| To Heart | |
The To Heart logo. |
|
| トゥハート (Tu Hāto) |
|
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama, Harem, Romance |
| Game | |
| Developer | Leaf |
| Publisher | Aquaplus |
| Genre | Eroge, Visual novel |
| Rating | EOCS: 18+ (Original PC) CERO: C (PS2, PSP) |
| Platform | PC, PS, PS2, PSP |
| Released | May 23, 1997 (Original PC) |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Leaf |
| Illustrated by | Ukyō Takao |
| Published by | MediaWorks |
| English publisher | ADV Manga |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Magazine | Dengeki Daioh |
| Original run | October 1997 – December 1999 |
| Volumes | 3 |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Naohito Takahashi |
| Studio | Oriental Light and Magic |
| Licensed by | The Right Stuf International |
| Network | TV Kanagawa |
| Original run | April 1, 1999 – June 24, 1999 |
| Episodes | 13 |
| TV anime | |
| To Heart: Remember My Memories | |
| Directed by | Keitaro Motonaga |
| Studio | AIC, Oriental Light and Magic |
| Network | AT-X |
| Original run | October 2, 2004 – December 25, 2004 |
| Episodes | 13 |
| Manga | |
| To Heart: Remember My Memories | |
| Written by | Leaf |
| Illustrated by | Ukyō Takao |
| Published by | MediaWorks |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Magazine | Dengeki Daioh |
| Original run | November 2004 – July 2005 |
| Volumes | 1 |
| Game sequel | |
To Heart (トゥハート Tu Hāto) is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Leaf and released on May 23, 1997 for the PC. It was later ported to the PlayStation and given voice acting. A second PC version, titled To Heart PSE was released containing the PlayStation version as well as bonus games. To Heart PSE and the PlayStation version had the adult scenes removed. To Heart is Leaf's fifth game, and the third and final title in the Leaf Visual Novel Series along with Shizuku and Kizuato. The gameplay in To Heart follows a plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the eight female main characters. A sequel of To Heart, To Heart 2, was released on December 28, 2004 directly to the PlayStation 2. A special bundle of To Heart 2 and a PS2 version of To Heart was released on the same day. The original PC release of the visual novel was titled To Heart, however the anime and the PSE versions later changed to ToHeart without any space between the words. The English release of the anime uses the former format.
To Heart was adapted into a thirteen-episode TV anime series by Oriental Light and Magic aired between April and July 1999, and a second anime, To Heart: Remember My Memories, aired between October and December 2004. The first anime was licensed by Right Stuf International for distribution in North America; the first DVD was released in March 2007. Two manga series were produced, both illustrated by Ukyō Takao and serialized in MediaWorks manga magazine Dengeki Daioh. The first manga, which ran between October 1997 and December 1999, was based on the original visual novel, and the second manga, which ran between November 2004 and July 2005, was based on the anime To Heart: Remember My Memories. A drama CD entitled Piece of Heart was released in October 1999.
Contents |
To Heart is a romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Hiroyuki Fujita.[1] Its gameplay requires little player interaction as much of the game's duration is spent on reading the text that appears on the screen, which represents the story's narrative and dialogue. To Heart follows a linear plot line with multiple endings, and depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction.
The game divides each school day of the storyline into four segments. These segments illustrate the events that occur during Hiroyuki's commute to school, during school, after school, and after he returns home at the end of each day.[1] Depending on the time of the day and the player's actions, he or she may be presented one of four types of events: dated events, which occur automatically during certain points in the game's plot line; affection events, which occur during certain periods of time only if specific conditions pertaining to a character's affection towards Hiroyuki are met; frequency events, which occur after meeting a character a predetermined number of times; and VS events, which occurs if two characters' affection towards Hiroyuki conflict with one another.[1]
At the end of each school day, the player is given the option to navigate to various locations within the game's setting.[1] Each choosable location is accompanied by an image of a heroine in order to allow the choices to be easier to make. Every so often, the player will also come to a "decision point", where he or she is given the chance to choose from multiple options. Text progression pauses at these points, and depending on the choices that the player makes, the affection rate of the heroine associated with the event will either increase, decrease, or remain the same.[1] This mechanism determines which direction of the plot the player will progress into.[1] There are elevens plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. In order to view all of the plot lines, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and make different decisions to progress the plot in an alternate direction.
In the versions released since the original, there are six bonus minigames available that serves to length the experience. The first game is a platform game called "Heart by Heart", in which the player controls a To Heart character in one of the thirty static, non-moving levels.[1] The player's objective is to defeat all of the enemies in the level using various attacks within a time limit. The minigame also features a two-player variation, in which the players may compete or cooperate with each other within the game's levels. The second, "", is a puzzle game in which the player gains points by forming and eliminating lines of three or more blocks of the same shape.[1] The player achieves this by swapping the preexisting blocks in the game's screen with those in a bank of blocks alloted to him or her.[1] The third minigame, titled "Ojō-sama wa Majō" (お嬢様は魔女), is a side-scrolling shooter game featuring Serika Kurusugawa.[1] The player's goal is to progress through a horizontally scrolling level, while attacking enemies and dodging their attacks. "Katamomi Multi" (肩もみマルチ, Shoulder-rubbing Multi) and "Katamomi Serio" (肩もみセリオ, Shoulder-rubbing Serio) are bonus scenarios in which the player is given simulated massages by the characters Multi or Serio using the DualShock controller's vibration function.[1] Lastly, "Water Survival" (ウォーターサバイバル Uōtaa Sabaibaru) is a minigame that appears in Shiho Nagaoka's scenario, in which Hiroyuki and Shiho attempt to shoot each other with water guns.[1]
After completing Shizuku and Kizuato, main planner and scenario writer Tatsuya Takahashi began conceptualizing the third entry to the Leaf Visual Novel Series, which would later become To Heart.[1][2] Takahashi originally considered creating a story with dark fantasy and gothic themes, but changed his approach in order to avoid making three consecutive works with dark themes.[1][2] He then settled on creating a romance, and later incorporated comical elements.[1] Early in development, Takahashi consulted frequent collaborator Tōru Minazuki as for what they should make. The two originally considered creating the story and characters entirely by themselves, but after Minazuki expressed his concern that having only six heroines is not enough to symbolize a romance theme, the two asked writer Saki Aomura and illustrator Hisashi Kawata to assist in the project's development.[1] Out of the eleven heroines created, Takahashi wrote the scenarios for Akari, Multi, Tomoko, Serika, Aoi, and Ayaka; Aomura authored the scenarios for Lemmy, Kotone, and Shiho; and the scenario for Rio was written by a third, unspecified writer.[1] Minazuki designed and illustrated Takahashi's characters, while Kawata illustrated the remaining characters.[1]
The writers did not begin work on the story until the characters were created.[1] Takahashi stated the game's story is simply actions that represent what becomes of the characters.[2] He mentioned the story exists not because he wanted to write the story, but because he wanted to "illustrate" the characters.[2] Takahashi believed that such a writing style was unique even within the game industry at the time, but has since become the norm.[2] Although the story contains futuristic elements such as maid robots, Takahashi stated the story takes place during contemporary times.[1] Parts of the school in which the game takes place was based on the alma mater that Takahashi, Minazuki, and Aomura had attended, and Takahashi said the game's story reflects the staff members' school experience during the 1980s.[1]
To Heart was first released as an adult visual novel on May 23, 1997 playable on a Microsoft Windows PC as the third and final title in the Leaf Visual Novel Series, the first two titles being Shizuku and Kizuato. To Heart is Leaf's fifth visual novel. To Heart was ported to the PlayStation on March 25, 1999 playable on three CDs with the adult scenes and themes removed, though full-voice acting and bonus games were added. A new opening sequence was used for the PS version, which has similarities to the first anime's opening video. Although the character design was unchanged in the game, the new opening sequence utilized the anime version's changes to the design of the characters.
The PC version was re-released in a 'renewal package' on June 19, 2003 for updated support for Windows ME/2000/XP computers. Leaf released an enhanced version of To Heart for the PC on June 27, 2003 playable as a DVD known as To Heart PSE which used the PS version as the basis; PSE stands for "PlayStation Edition". Unlike the previous versions, the box art for PSE used the character redesigns from the anime. The game itself used the same character designed as in previous incarnations. A PlayStation 2 version of To Heart was included in a special To Heart 2/To Heart bundle in one of three packages To Heart 2 was released with; the PS2 version of To Heart was not sold individually.
A guidebook for the original visual novel titled To Heart Official Guidebook: The Essence of To Heart (トゥハート公式ガイドブック―The essence of To Heart) was published by Enterbrain in June 2000.[3] The book contains a comprehensive walkthrough for the entire To Heart visual novel, along with a gallery of all the obtainable CGs, as well as stage-by-stage descriptions of all three bonus games included in the PlayStation and PSE versions. A To Heart Visual Fan Book (To Heart ビジュアルファンブック) was released by MediaWorks, and contains images from the PS version.
A manga adaptation based on the original To Heart visual novel was illustrated by Ukyō Takao and serialized in MediaWorks' shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Daioh between October 1997 and December 1999; the chapters were later compiled into three bound volumes published under MediaWorks' Dengeki Comics imprint. The manga was licensed by ADV Manga.[4] A manga based on the anime adaptation To Heart: Remember My Memories was also drawn by Takao and was serialized in Dengeki Daioh between November 2004 and July 2005; one volume was released.
A thirteen-episode anime series adaptation produced by Oriental Light and Magic and directed by Naohito Takahashi aired in Japan between April 1 and June 24, 1999. The overall story centers around Akari Kamigishi's blossoming relationship with the protagonist Hiroyuki. Six short bonus broadcasts were produced and aired after selected episodes. They lasted around five minutes and followed the general style of the main anime, although the characters are drawn super deformed. Three pieces of theme music were used for the episode; one opening theme and two ending themes. The opening theme is "Feeling Heart" by Masami Nakatsukasa; the first ending theme is "Yell" by Ayako Kawasumi, and the second ending theme is "Access" by Spy. Different ending themes were used depending on the location of the broadcast. The DVD and VHS releases used "Yell" as the ending theme. A set of six DVDs, videotapes and laserdiscs were sold in Japan for the To Heart anime.
To Heart was licensed for North American release by The Right Stuf International at Anime Expo 2004 on July 3, 2004 at their panel.[5] Volume one was scheduled for late 2005, but the master's copy Right Stuf received from Japan were in bad shape, delaying the release.[6][7] Due to the fact that To Heart was animated in the process of cel animation, it was captured on film instead of digitally on a computer. Unfortunately, the film masters had been destroyed, and their only choice was to restore and digitally remaster the video that they had been sent.[8] All thirteen episodes and the six bonus extra was released on four DVD volumes between March 27 and August 28, 2007.[9][10]
A sequel anime series entitled To Heart: Remember My Memories is set a year after the conclusion of the first anime and completes the anime's storyline (deviating from the visual novel). The future of Akari, Hiroyuki, and Multi are also shown. In To Heart: Remember My Memories, characters' hair color changed, for example Hiroyuki's hair, which turned from a dark brown to a greenish blue. The Himeyuri twins from To Heart 2 make their debut appearances in To Heart: Remember My Memories as speaking cameos. The anime, which was produced by AIC and Oriental Light and Magic, and directed by Keitaro Motonaga, aired in Japan between October 2 and December 25, 2004 compiling thirteen episodes. The episodes were released on seven DVD compilation volumes in Japan. Seven short omake episodes titled Heart Fighters were released with the consumer DVD versions of To Heart: Remember My Memories; they are not available on rental DVDs. Unlike the bonus shorts of the first season, the characters are not drawn super deformed and there is an overall arching mini-story. The humor comes from its parodies of popular Japanese culture. Two pieces of theme music were used for the episodes; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Daisuki da yo (大好きだよ) (Into Your Heart)" by Naomi Tanisaki, that ranked at No. 63 on the Japanese Oricon weekly singles chart,[11] and the ending theme is "Sorezore no Mirai e" (それぞれの未来へ) by Haruna Ikeda.
A drama CD based on the original To Heart visual novel entitled Piece of Heart was released on October 27, 1999. The story revolves around Serio at her assigned high school alongside and after the anime version when Multi is still studying at Hiroyuki's school. A drama CD released for the second anime series was released on January 26, 2005.
The original theme song was "Brand New Heart", as opposed to "Feeling Heart" which was used in all subsequent versions and in the anime. A music single for the game, "Heart to Heart", was released on July 2, 1997. The visual novel's original soundtrack was released on May 28, 1999. Leaf released a piano arrange album entitled Leaf Piano Collection Volume 1 released in July 2002. The album contains popular songs from several of Leaf's visual novels, including three from To Heart. The first anime's original soundtrack entitled To Heart: Animation Sound Track was released on July 9, 1999. The anime's soundtrack contains all the tunes heard in the anime, as well as TV size versions of the ending song "Yell". It does not contain the opening song "Feeling Heart", which is found on either the "Feeling Heart" single released on April 2, 1999, or the original soundtrack from the game. A single for the second anime, "Daisuki da yo (大好きだよ) (Into Your Heart)", was released on November 25, 2004 and contains both full and instrumental versions of the opening and ending themes. The soundtrack for the second anime titled To Heart: Remember My Memories Soundtrack & Image Song was released on December 22, 2004; the image song contained is sung by the Ayako Kawasumi, the voice actress of Akari Kamagishi.