope someone will sub more of this by the way! After 8 eps, I really want ot watch the remaining 14!!! Anyhow, if not, hopefully, it will get realesed commercially, and then I'll definitely rent it (prob not buy, though).
Finally, as of July 2005, there is a 9th ep out... The torrent seems averagely popular and I hope that Aoi-Anime will keep up their work!
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Hisui |
2004-11-11 18:48:36 |
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| Average |
9.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| As everyone else says, good for fangirls! and it does remind me of Fushigi Yuugi alot. Im also Glad Akane isnt like Miaka at all. although she does seem to be a little dense in the beginning. And im glad no Tamahome-like characters. a good thing is there seem to be many firey types!(i.e. Inori and Tenma)I also like the idea of her holding this great power. it's similar to Inuyasha but i doubt Akane will be so incompetent (or at least i hope) I Love the Animation, Action, Music, and Characters.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| OK I REALLY like this anime. Nice looking guys and gals. NO fanservice (so far). NO extra big boobs (so far). Farely good storyline. A bit of mystery, magic and plenty of characters. Have my hopes up for this one.
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hsiah |
2004-11-01 20:46:20 |
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| So far this is pretty good. A lot like Fushigi Yuugi only the main female character is not nearly as annoying or stupid as Miaka. Also, there don't appear to be any Tamahome like characters which is a plus for me. The characters so far are cool and the animation is well done and looks nice and fluid. I really love the music. The intro song is great and the ending song is good too. Akane seems like she will be a much more competent heroine than Miaka was, I hope they don't go the route of Fushigi Yuugi and make it all about Akane and whoever she may hook up with. If it does, I will have to adjust my rating but so far it seems very promising.
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