Yami to Boshi to Hon no Tabibito
Encyclopedia
, also known as Yamibō/Yamibou for short, is a Japanese adult
visual novel
published in December 2002 by Root
. A 13-episode anime
series produced Studio Deen
aired between October and December 2003. Although the characters and their relationships remain basically the same in the game and anime, the storyline is quite different.
adaptation, Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito ~Romance, illustrated by Aya Sakurai. It is a compressed version of the game's events, following the storyline that leads to a romantic relationship between the nameless main character and Lilith.
and directed by Yuji Yamaguchi. The anime aired in Japan between October 2 and December 25, 2003 on Animax
and MBS
. The anime's opening theme is "Hitomi no Naka no Meikyū" by Aiko Kayō
and the ending theme is "Eien no Inori o Sasagete" by Sanae Kobayashi
.
game exists known as was released in 2004, it intended to teach typing skills. It was based on the anime and even uses screencaps from it.
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
published in December 2002 by Root
Root (company)
Root is a Japanese visual novel studio under the publishing combany Orbit founded in 2000. Root's titles are eroge that contain erotic scenes.-Products:*Moonlight Lady, Released December 22, 2000...
. A 13-episode anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series produced Studio Deen
Studio DEEN
is a Japanese company that produces anime. Three years after Sunrise was founded in 1972, Studio Deen was established by Sunrise's members in 1975. As a result of this, anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop that were produced by Sunrise may have had assistance from Studio Deen.-Produced anime:* Urusei...
aired between October and December 2003. Although the characters and their relationships remain basically the same in the game and anime, the storyline is quite different.
Game
The game begins with a girl who is taken to a strange, magical realm by a dragon. She apparently was taken to the library where all past, present, and future realities are kept within the books. The player is a young man who has come from one of these books as well, but has forgotten his way back home. The player is commissioned to find the missing girl by the denizens of the library, and starts his search by entering different books.Anime
The story follows the travels of Hazuki Azuma, a tall, brooding high-school girl, as she searches for her adopted older sister and love interest, Hatsumi, in many different "book worlds". After the disappearance of her sister, a talking parakeet nicknamed Ken-chan introduces Hazuki to Lilith, the caretaker of the Great Library. Each book in the library contains a different world, and the guardian of the library takes on the title Yami.Characters
- Voiced by: Yuki Iwata (game), Mamiko NotoMamiko Notois a Japanese voice actress working under Office Osawa. She was born in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa, and graduated from Hokuriku Gakuen Senior High School.-Voice:...
(anime) - Hazuki is quiet and serious, with long dark blue hair and sharp blue eyes. She uses the relatively masculine pronoun "boku" for referring to herself "I". Hazuki appears cold and unfriendly and is fiercely protective of Hatsumi. She is actually very vulnerable and romantic, even to the point of being submissive, but refuses to show weakness or depend on anyone but her adoptive sister, Hatsumi — unless she is forced to. One example of this is her first encounter with Lilith, where she initially refuses Lilith's help in looking for Hatsumi/Eve. Only when Lilith notes she won't be able to travel from world to world without her, does Hazuki agree to travel with her and even then, only tacitly. As soon as she no longer has any need for Lilith's help, she shows no regard for her or her wishes with regards to Eve. Hazuki idolizes Hatsumi extremely and, as such, considers her sexual attraction to Hatsumi vulgar and shameful.
- Voiced by: Anna Akashi (game), Ai ShimizuAi Shimizuis a Japanese voice actress who is employed by Haikyou. She also has a career as a singer an signed to Lantis. She has released 14 singles and four albums. She covered Yumi Matsutoya's "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" as the B-side of her first single "Angel Fish" in 2003...
(anime) - Hatsumi is Hazuki's adopted older sister and love interest. Hatsumi appears to be mute (though it is proven otherwise on several occasions) and communicates mostly through gestures and facial expressions. Despite being older, Hatsumi is much shorter and thinner than Hazuki. Although it seems that Hazuki's love is one-sided, episode seven shows that Hatsumi does have feelings for Hazuki and was trying to express herself as best as she could with the knowledge that she cannot stay beyond her sixteenth birthday (suggestions of this were shown along the way by her sending Hazuki anonymous love letters — later expressed in full and in words toward the end of the anime). In the first episode, Hatsumi disappears in a burst of green light ("sōma") at midnight on her sixteenth birthday, as Hazuki tries to steal a kiss in her sleep. The events that follow lead Hazuki to a mysterious library in another dimension, in which all the worlds are kept in books. Hazuki learns from the Library guardian, Lilith, that Hatsumi is only one of the forms of the previous guardian (Eve), and that Eve stays in different books for fun until she turns sixteen.
- Voiced by: Misaki Asamiya (game), Sanae KobayashiSanae Kobayashiis a voice actress who was born in Shizuoka Prefecture. She is affiliated with Production Baobab.-Television Animation:*.hack//Liminality as Mai Minase*.hack//Roots as Ender*.hack//Roots as Pi...
(anime) - Lilith is the guardian of the library. She is the third Yami, after Adam, the creator of all the worlds, and Eve. In the anime, Lilith is attracted to Hazuki and flirts relentlessly, though she is always turned down. Lilith appears to dislike Eve and have interest only in her own ends, but her kind and vulnerable sides are sometimes shown, especially when she encounters children in trouble; adults do not seem to move her to compassion as much. Her more childish mannerisms are fairly constant, but Lilith sometimes shows considerable wisdom and knowledge. She claims that Eve left the duty of being Yami and went off to play in the book worlds, and so she wants to find Eve and return her to the library.
- Ken is a yellow cockatielCockatielThe Cockatiel , also known as the Quarrion and the Weiro, is the smallest cockatoo endemic to Australia. They are prized as a household pet and companion parrot throughout the world and are relatively easy to breed...
who can talk. In the anime, he accompanies Lilith in her travels, while in the game he accompanies the nameless main character. He speaks in very heavy kansai-benKansai-benThe is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region of Japan. In technical term,it is called ; Kansai is also known as "Kinki", hence the alternative term. They are typified by the speech of Osaka, the major city of Kansai, which is referred to specifically as Osaka-ben...
. Ken is loud, obnoxious, lecherous and perverted, as well as overly confident and a bit too slow to stay out of trouble. He usually ends up punched, squashed, beaten or otherwise violated, either as a result of tasks given to him by Lilith, or because of his big mouth and perverted tendencies. In the game, his true form is a kendappaGandharvaGandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
and he is working for Arya.
- Voiced by: Jun FukuyamaJun Fukuyamais a voice actor. He was previously represented by Aoni Production and Production Baobab, and is now represented by . In 2007, he won the first Seiyu Awards for the best actor in leading role as Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass...
(anime) - Arya is a mysterious silver-haired boy who appears in every episode of the anime and during certain times in the game. In the anime he claims to be cleaning up after Hazuki and Lilith. Also, he offers to perform repairs on Tamamonomae's Space Hall. He is always cosplayCosplay, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...
ing as some type of character or animal. At the end of the anime series, he is shown closing a book that seems to contain the world of the Book Keepers. He is the main narrator of the story, and his short exits and introductions are often the only transition between stories.
- Voiced by: Ai ShimizuAi Shimizuis a Japanese voice actress who is employed by Haikyou. She also has a career as a singer an signed to Lantis. She has released 14 singles and four albums. She covered Yumi Matsutoya's "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" as the B-side of her first single "Angel Fish" in 2003...
(anime) - Kogechibi lives in the library, and looks like a four-inch (102 mm) -tall Eve, though with different colored eyes. "Koge" refers to the one-eyed cloak that covers all of her but the eyes. In the game, when the main character is occupying "Koge", the girl is referred to as "O-chibi-chan" ("o" being an honorific and "chan" an endearment). Kogechibi's vocabulary is composed of unintellible sounds akin to baby talk. In the anime, she has a disturbing love of fireworks and can say a few words if they have something to do with explosives. She plays a small part in the plot, but is mostly comic relief in the anime. In the game, it is revealed that the guardians "fragment" when they overexert themselves, and that the fragments take on a life of their own. Kogechibi is a fragment of Eve.
- Voiced by: Shinichiro MikiShinichiro Mikiis a Japanese voice actor. He is a member of 81 Produce.Miki is most known for the roles of Kojiro , Takumi Fujiwara , Kisuke Urahara , Akira Yuki , Lockon Stratos , and Roy Mustang .According to the Anime News Network, as of Spring 2007, Miki is...
(anime) - Gargantua appears in episode two of the anime as a madman, with three bumbling demonic henchmen and a servant named Seiren (derived from the Hellenic SirenSirenIn Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...
). His main goal is to find Eve who is present as the mute, magic-using Jill, assistant caretaker of the orphanage. Gargantua is fiercely attached to her, and accidentally stabs her fatally with a knife when he jealously tries to dislodge a fellow orphan, Ritsuko, from Jill's arms. Jill's body disappears in an explosion of souma, drenching the two children in her life force. In the game, Gargantua and the main character both hold and try to acquire more fragments of Eve. For a while, Gargantua takes over Joe Harry and the command of the "hunters" (smaller, one-eyed hat-looking creatures). At the end of the anime, thanks to Eve and Tamamonomae, Gargantua has a change of heart and returns to the realm Lilith gave him for the sacrifice of princess Mariel, taking Ritsuko with him.
- Voiced by: Tomomi Misaki (game), Kikuko InoueKikuko Inoueis a popular Japanese voice actress and singer. She has been part of the singing groups DoCo and Goddess Family Club, among others, and is the manager of her voice-acting company, Office Anemone. Inoue tends to play the "perfect girlfriend" or "motherly" role in many series, but she has also played...
(anime) - Ritsuko is an immortal magic user and appears no older than 25, despite being over a century old. Ritsuko travels the countryside performing healing miracles. She has never forgotten Jill or Gargantua, and carries small portraits of them in her locket. When she comes to the castle to heal Princess Mariel, she is taken in as the court alchemist. While escorting the princess around the village, Ritsuko meets Gargantua, who is also immortal because of Jill's souma and has learned dark magic. He kidnaps Princess Mariel and tries to sacrifice her to Lilith, in order to be shown where Eve is. Ritsuko stops him only too late and is framed for the kidnapping and thrown into a dungeon. Ritsuko is a user of sexual magic in the game, and one of the bodies occupied by the player is under her spell. She has a clone who was made by future herself, which is also seen travelling through the books with two children. At the end of the anime, thanks to some interference by Eve and Tamamonomae, Gargantua returns for Ritsuko, freeing her from her cell and taking her back with him to his own realm.
- Voiced by: Miyu MatsukiMiyu Matsukiis a Japanese voice actress. Her hometown is Hiroshima Japan.-Anime cast in:*Ayakashi as Hime Yakushiji*ARIA The NATURAL as Ayano *Binchō-tan as Pukashuu*Claymore as Flora*D.C. ~Da Capo~ as Yoriko Sagisawa*D.C.S.S...
(anime) - Milka appears in episode six under the care of Seiren. She is a girl with a cruel past who is trapped in her five-year-old body. Milka lives on an island, and has no one to befriend but Seiren and her white tiger, Rascaless. Her initial caretaker was an older woman who used to whip the child as a punishment for such trivial offences. Eventually, the old woman is killed by Rascaless when Milka isn't watching. Initially afraid of Hazuki and Lilith, she warms up to them and has Seiren take them to the villa at the center of the island. In the game, Milka is sent to live on the island by her older brother, for whom she has romantic feelings, because of her poor health. Seiren sings on the cliffs everyday to keep all of Milka's brother's soldiers under her spell, and Milka on the island. After Seiren and Lilith's reconciliation, Milka goes back to her brother with Rascaless.
- Voiced by: Anna Akashi (game), Ai ShimizuAi Shimizuis a Japanese voice actress who is employed by Haikyou. She also has a career as a singer an signed to Lantis. She has released 14 singles and four albums. She covered Yumi Matsutoya's "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" as the B-side of her first single "Angel Fish" in 2003...
(anime) - Fujihime appears in a book-world that corresponds to the samurai era of Japan. Fujihime looks like Hatsumi, but has purple eyes instead of red. Fujihime is not another form of Eve. She is Spirit of a japanese wieteria (called Fuji) who is gifted power from Eve. She can talk, and possesses the comb with which Hatsumi was using, in modern-day Japan.
- Voiced by: Ayaka Kimura (game), Kyoko HikamiKyoko Hikamiis a Japanese voice actress who was born in Kobe. She is part of the voice actress trio Furil which also consists of Wedding Peach voice castmates Yūko Miyamura and Yukana Nogami.-Notable voice roles:*Sudou in Atashinchi...
(anime) - Meirin is a cheerful, wily kitsuneKitsuneis the Japanese word for fox. Foxes are a common subject of Japanese folklore; in English, kitsune refers to them in this context. Stories depict them as intelligent beings and as possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume...
girl with two tails who is trying to "raise her rank" by getting close to the princess. The player of the game meets Meirin after he enters a body, the previous owner of which she unintentionally kills. To make up for it, she takes him to Fujihime.
- Voiced by: Yukana (anime)
- Lala is the monolithic AI controlling the spaceship upon which Hazuki and the others find themselves in episode ten. The ship is an "emigration spaceship" taking the former inhabitants of Earth on a search for a new home planet. None of the passengers appear over ten years old, yet they have been drifting for over two hundred years. Hazuki and Lilith discover that all the adults died in a plague nine years ago. Eve appeared in this world as Lular over a hundred years ago, and had vanished on her sixteenth birthday while fixing a malfunctioning part. This futuristic world and its characters do not appear in the game.
- Voiced by: Ayaka Kimura (game), Kyoko HikamiKyoko Hikamiis a Japanese voice actress who was born in Kobe. She is part of the voice actress trio Furil which also consists of Wedding Peach voice castmates Yūko Miyamura and Yukana Nogami.-Notable voice roles:*Sudou in Atashinchi...
(anime) - Tamaonomae appears to be Meirin's future form as a kitsune woman with nine tails, though she exists in a different world. The world is not book world, it is named Sen-Kai, which is greater than the library. In the anime, she and Meirin may simply be alternative versions of one another; she described Meirin as her 'other self', which in context may mean that Meirin is her creation or an independent creature which fissioned off from Tamamonomae. But in the another (but same company's) game, she is a really Meirin's future form. Despite her sexual and alcoholic tendencies, is not an unsympathetic character; she has considerable insight into people and does some fairly altruistic things for some of the other characters; she restores Mariel to human form, helps Gargantua to acknowledge the truth, returns the Hat to Eve and finally seems to have taken Gargantua's henchmen in as permanent guests.
- Voiced by: Terrier (game), Rie KandaRie Kandais a Japanese seiyū. She is affiliated with 81 Produce.Also known under the name:Asamiya Saki, Saitou Aiko, Saeki Ami, Suzuki Mari, Tokiwa Misaki, Mimura Sakiko, Mimura Sachiko-Anime:*Ah! My Goddess...
(anime) - Seiren is a beautiful, blue-haired woman who initially appears as Gargantua's ally in the anime. He describes her as a devil, but apparently trusts her, using her aid in his search for Eve. Seiren holds a grudge against Lilith, claiming that she was abandoned by her. She is most upset when they meet again on Milka's island and Lilith doesn't even remember her.
- Voiced by: Pomeranian (game), Sayaka OharaSayaka Oharais a Japanese voice actress. She is currently affiliated with Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society. She is a graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University's Department of Literature. Her nickname is...
(anime) - A woman who appears in a book-world that corresponds to the Russo-Japan War era. She is an intelligence agent and an expert martial artist noted for sending three colleagues into hospital during training. Yōko arrives on a train somewhere corresponding to contemporary Russian Siberia, cross-dressing as a male diplomat and attempting to link up with fellow agent Kohtaro Nanbu, codenamed "Adam", for a film containing radio codes.
- Voiced by: Hina Kamimura (game), Hiroko KasaharaHiroko KasaharaHiroko Kasahara is a popular seiyū and J-pop singer.She sang the ending theme song of the PlayStation 2 RPG, Shadow Hearts, titled Ending Theme ~ Shadow Hearts, and the ending theme of the PC and Playstation 2 visual novel Ever17: the Out of Infinity, titled Aqua Stripe- Notable voice roles :*...
(anime) - A princess in Ritsuko and Gargantua's world. One day, when she is placed under Ritsuko's care, she meets Gargantua and eventually develops a crush on him. She is later kidnapped and sacrificed to Lilith by Gargantua, committing suicide by poison, but is reincarnated and employed as a maid by Tamamonomae.
Manga
There is a one-book mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
adaptation, Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito ~Romance, illustrated by Aya Sakurai. It is a compressed version of the game's events, following the storyline that leads to a romantic relationship between the nameless main character and Lilith.
Anime
A 13-episode anime TV series adaptation was produced by the animation studio Studio DeenStudio DEEN
is a Japanese company that produces anime. Three years after Sunrise was founded in 1972, Studio Deen was established by Sunrise's members in 1975. As a result of this, anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop that were produced by Sunrise may have had assistance from Studio Deen.-Produced anime:* Urusei...
and directed by Yuji Yamaguchi. The anime aired in Japan between October 2 and December 25, 2003 on Animax
Animax
is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...
and MBS
Mainichi Broadcasting System
is a broadcasting station in Osaka, Japan, affiliated with Japan Radio Network , National Radio Network , Japan News Network and TBS Network, serving in the Kansai region. MBS is also one of the major stockholders of Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, Inc...
. The anime's opening theme is "Hitomi no Naka no Meikyū" by Aiko Kayō
Aiko Kayō
is a popular idol singer. She has released 12 singles and 2 albums on the Avex Trax label in Japan. She has also performed with the musical units and a☆girls.-About:Aiko Kayō was born on December 11, 1985 in Kanagawa Prefecture....
and the ending theme is "Eien no Inori o Sasagete" by Sanae Kobayashi
Sanae Kobayashi
is a voice actress who was born in Shizuoka Prefecture. She is affiliated with Production Baobab.-Television Animation:*.hack//Liminality as Mai Minase*.hack//Roots as Ender*.hack//Roots as Pi...
.
Episodes
| # | Episode title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
Video game
A spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
game exists known as was released in 2004, it intended to teach typing skills. It was based on the anime and even uses screencaps from it.