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「疫病の街」 (Ekibyou no Machi)
“The Plagued City”
Is it just me or did not a lot happen in this episode? It certainly wasn’t bad, but by the time the 16 minute mark came up (because I checked out of curiosity) I thought: “Wait… the episode is almost over?”. For whatever reason, every scene this week felt like it served to transition from one place to another rather than show or tell us anything more about these characters or the world they inhabit. The campfire scene was informative, but other than that it felt like this episode had been done before – or at the very least, it seemed as though this episode consisted of many individual moments that we’ve already seen before.
At least we got to learn the difference between Drakes and Dragons, and got to see more of Sorey in his epic form, though I’m beginning to wonder when he will fight an opponent who actually tests him mentally and physically. Fighting big monsters is fun and all, but there’s not much intelligence behind their attacks, and I’m beginning to feel like I’ve seen all of this before. Maybe it’s because this is adapted from a video game, but I get that same feeling you get when you spam a special move so many times that it doesn’t seem so special anymore. Edna didn’t even get to do much this week, even after that scene where it seemed to set her up for some action – but that led nowhere. I have to be honest and say the Sorey/Lailah/Edna part of the episode was the most boring for me if only because I felt it didn’t add anything we hadn’t experienced before.
Thankfully, Mikleo and Alisha had a little more to do this week. Mikleo happened upon a cute little Normin Tenzoku (Ehara Yuri), who has an adorable design and an infectious personality that contrasts well with Mikleo. I presume he’s going to stick around and join the main group now that everyone is re-uniting again, and if that’s the case then I’m all for some more cuteness and comic relief. This was never going to reach the darkness of Tales of Berseria, but I like the upbeat tone and colourful characters that Zestiria is offering. Though in saying that, Alisha isn’t feeling too positive about her situation. I don’t have the source material to compare to, but this does seem like the staff are writing more scenes for her, which I appreciate. Even if she’s failing at helping the sickly, it was nice to see her back with Sorey (and what an adorable wave that was).
And that’s it really, unless I missed some crucial details hidden in plain sight. At least the cast is grouping up again, so that should take the story in a more interesting direction. We’ve still got a few more characters to see, and we’re about to enter the double digits, so I hope the pace picks up and next week offers something a little different from the norm. Sorey fighting off dragons is a spectacle to watch, but if that’s the main draw here then I may be slightly concerned going forward.
Preview
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They really rearrenged the events in this one but it was nicely done, kind of gives me an idea of where this first cour is going to stop.
Interesting, and it’s all probably for the best!
What was removed/changed from the game:
-Ouroboros was a major boss fight that kicked off a whole main plot that might be covered later for spoiler purposes. Interesting that it was just one-punched and be done with.
-The Drake didn’t appear until much deeper into the Mariland arc.
-Atakk was met after a whole haunted mansion dungeon quest within Mariland, liberties taken since Mikleo is on his own.
-Alisha’s short scene is more than what she actually did in the game. She wasn’t actively getting to Mariland via smart geography or anything.
-Sorey making the bridge was a decision thing where Lailah gives a speech about people fearing great power. You could do it in daylight or nighttime to avoid the public’s gaze. Completely skipped that, partly because that was never really a payoff in-game.
-The drake fight in-game was just using Atakk to boost water form (in-game, water form was already acquired with little fuss) to snipe the Drake sneakily. This whole giant battle with a dramatic power-up is anime-only.
-Some guy named Lucas who’s a major-minor character is completely cut. Good move, he was ultimately useless.
Lots of smart and good changes.
i just hope they do not write out the other female MC, and somehow create new designs for this “fusion” with the Seraphin for Alisha
Well, lets see
If you’re talking about…
Show Spoiler ▼
I do agree that Alisha doesn’t need that, though. Armatization should be a thing that only Sorey should be able to do.
It looks like they are following the story (with some relatively minor changes) so she should be there. Taking her out would mean re-writing a lot of the story. She is in the opening too.
I hope they do. Specially given that Baba made her a mary sue who could do no wrong and wroute Alisha out of the party because of some personal conflict with Alisha’s character designer and a personal adoration towards said female MC’s japanese voice actress
If they write Rose off, Sorey will have to kill some people stead.
Sounds like we got some good changes once again. I fear what this anime would be like if it was a 1:1 adaptation. Perhaps it wouldn’t so bad, but this feels so much more polished, even if this episode wasn’t the best.
I thought it was weird how ouroboros was defeated so quickly.
I´ve noticed that the adaptation is trying to give Alisha more development as it was one of the major complains of the game and the DLC didn´t really solve anything in that department.
And it seems to be paying off! Alisha is probably my favourite character so far, even if I can tell she’s getting ‘extra’ to work with rather than being absolutely vital to the story. I think the prologue episode really helped establish her character. I dread to find out what her video game counterpart is like in comparison…
Let me put it this way Samu-san: You meet beautiful princess knight, you get to know she´s an awesome character, she joins your party for about two hours of the game and then she´s gone and gets demoted into damisel in distress. After she leaves the party you only see her two more times and joins on a special mission but everytime she is on screen it seems the story goes the extra mile just to make her suffer; no wonder everyone was mad at the treatment she was given.
Edna in the preview tho XD
Seriously, the attack range is unlimited now. Woot!
https://randomc.net/image/Tales%20of%20Zestiria%20the%20X/Tales%20of%20Zestiria%20the%20X%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2032.jpg