Released in two volumes in 2011 and 2012, Trails in the Sky OVAs are short-lived. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if even some of the most devoted Legends of Heroes fans have never heard of it. Trails in the Sky The anime OVA is a fascinating relic of the series’ past, worthy of a remake from scratch at some point.
With the recent surprise announcement of one of my favorite JRPGs getting a remake with The First Sky TrailsIt also seems like a good time to revisit the game’s anime OVA. Despite being over a decade old at this point, the two-episode OVA feels like one long, thrilling movie. The animation is surprisingly detailed and still holds up quite well even now.
However, there are some problems if you look deeper than the surface. For example, Trails in the Sky The OVA anime has a strange way of adapting the original games. It continues its core storyline with the second game, SC. The anime picks up after the first game’s unexpected twist and adapts much of the second JRPG. But even then, it fails to do its job and leaves viewers hanging in the story.
The Trails in the Sky The OVA anime has such a strange situation. It doesn’t start from the beginning and doesn’t even tell the whole story. In this way, it’s very inaccessible for newcomers. Worse, it makes some awkward changes to the original game’s plot, switching around some events and when they happened.
But perhaps the most serious flaw of all is that the OVA anime is not accessible anywhere today. There is no way to legally stream this anime, so you have to resort to alternative means. It’s a shame because they even went so far as to have an official English dub. However, instead of making it more accessible now, I think a full Trails in the Sky Remaking the OVA anime is necessary.
I thought for a long time Legends of Heroes The franchise would make for some great anime. The story, world building, and characters are more than enough to stand on their own without even playing the games. It’s just that recently Northern War anime is even more frustrating. Instead of a direct adaptation Cold Steel RoadsThis game picks up a side story that takes place between the games.
The animation is really poor by today’s standards and the plot is terrible. In fact, it doesn’t even give fan-favorite characters like Rean and Altina the attention they deserve. Nihon Falcom could fix this by starting from scratch. What better way to do that than to watch a full anime adaptation? Trails in the Sky?
Doing this randomly out of nowhere would have seemed a bit awkward in recent years, but now is the perfect time. With the upcoming release of The First Sky TrailsThis is a chance to try a real anime adaptation. This would open the series up to new audiences, reward longtime fans, and maybe even boost the JRPG series’ growing success.
The Zemuria Saga can’t go on forever. In fact, I suspect the constant, almost yearly release schedule will have to slow down at some point. One of the best ways to compensate for this potential change is to continuously adapt the different arcs. I just hope that Nihon Falcom will take this wonderful opportunity to give the fans what they deserve: a real anime adaptation. Trails in the Sky and all other games.
Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky 1 released to Nintendo Switch by 2025.
