Ys (OVA)

Lore & Background

The OVA series Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished follows adventurer Adol Christin after he arrives on the isolated island of Esteria. He discovers that a rogue priest named Dark Fact is tearing the land apart to find six mystical artifacts known as the Books of Ys. The series is split into two retail volumes: Book One (episodes 1–4) and Book Two (episodes 5–7).

The sequel series, Ys II: Castle in the Heavens, begins immediately after Dark Fact's defeat. Adol is transported to the floating island of Ys to uncover the true origin of the magical books. He is nursed back to health by a local girl named Lilia, and together with his allies must stop the wizard Dalles from resurrecting the ancient demon god Darm.

The anime adaptations use a different naming structure than the games to avoid confusion: the first series was split into Book One and Book Two, so the second series required a unique subtitle, 'Castle in the Heavens,' because 'Book Two' had already been used.

Reader's Guide

The Ys OVA series are notable as early anime adaptations of a video game franchise, directly adapting the plots of Ys I and Ys II. The first series, Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished, was released in two retail volumes (Book One and Book Two) to distinguish its parts. The second series, Ys II: Castle in the Heavens, required a unique subtitle to avoid confusion with the first series' volume naming. The OVAs preserve the core narrative of the games, including characters such as Adol Christin, Dark Fact, Dalles, and Lilia, and key plot elements like the Books of Ys and the floating island of Ys. Their existence demonstrates an early effort to expand a video game franchise into animated media, though the source article provides no information on their critical reception or commercial impact.

Did You Know?

• The first OVA series, Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished, spans seven episodes and was split into two retail volumes: Book One (episodes 1–4) and Book Two (episodes 5–7).
• The sequel series, Ys II: Castle in the Heavens, required a unique subtitle because 'Book Two' had already been used for the first series.
• In the first series, the crystal dagger given to Adol by Sarah Tovah glows and strips the wizard Jenocres of his power, then shatters.
• The second series begins immediately after Dark Fact's defeat, with Adol transported to the floating island of Ys.

Origins & the Birth of a Franchise

Ys I was crafted in 1987 by Nihon Falcom, with Masaya Hashimoto wearing the hats of director, programmer, and designer while Tomoyoshi Miyazaki penned the scenario. Built initially for the PC-88, the title carried the on-screen subtitle Ancient Ys Vanished: Omen, though it was simply marketed as Ys at launch. Within a brief window of its debut, the game was adapted for several other Japanese computer platforms, including the Sharp X1, PC-98, FM-7, and MSX2, establishing an early cross-platform distribution pattern that would define the franchise's trajectory. The story is set in a land called Esteria and revolves around the mysterious disappearance of the ancient civilization of Ys seven centuries earlier, with only six books preserving any trace of its existence. As the first installment in the Ys series, it laid the narrative and mechanical groundwork for everything that followed.

The Bump Attack Revolution

One of Ys I's most consequential design choices was its combat system, which broke sharply from the turn-based encounters or manually triggered sword attacks common in games of that era. Instead, Adol's strikes fire automatically when he walks into an enemy off-center, creating what Falcom staff likened to the satisfying rhythm of popping bubble wrap. The angle of contact matters: striking head-on deals the most damage back to the attacker, while clipping the defender's edge transfers the most harm to them, and hitting the side or back deals damage only to the opponent. This bump attack mechanic was deliberately built around accessibility, transforming what could have been tedious level-grinding into a fluid, arcade-like experience where the player never stops moving. Critics from GamesTM and Retro Gamer observed that the repetition became pleasurable as players developed a psychological rhythm, and even backtracking felt swift because constant forward motion was baked into the design. The system went on to become a signature of the entire Ys franchise.

Plot & the World of Esteria

The narrative follows Adol Christin, a young and adventurous swordsman who arrives in the Town of Minea within the land of Esteria. There, he is approached by Sara, a fortune-teller who warns him of a great evil sweeping across the land and prophesies that he must collect the six Books of Ys. These books hold the history of the ancient civilization that vanished seven hundred years earlier, and their knowledge is essential to defeating the encroaching darkness. Sara provides Adol with a crystal for identification purposes and directs him to her aunt in Zepik Village, who holds the key to retrieving one of the books. The floating island of Ys that features in the game draws its name from the mythical city of Ys, adding a layer of mythological resonance to the setting. The game is frequently cited as a precursor to role-playing titles that prioritize storytelling, establishing a narrative framework that would influence the broader genre's development in the years that followed.

A Legacy Spanning Decades and Platforms

Ys I has enjoyed an extraordinary lifespan, with releases stretching from its 1987 debut to a Nintendo Switch port in February 2024, published by D4 Enterprise under their EGGCONSOLE series and based on the original PC-8801 version. Along the way, the game appeared on the Master System in English, the TurboGrafx-CD as part of a Ys I & II compilation alongside its 1988 sequel, the Famicom in a substantially reimagined form with new layouts and a different final battle, the X68000 with pre-rendered 3D boss sprites, and the Sega Saturn in 1997. DotEmu later brought the title to Android with localizations in eight languages including English, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Italian, German, and Portuguese. The game was also adapted into an OVA series. Its soundtrack, composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Mieko Ishikawa, is widely celebrated as a landmark in role-playing game composition, with critics and fans alike ranking it among the most influential scores in the medium's history, and multiple dedicated soundtrack albums have been released by Falcom over the decades.