Hikaru ga Chikyuu ni Itakoro……

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High-school student Koremitsu Akagi finds himself attending the funeral of Hikaru Mikado, who had died in an accident during Golden Week. He’s not sure why he’s there, as he only exchanged a few words with Hikaru at school. However, Hikaru doesn’t seem to be completely gone from the world, as he comes back as a ghost in order to fulfill a promise to Aoi Saotome, his fiancée. Since Koremitsu is the only one who can see him, he asks him to carry out his promise in his place.

Complying with his request, Koremitsu tries to fulfill Hikaru’s promises to the rest of his “girlfriends”, helping them overcome past misunderstandings and repair broken relationships.

Associated Names
One entry per line
When Hikaru was on the Earth......
ヒカルが地球にいたころ……
光在地球之時……
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Ordinary I and Extraordinary Them (2)
Boku no Bungeibu ni Bitch ga Irunante Arienai (2)
Jaku-chara Tomozaki-kun (2)
Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku (1)
His Noble and Righteous Route to the Harem (1)
Manuscript Screening Boy and Manuscript Submitting Girl (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. enjoyed my time
  2. Masterpieces in their own category
  3. Read this!
  4. Personal Fav
  5. Novels I personally like (3)

Latest Release

Date Group Release
12/21/11 Baka-Tsuki v1 illustration
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23 Reviews sorted by


Hell_ping
Hell_ping rated it
September 20, 2016
Status: Completed
Teh_ping of Baka Tsuki, also known as Hellping, the no-name who tried his best to present your series.

Well, since I'm writing a review of a novel I personally worked on, I can't be going about giving myself less than 5 stars, no? Let's face it, I'm biased. The 5 stars is not simply about what I think about the novel (typically, I would rate it 7/10), but also about the emotional dedication made to this story.

The key themes to this story are romance, friendships, and most importantly, the idea... more>> of letting go and moving on.

1. Romance is certainly a requisite for this story, based on the classical Japanese literature known as 'Tale of Genji'. This time, it is the beleaguered assistant Koremitsu who takes over for his master, Hikaru Genji, for which the name Hikaru was derived from. He ultimately inherits the powers of a harem prince, both blessings and curses, but power itself comes with a necessary mental fortitude, a personality for it to be used wisely. As much as each girl is like a flower, unique with her own charms, Koremitsu ultimately learned to pick the right one for himself, just as his predecessor Hikaru did.

2. Friendship is another aspect that becomes a theme to the story. Here we have a 'not-a-delinquent' boy who was ostracized for looking like one, and a boy who was fawned over by all the girls yet reviled by the boys. Neither of them had managed to make proper friendships which they could be comfortable with. And they worked together to figure out what this dish tasted like. Of course, the concept of friendship was not limited to the two protagonists, but also to the other girls, classmates, rivals, love rivals, even antagonists (though sometimes twisted).

3. Letting go. Easier said than done. Nevertheless, the title is called 'When Hikaru WAS on the Earth......' (double ellipsis required by the author... for superstitious reasons). From the beginning, you knew the end. A note by the author states that the story was also based on 'The Little Prince', but unlike the bleak mood in the story, this story ends bittersweet, a feeling many readers have noted to be 'healing'. Certainly, the supernatural is involved, and it should be easier to let go of something that should not be there in the first place, but throughout the many instances of the story, the characters do not only learn to accept and let go, but to also use the experience to enrich themselves, to piece together broken glass, and to forge stronger bonds.

If you get there before I do... <<less
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caffeine_and_salt
caffeine_and_salt rated it
September 15, 2017
Status: v3c1
Ok I think after 2 volumes I got the idea. It was clear right from the start of the first one, but I had to be sure. I think you should probably read this before downloading/buying the LN.

    1. There's too much of innecessary text. Author wants to show the psychology of literally every friggin' character. And the biggest difference between good writing and bad writing is whether you have to explain characters' feelings in words or not. I mean, if the character blushed there's no need to explain the feeling of this character. We got this, Takeoka-sensei. You don't have to write the whole page of what this character thought while blushing. Also Hikaru's blabbering about flowers is rather annoying. My point is --- there's 80% (besides the dialogues) of this unnecessary crap which either doubles something we already know or provides us with useless information we don't need (we'll get to this later again).
    2. I don't know if this one is actually the fault of translators, but it feels like the immature work of a schoolgirl about 14-15 years old. The style I mean. But the psychology of characters... is a fault of Takeoka-sensei, there's no excuse. The story is good though. Well, almost. But let's get back to the style and psychology. About 10-15% of this LN (70% of it is either dialogues or monologues and the last 10-15% is... well, it's almost good and I quite liked it) is written in annoying... I guess we should call it "descriptive" maneer with primitive knowledge about psychology, so the characters are all plastic and artificial and yes, you can easily imagine them, but they don't feel alive. As for the "descriptive" maneer of writing - it only gets annoying when there's no need to write something like that. When you write about something beautiful or ugly, you sure have to describe it, but when there's no need to do it, it's annoying. I mean something like this: "Hikaru, carefree by nature, could only be seated and apologize to Koremitsu." Why we have to read this? What is the actual value of this sentence? The previous one was the line of Hikaru apilogizing. So there's no need to write that he apologized, we already KNOW that. And we already know that he is carefree. So the only point of this sentence was to tell us that he was sitting? What the hell? Okay. Moving on to the next thing.
    3. It is shojo. It is. It is written for girls. So there're even hints of shonen ai elements. Everything to get little girls drool.
    4. The main character is so strange for me, the actual real boy, that I cringe every 10 minutes. It is connected to my complain about psychology, but there's much more about main character. He's as smart as a baboon and yet he's in this elite school. Why he's there? I mean, he's s*upid as all hell. He doesn't know who Proust is! I mean, for satan's sake! He's the first year student of the ELITE high school, everyone. Another problem with him is that he's getting really agitated and all noble-white-knightISH for the person who had no friends ever and was BARELY social since his early years. Ok, he's kind by the nature and can't stand when someone is being rude towards Hikaru, who is his only friend, but what about all of these girls? Few weeks ago he couldn'r even speak with them and he was raised as a hardcore misogynist by his grandfather. So why he's acting like this? (For the answer look at p.3).
So my verdict is ---- it is readable, but really boring. At first I was reading everything. But closer to the end of first volume I started to skip Hikaru's remarks about flowers. Then - thoughts of characters, then, from the start of second volume, - retrospective scenes from Hikaru's past. Then - dialogues with Hikaru. And then... I just skipped the whole ending of 2nd volume. Everything after the solving the main problem (no spoilers here). I have

uploaded the 3rd volume to my kindle, but I don't know if I want to read it.

The conclusion: 2 stars, 20 cups of coffee per volume to stay awake and not to fall asleep and 33% of skipped pages. Be cautious with this one, may cause strong cringe.
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moevora
moevora rated it
July 17, 2016
Status: --
A harem prince dead leaving her flowers behind, follow the journey of his friend to fulfill the promises.

This is not s*upid harem, it's deep romance. You should read this if you like romance genre.
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JackStone
JackStone
December 19, 2017
Status: --
If you're a person who likes to see the MC being OP and wins all the time, this novel might not be the one for you.

This novel's about an MC who solves the past regrets of a certain Ghost Friend, who accompanies him throughout this novel.

The ghost's past regrets mainly consist of females who he left, females who are broken or would be broken. The MC here tries to help each and everyone of them one by one, but as he solves these regrets, he himself is slowly being... more>> fixed, cause even he was broken due to events in he past.

The character development here is definitely of high quality, especially the MC's development. The side-characters here are 3 dimensional and sometimes accompanies him in times of trouble. The antagonists in this novel actually do their jobs, they're made to hinder the MC, not place him in a pedestal. The romance here is quite exquisite and really... Bittersweet.

This novel's also basically a mentally Ill boy who found a toy box with broken toys, and him tying to fix the broken toys that's fixing his own self.

All in all, I'd give this a novel a 4.5/5 (deducted.5 due to personal preferences) <<less
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TheManko
TheManko rated it
January 8, 2016
Status: --
Just finished reading the 10th and final volume. The series has been slightly uneven, but with many strong scenes that kept it going. Now that it's over, I'm left with that melancholy feel you get when you have to say goodbye to the characters. They're all moving on, and so do we the readers.

On the whole, worth reading if you like the premise. It makes some logical leaps in order to hit the emotional points its going for, kind of how like Jun Maeda does it. But it works, and... more>> it never got to the point where it made me mad. I liked the comedy, and the character archetypes it borrows are vivid enough to become their own characters. The series had a pretty clearly stated set of objectives right from the start, and it delivers on that. I wasn't disappointed at all. <<less
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Sansome
Sansome rated it
November 3, 2015
Status: --
Definitely a hidden gem!! I wonder why this novel got less attention. Anyway if you like harem-comedy that have sweet story and a dense prontagonist that actually could be reasoned with.. Then this is for you!
P.s: Translator works top quality
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markro1248
markro1248 rated it
August 30, 2016
Status: Completed
Great story with descriptive content, good story line, plot twists, and a great ending. This is not your usual "lets have a never-ending harem that will keep growing" type of series and, furthermore, is already completed and you don't have to wait to keep reading the chaps.
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pomoli
pomoli rated it
November 25, 2016
Status: --
A "harem" (more like romance though) actually done right, where every character, male or female, is actually developed. This is so rare, and a gem in a galaxy where bad/forced relationship developments are the standard.

Also, high quality translation here (no word to word TL, no "I'll keep the word in Japanese because it looks cool"), so it's a pleasure to read.
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MinosML
MinosML rated it
April 29, 2020
Status: Completed
(Mild spoilers marked as such)

First things first, it's a really great story, I was avoiding this initially as I didn't really like the premise, but after reading it all I gotta admit, it's all in the execution. Even if the main focus is on Hikaru, a beautiful and androgynous Harem prince (the MC's ghost friend), the MC Koremitsu being basically his total opposite (a scary-looking, friendless guy who is often thought as a delinquent because of his natural scary face) is a so simple yet effective plot device,... more>> and it's great watching him stumble around trying to realize Hikaru's promises to the heartbroken 'flowers' (harem members) he left suddenly behind, and managing to grow as a person himself in the process, as he is quite a troubled individual as well.

Spoiler

Even Hikaru (a ghost, wich are usually static characters) has yet to fully grow himself as a person, as he learns that perhaps he had some things wrong about the girls he so very much loved and cared about...

[collapse]

The girls here are pretty well written as well, with varied personalities and appereances so there's plenty to pick for the 'waifu wars' side of things, if that's how you roll.
You can certainly feel the bittersweet romance in the air while reading this story, be it a tragic love story of letting go of your lost loved one, or some new blooming feelings arising from tough and dramatic circumstances, no complaints about that developement right there. This series is a tad above the rest even with the "harem" tag up there, so don't feel discouraged if that's what keeping you from starting this work.

I would give the story a 4.2/4.3 if I could, but I'll leave it at an honest 4.
That is mostly because of personal preferences though, like the overly-flowery writing style wich I don't particulary enjoy, the lack of good comedy that hurts and drags the story a bit (I mean there are 'funny moments' scattered throughout, they're just not very good), and the fact that the main duo's friendship could've been better handled, imo. For it being one of the main selling points of this it just doesn't feel like male friendship most of the times, so I wasn't surprised to learn that the author was a woman, it make a bit more sense that way. Also Hikaru's an oddity himself as he's as sensitive and delicate as you can get so there's that, I guess.

A good thing is that the ending was
Spoiler

indeed satisfying and bittersweet (just as you would expect) but that doesn't make it any less memorable, to be honest. It's just what it needs to be.

[collapse]
<<less
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Rice1321
Rice1321 rated it
July 10, 2016
Status: --
A excellent read to pass the time. My absolute favourite volumes are volume 2, 5, and 6. But all of them are great. Its a heart warming story filled with the emotional turmoils of youth in a sort of way that makes it cliche but in a refreshing way.
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tweprebet
tweprebet rated it
July 26, 2021
Status: v4c6
I think the genre on this is somewhat incorrect. I don't think this is a romance story. It's much more like drama with romantic subplot. Much like how an action story with romance elements will have the romance give way to the action, here the romance gives way to the drama. Maybe things change somewhat later, but at essentially halfway through... it's not even that it's slow romance, but that romance is being tossed when it gets in the way of the drama.

There's a structural conflict here in how the... more>> whole story works. The idea is that the loner MC goes and solves these problems the various girls are having. That's all drama. Then, in the process of doing so, the MC also grows and improves and has real relationships himself. That is basically the payoff for successfully navigating the aforementioned drama.

It's a really nice idea, but it quickly causes a conflict. At the start of the story, 100% of time and words can be devoted to solving the drama. The MC has nothing else to do. Once he solves his first conflict however, there needs to be the growth that's the payoff. This means the MC now also has relationships to maintain. The author can no longer maintain the results of that payoff and devote 100% of the novel to solving these problems. Something has to give. Either the drama has to get simpler and less focus or benefits of solving these problems need to be kept out of the way.

The author decided to maintain the drama. The more peripheral things - like say romance - are minimized and otherwise give way for the drama. Part of this is handled somewhat decently by setting up situations for problem resolutions to remove characters from the series, or otherwise minimize their presence. But some amount of carry-over is required to actually show any kind of growth on the MC's part, so there is some. And the MC will consistently and somewhat inexplicably prioritize the latest girl/drama over anything else.

So... yeah. I don't think this really belongs in the romance genre. It's romance subplot. A lot of the story revolves around romance - but that's like saying any story that focuses on humans is a human-interest piece. Technically sort of true if you just look at the words themselves, but it's not what is actually meant by a long shot.

My rating is fairly influenced by my expectation of it actually being a romance novel, but considering it's part of the genre I feel it's relatively fair. Additionally the translation has a fairly number of pronoun issues and some other occasional strange stuff (like one chapter randomly spells "senpai" with an 'm' every single time), so... chalk it up how you wish, I guess. <<less
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Strigoi
Strigoi rated it
September 5, 2020
Status: v10
Without a doubt the best light novel i've ever read. The fact that this absolute gem is relatively unknown when isekai garbage and wish fulfilment fantasy LN are exploding in popularity should tell you a thing or two about the absolute current state of people.

What's so amazing about this LN you ask? Great and fun to read MC with actual personality, motivation and character with heartwrenching character arc. Yes you read that right, Koremitsu is actually a character with a very engaging backstory and motivation instead of blank slate, otaku... more>> NEET, disgusting pe*verts or absolute loser for pitiful otaku to self insert themselves in.

Great female MCs too, yes all of them. Not gonna spoils it for you but this is one of few harembthat I have no problem with the winner. They're that great.

The story and the way the author wrote is just sublime. Far and beyond your average shitty isekai, more like a proper novel. The way the author describe the environment, the mood and the way the characters interact is just....10/10

Overall? An amazing LN that I have no problem whatsoever putting it in my bookshelf for all to see. Shame that there's no official english translation, I would buy it in a heartbeat, the author deserve my money far, far more than the creators of isekai garbage. <<less
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Scyferine8878
Scyferine8878 rated it
April 3, 2020
Status: Completed
First Im sorry if I make any grammatical errors and mistakes.

There's many best girls in this novel but I'm only with Honoka!!! The characters developments is good. I don't have any words to say about this harem/romance novel except amazing but it is no masterpiece and I didn't know that this gem is existed till now. It been 8-9 years since the novel was published.. So here it is a summaries for you yeah we got a ghost of a harem prince that is handsome, rich, poetic, kind, flirty, tragic... more>> and somewhat lonely but I can't really sympathy towards him. He was yearning for a true friend that is MC bcus he thinks of him as a hero even with delinquent-looking face but died before even asked him to be his friend. At his funeral, many girls (when I say many it is too many) cried for him he felt sad but then he saw MC at his funeral and tried called for him bcus he thinks that the MC can helps him and how fortunate was him that MC heard his calling. When the harem king bastard explained the situations to the MC that he has a promises to a many girls and wanted the MC to fulfills that in his stead. The MC is really kind but misunderstood, many fears him bcus of his looks, He is also kind of s*upid im kinda irritated with his thoughts process.

The MC accepted his requests. MC is a loveable idiot and kind also has a tragic past and he cannot smile and hated a womens bcus of it while the ghost of a harem prince cannot cry bcus something happened to him in the past as well. The MC's and the Harem prince ghost's are likes a completely different parts of the coin but with the same purposes/functions/character. The harem is kinda meaningful for the MC and not really forced. After finished it I felt a loneliness and sadness but also satisfied. I want this novel to continue longer but I feel happy nonetheless.

    • Spoiler

      I dont know if this a spoiler or not but in the end MC only chose one girl the harem will still likes him they are also moving forward and I like it even tho I want all the girls to be with MC and this is something that some of the harem stories cannot do. I also grow attached to all the other girls.

      [collapse]
The author is excellent to makes feel all the feelings of all the characters in this and the feeling of sadness and fulfilment after completed it... Thank you for all of this enjoyment rides. Also a lesson we learned from this was never be like Hikaru who was greedy with many girls to discarded them afterwards then made a tons of promises but to only entrusted the promised to the living which only they can fulfilled them. It is the source of many conflicts <<less
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Sorata
Sorata rated it
January 9, 2017
Status: --
Well I've Been reading those otherworld thingy but it felt good reading romcom one in awhile and this novel is also a masterpieces and really sad when I finished the series it's also mystery that make u want to read more every time u finished a chapter feel free to read it u'll certainly like it for sure
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Luminstia
Luminstia rated it
June 12, 2016
Status: Finished
Not really a 'slice of life' reader, but this LN really hit the spot. MC and heroines' characters re strongly potrayed and you can relate to their feelings in RL. Do prepare Kleenex when you get to the last vol, v10 though XD.

Hellping did a great job in the TL. Kudos to him.
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Atamahead027
Atamahead027 rated it
June 5, 2016
Status: v10
One of the best romance novel I ever read. Started of as your typical harem romance story, turned out to be mystery. A dense protagonist at start, the increase in character development was seen in every chapter. And the best part is a conclusive ending that most harem novel didn't have. (No Spoiler)

Translated by Hellping with full transculturation, bring this novel to another level.
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noodlesandrice
noodlesandrice rated it
January 28, 2022
Status: v10 epilogue
Words alone can hardly do enough to describe what I felt after reading this masterpiece.

This is a series where the harem doesn't exist for the sole purpose of elevating the main character's status. All of the characters have their own individual thoughts, feelings, and idiosyncrasies. This story takes all of the conflicting emotions born from multisided love, twists them, amplifies them, then leaves you gasping for air. Jealousy is the last thing that comes to mind as you watch the inexperienced protagonist fumble his way through the myriad of feelings... more>> directed his way, and the responsibility tied with them.

But with all of the agony and frustration comes a sense of fulfillment. Each obstacle faced by the characters drives them further down. And even as they overcome them one by one, you sometimes wonder whether they are even making any progress at all. It's only after looking back at the end that you realize how much the characters have gained and grown, and all you can do is send them off with a smile once everything is said and done.

In hindsight this isn't much of a review, but it does reflect a small part of what I feel about this series. <<less
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Passionate_Reader
Passionate_Reader rated it
December 25, 2021
Status: Completed
This is one of the best LN I have ever read. This one, I can truly call a rollercoaster of emotions. It has extremely rich writing, plot and characters. The characters of this novel are all quite realistic with their own individual thoughts, feelings and motives. Even the side characters have their own charm. The plot progression along with the character progression in this novel is simply amazing. I am a harem hater. Whenever I see harem tag in a novel, I avoid it like a plague. Still, this is be one of the novels where harem is done right. Unlike most other harem novels, here every girl has a distinct personality and a similarly distinct reason for falling in love with Hikaru. And each girl displays hostility towards other girls and competes with others for Hikaru's exclusive affection. Not to mention that there is also some hate directed at Hikaru for his playboy nature. Now, this is a realistic harem I like. And how the Author deals with ending is of paramount importance to me. Here, I love the ending.
Spoiler

I love that the MC chooses one girl at the end. The one he chooses is also a pleasant surprise. It is the proof of how MC's grown over the course of the novel.

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Honestly loved it. Highly Recommended.
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kenocastro
kenocastro rated it
April 4, 2020
Status: v1 illustration
This is one of the best novel romances I have ever read.

The premise is very simple but the subtleties in the storytelling make this a gem.

A very plain yet powerful narration. The translation is very good. It is as if it was originally written in English.
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Hazel00
Hazel00 rated it
February 11, 2020
Status: Completed
despite it flaws. This is my favorite romance novel in NU.

it'st feeling, im falling in love with the story. With the character, and the translate is exceptional.
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