OP Sequence

OP: 「MY LIBERATION」 by nano

「光と闇と」 (Hikari to yami to)
“Light and Darkness”

Confession time, I’ve already seen the first four episodes of Chain Chronicle. Well, most of us probably have given the first movie was subbed back in December and represents the initial third of Chain Chronicle’s TV adaptation. This was a show I honestly had some optimism for considering the impressive animation and pleasant character designs noted in the preview. While the movie’s plot left me more confused than impressed, it didn’t dim the hopes that this adaptation would improve upon things and offer a better, tighter production. Unfortunately that opinion turned out to be too optimistic.

The opener here is basically the first ~20 minutes of the movie scene for scene, interspaced of course with the usual OP and ED. There are no major changes to report, which personally leaves me quite disappointed. The reason for this is Chain Chronicle’s story. At its core this show is your generic high fantasy, with the world (Yggdra) under threat of annihilation by an evil power (the Black King) and his assorted minions. Arrayed against this deadly menace is a band of brave souls, led—of course—by an unassuming hero (Yuri; Ishida Akira) who possesses the charisma and courage needed to rally the forces of good. Now at face value there’s nothing wrong here, plenty of other series have made this concept work well with less. The problem rather is where this story begins. Introducing our merry band, explaining the Volunteer Army and the situation behind this climactic battle is nowhere to be found; instead we immediately jump from failed assault to aftermath and new character introductions. This opener—like the movie—honestly felt like the first episode of a series sequel rather than a brand new show, throwing around names and relationships obviously requiring some pre-existing knowledge to properly understand. I hoped the TV version would fill in some of the blanks for us unfamiliar with the game plot, but that seemingly was not meant to be.

Not helping either is the stark generality of the characters themselves. We have the brave princess with her ensemble of knights, the mage with an understanding of the world, and the usual assortment of hunter, healer/priestess, and demi-human examples (ogre, dwarf, elf). Then there’s Aram, who besides trying out for the next Assassin’s Creed, is obviously the true hero of this story, complete with tragic backstory (guaranteed) and mysterious ability which will—without a doubt—save the day. None of the characters particularly stand out barring Aram, which definitely adds to the confusion here given that they are all we (i.e. those unfamiliar with the game) immediately have to go on. Compared to that ridiculous apple buyer though, these guys are A list stars.

To be fair to Chain Chronicle, however, this is only the first episode, and the latter parts of the movie—which I am assuming with also be adapted as is into the next three episodes—improved once characters were (somewhat) fleshed out and certain things were explained. Once I got past the initial confusion over the story and considered this one at face value, Chain Chronicle became a decent bit of fantasy entertainment. I’ll certainly be watching Chain Chronicle all the way through, but considering the adaptation format and the likelihood the remaining movies will be subbed before their respective episodes air, I’m not sure if I’ll continue blogging this one yet. After all, there’s plenty of fantasy anime this season and only so much time.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「True Destiny」 by Nao Touyama

Preview

End Card

24 Comments

  1. There is a sort of prequel in the form of an 8 x 5min OVA called Chain Chronicle: Short Animation that aired in fall 2014 that according to the description provides a intro to the story, chars and setting

    mick-kun
  2. Wikipedia has a brief plot summary for Chain – Yggdra was a happy world until the Black King and his army killed its ruler, the Holy King, and launched an attack to conquer the land. The Hero (Yuri) decides to fight back by raising a Volunteer Army to defeat the King. Pirika the fairy serves as a game quest guide, and Phoena was the amnesiac heroine with the magic Chronicle book. Aram’s anime original.

    Here’s a video of the gameplay:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga5GZ-ntfKc

    zztop
  3. Like Youjo Senki, the first episode was pretty much mostly action with a little bit of setup, but still a lot to fill out later. Also, only one episode and so hopefully details will be filled in. Still, Youjo Senki managed to grab my interest enough to want to see more. This didn’t do the same. It was OK I guess, but eh, nothing really grabbed me either. Maybe that’s because it’s a pretty standard high fantasy show as the review notes where as Youjo Senki is a bit different (Izetta, etc. notwithstanding).

    So… IDK. Time/interest permitting I might check out next episode. Either that or maybe just go watch the movies/OVAs that are out now since AFAIK, the TV episodes will be the same as those anyway.

    Lastly, another apple seller in a high fantasy show? Is that more of a thing these days or did I just not pay much attention to such before? Any, first thought I had was “Oh. So that’s were the first save point is.” 😛

    daikama
  4. I was expecting for both hero and black king to end up on earth and start taking part time jobs. Then he killed the fairy. You never kill the fairy! That’s when I knew shit was about to get Record of Lodoss War dark!

    Duzz
  5. The anime assumes that viewers are familiar with Part 1 of the source game, which (based on my research) covered the Black King’s rise, and the Hero’s efforts to gather allies to his side while battling the Black Army all the way to the final confrontation as seen in the opening.
    No doubt seasoned gameplayers will enjoy this twist to the story and how the characters respond to it, although newcomers will be pretty lost in regards to what’s even happening.

    zztop
  6. Chain Chronicle Global was the one being shut down back in February. I’m not a 100% sure if the Japanese version is still around since as soon as the Global version went down I stopped caring about anything related to CC. I never watched the movies other than the short episodes that came out a long time ago, so coming into this I thought the first episode was based of what happens when everything fails and the world gets destroyed. The black king wins and the world ends meanwhile you learn what the fate of Yuri is when he has lost everything. In the game when you go a bit past the mid way point you learn that the world has ended once, and your group swear on making sure to not make the same mistake. I thought that was what this episode was going to be about before switching back to the other world where this hasn’t happened yet. In the game when you start the volunteer army is not even a thing yet, Yuri, Pirika, and Pheona are just trying to figure out what the tome she carries is since the black army is interested in it plus her. Pheona has amnesia so there’s that as well.

    Ryner
  7. After re watching again this Episode, i am happy that this turn not out like in Star Ocean 4 the game, i was afraid some famous scene are about to repeat again, and the female knight had to take over the Volunteer Army, but lucky the MC regain his faith and trust and “reborn” again. You made me worry there for a second. Lets see in how this continue

    Worldwidedepp
  8. i drop this Anime, reason are hidden in this Spoiler. be warned it is about episode 3
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Worldwidedepp
  9. Frankly, I love how the show, general story being so generic, instead of going thorough the whole thing starts with the assault and has us all pumped up only for the good guys to fail miserably.

    However, the 4 episodes in it’s exactly the same as the “movie” and doesn’t rectify any of the problems with it. This had great potential but it’s starting to lose me.

    Bors

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