(Where Wraithstrike Watches) The Anime thread

Tales of the Abyss Episode 1: The World of the Score


A bit of backstory for me. I'm coming into the Tales series almost blind. I have only one prior experience with Tales games, and that was Tales of Symphonia, which was only a game I picked up to replace one that I thought was an rpg, but turned out to be an on-rails shooter. I made it halfway through Tales of Symphonia before life piled on medical issues with my family, so I never got to finish the story.

Abyss is a different beast, as I've been informed by my friends in the Dresden Files game. I can appreciate what's being shown here, but there are some issues I'm running into already.

Animation quality here is not that great. Here's a few of the things I noticed.
1. Characters seem to blink once every five years.
2. The soldiers, save Master Van, have little to no detail to their uniforms, so I really can't tell the difference between the two kingdoms.
3. In the fight with the monsters, Luke and Tear are both ripping it up, and there's no blood on their blades after killing these creatures. I don't want Amazon level torrents of blood, I would just like a hint of it to show that, yes, they did just kill an animal.

Another issue I have is that Luke is your typical red-headed, hot-blooded amnesiac JRPG protagonist. I'd much rather the show be about Natalia. She at least seems like an interesting character.

Tales of the Abyss 2-4....
I don't want to offend any Tales fans out there, but I just don't see the thrill. Episode 2 is just weak, and 3 and 4, though they have good moments, aren't much better.

I'm going to see this through. I do hope it gets better.

Tales of the Abyss Episode 5: Chosen Hero



Was that supposed to be a surprise?
Jade monologued about how Luke's abduction would have been reported in Malkuth. Since the news never crossed his desk, it was apparent that the story of being abducted by Malkuth was a fake.

Also, Tear as a seventh fonist, can read the score. She says that the rest of the prophecy can't be read, but Van happens to know what it says? Bull.

Tales of the Abyss Episode 6: Desert Rain


Imagine what the script for the animators must have been for this episode:
*Five Pages of Walking, followed by Anise glomping Luke and Natalia chewing her out for it*
*One monster encounter, More walking for five more pages*
*More walking. Flashback. Walking.*

Tales of the Abyss Episode 7: Isolation



This is a really good episode. Maybe it will pick up from here.

Let's talk about this episode for a moment shall we? It is a really good episode, but I'm hoping Luke learns a heavy lesson from here on out.

Nothing surprising happened here, except for the fall into the Qlipoth. That caught me off-guard.

One thing I noticed in the first episode was a subtle hint that Tear was in the right. When she came to attack Van, she used her fonic hymns to put the guards to sleep. She didn't want any collateral damage on her revenge quest.

Meanwhile, Van is willing to let thousands of people die to make a point. The idea that Van was a villain was never far from my mind. After all, it was a modulated version of Van's voice that spoke whenever Luke had his headaches.

Van is Luke's creator, and has been molding him to this point for seven years now. And what's more, Luke got his friends involved in this plot without his knowledge. He's been used the whole time, and his mind crumbles when he tries to realize just how much of a puppet he is. He tries to deny it, to pin the blame on Van. But he's the one who blindly followed orders. He's the one who killed the people in the mining town. And he's the one who will have to make it right.

Are Asch and the other God Generals evil? Maybe some of them. Arietta is a broken soul. Asch has had everything he held dear stolen from him by a poor copy. Legretta is also flawed. In these moments, we've seen that if they are villains, they're not cardboard cutout villains. They have their own motivations, their own reasons to do these things. They are in a way, the best kind of villains. The ones who when you hear them speak, have you saying "They've got some good points."

Long rant aside, the series is definitely picking up.

Tales of the Abyss Episode 9: Usurped One


I'm told that the scene with Asch's dream was not in the game. Still, that's a pretty painful thing to experience and it adds so much to the character. It's one thing to have Guy and Natalia talk about Asch being usurped, it's another to actually show it.

Yeah, cutting hair isn't that great, but it's a symbolic gesture. Luke is moving past his obnoxious self and is going to try to do things right. It won't bring back Akzeurith, but it will make him a better person.

Episode 10: Return of Atonement


The series is certainly getting better.

Tales of the Abyss Episode 11: City of Falling Snow


*Standing Ovation for the way they handled Jade's backstory.*

Tales of the Abyss Episode 12: Water Metropolis


Again, really well handled with the backstory.