H2O: Footprints in the Sand

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A 12-episode anime adaptation produced by Zexcs, directed by Hideki Tachibana, and written by Jukki Hanada aired in Japan between January 4 and March 21, 2008 on the Fukui TV television network. A preview video was streamed on Kadokawa Shoten's official website for their magazine Newtype on December 19, 2007. Most notably, the video contains an English narration, a rarity for Japanese trailers. [6] [7] The first episode of the series was previewed on December 23, 2007 in Akihabara, Japan, [8] and the final episode was previewed on March 20, 2008, in Machida, Japan. [9] The first episode opens with a partial recitation of the poem "Footprints", and the end of the poem is recited in the second half of the final episode. The anime was licensed for release in English by Kadokawa USA, [10] but its Kadokawa Pictures USA subsidiary later closed down, therefore canceling the release. [11]

Music

The game's opening theme is "H2O" and the ending theme is "Tomorrow", both sung by Monet. The maxi singles for the opening and ending themes were released at Comiket 70 on August 12, 2006. Two more theme songs used in the game were "Dream" and "Footprints in the Sand", also both sung by Monet. A character song album for Otoha entitled Otoha's Ghostly Bon Festival Dance (音羽の死霊の盆踊り, Otoha no Shirei no Bon Odori), sung by Mia Naruse, was released on October 22, 2006 at the DreamParty Tokyo convention. An arrange maxi single titled H2O: Prelude containing arranged versions of "H2O" and "Tomorrow", was released on December 21, 2007. The game's original soundtrack came bundled with the original game as a pre-order bonus. The opening theme for the anime version is "One-winged Icarus " (片翼のイカロス, Katayoku no Ikarosu) by Yui Sakakibara and the maxi single was released on January 25, 2008. The ending theme for the anime is "Kazahane" (カザハネ) by Haruka Shimotsuki and the single was released on February 22, 2008. "Footprints in the Sand" by Monet is the ending theme in the anime's final episode.

Reception

Across the national ranking of bishōjo games in amount sold in Japan, H2O premiered at number two, and ranked in again the following ranking at number thirteen. [12] H2O was the second highest selling game for the month of June 2006 on Getchu.com, just behind Summer Days , and for the first half of 2006 was the fourteenth highest selling game on the same website. [13] [14] H2O dropped to the twenty-fifth highest selling game on Getchu.com for the entire year of 2006. [15]

References

  1. "An example image of the super deformed artwork in the gameplay". Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
  2. "An example image from the emergency button option in the gameplay". Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
  3. "Preview of the art book's contents at H2O's official website" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2007-11-18. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
  4. "Regista's H2O + official website" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2012-12-27. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  5. "PS2 differences at H2O +'s official website" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  6. "H2O: Footprints in the Sand Trailer Streamed". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  7. "H2O preview video streamed online" (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. Archived from the original on 2009-12-23. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  8. "Anime's official website" (in Japanese). Zexcs. Archived from the original on 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  9. "Shocking Last Installment World Preview: H2O Final Episode Pre-screening Event" (in Japanese). MediaWorks. March 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-08.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. "Kadokawa USA Announces Six New Licenses". Anime News Network. 2008-07-06. Archived from the original on 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
  11. "Kadokawa Pictures USA Licensing Unit Shuts Down". Anime News Network. September 28, 2009. Archived from the original on September 29, 2009. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
  12. "PC News ranking for bishōjo games; H2O ranks 2 and 13" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2006-08-25. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  13. "Highest selling games of June 2006 on Getchu.com ranking" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-11-08. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  14. "Highest selling games of the first half of 2006 on Getchu.com ranking" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  15. "Highest selling games of 2006 on Getchu.com ranking" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-11-08. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
H2O: Footprints in the Sand
H2O Footprints in the Sand game cover.jpg
H2O original visual novel cover. Depicted are the three heroines (from left to right): Hinata, Hayami, and Otoha.