Tilling the Earth with To Heart
I should confess–I finally watched all of To Heart for the first time. It’s worth confessing because it’s not something I should be talking about, yet I am going to.
What’s worse is that I ought to finish watching this way back in 1999/2000. I think around that time I was too busy chasing after Seraphim Call fansubs or something to really give this porn game adaptation much of thought. Also, it didn’t help that everyone was gaga over Key back then. To Heart’s impact, however, was clear as day and anyone chasing and following the scene knew. If anything, 9 years later, things are clearer how this anime adaptation was the herald of a new age of Japanese animation in the late-night otaku market.
How was To Heart groundbreaking?
1. It’s not porn, yet it comes of porn. Late night TV means adult content, by the typical implication. However To Heart was anything but. I’m not even sure if it predated that market distinction or not. At any rate, the only adult-like thing about it is the unrealistic portrayal of high school romance as reconfigured into a simple stage drama (which are well lampooned by the omake in the home video releases). There’s no violence, no sex, and barely anything particularly showy unless you have a thing for 90s Japanese high school gym clothes (and I’m sure some of you still do). It’s one of the first TV shows to be categorized like that, much like its game counterpart was one of the first for the PC (okay not exactly).
2. The realism gauge is way, way up. For something that has nothing much happening, this is quite rare for the adaptation that it was. Even if there was a Serio and a Multi. In a way, it’s almost avant-garde in terms of how much it felt like a simple stage play, written out for a general audience, yet still carried itself with a charm that satisfied the gamers.
3. It was also the first of its kind–a popular TV anime adapted from a bishoujo/romance game. I think that alone speaks volumes just because in the years since we’ve tried and there just haven’t been more than a single-handful of bishoujo game/romance game adaptations that had success with the crowd that did not play the games.
The impact of To Heart, I hope, is clear by now. A successful franchising effort leads to more of the same from other similar franchises. It’s a formula for the win…for the most part. Leave aside the large amount of FAIL that subsequently got let loose from the whole porn game adaptation wave, bogged down the early-middle part of this decade, it also was one of the very first iyashikei-like show we have seen for that late-night time, prime otaku slot. (LOL hypothetical: Can we also blame To Heart for the flood of overlicensed crap shows as we witnessed in the 2003-2005 era?)
Anyways, it’s a gem.
With all that said, I didn’t finish watching it for NINE years. That’s crazyspeak. Even Jeff Lawson’s watched it, let alone mentioning that it’s licensed and released in the US in its second iteration now (WTB a RightStuf release that isn’t screwed in the audio). It also made sense to me why people like to rewatch To Heart. It’s a fast watch. Not only because it’s a good watch for its target audience, it’s also a very light watch. You can go through it like popcorn, although I don’t think it’ll leave much of an aftertaste. Considering its easy going pace, that’s quite a feat.
Finally, as much as I praise this show, it’s definitely not going anywhere on my favorite list. I enjoyed it thoroughly but it doesn’t engage me in a holistic way like my other favorites. It’s probably why I wasn’t in a hurry to finish it 8-9 years ago, and probably why the praise from others didn’t do much to budge me.
Still, it was a nice trip back in time. Using it as a bit of a time capsule, To Heart was well-animated for its age and era, and I enjoyed that hand drawn and hand colored cel art that doesn’t look like the picture right there. It’s got some funny bonus episodes, cute girls, and an unusual take on the genre right from the start. It’s a show that is deceptively difficult to mimic. It took until Macross Frontier to get Shiho-chan on Stage right? LOL.
Huh, when you mentioned iyashikei-like, now I feel like I wanna watch it.
I’m not sure how much “healing properties” it has, but To Heart is iyashikei in a way.
Oh my, this brings back memories–because I started watching this when it was new (2000 or so), very early in my fandom. I too remember it feeling very soothing, even though by all rights I should have found it boring. And I’m not sure why I did, but back then I kept playing the OP over and over again (I find it very average now). Never would of guessed then, of course, that it was a start of a huge trend, the one we’re living in the middle of now.
So can this show’s proper descendents be really stuff like Manabi Straight or Sketchbook, rather than the standard harem/eroge adaptation?
I don’t think so. I’d pin it with the likes of Hitohira or Canvas 2.
RightStuf’s got a trade-in offer going for those who already bought the singles, so I’m pretty sure the thinkpak’s got corrected audio ($22 at DeepDiscount).
I remember watching the Sachi fansubs of this back in 2002, and despite the terrible quality of the ASF conversions of the MPEG transfers of the VHS originals(!), I was completely bowled over by it! The ending, where Akari cleverly outflanks Shiho in her usual quiet and totally sweet way was really wonderful.
It was also the first anime to turn me onto sports stories, until I saw the episodes about Aoi, and also the sports days one, I had always thought sports totally boring, but To Heart brought a warm human touch to the subject, making you feel for the participents, and indeed root for them.