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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Watch | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:1722#1552] |
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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 developments between 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. Last updated Friday, December 30 2016. Created Friday, December 30 2016. | ||||||||
| Watch | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
 Dreamer
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[series:1722#2279] |
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A friend mentioned this is a good series to watch even though reading the synopsis didn't catch my interest. However..... Art, Animation & Character Designs Artwork isn't too bad. Colors aren't too rich but we do have a good amount of details in both the background and foregrounds. Character designs were well done. They weren't too refined but had plenty of details. Music The soundtrack is pretty darn good. There's one piece, accoustic, that really portrays a sense of lost, sorrow, yet a hope for a new beginning. That one piece is especially noticeable in the first episode where Hatsumi is sleeping in bed and Hatsuki is watching over her. Then the very next piece... almost angelic sounding with a beautiful choir of whispers almost sent shivers down my spine. Amazing! Throughout, the soundtrack is really good and swings from one flavor to another tastefully. Series and Episode Story You're going to get seriously lost if your thoughts stray for even a moment. It can get quite confusing quickly. In a nutshell, we have our protagonist who jumpes into books.... the worlds within, in search for her "lover". What we get are a collection of stories that ultimately provide a single outcome by the end of the series. In essense, this is a tragedy. And really, the whole series is melancholic in nature. And what we discover by the end makes you (viewer) feel sorry for our protagonist, who wants nothing more than to be with the one she loves.... I'm almost tearing up now! The premise of the plot could really have been good if touched up here and there and tightened up. It had potential. It almost reminded me of Millenium Actress... my favorite anime of all time. Overall, It was an enjoyable series.... especially the fact that we were jumping in and out of books and stories. Last updated Saturday, November 05 2011. Created Saturday, November 05 2011. | ||||||||
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 Xenoknight
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[series:1722#2967] | ||||||
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This looks very interesting. On the watch list...
Last updated Thursday, November 27 2008. Created Thursday, November 27 2008. | ||||||||
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 Jan-Chan
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[series:1722#967] | ||||||
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Humm... I did not see this one coming... So.. It was released in 2003/04, but I was not aware of it. The Shinsen-fansub group were attentive enough to release all 13 episodes in Oct '07. I like most of the Shinsen team's projects, so I downloaded it and stashed it away. And when I watched it.. I found myself scratching my head - wondering what the @@@@ was going on? The computer game (on which this story is based) might have been a H-game, but the anime series comes across as a very disjointed racy-yuri-stalker story. This is a strange tale of a strong-willed sword-carrying girl who is troubled by the disappearance of her sweet and naive 'little sister' on the day of her 16th birthday. In tracking down her missing Hatsumi, Hatsuki finds herself in a place far from home, wandering in a strange library and diving into various books in hopes of tracking her down. Each 'book' is a different story, a different world in which her sister appears as a different character living a very different life from the one that they shared. Hatsuki's various adventures allow her to not only learn more about herself, but also learn more about the true nature of who her Hatsumi is. The result is a short anime series of disjointed and loosely associated stories. A fun watch, but only if you are willing to fill in the missing gaps with your imagination. Last updated Monday, October 13 2008. Created Friday, December 07 2007. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Japanese Series Web Site | http://www.avexmovie.jp/lineup/yamibou/yamibou.html |
| English - Wikipedia entry | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yami_to_Boushi_to_Hon_no_Tabibito |
