Shining Hearts

Rick Elwood is a swordsman who currently makes a living as a mere baker in the peaceful island-kingdom of Wyndaria with his three beautiful coworkers, Neris Filiam, Amil Manaflare and Airy Ardet, occasionally going on errands delivering bread to their neighbors and even to an elven forest inhabited by Alvin, a handsome yet prideful elf, and his energetic sister Rana.

These idyllic days, however, would come to an abrupt end when a mysterious black-haired girl dressed in white washed ashore on a beach near where Rick's home ship is moored. The girl -- Kaguya as she came to be known -- has shown a near-total lack of memories as well as emotions upon waking up. And on top of it all, pirates start to swarm the otherwise serene Wyndaria, seeking a pendant Kaguya was wearing when Rick found her.

Thus Rick, his coworkers, and a growing crew of allies, embark on a quest to restore peace to Wyndaria as well as Kaguya's memories and emotions, all the while discovering many secrets concerning this beautiful living Pandora's Box.

Shining Hearts is a Japanese RPG (and still Japan-only) released on 16 December 2010 for the PlayStation Portable, featuring artwork by Tony Taka. In a departure from most games in the Shining Force franchise, Hearts instead features a turn-based combat system, as well as the "Mind Over Emotion System" (M.O.E.S.), in which Rick has to choose an appropriate response within a time-limit. His reactions can influence hearts generated by characters (red for happiness, yellow for anger, green for kindness, and blue for sadness), which can be used to influence changes within Wyndaria and also expended for making bread.

Now has an anime, Shiawase no Pan, airing as part of the Spring 2012 Anime block.


 * A Boy and His Three Beautiful Assistants
 * Catgirl: Xiao-Mei
 * Expy: Rana is an unambiguous expy of Elwing from Shining Tears / Shining Wind, right down to the outfit.
 * Mysterious Waif: Kaguya
 * Names to Know in Anime
 * Hiroshi Kamiya: Rick Elwood and Alvin
 * Kanae Ito: Amil Manaflare, Neris Filiam, and Airy Ardet (game; the latter two are replaced in Shiawase no Pan by Mai Aizawa and Shiori Mikami, respectively, while Ito retains Amil)
 * Houko Kuwashima: Kaguya
 * Hikaru Midorikawa: Ragnus Wyndaria
 * Yui Horie: Rufina Wyndaria
 * Ryo Hirohashi: Rana Murasame
 * Rie Kugimiya: Melty do Granite
 * Chiwa Saitou: Xiao-Mei
 * Kazuya Nakai: Dylan
 * Nana Mizuki: Maxima Enfield
 * Yukari Tamura: Mistral Nereis
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Rufina and her older brother Prince Ragnus, co-regents of Wyndaria and Rick's co-fighters.
 * Talking to Herself: Neris, Amil and Airy are all voiced by Kanae Ito in the game. For Shiawase no Pan, however, Neris and Airy are now voiced by Mai Aizawa and Shiori Mikami, respectively, while Amil remains voiced by Ito.
 * Tsundere: Melty, complete with being voiced by Rie Kugimiya.