''Operation Sanctuary'', known in Japan as or for short, is a Japanese

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

developed by August. It was released on July 20, 2003, for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

using the

NScripter This is a list of visual novel engines. Digital Novel Markup Language ''Digital Novel Markup Language (DNML)'' is one of the first scripting language game engines for creating visual novels, also known as interactive fiction games. ''DNML'' was d ...

engine. The Dreamcast and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

versions were released by Alchemist in 2004. An anime adaptation was broadcast in Japan in 2004, and originally ran from June 30, to September 22.The title references a

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

by Yosa Buson: "Nanohana ya tsuki wa higashi ni hi wa nishi ni."

ASCII Media Works ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

published a

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptation for on January 27, 2005, serialized in '' Dengeki G's Magazine''. Multiple light novels based on the game have also been published.

Geneon Universal (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan. The ...

has produced several drama CDs.

Plot

Naoki Kazumi is a boy whose parents died in an accident five years ago, and his memory went along with it. Since he had nowhere else to go, he lives with his cousin Matsuri Shibugaki and her parents. Every morning before school, he is awakened by his childhood friend, Honami Fujieda, who keeps telling him that he is not a child anymore, but still comes to wake him up. These usual, ordinary days seem to stretch on forever, until one day up on the school's rooftop, while Naoki is taking a peaceful nap, out of nowhere, a girl falls out of the sky. This girl, called Mikoto Amagasaki, comes from 100 years in the future, and she went back in time with the intention of finding her brother. When Mikoto sees Naoki, she mistakes him for her brother.

Characters

Main

;Naoki Kuzumi : :The protagonist. He lost his parents and memory in an accident five years ago. He has living with his cousin Matsuri and her parents since the accident. ;Mikoto Amagasaki : :A girl who falls from the sky. Naoki thinks that her appearance in that manner was a day dream. Mikoto is from 100 years in the future and went back in time searching for her brother. ;Honami Fujieda : :Naoki's childhood friend. She has taken care of him since before the loss of his parents and memory. ;Matsuri Shibugaki : :Naoki's cousin. She is quite close to Chihiro. ;Chihiro Tachibana : :Matsuri's best friend and classmate. She is the lone member of the garden club. ;Yui Nonohara : :Naoki's homeroom teacher. The students love her in part because she is so short. Yui, like Mikoto, is from the future. ;Kyouko Nishina : :The school nurse. She is Yui's best friend and also comes from the future.

Supporting

;Fumio Akiyama : :Naoki's class representative. She is also a superintendent of the student dormitory. ;Yusuke Amagasaki :Mikoto's brother who went back in time and happens to look much like Naoki. ;Koji Hirose : :Naoki's best friend. He plans to reform the astronomy club that Naoki belongs to. ;Yuka Hirose :Koji's younger sister. ;Genzou Shibugaki :Matsuri's father. He works at a trading company and is very busy. Naoki calls him "Oyaji (Dad)". ;Eri Shibugaki :Matsuri's mother. She works at the same company as her husband and is likewise very busy. Naoki calls her "Eri-san". ;Jun'ichi Fukano :Mathematics teacher. He is strict with his students but truly cares for their well-being. ;Rei Usami :Chief director of the school. The students rarely see her. She is also from the future.

Adaptations

Printed media

A manga for ''Tsuki wa Higashi ni Hi wa Nishi ni'', illustrated by Takeda Mika, began serialization in Dengeki G's Magazine on January 27, 2005. The manga was published by

, and

Dengeki Comics is a manga publishing label affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) and is aimed at a male audience. Aside from the main Dengeki Comics label, there is the related Dengeki Comics EX label, which ...

. Only one volume was published. An anthology comic consisting of four panel comic strips, has also been publicized, published under and issued by Majiku Comics (

Enterbrain , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on 30 January 1987 as . Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy ...

) on January 29, 2004. A novel series for ''Tsuki wa Higashi ni Hi wa Nishi ni'' was written by Okada Runa and published by Harvest. The first volume was published on March 25, 2004, and volume two and three were published on April 25, 2004, and May 25, 2004. A light novel called ''Tsuki wa Higashi ni Hi wa Nishi ni: Tōhonseisō School Life'' was published by

Gakken is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1947 by Hideto Furuoka, which also produces educational toys. Their annual sales is reported at ¥ 90 billion ($789 million US). Gakken publishes educational books and magazines and produces other ...

on December 25, 2004, and written by Kano Kiichi. The light novel contains a short stories collection featuring the heroines. It was serialized in the

Megami Magazine is a Japanese monthly magazine which focuses on bishōjo characters from anime and Japanese computer and console games, edited by IID and published by Gakken Plus. It is known for having many posters, pinups and large pictures among the articles ...

Drama CDs

Several drama CDs based on the game have been produced by

. ''Tsuki wa Higashi ni Hi wa Nishi ni's'' first drama CD was released on February 25, 2004. A second drama CD was released on April 23, 2004, entitled ''Tsuki wa Higashi ni Hi wa Nishi ni - Groovin' White Vacation''. The first volume of another drama CD was released on October 22, 2004, the second volume was later released on November 25, 2004. The third volume was released on December 22, in the same year.

Anime

An anime adaptation was produced by Radix Ace Entertainment, and directed by Mitsuhiro Tōgō and Shousei Jinno. The anime was based on Honami scenario of PC version, and contained twelve episodes and a special episode which mainly aired on Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations between June and September 2004. Four DVDs were released between October 22 and December 12, 2004, and additional four episodes based on Mikoto scenario were contained in volume four.

Episode list

Staff

Game

* Character design: Bekkanko * Scenario: Taku Sakakibara, Hiroyuki Uchida, Hideaki Anzai * Music
LOOPCUBE
** Opening: divergent flow **: Lyrics: H/de. **: Music: Hiroki **: Vocal: Mayu ** Ending: Asu no Omoide (Memories of Tomorrow) **: Lyrics: H/de. **: Music: Hiroki **: Vocal: Mayu

Anime

* General director: Mitsuhiro Tōgō * Director: Shouji Jinno * Character design: Norikatsu Nakano * General key animation director: Norikatsu Nakano * Art director: Shinji Katahira * Scenario: Kazuharu Satō, Tsutomu Kaneko * Music: Akifumi Tada ** Opening: amulet **: Lyrics: a.k.a.dRESS **: Music: a.k.a.dRESS **: Vocal: Mayumi Iizuka * Animation production:

Radix In a positional numeral system, the radix or base is the number of unique digits, including the digit zero, used to represent numbers. For example, for the decimal/denary system (the most common system in use today) the radix (base number) is t ...

References

External links

Visual novel website
at August
Visual novel website
at

Alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

Anime official website
* * {{Radix Ace Entertainment 2003 video games 2004 anime television series debuts 2004 manga Anime television series based on video games ASCII Media Works manga Bishōjo games Dengeki G's Magazine Drama anime and manga Dreamcast games Eroge Fantasy anime and manga Harem anime and manga Harem video games Manga based on video games NScripter games Odex OVAs based on video games PlayStation 2 games Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Video games developed in Japan Windows games Alchemist (company) games August (company) games