Ginga Ojousama Densetsu Yuna: Shinen no Fairy

Last July, I looked at Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna, a decent quirky comedy with a lot of les-yay. Well, there's a sequel OVA. It's by the same people as the first, but was released a year later. The first one was released in late '95. This one released its first episode at the tail end of '96 and the last in May '97. It's three episodes. Did it really need that much time for release? What, did they release each episode as they finished it and then need time to start and finish working on the next? Hopefully, that extra time means that we're going ... to see a massive improvement with great production values. Let's look at Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna: Shin'en no Fairy and see if releasing three episodes over the course of half a year was worth it.

Story:

We open with a spaceship where pictures of Yuna and her friends flash across a computer screen. It ends ominously with a picture of Yuna and the word “Eliminate” running across her picture. We cut to Yuna having a Christmas concert. She sings with Polylina, whom she still very much has an obvious crush on. At the end of the concert, Yuna starts to give a speech about hope and making the universe a better place. Things get sketchy when something strikes the giant hologram she's using to communicate with everyone. Simultaneously, her friends are being attacked by a strange girl, Ayako, who seems to be gunning for Yuna at the behest of her two elder sisters.

The biggest issue with the series is that it's tonally awkward. It still has the over the top goofy moments that characterised the first series and it also tries to have more serious emotional and dramatic moments. Consequently, there's some clash betwixt the two. Particularly when the OVA abruptly shifts from one to the other. And there are some scenes, both comedic and dramatic, that end up falling short because of the tonal inconsistency. There's also the fact that the main story is pretty cliché and without the tongue in cheek aspect.

That being said, the OVA does have quite a few funny moments and there are some serious scenes that actually do work. The ending is actually quite good. These scenes would have undoubtedly been stronger in something that was tonally consistent but they work well enough here.

Characters:

In the first OVA, most of the main cast was passable due to it being a comedic series. You could almost say the same here, with them having interactions that work well and playing off of one another pretty strongly. There is, however, one slight problem. This series is going for a more serious tone half the time and when you apply these characters to a serious narrative they're pretty under-developed and throwing in all of those game characters who do bugger all is really distracting. You see Yuna's friends get attacked and put in hospital and it's played as serious but you don't know who any of these characters are or have a reason to care unless you've played the games. Which I'm going to guess most of you haven't given that they never left Japan. Unless there are some really popular fan-translations that I don't know about.

Art:

There's not much difference between the art in this and the art in the first OVA. It's perfectly competent in the context of its time, but it wasn't anything special and it's dated by today's standards.

Sound:

I will, once again, give the series full credit for having a strong cast. Yokoyama Chisa, Hikami Kyouko and Touma Yumi all give strong performances. The music is quite good as well.

Ho-yay:

The les-yay remains fairly prevalent, particularly with Yuna and Polylina. She also gets some moments with Ayako.

Final Thoughts:

Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna: Shin'en no Fairy, is not as strong as the first OVA. I appreciate that it's trying to do something more dramatic and serious, but that also highlights just how much the characters aren't suited for a serious work and the trite narrative doesn't help matters. However, the OVA still has some strong suits. There are dramatic scenes that do work decently and it has quite a few amusing jokes. In the end, I give it a 5/10. It's an average work. If you liked the first OVA or if you're just curious, feel free to look into it. The whole thing only runs around an hour and twenty minutes so it's a quick watch, albeit slightly longer than the first OVA. Next week, because you demanded it, I'm looking at Code Geass Hangyaku no Lelouch R2.

DISCLAIMER: I am an anime-only fan of Ginga Ojōsama Densetsu Yuna. I have not played Galaxy Fräulein Yuna, Galaxy Fräulein Yuna II: Eternal Princess, Galaxy Fräulein Yuna FX, Galaxy Fräulein Yuna Remix, Galaxy Fräulein Yuna 3: Lightning Angel, or Galaxy Fräulein Yuna 3: Final Edition!

My first run-in with Galaxy Fräulein Yuna (JP: Ginga Ojōsama Densetsu Yuna) was when I was in middle school—I bought the first VHS, Siren's Sadness, at a used bookstore for $1 on a clearance rack. When I first watched it, I really liked it. It was before my critical brain had really developed, so I was really comforted by the *genki, ... sugary-sweet enigma, exuded by the heroine of the series: Yuna Kagurazaka.
*元気 (genki) means ‘happy’ or ‘okay,’ and the trope ‘genki girl’ generally means a cheerful girl.

My childhood was in the ‘90s, so girls like Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon were the archetypal example of women in anime: air-headed, not the brightest, kind-hearted, and, somehow, harnessing the greatest amount power in the series. Magecraft didn’t work like Fate/stay night back then: a character would simply be the strongest because of their position as protagonist.

Galaxy Fräulein Yuna doesn’t hold up well today, it’s relevancy in the otaku sphere was ephemeral, but it was a notable staple for the *moe genre. It also further popularized the ‘Mobile Suit’ armor designs on bishōjo characters, the modern equivalent of this can be seen in the Frame Arm Girls franchise. Galaxy Fräulein Yuna is corny, has bad dialogue, as well as tired anime stereotypes—but was still memorable enough to have a lasting effect on the industry.
*Moe is slang for ‘cute’ in anime.

This review contains spoilers for Galaxy Fräulein Yuna: Siren's Sadness (1995) and Galaxy Fräulein Yuna: The Abyssal Fairy (1996)! You have been warned!

—Story/Characters

The story of Ginga Ojōsama Densetsu Yuna begins with Yuna Kagurazaka being shown as your typical teenage girl… that happens to be an idol, superhero, and teenage celebrity… but still runs to school with toast in her mouth because she overslept! She has an android sidekick, Yūrii Cube, *who eats constantly. The conflict in the OVA begins when Misaki Ichijōin transfers into Yuna’s class.
*The reason why is never clearly explained either of the OVAs; the logic of how an android can derive sustenance from regular meals is baffling… but, hey, it’s Mika Akitaka's story!

It is revealed that Misaki Ichijōin is actually a Galaxy Alliance agent, sent to investigate Yuna because of a member of the board, named Fraulein D. D spreads rumors that Yuna is planning to conquer the universe. While Yuna, along with many of the townspeople, are *trying to save a drowning puppy—a Yuna imposter pilots a black mecha and ransacks the town, shouting: ‘I’m Yuna Kagurazaka!’
*Yes, this is an ACTUAL plot device.

Despite how incredibly moronic it is to immediately believe the robot’s pilot, Misaki kidnaps Yuna and imprisons her under false pretenses; revealing to Yuna that her real name is actually *Selene. There is then a court hearing with the board members and the footage of the other robot is apparently irrefutable evidence, so Yuna is sentenced with *space-exile.
*The ADV script changed Selene to ‘Saline’… is Misaki salty? ‘Space-exile’ is just throwing someone into a black hole, so they fall for all eternity.

Before her banishment, Misaki talks to all of the townspeople—*who vouch for Yuna’s side of the story. Having an immediate change of heart, Misaki tries to rescue Yuna but is thwarted by Fraulein D. Luckily, Misaki is able to release Yuna from her imprisonment and so, Yuna kicks Fraulein D’s butt and tosses her into the aforementioned black hole.
*They all witnessed her rescuing the puppy.

That’s the conclusion to the first OVA series, my thoughts on it are: The pacing is really fast, but I suppose that’s to be expected from a two-episode OVA that was originally a visual novel. Siren's Sadness is a direct adaptation of the Galaxy Fräulein Yuna PC game: Yuna FX. While the sequel, Shin'en no Fairy, is an anime original that takes place before the third game’s story.

The humor isn’t funny. While the moe comedy genre is primarily dependent on the girls being cute and making the viewer have a feel-goodsy attitude towards young girls in skimpy outfits being adorable blobs—there still felt like there was something missing with the dialogue. Even the shōjo-ai implications are weird, an example of this is when Misaki imprisons Yuna and Yuna’s response to being handcuffed is:

‘Are you the one that put these cuffs on my hands and feet? You know, I've never really done this, especially not for a woman.’

It feels gross, especially since the series had been trying to convey Yuna as a pure-hearted girl. And I don’t even understand what the ‘especially not for a woman’ part is meant to imply! Yuna can’t be any older than fourteen!

It seems like some of the gags are in-jokes as well—the series expects you to have played the games beforehand. An example is when Princess Mirage destroys Yuna’s house, it happens so nonchalantly that it seems like it’s a regular occurrence?
NOTE: It also seems like Princess Mirage is romantically interested in Yuna, but that’s nothing new seeing as she has a harem… consisting of nearly every female character in the series, other than the incredibly evil villains, like Genmu or Fraulein D. It’s a wonder why the Galaxy Alliance blindly believed Fraulein D over Yuna, when it seems that every other character wants to hop in bed with her!

The visual gags are alright. Liavelt von Neuestein’s, a.k.a. Polylina, character is a direct parody of Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon; she wears a masquerade mask and throws a single rose. Princess Mirage looks exactly like Belldandy from Aa! Megami-sama and Misaki Ichijōin has an uncanny semblance to Aeka ‘Masaki’ Jurai from Tenchi Muyō.
NOTE: I think Tenchi Muyō (1994) might have grifted the design from Ginga Ojōsama Densetsu Yuna (1992) because the original Tenchi Muyō OVA came out two years after Yuna’s video game franchise had taken off.

Now, let’s get into the second OVA series: Galaxy Fräulein Yuna: The Abyssal Fairy. The story begins when an idol concert, featuring Yuna Kagurazaka and Polylina is crashed by an android, named Ayako. Ayako is *defeated by the MS armor girls, taken captive, and begins to warm up to the them—especially to *Yuna and Yūrii. It is revealed that Ayako had only began to cause chaos because her sister, Genmu, promised to let her live if she helped her out.
*Her feelings for Yuna can be perceived as romantic, while her relationship with Yūrii is kinship because they’re both androids. Ayako’s battles against Shiori Jingūji and Mai Tokudaiji were two of the best scenes in the OVA—Mai’s golfing motif from Siren's Sadness is incorporated into her battle attire and Shiori lackadaisically shoots laser beams!

After Ayako is taken in by the good guys in OVA 1—OVA 2 is filler with Ayako beginning to grow close to the other characters. Yuna and Yūrii take her out shopping at a nearby mall and the second episode is nothing but gooey, moe friendship. OVA 3 is the final showdown between the girls and Ayako’s sister, Genmu. Ayako embraces her sister, telling her that’s it’s okay to trust Yuna, and… in one of the most shocking scenes in anime… Genmu immediately drives her hand through her chest, pulls out her orb-heart, and then proceeds to crush Ayako’s neck. This causes Yuna to go Super Saiyan and kill Genmu, a seemingly unbeatable villain, in thirty seconds. The OVA ends like Zeta Gundam, with Yuna traumatized over Ayako’s death and brooding over it… and *concludes with the spirits of all of the characters appearing before her. Yuna looks up with tears in her eyes and smiles. That’s the end.
*These characters appear effervescently, for no apparent reason, other than to be surreal and artsy. Not only that but they’re also all singing to the dejected Yuna.

The opening theme for The Abyssal Fairy implied that the sequel OVA would be darker than Siren's Sadness but, man, it really doesn’t show until the last half of the final OVA. Even as a Gainax fan, I have never experienced tonal whiplash like that before. It should be a rule of thumb for animators to make visual novel adaptations longer than a few episodes (or single cour).

I am in my late ‘20s… I hardly ever feel emotion from watching sad scenes in anime anymore but, while re-watching Ginga Ojōsama Densetsu Yuna, the last half of the third episode hit me like a ton of bricks. I never expected a cute-girl shows to so accurately convey the feelings of grief and trauma. When Yuna sunk to her knees after killing Genmu and started sobbing, it genuinely pulled at my heartstrings. I wish more of the Galaxy Fräulein Yuna OVA series had explored feelings like that, instead of relying so heavily on otaku humor.

—Technical

DO NOT WATCH THE ENGLISH DUB… I repeat… DO NOT WATCH THE ENGLISH DUB! I’m normally okay with ADV Films’ dubs, but the Galaxy Fräulein Yuna voice-overs are a new brand of terrible! I blame the the ADR director, Tristen MacAvery, for the off-putting English audio—after all he was also the ADR director behind Those Who Hunt Elves and Princess Minerva:

• Tamara Lo as Yūrii Cube has got to be one of the worst voice-acting performances I have ever heard in my life. It was difficult to hear what she was saying most of the time because Lo didn’t annunciate any of her words! Yūrii’s dialogue consisted of incomprehensible, high-pitched squealing—followed by louder, incomprehensible squealing when talking to another character. I had to take medication for a tension headache after watching the English audio again.
• I vaguely recall Kira Vincent-Davis being a decent voice actress, back when I used to watch ADV dubs, but she didn’t seem to know what inflection to go for when voicing Ayako.
• Misaki Ichijōin, in the English dub, sounded like she was forty… instead of fourteen. Not surprising, since she was voiced by Laura Chapman: the voice of *Naoko Akagi in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
*Ritsuko Akagi’s mother.
• Shiori Jingūji’s English voice actress isn’t credited, but, because she’s aloof and spacey… ADV Films decided to give her a Southern belle accent. Her showdown against Ayako is an incredible scene but the overwrought acting, with Shiori, immediately extinguished the humor.
• Another note-worthy disaster was the singing duet at the beginning of The Abyssal Fairy… by this point, I was used to bad singing in anime dubs—I watched all of Tenchi Universe in English, after all, but Cynthia Martinez and *Polylina’s voices sounded horrendous. It was bad as the INTENTIONAL bad singing in Queen Minerva, if not worse!
*Another actor that isn’t credited!
• Tiffany Grant, as Mai Tokudaiji, was the best performance in the Galaxy Fräulein Yuna dub. She’s the only actor that tried to make their character sound human.

The Japanese cast had a few notable performances from A-list seiyū:

• Kikuko Inoue, a seiyū that needs no introduction, voiced Genmu.
• Kyōko Hikami voiced Ayako, she used to be fairly popular in otaku-centric shows, voicing: Hikaru Usada from Di Gi Charat, Pony from Gall Force, and Kotone Himekawa from To Heart.
• Mariko Kōda voiced Shiori Jingūji, as well as: Yuri from Dirty Pair Flash and *Queen Mirage from Happiness Charge PreCure.
*Easily the best character from Happiness Charge.
• Mariko Kōda voiced Erika Kōsaka, she is also voices: Shinnosuke Nohara from Crayon Shin-chan, Kohaku and Yura from Sengoku Otogizōshi Inuyasha, Relina Peacecraft from Gundam Wing, and Chie Arai from Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei.
• Yuna Kagurazaka also has a famous seiyū, Chisa Yokoyama: Sasami ‘Masaki’ Jurai from Tenchi Muyō, Biscuit Krueger from Hunter x Hunter, Haruka Mihashi (the nurse) from Rōjin Z, Sakura Shingūji from Sakura Wars, and Chun-Li from Street Fighter II V.

Visually, the second OVA series, The Abyssal Fairy, was far better than Siren's Sadness. The superb visual direction can be attributed to Akiyuki Shinbō becoming the chief director, when on the prior Ginga Ojōsama Densetsu Yuna OVA, he was only listed as having worked on storyboards. In fact, there isn’t even a director listed for Siren's Sadness.

My enjoyment of Galaxy Fräulein Yuna was more profound when I was its target audience—a pre-teen girl looking for mindless, fun space shenanigans. Now that I’m older, I’m less in it for the wacky comedy and more invested in the dark side of Yuna. Shinbō’s directing in the final OVA was so intense that, even as an adult, I was laying in bed with that ending HAUNTING me! I’m sure that people who have played the visual novel version of the story would derive more enjoyment from the referential side of things, but, for me Galaxy Fräulein Yuna: Siren's Sadness (1995) gets a 4/10 and Galaxy Fräulein Yuna: The Abyssal Fairy (1996) gets a 5/10!