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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Ancient Books of Ys

Japanese: Ys イース

Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 7

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Nov 21, 1989 to Sep 5, 1991

Producers: Starchild Records, Nihon Falcom

Licensors: Media Blasters

Studios: Tokyo Kids, Urban Product

Source: Game

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Theme: Mythology

Duration: 26 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 6.43¹ (scored by 2,853 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #7429²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #6841

Members: 8,450

Favorites: 14

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

Mythical beasts lay siege on the people of Esteria, who have raised an army to fight back. The beasts are relentless and seemingly have no end to their numbers, while the population of defenders dwindle in every skirmish. Even in the town of Minea, where the people are safely nestled behind castle walls, the constant attacks have left them hopeless. It is then that a prophecy is made, proclaiming the arrival of a brave young soul that could be the one who will bring their salvation.

Ys follows Adol Christin, an adventurer driven by wanderlust towards the island of Esteria, who washes up on shore after a shipwreck. Following the guidance of the fortuneteller Sarah Tovah, he and his allies will travel the island in search of the legendary tomes known as the Books of Ys. It will be a long and perilous journey, but if fate is truly at work then Adol will certainly be the hero who returns peace to Esteria.

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Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Ys
Sequel:	Ys: Tenkuu no Shinden - Adol Christine no Bouken
Character:	Minna Atsumare! Falcom Gakuen, Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Christin, Adol

Main

Kusao, Takeshi
Japanese

Feena

Main

Takayama, Minami
Japanese

Reah

Main

Honda, Chieko
Japanese

Dogi

Supporting

Genda, Tesshou
Japanese

Becsen

Supporting

Iizuka, Shouzou
Japanese

Roda

Supporting

Tomita, Kousei
Japanese

Adol's Father

Supporting

Nakamura, Hidetoshi
Japanese

Klaze

Supporting

Ishimori, Takkou
Japanese

Muraji

Supporting

Yagi, Kousei
Japanese

Jenokris

Supporting

Mine, Eken
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Yonekawa, Koushin

Producer

Watanabe, Takashi

Director

Kamiya, Jun

Director, Storyboard

Hiiro, Yukina

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

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Ending Theme

"Endless History (The Morning Grow)" by Sound Team JDK

Reviews

Jan 12, 2009

Skadi

Recommended

Let’s face it, when watching a series from the era this show was produced you have to usually endure crude (by today’s standards) animation, poufy hairdos, and campy storylines. That’s not the case here, except for maybe the poufy hairdos. I never played the games that Ancient Books of Ys is apparently based on (nor have I even heard of them) but regardless this series stands on its own as one of the truly exceptional fantasy/adventure stories of its genre.

The story premise isn’t anything that’s going to win award for originality. It’s your standard adventurer from another land who comes and is ... destined to save the world. We quickly get laid out the details and our hero, in this case Adol Christian is given a quest and each episode that follows is a fairly formulaic pattern. New allies are made along his quest which help Adol achieve his goals and make it the final battle with the villain. While the story is simplistic it does still manage to be interesting and it does give a lot of back story on the people and the land being saved. Despite being a short series I did find myself caring what happened to it and its people. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger as it clearly sets up the scenario for part 2.

In any fantasy adventure like this one the action is very important, and there is a lot of it in Ys. The battles play out a lot like a fantasy RPG game would be expected to. In order to get a treasure, a boss monster must be defeated and that is pretty much how things play out. As Adol completes his quests his weapons and armor get better, again much like a game. The battles though are a bit disappointing though as they become a bit repetitive and basically are Adol getting beat up for a couple minutes until he figures out some new skill or power that allows him to be victorious.

Characters in Ys are a win. Adol gets pretty well developed and we get a few pieces of his past but not a lot. He manages to grow over the course of the story and is a likable character that you want to cheer for. The supporting characters are fairly good; some are more interesting than others while some are pretty much just cardboard cutouts to fill the screen. Dogi is the best and he brings a lot of the comedy moments, makes a good sidekick like you would see in a 80s action movie.

Animation and sound are difficult to rate. I have to remember that this show is almost 20 years old. I am sure at its time this was considered really good. It does hold up fairly well, I have seen far worse, later on in the decade but the characters are pretty simple looking and are colored with a dreary and dull pallet. However some of the backgrounds and terrain are very exceptional. Your either going to be ok with it or you’re going to think it’s incredibly crude. The music is very 80s, from the background music and sound effects to the ending song. The song isn’t that bad and I kinda liked it though.

Overall this series is very good. I think it would have made a great longer series that would have allowed for much more story and character depth. Fantasy lovers should check this out without fail. Anyone else who is feeling nostalgic for older anime or likes an enjoyable and short show to watch should also give this a try.

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Dec 5, 2007

Emptyk

Recommended

Story:
The plot fallows the same basic story line of the original game without to much variation. There are a few minor changes but nothing that would alter the story.
As a devoted fan of the games it's only natural that I know and love the story very much. So a 9 on story from me.

Art:
I'm a huge fan of 80's animation. Always have been. This show looks very much like Maison Ikkoku or even early Ranma1/2. It's very warm and straight forward with bright colors and smooth lines. For me, as I've played the original DOS game and the remakes of the games it was ...

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May 7, 2014

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

The Y's franchise may or may not be known to you. Basically, it's a series of action RPGs that helped define the genre back in the late 80s. It's also Falcom's best known franchise with around a dozen installments at this point but Falcom also doesn't have much else under their belts that's memorable and even their best known games aren't all that well known compared to a lot of other franchises from bigger name companies. Don't get me wrong, though, most of the franchise is made up of quality games. Back in the late 80s, when the series was in its infancy, Falcom worked ...

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Poll: Ancient Books of Ys Episode 7 Discussion kalroth - Nov 6, 2009	6 replies	by _-_Sally_-_ »» May 25, 2022 8:10 PM
Poll: Ys Episode 6 Discussion Kristiwazhere - Jul 19, 2019	1 replies	by _-_Sally_-_ »» May 25, 2022 7:25 PM
Poll: Ys Episode 5 Discussion DesolatePsyche - Jan 14, 2015	3 replies	by _-_Sally_-_ »» May 25, 2022 11:44 AM
Poll: Ys Episode 4 Discussion Marnie - Nov 25, 2015	2 replies	by _-_Sally_-_ »» May 25, 2022 11:08 AM
Poll: Ys Episode 3 Discussion Kristiwazhere - Jul 8, 2019	1 replies	by _-_Sally_-_ »» May 25, 2022 11:04 AM

Ys

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Characters & Voice Actors

Christin, Adol

Feena

Reah

Dogi

Becsen

Roda

Adol's Father

Klaze

Muraji

Jenokris

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Ys

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Information

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Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

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Ending Theme

Reviews

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Recent Forum Discussion

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