"Angels are above us... Protecting us with their light, they guide us to the real path! But are those angels truly and what happened.. What will happen with my destiny??............"
Production: NAMCO
Episodes: 4x2 (third is TBA)
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Psychological, Romance
An anime made from an video game is not the same as movie made out from the video game or even movie made from an anime.
This one is different, because this OVA can either make you really wanting to watch and finish it, or just watching it for your time passing. In either case, you will enjoy it. What you have to notice at first is that this is an OVA, meaning episodes are around 30. (later they are even up to 43) minutes and there are just few of them, in this case four. All of them together make one part. There are more episode and we could say seasons, but I am just reviewing the first one.
What will probably leave first impression while watching it, is that anime goes very smoothly. It doesn’t go neither fast nor slow. It explains the story well and you won’t be left confused even if you have haven’t played the video game.
An adventure filled with romance, action and many twist, it will just keep you on watching and seeing will actually the right thing win at the end and it will make you wonder “what was actually the right thing to do”. This OVA does show that you always should follow your heart and you will definitely find what you have to do in the choices that you will meet in your life.
The overall story of this anime is very neat. It starts of fast, but in a good approaching way drawing you closer and closer on discovering all the secrets from the world that the characters are in. One downside and downside about most of the OVAs especially Tales of ones is that one compared to the general public. Many will find this confusing who haven’t played the game and will feel like many parts of the story are missing or that some characters are not used in the right amount. That’s completely true, BUT we come to this.
While they were making this OVA they definitely thought first on the fans and then on the other audience. But that’s good, because at the end they actually put all the necessary info that you need so that you can clearly focus on the story while actually not feeling too much confused or bored of the storyline. And the storyline is far from being boring. It is very touching and has many side elements added to it. Romance part might be a little ticked off by some, because as I already said there is not that much of the back info. But you will still all understand the strong bond and connection between certain characters.
Characters are quite fun, they go from the cheerful ones to the typical stubborn ones. Weak but smart. Strong, but reckless… They all have their part here. And to note at the end that you shouldn’t take all this too serious. You don’t have to go bashing at the monitor or TV yelling that some parts don’t make sense, or that they story is too fast, the actions are too short and that you feel like there is something missing. This is an OVA made to fit the entire game into it. Watch it as you watch something relaxing. Watch it during the cool and fresh days, in the morning especially, or just when you bring up your breakfast. Trust me, you will find that what you will like in it. If you are not into romancing, action packed, RPG based animes, then take a wide turn from this one. But I know myself that mostly even if just from curiosity will give a shot at this.
Speaking about the graphics, first you have to know two things about Tales of animations and drawings. They had different artists working on them, and yes by saying that different styles. Other thing is that we the most newer ones, they keep the same traditional style, but always have something specific for each title. With this one they have kept the traditional anime art with using more highlights on the colors then on the details on characters. The art may look to you typical as you have seen with most of animes, but actually take a closer look. What special about is that these smaller details, like with facial features or just shadows, highlights and such are made so that the animations could be as fluent as possible. Many modern anime movies use this technique but they have even used it on OVA. Surely it is well known that OVAs usually have better animations and quality in graphics than standard animes, but that actually depends on the overall quality of it.
Here they are fluent. Still don’t expect anything too special. They are special from the other Tales of series though in general they look very common. The overall quality is good, but many too colorful for some. For others that understand better, that is what makes this series interesting in terms of graphics.
On the other hand what really makes the positive outlook are the effects. They are gorgeous are very well placed. From the light snow that falls from the angel wings, to the shining water and even the furious flames.. They all are well done and have nicely placed animations next to them.
One of the strongest aspects of this anime is the sound itself. And in sound I mean voice acting, OST and effects that carry with them. You will notice many different and specific sounds from clashing of the swords, waves, character moving to even those more complex , like summoning a spell and such.
The interesting fact is the music that goes well with environment and scenes. You will actually feel much more dramatic fact from all of them and one of the main reason is the music that is quite well placed there. Now don’t get me wrong, music is very nice and placed here, the same with graphics. But again, it is nothing new and special that you may here. It goes like that because the music itself is not very recognizable and you will actually place more focus on other things then on it. Action music is low and while the music that carries with itself all emotions, it is actually not very well subjected here.
Now comes the fun part, if you actually do recognize and enjoy in the music that goes through this OVA. It is of the high quality and much better done than by the most animes. It may not sound better to most, but believe me when I say that it is done in pure quality and work, taken from the video game itself and in each those type of the games, the soundtrack is usually the best.
At the end I want to praise the actual opening of it. The opening itself as video is done is a very classic manner with showing all the characters and the world that they are set in. Now the song that plays is very nice and relaxing. First time hearing may sound a little boring to you all. But as you more and more listen, you begin to notice how actually beautiful it is and how it fits with this anime. Again it is nothing of the top of Tales of openings as there are much better. But even this one carries the name “Tales of” with itself making it already something unique.
Graphics: 8/10 – Done in now classic Tales of style, it proves well and nice with the overall anime
Sound: 8/10 – The same with graphics, a tradition from Tales of series it again proves to be successful in it’s own way
Story: 7.5/10 – The story of this is only taken for the first part of this OVA, as others will come out later and some already are. To some it might be a little confusing and fast, but giving it a little more time, an enjoyment is definite.
Presentation: 8/10 – Well placed moments and scenes, diving you into this world and ultimately questioning you yourself do you really follow your heart? For any Tales of fan, definitely add 1 or 2 marks higher
Overall: 8/10 - A nice and relaxing OVA recommended especially for the fans of Tales of series, but even to others.
Both of those may appear just a part of the background at the beginning, but later they actually play a big part of the story.
