Ys, Book One (1989)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Written by Tadashi Hayakawa, based on original story by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Directed by Jun Kamiya
Character Design by Tetsuya Ishikawa
Translation by Julia Rose

Features:

• episode map
  
• item list
  
• character bios
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• violent, scary beasts
• fantasy tropes out the arse
• mysterious prophetic chippies

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Buy it.

The land of Esteria has been overcome by magical beasts, but no one seems to know why. Anyone who has gone to investigate has ended up dead, even if they came on ships. Our hero, Adol Christen, feels the land calling out to him and wants to go himself, so he finds a ship captain willing to take him. Little does he know, Esteria is really named Ys, and there is a legend that a brave soul known as Adol will come to save them from the vicious, evil beasts who endanger them. With a prophetic guide named Sarah to help him, Adol must work to save Ys from their plagues and solve some ancient mysteries, without losing himself in the process. His goal is gather the seven lost ancient books of Ys and use them to learn the secrets of this land, in the hopes of finding a way to defeat the beasts that overwhelm the land and the evil that threatens it.

The animation of this title is nice enough, if not startlingly artistic. The various beasts are creative and interesting, even at times terrible and frightening. The people, at times arranged in tableaus, are attractive and fun to watch. The backgrounds are quite nice, detailed enough to show that this is a fantasy world without gumming up the views and distracting viewers from the action and the characters.

The audio has been remastered and shows the benefits of this attention. The voice actors are all emotionally invested in their characters and do a wonderful job of fleshing out these people. I detected no pops or crackles anywhere on the disc, even in the soaring music sequences.

The special features list is short, but nice. The episode map is very helpful, and a creative, attractive addition to the disc. You get to see the places visited in each of seven episodes. The item list is very game-like, and fun. The menus themselves are arranged to look like a retro game—a fun and unusual approach.

Magic crystals, demon dogs, and special swords, Ys has all the venerable elements of fantasy and combines them in interesting, fun ways. It may not be enormously unique, but there are enough unique twists and just plain good production values to make this title enjoyable for anyone who usually enjoys the fantasy genre. A kind of hero’s journey, Adol’s quest, supported by his engaging personality, is fun to watch, and it will be interesting to see where he goes from here and how the land of Ys changes him.