Hatsuki is a highschool student living with her sister, Hatsumi, who she has a huge crush on. On Hatsumi's 16th birthday, she is suddenly surrounded by a green light and disappears in front of Hatsuki. She manages to follow Hatsumi with the help of a being resembling a fat baby chick (literally), ending up in a place called "The Great Library", which is full of different worlds stored in books. Hatsumi wasn't there, though, so the search for Hatsuki's great love begins and involves traveling from book to book.
(Source: AniDB)
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Comentários
Ranivus
::QUICK REVIEW:: Story: 6 (Constant alternate universe style) Art: 7 (It's ecchi-tastic! Everything else is nice too) Sound: 7 (Lots of girl groaning in this show) Character: 8 (So... much... fanservice [/drools]) Enjoyment: 9 (I enjoyed the hell out of it) Overall: 34/50 = 7.4 ~7.0 (It'll play with your emotions)::FULL REVIEW::
Ohkay okay, its time for a proper review of this piece. Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito (Yamibou for short) Is a heartwarming coming of age tale about a love between two super cute sisters. Their world gets torn apart when Hatsumi mysteriously disappears into thin air right in front of her sister Hazuki. But as Hazuki is about to find out, theres more to this adventure than she realizes.
The story itself feels something similar to an excel saga or magic shopping district in terms of overall feel with our main characters jumping into different 'books' and such. Don't worry it'll be explained to you pretty early. Hell in the first 6 minutes of episode one, you find out that theres girl love, incest, and drama. So this show knows that it's series is short and they compensate by trying to let you understand the Yamibou universe in detail. Of course this style of story telling is not immune to plot holes and inconsistencies, but they cover it very well with quite a gratuitous amount of fanservice.
If your a fan of large boobs you'll definitely love this show. If not, just be prepared. There are more than enough fanservice shots in EVERY episode. Even during the heat of battle, one is not immune to losing a top or having entire sets of clothes dissolve in to thin air. It obviously doesn't progress the story whenever things like this happens but it is a good indicator at how well they managed to produce a fairly good quality show ...from an artistic standpoint. Every one of the girls were drawn with sexuality in mind. Head to toe, and from costume to bare skin, its all there obviously to cause quite a stir from the viewing audience.
The characters are mostly made with a moe attitude in mind. You got your clumsy stupid girl, your tsundere, and even a silent type. Nothing is really new in the personality department (with the exception of the girl love), but you'll still feel intrigued as to what will happen next for Hazuki and company. Even the little side characters are cute as well. I laugh every time i hear that chicken :P Mind you, the characters aren't comparable to like a Key character (Kanon, Air, etc) But they are better than average.
Overall it was a good anime viewing experience worth the 3+ hours watching it. Although I was sort of confused as to who this show was being catered towards because the overall story is very girl oriented, but the fanservice is very boy oriented. Either way, if you like the Alice in Wonderland style of story with loads of skin give this a shot. It'll play with your emotions.
tentacle_raep
Truly absurd. Say you're a girl (Hatsuki) who has a crush on your sister (Hatsumi) and one day choose to sneak into her room and just have your way with her as she sleeps. The next thing you know you're spanning parallel universes comprised of/represented by different storybooks on things like the Trans-Siberian Railroad, primeaval cultures, ninjas, desert islands, and god knows what else while accompanied by a pervy embodiment Lilith, to realize that your beloved is actually Eve, and exists for her own reasons in these parallel worlds and has many forms and loves. Throw in a batshit crazy fairy prince (Gargantua) who is a parodyof every "heroic" bishonen lead and his twisted reality involving a Princess, Mariel, whom he sacrifices only to watch a close friend, Ritsuko take the blame and punishment for him... Also a Kitsune woman with really large tits and her own censorship circle over her naughty bits.
This is a beautiful mess of intertwining characters, random story arcs, all set to Hatsuki's quest trying to find Hatsumi/Eve--both driven by an eternal love and guilt. It's as weird as anime gets, but still manages to make sense while doing it--to some extent. All of the charcters seem real, driven by real emotions, like Eve, whose flippant desire to span the worlds of books leaves broken hearts in her wake and dooms those who have fallen in love with her to search her for eternity. Hatsuki and Gargantua are two such people, each with their own goals and desire for redemption (albeit Gargantua's is superficially absurd, a more touching motive is told through Ritsuko's backstory). Even the pervy Lilith, who despite wanting to molest Eve, doesn't want to be left alone to be the custodian of the library for all eternity while her sister plays with the hearts of others and leaves her to clean up the mess.
It's weird, disjointed, introduces random characters from the parallel story arcs and breaks up the story line--but it all seems to work in spite of it all (with a surprisingly clear premise, motivated characters, and resolution) and makes for an entertaining way to kill an evening.
w7n
Opening question: What happens if love in a divine form enters the world of mortals? SPOILERS PRESENT, because there is hardly any way to do justice to the show without spoiling stuff. But I will try to keep the amount of spoilers low. It's advised that you not read this before you have completed the show, unless you don't mind to be spoiled. However, if you do have completed the show and are confused about something, feel free to check this long review. Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, YamiBou(or Yamibou, Yamibo) for short, is arguably one of the hardest-to-review anime. Why so?Say, for fluffy slice-of-life shows, the main factor is enjoyment value, for example how good the jokes are and how heartwarming the show is.
For romance stories, the main factors are the characters and how they undergo character development etc.
For shows which try to deliver serious stuff, the main factors are the symbols, the points the anime delivers, and also the characters etc.
But YamiBou is not any of them, and there is hardly a clear principle on which 'prime factors' to choose. Also, though people may be turned off by the anime for one reason or another, there is one specific part of the anime which is not so easy to understand and requires some 'overinterpretation' skills to fully understand.
So in this case let's analyse the anime first.
--PLOT--
The plot of YamiBou starts with two sisters, named Hadzuki(aka Hazuki/Haduki), and Hatsumi. Hadzuki has a crush on Hatsumi, and one night decides to sneak into her bedroom and go yuri-yuri with her. And anyone who have watched Ep01 knows what happens next.
From then on the story then spans alpha, beta, and gamma(just joking) world lines and tells backstories of different people, while the main line of Hadzuki looking for Hatsumi still goes on.
Events in the story become connected by Ep11 or so, and then comes the ending... Uh, forget it.
The plot can be confusing at first as it is not told in a chronological order.
The first problem we find with the anime is that many things are left UNEXPLAINED, some of them are even crucial. For example, we know that Eve always leaves her current world at the age of 16, but is this some rule that can not be changed? The interpretation of this results in different views on Eve. I assume that it indeed is some rule (but why this rule then...)
Had the pacing of the anime been improved, for example had it focused less on Lilith's antics and more on the worldview and backstories, more things would have been explained.
The story is mainly composed of 3 parts(technically not arcs):
>The adventures of Hadzuki
>The backstory of Gargantua and people around him
>The backstory of Hadzuki with Hatsumi
While MAL lists the main characters as Lilith, Hadzuki and Hatsumi, in my opinion the real major characters are actually Hadzuki, Eve and Gargantua.
The adventures of Hadzuki: Nothing special. Supposedly, the original visual novel has a bigger worldview and some of the events in the VN are adapted, but the events Hadzuki encounters are nothing spectacular. These bits and pieces add a bit to the fun factor, but are still distracting.
The backstory of Gargantua: One of the better parts in the anime. This part is about a man who was driven to morbidity by his jealousness, and tells a series of rather depressing stories. It's not a bad choice for some specific aspects in this part be portrayed more lightheartedly, although whenever Lilith appears everything gets too lighthearted and moe.
The backstory of Hadzuki with Hatsumi: The part that starts out quite good, but eventually made people gush loads of blood. But to look at it seriously, is it that bad? And is Eve that bad? (Note: Some people on a certain yuri-dedicated site called Yamibo do think so)
**THERE ARE LIKELY MORE SPOILERS FROM NOW ON**
--ABOUT EVE & THE ENDING--
So what kind of character is Eve?
Opinions differ between 'she is one who brings divine love to mankind' and 'she is just a hypocritic b**** who only wants to seek love interests in the human world'.
Personally speaking, the former interpretation makes much more sense!
And this is nothing hard to understand. Has Eve done anything in the book worlds without a heart of gold? And had Eve really been hypocritic, why in one specific case did she even sacrifice herself to protect someone else?
But this does not mean that Eve hasn't her own faults.
For one thing, although what she does is mostly out of pure virtue, she does not seem to care about what happens in any specific world line. This is imaginable, but if she has the ability to 'repair the damage' done by her in the end, WHY NOT EARLIER? I can't find a possible explanation.
Also, Eve does not seem to fully realise that whenever she leaves a certain world where someone is deeply attached to her, she will hurt those who love her. It's not that she doesn't care about them in the book worlds though. My interpretation: Eve is one who brings love to others, but never gets seriously emotionally attached to anyone else. That is why:
>>Human (mortal) love and divine love don't get to understand each other.
For another, the ending. Oh crap. I'd rather let James Rolfe deal with this part. Simply put, Eve's choice is bad in all interpretations. I'm not going to list all the possible interpretations here (if you want to get spoiled, check the last part), but it appears that Eve only knows about love in a divine form and doesn't understand love in a human way: the bond between Hadzuki and Hatsumi is in a sisterly way, but not in ... OK, I'll stop here or there'll be very detailed spoilers.
(A side note: There does exist one character in the anime who flirts constantly, to the extent of being increasingly annoying.)
Now, more about the ending: It's not just simply anti-climatic.
The ending has made the following achievements:
>BS culmination of the major plotline
>Screwing up the portrayal of 2 of the characters'(namely Eve & Lilith) characteristics, by treating a few scenes lightheartedly in the least appropriate circumstances possible!
--OTHER CHARACTERS--
Other characters may appear interesting, but most of them are simply not memorable.
The exception being Lilith... whose character is even more screwed. Tell me, what impression have you left on her?
There are hints that she is not as airheaded as she appears, but still she only leaves us an impression as a moe girl who only knows about flirting. The ending makes such impression even worse.
To summarise what I've said:
Story: 4/10 Starts out weak, gets quite good afterwards, and ends in an anti-climatic manner. And it's quite a mess and there are many things hard to understand.
Characters: 5/10 Major characters are quite well-done, while a few side characters are either annoying or not memorable.
Animation & Art: 8.5/10 Very good by 2003 standards. I don't really like Eve's appearance though. Also, one thing that bothers me is the extensive fanservice which I don't really enjoy
Sound: 8/10 Good. I like the OP most, and have even made an 8-bit cover of it.
Enjoyment value: 4.5/10 The extensive fanservice and the ending, enough said.
Overall rating: 4.5/10 (Not an average) 'Mediocre' in my scales.
But we're not done with the review. In fact we're yet to come to the core part.
--WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS STORY?--
The major part of the review, as via overinterpretation skills we can reach several unique conclusions, which, although don't add to the show's score, can be deep enough.
Conflicts are the soul of drama. The ending of the show is indeed anti-climatic, but the conflicts which lead to the ending are unique:
>What happens when divine love, human love, and the settings of the anime clash into each other?
Answer: Divine love and human love can't understand each other, while in the end the settings of the anime win. Even Eve herself claims at several points in the anime, that Hadzuki and Hatsumi could not be with each other.
This question seems confusing? Now, let's change one wording:
>What happens when divine love, human love, and social norms clash into each other?
Answer: The social norms win. (Or at least in this case, as in most cases.)
I speculate that all the weird settings and the gainax ending are all meant to deliver the idea 'we can not be together!' which fits the social norms. This is how social norms screw an otherwise much better anime, in my opinion. (It's not that social norms are simply bad, but that older social norms demand every individual to fit their own 'category's' requirements)
The fact is, YamiBou was made in 2003 and it was not until then did Japanese anime portraying lesbians become more open and less stereotyped. The portrayal in YamiBou is disappointing, but understandable though.
Meanwhile, another question arose when I was watching Ep12 with the floating comments all going 'Damn you Eve! Now you know the consequences of seeking love interests everywhere?'
So the other question:
>What happens when love in a divine form enters the world of mortals?
Answer: To be never understood by this world of sin!
The in-universe answer to this question is how Gargantua becomes morbid. Eve knows how to love all creatures in a divine way, but humans don't, and some of them even consider love something that must be unilateral and possessive. This point has recently(2015) been criticised by a certain yuri anime.
While among anime viewers: In this world full of harem anime, when anime characters show their kindness towards more than one people, such kindness would be interpreted as affection, and such affection as affairs, such affairs as sin. Natural deductions right? NOT!
Even a certain character in Kin'iro Mosaic (an anime so fluffy and innocent) gets panned by some people in this way.
...So you've watched the anime and are confused about some certain parts (including the ending)?
**DETAILED SPOILERS ALERT!**
**DETAILED SPOILERS ALERT!**
Scroll downwards to see what I think about these parts...
--What's the meaning of Hatsumi's letters to Hadzuki in Ep07?
Some people think that these are indications that Hatsumi has affections towards Hadzuki. But I'm not in favour of this interpretation. Rather, in my opinion, these letters are written in a fictional person's perspective instead of in Hatsumi's perspective, and are meant to tell Hadzuki that (a lover's) love can not always be obtained even if you try hard.
--Why is Eve's choice bad in all interpretations?
Let's make some assumptions. Assume that...
>Hadzuki's future baby would still vanish at the age of 16.
Enough said. This is screwed in itself.
>Hadzuki's future baby would not vanish at the age of 16.
Why would Hatsumi vanish at the age of 16 then? Why couldn't Eve change history so that Hatsumi could be with her even after she turns 16? Seriously, I don't understand.
And besides, there might be other alternative endings for the scriptwriters to choose from, for example Hadzuki staying with Eve in the library etc. Of all the endings they could choose from, the 'future baby' thing was chosen.
(Stats: Suspicious Ups=0, Downs=0 as of 23 Apr 2015. Calculated with statistical hypothesis)
WindAngel959
To be honest,idk why i keep on watching this anime until the end. It starts with MEH and ended with EGH?! WHAT WAS THAT?! and here we go reviewing~~~ Story : 3 ======== the story are all over the places. It was like we jumping throughout the series without any aim and without we notice,TADA! we has arrived in our destination. At first,the synopsis gave me a lot of expectations and this anime didn't live up to even one of them at all. Even so,i keep and keep watching this with a little fragrance of hope left in last episode and BAM!!!! they bang my hope to a totallyK.O with the last Lilith and Eve's scene. The only one story i can find my liking in it is the Train arc,others than that,i feel like i was an idiot who keep on wasting my time all thx to the expectations that damn synopsis gives
Art :4
========
The art is quite good and i don't find any problem in it except for 2 things : Eyes and Boobs.First,The Eyes,somehow i don't like hatsumi's eyes,it gives off an Ecchi chill and it somehow creeps the hell outta me. Second,Boobs. The size was okay but on some scenes,there are wrong positions in it.I dont really care if if it is to make it looks more ecchi or anything but, Hell it was too far from realistic. I know Right that this anime is under ecchi genre but when i check on google-sensei,i can't find any ecchi pic in its results and so the stupid side of me made an expectation just to be crushed to the ground
Sound : 5
========
i dont have any problem in sound nor any liking in it so it is mediocre
Character : 5
=========
i like 2 characters in this anime : Hatsuki and Youko. Both of them are awesome in one aspect : they can fight for her own self and don't need others to clean up their mess. A dark-haired cool bishoujo with a wonderful swordmanship also a purple-haired bishoujo spy with a kick that left u in awee~~ sounds interesting,doesn't it?
~For other characters,i don't have any problem nor liking in them
Enjoyment : 4
=========
I watch this anime to live up expectation the synopsis gave off from the start but since it got crushed to the ground really hard i won't give any comment on it. yeah,right! NO COMMENTS for this aspect
Overall :4
=========
overall,i felt like an idiot who was clinging for expectation just to be beaten up at the end of the day,it was me though but,if you like a fantasy-puzzle-like-adventure type anime with a bit,kay? just a bit of shoujo ai then i think you should give a shot for this anime ;)
For those not helpful voters and You,helpful voters, Feedbacks are appreciated. Sankyuu! :)
fellick
TL:DR If you like some funny action/serious drama along with cute characters and just a dash of lesbian tension to liven things up, you'll most likely enjoy this series. Going into watching this anime I had only read a simple synopsis. After watching the first episode I was concerned that my computer was skipping parts of the episode. The story jumped forward and backwards with little regard for the intervening time. For example between the ending of one episode to the next the main character learned how to use a sword... and acquired a sword in the first place. It's the little details like this thatare left out.
Those plot holes aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the series, I felt like each character had their own motivations and could conceivably act the way that they did. The sound and artwork was great, although, I noticed, some images were reused in multiple scenes.
All in all, I think that this series would have benefited from at least a couple more episodes to an entire season (of 13). I think this really would have let the creators explain away the holes. Also the ending. It was a powerful ending, but boy, did it leave me unfulfilled. If you felt like you needed more from the end of Blood+ then you might feel the same way here.
Katsumi3
This anime is hard for me. I find it very similar to Kannazuki no Miko, which automatically biases me but I'll try my hardest to write an non-judgemental review. Story:5 Ok, I was kind of on the fence about the story. For a large portion of the anime I was thinking in my head "WTH?" I was also trying to desperately sort out who I should remember, who's names I should learn and what everyone's motivations were. Then I got to the final few episodes at which point I was actually starting to get it, and they really melted my heart. So, the beginning is kindof meh, but the ending was really pretty good (and you finally started to get it) so I gave the mediocre score.
Art:6
This isn't my favorite art style. It's kind of washed out looking, and its too echhi for my tastes. I prefer anime with harder lines (its easier for me to draw afterwards haha). After a while you get used to the enormous heads and actually start to appreciate the characters' looks. The animation was alright I suppose. Some of the fight things with the whole spinning skirt shot just made me laugh but the actual fighting part was pretty okay. Obviously that comes from the fact that the anime is based off of a game. All and all, the art is nice, just not my favorite.
Sound: 7
What bugs me is when people review sound when they haven't even taken time to listen to it outside of the anime. You can't really appreciate bits and pieces of it hacked together into certain scenes. I try to take the time to listen to the music from animes. I liked this anime's OST. It had some really nice orchestral and choral pieces and they're nice to listen to even on their own. I have a few personal favorites (mostly the ones that went with the dramatic romance-y scenes) but most of them are pretty nice and there's a good mix of tones and feelings. A well rounded soundtrack.
Character: 7
Not the best characters ever but pretty good.The three main characters were nicely designed and they actually had apparent motives (although Eve/Hatsumi's were a little questionable). I found that I enjoyed the side characters which surprised me. I usually don't. (Ken-chan was super annoying and perverted, just sayin) Garuganchua, Ritsuko, and all of the other people from the other book worlds were pretty interesting, and really not too stereotypical. My personal favorite side characters were Youko and Meirin.
Enjoyment: 8
Yes, I did enjoy this anime after I got past the whole confusing part. Re-watching it several times has also been helpful, since now I actually understand the parts I didn't get the first time. It was a sweet story, although a little unsatisfying at the ending. It didn't even have a little easter egg type thing like KnM did. (Oops, I'm supposed to be unbiased by KnM) This was a nice anime to watch, not my favorite, but I would watch it again on top of the few times I've re-watched it.
Overall: 6.6
This anime was almost good. It could have been had it been slightly longer and slightly more satisfying. Definitely a guilty pleasure that I'm planning on indulging in again.
ggultra2764
Perhaps more better known as Yamibo, this H-game anime adaptation lacks a linear storyline as it uses the Great Library (what serves as the center of all worlds in the universe for this series) as a framing device to split its storytelling in exploring our female lead, Hatsuki, seeking the whereabouts of her missing friend and love interest Hatsumi traveling through the different book worlds, and the machinations of a villainous young man named Gargantua who is also seeking Hatsumi for his own personal gain. Based on what I've dug up on this series, Yamibo is a yuri H-game with its focus obviously on romantic developmentsbetween Hatsuki and Hatsumi. The anime adaptation's H-game influence is apparent with many of the anime's female characters being well-endowed in breast size and some scenes are seemingly devoted to show off their assets with shower scenes, some suggestive predicaments, being in skimpy attire, or being in stages of undress. Some sexual humor and moments also comes into play at points with the library guardian, Lilith, lusting for Hatsuki at points and it is implied in a few scenes early in the series that Hatsuki is masturbating when thinking of Hatsumi. The majority of these scenes do detract from the story at points since they exist only to titillate the anime's audience.
In regards to story development, it was mostly a mixed bag for me. Yamibo splits its time between Hatsuki venturing into more of the book worlds and more of Hatsumi's back story being fleshed out. I was mostly indifferent to the former's developments since Hatsuki is pretty shallow as a character since she is mostly defined by her brash disregard for anything not involving her love interest and while her venturing in the book worlds offer some intriguing adventures at points, the majority of them did little to catch my interest. Also, I was put off by many of the show's failed attempts at comedy offered since the jokes fell flat and there were several characters who seemingly existed as nothing more than comic relief.
On the other hand, I did get some interest out of any time that the series devoted to exploring Hatsumi's character. She is shown to have a much larger influence in things affecting the Great Library than what it would seem on the surface through her venturing in the different book worlds and this serves to drive Gargantua's actions for much of the show's run.
In regards to presentation, there is not much groundbreaking to it. While many of the character designs are made to be physically attractive and are nicely detailed, it skimps plenty of corners on animation as shortcuts like reused animation frames and still shot are a frequent occurrence in this series, especially during any action scenes with Hazuki.
While having some effective storytelling involving Hatsumi, Yamibo is still mostly a rather forgettable anime title from the 2000s since a good chunk of its H-game and yuri roots can rear their ugly head at points to detract from the story and I was not too invested in Hazuki's part of the anime's story due to the limited depth she had as a character. There are better yuri and shoujo-ai titles to track down than this one.
dipz158
i am really disappointed in this anime series. i thought the whole point was for them to find each other and to live happily ever after but it was a total anticlimax. i really hate hatsumi the bitch cant stay put. lilith was by far the most interesting character as she had some sort of understanding of what was going on. aya i think is meant to represent god i think. it started off interesting but i seriously think it went off on a weird one with the story
LegendAqua
LA usually has a quick quip about the anime in question LA reviews, but LA SERIOUSLY doesn't have one for Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito so let's get down to brass tax shall we? Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito is an anachronically structured anime about Hazuki Azuma voiced by Mamiko Noto who has a DEEP crush on her adoptive sister, Hatsumi voiced by Ai Shimizu. On Hatsumi's 16th birthday, she just disappears however Hazuki comes in contact with the residents of the Great Library, a baby talking chick and a girl by the name of Lilith voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, now Hazukiquests through the books in order to find Hatsumi, but things aren't as easy as it seems.
So some of the first things LA heard about this anime was that it was confusing and weird as fuck, well IT IS, no lie, with it's anachronic order of the plot, wacky batshit characters and not a care for cohesion, yeah LA can see why. Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito does have an underlying theme about love in ALL forms, with all the book worlds Hazuki goes through and with the main conflict concerning Hatsumi's disappearance towards Hazuki is and all and considering MOST of the characters in this anime are girls, yeah it's pretty much an anthology look at yuri because of it and LA didn't mind it really.
What LA DID mind is just how erratic it's pacing is in how it was execute, like yes, the anime is followable once the anime ended and everything, but it's a morbidly weird experience just journeying through Hazuki's quest. How erratic is the pacing of the anime?, well for the MOST part, the plot follows an episodic format looking at certain worlds Hazuki and Lilith went into, but in others, it follows the "villain" Gargantua voiced by Shinichiro Miki and LA says villain very loosely of Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito and how he is linked with Hatsumi into everything. But the WORST case of erratic pacing LA found was in one episode, near the ending of one of the stories, they cut to the villain, then a certain backstory of him linking with Lilith that cuts INTO a flashback but into the backstory and ends in the backstory!
On speaking of Gargantua, well even for an anime like this, his status as a villain is questionable as he gets ALOT of backstory to how he became who he is by the anime's start and he's done some despicable things in order to get Hatsumi, or immortality (long story) as his goal, but considering the major theme of Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, his horrible deeds...goes unpunished when his revelations about himself are done and done and he's gone from the anime...like WHAT, that kinda irked LA.
Hazuki is LA's favorite character by default, as she's something of the ace and a badass with a sword in the anime and her goal is at least something LA rooted for and at least got LA a bit interested in this crazy mind-bending anime and all throughout the anime her beliefs and goals are both shown and tested to the worlds she goes through making the obvious parallels to her crush on Hatsumi and everything, thematically, Hazuki is the most solid character out of the entire cast.
Now if your thinking that the book worlds Hazuki and Lilith ventures into have ANY references to other literary work, they "kinda" do but it's not told forthright what it's referencing and how Hazuki and Lilith interacts with the book characters well it's kinda like the Kingdom Hearts effect where it's the basic summary of the book but still in line with it's plot by the end, though some of the later worlds gets trippy with Gargantua and Hazuki's backstory and development randomly slotted in whenever it wants, making it a meta-in-universe tangled web of plotlines.
The animation done by Studio DEEN is actually decent albeit for expected early 2000's standards from them, the character designs are exotic and wacky (especially from Lilith), backgrounding was nothing to write home besides a few beautiful set pieces but nonetheless and the fight scenes are the same as well. What the animation did well in at least was atmosphere with the gloomy atmosphere of the library to some of the more vibrant book worlds. Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito has TONS of fanservice and it'll show anyways it can as the anime really likes for characters to show off skin and the occasional talk of boob sizes and all, this doesn't deter LA's flaws to Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito as an anime , it's to be expected from an anime adapted from a yuri H-visual novel.
Voice acting was "ok", best voice actor would go to Mamiko Noto, there were some squeakers in this anime, like Sanae Kobayashi as Lilith and Ai Shimizu as Hatsumi but nonetheless, the voice cast in this anime was just "ok", nothing but really to say other than that.
As a confusingly, erratically paced yet episodic anime Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito was, Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito still did have something, sure it's blatant yuri but a yuri anime nonetheless layered with a main character LA did root for with a villain who really didn't do much but his actions being heinous and no retribution came about him in the end and the rest of the main and minor cast thematically evoking and helping Hazuki's quest for love by finding her adoptive sister. Thematically it's solid, plot-wise, well good luck following the confusingly tangled Inception-like plot threads as Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito won't even hold your hand in this yuri rollercoaster.
Reviews-rants
Note: the following comes from a video review, links on my profile page. One of the first noticeable things here is the quick change of genre; mostly taking a couple of episodes, they delve into entirely different worlds, kind of like Chrono Trigger, which then ended up resembling different styles. It starts off in a Baccano-esque train, which makes one think it's possibly a neo-noir, although even within this setting there are odd traits, like a traditional Japanese dress within a Siberian surrounding, and what seems like a stereotypical magic user (two sort of constants with variations throughout). While there is always an entirely different type of environment,there are still similarities, besides the protagonists. What is interesting (that some people don't seem to appreciate or understand) is how the whole of this anime is like a combination of Inuyasha and Lain, with added innuendo. In thirteen episodes it certainly managed to include a variety of narratives and visual differences. It could have combined elements even more explicitly, but the subtle approach to it is interesting too.
The point of this anime isn't the ecchi at all, no... how much hentai out there has the same average rating, though? For some people it seems having everything else also interesting makes no difference... To Love Ru is how popular, again? They have things in common; both attempt sci-fi, except in TLR it is almost deflated. Lala keeps inventing gizmos and the only thing the narrative comes up with is the same exact comedic routines invariably involving the protagonist falling, with inevitable coincidences. Lala in Yami happens to be an AI in a spaceship that cares for children for one particular reason... and yet the latter is what the average viewer rates less, really? Yami has so much depth to it, TLR tried to have bits of romance too, only to fall flat on its face (literally, often), whereas the romance in Yami can be funny and deep at the same time, with added existential complications.
The ecchi, in a sense, is only there because there is also everything else along with it. Ecchi shouldn't be the point of an anime, just like the sports genre shouldn't ideally focus exclusively on that, and instead be merely an accompaniment along with characters' lives. If there is only ecchi, of course, it would practically be hentai, and that is what TLR very nearly is sometimes. Whereas with Yami, even in such scenes, the narrative is making itself cohesive, and not a moment is wasted on capricious nudity for its own sake.
This is when a story is powerful - when, in a scene that could evoke merely lust, there is also a sense of inter-dimensional love, of a chance that something could be lost. Anime that would not settle with only a single relationship, but includes countless analogies of what that relationship could be, of what a cyclic universe could contain. This is when animation tries to do a lot, and ends up doing it, on average, well and visually interesting.
sicknd444
There's a lot to be said about Yamibo, and that may be a sort of understatement. From the confusing but unique narrative, to the giant disturbing-looking hat, to the lesbian incest subplot, it's a real trip if you're only seeing it for the first time. In fact, I'm not sure how I was able to get through it. But that's for another time. Here are some of my honest thoughts on the bizzare, yet captivating world of Yamibo. First of all, a question on everyone's mind, what in god's good graces is going on here? Well to be frank, the plot is simple. Two sisters, Hatzuki andHatsumi live together. As an added bonus, Hatzuki has a giant prevalent crush on Hatsumi. Aside from that, on Hatsumi's 16th birthday she disappears out of nowhere. However, Hatzuki is able to follow her with the help of a creature named Ken, where they end up in a place called The Great Library.
On a positive note, for an anime released in 2003 I was expecting much lower quality art and animation. As well as character design. Though, all of these things are the strongest point of the show. One of the reasons I was able to endure the absolutely deranged plot was because of how striking and unique the characters were.
Now to the issue I have. The writing. This is where the show falls flat on its face. With such a unique storyline and characters, one would expect that the writing meets the same standards that I had walked in with. A lot of the characters, especially Hatsumi, have extremely boring and unlikable personalities and fall under severe cliches. Of course this is isekai, of course it's going to be cliche to all hell, but this is the kind that isn't handled properly.
The only characters I can say that I enjoyed the presence of are Hatzuki, Kuiru, and Milka. Yet, that's already bad enough. Hatzuki is the main character with the most shown depth, however, a grand portion of that depth relies on the sister incest subplot that plays an unnecessarily large role in the series. Incest anime is one thing, for sure it exists and I acknowledge that it's just simply not my thing, and that's ok. I have an issue, though, with shows that just don't need it. Not even as a plot twist (I'm looking at you, Vampire Knight).
Characters like Hatsumi are handled very poorly, she's written as a damsel-like, meekly, and almost fanservice-y character. Again, I have no issue with these sorts of things. In some shows, it's vital and I can see why it's utilized. Once again, the issue lies more with the fact that these tropes don't need to be utilized here. The series would've been much more entertaining if it weren't for the constant overuse of uninteresting narratives. Maybe the incest is interesting, I can't speak on that, but these things don't hold good reputation with my immersion in the series.
In conclusion, and on a semi positive note, Yamibo wasn't horrible. In fact, I can say with my chest that I've seen worse. If you enjoy bizzare, short, and snappy shows with an almost indescribably awkward and strange nature to them, you'll love this. If you aren't a fan of those things, it still isn't a terrible watch for those into the early 2000s period of anime.
My final ranking, I give it a 6/10. This was my first ever longform review so that's exciting.
klesun
It's different. The storytelling in this anime is introvertic and unpredictable. It's one of those animes that go "Ok, we'll not be doing the conventional tropes. So... what will it be about then?". The whole experience of this anime is not about looking forward to the progression of the plot, but rather just getting more familiar with author's inner world and the characters he came up with. It's somewhat heartwarming experience, the development of the antagonist character was the most adorable and unexpected in all of my anime carrier (and I watched One Piece, mind you). This anime wasn't super interesting, but it left a goodemotional aftertaste, so I can vouch that it won't be a wasted watch for you.
