Star Ocean: The Second Story

Plot

Twenty years after the events of the Star Ocean video game, Ronixis J. Kenny and his son, Claude C. Kenny are on a mission to investigate a newly discovered planet. While investigating a strange machine with a mysterious energy field, Claude finds himself transported to the planet of Expel. He wakes up in a forest, where he meets Rena Lanford, a young girl being attacked by a monster. After defeating the monster with his phase gun, Rena takes him back to her village of Arlia where he is declared to be the legendary "Warrior of Light" who will save Expel. The planet is in peril since the landing of a large meteorite, the Sorcery Globe, which has caused monsters to spawn around the planet, as well as numerous natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunami.

Claude refuses to accept that he is this warrior, and leaves to try to find someone who can help him go home. In the next town, he learns Rena is in danger from her childhood friend Allen. He rushes to rescue her and finds Allen under the control of a magic crystal. With the crystal destroyed, Allen returns to normal. Realizing the crystal is tied to the Sorcery Globe, and wondering if it can help him get home, Claude decides to travel to El Continent to investigate it and Rena goes with him. Along the way, they meet Celine Junes, a Heraldic Magic user and treasure hunter who tricks the pair into helping her steal the treasure from a cave. The treasure turns out to be a book written in a language none of them knows, so Celine decides to stay with the pair to try to find out more about the book. The group is later joined by Ashton Anchors, another swordsman whom they first encounter in a cave trying to defeat a monster terrorizing a nearby village. Ashton attacks a two-headed dragon, thinking it is the monster, and after he trips the dragon fuses itself to his body, leaving him with the two dragon heads coming out of his back. Ashton makes the group go with him to find the King's Teardrop, blaming them for "distracting him" during his fight and causing everything. After they get there he learns that using the magic power would kill the dragon, so he refuses to do it and joins the group until they can find a way to remove the dragon without causing it any harm.

In the town of Linga, they meet Precis, a young girl inventor who develops a crush on Claude and is oblivious to Ashton being in love with her. They help her cure her friend from a dying illness, and afterward Precis decides to go with them to Lacour where they hope the famous Dr. Leon can answer their questions about the Sorcery Globe and Celine's book.

Characters

Claude C. Kenny

After an accident causes him to wind up on the underdeveloped planet of Expel, Claude rescues Rena Lanford from a monster and is thought to be the "Legendary Warrior of Light" by the residents of the local village. He is now on a quest to investigate the Sorcery Globe, which he hopes will help him return to his own world. Claude has some skill in hand-to-hand combat and picks up swordsmanship fairly quickly, even learning Dias' Kuuhazan attack after seeing it once. Having grown up in the shadow of his famous father, Claude is humble and has a lot of self-doubts, but he grows stronger through his adventures, as does his growing friendship, and love, for Rena. Voiced by: Hiro Yuuki (Japanese); Matt Hill (English)

Rena Lanford

A native of the planet of Expel, she often ventures into the Shingo Forest. One day, a monster appears in the forest and attacks her; she is saved by Claude. In accordance to local legends, she believes Claude to be the "Legendary Warrior". She now accompanies Claude on his quest. Rena is a sweet-natured girl with a pensive, thoughtful side as well as the power to heal. She is devoted to Claude almost from the start, and slowly falls in love with him as the journey comes on. Voiced by: Mayumi Iizuka (Japanese); Nicole Bouma (English)

Celine Jules

A treasure hunter from the village of Mars, she is a powerful wielder of Heraldic Magic, but has a fear of bugs, which is used as a running gag throughout the series. She accompanies Claude and Rena on their journey, but often seems to be more interested in teasing Claude and Rena about their growing love for each other. Voiced by: Mami Kingetsu (Japanese); Venus Terzo (English)

Dias Flac

Dias lived in the same town as Rena and considers her his little sister, though they are unrelated. After his family was killed by bandits, he left Arlia to spend time traveling and training to become stronger. When he finds someone worthy of his skills, he is quick to test their might. As a result of his horrible tragedies, Dias often appears anti-social, rebellious, and spiteful. Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese); Brent Miller (English)

Media

Manga

Written by Mayumi Azuma, Star Ocean: The Second Story is based on the tri-Ace video game of the same name. It ran in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 1998 to 2001. Enix published the series in seven collected volumes from June 1999 to November 2001.

Anime

Studio Deen adapted the manga series into an anime series, naming it Star Ocean EX (スターオーシャンEX, Sutā Ōshan EX). The series premiered on TV Tokyo on April 3, 2001, and ran for twenty-six episodes until September 25 of the same year. Movic released to VHS tape and Region 2 DVD across nine volumes, with the first released on July 27, 2001, and the final volume released on March 29, 2002. Each volume contained two episodes, except the final volume which had three.

Geneon Entertainment acquired the license to release the series to Region 1 DVD. They released the six volumes in 2005, from January 4 to November 22. In Geneon's release, the first two volumes contained five episodes each, while the remaining volumes contained four. Geneon released all twenty-six episodes in a series box set in August 2006.

Discotek Media acquired the license to the series, and released it on Blu-ray.

Soundtracks

Two CD soundtracks were released in Japan by Pony Canyon for the Star Ocean EX series. The first soundtrack, Star Ocean EX Original Soundtrack (スターオーシャンEX ― オリジナル・サウンドトラック), contained forty-seven tracks and released on August 1, 2001. Among the tracks are the TV length versions of the opening and ending themes and background music played during various episodes. The second, Star Ocean EX Original Soundtrack II (スターオーシャンEX ― オリジナル・サウンドトラック II) was released on September 19, 2001. It contained an additional forty-five tracks of background music from the series.

Neither official soundtrack includes the full version of either the opening or ending theme of the series. Amika Hattan did release the full version of the opening theme "To the Light" as a CD single. Likewise, Saori Nishihata released a single with the full version of the ending theme "Hearts".

Other

Movic, the company which released the Star Ocean EX anime series to VHS and DVD, also had a series of drama CDs produced. These CDs take the place of the series' missing second season and complete the story left incomplete by both the manga and anime series. The CDs feature the same voice actors as those in the anime and each volume contains approximately one hour of dialog. The first CD was released in Japan on July 7, 2001, picking up where the last episode of the anime stopped. The fifth and final volume was released December 8 of the same year.

Enix published two art books for Star Ocean. The first, Treasure: Star Ocean The Second Story Mayumi Azuma Art Book (トレジャー スターオーシャンセカンドストーリー 東まゆみ画集, Torejā: Sutā Ō̄shan Sekando Sutōrī Azuma Mayumi Gashū) was published in October 2000. Spanning eight-eight pages, it includes sixty four pages of color art and a full-color fold out poster created by artist Mayumi Azuma.

The second art book, Second Treasure: Star Ocean The Second Story Mayumi Azuma Art Book (セカンドトレジャー スターオーシャンセカンドストーリー 東まゆみ画集, Sekando Torejā: Sutā Ō̄shan Sekando Sutōrī Azuma Mayumi Gashū) was published in August 2001. It contains sixty pages of color illustrations, twenty pages of black-and-white images and some character profiles.