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Tales of Symphonia Review

Story: 6
I totally love the game Tales of Symphonia so when an anime came out it instantly did draw my attention. I probably shouldn’t have watched this anime since I didn’t finish the game yet, but I couldn’t resist to take a look at it anyway. As far as I can tell the story followed the game close enough. Therefore the story isn’t very original and I doubt that for people who have played the game fully it will add anything new. However I still enjoyed watching this anime even though I already knew what was going to happen in the first two episodes.

I did feel that the tale was told in a rush sometimes and certain events aren’t properly explained. I think this series would have been much better if it would have been six episodes instead of the current four. Some parts of the game story are skipped entirely. This also adds to the feeling of incompletion.

As for the ending: This anime only covers the first half of the game. It left me quite unsatisfied since I didn’t know this fact beforehand. Even though they are going to make a sequel to it, it was a real disappointment for me to find it ending in the middle of a story which had reached a pretty intense point. So if you are going to watch this anime be prepared that it will only tell the story so far.

I would describe it as fantasy combined with action and some romance in it. The story is both plot based and has also good character development as a reaction to the plot. This combination works really well since the way the character react on certain plot events makes you believe it could all have happened for real.

Visuals: 6.5
The visuals are pretty true to the game only better. They used the same funny expressions that are used throughout the game to give the anime a certain light hearted feel. This style of animation certainly adds some comedy to the series which I find a plus.

Backgrounds contain a fair amount of detail however the characters are pretty plain drawn with simple shading and without much detail. The thing I do like about this anime are the colors used, it is mostly drawn in vivid bright colors. All though the animation isn’t anything special, it wasn’t an issue of annoyance.

Audio: 8
The voice acting was done pretty good. Therefore you actually get to believe in the sincere ness of the characters. They have done a good job on that one. Mostly scenes are accompanied by instrumental background music to set the mood. Soft ones for the gentle or sad scenes and battle like themes to support the various action scenes. On top of that I really liked both: the opening and ending themes of this series. Further there isn’t much vocal material, but the songs are used to support certain scenes in the anime itself as well and for a 4 episode series there really isn’t much need for more vocal songs.

Characters: 8
I really like the sincere personalities of most characters. They all have their own beliefs and motives and they follow them to the end, good and bad characters alike. Because of this it’s easy to care for the characters and to feel with them.

Another strong point is the bonding between the traveling characters. Almost all characters have a really strong bond from the beginning of the series. This is very easily visible and believable. The bonds between the characters will only grow more throughout the series because of what they are going though. Some characters will lose certain aspects of themselves as well which makes it even more easily to care for them because you see their weaknesses and hardships.

Overall: 7
I think that this anime is a great one to watch if you haven’t played the game or don’t know the game. Then the story is new and in combination of the great characters you will surely like it if you are into the fantasy genre. If you did play the game, I think it will only be re watch of the game since it doesn’t really add anything new. However if you don’t mind that you already know where the story is taking you, it could still be an enjoyable watch. The series stopping in the middle of the story did give me a disappointing aftertaste though, that’s why I won’t give it a higher score. Knowing all the above I think you better decide yourself if this series is for you or not.