Hmm... too bad this series sucked :( I'm looking forward to a Tales of Symphonia anime... if only it can be as cool as the animation scenes in the game, I'll be hooked ^^
Tales of Eternia tv Review
Story & Characters
The anime takes place during the Tales of Eternia (Tales of Destiny 2 in USA) game. I'm personally not one for omake, but it was cute - Corrina, I'm looking at you. They did add a few characters to the "main characters" which I was pretty disappointed in. I think the anime as a whole would have been better dealing with the characters that were already involved in the game, such as Chat. The world after the Inferia/Celestia ordeal would not be covered in bikini-clad amazons on mysterious islands and female model bounty hunters that kidnap the main character to advance the sinking plot.
There is more emphasis on the plot rather than on the fighting. Yes, I realize that RPG's are supposed to be dependant on fighting, but I found that feature to be a breath of fresh air when there are so many other plot devices to worry about in this anime. I was pretty upset that there were only three guardian dieties in this anime when there are so many in the game. Don't get me wrong, these three are the most "important" but I think giving equal camera time to dieties like Celsius would have been a sight to behold. Also, Sylph is very childlike in the anime.
Short summary: Fan service heavy.
Rating:
Art
It was pretty hard to tell that these characters were based off of the game's original sketches. It was pretty disappointing. I wish that the producers employed the same people that did the same animation for the opening and clips of the game. The animation was smooth, but the edges were choppy because digital cel art was not as advanced as it is today. I might rate this portion a little rougher because of the anime one can watch now are so much better than the anime made at the same time as Tales of Eternia.
Keele was bishonen-ized in the anime. In the game he was much more elitist and aloof, and in the anime he's more of a pretty boy.
Rating:
Sound
There is no dub available.
The Japanese voice actinng was fantastic. No suprises there, the voices matched the characters spot-on. It was awesome to see Megumi Hayshibara back in acting a tough-girl role (Marone/Marron the Bounty Hunter).
The opening and ending songs were a little too popular in my opinion for the time period of this anime. I appreciate the music and I think the opening song is great, but it would have been nicer as an opening to something other than this. The ending song just doesn't match at all. The background music matched the mood.
Rating:
Presentation
I think the series was shafted.
Namco (the game producers) should have insisted that the animators go in line from the beginning of the Tales universe to the end and not jump to the title in the middle. The way the anime was presented to the public seemed like the classic "quest for more money" and robbed it of the potential that the game left in tact. The animation seemed rushed and unfinished. The only benefit the producers seemed to give it was to hire well known seiyuu to do the music and voice acting as some of the new main characters (i.e. Megumi Hayashibara as Marone/Marron and doing music as well). All in all, very botched up, but workable.
Fans of the Tales universe should watch this anyway, because Meredy is fantastic and uber-kawaii animated.
Solution: This would have been a better TV series than an OVA, and more of the actual story should be taken into consideration when creating something that non-game fans will watch without understanding the dynamics of the universe.
Rating:
Final Verdict
5.1667 (moderate)
Reviewed by Nuriko, Dec 05, 2004
Comments
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finiteyoda Dec 06, 2004
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Khriss Dec 06, 2004
Nice review Nuriko,
though i think both the guys looked....like pretty boys, they were alot more cuter in the original ToE/ToD2 art, even Farah looked kinda weird in the anime.
Although Meredy -is- uber-cute XD
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crapmonster Dec 06, 2004
yea totally agree with you, ToE blew hard. being a big "Tales Of" fan i was hella looking forward to playing the game beofre it came out. when i watched this, i lost all that anticipation immediately. though the game turned out to be pretty good
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nainoi Oct 19, 2009
My favorite anime.
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