Hayou no Tsurugi

Hayou no Tsurugi was a series of forty (!) light novels by Maeda Tomiko, published between 1989 and 2017. (A spinoff series, Hayou no Tsurugi Gaiden, ran to another eleven volumes.) In 1992, the first volume was adapted into a two episode OVA, Hayou no Tsurugi: Shikkoku no Mashou (The Demon-Breaking Sword: The Jet Black Demon). Like many OVA teasers for works in other media, it never crossed the Digital Divide; in fact, it was never released on laserdisc. Orphan is now releasing the first English-subtitled version, ripped from Japanese VHS tapes.

Hayou no Tsurugi is set in Gandal Arith, your typical sword-and-sorcery world of humans and demons. The floating fortress of Fujou is home to demon-breakers and others who fight demons. This includes a young woman named Laethreel (Lath), who has been chosen by the bloodthirsty demon-breaking sword Gurenki as its master. Laethreel yearns for suitable adventures, but she doesn't have a "protector" or friendly youkai; without that, she'd be unable to fight truly powerful demons.

This all changes at the start of the story. First, a young man calling himself Anshu (he's actually a youkai) shows up out of nowhere, swearing to be Laethreel's protector.

Then the "jet black demon" Aju kidnaps Princess Shurain of Gandia, with the intention of forcing her into marriage. The royal family commissions Laethreel to retrieve Shurain from her captor. Then the complications begin.

Laethreel is actually Shuraku, the hybrid offspring of a demon father and a human mother. When unleashed, her "entrancing eyes" have the power to bewitch both humans and demons. She also has a brother, Leedyle, a hybrid as well. Shuraku rejected her demon heritage and wants to be known only as Laethreel. Leedyle, on the other hand, rejected his human heritage and wants to be known only as Lord Ranka. He'd be happy to see Laethreel dead, provided he can obtain the power of her "entrancing eyes." Their clash will be the motivating spring of the early novels, as well as the OVA.

With all the aliases, you can't tell the players, or their seiyuu, without a program:

• Tsuru Hiromo (Laethreel/Lath/Shuraku) debuted as Perrine in Perrine Monogatari. She went on to play Kashima Miyuki in Miyuki, Madoka in Kimagure Orange Road, and Mikami Reiko in Ghost Sweeper Mikami. She also played Sarah in Mother Saigo: Shoujo no Eve, Sonnet Barge in Blue Sonnet, Fengji in the third Sangokushi movie, Keiko in Hiatari Ryoukou, Nozomi in Nozomi Witches, Jill in A Penguin's Memories, UFO-chan in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Milk in Karuizawa Syndrome, and big sister Shizuka in Tomoe's Run!, all Orphan releases.
• Hironaka Masashi (Anshu) played Bird Torigai in Blue Sonnet, Jiro in Karuizawa Syndrome, Ihika in Yousei-Ou, Kanou in Nine, Kazusa in Tomoe's Run!, and the hijacker in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, all Orphan releases, as well as Siegfried in Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
• Kusao Takeshi (Leedyle/Ranka) played the lead roles in Junk Boy and Fujilog, the title role in Babel II, Trunks in the Dragon Ball Z franchise, Sakuragi in Slam Dunk, Lamune in NG Knight Lamume & 40, the teenaged Tezuka Osamu in Tezuka Osamu Monogatari, Daichi in Singles, the fast talking orca in Sensou Douwa: Chiisai Sensuikau ni Koi wo Shita Dekasugira Kojira no Hanashi, and the icy director Kurume Kenjirou in Smash Hit!; the last four are Orphan releases. He is still active, appearing in the recent Major 2nd.
• Hayami Shou (Aju) starred as Nanjou in Zetsuai: 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai since 1989, and Kushinige Hodaka in Oshare Kozou wa Hanamaru. He also played an angel in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, Exper Kain in Exper Zenon, Iason's friend Raoul in Ai no Kusabi, Hojo in Sanctuary, Pat Leivy in Starship Troopers, Junoichi in Blazing Transfer Student, Shargan in Gude Crest, and Seichii in Mikoneko Holmes. All of these shows are Orphan releases.
• Tsuboi Akiko (Mensuran) had featured roles in numerous shows, incuding Perrine Monogatari, Heidi Girl of the Alps, Lucy of the Southern Rainbow, Galaxy Express 999, Miyuki, Saint Seiya, and Nausicaa.
• Shinohara Emi (Lady Manthrum, Laethreel's foster mother and Queen of Gandia) played B-Ko in the A-ko properties and Sailor Jupiter in the Sailor Moon franchise. She appeared as Yuri Onagara in Blue Sonnet, vulgar daughter Stephanie in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Reiko in Akai Hayate, and Android 1025 in Oz, all Orphan releases.
• Kasahara Hiroko (Princess Shurain) played the title roles in Armitage III and Mahou Angel Sweet Mint, Maron in Assemble Insert, Nanako in Dear Brother, Ami in DNA^2, Fuu in the Rayearth properties, Tama in the Tama and Friends franchise, and Hinako in Ultimate Teacher. She starred as Seara in Baby Love, an Orphan release.
• Yara Yuusaku (Narrator/King of Gandia) played the destroyer captain in Zipang. He had many featured roles, appearing in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Narudesho, Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Eien no Filena, Hidamari no Ki, Nozomi Witches, both Sangokushi OVAs, Prime Rose, the second Sangokushi movie, and both What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
• Yanada Kiyoyuki (Sesuran, a demon-breaker in Fujou) played Exper Venom in Exper Zenon, Kuroda in Akai Hayate and Ooniwa in Nozomi Witches, all Orphan releases. He also played Black Bear Cat in Chii's Sweet Home.
• Tano Megumi (Satin, Laethreel's friend) appeared in Dragon Fist, an Orphan release, as well as Monkey Magic, Raven Tengu Kabuto, Samurai 7, and Genbanojou.

The director, Shibuichi Setsuko, also directed several of the Urusei Yatsura OVAs, as well as Yuukan Club, Ichigatsu no Christmas, and the 1994 version of Chuumon no Ooi Ryouriten.

Some terminology notes:

• binder - hobakushi, or capture master
• demon breaker - hayou no kenshi, demon-break swordmaster
• entrancer - mibakushi, or charm capture master

There's a lot more in a 40-volume novel series, but that's enough for now.

Iri translated. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset (very little). Topper3000, Uchuu, VigorousJammer, and (new to Orphan) ImAWasteOfHair QCed. Intrepid encoded from a Japanese VHS tape. The tape had copy protection, which caused problems during the ripping process and may have contributed to audio sync issues in the encode.

Although Hayou no Tsurugi ends at a reasonable stopping point, it will, like most teaser OVAs, leave you wanting more. Unfortunately, the novels are not available in English. You can get the anime from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.