History VisualNovel / YamiToBoushiToHonNoTabibito

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Upon broadcast, the most commonly-viewed fansubbed version of the anime had some rather different ideas on name spellings. Among them were Marieru instead of Mariel, Garuganchua instead of Gargantua, Jiru instead of Jill, and most noticeably, Ririsu instead of Lilith. (Curiously, they did not render Adam and Eve as Adamu and Ibu.) A re-release by a different group in 2007 used the romanizations listed in Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

* ShoutOut: Leading to possible EpilepticTrees - Hazuki shares her last name with Io Azuma, a protagonist of ROOT's previous visual novel (also with Carnelian's art), ''Moonlight Lady''.

* UniversalAdaptorCast: The characters reenact the plots of several books.

''Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito'' (The Darkness, the Hat, and the Book Travellers), a.k.a. ''Yamibou'', is a HGame VisualNovel published in 2002 by Root with artwork done by Carnelian. In 2003 it was adapted into a 13-episode anime by [[Creator/StudioDEEN]]. This adaptation removed the male protagonist and placed it more in the YuriGenre.

* CuteMute: Hatsumi. Subverted; she actually can talk at times.

''Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito'' (Yami, the Hat, and the Book Travellers), a.k.a. ''Yamibou''

The Great Library: [[MagicalLibrary A place where every world is maintained within books]]. By and large, people can live out their entire lives without ever knowing it exists.

Azuma Hazuki was living out her life as a fairly OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent in one of these worlds, until her adopted sister, Hatsumi, disappeared at midnight on her [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday sixteenth birthday]]. Intruding immediately on her shock was a bird-like being called Ken-chan, which had been sent by its master to find someone called Eve...

''Yamibou'' is, simply, the story of the people whose lives were touched by Eve as she travelled through the worlds contained in the books of the Great Library, and their continued attempts to find her. From Lilith, the current guardian of the Great Library and caretaker of its books (that's supposed to be Eve's job); to Gargantua, whose life was forever altered when he witnessed Eve's apparently magical powers during her stay in his world; and finally to Hazuki, who loves her adopted sister and sought to find her at any cost; each had their own reasons to search.

Many have called ''Yamibou'' a watershed moment for serious lesbain moments in anime (though it's been played as comedy since at least 1999 in ''Anime/SteelAngelKurumi'', and probably earlier), the recent rise of ''yuri'' in anime can easily trace its beginning to the late-2003 run of this show. Humorously enough, many of the people who watched the show for just that reason, and who had glowingly referred to it as the defining ''shoujo-ai'' series, absolutely despised the ending. (Several have since attempted to pass the mantle of "defining ''yuri'' series" to ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden''.)

''Yamibou'' is based on an [[DatingSim "H"-game]] by Root with artwork done by Carnelian. The original game's plot is vastly different, lacking much of the ''yuri'' due to starring a nameless male main character (who was completely eliminated from the anime.)

* AirplaneOfLove: Hazuki watches a plane in the last episode as she reflects on [[spoiler:the child she has a feeling she will give birth to, suggesting there's a new love interest to come.]]

* DimensionalTraveler: Eve and Lilith, as the keepers of the Great Library, have the power to get into the book worlds and leave whenever they want. Hazuki is one only because she's with Lilith.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Quill.
* GainaxEnding: Fans are divided as to whether it's this or a DownerEnding.
** It's actually three endings at once, none of which fit together. In one part, Hatsumi leaves a message, in the next, the message is entirely erased. Many fans nowadays seem to think the ending is supposed to be a Pick-and-Choose-your-ending thing.
* GaidenGame: ''Yamibou''s visual novel was given one in the form of ''Koge to Lilith no [[GratuitousGerman Nachtmusik]]''. It's basically Lilith having lots of encounters with people in [[{{Cosplay}} various outfits]]. FridgeBrilliance dictates that it's probably to make it easier to fit in wherever she goes...
** Bonus points for some of those outfits being [[ShoutOut call-backs]] to some of the older games that Carnelian worked on, like ''Moonlight Lady'' and ''Machine Maiden''.

* HotLibrarian: In a more literal sense.

* InexplicablyAwesome: There's no indication that Hazuki learned swordsmanship in her world, but she's very good with her sword and can even easily defeat samurai from the medieval Japan world.

* JigsawPuzzlePlot
* {{Joshikousei}}

* KansaiRegionalAccent: Ken-chan has this accent.
** So does Meirin, which makes Ken-chan warm up to her.
* {{Kawaiiko}}: Lilith, among others.

** Hatsumi/Eve is given a love letter by a boy in episode 1. Hazuki finds out and harms her out of rage.

* MayflyDecemberRomance: Hazuki is a normal human girl who's in love with Hatsumi/Eve, who's a sort of deity.

* MultipleTailedBeast: The kitsunes Youko Meirin (two tails) and Tamamo no Mae (nine).

* NubileSavage: Quill.

* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Azuma Hazuki.
* PantheraAwesome: Rascalas the white tiger, Milka's pet/friend/guardian.
* ParentalAbandonment: Hazuki and Hatsumi may well have parents, but they never appear, though Hazuki asks her mother a question in the final episode.
* PillarOfLight
* PortalCrossroadWorld:

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Possibly. FridgeLogic suggests Hazuki has spent an improbable amount of time in various books, and it may be more like seven million. Of course, time itself is up for grabs in this series.

* TrappedInAnotherWorld: In several worlds, actually.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Hazuki's sailor suit doesn't draw much attention from most of the worlds based on ancient time periods. That is, except for Meirin, who calls her out for her weird clothes in a throw-away line.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Hazuki at 15 is taller, stronger and more mature-looking than Hatsumi at 16.

----

* NiceHat: Lilith's huge black hat with a single giant eyeball.

* {{Kitsune}}: Youko Meirin from the medieval Japan world is a fox girl with two tails who can cast fire magic.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_yamitoboushi.jpg]]

Many have called ''Yamibou'' a watershed moment for serious {{Schoolgirl Lesbian|s}} moments in anime (though it's been played as comedy since at least 1999 in ''Anime/SteelAngelKurumi'', and probably earlier), the recent rise of ''yuri'' in anime can easily trace its beginning to the late-2003 run of this show. Humorously enough, many of the people who watched the show for just that reason, and who had glowingly referred to it as the defining ''shoujo-ai'' series, absolutely despised the ending. (Several have since attempted to pass the mantle of "defining ''yuri'' series" to ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden''.)

* SchoolgirlLesbians: Hazuki is 15 and in love with Eve, who's 16 in her world (but is actually much older). The ending shows that [[spoiler:Hazuki will get in a heterosexual relationship as an adult.]]

* ThemeTuneCameo: Hazuki and Hatsumi listen to the OP song on the way to school in episode 7.

* ShoutOut: Leading to possible EpilepticTrees - Hazuki shares her last name with Io Azuma, a protagonist of ROOT's previous visual novel (also with Carnelian's art), ''[[MoonlightLady Kao no Nai Tsuki]]''.

** Bonus points for some of those outfits being [[ShoutOut call-backs]] to some of the older games that Carnelian worked on, like ''[[MoonlightLady KaoNoNaiTsuki]]'' and ''Machine Maiden''.

* JustTrainWrong: In 2nd episode of the anime there is a scene of an arriving steam train and steam comes out of the sand pipes[[note]]used to drop sand on wet rail to improve traction[[/note]]. In RealLife this would just get the sand wet and clog the pipes[[and it actually used to happen to real trains up until 1880s when engineers realized their error[[/note]]. Besides tha it's totally pointless to sand the tracks when the train has come to a complete halt.

* SmallAnnoyingCreature: Ken-chan with his obnoxious and perverted commentary is prone to getting chastised or ignored by the main characters, especially the ultra-serious Hazuki.

Many have called ''Yamibou'' a watershed moment for serious {{Schoolgirl Lesbian|s}} moments in anime (though it's been played as comedy since at least 1999 in ''Anime/SteelAngelKurumi'', and probably earlier), the recent rise of ''yuri'' in anime can easily trace its beginning to the late-2003 run of this show. Humorously enough, many of the people who watched the show for just that reason, and who had glowingly referred to it as the defining ''shoujo-ai'' series, absolutely despised the ending. (Several have since attempted to pass the mantle of "defining ''yuri'' series" to ''Manga/KannazukiNoMiko''.)

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Upon broadcast, the most commonly-viewed fansubbed version of the anime had some rather different ideas on name spellings. Among them were Marieru instead of Mariel, Garuganchua instead of Gargantua, Jiru instead of Jill, and most noticeably, Ririsu instead of Lilith. (Curiously, they did not render Adam and Eve as Adamu and Ibu.) A re-release by a different group in 2007 used the romanizations listed in TheOtherWiki.

Many have called ''Yamibou'' a watershed moment for serious {{Schoolgirl Lesbian|s}} moments in anime (though it's been played as comedy since at least 1999 in ''Angel/SteelAngelKurumi'', and probably earlier), the recent rise of ''yuri'' in anime can easily trace its beginning to the late-2003 run of this show. Humorously enough, many of the people who watched the show for just that reason, and who had glowingly referred to it as the defining ''shoujo-ai'' series, absolutely despised the ending. (Several have since attempted to pass the mantle of "defining ''yuri'' series" to ''Manga/KannazukiNoMiko''.)

* GainaxEnding: Fans are divided as to whether it's a DownerEnding or not.
** Only because we don't have a 'bullshit! ending' trope...

[[quoteright:200:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Yamibou.jpg]]

Many have called ''Yamibou'' a watershed moment for serious [[SchoolgirlLesbians schoolgirl lesbian]] moments in anime (though it's been played as comedy since at least 1999 in ''SteelAngelKurumi'', and probably earlier), the recent rise of ''yuri'' in anime can easily trace its beginning to the late-2003 run of this show. Humorously enough, many of the people who watched the show for just that reason, and who had glowingly referred to it as the defining ''shoujo-ai'' series, absolutely despised the ending. (Several have since attempted to pass the mantle of "defining ''yuri'' series" to ''KannazukiNoMiko''.)

* FalseCameraEffects

* AirplaneOfLove

* {{Reincarnation}}

* TwelveEpisodeAnime: Has 13 episodes.

* PortalCrossroadWorld: The Great Library is the place from which all the worlds, contained in books, are accessed.

* MultipleTailedBeast: It stars two {{kitsune}}s, one with nine tails and one with just two.

* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Hazuki; however, [[SingleTargetSexuality if they're not Hatsumi, she's not interested]].

* LoveLetter: Hatsumi/Eve is given a love letter by a boy in episode 1. Hazuki finds out and harms her out of rage.

* MagicLibrarian

* MedievalEuropeanFantasy

* NotGrowingUpSucks: Milka is stuck as a little girl because of magic.

* ShipSinking: [[spoiler:Nothing quite kills a ship like giving birth to the person you're in love with. Hazuki giving birth to Eve is what will happen in the show's future.]]