Nice and detail review. Very good.
I was considering to download this one. But now I'm not gona bother.
Thank you for saving me from the hard work.
Ys ova Review
Story & Playability
The following review is for the Y's anime.
Y's is proof positive that role playing games would just plain suck without a battle system. Y's is a short eleven episode romp in a fantasy world on par with it's video game counterpart, even down to the small detail of the hero's name remaining the same. An introduction to the story. The land of Esteria has befallen into chaos ever since monsters started attacking on a constant basis. As the people of the land fight for survival, a fortuneteller by the name of Sarah forsees the arrival of the warrior of legend who is to come and save this land from desparity. Enter Adol Christin... that warrior. Now follow him as he collects the six mysterious books of Y's, the books said to tell the history of the ancient land of Y's and are able to grant the power to destroy the plight of the monsters. Well anybody out there reading this that has ever played any RPG has certainly heard something like this before. The plot goes as such. Adol enters random dungeon as fortold by the fortuneteller, slays boss of said dungeon and collects a book. Rinse and repeat for seven episodes. Then follow him as visits the ancient land of Y's also under the influence of monsters. My best guess is that at the time that this anime was made, the video game series was thriving quite well in Japan. So this was created so as to strike while the iron was hot. It appears though that it was made in a rush and could only create something as shallow as this proved to be.
Rating:
Graphics
OLD SCHOOL ANIMATION ALERT!!! Those of you who would consider yourselves animation whores and would shun a show because of it should turn the other way now. Keeping in mind this animation is from the year 1992, which means it happened before the major leaps made in the way shows were animated. It took me quite a while to get used to it myself as all I seem to have seen lately is shows with fairly impressive animation. The animation is fairly good for its time but at times it seemed a bit lazy. Background animations were very bland and extremely grainy. Character designs were also quite uninspired. Adol of course had to be the red haired hero of the Y's universe, but everybody else just seemed to be a quick mock up of a character. Facial animation changes were few and far between which just means the viewer never gets much of a feel for the emotion going on at the time. In fact, only Adol and Sarah really show any emotion at all. Throw all that in with a few reused animations and again it just seems rushed.
Rating:
Sound
Music is a hard area to grade. There was no opening or ending songs to speak of, which at this point is such a staple in anime it's hard to imagine a show without it. The background musics are mostly guitar sounds and synthesiser. While they may be considered weak by today's standards, they were absolutely fitting of this show. Keeping in mind the time that this was made, and the role playing games that came out around this exact same time, the music was right on par. There was the adventerous musics and even a faux boss battle music when he would fight the big monster of the dungeon. It definetly made it feel like an animated RPG.
Voice acting was passable at best. No one voice actor stood out above the rest because they all just seemed to be there for a paycheck and go home. Many of the voices were just hollow and uninspired. Adol's voice was acted well enough but was fairly two-dimensional. He was either in regular conversation or yelling something, that was about it.
Rating:
Fun
When you create a fantasy anime you walk a fine line. A great adventure can be created or one that is enshrouded in tedium and boredom. This one falls into the latter category. Slayers and Record of Lodoss War did a great job with the fantasy/adventure genre. This on the other hand just made a linear path to the end. Not only that but it was mired in role playing game cliches. Collect the items to get power, the maiden who lost her memory, an ancient civilization far more advanced than the current one, a hero of legend who just happens to be an adolescent boy and much more. The one Y's game I have played I enjoyed somewhat. The story wasn't all that good but it was a fun game to play as the battle system was enjoyable. Again though, you take away the enjoyability of the battle system, and all you are left with is a poor attempt at entertainment that proves more to be a waste of time. If you are a huge fantasy anime nut, you may find yourself getting quite a bit of enjoyment out of this. But if you hate RPG's or have a short attention span you may want to steer clear of this.
Rating:
Final Verdict
4.5000 (moderate)
Reviewed by shoujoboy, Mar 06, 2006
Comments
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SouskeUK Mar 06, 2006
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Northy Mar 06, 2006
I guess the question remains; Will there ever be a good anime adaptation of an RPG game? There are a few decent ones, but no really great ones that I know about, FF VII AC included.
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crsg Mar 06, 2006
A really good, thorough review - I'm impressed.
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a123321 Mar 07, 2006
ff 7 ac was a pretty good movie, but only cause of animation. story really suck
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phamthuha Mar 07, 2006
4.5? I don't understanh much but try more next time ^_^
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rukasu04 Mute Member Feb 08, 2010
Nice review
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