Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de (In a Distant Time) is an otome game franchise developed by Ruby Party. It spans at least a dozen games and has spawned multiple anime adaptations, including a TV series, several OVAs, and a movie. Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 2: Shiroki Ryuu no Miko (In a Distant Time 2: Priestess of the White Dragon) is a three-episode OVA from 2003-2005. It adapts the second game in the series.
Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de has been described, unkindly but not inaccurately, as "cut-rate Fushigi Yuugi." All of the anime shows begin with a modern high-school girl being whisked away to a fictionalized Heian city, where she becomes the main character in a historical, reverse-harem dating sim. Her job is to assemble a team of eight noble warriors, all bishounen (natch), and unify their power to defeat evil. All of them fall under her spell, but her feelings are never revealed. Some of the shows offer eight or more alternative endings, where the heroine ends up with one of the bishounen who have danced attendance around her.
Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2 is no different. Takakura Karin is summoned to Kyou (fictional Heian Kyoto) by the mysterious Akram. Kyou is consumed by rivalry between the current and former emperors, and it is Karin's responsibilities to purify the land with the help of her eight guardians:- Minamoto no Yoritada, Seiryuu of Heaven
- Taira no Katsuzane, Seiryuu of Earth
- Isato, Suzaku of Heaven
- Akifumi, Suzaku of Earth; he is the younger brother of the current Emperor and the crown prince
- Fujiwara no Yukitaka, Byakko of Heaven
- Hisui, Byakko of Earth
- Minamoto no Motomi, Genbu of Heaven
- Abe no Yasutsugu, Genbu of Earth
The Seiryuu, Suzaku, Byakko, and Genbu are the shijin, or Four Symbols, from Chinese mythology:
- Seiryuu, the azure dragon that guards the east. Its element is wood, its season, spring.
- Suzaku, the vermillion bird that guards the south. Its element is fire, its season, summer.
- Byakko, the white tiger that guards the west. Its element is metal, its season, fall.
- Genbu, the black tortoise that guards the north. Its element is water, its season, winter.
As each bishounen rallies to Karen's side, he receives a colored jewel signifying his membership in the Hachiyou ("the eight leaves"). There are other characters too, including a pair of mystical twins, Fujiwara no Misono and Fujiwara no Yukari; Kazuhito, the half-brother of the current Emperor; and Taira no Chitose, a rival Dragon Priestess. Nominally, the story is about Kazuhito's scheme to overthrow his older brother (and the current regime) using evil spirits, but the story barely has time to get started before the OVA ends.
My association with Haruka Naru Toki goes all the way back to C1, fifteen years ago. I started doing QC on the Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de: Hachiyoushou TV series and ended up editing the last ten episodes or so. One of Orphan's first formal projects, in 2010, was cleaning up the subtitles on Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 3: Owari Naki Unmei. In 2013, M74 and I released the first English version of Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 2: Shiroki Ryuu no Miko, based on the AnimeFreakz R2E release. The same year, Orphan released two previous untranslated specials from the Hachiyoushou TV series. That was quite enough.
Still, I've always been a bit unhappy with the original Haruka Naru Toki 2 release. The AnimeFreakz raws had multiple encoding errors. I thought that the 25fps PAL transcription might have introduced stuttering. A few years ago, I bought the R2J DVDs and took a look at them. I was in for several surprises. First, the R2J looked utterly washed out compared to the R2E encode. Second, each episode on the R2J was about 5% longer than on the R2E. Finally, the R2J had totally different opening and ending songs. These issues delayed work on the show for a few years. Finally, I found an experienced encoder to work on it. He agreed that some color correction was needed, but not as much as the R2E encode. He explained that the time discrepancy came from the mastering method: the original NTSC 23.976fps version was played at PAL standard 25fps. This made every episode run about 5% faster. Neither of us could explain, though, why the music was changed for the R2E release. In any case, he made a new encode, I wrote a program to retime the subtitles (Aegisub would have done it, but I didn't know that), and the project was off and running.
In revisiting a show from almost ten years ago, I've tried to avoid Editor's Remorse™, but I was flabbergasted by the vast number of ellipses in the show. I dislike ellipses, yet they were everywhere. When I tried to get rid of them, I realized that they are there for a reason: most of the characters... speak... very slowly... and portentously... with long pauses... in their sentences. I can't tell whether this is poor writing or the actors trying to provide some depth to their one-dimensional characters, but I've had to leave most of the ellipses in. I was unimpressed with the R2J OP and ED as well; like the R2E songs, they are generic early ought rockers with little or no relationship to the story or the setting.
Because the cast is so large, most of the characters, other than Karin and Yoritada, don't get much screen time. Still, it's a well-known crew of seiyuu:
- Kawakami Tomoko (Takakura Karin) starred in the titles roles for Revolutionary Girl Utena, Hikaru no Go, and Chiccha na Yuki Tsukai Sugar. She also played Chiriko in Fushigi Yuugi, Kamio Misuzu in Air, Soi Fon in Bleach, Rosette Christopher in Chrno Crusade, Yura in Futari Ecchi, Kazuma in Detective Academy Q, Akane in Harukanaru Toki no Nake de Hachiyoushou, Youko in Tactics, Linen in Lime Iro Ryuukitan Cross, Sumi in Amaenaide yo!!, and a personal favorite, Elise the irate personal assistant in Nodame Cantabile. She also played Carrot in Waza no Tabibito and Rinko in Kigyou Senshi Yamazaki: Long Distance Call, both Orphan releases.
- Miki Shinichirou (Minamoto no Yoritada) played Kojiro in Pokemon, Fujiwara Takumi in Initial D, Urahara Kisuke in Bleach, Minamoto no Yorihisa in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de, Shintarou in Lime-iro Senkitan, Bruce Wayne in Batman: Gotham Knight, Roy Mustang in Full Metal Alchemist (2009), Katze in Ai no Kusabi (2012), Gintarou in Gingitstune, Johnny in Jikuu Bouken Nuumamonjaa, John Bishop (the sharpshooter) in AWOL Compression Remix, and Cyber-X in Hand Maid May. The last three are Orphan releases.
- Seki Tomokazu (Taira no Katsuzane) played Keisuke in the Initial D franchise, Kenji in the original Pokemon, Ken in Weiss Kreuz, Kyou in the original Fruits Basket, Rentarou in Futakoi Alternative, Tanaka in Genshiken, Ryuuki in Saiunkoku Monogatari, Dee in Fake, Shinya in the Psycho-Pass properties, GIlgamesh in the Fate/Stay franchise, and Suneo in many Doraemon movies. He played Yamaoka Tetsutarou in Hidamari no Ki, an Orphan release.
- Takahashi Naozumi (Isato) played Bunta in the Prince of Tennis franchise.
- Miyata Kouki (Akifumi) played Suzaku no Rei in Saint Beast, Daisuke in Major, Ken in Kyou Kara Maou!, Kouta in the Baka to Test franchise, and Badger, Sea Otter, and Squirrel Mama in Shirokuma Cafe, an Orphan release.
- Nakahara Shigeru (Fujiwara no Yukitata) played the title role in Arion, Trowa Barton in Gundam Wing, and Kurama in Kyousogiga. He had featured roles in Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Ai no Kusabi, Dragon Fist, Dokushin Apartment Doukudami-sou, Chameleon, and Neko Neko Fantasia, all Orphan releases.
- Inoue Kazuhiko (Hisui) starred as Yamaoka Shirou in Oishinbo, Yuki Eiri in Gravitation, the title role in Cyborg 009, and my favorite role, the irascible, sake-swilling Nyanko-sensei in the Natsume Yuujichou franchise. He also played Saiki Haruka in Tobira o Akate, Iori in Tomoe's Run!, Kanuma Hayate in Akai Hayate, Ryousuke in Daishizen no Majuu Bagi, Kitten Smith in Starship Troopers, Liu Bei Xuande in both Sangokushi TV specials, Ayako in Lunn Flies into the Wind, and Nakatsugawa in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
- Hoshi
Souichirou (Minamoto no Motomi) played Kira Yamato in the Gundam Seed series,
Sanada Yukimura in the Sengoku Basara franchise, Eisen in Hachiyoushou,
Kei in Onegai Teacher, Maebera in the Higurashi franchise, Tomoki in the Soro no Otoshimoto franchise, Son Goku in the Saiyuki franchise,
Shinji in the Symphogear franchise, and Nagi in Tenjou Tenge.
- Ishida Akira (Abe no Yasutsugu) has had a storied career. He starred as Sasuke in Samurai Deeper Kyou, Chrno in Chrno Crusade, Howard in Uninhabited Planet Survive, Rion in Galerians: Rion, Komugi in Hen Zemi, and Arima in Princess Lover. He played Gaara in the Naruto franchise, Shinichi in Nana, Athrun Zala in the Gundam Seed Destiny properties, Cho Hokkai in the Saiyuuki franchise, Xellos in the Slayers franchise, Natori in the Natsume Yuujinchou franchise, Tsukasa in the Shokugei no Souma franchise, and Kuchiki in the Genshiken series. He played brother Oomori in Let's Nupu Nupu and Gordon in Fire Emblem, both Orphan releases.
- Okiayu Ryoutarou (Akram) starred as Aoyama-kun in Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun, Mitsui Hisashi in Slam Dunk, Matsura Yuu in Marmalade Boy, Jinnai Katsuhiko in the El-Hazard franchise, Nueno Meisuke in the Hell Teacher Nube series, the title roles in Gambler Densetsu Tetsuya and Toriko, Samejima Ranmaru in Kizuna, Souma Shigure in Fruits Basket (2003), Berserker in Fate/Zero, Hideyoshi in Sengoku Basara, and Atsushi in Recorder to Ransel. He also played Takao-san in Let's Nupu Nupu, Abel in Fire Emblem, and Gion in Okane ga Nai!, all Orphan releases.
- Ootani Ikue (the Fujiwara twins, who support Karin) provided the voice of Pikachu in in the Japanese, English, Spanish, and German versions of the Pokemon shows. She also played Mitsuhiko in the Detective Conan franchise and Tony Tony Chopper in the One Piece franchise. She appeared as Ann in Next Senki Ehrgeiz and Sumire in Kiss wa Mi ni Shie, both Orphan releases.
- Asakawa Yuu (Kazuhito) starred as Kasumi in Seraphim Call, Rei in Shin Hakkenden, Nagi in the original Boogiepop, Motoko in Love, Hina, Sakiki in Azumanga Daioh, Jura in Vandread, Tachibana in the two Gravion series, and Rider in the Fate/Stay franchise.
- Ishii Kouji (Minamoto no Tokitomo, Kazuhito's right-hand man) played Fujisawa in the El Hazard franchise, Taiga in the GaoGaiGar franchise, Mitsukake in the Fushigi Yuugi franchise, John Blade in Sin: The Movie, Tanaka in Kachou Ouji: Hard Rock Save the Space, and Garterbelt in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. He also appeared as Henry Hellgate in Alice in Cyberland, and Hyman in Fire Emblem, both Orphan release.
- Kuwashima Houko (Taira no Chitose) played the title role in Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne and Arete-Hime and starred as Sango in Inuyasha, Aoi in Infinite Ryvius, Marlene in Blue Gender, Margaret in Madlax, Kou Shuurei in the Saiunkoku Monogatari series, Yuuko in Dennou Coil, Chizuru in the Hakuoiki properties, and Warp in Kaiba. She appeared in Sensou Douwa: Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu and Yume Tsukai, both Orphan releases.
- Kawamura Maria (Shirin, the dancer) played Naga the Serpent in the Slayers franchise, the title role in Fujiko Fujio A no Mumako, Eluza in the Gall Force OVAs, Interpreter in the Compiler OVAs, Luna and Tiger Lily in Peter Pan no Bouken, and Kate in Hitomi no Naka no Shounen: 15 Shounen Hyouryuuki, an Orphan release.
The actors appeared in many of the other Haruka Naru Toki shows and many video games as well. The director, Tsunaki Aki, directed several other Haruka Naru Toki shows.
For the original release, M74 translated and timed, starting with the German language subtitles. laalg translation checked and corrected the subtitles from the Japanese audio. I edited and typeset (not much). CP and Saji QCed the original scripts. For this version, Intrepid ripped the Japanese DVDs, and an encoder who wishes to remain anonymous encoded the new raws. Yogicat tweaked the timing. ImAWasteOfHair did a release check. There's really no solution to the mastering issues. There are 29.97fps signs and foreground animation overlaid on 23.976fps anime. The encoder's solution was to encode at 59.94fps, which seems to minimize interlacing and frame blending issues. YMMV.
Because of the different OP/ED songs, this version of Harunka Naru Toki no Nake de 2 supplements rather than replaces the R2E version. Script changes have been minimal; you can watch either one. However, the original is finished 5% sooner, and some people will certainly count that as an advantage. You can get this new version from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
