Name(s): Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem / Fire Emblem: Monshou no Nazo / ファイアーエムブレム 紋章の謎
Format: Original video animation [OVA] (2 episodes)
Studio(s): Studio Fantasia

Review

I admit it, I was pleasantly surprised at how much better the Fire Emblem anime was than what I was expecting. Short OVA adaptations of existing franchises usually tend to be heavily abridged and amount to little more than a special trailer for the source material. And when the source material comes from Fire Emblem, specifically one of the earliest, simplest games in a series where the storylines are just amusing at best, you would naturally expect no different.

But in a twist, that’s not the case. This OVA’s creators actually did honor to their source material, adhering to the original storyline while using the new format to flesh out the game’s scenarios and characters more than the game itself did. Player characters are given more personality and dialogue than they did in the game and are seen interacting with each other and contributing to the anime’s adaptations of some of the game’s earlier chapters.

Treats for Fans

There are even parts of this OVA that seem as if they were somehow made for future fans of the series. All characters featured in the OVA are at the very least given brief moments for their own cool stunts and maybe a tough line or two, and we even get to see a fight between Ogma and Navarre, the first instance of the series’s natural rivalry between the Mercenary and Myrmidon classes.

In addition, most of the score contains new orchestral renditions of music from the game, and it sounds just as good as it did on the consoles, if not better. I know for a fact I’ve never been as much of a fan of the Fire Emblem theme as I was while watching this OVA. The original scores are quite nice as well, and I especially like the tune that plays during each episode’s introduction to Archanea before the Fire Emblem logo appears.

Setting Expectations

Now, before Fire Emblem fans get too excited, let me clarify that I’m only saying this OVA is good for what it is. It goes above the call of duty for a video game adaptation, but it’s still an adaptation of a fairly generic plot and character archetypes. This isn’t a particularly good anime in any general sense, and if it’s at all satisfying, that’s entirely due to the fact that it’s just mildly appeasing fanservice at its best moments.

The OVA also ends far before the game’s storyline does, although this does mean we avoid the awkward breakneck pace a lot of video game adaptations have. The animation and art are completely average for its time, though the framerate is quite nice, and Caeda is classic anime cute.

Verdict

With all that said, the Fire Emblem OVA does an admirable enough job for a video game adaptation, and it deserves proper credit for doing the fans a service by expanding upon a storyline and its characters when the game itself didn’t give much attention to them.