To Heart - Anime

To Heart is an anime based on the Japanese visual novel, ToHeart; the visual novel was released by Leaf/Aquaplus in 1997 for the PC. The visual novel was later ported to the PlayStation and given voice acting. The anime series consists of thirteen episodes, and was produced by KSS in 1999. To Heart, which was directed by Naohito Takahashi, ran on Japanese television from April 1-June 24, 1999. The To Heart anime has a “soft” feel to it. This “soft” feel is accomplished through a significant amount of watercolor images being used for the backgrounds.

There were also six short “Special Broadcasts” produced, which run about five minutes in length. While the stories of the “Special Broadcasts” followed the general story style of the anime, “super deformed” versions of the characters were used instead. The “Special Broadcasts” were aired after selected episodes.

The Right Stuf International holds the distribution rights to the To Heart anime in the United States. All thirteen episodes, along with all six of the “Special Broadcasts” were released on four DVDs in the United States between March 27 and August 28, 2007.

To Heart focuses on a high school boy named Hiroyuki Fujita, with each episode focusing on his friendship with the other girls he meets at school. Hiroyuki has a dry attitude, but he is actually empathetic; however, he tends to show his empathy through his actions rather than with his words or how he acts towards other people. The other main character in the series is a girl named Akari Kamigishi, who is a childhood friend of Hiroyuki. Akari is in love with Hiroyuki and spends a lot of time around him. However, Hiroyuki seems to be rather oblivious to Akari’s feelings toward him. Akari is adept at cooking and is a member of the school’s Cooking Club. Akari also serves as a narrator for the anime series.

The character of Akari Kamigishi has been an influence in otaku culture, and this is best illustrated by the character design of Tsukasa Hiiragi from the manga and anime series Lucky Star. Tsukasa’s look appears to have been based on Akari, and this fact is actually mocked a few times within the Lucky Star anime series.

A sequel anime series, To Heart 2: Remember My Memories, was produced in Japan in 2004. However, this sequel series did not fare as well as the original To Heart anime.

To Heart is a slice of life, romantic comedy anime that should have a strong appeal to girls. I would recommend this anime to an audience that is thirteen years of age and older.