Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito (ヤミと帽子と本の旅人), also known as Yamibō/Yamibou for short, is a Japanese adult visual novel published in December 2002 by Root. A 13-episode anime series produced by Studio Deen aired between October and December 2003. Although the characters and their relationships remain basically the same in the game and anime, the storyline is different.

Plot

Game

The game begins with a girl who is taken to a strange, magical realm by a dragon. She apparently was taken to the library where all past, present, and future realities are kept within the books. The player is a young man who has come from one of these books as well, but has forgotten his way back home. The player is commissioned to find the missing girl by the denizens of the library, and starts his search by entering different books.

Anime

The story follows the travels of Hazuki Azuma, a tall, brooding high-school girl, as she searches for her adopted older sister and love interest, Hatsumi, in many different "book worlds". After the disappearance of her sister, a talking parakeet nicknamed Ken-chan introduces Hazuki to Lilith, the caretaker of the Great Library. Each book in the library contains a different world, and the guardian of the library takes on the title Yami.

Characters

Adaptations

Manga

There is a one-book manga adaptation, Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito ~Romance, illustrated by Aya Sakurai. It is a compressed version of the game's events, following the storyline that leads to a romantic relationship between the nameless main character and Lilith.

Anime

A 13-episode anime television series adaptation was produced by Avex mode and Studio Deen and directed by Yūji Yamaguchi, with Tomomi Mochizuki handling series scripts, Asako Nishida designing the characters, Tomochi Kosaka designing the props and Akifumi Tada composing the music. As a UHF anime, it aired in Japan between October 2 and December 25, 2003, on MBS-affiliated networks for 13 episodes. The anime's opening theme is "Hitomi no Naka no Meikyū" by Aiko Kayō and the ending theme is "Eien no Inori o Sasagete" by Sanae Kobayashi. The anime was licensed for release in North America by Anime Works. It will be broadcast on Toku beginning on July 19, 2016. Although there was frequent mention in the anime's pre-broadcast publicity that "all the characters will appear", copyright-infringing characters, such as Erosuke and the train conductor, as well as some male and non-human characters, did not make an appearance.

Episodes

Video game

A spin-off game exists known as Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito Typing Travellers (ヤミと帽子と本の旅人 タイピングトラベラー) was released in 2004, it intended to teach typing skills. It was based on the anime and even uses screencaps from it.

Reception

Theron Martin of Anime News Network called the series a "true oddity" for not being picked up for an English sub by Media Blasters until 2013, but was not released until 2016. He also called the series odd because it does not "resemble anything else out there" as it has its origins in an adult visual novel and noted that the storytelling approach is not linear, with the mechanics for the world-shifting in the series being "an interdimensional library". He said that while the storytelling is strong, some characters appear but are never explored, humor is weak, and criticized the animation style. Even so, he said that the character designs are strong, adding that the series has fan service, the yuri element is not very pervasive, and says that the series has a diverse set of music. He concluded that while watching the series is one that "requires some patience", viewers will "be rewarded" through their time watching the series, making it worth their while.