First Impressions / Tales of Zestiria the X

「天の都」 (Ten no Miyako)
“Celestial Capital”

Curiously, episode 01 of Tales of Zestiria the X starts more or less where episode 00 left off, which makes one wonder why they couldn’t have started the numbering at 01 like sensible people. I suppose this is for the benefit of game players, for whom the episode 00 material is, from what I can gather, new and not in the game, and therefore ‘prologue’. For the rest of us, though, what we have this week is perfectly fine as an episode 02, and probably should not be viewed independent of the previous episode. It won’t be impossible to follow along, probably, but it’d help to know why people are moping and stumbling about in the dark. So, for those of you who are just browsing anime selections and are only just joining us now for and introduction on Tales of Zestiria, hi! This show actually started last week. You need to go back a bit.

For our purposes, I’m going to treat Celestial Capital as an episode 02, for like many episode 02s it steps back a bit, away from the demon assassins and magical weather and dragons, to do a few introductions. Much needed introductions, from the look of it, for I assume the conspicuously accessorised Sorey (Kimura Ryouhei) is supposed to be the protagonist, and his bosom buddy Mikleo (Osaka Ryota) looks important too, judging by the OP/ED. Funnily enough, starting at the episode 00 that we had actually makes me question whether I would actually welcome switching the focus of the story onto these two young men. Frankly speaking, so far they look to be the least interesting of all that Tales of Zestiria has shown us thus far. Sure, exploring the ruins was fun enough (this is the kind of section that would have had random encounters in the game, I’m sure, from which were mercifully spared), but that’s owing less to the characters doing it and more to their holiday destination, which may have been no Castle in the Sky Laputa but is close enough for my approval. I can’t say I really cared as much for their banter or for their Sunday school lesson. It doesn’t help that, for those who’ve played enough JRPGs, Sorey’s introduction is about as generic as they come. Nosy adolescents are forbidden from doing a certain thing by crusty old people. They do it anyway—surprise! Oh no, stuff happens. So I guess in this allegory, the lightning represents… teenage pregnancy. Don’t think about that too much.

The thing is, Alisha, when put side by side with the Sorey as she is in this episode, is the more interesting character simply because she’s had more stuff happen to her. Sure, she’s not the most fleshed out individual or anything (it’s only been one episode, after all) but at least we’ve seen her with goals and responsibilities and a central role in various events. Plus, all her friends are dead, which makes her seem more protagonist-like. But instead, in this episode, it feels like she doesn’t do all that much except for scream and fall. She gets a lot of screaming and falling, sure, but it would be nice to have seen a bit more agency here. It’d be a shame if her most significant role as Princess Alisha of Alderaan was to petition the Jedi for aid. I hope she doesn’t fall back into mostly playing damsel in distress; it’d be a shame if we so hardly know her and her character already has to devolve.

Well, we know from the OP/ED that she at least becomes a party member, which is something. And even with a somewhat generic start, there’s a lot that Tales of Zestiria can unfold into—if anything, these two episodes have laid out a lot of groundwork for a solid foundation from which it can go forward. And, at the very least, Tales of Zestiria continues to look pretty good. I won’t deny that the potential in this series. Fans of the game probably don’t need me to tell them that, but even anime-only viewers may have much to enjoy here. There’s a definite lack of swords-and-sorcery fantasy in this anime season, so Tales of Zestiria is definitely promising enough to hold on to for now.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「calling」 by fhána

Preview

50 Comments

  1. Regarding the stuff that happened to Alicia in this episode, a note from someone else’s review:

    In the game, for example, There really is no background to Alicia’s winding up in the ruins. The game actually opens up with Sorey atop the ruins, and falling into them with Mikleo soon after. Then its not long before they come upon the unconscious Alicia. The anime though? It actually charts Alicia’s entire journey, and the horrors that she faces before she winds up unconscious. Its a little detail, and might even be unnecessary. For game fans coming into the show will full knowledge of the overall story, its nice to get that extra connective tissue that was lacking in the actual game.

    Wanderer
    Reply

  2. Conclusion for Alisha

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

  5. IMO, the potential of this series was displayed better in the previous episode. This episode added almost nothing for me, as I have already watched the 45-minute special in preparation for this show. Ah well, I’m still interested in it and I’m sure the next episode may have something new.

    P.S.: Not trying to be a bother….but 91 days was seriously good. I was wondering if at least its first episode is gonna get covered because it’s really worth talking about.

    yoloalchemist
    Reply

    1. I admit it, i am an “Tale of” Fanboy. But i do not wear the “Pink Red Fan glasses”, and the Game story (except for one person= was entertainment, Joke was okay, action too.

      I give this anime an fresh start, not knowing the OVA just the Game, i wonder in how far this Anime will take us

      The key scene will be some person’s Story. until then i want to believe!!

      note:
      i played Tales of Zestiria and Alisha’s DLC

      Worldwidedepp
      Reply

    2. I was really hoping they’d somehow skip it since the OVA really covers what comes next. But since they didn’t, maybe the plot of the next two episodes will slightly diverge from the OVA?

      Anon
      Reply

  6. The tragic heroin
    Show Spoiler ▼

    bakumon11292
    Reply

  8. Quote from your review:

    “The thing is, Alisha, when put side by side with the Sorey as she is in this episode, is the more interesting character simply because she’s had more stuff happen to her. Sure, she’s not the most fleshed out individual or anything (it’s only been one episode, after all) but at least we’ve seen her with goals and responsibilities and a central role in various events. Plus, all her friends are dead, which makes her seem more protagonist-like. But instead, in this episode, it feels like she doesn’t do all that much except for scream and fall. She gets a lot of screaming and falling, sure, but it would be nice to have seen a bit more agency here. It’d be a shame if her most significant role as Princess Alisha of Alderaan was to petition the Jedi for aid. I hope she doesn’t fall back into mostly playing damsel in distress; it’d be a shame if we so hardly know her and her character already has to devolve.”

    After I read this paragraph, I can’t help but laugh really hard at it cause I played the game and if the anime does follow the source material really close, I am going to laugh my ass off real hard.

    For now I wish the anime version is made different than the game’s story, and if it does follow the game’s story, I could only say “You will be really surprised.”

    neptuniafan
    Reply

  9. “The thing is, Alisha, when put side by side with the Sorey as she is in this episode, is the more interesting character simply because she’s had more stuff happen to her. Sure, she’s not the most fleshed out individual or anything (it’s only been one episode, after all) but at least we’ve seen her with goals and responsibilities and a central role in various events. Plus, all her friends are dead, which makes her seem more protagonist-like. But instead, in this episode, it feels like she doesn’t do all that much except for scream and fall. She gets a lot of screaming and falling, sure, but it would be nice to have seen a bit more agency here. It’d be a shame if her most significant role as Princess Alisha of Alderaan was to petition the Jedi for aid.”

    Again. there is a LOT to critizise with the story, but I’m completely disappointed in your latest reviews. Last time you critizised that Alisha didnt feel like a character because there was only stuff happening to her, now this is supposed to be something positive. I could cope with that still, but the thing that characters are compared in the second!!! episode on the basis that nothing happened to the MC yet (in the very episode he was just introduced!), and demanding Alisha plays a bigger role because she is more likable because until now (one single episode) she had a bigger role,… Im sorry, this is only sad.
    Like I said, I usually like your reviews, and by god, the games story is basically nonexistent, but this review here is only disappointing.

    Libélula
    Reply

    1. It’s okay, we can disagree and still be friends.

      Last week I criticised Alisha as being a vehicle for exposition at times. I stand by that. Some scenes were transparently, ‘by the way, facts,’ and Alisha’s purpose was to get us there. Stuff did happen to her, though—as it may in a history text, but still—so I would rather the focus stay on Alisha longer, or else she would remain the damsel to whom stuff happens. The stuff that happens to her—dragons and whatnot—are also interesting enough, so I would like to see that spark more development for her, give her some agency as she tries to solve the crisis, and generally have her do protagonist-like things, since she was the protagonist for 00.

      Instead, it turns out we’re supposed to be following this Sorey guy instead, at which point we should compare characters because Tales of Zestiria is switching from one to the other. Is it actually more interesting? At this point, no, not really. If a story wants me to care about some other guy all of a sudden, I really do need a reason, and I don’t have one. Alisha definitely needed more time after episode 00, but she doesn’t really get it in this episode, partly because she’s now not the protagonist.

      This isn’t damning, of course—Luke Skywalker was arguably the least interesting character in Star Wars. But it is an issue.

      Passerby
      Reply

      1. Can’t disagree more with Libélula here. Excellent reviews and justified criticism on your part. I agree completely.

        I’ve played Tales of Phantasia on a GBA Emulator and it’s actually pretty awesome. I’m sure the two plots have nothing to do with each other, but it gives me hope as far as character chemistry and dialogue goes in this anime.

        Tadpole
        Reply

  10. I had an “Brainstorm” for the “fix”

    Warning! inside are an real Spoiler, stay away if you do not want to get spoiled

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

    1. There were parts in episode 00 where they obviously used scenes from the game as material for the backgrounds, too. Like Ladylake. I think it’s safe to say that this will continue 🙂

      Anon
      Reply

  12. Normin power! The Normin are strong in this one! Somehow that was really cute and unexpected (in a good way).

    Also LOL @ “Are you the Shepherd?” How on earth did she come to that conclusion? Just because the ruins are somehow related?

    Anon
    Reply

  15. At this point it seem the anime really go in original direction as wiki and other people said…

    Ep zero gave me the impression Rose could see her fox buddy as Youma, which didn’t happend in the game till you met in him around the 3th time with Rose in your party while she have the square powers, only then she noticing he hellion

    They also sort of ruin the “Surprise” by showing in ep zero that Rose is the Assissan’s guild bose, in the game even though it was sort of obvious they Still didn’t show you the true identity of their leader and made you wonder if it really her.

    I wonder if that ep (which I still didn’t watched) mimic most stuff from the ova (which was awesome…so I really hope they did)

    Doom
    Reply

  16. Nosy adolescents are forbidden from doing a certain thing by crusty old people. They do it anyway—surprise! Oh no, stuff happens. So I guess in this allegory, the lightning represents… teenage pregnancy. Don’t think about that too much.

    I haven’t followed any shows covered by you, Passerby, in a good long while, and I’m reminded how much I missed it. Nearly hacked up a lung laughing. Never change.

    Gyabo
    Reply

  17. Seems a bit sudden that she goes from “I just watched my friends die horribly, magical demons(?) fought over eating me and then a dragon burst out of the ground” to “oooooo neat ruins”

    qwert
    Reply

  18. It’s no easy task to translate a game in to an anime. At the very least, I’ve noticed a few interesting things:

    1)Many of the background are straight CG landscapes, instead of painted images or still renders. This was something that stood out in Grimgar, which added watercolor-like textures to the surface of a 3d landscape. Sometimes it makes for a cool shot, but often demonstrates some of the limits of anime production. The best example may have been the panning shot where Sorey (Which… I wish would localize to Solei, which follows the rhythm a bit more for me) jumps over a lot of floating rocks. If I had to guess how they made it, I’d say after storyboarding it, they rendered the background, and had an animator use those frames as reference for drawing the animation frames. Because it was a complex shot, the usual inbetweening couldn’t be done by another studio. And perhaps it’s because anime uses limited frames (to crazy amounts, at times), it either made the background look laggy, or the character oddly placed. One way around that would be to make the characters out of 3d models, which sometimes they have such subtle animation quirks I think they are, or at least rotoscoped, but then the show would be nothing but an extended cutscene.

    2) The choice to add a prologue episode makes sense in a couple ways. There are certain assumptions about the audience that can be made, since this is an adapted property. These are developed fans, acquanted fans, and unfamiliars.
    Developed fans are those who know the story of the game well, and have payed through it, possibly several times. They’re the ones that buy the special editions, posters, figures, and dvds. By starting out with an episode with original content, you can create the first impression that the series is worth following for new ideas that fit in with the original, like supplements, or DLC. I’m a fan of the Ace Attourney series, but I have a difficult time sitting through the anime, since I know how the story is supposed to go.
    Acquainted fans are people who are familiar with the original games, but may not remember it as well, or buy extra merchandise. In this case, the prologue episode can get these people back in to the series, with a quick refresher course on some important concepts. And by having things start out a little differently, but with familar elements, evokes a balance of familiar and unfamiliar. As in, I remember this character, but not in a scene like this, so I should pay attention to see how much else I remember. Arguably, the many callbacks to the game in the form of backgrounds is another way to fire off this sense of nostalgia, and tell the audience that care has been placed in the series, by people familiar with the games. It’s an argument for character of the storyteller.
    The last, and largest group of the audience, are the unfamilar, the newbies, the muggles. Maybe they didn’t play the game, or weren’t able to. Maybe they’ve heard of Tales series, but not this iteration. Maybe they like fantasy stories, or think the designs are nice (and they are, for the most part). The first episode offers a bit of backstory, a little character development, but also action set pieces and hints of things to come. They’re all little things to create investment in a series past the first episode. And, arguably, the princess is a more interesting character to follow. A character that reeks of ‘this is the protagonist’ is harder to relate to, and can seem bland. (Oh god, especially with brown spiky hair). Sorey’s story hasn’t started yet, so having someone else carry the story makes sense. Not to mention, as a writer, stories based on games have to take in to account how the game was meant to be played. This is a typical game-opener. Main character has a couple interactions with their world as it is while the player gets used to the controls, and then the inciting moment happens, and staying in the same world becomes impossible, and so the game begins, with the player feeling motivated to go forward because there’s a path of drama to follow. But while that would make a good story in a game, it makes for a bad story in an anime. Besides being lucky enough to drum up a lot of surprise and fan reaction over the season, or being based off an established manga or light novel, the only real way to get watchers to try the series is by having a good introduction, and the prequel episode does that, in countable ways, much better than this episode. Heck, I watched all of Mayoiga, and at one point had to rewatch an episode with my friend so I could have someone to rant to for twenty minutes about how ridiculous the show was. But it had a good first couple of episodes, and so I felt compelled to watch the rest of the series.

    3) The preview segment was a silly, but personally welcome addition. Much like the op and ed credits, or title and commercial cards, next episode previews are a unique aspect to anime evolved for completing a task. The’re a last little ribbon on the package of an episode, act as a call to action for next week, and can serve as little omakes/extras to toss in characterization without cutting in to the episode. Sometimes, like in Lucky Star, they’re deliciously meta and are just as good as the show proper, sometimes like in School-Live, they’re little sneaky places to reinforce story, but often are used as throwaway seconds to
    So it’s a nice touch to see a preview segment that uses time to follow up with the episode, and throws in a little offscreen character development, without taking up the rhythm of the episode proper. It looks like a visual novel cutscene, or something from a jrpg, and it’s another shoutout, and a sign the creators are putting careful thought, in the first few episodes, to make sure to reference the source material. And in a dearth of series based on manga and light novels and games, showing a little credibility is a good way to stand out.

    I’m thinking about streaming this episode again to my chromecast, which has a different refresh rate closer to a bluray or dvd. It’s changed my anime experience for the better, and some of those hiccups in animation may look better on a tv screen.

    All in all, I’ll give the series credit where it’s due, and say I had fun figuring out why certain choices were made.

    jstyx
    Reply

  19. Are you my master the Shephard?

    I’m glad for more Alisha screentime. Her role is expanded from the game, where basically she was this random chick that was on the ruins where Sorey and Mikleo found her. Hope they keep it that way, as I loved the interaction between the three of them.

    Sorey starts as a super bland character, so no surprise people are a bit dissapointed. He isn’t definetely the best developed Tales protagonist (Luke, while very annoying at first, got tons of development) but it is his interactions with the rest of the characters and how the role he gets better development.

    PD: The Normin was the cutest thing in this episode.

    haitechan
    Reply

  20. So far I’m liking the scenery more than the characters and the story (I spaced out during the book-reading parts). I also enjoyed the first person movement shots and the game-esque preview section. However, unless episode 3 picks up, I don’t think I’ll be following this series afterall.

    Yukie
    Reply

  21. While I am a huge Tales fan, I actually have some doubts about this one… I dont know why though… I only went as far as the first 7 hours of the game before I put it down in favor for my other backlogs (Assassins Creed Syndicate, Fall Out 4, Witcher 3, Tales of Wuxia).

    I guess Im getting sick of the whole save the world the Tales series seems to love?

    Ginobi47
    Reply

  22. I’m really liking this adaptation so far but I do hope it takes a different direction regarding Alicia. Otherwise the curious addition of episode 00 would seem like a sick joke…

    joestar
    Reply

  24. As an anime only viewer, this wasn’t a strong follow up IMO. I definitely liked the first episode better. True prequel “00” or not (episode numbering doesn’t bother me), just more interesting on multiple levels. IMO the show made the right call to lead off with that rather than this episode. This episode was quite “meh” for me. Visually it was still pretty good at times though other times not so much. Definitely felt more “game-ish” with scenes such as Sorey jumping from rock to rock (I mentally inserted old-school video game jump sound effects). It wasn’t that “game-ish”, but I don’t recall a similar feeling last episode.

    Without question, I like Alisha better than any other character in this episode. Hope she hangs around as part of the main group. Sorey did absolutely nothing for me. Didn’t hate him, but honestly I found him utterly generic/nondescript – just flavorless outside of “is nice/good guy”, and I usually can deal with those types fairly well. Since he’s the MC, that’s not encouraging (I know, only 1 episode, but still…). Mikleo I liked a little better – a little, but enough to separate the two. Their buddy act got a bit cheesy at times though IMO (e.g. fist bump). Old guy is old guy, and I have no idea who or what this is.

    We did get from point A to point B – i.e. Alisha meets up with Sorey (who I have to think is the “Sheppard”) so mission accomplished there, but for me overall this episode felt a bit thin on content. Game players may have a different take on that. I’m still in for 1-2 more episodes, but Ep. 01 reined in the cautious optimism generated by Ep. 00.

    daikama
    Reply

      1. @Worldwidedepp: Just to be clear (if not already), I don’t have a problem with Ep. 00, but rather that I found Ep. 01 (this episode) lackluster by comparison. Lots of episodes left, but still “meh”.

        As for Alisha’, I understand that Ep. 00 gave some background for her character. That’s not a problem. Again, just to be clear, right now Alisha’s my favorite character in this. Haven’t played the game (and anime may do its own thing anyway), but I hope she remains a central character rather than shoved off to the side.

        daikama
        Reply

  25. I’m wondering if that Show Spoiler ▼

    Wouldn’t make sense by the game’s storyline but it did look like him and his attacks seemed to be fire based. It could have just been a random Show Spoiler ▼

    though.

    Thoughts:

    Geez o_O. Gramps was a little rough with those lighting blasts. He could have accidentally killed Sorey and Mikelo. Hell one of those bolts looked like it was heading straight for them on purpose. I mean I guess I can understand him attacking Alisha but jesus. Chill old dude lol.

    Ummmm Alisha just fell from what looked like a 2 story drop and landed on her FACE and suffered no visible injury. But the next time it happens she’s simply knocked out but still not not hurt. You know that’s actually something that bothers me in movies/anime etc. When a human is throw all over the place we retain that damage on our bodies. Yet after this whole ordeal Alisha’s clothes and body look like they were never touched. Sure it might be harder to animate but if you want me to believe someone has survived the world ending shit Alisha has that kind of stuff goes a long way. What the hell is this girl made of?! I mean I thought all the shit she survived in the last episode was crazy but this is just icing on the cake. That extra thick plot armor man.

    I do admit I like this new perspective kind of deal we are being given with Alisha. I don’t think of it as a true opening to Alisha’s journey in the game though. While the game did leave her sudden appearance as mostly a mystery we do at least have a reason she would be there. In the gameShow Spoiler ▼

    and thus actually had a REASON to end up there while in the anime she ended up there by complete chance. I also have some theories on how exactly the whole meeting between Sorey and Alisha happened but I’ll save those for later =P. But regardless I’m still taking in the anime as it’s own thing not a expansion of the game. That’s not a bad thing of course.

    I like that the episode previews are done with the game cg. I always find the skits of the Tales series to be hilarious/charming :).

    leatherhead333
    Reply

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