To Aru Hikuushi e is a series of light novels that tell the story of airline pilots, usually a romance involving conflict between peoples or family. The Light Novels are written by Koroku Inumura and were first published in 2009 by Gagaga Bunko.
In 2011, we had a film adapting the first Light Novel called The Princess and the Pilot or Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku. In 2014, we had an anime based on the second Light Novel Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta or The Pilot Love's Song.
Table of Content
The Light Novels To Aru Hikushi and
In total, we have the following works from this non-canonical series called Hikuushi [飛空士]:
- Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku [とある飛空士への追憶];
- Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta [とある飛空士への恋歌];
- Toaru Hikuushi e no Yasoukyoku [とある飛空士への夜想曲];
- Toaru Hikuushi e no Seiyaku [とある飛空士への誓約];
Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku
Koroku Inumura's original war novel revolves around Charles Karino, a mercenary air pilot from the Kingdom of Levamme who mans the Santa Cruz two-seat reconnaissance seaplane.
One day, he is given a surprise mission: flying over 12,000 kilometers of enemy waters to protect a girl named Fana del Moral. This mission is actually a covert operation as the original escort was shot down by the enemy.
Charles eventually discovers that both the original operation and the covert operation were calculated by the enemy by decoding military telegraphs sent by the Crown Prince to Fana.
Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta
The story of love and aerial combat follows a former prince who lost everything to a revolution and a girl who became the symbol of the revolution. The orphan prince, now renamed Ka-lel, embarks on a one-way journey to discover the ends of the heavens.
Aboard the levitating island of Isla, he meets a girl named Claire. This is the story of a prince who has lost everything and sets out on a journey with no guarantee of returning to his hometown safely.
With hatred and vengeance in his mind, he meets several people who teach him about friendship... and love.
Toaru Hikuushi e no Yasoukyoku
The story follows a pilot and a singer torn between values, loyalty and love in a state of war between sky and sea. Despite being the third Light Novel, it is a Spin-Off of an operation that takes place in the first novel.
It is a story that captures the “Operation Kaineko” that takes place in the Central Sea War, from the perspective of the pilots on top of Emperor Tentsu. A tribute to the War of the Pacific can be seen in several places during the work.
Additionally, many place names in Kyushu, which is also the author's hometown, appear in the place names, person names, and base names at the top of the Teisei Tentsu.
Toaru Hikuushi e no Seiyaku
As a young teenager, Kiyoaki Sakagami witnessed the Sky Clan (Uranus) brutal attack on his hometown. His family was killed in a deliberate airstrike and his farm burned to the ground.
Comforted by his friend Mio Seira, he vows to crush the Sky Clan and put an end to their wars of aggression. Three years later, as Air Force cadets, Kiyoaki and Mio are selected to finish their studies at the Eahanto military academy in the Allied Empire.
They meet five academy students with whom their futures intertwine in a region of incessant warfare… The series has a total of nine volumes published between 2012 and 2015.
My experience with To Aru Hikushi and no Koiuta
I watched the anime that in English is called The Pilot Love's Song, which tells the story of a pilot who hates a girl who controls the wind named Nina Viento, but ironically falls in love with her. I liked the anime a lot, it left a mark on me at the time.
He fell into obscurity and recently I remembered, I went to review some scenes and came across an open ending that at the time intrigued me and made me search a lot on google. Once again searching, it was quite scarce, but I managed to draw a conclusion, which made me write the article.
I believe I'm not the only one who liked the work, since on some anime sites, the reviews hit notes close to 10, including praise for the animation and sound. It is a very good anime that goes unnoticed by people, due to its date.
The true ending of The Pilot Love's Song?
The anime ended up in the open, intrigued many who watched the work. As an unknown anime, many were curious about the ending or a possible second season and don't know what happened next. Some wonder, what happens in the Light Novel?
In the last episode of The Pilot Love's Song, Kal-el sets out to rescue his beloved, while we see all the other characters concluding their stories, and there are even scenes of some characters that take place decades later.
At the end of the Light Novel Ariel decided to guard her feelings for Kal-el through a love song that cannot be sung. Kal-el also ends his story by setting out to rescue Claire.
Isla Revolution makes an alliance with Holy Revarm Empire (from the first novel). 28 years later, the flying science alumni are still in full swing, Nanako became a writer and, at 47, published a retrospective on Isla no Fim do Céu.
Despite this, we do not have a conclusion on whether Kal-el managed to rescue his beloved. It seems to be a characteristic of the light novel Hikushi. Nonetheless, we can see certain conclusions in the other Light Novels, perhaps a marketing ploy.
Unfortunately, the ending of the Light Novel is similar to the anime, so it was intentionally left open-ended, but we can have some spoilers from the other Light Novels of pilots To Aru Hikushi, both in Yasoukyoku and Seiyaku.
In the novel To Aru Hikushi e no Seiyaku, the love story between Kal-el and Claire is finally complete. Kal-el has recovered Claire as stated in yasoukyoku and makes a small appearance as a supporting character in the story.
This takes place near the end of volume 9, where Kal-el is finally reunited with Claire after 6 and a half years of separation. Kiyoaki reunites with Mio, but the situation is not simple. This happens when both characters from the novels team up against Sky Clan.
When Isla's 2nd Fleet arrives in the Archipelago region, we see an Iris V fighter from Shinden Kai and Charles Karino from the first Light Novel. We also see Kal-el's personal fighter, "Maestra" from the second Light Novel that won anime.
The Light Novel of Seiyaku takes place right after Volume 4 of "The Pilot Love Song", about a year after Nina Viento was taken in by the air tribe. In this story, we have the union of characters from the first Light Novel Tsuioku.
What happens in The Princess and the Pilot?
The film also left some thoughts about the ending, so here are some spoilers we found in the Light Novel and in the sequels of the Hikuushi work:
Charles succeeds in his mission, is paid enough to last three lives, and Fana promotes peace between the warning nations, but they never see each other again and Charles is never publicly recognized for his mission. In fact, he disappears from history after that.
Prince Carlo is precisely as sincere and affectionate as he appears in his first scene, and although Fana suggests he should run away to Charles, she ends up marrying Carlo. Unfortunately this does not happen in the story. Charles' mission is not discovered until long after their death.
By the time of Chapter 4 of the second volume, the end of the story, she is in the position of Consul General in place of King Carlo and brings the Central Sea War to a truce in the form of taking advantage of Chichiishi's success.
In the third Light Novel yasoukyoku, Fana changes her name to Fana Revarm upon marriage. She is briefly mentioned and has a role in battles in this third novel. Prince Carlo, who seemed nice, ends up being poorly spoken of in this novel.
In the novel, it says that Prince Carlo deprived Fana of power, so her marriage was kind of in vain; she could have fled with Charles. The kingdom of Revarm also has a brief participation in The Pilot Love's Song.
