History Anime / H2OFootprintsInTheSand

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/H2Oscreen.jpg

-->''"Candy carries the taste of happiness. If you suck on it, a flower will bloom in your mouth."''

''[=H2O=] Footprints In The Sand'' is an [[{{Anime}} anime]] and VisualNovel centered around Hirose Takuma, a middle-school student who moves out to the country in order to recover from an illness. Said illness as caused him to go blind, even though the doctors cannot seem to find anything wrong with him from a physical standpoint.

Upon arriving at the country village, Takuma encounters the mysterious, yet [[GenkiGirl energetic]] Otoha, the self-proclaimed "Spirit of the Sounds of Time." Otoha offers Takuma, whom she refers to as "The Promised One," his sight back, if only for a short while. Takuma also encounters the enigamatic loner Kohinata Hayami, whom the rest of the village treats with an obvious grudge, for reasons Takuma can't seem to figure out. Not even Kagura Hinata, the granddaughter of the village elder, seems willing to fill him in. As Takuma refuses to stop acting friendly towards Hayami, he sets into action a chain of events that may change the entire village.

A VisualNovel adapatation in the vein of VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} and other KyoAni/[[KeyVisualArts Key]] works, though the best comparison themetically and plot-wise would probably be EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo. The show itself starts off slow, and rather cliched. However, towards the middle, it [[GrowingTheBeard improves quite a bit]], as the backstory of the characters and the revelations about the village's past supplant the HaremAnime and VisualNovel cliches that littered the beginning. The ending is quite the TearJerker, in any case.

The Visual Novel was produced by Makura, with the animated adapatation put together by studio Zexcs in 2008. The anime has has been licensed by Kadokawa [=USA=] for an English release. The title comes from the names of the main heroines (Hayami, Hinata, Otoha) and the well known ''Footprints'' poem, which is used as the main theme.


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'''This series provides examples of:'''
* AccidentalPervert: Takuma's blindess seems to facilitate this early on in the series.
* AlphaBitch: Played with. Yui acts like this, but the rest of the students just sort of laugh at her when she does so.
* ArmorPiercingSlap: Hinata to Takuma in episode 10. [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero It doesn't work]], and actually sends Takuma further into a HeroicBSOD.]]
* [[spoiler: BabiesEverAfter:]] [[spoiler: And [[{{WholesomeCrossdresser}} Hamaji]] '''[[MisterSeahorse is the father]]'''.]]
* BalloonBelly: Hayami in Episode 6
* BeachEpisode: Episode 4, doubles as a HotSpringsEpisode
* BigFancyHouse: Hinata, being the daughter of the village elder and all.
* {{Bokukko}}: Otoha
* BrainBleach: You might need it for the opener to episode 8.
* ButtMonkey: Yui tends to be on the recieving end of more than her fair share of things.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Hinata in the final episode, the closest thing to a CrowningMomentOfAwesome in the entire series.
-->[[spoiler:'''Hinata (really Hotaru), after her grandfather attempted to kill Hayami:''' I've called the police.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Grandfather:''' What did you say?]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Hinata:''' I plan on revealing everything, the fact that the hunting rifle was missing from the house, and that you're here.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Grandfather:''' Why you little...!]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Hinata:''' This village doesn't belong to you!]]
* TheCameo: Misakura Rin from Makura's another game ''Sakura no Uta'' makes a small but rather an important appearance in Otoha's route in the game.
* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Hinata's grandfater. He's really just an old man who wants to control the village he presides over as the elder, and seems to care solely for the preservation of the Kagura family. To the point of forcing his granddaughter to falsify her identity, and attempting to murder a middle-school-age girl. Sure, the girl's parents were {{Bad Samaritan}}s, but that alone doesn't justify the brutality given to Hayami.]]
* ContrivedCoincidence: So, [[spoiler: Hayami is discussing about how she thinks that Takuma's mother didn't commit suicide because she thinks that his mother must have loved him, enough to not to think to leaving him all alone. Then suddenly a little boy who never been seen before crosses the railroad while the train is moving in the exact same way as Takuma did when the ''unfortunate accident'' happened, therefore invoking Takuma's buried memory? That his mother was in fact died because saving his life from the train?]] Yeah...i guess i can buy that.
* ExtremeDoormat: Hinata acts this way initially towards her grandfather.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Otoha, in other words the ''real'' Hinata Kagura.]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Hayami, in a very classic example.
* DiabolusExMachina: This what [[spoiler: kills Hayami.]]
* {{Dojikko}}: Hinata, though like the other {{moe}} tropes, it is toned down as the series continues.
* [[DraggedByTheCollar Dragged By The Hair]]: Hinata's grandfather goes caveman on her in episode 7.
* DroppedABridgetOnHim / WholesomeCrossdresser: [[spoiler:Hamaji]], bonus points for doing TheReveal as part of the HotSpringsEpisode.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Hayami
* FantasticRacism: The anime version took this off.
* FridgeLogic: If you play the game, you'll realize that most part of the story really doesn't make any sense because Takumi never regained his sight([[spoiler: At first]]), but some part of the game continue as if he really can see, like how he know where Hayami is and how he can know the exact position of his house.
** Well, that he could do from memory and hearing. But for the DroppedABridgetOnHim, how did he know?
* GeniusDitz: Otoha.
* HimeCut: Hayami, when not sporting [[GirlishPigtails Twintails]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: [[spoiler: After spending 8 episodes defending Hayami, because he thinks it isn't fair for them to blames her for her family sins, Takuma ends up beating up Hayami ''very'' brutally after he learns that her family is the one that drives his mother into killing herself (they're wrong, he didn't even consider questioning it). Yeah, [[WhatTheHellHero What the hell Takuma?!]]]]
* JapaneseHonorifics: Takuma is addressed as "Hirose-sama" by Hinata, much to his initial confusion. Yui also refers to herself as "Yui-sama."
* {{Kawaiiko}}: Otoha, [[BerserkButton but, don't ever tell her that]]
* LampshadeHanging: Game version only.
-->'''Otoha/[[spoiler: Hinata]]''': I don't need training because ever since i was born i was set to be able to do everything.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The ''Footprints'' poem, as mentioned before.
* LonersAreFreaks: Hayami, at least in the beginning.
* TheMessiah: Takuma, specifically "The Promised One"
* MoodDissonance: Some people have a hard time taking the humorous elements of the show in stride with the abuse of Hayami, ''especially'' when it involves Yui, since one of the first things her character is seen doing is stomping on Hayami's head, and dumping toilet water on her.
* NewTransferStudent: Takuma
* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler: Takuma and Hayami. It didn't even last one episode.]]
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Kagura Hinata is actually Kagura Hotaru. The real Hinata (Otoha) drowned when both sisters were younger, but the family wanted to cover it up, so they told everyone Hotaru had died instead. This is one of the reasons Hinata (the one who is really Hotaru) is a ThirdPersonPerson up until TheReveal.]]
* RomanticRunnerUp: [[spoiler:Hinata.]]
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Episode 8 opens with Hayami and Hinata referring to Takuma as an older brother, Takuma's uncle has had a gender change, and Otoha, aside from being visible to everyone now, is apparently a MagicalGirl. Turns out that [[spoiler:it's AllJustADream, created for Takuma by Otoha as a way of showing him a good time, to say thanks for helping fix the village's problems.]]
** This maybe a reference to her route in the VisualNovel which titled [[spoiler: Mahou Shoujo Magical Hinata]].
* TearJerker: When Hayami [[spoiler:dies in the exact same manner as Takuma's mother (not a suicide, which was what we had been led to believe) by running in front of a train to try and protect a little boy who had chased a ball onto the tracks. Quickly transitions into a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in the epilogue, as Hayami comes BackFromTheDead.]]
* TheThingThatGoesDoink: Part of Hinata's BigFancyHouse.
* {{Tsundere}}: Yui.
* TwelveEpisodeAnime
* UnwillingSuspension: Hayami ties Takuma up in a tree, after catching him peeping. Her walking towards him with a knife (to cut him down afterwards) was interpreted [[KnifeNut rather differently]] by Takuma. Her mentioning that that knife was used for cutting up naughty boys probably didn't help.
* TheUnfavorite: [[spoiler:Hotaru, to the point that seemingly everyone from her family hopes that she dies in place of Hinata.]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Hayami's birthday is 25 December.
* WomanInWhite: Otoha, after TimeSkip in her route.
* TheWoobie: Hayami, her first scene shows her being beaten up on a dirt road.
* YourMindMakesItReal: [[spoiler:Both the reason for Takuma's blindness (it is actually trauma induced, after seeing what he thought was his mother commit suicide), and the explanation for why he could see through the series itself. Apparently, according to the outside world, he was blind the entire time. Don't worry if this makes no sense.]]
* YamatoNadeshiko: Hinata, the clumsy family oriented daughter of the elder. At first she was an ExtremeDoormat but develops the inner iron important for this trope. [[spoiler: and later Hayami after she [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosts]].]]
* YourSizeMayVary: Hayami's breasts' size seem to constantly change depending on the situation, although she officially is flat chested.
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* [[spoiler: BabiesEverAfter:]] [[spoiler: And [[{{WholesomeCrossdresser}} Hamaji]] '''[[BeyondTheImpossible is the father]]'''.]]

A VisualNovel adapatation in the vein of {{Clannad}} and other KyoAni/[[KeyVisualArts Key]] works, though the best comparison themetically and plot-wise would probably be EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo. The show itself starts off slow, and rather cliched. However, towards the middle, it [[GrowingTheBeard improves quite a bit]], as the backstory of the characters and the revelations about the village's past supplant the HaremAnime and VisualNovel cliches that littered the beginning. The ending is quite the TearJerker, in any case.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Hinata's grandfater. He's really just an old man who wants to control the village he presides over as the elder, and seems to care solely for the preservation of the Kagura family. To the point of forcing his granddaughter to falsify her identity, and attempting to murder a middle-school-age girl. Sure, the girl's parents were {{Bad Samaritan}}s , but that alone doesn't justify the brutality given to Hayami.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Hinata's grandfater. He's really just an old man who wants to control the village he presides over as the elder, and seems to care solely for the preservation of the Kagura family. To the point of forcing his granddaughter to falsify her identity, and attempting to murder a middle-school-age girl. Sure, the girl's parents were HARDLY saints, but that alone doesn't justify the brutality given to Hayami.]]

* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Kagura Hinata is actually Kagura Hotaru. The real Hinata drowned when both sisters were younger, but the family wanted to cover it up, so they told everyone Hotaru had died instead. This is one of the reasons Hinata (the one who is really Hotaru) is a ThirdPersonPerson up until TheReveal.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Hinata's grandfater. He's really just an old man who wants to control the village he presides over as the elder, and seems to care solely for the preservation of the Kagura family. To the point of forcing his granddaughter to falsify her identity, and attempting to murder a middle-school-age girl. Sure, the girl's parents were HARDLY saints, but it doesn't justify the brutality given to Hayami.]]