Harukanaru Toki no Naka de/Trivia

Voice acting

• Hey, It's That Voice!: The interaction between Yorihisa (Miki Shin'ichirou) and Tenma (Seki Tomokazu) might remind some of the watchers of Escaflowne.
• Relationship Voice Actor:
  • As noted above, Miki Shin'ichirou and Seki Tomokazu are Minamoto no Yorihisa and Morimura Tenma, the two Seiryuu Hachiyou.
  • Likewise, Hoshi Souichirou and Ishida Akira are Eisen and Abe no Yasuaki, the two Genbu Hachiyou.
    • Also note that the first three games kept the same cast for the Hachiyou groups, so the above pairs are also present in Haruka 2 (Minamoto no Yoritada and Taira no Katsuzane, Minamoto no Motomi and Abe no Yasutsugu) and Haruka 3 (Arikawa Masaomi and Minamoto no Kurou Yoshitsune, Taira no Atsumori and Ridvan).
• Talking to Himself: In the OAV Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 2: Shiroki Ryuu no Miko both of the Fujiwara twins (Yukari-hime and Misono) are voiced by Ohtani Ikue, who voiced Fuji-hime in the first storyline. Not surprising given that both are Expies of Fuji, but since the twins are of opposite gender, the voice differs slightly depending on who is talking.
• The Other Darrin: Fuji-hime was voiced by Ohtani Ikue in Ajisai Yumegatari and Hachiyou Shou. The Maihitoyo movie gave this role to Koorogi Satomi. Arguably an easy-to-do transition, given that Fuji is a ten-year-old child who would presumably have a slightly more "generic" voice than the more grown-up central cast.

Hachiyou Shou epigraphs

As mentioned in the main article, the Hachiyou Shou anime uses a tanka poem in each episode, at the start of the ending sequence. These poems come from Kokin Wakashuu, an anthology composed during the early Heian Period (hence its use in Haruka). A list of poems used in the TV series can be retrieved from Japanese Wikipedia.

For those curious about the poem numbers in the anthology, here they are:

• TV Episode 01 - #116
• TV Episode 02 - #701
• TV Episode 03 - #523
• TV Episode 04 - #403
• TV Episode 05 - #66
• TV Episode 06 - #165
• TV Episode 07 - #89
• TV Episode 08 - #442
• TV Episode 09 - #615
• TV Episode 10 - #97
• TV Episode 11 - #646
• TV Episode 12 - #989
• TV Episode 13 - #866
• TV Episode 14 - #619
• TV Episode 15 - #865
• TV Episode 16 - #832
• TV Episode 17 - #166
• TV Episode 18 - #684
• TV Episode 19 - #494
• TV Episode 20 - #885
• TV Episode 21 - #561
• TV Episode 22 - #977
• TV Episode 23 - #501
• TV Episode 24 - #517
• TV Episode 25 - #387
• TV Episode 26 - #611
• OAV Episode 1 - #931
• OAV Episode 2 - #53

Other trivia

• The theme songs for Ajisai Yumegatari and Shiroki Ryuu no Miko were sung by DASEIN. Later anime adaptations, however, started to employ voice actors from the show itself to do the opening and ending, and the credits list their respective characters' names before their actual names. For "who is who" see below:
  • Hachiyou Shou opening, "Haruka, Kimi no Moto e..." - Morimura Tenma, Inori, Nagareyama Shimon;
  • Hachiyou Shou ending, "flowin' ~Ukigumo~" - Sefuru, Ran.
  • Kurenai no Tsuki opening, "Unmei no Tsuki wa Kurenai" - Hinoe, Musashibo Benkei, Taira no Atsumori.
  • Kurenai no Tsuki ending, "Gyakufu no Toki ni Hitori" - Arikawa Masaomi.
  • Owarinaki Unmei opening, "Kirameki no Tsuki" - Hinoe, Kajiwara Kagetoki.
  • Owarinaki Unmei ending, "Yuukyuu no Gekkou" - Arikawa Masaomi, Minamoto no Kurou Yoshitsune.

• The ending sequence for Hachiyou Shou TV, which consists of the mangaka's illustrations of the Hachiyou, normally shows the characters in the order of Seiryuu -> Suzaku -> Byakko -> Genbu. "Heaven" goes before "Earth", except for the Suzaku pair, for some reason. If the Ending Theme is replaced with a character's Image Song for Character Focus episode, however, the sequence is recut so that it starts with the Hachiyou who was the main star of the episode. For Yasuaki, who happens to be at the very end of the sequence, the order was reversed.
• The title of Hachiyou Shou TV episode 23, "かわたれ" (Kawatare), is written in kanji as 彼は誰. It is an archaic term for "twilight" (akin to 黄昏 tasogare), which literally means "who is that (person)?". A particular famous scene from the episode in question employs both meanings.
• The flower referenced in the manga in relation to Yasuaki's creation, kikyou (platycodon grandiflorus), isn't random -- it is associated with Abe no Seimei and the Five Elements.
• For reasons probably having to do with time constraints, Hachiyou Shou TV never references or explains the seal on Yasuaki's face. Simply not including the details of Yasuaki's origins (which is not even a spoiler anyway^[1]) until the Internal Reveal would be one thing, but not mentioning the seal at all belongs to the Unusually Uninteresting Sight trope. As a result, they skipped over an arguably important part when the seal disappears (which would have happened during the abovementioned scene in episode 23).
• Prior to Haruka 3, which started to use characters based on specific historical figures, the members of the famous clans appearing in the series -- Minamoto, Fujiwara, Tachibana, Abe and Taira -- had made-up given names, although many of them attempted to follow the general naming pattern prevalent in that clan.
• The story involving Yorihisa and the last Nue might be a reference to the part of Heike Monogatari about Minamoto no Yorimasu killing a nue. Somewhat unfittingly, the time period in which Heike Monogatari takes place occurs much later (it was referenced eventually in Haruka 3).

1. ↑ unless you only watched Hachiyou Shou and failed to pick on the leftover hints