Far East of Eden: Fuun Kabuki Den Day 1

That's it, that's the game...

  So I finally got around to playing Kabuki Den.  I've been wanting to do it for a while. So far I'm extremely pleased with the game... in which I mean, I absolutely hate the game and play through it just to watch the amazing cut scenes.  I just can't make it through Japanese RPGs.  Every time I run into a random encounter I just want to scream and throw something.  I hate the grinding, I hate all the healing, I hate everything about them.  The only turn based RPGs I could play or ever get through where the mario ones because of the way that they're set up.  You participate more in them.  I say that I know enough Japanese to get me through a show or a manga that isn't translated, but when it comes to a game, I'm usually lost.  I'm alright with the stories but then it comes to figuring out where to go, how to heal, and how to fight, I'm a mess.  It happens especially with JRPGs.  I've been trying to play some Otome games on the PSP that I've bought, but alas, I merely stumble through them.
Anyway, I should talk about the game a little.
 

His high pitched screaming laughter

they're both so beautiful

  Fuun Kabuki Den is an offshoot of the Tengai Makyou or Far East of Eden series.  Because the character of Kabuki was so dang popular he got this game, a bomber man clone and a fighting game or two.  Far East of Eden on the other hand, was a very popular franchise in the early 90's.  It stood out from others like Final Fantasy because it was on the PC engine that could hold more information, meaning there's full voice acting, "animated" cut scenes and CD quality music in some sections.  The over all story and plot are quite easy to follow because of this.  And Kabuki.... OH Kabuki is such an awesome character.  Just listening to his voice actor do his lines cracks me up, and most of the time he's speaking so fast and brashly that I can't catch every word but I pretty much can tell what he's saying by how he said it.  Every time he's on screen I am doubled over laughing at his antics.  He's just such an arrogant jerk you can't help but love him.  The story starts out with Kabuki receiving a letter from a character that was from the first game named Orochimaru.  They meet up for night in a brothel when suddenly all the women vanish before them!  Oh no!  looks like all the women in the village are gone too!  How could this have happened!?  It must be the work of some evil demons or something.  You set off to go find the women.  That's it.  I might be missing a few things... actually I know I am, but I get the gist.

His sprite is adorable though

There's nothing new with the battle system though.  It's just your typical JRPG.  They've started me off grinding so early in the game too.  I just don't want to do the open world parts.  I'm in the first dungeon and I'm just being killed left and right. There's no way I can make it through this game alone.  I refuse to go out and grind some levels.  It took me a while to figure out what items healed and where the inns were. I was stuck for a few hours until I found you can walk through trees on the world map.  Good grief.  I'll keep it up.  I'll just have to swallow my pride if I want to see more cut scenes.  I'll do it for you my dearest Kabuki.  Pah, who am I kidding.  I hate JRPGs so much, I'll probably end up watching all the cut scenes on Nico Nico Douga or something.

A Realization: about my "type" of anime guy

I just realized it the other day when typing up my boo hoo post about how I'll never see Anime Tenchou get smacked around with parasols by little girls in witch maid costumes.
It hit me suddenly; All my favorite anime characters... are just the same character.  I guess that could be said for every character in anime, especially the girls.  But this... I don't know why but it struck me as funny. Okay, technically one of them is strictly from a game series and another one is a mascot but they might as well have been from anime.  Is there a name for this type of character?  Are there set characteristics.  I know it's not a "Yankee" and it's definitely not tsundere.  They're more of like... super loyal punks.  Yeah, I don't know but here they are.

KABUKI from FAR EAST OF EDEN

Check this jerk out.  He's from the game series far east of eden from the 90's.  he was quite popular and got his own spin off games.

• Jewelry
• Loads of Snark
• floofy hair asking to be ruffled
• Hot blooded ready to fight
• No respect to authority
• comic relief
• Able to contort his face
• cute when he gets serious

JOUNOUCHI / JOEY from YUGIOH

from 14 to 17, I was obsessed with this dang show and it wasn't until I saw the original japanese that I started liking joey.  His voice is just so smooooooth.

• Loads of Snark
• floofy hair asking to be ruffled
• Hot blooded ready to fight
• No respect to authority
• comic relief
• Able to contort his face
• cute when he gets serious
• worries about his sister

TENMA from HARUKANARU TOKI NO NAKA DE

I swear, this is the last time he's showing up in my blog.  I actually hated him the most in the show until I read the manga, now I'm crazy about him.

• Loads of Snark
• No floof but I'd still ruffle it
• Hot blooded ready to fight
• No respect to authority
• comic relief
• cute when he gets serious
• worries about his sister

ANIME TENCHOU from ANIMATE

Here he is on my blog again.  I swear.  Can I just have the life sized figure they made of him?  cut out?  please tell there's a slightly suggestive body pillow of him. I need this in my life.

• Loads of Snark
• floofy hair asking to be ruffled
• Hot blooded ready to fight
• comic relief
• Able to contort his face
• cute when he gets serious

TASUKI from FUSHIGI YUGI

As much as I bash fugishi yugi, I really did enjoy tasuki as a character.  He didn't strike me as attractive until the 2nd OVA though.

• Jewelry
• Loads of Snark
• floofy hair asking to be ruffled
• Hot blooded ready to fight
• No respect to authority
• comic relief
• Able to contort his face
• cute when he gets serious

So, what does any of this mean?  What is it about these guys that attract me to them?  I'm actually thinking it's the squinty eyes, snarky attitude and hair floofyness.  The floofyness meter is all over the charts here though.  some on here have little floof while others like Meito have MEGA FLOOF.  The good thing is that all of them are extremely driven and positive while I am neither of those things.  They're mega loyal but one of them is a floozie womanizer and the other one nearly raped a girl and says he hates women.  The bad thing about all these guys though is that they have no respect for authority and are really quick to get angry and fight.  So if this is what I'm attracted to in real life, I've got to watch out.  Their "loyalty" might end up being controlling or even abusive.  That's like my worst fear and yet I go nuts for this character type.

crap dang it this blog is becoming increasingly creepier the more I post.

And now... a list of anime I'll never get the chance to experience

The internet is a fantastic and wonderful place.  If you want to buy something, it is yours, if you need to know something, it's right at your finger tips... but if you want to watch something obscure and hard to find... You might not get that chance.  Between scarcity and copyright laws, there lies an anime middle ground where OVAs, anime movies and specials go to die.  Not to mention canceled series and projects.  This is my list of shows that bring me grief knowing that I'll most likely never get to see them.

Anime Tenchou x Touhou Project

probably the clearest trailer you'll ever see

Meito Anizawa also known as the anime tenchou is a character that I've loved since I first watched Lucky Star and I still love it when I see him wandering around in other anime.  His hotblooded flameball of a personality just gets to me.  He's a mascot for a certain HUGE anime store called Animate.  I'm starting to notice a pattern in my favorite anime guys.  They're all that "go get em" shonen flame of friendship and loyalty type.  It's hard to explain.  I might just post on this later.
On the other hand we have Touhou.  A home brewed bullet oblivion game that consists of cute girls with magical powers that I'm pretty sure are also Youkai. I've been a fan of the series for a while now.  To combine these two in a short OVA to celebrate animate's 10 year anniversary is just a gold plated idea.  This is the first official animation for Touhou and many fans of the series have been anticipating this short. (and I mean short.  It's said to only be 10 minutes long.) The bits that I can see of Meito interacting with the girls is just fantastic.  Most of the girls are the very serious, no nonsense tomboy types and to have him being dragged around and smacked with parasols just gives me the squwees.  It was shown live once at a convention in japan somewhere and is now lost to the abyss of time since the original creator of Touhou didn't want it distributed.  It probably shows every once and a while at the actual animate store but I don't know. It may show up somewhere in the depths of the internet one day but I'll just have to wait. Here's the only trailer

Miraculous Ladybug

Chat Noir: why I wanted this series

Besides the Touhou x Tenchou cross over, this is probably the one I'm most upset about and it hasn't even been confirmed yet.  a lot of the details about this french / Japanese series is under wraps and it's been a constant back and fourth between "oh, the anime series is still being made, they'll just have a CG movie first." and "Actually the movie is live action and the series is now CG because every one in FRANCE LIKED IT BETTER."  (Which I don't understand since Wakfu is doing so well over there and it's pretty much anime styled.)  I probably wont watch it because all of the charm that I was experiencing in the preview is just... gone.  There is hope though.  It could still be an anime series made by Toei.  I'm crossing my fingers, but I know deep in my heart that It's a false hope.  2D animation outside of Japan is DEAD.  CG and Flash are just so much more efficient, working most of the time with the character models like a puppet.  Not having to worry about perspective and off model problems.  I understand the appeal, but nothing feels like hand drawn animation.  Here's the only preview.

just look at that face thing he does.  GAH so cute.

Orpheus of the Stars / Metamorphoses / Winds of Change

released in the early 80's as a collaboration between Japanese and American animators, it was created to be the "modern fantasia."  It was distributed by Sanrio (you will know this as the hello kitty company) and it completely flopped.  It was set to disco music and was silent at first but had a voice over added to it later.  It's said to have no plot, horrible characters and every one complains about the "american" look to all the characters.  The movie doesn't even know what age they want it to be fore as they have a bit of nudity in it.  I'm kind of an odd person that loves these kinds of animated movies.  It has no ideas what it wants to be and who it's for and I don't care how bad it is I will watch the heck out of this when I find it. Here's the two known videos for it. trailor 1 clip from the movie

Yousei Ou

I'm a sucker for 70's mangas and the style that they have.  I've actually started collecting some of the more popular ones from the time such as glass mask and ouke no monshou.  I found out about yousei ou from a tumblr blog that posts art from the manga and I feel in love with the art of this series.  Just look at the elegance.  The 70's style of shojou manga is most certainly an acquired taste though.  The only clips or information I've found about this early 80's ova have been in russian.  Poor shows when they're this old just get forgotten.

HEAD TO HEAD: Fushigi Yuugi VS Harutoki

First off I have to give a disclaimer.  My personal opinions have been influenced by which show I've seen first, personal experience and over all feeling that I got from it.  One show may have more meat and meaning to it, while the other is one that I watch with my brain turned off.  What I will go off of is which one I feel more comfortable watching, which one makes me feel better and which one I personally like better.

We all have our go to snack.  For me, it's Andes mints.  I could just sit there and eat the whole bag without noticing, got to the store, pick up another bag and eat the whole thing again.  That's how Harutoki is for me.  There's no real plot, I hardly can tell how many episodes I've watched and I can binge watch it one week and start over again a week later.
When I was watching FuYu, it was like the first time I tasted Miso soup.  I was gagging with every sip but then the after taste would kick in.  I really loved the left over taste in my mouth so I would take another sip thinking it would get better and end up gagging again.  The whole time I was thinking "I'm either learning a great lesson and being culturally open or I'm going to be really sick."  While the Miso soup is healthier for me and has more substance, I've vowed never to venture into that experiment again unless influenced by friends who will also be partaking in the soup with me.  oh ho ho ho.

Both shows are romance based with some adventure and time travel involved.  However, the way that the romance was handled was different in each show.  FuYu focused on raw sexual emotion.  I really didn't get the feeling that the characters liked Miyaka for her personality or for her as a human.  It was almost as if they were written to just be constantly wanting her in their bed.  I felt that they had no respect for her.  Many of the characters forced themselves onto her without knowing how she felt about them and some even knowing that she didn't feel for them that way.  They were all fighting against each other in order to get Miyaka's goods and then the drama begins with her having to remain a virgin.  I have to admit that I was laughing so hard when Tamahome was crying when he found out she had to stay a virgin.  He was doing the hand thing too like "I want to touch her all over but.. IT'S FORBIDDEN."  It's like they were blaming her and saying that virgin-hood is a bad thing and you should just stop making the dudes suffer and give em the bits.

On the other hand, I feel that the relationships in Harutoki are more realistic. Every one RESPECTS her.  That's all I want in a romance anime.  No forcing girls onto the bed or holding back their arms to kiss them OR GETTING THEM DRUNK AND THEN TRYING TO RAPE HER. TASUKI YOU WERE MY FAVORITE WHY U DO DIS!? I don't care if you were under some spell or whatever.

The hot blooded guy of the group, Tenma, tells her how he feels, hugs her and then runs away awaiting an answer.  He doesn't force himself onto her or demand anything from her besides letting him be the only one to protect her.  These kids are from Highschool to College age too.  They are legal to go and do the woohoo (and yes, I know that japanese woohoo laws and american woohoo laws are different) and yet, they start off as guardians, then as friends, they start getting feelings for Akane and then THEY LET HER DEICED.  Tenma on the other hand, has the potential to be a rather abusive boyfriend.  He is really controlling, loses his temper easily and is ready to hit any one at a moment's notice.  What I like is that even though you feel obligated to route for them since she saved him from the delinquent lifestyle, you can sense that Akane knows that he could end up being a really bad relationship.

Heck, even the womanizer floozy of the group, Tomomasa, flirts with Akane all the time but treats her with more respect than anyone did in FuYu. He acts like a gentleman and doesn't demand she should sleep with him. GOOD JOB HARUTOKI! WAY TO BE!

me the entire time watching harutoki

The real question is though, which one is more realistic?  Is it a vicious cycle and every one believes that guys a like the ones in FuYu?  Is it unrealistic of me to want men to act like Tenma or Tomomasa or even Yorihisa?  Can I get a little respect?  Maybe it's where you live or who you hang out with?  The way that you're raised.  I believe that there are men like the ones in Harutoki out there and that the one's in FuYu are just a media driven image that we're expected to accept.

With all it's rape, self harm, and disrespect for the main female's wishes of who she wants and doesn't want in her body, Fushigi Yuugi slips to the very bottom of my list of anime.  I have no intention to watch it again.  Harutoki is on the very top, regardless of how much of a rip-off it is or how the plot never really progresses.  It makes me see men in a better light and realize that I deserve a relationship where I'm respected.  For this, I could watch it over and over again.  It's like sweet, sweet candy.

Dating Sims and Other reasons why I'm going to die alone.

Just the fact this this guy exists drives me crazy

Ever notice how there's all these dating sims for women over in Japan but over here, It's weird for girls to play any kind of video game.  The ones we do get are usually accompanied with other kinds of gameplay and the romance takes a back seat.   I'm fine with Harvest Moon and Rune factory, but their man selection isn't the best.  Rune Factory 4 is better but it's probably the last game of the series since the company went bankrupt.
Most dating sims on the other hand are heavy in text and may or may not have any sort of gameplay besides that.  They're sort of like saucy, choose your own adventure books.  Hey, that actually doesn't sound that bad.  Over here though, the thought of pretending to date a fictional character is absolutely taboo and on the lowest rank of desperate.
It's not that odd of an idea though when you think of it.  It's like when you fall in love with a character or actor, these types of games just make it more interactive so it's not so one sided.  That's why technology is amazing.  These 2D characters actually want to bang you back.  Is it hurting more than helping though?

Geten no Hana

I sort of get lost when I start playing games.  I get sucked into that world and everything feels so real to me.  I'm not saying that all games are bad or that they're making me crazy.  After a traumatic experience, it's sometimes the only things that can get you out of the pain of every day life and PTSD.  Id rather live in my make believe world than remember all the horrible things that this life has thrown at me or become dependent on medication like my father was.  Do I keep up with school?  I've never been better!  I've never gotten such good grades in all my life.  Is it really making me loose sight of what's real and what's not?  of course not.  I know that it's just a game but that doesn't mean that the characters and situations aren't based off of people and situations that have happened before.  In a sense they have a potential to be real outside of the game.  Is it ruining my dating life?  Maybe, if I had a dating life.  My whole view of how men should act towards me have been determined by these games.  Is it unrealistic to expect these sort of actions from men?  All these characters are so beautiful, so perfect.  They have no real flaws and the ones that they do have are small and make them even more attractive.  In a way, they've ruined dating for me because I know that no matter who I date, I'll never find any one like these men.
I do think that there is hope for me though.  I've never had the opportunity to have any one like me or have a crush on me.  All throughout high school  (9 years ago) I felt like I was missing out on an important step to adulthood.  The only guy that I'd ever had a crush on turned down my advances and ever since then history seems to repeat it'self whenever I ask a guy out.  They all react the same and I can sense that they're afraid to even go on one date with me or hang out.  On the other hand, my mother has started to date again and tells me about her whirlwind romance.  The things she describes is just like these games.  It gave me hope that it's not about how real or fake these men are in dating sims, but when you find some one who's willing to invest their hole soul into you it naturally occurs.  That it's not made up or over dramatized in media.  It exists for that little bit.  While I may never have this kind of romance or any romance at all in my life, these games give me hope that that somewhere out there, someone is interested in me and that I just have to be my spunky, friendly self and wait.

Harukanaru Toki no Naka de: Your G rated off brand Fushigi Yuugi

I can't quite remember how I ran across Harutoki.  I might have been looking for romantic shows that were rated PG according to MyAnimeList.  What's odd though is that the Manga is rated Older Teen.  I wonder what's going on in there.  I might have to go check.
Specifically I will be talking about the 20 something episode TV series that ran somewhere around 2005... 9 years... ago.  ALMOST TEN YEARS.  I was in highschool then. You mean to tell me I was in High School almost TEN YEARS AGO!?  Time is spinning by so fast and I'm not doing anything.  Why does every show have to take place in highschool or Jr High?  I swear, these kids have it all.  Magic power, miracle romances that transcend time and space.  Oh hey, that's exactly what this show is about.
First off, I'd like to say that this is one of my favorite shows or series that I've ever encountered and it would not do it justice to compare it to Fushigi Yuugi.  These two shows have completely different overall messages and feelings.  Fushigi Yuugi seems as if it were the inspiration for the series since it does have similar themes.  It's almost like a company couldn't get the rights to adapt the story into a dating sim type game or it could be that they loved the series and thought "what if you could choose what idiot Miaka goes for?  That sounds like fun." That seems to be the main comparison that people have when they complain that this show is just a rip off.  What I'm certain of is that all Asian cultures have ancient tales of the four gods and that Harutoki uses the ancient myth as it's basis.

Anyway,  the anime of Harutoki is based off a very popular reverse harem dating sim that came out on the PS1.  There have been about 10 games made and NONE OF THEM have been translated.  I'm just waiting for some one to hack and translate one of the games.. unless some one has done it already.  I have been able to play the GBA remake but I didn't get too far because I really can't read much Kanji.  As you can see from the cover, the characters are all very attractive and beautiful men.  I'm also very happy to report that there are NO trigger warnings in the tv series.  They do mention seppuku once while talking about the samurai Yorihisa and it came off as an innocent joke.  Some of the characters are hinted at having sexual relations but nothing is shown.  There is no nudity or even naked, self contemplation, floating in space scenes.  You're probably wondering why you would even want to watch this then huh? Well...If you're mormon like me and you want a series that you can watch and fawn over with your other single mormon friends that also like anime (is this a thing or am I the only one?) this show is the one for you.
-THE STORY-
Akane, an every day highschool girl, along with her two friends are sucked into an ancient well and taken to the Heian Period.  That would be around 1100 AD.  In between her journey she is visited by the white dragon god that resides over the four lesser gods, byakko, Genbu, Suzaku and seiryu and bestowed with his power and the eight dragon jewels that will rest in the eight guardians called the Hachiyo.  The land that they end up in is called Kyou and is cursed with sickness, droughts, vengeful spirits and demons.  Akane must use her powers as priestess and cleanse the land of impurities and battle the leader of the demon clan, Akram.
THE GOOD
Just the culture and history of it all is very fascinating.  They really focus on the lives of the people during that time and the folklore.  They have a some interesting fight scenes and it's fun seeing the traditional monsters.
THE BAD
Unfortunately, harutoki is short and doesn't have much structure.  The 2nd and 3rd episode are the worst with pacing and keeping you interested.  The pacing is all over the place at times and to some, it may even be slow.  It's not boring though.  out of the short 20 episodes there are two or three filler episodes that contain characters and plots that have no effect on the central nonresistant plot.  What a waste.  What the show really shines in is the characters.

-THE CHARACTERS-
This is the center of the show.  Each character is very fleshed out and have their own tragic back stories and reasons for liking Akane.  Akane herself is actually a very strong and likable character that is relateable to highschool and even college aged girls.  I watch quite a bit of shojou and I've seen the whole gambit when it comes to female main characters.  Or it could be that she's really flat and easy for you to place yourself inside of.  While I didn't do this in my review of FuYu I will go over the 8 guys individually.  All express their love in a respectful and calm matter and the best part is you get to choose the ending and who she ends up with.  How cool is that?

TENMA is the first to admit that he has feeling for Akane.  He has good reason too.  He feels that she saved from a delinquent life after being held back a grade because he couldn't deal with the trauma of his younger sister being kidnapped.  He was sucked into the well with her and their friend Simon.  He has a hot temper and a deep sense of duty to protect Akane.  Their friendship is very natural and sweet.  He's also against authority and has a hard time following orders and rules.  His personality and backstory is exactly like Joey from Yugioh.

the shadows and  perfect nails give it away

In fact, this show feels a lot like Yugioh to me.  It was like everything that I loved about it without all the boring dueling.  That could be why I latched onto it so fast.  I recognized the art director, Kagami Takahiro, in the first episode from yugioh because of how they draw, position and shade hands.  He's one of my favorite animators of all time. You will now recognize Kagami's hands in any anime you watch that he was animation director on.

can you tell I ship them hard?

Up next we have YORIHISA.  He is the moral opposite of tenma with a calm and even temper and the utmost respect for authority.  He follows every order given to him by Akane and acts as her body guard.  He has a hard time talking about himself and his painful past of causing his older brother's death.  His seriousness actually leads to some of the best parts of the show because of how well his character plays off of Akane's sweetness.  I do believe that this is the most perfect cartoon man I ever had the joy to lay my eyes upon.  If only I could lay more than just my eyes upon him. oh ho ho ho.  In all seriousness though, he is probably the best character in the show.

SIMON was pulled into the well with Akane and tenma and acts as the woobie of the group.  He views Akane as an older sister.  He doesn't do much because every one in Kyou thinks that he is a demon with his blonde hair and blue eyes.  I use to have a problem with this because if their gonna play this trope, they have to play it strait and not have characters with purple or turquoise hair.  I eventually got over because it's hard to depict in anime but I'm assuming he has European blood in him and that's what the demon clan looks like.  It's odd thought because Tenma acts more like an american with all the english and swearing that spews from his mouth.  This character is actually a lot like Yugi from Yugioh.

INORI is his opposite.  He has a deep seeded hatred for demons and won't accept Simon as a hachiyo because of how he looks.  He has a a thirst for revenge because of all the pain that they brought to his city and family.  His older sister is pregnant and one of the lead demons is the father.  While they wish to stop the fighting between the two clans and raise their child in peace, inori believes that he's deceiving and using his older sister.  Poor inori as a character doesn't get much screen time or interaction with Akane so his omake ending seems really forced and out of nowhere.  He might have had more development in the game but I'll never know.



YASUAKI is an interesting little character.  He is the Taoist side of religion in Kyou and uses his powers to exersize and seal monsters.  He's the most useful of the group but comes off as rude.  He is an artificial human, created by his teacher he was born only recently and has no emotions until they are taught to him by Akane.  I'm assuming that the blue on his face is grafted skin and he has mismatching eyes.  I have a theory that he is pieced together from other humans like the monster of Frankenstein unless he was created by other means.  You won't get attached to this character until the last few episodes when he really starts to get interesting.

His opposite is the Buddist monk EISEN.  He is the most feminine of the group and is used as a decoy for a woman once.  All joking aside, he has a very sensitive heart and feels as if his life only causes is others pain.  He was in line to become emperor but gave up the duty to his half brother.  He has a very gentle disposition and lives his life in piece, avoiding conflict as much as he can.  His attraction to Akane give him much anxiety because of his status as monk, denouncing the world and wants such as desire and wanting.









We have arrived at the unbearably beautiful and laid back Lieutenant TOMOMASA.  He is an all around ladies man and spends his time lounging, drinking and wooing women.  He doesn't like seriousness or hard work and teases Akane with fake advances.  He's not past seductively pulling back her hair and whispering into her ear just to tease her.  He thinks that the destruction of the city would be interesting and is afraid of commitment.  He doesn't become a Hachiyou until halfway through the series while the other hachyou were found near the beginning.  I bet he smells like flowers.  His joking and apathy is pretty refreshing for a show where every one is gun-ho.




His opposite is TAKAMICHI.  He's a hard character for me to talk about because he reminds me so much of my late father.  He works very hard and takes everything with an overwhelming amount of seriousness.  Out of the hachiyou, he seems the most distant from Akane.  He seems to be more romantically inclined towards one of the main demons.  It's a nice little twist. He fights a lot with tomomasa because of the way he treats women and his lack of enthusiasm for his work.  He has a hard time interacting with the ladies and goes to tomomasa for advice.  He puts his work before himself and likes to be alone.  His omake ending feels very forced and unnatural.  Once again, he might be more fleshed out in the game.

THE GOOD
Every one is awesome.  Some may find Akane's cheerfulness and fear of her power annoying at first but you will get over it.  I really enjoyed her as a main character because she felt like some one I'd know.  Each character has a great personality and they clash interestingly with one anther.

THE BAD
Because the show is designed to have you choose the love interest in the end, you don't really get attached to one relationship.  They push Tenma and Yorihisa on the viewer while other ships don't get explored at all.  Some characters feel like dead weight and it's hard to follow all of them.

-THE ART-

Harutoki is a feast for the eyes.  It has my favorite anime style, color scheme, environments and backgrounds out of any anime besides place promised in our early days and 5cm per second.  the animation is very smooth and only drops quality one or two episodes where it's not really needed and it's hardly noticeable.  It's at it's best with Kagami directing animation with rich shadows, fluid movement and interesting outlines on the characters. 

THE GOOD
EVERYTHING

THE BAD
some of the action sequences have a hard time depicting weight when a character falls.  There are a few instances where some one will fall, bounce a while, roll over in mid air, and stand up while in mid bounce.  The main swords fight luckily avoid any awkwardness.  The music is also worth mentioning as well.  It's so calm and beautiful.  definitely worth a listen.

LETS GO TO THE SCOREBOARD
STORY: 5/10 The poor show suffers from game adaption troubles and no real focus.  There's no direction and the episodes seem really disconnected.  The endings are really loose, boring and lazy that don't explain where they are, if Akane decided to stay with them in the past or go home or what.  Does she even make it home?  I don't even know.

CHARACTERS: 9/10 All the characters were enjoyable and worked very well off each other, no one was annoying or too cliche.  Akane seems like some one you use to know in highschool and works well with almost all the men as a romantic interest.  Because there wasn't one love interest, the romance waves and falls into a pit of stagnant puppylove.  I'm alright with it sitting there.  Nobody kisses either.

ART: 10/10 The art stays beautiful to the very end with interesting character designs, beautiful outlines, interesting shading and beautiful backgrounds and environments.  The music is beautiful, organic and fits the series perfectly.

OVERALL SCORE AND FINAL THOUGHTS
6/10 I really wish more people knew about this series.  It may be slow for some people, it may be too held back for others that are looking for a good romance. It's horribly predictable and slow. It's created for women and filled with beautiful men so guys will have a hard time watching it without feeling uncomfortable (I'm seeing if my anime guru uncle will like it)  It's perfect if you want a reverse harem without trigger warnings or explicit sex and enjoy more beautiful smooth styles of anime.  It's just an interesting little series.  If you enjoy reverse harems, beautiful men and a more toned down happy show, this is for you.  Otherwise you can skip it

What I personally Took from the Show
I could watch this show non stop over and over.  I don't know what it is that catches me every time.  It's not suspenseful or thought provoking.  It's just there to please the eye.  One day I'll be able to play the games but we'll see.