Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

Series Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
OP: “Karma” by BUMP OF CHICKEN
ED: “Bouken Houkiboshi” by Kurumi Enomoto
Tales of the Abyss

[ Episode 1: Score of the world ]

[ Episode 2: Seiju Forest ]

I’ll refrain from using any video game jokes…

I play video games, I like Role Playing games and I like the Tales series as well. I liked Phantasia and finished Symphonia like most fans although I never thought of the latter that great. But, after playing the next one, Legendia, I realized how much I appreciate Symphonia. Legendia has very unique character design but the whole story was bland as well as the graphics and actual gameplay. Thankfully Namco Bandai released later that year the great Tales of the Abyss, probably the second most popular Tales of all time and you can tell they’d make an anime about it, a 26-episode one, not just an OVA like the previous ones!

Since episodes one and two were aired in some TV station back to back, I decided to write about both of them. The first thing I should note is that unlike another RPG-turned-game whose name I’m not going to mention… Oh heck I’ll do it anyway: PERSONA! Tales of the Abyss is a very accurate retelling of the video game. The two episodes have shown all of the main cast and all the locations and terms are intact.

It’s also worth mentioning all of the seiyuu returned as well. Code Geass fanatics will instantly recognize the tempting voice of Yukana(C.C.) as the main heroine Tear, which resemble her a lot, or is it C.C. who resemble Tear since the game came out before the anime of Code Geass? Another all-star seiyuu is non other than the always impressive Koyasu Takehito as the charismatic Jade Curtiss, who stands out among all of the teens and cute animals in the cast. I also found it hilarious that the spirit that was talking to Luke was voiced by Hayami Sho, and since he used his Aizen voice, I couldn’t helped but laughing a little thinking Luke will turn into a hollow. Speaking of Luke, while I do like his English voice thanks to Yuri Lowenthal, but I can’t say the same about Suzuki Chihiro who is more annoying than charming, but then again, Luke is spoiled at the beginning so it is forgiven, but I don’t recall he whined that much.

Another thing I wasn’t delighted about is the use of “Karma” as the opening for the adaptation. It’s a fine song but I remember it from 3 years ago and I wished they used a different song by BUMP OF CHICKEN. It is even lazier to use the 2:30 version of the song so they won’t have to edit anything, but the result is that some chunks have scenes from the coming episode, which makes me wonder why didn’t they shorten it? The ED is nice, but I don’t think it’ll even stick into my mind that much.

Among all the characters that have appeared so far, I have to say Tear is my favorite, mainly for her supposedly cold appearance yet she is warm and kind, especially when we see tons of cheagles in front of her. I would have said Luke if it weren’t for his “Sunabozou” voice and his initial constant whining. Anise is also pretty cute for a little girl and I was surprised Guy does crazy shock gestures despite him looking more serious than Luke.

One question still remains, since this is based on an RPG, how did they implement the fighting scenes? Well it’s Sunrise so you are bound to see flashy effects, but from time to time you see our heroes hacking and slashing through hordes of evil monsters. Until that part I thought that series would be nice for kids to watch until I realize they literally cut the animals to half. It’s not scary or terrifying, it’s just it’s weird to see something so graphic in a colorful anime like this.

All in all those were fun two episodes that didn’t reveal that much on any of the characters, but it definitely made me want to finish the game once and for all so by the time this anime is done, I’d be able to review it the right way.

7/10