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!
