Ginga ojou-sama densetsu Yuna – Anime Reviews (2024)

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.

Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna was created in 1992 as a video game created and written by Mika Akitata and released by Hudson. The first titles were released for the PC Engine, known in America as the TurboGrafx. The game franchise also saw installments on the Sega Saturn, Playstation and, mos recently, PSP. So, it was a moderately successful series even if it never got released outside of Japan, which it didn’t as far as I can tell. The series got two OVAs based on it from Movic, J.C. Staff, King Records & Toho. The first was released in ’95 and it’s the one we’re going to be looking at. Oddly enough, these did get released outside of Japan in spite of the games themselves being unavailable. So, let’s take a peek and see if we can figure out the reason for that.

Story:

Our tale opens with a giant mecha slamming down to earth… to win a cooking contest. This mecha is being piloted by our heroine, Yuna, who promptly offers the dish she’s made to a masked woman, whom she also dedicates her cooking victory to. This OVA may just not be the most serious of things. /it may also be very yurirrific. We cut to the Galactic Alliance where one of their members expresses concerns about the possibility that Yuna may be out to conquer the galaxy. They promise to send an investigator. The next morning Yuna’s school gets a transfer student who seems to be staring at Yuna a lot, which Yuna takes as a sign that she likes her. Deep, intellectual things ensue. Either that or shenanigans. It’s one of those.

Now, the series does have a story to it, but it’s very much a tongue-in-cheek narrative and really isn’t important. It mainly serves as a backdrop for the absurdity. So, how well does the humour work in this? Well, it does have its share of really funny moments, including a scene that parodies Sailor Moon and the tone works well for what they’re doing. It also has some moments where the jokes are just kind of dumb. For instance, there’s a reoccurring joke about Yuna’s friend, Yuri, eating excessively. There are also some jokes that are clearly playing off of something from the games and I can’t really judge those since the games were never released here. Hey might be really funny if you know the context, but they’re just not going to do anything otherwise.

Characters:

The cast of characters is really simplistic. The major characters mostly work in a comedic sense but the more minor characters tend to get attached to one joke, which may or may not be funny or not get any lines at all. The climax includes what I presume to be a bunch of game characters in small cameo parts. Which is fair enough. I’m sure that fans of the games were glad to see What’s her face and Whatever her name was.

Art:

The artwork and animation are a bit dated. It’s pretty reminiscent of the art in Battle Athletes. It’s competent and looks fine but it’s certainly not anything great nor does it really do anything different. The climactic action sequence can be difficult to follow at times, though. It looks like they were trying to rush through it by just throwing things at you quickly.

Sound:

They did get a pretty good cast on this one. Yokoyama Chisa, Touma Yumi, Orikasa Ai, Araki Kae and Yajima Akiko all make appearances, which may make you question how many Gundam Wing actors they’d have gotten if there were male characters in any major roles and they all give competent performances, as do the other actresses. The biggest problem with the acting is that it tends towards over-exaggeration. Which does kind of work for the series aesthetic, but it does get tiring. The music is from Arisawa Takanori, the same Gent who did the composition for Sailor Moon. His soundtrack in this isn’t as stellar, but it’s still impressive stuff.

Ho-yay:

There’s quite a bit. Yuna seems to have a thing with at least three different girls, Liavelt, Misaki & one of the girls who shows up very briefly. The series does pack a lot of yuri scenes into its two episodes. Some cute, some funny and some both.

Final Thoughts:

Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna has some funny moments and some that are kind of stupid but inoffensive. It has some well done zany characters and some who are pretty pointless. All in all, it is a decent enough little series and provides some enjoyment. My final rating for it is a 6/10. If you’re interested in a tongue in cheek series that pokes fun at magical girl and mecha tropes, you might want to give it a shot. Next week I’ll take a look atDeath Parade.