To Aru Hikuushi e is a series of Light Novels that tells the story of airplane 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 movie 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 Contents
The Light Novel To Aru Hikushi e
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
The original war romance by Koroku Inumura revolves around Charles Karino, a mercenary air pilot from the Kingdom of Levamme who equips the two-seater reconnaissance seaplane Santa Cruz.
One day, he receives a surprise mission: to fly over 12,000 kilometers of enemy waters to protect a girl named Fana del Moral. This mission is actually a secret operation, as the original escort was shot down by the enemy.
Charles eventually discovers that both the original operation and the secret operation were calculated by the enemy by decoding military telegrams sent by the crown prince to Fana.
Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta
The love and aerial combat story follows an ex-prince who lost everything to a revolution and a girl who became the symbol of the revolution. The orphaned prince, now renamed Ka-lel, embarks on a one-way journey to discover the far reaches of the skies.
Aboard the floating island of Isla, he meets a girl named Claire. This is the story of a prince who lost everything and sets out on a journey with no guarantee of safely returning to his hometown.
With hatred and revenge on 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 the sky and the 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 occurs in the Central Sea War, from the perspective of the pilots at the top of Emperor Tentsu. A tribute to the Pacific War can be seen in various places throughout the work.
Additionally, many place names in Kyushu, which is also the author’s hometown, appear in the names of places, people’s names, and basic names at the top of Teisei Tentsu.
Toaru Hikuushi e no Seiyaku
As a young teenager, Kiyoaki Sakagami witnessed the brutal attack of the Sky Clan (Urano) on his hometown. His family was killed in a deliberate air raid and his farm was completely burned down.
Consoled 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 whose futures intertwine in a region of incessant wars… The series has a total of nine volumes published between 2012 and 2015.
My experience with To Aru Hikushi e 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 really enjoyed the anime; it left a mark on me at the time.
It fell into obscurity, and I recently remembered it, went back to review some scenes, and came across the open ending that intrigued me at the time and made me search a lot on Google. Again searching, it was quite scarce, but I managed to draw a conclusion, which led me to write the article.
I believe I am not the only one who enjoyed the work, as on some anime sites, the reviews score 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 on an open note, intriguing many who watched the work. As an unknown anime, many were curious about the ending or a possible second season and do not 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 wrapping up their stories, we even have scenes of some characters decades later.
At the end of the Light Novel, Ariel decided to keep her feelings for Kal-el through a love song that cannot be sung. Kal-el also wraps up his story by setting out to rescue Claire.
The revolution of Isla forms an alliance with the Holy Revarm Empire (from the first novel). 28 years later, the former flying science students continue to thrive, Nanako became a writer and at 47 published a retrospective on Isla at the End of the Sky.
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. Despite this, 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 intentionally the ending was left open, but we can have some spoilers from the other Light Novels of pilots To Aru Hikushi, both in Yasoukyoku and in Seiyaku.
In the novel To Aru Hikushi e no Seiyaku the love story between Kal-el and Claire is finally complete. Kal-el recovered Claire as stated in yasoukyoku and makes a small appearance as a secondary character in the story.
This happens near the end of volume 9, where Kal-el finally reunites 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 join against the Sky Clan.
When the 2nd Fleet of Isla 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 got an anime.
The Light Novel of Seiyaku takes place shortly after Volume 4 of “The Pilot Love Song“, about a year after Nina Viento was taken under 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 movie also left some pondering about the ending, so here are some spoilers we found in the Light Novel and the sequels of the Hikuushi work:
Charles succeeds in his mission, is paid enough to last three lifetimes, and Fana promotes peace among the nations of warning, 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 seems in his first scene and, although Fana suggests that he should run away with Charles, she ends up marrying Carlo. Unfortunately, this does not happen in the story. Charles’s mission is only discovered long after their deaths.
At 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 leads the Central Sea War to a truce by leveraging the success of Chichiishi.
In the third Light Novel yasoukyoku, Fana upon marrying changes her name to Fana Revarm. She is briefly mentioned and has a role in battles in this third novel. The prince Carlo, who seemed nice, ends up being poorly spoken of in this Novel.
The novel states that prince Carlo deprived Fana of power, so her marriage was somewhat in vain; she could have run away with Charles. The kingdom of Revarm also has a brief participation in The Pilot Love’s Song.
Leave a Reply