A Bridge to the Starry Skies also known as Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi in Japanese is an anime developed by Feng.
Kazuma Hoshino, a youngster whose family relocates to a new town for the benefit of his younger brother’s health, is the protagonist of the October 2010 game. On his route to his new school, Kazuma becomes lost, but he surprisingly runs into a woman by the name of Ui Nakatsugawa.
Read: All characters from A Bridge to the Starry Skies anime
While Ui is guiding him, Kazuma falls and accidently bumps into Ui, kissing her. Ibuki Hinata, a close friend of Ui, also occurs to witness the unintentional kiss. Eventually, Kazuma meets Madoka Kmoto (the priest’s daughter at the nearby shrine), Tsumugi Td (a third-year student), and Koyori, Tsumugi’s vivacious younger sister.
Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi Visual Fan Book
Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi Visual Fan Book, a 128-page art book including character images, staff interviews, and commentary, was released on March 30, 2011. Between June 2011 and February 2012, the seinen manga magazine Comp Ace serialized a manga adaptation, with illustrations by Kurumi Morisaki.
The first individual volume, which retells the story of the original game, was released on July 26 by Kadokawa Shoten. The second book was released on December 26.
Anime Series
Notably, Doga Kobo turned Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi into a 12-episode anime television series. On December 29, 2010, Doga Kobo announced on their blog that details about the programme had been uploaded on their newly launched website.
Chiba TV, TV Aichi, Tokyo MX, TV Saitama, Sun TV and AT-X, whose April 4 premiere would run on AT-X, were among the stations taking part in the broadcast. Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi was released on six DVDs and Blu-rays, each containing two episodes, from July 6 to December 7, 2011.
With English subtitles, Crunchyroll streamed the anime in western nations.
One episode of Hoshikaka was also produced by Doga Kobo for direct-to-video (OVA). On August 12, 2011, information about it was provided, saying that Yukari Tamura, a singer-songwriter, will be lending her voice to a new character.
The episode was updated and on December 21 it was made available on DVD and Blu-ray in both limited and standard editions.
Voice Compact Discs (CDs)
Hoshikaka released five albums between 2010 and 2011. The first single to be sold at Comiket 79 on December 29, 2010, under Feng’s own label, including the opening theme for the game with the same name, the ending theme Hirogaru Yozora no Shita de.
Pony Canyon released four albums the next year. On May 27, 2011, Nomico‘s four-track single “Hoshikaze no Horoscope” and Eriko Nakamura and Ai Shimizu, who play the voices of Ui and Madoka, respectively, on the four-track single “Dashed Cinderella” respectively, were made available.
The “Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi Character Song Album,” an eight-track album with songs sung by the anime’s voice actresses, was released on August 3. A month later, on June 27, the business released the soundtrack for the game.
Radio events on Internet
Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi has been the inspiration for two online radio programmes. During the creation of the visual novel, the first of them, a radio drama titled Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi Radio, was streamed on the Japanese internet radio network Onsen.
It was broadcast every Friday between October 16, 2009, and November 26, 2010. The visual novel’s Senka and Koyori voices, Ichigo Momoi and Kaname Yuzuki, respectively, hosted the programme. There were 57 transmissions made in total. Two albums containing it were also released on October 3, 2011.
Shiho Kawaragi and Aiko Okubo, who portray Senka and Koyori in the anime, produced a second internet radio programme titled Radio Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi “Yorozu Yo Bekkan”.
From April 1 and August 26, 2011, it was shown on Onsen every Friday. There were twenty-two transmissions produced in all. The Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi anime adaptation was advertised on the radio programme.
Reviews and Feedback on Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi
Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi was the best-selling visual novel during the month it was released, according to Getchu.com, a significant distributor of domestic visual novels and anime products, but it didn’t make the charts after that.
On Getchu.com, it was nevertheless listed as the third most popular game for the full year. At the 2011 Moe Game Awards, Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi took home the silver medal for character design.
THEM Anime Reviews wrote a review of the anime Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi and criticised it for having “cliché” and “awful” characters as well as a “generic” plot. Instead, Chris Beveridge from Mania.com commended the anime’s “natural flow” and “attractive” production quality in his review of the first episode.
Between July 4 and July 10, 2011, the Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi DVD sold 589 copies in Japan, and the blu-ray edition sold 917 copies.
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