Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「届かない理想より目の前の正義」 (Todokanai risou yori me no mae no seigi)
“Justice at Hand rather than Ideal beyond One’s Reach”
Can I breathe a sigh of relief? I think I can breathe a sigh of relief. With Sorey not falling into the pitfall of saving Rose from a certain kill, Zestiria has provided a decent conclusion for one character’s arc. Given the numerous ways this episode could have gone wrong, I’m pleasantly surprised how Sorey’s and Rose’s denouement was handled. Sorey of course stuck hard to his “killing is always bad” mantra, but was quite considerate, thoughtful, and mature. He never once directly questioned Rose’s actions, instead allowing her to speak, answering her questions without any arrogance, and simply stating his beliefs upon prodding as an alternative to Rose’s way of life. This was the Sorey I was expecting, the questioning Shepherd newly aware of the messy intricacies of the world and how he must learn to account for them. Having Sorey publically state his realization of Malevolence inhabiting everyone is a notable development, especially his initial avoidance of purification in the forest—the old Sorey likely would have tried given his then absolutist beliefs.
Rose too was well handled here, where she doesn’t renege on her beliefs, but instead questions them and asks how they can fit in this new world open to her. She may have successfully killed Konan—we actually got an answer for that critical hit “miss” too—but Rose discovered that her methods are imperfect for dealing with challenges literally beyond her comprehension. I especially liked how Rose actually defeated Konan herself with no help from Sorey—beyond his rescue during the fall—and how Rose’s assassination moonlighting built upon Sorey’s struggle with moral ambiguity rather than being abandoned immediately for a “see? Sorey is right!” conclusion. Instead of stating that there is only one way—Sorey’s—for dealing with evil, Rose’s methods are simply called out as the wrong solution for the current situation. Among the many possible ways to resolve these storylines, Zestiria picked one of the best.
While I greatly enjoyed how the character development was handled this episode, the one glaring issue I had was the amount of time devoted to Rose. Were three-ish episodes really necessary to properly tell Rose’s story? It is hard denying after all that this episode started wearing thin in the latter half, especially with the excessive moments of silence amid travelling between locations. Rose’s development could have easily been trimmed down while still producing the same results I think, particularly given how much Sorey has progressed with less devoted screen time. This just brings up the question—again—about where Zestiria wishes to end things. Are we gearing up for a third season, or is an anime original in the cards? Seven episodes remain, and with current pacing, Zestiria likely won’t finish the actual story. At least next week may answer that question as we are set to return to Sorey and his quest. Maybe, just maybe, we shall see some story-related developments next time around.
Preview
 |
 |
 |
UfoTable found the secret of Bioware’s Blockbuster Games. And this are their character Arc’s. Like in Dragon Age 1, Mass Effect (more 1). They give these characters more an background and let us understand their “engine” what makes them who the are now. But this specialty was once the strongest point in “old animes/oav”. Perhaps with time cut on budgets or loss of over aging, it was lost. Remember Xenogears? alone the background stories in the 2nd Disc? (even if there was many impossible to win fights). i was raised with this deepness of storytelling, but somehow they got lost over time. My heart are enjoyed that they found it back. Yes, if they keep walking this path they will (perhaps) save anime again. Flesh out the Way they are walking. but find the right balance, do not lose the red line of story, and pacing is also important. I know, its many points to handle, but who many years and numbers of 4-5 Star Cooking chiefs are out there?. But to many ingredients can also turn into poison, salty or sweetness
(p.s. many Skirts in Tales of Berseria, i am currently playing. reminds me often of my word of encourage in my past. you know, the Captain of his own ship on a wild sea. take his own ruder in your hands and so on..)
Yes, this Episode touched me deep. Very deep.. But with this pacing, you going for an 3rd Season? or will you know rush the remained episodes? Or the bad ending? they stop in the middle of the story…
Please, dear responsible Producers (i bet this kind of Anime here, burn an big amount of money), please have trust in Ufotable’s Director and their supervisors. They are Triple AAA Class ones. But remember from the errors in the past, Ufotable. Do not chew more then you can Bite!!. (God eater anime)
Uff sorry for the wall of text. See what you do with me (in my words) “Tales of Zestiria the X – Director Edition” (perhaps if it is released in my country (germany) i buy the TV/OAV Box)
Possible candidates for more background stories (in my eyes):
Leilha (but be careful of her previous Shepard. We know one of her past…)
Alisha (how they took her in, and how she must mastering the politics. Why is she so firm, to uphold justice like Rose?. but could be boring)
Candidates that should be untouched (for various reasons):
Zavied (well, it is no spoiler that he screentime in ToB)
Edna (because of her Brother connection)
Dezel (is now told)
and for the others, game players know the reason for it
What would I give for a Xenogears anime… *sighs*
Ha.. i even got an “Dragon” with my surname. Show Spoiler ▼
Thank you, how ever was in charge of this name.
How much of the game’s plot has the anime covered so far?
Also, Show Spoiler ▼
yes.. but…
Show Spoiler ▼
I didn’t play the game but I did read up on the rumors online (which were interesting btw)
Show Spoiler ▼
@Juan
Show Spoiler ▼
Are any of these really spoilers?
I have to say it did turn out better than I hoped, but Sorey in the game always saw Killing as a last solution and necessary if talking things out were impossible, something I’m not sure I like about changing in the anime. As he still had to come to gripes about it even with his dislike of it.
While Rose may have killed him, malevolence lives on after a persons death, so that prince will inevitably rise as a skeleton or zombie Hellion. The malevolence of a dying person is not to be underestimated, as it can completely turn a seraph into a dragon if they’re directly connected.
Now the unsettling part is that Dezel views Rose as a puppet to follow Brad’s will, which leads one to wonder if he’s been subconsciously influencing her since she’s his vessel and he’s been in her before she could even sense him.
Rose and Sorey here, learning from each other.
Sorey understand and has an “friend” that see the world with their eyes of justice
Rose opend her eyes, that her “Justice” is not enough or working against Hellions
So in a way, both has made an move to each other side. But now i begin to see, in how Alisha could fill in this “triangle”. Perhaps noble words are empty without power to uphold them? (Rose and Sorey influence?)
Rose is a fighter aka Assassin
Sorey is the Spiritual leader
Alisha is the Political leader
Rose is the Power Alisha needs, Sorey is the connection of Hope that clue them together, Alisha is the hope of the poor ones
Sorey is not an Pope. he is not an Political or Military leader (like in ancient times). He is just there to lead the hearts with Hope and faith
If you begin to ask, where are their Place in this Zestiria world, of these 3. then you have their “status quo”
argh.. my inspiration is running wild again.. well, if you find something useful, feel free to use it or not. It’s my kid of payback
Most of this is in like a super late-game sidequest and otherwise ignored in the main plot. The sub-plot around Rose being a killer is barely touched on, hell Brad is barely mentioned. And that prince guy was just in a cutscene. Everyone’s getting more involvement here than the game.
Just finished Tales of Berseria (the game). Play it. All of you. It’s the best Tales of game since Vesperia, i’m full of contrastating thoughts and emotions right now. Dark, sad, beautiful, touching ending.
i am currently playing it, just now i decipher the old language children songbook of Innominat. But since the “intro” combined with my anime Veteran experience, i got a gist. But i am enjoying the “way to the destination”. And i am enjoying the skirts (englisch voice overs are a blast)
As usually i’ve played with jap voices (since there’s a lot of nice jap va in every Tales of).
You’ll enjoy it till the end, i’m sure. Never a dull moment.
yeah, i will perhaps switch to the jap voice of curiosity. Also, i can see no good things from worship an “Void” God.. And everything is walking around in white cloths. But as i said, i am enjoying the way, not the destination
@jaguar
Show Spoiler ▼
all other please steay out of this Spoiler. This is Berseria heavy stuff, and WILL ruin you enjoyment
Show Spoiler ▼
Agreed completely, and I’d also kill for a Vesperia PS4 remaster of this quality.
I am still on the fence about it, Xillia 2 is my favorite thus far. Zestraia was disappointing like what the hell was Lialah origin and lots of loose ends.
Malakins in Tales of Berseria comes Show Spoiler ▼
Because Malakin and Seraphin has the same meaning, Angel. Just different Culture names. Wikipedia for more if you like
https://randomc.net/image/Tales%20of%20Zestiria%20the%20X/Tales%20of%20Zestiria%20the%20X%20-%2017%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
This is somewhat the first time I have ever seen a “mob-class villain” be so hard to kill.
https://randomc.net/image/Tales%20of%20Zestiria%20the%20X/Tales%20of%20Zestiria%20the%20X%20-%2017%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
Anyway, with Sorey’s and Rose’s talk, I somewhat didn’t see how “all her actions were a waste.” If anything, I would like to see Sorey in Akame ga kill!. That gaudy speech, saying “it’s wrong to kill someone no matter how noble the reason is,” it would be obvious that such naive thinking would be useless when trying to convince people like Night Raid.
Summing up this episode. I am glad the Prince of Drug Dealers is dead. In regards to the previous episode, if Alisha was the one being assassinated, it would be reasonable for Sorey to try to stop Rose so I didn’t see why Sorey had to waste so much effort in saving someone that is better off dead.
The biggest difference here is that even death doesn’t stop the spread of malevolence. As we saw with Sorey’s visit to the graveyard, the man who had been killed was also tainted by malevolence, as well as the man who had killed him. Certainly you can kill a hundred people and leave the physical world better for their absence, but even in death they will poison the rest of the world with the force of their hatred and resentment for their killers. Not to mention their family and loved ones will generate more malevolence because they lost someone.
And as Rose got to see this episode, when someone turns into a Hellion they become something she can’t kill – while its never happened before, she probably also sees that its entirely possible that she was making things worse in a way she can’t see. At heart, Rose is a good person – its just that until now she’s never acknowledged the spirit world. ‘Save a dozen people by killing one’ sounds all well and good until you’re faced with the possibility that the malevolence created by their death may kill a hundred others.
One wonders how the world got this way. I wonder if we’ll see a third game to answer that question.
or with an other example:
As if “The Punisher” from the US Comics hits a Wall, where a “bang” not just save the World.
Berseria answers it actually in the EX Dungeon.
Show Spoiler ▼
So everyone thinks that Konan is dead/destroyed? ‘Gravely wounded villain falls off cliff into river and disappears but reappears later’ isn’t exactly an unknown plot device.
More disappointing is the fact that Konan turned into a hellion which removes the moral conflict of Rose trying to kill him.
This is to good to be left untouched:
i make this quick, to not going to much offtopic
Tales of Berseria, needs sometime to get running, but when you have your party complete… “Welcome to Velvet’s vengeance ride fly, please fasten your seat belts and enjoy the Fly!”
but..
Show Spoiler ▼
in Short?
Buy Tales of Berseria, it is worth the Money, Time and Love
Bandai Namco has found a very good AAA Storyteller like Zestiria the X here
I ended the game, and Wow. What a ride. I hope “Tales of Zesteria the X” will come near it, or even surpass it. But wow, with the game and this anime here, i have faith again
also…
Show Spoiler ▼