Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito

Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito
Cover of Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito (DVD-ROM)
ヤミと帽子と本の旅人
Genre	Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Yuri
Game
Developer	Root
Publisher	Orbit
Genre	Eroge, Visual novel
Platform	PC
Released	December 20, 2002
Manga
Written by	Root
Illustrated by	Aya Sakurai
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Comptiq
Published	2003
Volumes	1
Anime television series
Directed by	Yuji Yamaguchi
Written by	Tomomi Mochizuki
Music by	Akifumi Tada
Studio	Studio Deen
Licensed by	NA Anime Works
Original network	Animax, MBS
English network	US Toku
Original run	October 2, 2003 – December 25, 2003
Episodes	13

Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito (ヤミと帽子と本の旅人^?, possibly translated as Darkness, the Hat, and the Travelers of the Books), also known as Yamibō/Yamibou for short, is a Japanese adult visual novel published in December 2002 by Root. A 13-episode anime series produced Studio Deen aired between October and December 2003. Although the characters and their relationships remain basically the same in the game and anime, the storyline is quite different.

The game begins with a girl who is taken to a strange, magical realm by a dragon. She apparently was taken to the library where all past, present, and future realities are kept within the books. The player is a young man who has come from one of these books as well, but has forgotten his way back home. The player is commissioned to find the missing girl by the denizens of the library, and starts his search by entering different books.

The story follows the travels of Hazuki Azuma, a tall, brooding high-school girl, as she searches for her adopted older sister and love interest, Hatsumi, in many different "book worlds". After the disappearance of her sister, a talking parakeet nicknamed Ken-chan introduces Hazuki to Lilith, the caretaker of the Great Library. Each book in the library contains a different world, and the guardian of the library takes on the title Yami.

There is a one-book manga adaptation, Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito ~Romance, illustrated by Aya Sakurai. It is a compressed version of the game's events, following the storyline that leads to a romantic relationship between the nameless main character and Lilith.

A 13-episode anime television series adaptation was produced by the animation studio Studio Deen and directed by Yuji Yamaguchi. The anime aired in Japan between October 2 and December 25, 2003 on Animax and MBS. The anime's opening theme is "Hitomi no Naka no Meikyū" by Aiko Kayō and the ending theme is "Eien no Inori o Sasagete" by Sanae Kobayashi. The anime was licensed for release in North America by Anime Works. It will be broadcast on Toku beginning on July 19, 2016.