(L) Harukanaru Toki no Naka de

[carmolita]

I love this anime!! I wish it was promoted but hopefully that will change since bandai visual was liquidated into bandai entertaiment.. Ash Falls Town ` I too wish it was merchandised ..if it wasn't for my friend pointing out the manga I never would of saw the series ..Although the Japanese voice cast is SUPERB especially Akira Ishida who voices Yasuaki i my favorite character in haruka and (athrun zala in gundam seed)..I also wish there was a dubb ...Does anyone know if their is going to be another movie?

[ryuutohime]

Now no dub watchers will buy it and dub haters aren't the kind of people who would buy this series because they are the kind of people who would have read people complain about how it's too much like FY.

Coming across this remark late, but even so I had to refute it.

I don't know whether people in the English speaking world are aware of how big a cult thing Haruka is in Japan and has been since inception in 2000ish. There are obviously four generations of Haruka games and so on now, but I think that the first and the third are the ones which get the most attention, and the first in particular now it's beginning to hit a more worldwide market.

Most of the people who prefer the Japanese vocal line are people who are also familiar with the seiyuu and their work. They're people who therefore know about and have probably seen the live events, read the manga (fifteen volumes next month in original Japanese plus ongoing chapters in LaLaDX, even after eight years since Haruka was first put into existence). The anime is a very very small part of this franchise. (The manga delves a lot deeper and is a lot funnier in places, too...plus the drama CDs are quite fun too, and it has a plethora of neat music associated with it.)

"Dub haters" (though I'd prefer to say people who prefer the original language version) generally watch the series when it's first available, before reviews are written - they don't wait for the translation and therefore get coloured by other people's views ^_^. So I doubt that'll have any effect.

I'm also a Fushigi Yuugi fan who began watching Neoroma event stuff because of Yuugi Seiyuu being involved and because of people making the links between HaruToki and Yuugi, so I began getting into it because of liking Yuugi.

(Though they're not really as similar as all that. Im a die hard Yuugite and always will be, but I think that Haruka handles the accuracy of the Gods and their spiritual positions better, and, of course, there's the blatantly obvious thing of Yuugi being set in Ancient China and Haruka being set in Heian Japan).

I think it's sad that the games haven't been made more widespread (since EU regs disapprove of importing foreign consoles, I've only been able to play HaruToki2 on the PSP, which is fine but not the best of the continuities), and that the manga is being so slowly translated into English.

But even so, considering the huge flood of merchandise and so on in Japan that's begun to trickle into the worldwide market, I'm not surprised that Haruka got licenced.

I'm actually glad it's not being dubbed because I don't think it's a 'mainstream' anime. It's a neoroma anime, and it belongs in that niche (along with Angelique, which has been even more neglected globally even though it's older, and Kiniro no Koruda (which strangely seems to be way ahead in the English manga release stakes).

To my mind there are 2 good reasons why Haruka is better off not being dubbed in any case.

#1 - set in Heian Japan, a lot of social convention and tradition in the language and mode of address gets lost if you attempt to put it entirely into English. That may mean nothing to someone who doesn't speak Japanese, but I like to be able to hear Yorihisa's grovelling, overly formal apologies to Akane and his sharp, brusque language to Tenma.

#2 - I don't think there's another human being on the planet who could be Yorihisa and capture him so perfectly as Miki Shinichirou. It doesn't matter how good the dub artist, I think I'd probably curl up and die if I was watching mediaeval Japanese samurai speak with American accents :S

The only drawback I can see with Haruka's current release (aside from niggles like the ugly English title and the bad spelling interpretations of Ikutidaru and Sefuru's names) is the expense of buying it in small bits and pieces. I'm waiting until the whole series is out as a box set before I spend any money on it, because it's just not economic otherwise. I'm in the UK, and we never get the good stuff released out here, so I'll just import it from America. In the long run I think it'll be cheaper than importing the original release from Japan.

(I'm also a tad worried about the translation since I've read that Yasuaki's been called a sorcerer and he's blatantly not...)

Ryuu

[Ash Falls Town]

Originally Posted by ryuutohime

I don't know whether people in the English speaking world are aware of how big a cult thing Haruka is in Japan and has been since inception in 2000ish. There are obviously four generations of Haruka games and so on now, but I think that the first and the third are the ones which get the most attention, and the first in particular now it's beginning to hit a more worldwide market.

Actually since the 4 series is new I'd say popularity of Haruka Generations goes 3-4-1-2 (No one likes 2). Outside of Japan 3 is also the most popular with those who actually know stuff about the series. Of course if you only know about the first generation then of course that would be the one with any attention at all.

Originally Posted by ryuutohime

Most of the people who prefer the Japanese vocal line are people who are also familiar with the seiyuu and their work. They're people who therefore know about and have probably seen the live events, read the manga (fifteen volumes next month in original Japanese plus ongoing chapters in LaLaDX, even after eight years since Haruka was first put into existence).

Actually very few people have the fanaticism to watch live events and hear drama tracks and the like. These kinds of things are nigh impossible to find even raw. And RAW things like this are infinitely harder to understand than RAW visual media.

Originally Posted by ryuutohime

"Dub haters" (though I'd prefer to say people who prefer the original language version) generally watch the series when it's first available, before reviews are written - they don't wait for the translation and therefore get coloured by other people's views ^_^. So I doubt that'll have any effect.

By this I meant people who would be blind buying it who don't like dubs. These kinds of people are the kind of people who would read reviews because if they end up disliking the series then they have wasted a bunch of money. Unfortunately when reviewers watch the series they see the resemblence to FY and ignore the bigger differences. (Including setting, tone, type of humour, series length and scope.)

Originally Posted by ryuutohime

I think it's sad that the games haven't been made more widespread (since EU regs disapprove of importing foreign consoles, I've only been able to play HaruToki2 on the PSP, which is fine but not the best of the continuities), and that the manga is being so slowly translated into English.

I'm actually glad it's not being dubbed because I don't think it's a 'mainstream' anime. It's a neoroma anime, and it belongs in that niche (along with Angelique, which has been even more neglected globally even though it's older, and Kiniro no Koruda (which strangely seems to be way ahead in the English manga release stakes).

But as non japanese neoromance fans don't we want the series to be closer to mainstream? We won't get any games, let alone merchandise released here if the series aren't popular. However since the Haruka anime won't ever get an english dub we've lost a big possibility in exposure of the neoromance brand to people who only watch dubbed anime.

Originally Posted by ryuutohime

To my mind there are 2 good reasons why Haruka is better off not being dubbed in any case.

#1 - set in Heian Japan, a lot of social convention and tradition in the language and mode of address gets lost if you attempt to put it entirely into English. That may mean nothing to someone who doesn't speak Japanese, but I like to be able to hear Yorihisa's grovelling, overly formal apologies to Akane and his sharp, brusque language to Tenma.

#2 - I don't think there's another human being on the planet who could be Yorihisa and capture him so perfectly as Miki Shinichirou. It doesn't matter how good the dub artist, I think I'd probably curl up and die if I was watching mediaeval Japanese samurai speak with American accents :S

Dub haters still wouldn't of ever had to of heard the English version even if it existed. Also there are several very popular English voice actors. If Tomodasa was say voiced by Vic Mignionwhatever, then bam a whole army of instant Haruka fangirls. Until we have something big like that happen Koei won't ever release a game here.

Basically what I was saying in my post is that Haruka needs to recruit every fan it possibly could. I personally thought that a Haruka dub would still be able to make money and it annoyed me because since the show won't reach enough people we can kiss our biggest hope for more neoromance stuff in the west goodbye.

[blewin]

I've just finished watching this series. It's nothing earth-shaking, but has its appeal. Compared to Fushigi, it's less dramatic and there isn't as much travelling involved. I rather like Akane's struggle with wanting to do something yet not doing anything, which if I remember it right, isn't much of an issue for the main character in Fushigi.

Checked out the movie site too. Don't like Shimon's live-action counterpart. So fake.

[MikaMiaka]

One thing I can say about this series: The music is ABSOLUTELY amazing throughout the episodes. The story itself is okay, and the characters are pretty okay, but the music and the animation elevates this series into something quite addictive and fun.

The OP and ED is catchy, but wow, the piano and the koto making up a majority of the BGM is simply gorgeous.

This is a prime example of how a series can elevate itself just by the music -- I didn't think it was possible.

[Guido]

I cannot believe it's been past six years, since the last time I step on this thread to deliver my review for this show's last episode.

I came here again to deliver my review right after watching ~Where the Heart Belongs~ OVA episode.

Spoiler:

The rundown is that Kotengu sends a letter of challenge to Yasuaki, because he has become fed up at being imprisioned in chibi form by the Onmyouji.

Learning by accident about the letter, Akane with the help of Shimon, Tenma, and Tomomasa do everything they can to prevent Yasuaki to learn about the letter.

It was nice, indeed, to revisit again the world of Kyou from Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de, but I would have preferred maybe watched the Ten OVA, since this one is basically a breather episode to give the characters and the audience a sigh of relief and enjoy the many comicities of the mishaps Kotengu-chan has to endure in order to force Yasuaki revert him back to his original form.