Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation

*SPOILERS FOR PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2 THE ANIMATION. DON'T WATCH THIS ANIME. IT IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME*

Advertising a game isn't the easiest thing in the world. Making an anime that is based on a game (whether it be an adaptation, a tie-in, or just something to promote the product in question) is even harder. Hell, the movie industry has had an exceptionally hard time trying to make a movie on these same grounds that actually worked well. That being said, you need to try to keep the spirit of the game you're promoting, as well as make something that can be a good gateway ... into the game series for people who probably wouldn't have bothered otherwise. With the exception of Visual Novels (they are only visual novels, not multi-genre games with a visual novel storyline), games have been notably hard to adapt right, if the likes of Blazblue Alter Memory are any indication. That brings us to today's target: Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation. As you can see from both the MAL aggregate score and my score at the top right, this anime really didn't do a good job at anything. Now, why is that exactly? Not only that, but should it be declared as one of the worst anime of 2016? Well, let's find out, shall we?

The first few episodes don't really exhibit much of a major narrative. However, they have plenty of their own problems. The logic behind some of these characters' decisions is weak at best. Why is an average student like Itsuki immediately promoted to Vice-President of the student council right or the bat after joining? Apparently, it's because he has good attendance and his grades are decent (so, what's stopping the rest of these guys from taking up that role?). Why is the company behind PSO2 putting the student council in charge of testing out an already widely released and profitably sold video game that has already been released for seemingly a long time? Because...plot (but why not just enlist hardcore gamers and not a bunch of students that have to manage clubs). Why is Itsuki the handyman of clubs when he wasn't even in a club before the student council? I dunno; probably just so we can have a discount Shirou Emiya that doesn't even do Shirou Emiya things (but what's the point?). Why is the main relationship between our two MC's based around a game of fucking hide and seek? Because we need something to give our hero motivation (so why does this go nowhere?). The premise is kind of dumb as well: You can be conscious while playing the game IRL and you can actively communicate in the game in real time as if you're speaking normally. It gets genuinely confusing how this plays out. I'm not even gonna mention they condescending attempts at teaching us about things that their audience already knows (like conventions, trolls, etc) because we need to move on. One last though before the next paragraph; the first half of the series is riddled with horrendous forced drama moments that also tie in with condescending aesops and retarded character reasonings, so the story quality was horrible even before the main plot drags this all to hell.

The major plot (that really kicks off in the second half of the series) is that Darkers (weird aliens in PSO2) have somehow sprung from the game, through the screens of electronic gaming devices, to the real world. They don't even bother explaining how this works. We get a glimpse of this in episode 6, but t only becomes important in episode 7. We see this mysterious character named Aika who takes the game way too seriously, as if to foreshadow that there's more to the game than meets the eye. Still, what comes next is what truly makes this premise one of the stupidest in anime history:

Apparently, PSO2 isn't a game, but a world. This is all kinds of wrong. First off, how the hell did developers of PSO2 allow it to be a real world? If it existed beforehand, then that only complicates things so much further that it would be pointless to try (though, I would like to see one of you come up with every single way this theory makes no sense in a blog). Then again, part of the reason nothing about PSO2 makes any sense is that we know next to nothing about the game at all, with crucial information being relegated to eye-catcher commercial cards that play before and after a commercial for 3 seconds each! The handling of PSO2 causes a bigger pool of plotholes and questions than the Sword of Akasha from Code Geass R2, the combat systems in Mahouka, AND the combat systems in The Asterisk War! HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THAT?!?!

The other plot is the preparation and execution of the school festival. It's also full of forced drama, bad comedy, and the fact that it has to tie in with the main plot, which leads to even more moments of character idiocy and a generic "hero must save the damsel in distress" final climax (that has its own problems not worth delving into here). The ending is also pathetic as well. Apparently, Dark Falz (which wasn't mentioned previously) corrupts Itsuki's love interest, Rina Izumi, and some fights later, Itsuki, his friends, and his now saved love interest unleash a friendship speech so cheesy that Fairy Tail haters would almost want to apologize for any jokes made about that series' friendship speeches, and they literally rip off Fate/Zero Second Season's Excalibur scene to finish the bad guy "for good". In reality, it'll come back someday, but for now, we finish on a relationship going nowhere and the school festival finishing smoothly. The story is ridiculously bad, and it somehow manages to be one of the few that get literally everything wrong at every turn.

The characters do not fare much better in terms of writing. Itsuki is almost as bland as they come, with the two notable traits being how exceptionally awkward he is and how much easier he can be compared to his contemporaries (like Ritsuka from Fate/Grand Order: First Order). Still, he's hardly worth investing in. Izumi is worse. She is either a pathetically bland tsundere (luckily without the "Baka" or hurting the MC shtick) with a really lame connection to Itsuki, or an awkward mentor, depending on if she is IRL or playing as SORO. As SORO, she is extremely awkward in episode 1 with really confusing quirks that get abandoned immediately. Plus, when she switches into her original game persona, it's the same as IRL. Worse, she becomes a damsel in distress and really contributes nothing to the main plot. The school plot is where she has the most involvement, but she gets hijacked from that in episode 10 for...you know.

IRL, Kouta is the bland and awkward "classmate guy" character. In the game, he is rather eccentric and flamboyant, making me wish he was like that IRL, since this cast needs more life. Aika...is weird. While her initial social oddities become explained in the fact that she is an NPC from PSO2 (which is part of the cesspool or plotholes and stuff surrounding their interpretation of PSO2), it can be embarrassing to sit through. Still, she had the most emotional stakes out of everyone. Too bad her personality is also weak, since she's the best-written character in the show. I'm not even gonna discuss the other logical problems involving her, because these side-characters (aka, the other Student Council members) have waited far too long for their beating.

Yukata flat out sucks. IRL, he is a wimp that nobody really understands until Itsuki does. In the game, he is an arrogant troll who dicks people over, somehow knows who Itsuki's avatar is IRL, and threatens to expose him for no reason. He is a pathetic troll who only exists for a condescending Aesop in episode 3, never to be relevant again until episode 11 for a lame ass "your friends join you for the penultimate fight" cliche battle, with a pathetically weak personality. Two of the student council members (whose names aren't even stated in the anime) have literally the exact same personality. They're beyond superfluous to any of the plots, and there is no reason for their existence other than badly done comedy. Then, there's Kudou, who starts off, like most of the other student council side-characters: generic asshole for the sake of being an asshole. He eventually shows off his eccentric and flamboyant side, but it was too late for him. Mika is aggravatingly douchey towards Itsuki because Izumi hangs out with him more than her. Her forced melodrama doesn't help her character at all.

Barring Last Samurai and his wife, the PSO2 friends have little going for them as well, but they are, luckily, harmless. The only problem is that two of them are also never seen again after their debut until the penultimate battle (and they're not the last characters I'll say that about). In fact, barring the leader (Kasura, who is also generic), this applies to the NPC ARKs guardians as well, minus the pop idol whose singing I dislike. Thus, there isn't any time to make them remotely memorable, which is a shame as they have some potential to bounce off each other to work well in both combat and humor. Some of the students (namely the trio that constantly surrounds Aika) are aggravating to deal with at all times and add nothing but annoyance. Hell, three of the other students that were advertised in the OP are there for a quick moment, and are never seen again.

Not only are most of these characters pathetically lame and poorly written, but the potentially interesting ones never get their chance to do anything, and some of the advertised ones have literally a few seconds of meaningless screen-time. The student council here is so bad that it makes the one in Mahouka look like it was comprised of actually great characters (albeit one of them is actually decent). Not a lot of these guys are actively heinous, but the ones that are, ruin the already mediocre and underutilized cast.

In the real life scenes, the art is passable and the character designs are mediocre. I still hate the occasionally badly blurred backgrounds, and their usage of lighting at times is horrendous (don't get me started on the one scene where there is bright and dark lighting for some reason, and the bright lighting is unbearably bright while the dark lighting is nigh-impossible to see anything in), but nothing deal-breaking here.

However, the PSO2 game stuff is horrendous. The omnipresent CGI here ranges from eye-watering to eye-bleeding! The random monsters are revoltingly bad and the Darkers aren't that much better. The CGI avatars are hideous as well, with special mentions going to Silver (one of the PSO2 friends) and SORO. Hell, during an action scene, the CGI is so bad that it legitimately obliterates the frame rate, which is something that an anime should never be able to pull off on its own (especially on a properly supported platform like Crunchyroll). It makes the already horrible action scenes incomprehensible and impossible to follow properly. The actual action scenes are filled with putrid choreography and ass-pulls left and right (usually due to how we are told nothing about how anything in the game works). Yes, the character actions when CG break the frame rate as well, probably more than the Darkers and other random monsters at times. Plus, the actual avatars look awful by design. The excessive use of excessively bad CGI ruin he already mediocre art and turn it into a disaster-piece that would make art-critics vomit.

The art in episode 9 is definitely a step-up, with better CGI and character models, and no frame rate issues. The action is weak but better than before. Too bad that degrades after episode 10, because I was starting to believe that the animators actually were improving everything at that point. It's as if they said that the final battle needs to look as fugly as possible, and I won't mention how wrong the CGI dragon looks there or how badly they screwed up laser beams, because you need to actually see it for yourself.

The music is, you guessed it: lousy as well. The OP, Zessi Star Gate, by Shouta Aoi, is...odd. The first half is as awkward and lame as it gets. The second half, feels like it's desperately trying to be good, but misses the mark heavily at points. It makes it really weird to sit through. The ED, Rare Drop Koi Koi! One more!, by the two female members of the sad excuse for a love triangle (that Itsuki is a part of) is really bad, and when coupled with the horrid CGI footage and whatever SORO is doing, it becomes both infuriating and embarrassing to sit through. The OST in episode 1, is decent. However, it is horribly misplaced with everything, as if it was made for a more expressive and interesting show instead. That's why for episodes 2-10, the OST is pathetically generic and lame. Then they try some newer songs that also feel relatively out of place, even if there is one OK one that actually fits in episode 9 (as if to say that most of the effort and talent went to episode 9 while all the mediocre and bad sh*t went to the rest of the series). Honestly, nothing works, whether it be decent music that doesn't work with the anime or lame music that just fails to do anything.

The comedy is embarrassing and awkward. Almost none of the jokes work at any capacity. In fact, some of the earlier episodes feel extremely condescending, which really pisses me off. Your audience should never be talked down to, and the show doesn't get that. There's shoving morals in our face, and then there's doing it in a way that really insults our intelligence. The latter half of the show, while aggravating for how hideously had the plot becomes and how pathetic the finale is (the less we mention the Excalibur ripoff scene, the better), is borderline tolerable, if still tedious. At that point, the damage had already been done, and this barely even tried to redeem anything rib my experience with this abomination.

If you noticed --and you probably did--, I used the word "awkward" quite a lot. That's because the show is exactly that. Everything about this show, barring some condescending absurd moments, is awkward and uncomfortable to sit through. It was an endurance test through and through. There is hardly a single redeeming quality about this anime. The music is either decent but misplaced or mediocre, the art is mediocre, the CGI is on a whole other plane of bad, the fights are horrendous, the characters suck, the story is incomprehensible, and any good character with potential is incredibly underutilized. It's as if they wanted there to be as few redeeming qualities as possible. Either that or this was incompetently made. This doesn't cater to potential fans because we are told next to nothing about the game. This doesn't cater to existing players due to how bad the game looks in the ahem and how bad the story and characters are. Who does this even appeal to?! Well, that's enough rambling from me. I don't think this abomination can take it any longer and I've pretty much run out of things to say about it. Well, with that said, I bid you adieu.

Not the best but not the worst, Phantasy Star Online 2 seems to be around the middle where it’s “just okay” (as the main character would put it).

Despite this being based on a video game (a sequel of a spin-off), the story is not set in the game itself. Rather, the game is featured as a game. Also, I believe you don’t really need prior knowledge of the actual game to be able to watch this series as it does a bit of explanation with the game jargon. It has a very simplistic plot, which makes it an easy watch.

The characters, while nothing special, are ... still likable and have their own charm to them. Some we see more than others, but that’s only because we mainly focus on a select few. We also see these characters as their game avatars, which at times show a huge contrast from their real-life counterparts.

There’s nothing spectacular about the animation, but I give it praise for keeping it pretty consistent all throughout. There’s also that good blend of CG and 2D during the action sequences that’s not distracting from the rest of the visuals.

Even if I didn’t know about the game it was based on (or any of the other for that matter), I still went ahead and gave it a try, and it was an all right series. I say I would recommend to anyone that probably have either played or know of the game, but also to those who don’t know.

Me and my friend have been playing pso2 for a bit, and have been quite enjoying it. It's a fun game and seeing that an anime adaptation sounded like a cool idea. So the anime comes out, and I haven't felt anime blue balls this hard since sword art online. Disappointment, disappointment, disappointment everywhere. Why is this plot? What is this plot? How is this plot? This plot is boring and stupid. Study the game because people like it and it's affecting their grades. Is that interesting to you? This is an adaptation of a sci fi game. They could've easily given it a Code ... Lyoko plot where monsters come to the high school, but noooooooooooooooooooooope. Gotta make sure it's as stupid and boring as possible. Heck, they could've made it sao where people are trapped in the game. Or made it actually the story in the game. You know? Something somewhat interesting. Then there's the main character. He's so main character. I don't even know if he's a character. He just is a person who plays a game, and does the work he's told because the plot said so. Play the game because. Write the report because other character said so. I can't even name a single character trait out of him after 3 episodes. All I can make out of him is "Main character" so we can check off main character on our cookie cutter how to make an anime youtube tutorial. And then there's the main girl. I can't say a thing about her either. Other than the fact that she's the council president or something and plays as a solo player in pso2. So she's like Kirito but female. Both are barely passable characters if you stretch it enough and solo play mmos. That's their characters, that's it. Also, in the game she's like amazing at the game and is very popular? And she's a guy in pso2. Someone who's never played pso2 is probably asking "How would you know? It's a giant robot thing." I know because in pso2, the female Cast Members(the robot things) have huge hair looking metal things and actually look like humans. Then Male Cast Members are just gundams. They're gundams. I don't know what else I can say about this show. I skipped ahead to episode 10 and dropped it after 5 minutes because it was just as boring as I remember. They were literally doing a school festival. How much more default generic anime setting can you get? I could probably name 5 anime that had a school festival scene in them off the top of my head. Toradora, To Love Ru, My little Monster, and I think Highschool DxD had one. I don't know, I didn't care enough for an anime with girls who apparently are sticks with tits fighting for something about demons. I'm getting off topic, this anime is bad. Just because an anime has something you like in the name doesn't mean it's good. Don't watch this. Go watch Log Horizon or something if you really want that video game setting.

Apparently my reviews are all bias and unfair, so I'll be adding this part here so it isn't as unfair as it supposedly is. I don't recall talking much on the art of this show. The animation in this show is just about acceptable. It looks like what one would call "anime." It's not the worst I've seen, in fact it's rather pretty at moments. But that only goes for the real world sections of the show. The moment the anime goes into the game, it turns into this terrible looking cg instead of it's acceptable 2d animation. The models' movements look so unnatural and stiff at moments. Along with this, the framerate drops to like 15 fps. Then sometimes it has 2d mixed with the 3d which looks okay, but is easily noticed. I can't lie about the 2d animation being pretty good, but the 3d animation is easily some of the worst I've seen. The sound isn't terrible. I think it might be from the game, but I'm sure I'm incorrect. The parts of the show I stated in the previous part where definitely big contributors to my score, but the animation and sound give this show it's 3. This show is bad, but not horrible. It's terrible, but not disgustingly terrible.

Story:6
Characters:6
Animation: 6
Music:8
Overall:7

One might think because I played Phantasy Star, PSII, & PSIII, Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast and Gamecube, PSO episode 1&2 on the Gamecube and Xbox, PSO portable 1 & 2 on the PSP, and PSO Zero on the NDS that I might have a bias for this anime. How could I? Because I never played PSO 2! Just not core enough to make that happen. In reality I only allowed my love of this series to add a point to my final score. PSO2 the Animation is at best a 6, but 7 to me as an enormous ... fan of the video game series. Just for reference I also play a ton of Monster Hunter, Freedom Wars, Ragnarok Odyssey, Soul Sacrifice, God Eater, Toukiden, and all the Dark/Demon Souls games - so clearly I’m a well rounded gamer… It is worth mentioning that every hunting game/action RPG has it’s roots in PSO, and the influence this game has had on the world of video games is no small matter.

What I like. If someone had never played a video game, let alone an action massively multiplayer online game, the first few episodes of this anime are like an instruction manual teaching the viewer what these games are, including a smattering of etiquette within the online multiplayer realm. I loved this, and thought PSO2tA mixed these qualities in admirably into the introduction of characters and story. To any gamer of merit, this may of come off as obvious and redundant, but I’m sure i’m not alone in my appreciation, and suspect more than a handful of people gained something while watching the lighthearted presentation. I considered the animation quality to be slightly above average, except in isolated “in-game” sequences that I found astonishing. There is an appealing hand drawn/CG video game quality. The visual mix of black backgrounds with neon outlines from the video game is captured perfectly. Sadly these sequences are infrequent, and not always consistent in quality. The sound and music are (in my mind) the best qualities in the show, with strong opening and closing credits. The background soundtrack music does a good job setting the tone, and VG sound effects are used just enough to keep the PSO connection. This anime may have attempted to present online gaming as mainstream and desirable, but this community is still niche. While not a fan of advertisement, I still liked the homage payed to interactive online experiences. Anyone who has spent 1000’s of hours online may question the value of time spent, but there are true moments of fleeting greatness that can be shared in this unique environment.

What was adequate. Character and Story. An academy setting, female dominated cast with a dorky/naive/overachieving/ultimately cool male student protagonist… wow, I loved this character mix in Martian Successor Nadesco, however this anime is 20 years old - and *it* used this mix in an intentionally stereotypical manner to make fun of itself and the entire anime medium.

What I didn’t like. It took too long for the story to kick into gear, and the important events to unfold. Even when it does, there is a lot of filler for a short run anime. This does not have the spare density of say, a FLCL. Like so many video games of this type, all PSO incarnations rely heavily on style, atmosphere, and music for overall addictive success. The soundtracks from PSO and PSO episode 1&2 are hauntingly epic, with an electro clarity that made these game experiences unforgettable. While the music in this series is very good, it isn’t good enough to live up to the standard from many of the games. The same might be said of the visuals, which gamers hold in such high regard.

Ultimately I rate this anime as a 7 because of my bias, being after all Phantasy Star trash, and I enjoyed watching every episode.

Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation is an anime adaptation of the online RPG of the same name...and to that LA already has to say...ohhhhhhh god another video game adaptation and the curse even strikes this one!.

The premise is actually an original story taking place in the future where the PSO2 game actually exists in anime itself. We've got highschool, a dense main protagonist, 2 love interests and what where are you guys going?..wait!!. With all honesty the anime adaptation takes the entire "game to anime" thing in a pretty meta-manner although it's rampantly blatant about it's SEGA advertising and what even the basics of ... MMORPG's are just under the roof of a highschool setting...and LA just found it utterly hilarious at first.

PSO2's highschool setting becomes even more convulted when the Academy named "Seiga" (yeah..seriously) the main cast are in actually condones having an online game to help further social interactions by having a student council ALL play the game and work in the student council. How does the main protagonist Itsuki Tachibana voiced by ''Shouta Aoi'' get involved with the student council?, to play PSO2 and report on the game daily while trying to maintain school studies and student council matters...like for real???, LA found THAT hilarious and watch the series for pity sakes.

The anime got even more hilarious when it started talking down on us about MMO terms and online trolling! (though they dealt with that issue as cliche as possible but nonetheless). So even though LA is saying this anime is hilarious in it's own weird way, why does LA say that the anime still suffers from the video game adaptation curse?...well that's because by the halfway point some plotlines arises that goes from hilariously cliched to outright generic-by-the numbers "what happens in any anime where the main protagonist goes into the game and tries to save the world"...yes this anime went there and how the hilariousness has turned outright jumping the fucking shark.

LA won't say much about the second half other than "welcome to generic video game main protagonist is OP as fuck" syndrome. What LA really pissed off with this series wasn't the highschool setting as LA said it was actually quite hilarious in a quirky way, no what really annoyed LA was that "WHY COULDN'T THE ANIME BE ABOUT THE PLOTLINE DURING THE SECOND HALF" instead of the hilariously off-putting highschool love triangle drama, it's kinda of a mood whiplash during the later episodes where this has the effect, LA could say that this anime wanted it's cake and eat it to...instead it's more like they got the cake and spilled it on the floor.

In terms of animation done by Telecom Animation Film, well firstly they have this knack of putting 3D CGI when it wasn't even necessary, from the characters designs to awkward battle scenes here and there to low tier animation even outside the "game" settings, LA gets that having CGI within PSO2 game especially with it's main monsters, the Darkers and mech characters, but outside it, it's jarring to outright lazy, the animation was a jumbled mess like it's plot.

The ending by all means shows how much of a mood whiplash this anime has done to itself for trying to do both the serious (save the world by saving the girl) and the more light-hearted school setting drama and it ends just as predictably.

What could easily helped with this series was to stick to one plotline, either be the highschool setting with the game your trying to advertise as another setting for the characters to talk about or be like an actual anime adaptation of the PSO2 game and advertise it that way because by the end of it, the way this anime did, they got almost NO advertisement on the GAME THEY WERE TRYING TO PROMOTE and more or less were advertising the new characters than the actual game they were trying to advertise.

It's not the worst anime of Winter 2016 cause that honor goes to ANOTHER video game adaptation anime botch up, it can be a hilarious watch for the first half and LA would say to watch it just for the hilarious amounts of cliches trying to take itself slightly seriously, the second half however goes into generic territory where it pretty much is a different anime altogether. PSO2 has an identity crisis thus making this anime a jumbled mess of SEGA advertisements, generic characters and several generic video game plotlines.

Phantasy Star started as a series of solid RPGs made for the Mega Drive. In more recent years, it's transitioned into an online game. Phantasy Star Online II is a Japanese only game since initial plans for a more global release kind of fell through. It was released in 2012. In 2016 an anime by our old friends at TMS began airing. That's right, the same studio that gave us Glass no Kamen, Magic Knight Rayearth & Mermaid Forest to name a few.

Story:

We open with our protagonist... Blandon attending his classes at Seiga Academy. Which seems like a nice school until you look in ... the textbooks and find out they're full of glitches. Blandon is approached by the student council to join them as the new Vice President since the former one went off to star in her own spin-off game that tries way too hard to be dark and edgy and throws in guns and random shadowy aliens. One of his duties is playing the greatest online game ever made, they promise, PSO2. Why? Because the school is thinking about banning online games for distracting students from their studies. So, he randomises a character who just so happens to look exactly like him and starts playing the game. Finding it to be totally better than all those other online games that more people play. Things get a bit surreal when a transfer student shows up who seems very immersed in the game and she seems to be investigating a string of disappearances. But how are they related to the messiah of online gaming?

All right, let's start with the negatives. First off all, the coincidences get to be absurd at times. It's not limited to randomising a character who looks like the player either. There are times when Blandon encounters people who just happen to be talking loudly about the game in front of him after he's met their in-game characters. There are also times when, against all odds, he or another character will run into exactly what they need. And I thought Steerforth randomly showing up all the time got ridiculous. The love triangle is also quite insipid. The series also suffers from the fact that every plot point is really trite. Whenever any plot point comes up you can guess exactly where it's going to go, if you have some level of genre familiarity.

On as positive note, I kind of like the basic premise behind this series. The idea of the game's world being real and there being a way to travel betwixt the two could have been quite a compelling twist. If the writing in this wasn't so bland.

Characters:

You've probably inferred this already from my calling the protagonist “Blandon” but the characters in this are really one-note and boring. They try to add depth by having people play characters that “demonstrate hidden facets of themselves” but they're quite literally all clichéd character types and the “hidden facets” fit neatly into that. The antagonists are very much the “don't need motivations because they're just evil” variety. At least they aren't actively obnoxious, I guess. That makes them better than a fair number of Sonic's woodland friends.

Art:

The biggest issue with the art is simply that some of the cg really stands out awkwardly. That being said, some of the action sequences are pretty neat. There are some good backgrounds. I also do kind of like the way they throw Sonic merchandise around the school.

Sound:

The voice acting is decent enough. They don't exactly use their actors to their full potential but they sound fine. The music is okay as well. It's not something I'm going to listen to on its own but it as fine in context of the series.

Ho-yay:

Both our main girls, Blanda & more Mary Sue-ish Blanda, have fangirls who seem romantically interested. Blanda even has them ask her how she feels about lesbian relationships. So, it's pretty blatant that there's romantic attraction there. In a more interesting series, they might have done something with that.

Final Thoughts:

I'd hesitate to call Phantasy Star Online II: The Animation a bad series. It's not. I also wouldn't call it good because it's not. It's an average series where the over-reliance on clichés makes it a bit dull and highly predictable. If you're really into the whole “online games are life” types of anime you might have a good time with it. It's certainly better than some other anime of that type. Otherwise, there's really nothing appealing about it. And, as an advert for the game, it fails pretty badly. You mean I can play a game with a bunch of really dull people and possibly have a monster jump out of it and try to eat my face? Sounds like a terrible time.

There’s something absolutely mystifying about the Phantasy Star Online 2 anime.

While it is objectively bad, with poor animation and cliched storytelling (which seems to be the norm with anime tie-ins with video game franchises), the show has managed to become something that I have found myself rewatching over and over and over and over.

Before I elaborate, I’d like to first mention that I’d like to imagine that I have fairly decent taste in anime, but of course, some may also question why I decided to give the universally panned “Guilty Crown” a rather flattering score of 8. In other words, take my opinion with a ... grain of salt.

Anyways, the thing about the PSO2 anime is that while it is not a good show by any means, it is a rather enjoyable watch because of how it manages to strictly follow the formula of a generic adventure / SOL anime. It is terribly consistent, but it’s its consistency that makes PSO2 such a enjoyable show.

You are introduced to a Itsuki, who is a generic but likable anime protagonist. You are then introduced to a cast of characters that are equally generic but likable. And finally, you are given a plot that is generic enough to be uninteresting, but well-executed enough to somehow keep you watching until the end.

What I am trying to say is that PSO2 is so damn generic and predictable that it manages to be engaging.

I am assigning this show a score of 5, because while I have probably rewatched the show at least three times while taking a break from other shows, it is still objectively bad. The animation and CG is poor, and the plot is still generic as hell.

But if you’ve got time to kill, and you’re looking for a generic show to just relax and turn your brain off, then you could do a whole lot worse than watch this one.

The general consensus from the reviews I’ve read appear to suggest that this show is okay. They’re right.

It’s okay.

The best “okay” show.

I guess?

I would have given this show prob a 7 or very generous 8/10 if it weren't for the horrible MMO education-advertising-sega brainwashing crap in over half the episodes. And the whole tone of the show with the stupid highschool, slice of life bullcrap was so off putting. Would have been much better if handled with a higher budget and better studio. The source material this show comes from is amazing. They should've adapted the Red Ring Rico/Flowen story from PSO1 with a higher budget... something like along the lines of God Eater would have been so much more respectable than this trash turd of a ... show. This show's story is actually faithful to PSO2's story, but it was very disrespectful to PSO2 and the whole franchise. As a whole, one of the worst shows I've seen.

Story was horribly cliche and completely predictable, horrible cg animation with bad framerate, sounds were ripped from Fate Stay Night UBW (honestly this show ripped off Saber's Excalibur animation and probably because the actual game itself had a Fate/Stay Night event/vanity options), characters that make you cringe, only enjoyment was from realizing the MMO-education b.s. was over near the end of the show. I only watched this because I loved PSO1. This show totally disrespected the PSO franchise. Overall rating: 4/10.

This may be one of the most underrated shows I've come across in a while. I held off watching PSO2: The Animation for *years* because of its low review scores, but after recently getting back into PSO2 the MMORPG, I decided to finally give it a try. And oh boy, I was not prepared for what a treat this is.

**This review is spoiler-free**

PSO2: The Animation is something of a victim of its own marketing. The premise of an anime created by Sega where a real-world Sega videogame enjoys universal popularity feels pretentious, as if the whole thing were nothing more than an extended commercial. But ... while the anime's existence may indeed be advertising, its plot has far better motives. In fact, remove PSO2 and you'd still have a nice story, albeit nothing groundbreaking.

Contrary to fans' hopes at the time of release, PSO2: The Animation is not an adaptation of the game's story. (We later got PSO2: Episode Oracle for that.) Instead, it serves as a *prequel* to Episode 4 of the MMORPG--and a rather critical one at that. At its release, Episode 4 provided a jarring tonal shift for the series, and at first glance, The Animation only adds to the shock. In hindsight, however, it was clearly intended to do the opposite. Viewers are presented with the gentlest of on-ramps from a typical highschool rom-com to the sci-fi world of PSO2 itself blended with reality in some genuinely interesting ways.

What's more, the execution of both sides of the coin is unexpectedly competent. The highschool drama may play off familiar tropes, but it does so specifically to create contrast with its more original elements. And more surprisingly, it manages to avoid the cringey pitfalls typically ensnared by the setting. The main protagonist, Itsuki, is neither a flat nobody nor an untouchable god. The love triangle is not overplayed nor sustained on contrived misunderstanding. His friendship with both leading heroines actually makes sense, and each character contributes something unique to the story.

Then there's the red herrings, which are, in a word, brilliantly played. Without spoiling anything, I can only say again that the tropes here are used as a plot device, not a crutch, and the writers are very aware of their audience's awareness of them. While the outcome is nevertheless predictable (this is a PSO2 anime, after all, and PSO2 things are bound to happen) the payoff is so satisfying when it comes that it nearly feels like a second season packed into one.

In addition, the way the show incorporates elements from the game demonstrates real understanding of players, right down to self-deprecating humor that any veteran will appreciate. The way characters interact with each other and with the game is possibly the most lifelike of any MMO anime I've seen--especially important considering this is aimed at players of a real-world MMORPG. The attacks, the sound effects, the locations, and even play styles are faithfully represented without ever being too on-the-nose. This does of course mean that prior experience with the game is an absolute prerequisite to follow the show's plot and cameos. But this only serves to demonstrate that advertising was a second priority for Sega. PSO2: The Animation is a love letter, first and foremost.

And no more clearly can this be felt than in the original soundtrack. While a few PSO2 tunes make an appearance to capitalize on key moments, a majority of the time your ears will be treated to something completely different. And I do mean "treated"--the main theme in particular immediately caught my ears, and the piano rendition is now one of my favorite anime tracks of all time ("POTENTIAL ABILITY -Heart-"--look it up!).

PSO2: The Animation could very easily have wound up a simple cash grab to shove PSO2 the MMORPG in your face. In fact, by all rights, that's all it ever *should* have been. Instead, it's one of the most successful videogame anime tie-ins I've ever seen, and it may just be the highlight of the entire Episode 4 arc. Whether or not you're a fan of PSO2, you've seen everything here before. But if you are, there's something special about seeing it in this context. The Phantasy Star series has long held a quiet influence over pop culture at large, and The Animation handily stands on its own amid the franchise. So long as you happen to fit in its rather specific demographic, it'll put a contented smile on your face from start to finish.

Viewers who prefer more reality and simple anime will enjoy this anime. It may not be 100% following the in game story but turning an online game to an anime is not easy, since they wanted to show some reality in it.

Well, its a simple anime story line with normal life (school and playing games online). The start may seems boring but its an anime, which required some intro and lucky it is not that draggy.

The best part actually appear at the last few episodes.

What amaze the most was the character able to interact with the online games just like ... SAO but in another ways. That is what all game development want to achieve.

Overall, this anime give an good impression of a close towards real life environment. And hardly any anime give that, other than card games anime.

I was expecting something pretty cool, coming from a player of the actual game; I was a bit disappointed to say the least. I mean sure, some of the sound effects were the exact same from the game which was quite nice to hear - but the animation didn't quite keep up in my opinion. It looked choppy, which made it seem as if it was a really bad rip-off from in-game cutscenes.

The main character - Itsuki honestly felt quite bland to me throughout the anime. It didn't really help either with the addition of the poor animation sequences during certain fight scenes, hence the ... low score.

PSO2 is amazing! The story is just great and I always love to relive it. . . . The game that is.
When it comes to the animation . . . all I can say is it's average.

The story focus on a character that is not relevant to PSO2 and only mentioned like 3 times in 'Episode 4' (The EARTH arc in the game).

PRO:
+ PSO2 Anime
+ Some characters from PSO2 show up

CON:
... - The main characters aren't that amazing.
- Unless you play the game, you don't really see why somethings happen.
- Low amount of fighting scenes (especially after awakening) !

Overall I rate it a 6. While it is a decent anime to watch to kill time, it is not an anime that will make you go WOW AMAZING. If anything I suggest you play the game and play through the story. You'll find that it is 500% more interesting especially the first 3 Episode (arcs).

Finally I want to say: Thank God They're Planning To Make Another PSO2 Anime! This time following Episode 1 - 3 (the first 3 arc of PSO2 game)

Story 6/10

The story is a bit slow to get the main plot into motion and generally goes through the motions of a Japanese romcom when it's not doing anything related to the game but is generally decent in every other aspect.

Art 5/10

Nothing groundbreaking here but the rendered 3DCGI is a step down from the game even on the lowest settings, opting to use a cell shaded version of the existing models which just comes off as looking really weird and does nothing to help it blend into the 2DCGI. I really wish animators would quit doing it if they're not going to put the ... effort in to make it work. The only environment that looks remotely decent is the lobby area (also you can see a idle dancer as an easter egg so bonus points for that I guess but that's not really representative of the game's actual community as they usually dance in moderate numbers a bit out from the quest counters in the block that's most populated outside of emergency quests, least this is the case in Ship 2 anyway).

Sound 6/10

Again nothing groundbreaking but they at least use sound effects and voice actors from the game, plus a few other industry veterans like Mao Ichimichi as Aika (not to be confused with Raika Hino and Kyoko Aikawa).

Characters 6/10

This is probably one of the few animes about video games where I've seen the concept of video game crossplayers (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrossPlayer) not only comes up but is actually used (not spoiling who they are as one of them is a complete surprise) (I haven't watched or played any .Hack material so the only other ones are And You Thought There is Never a Girl Online? and Recovery of an MMO Junkie), beyond that, nothing really groundbreaking or noteworthy.

Enjoyment 6/10

Hardcore phans generally hate this anime and PSO2 episode 4 because they're not enough like what they expect of the franchise and to be fair, you do have to play Episode 4 to understand some of the oddities of this anime but I think that might actually be a hook as by and large this anime seems to exist primarily to attract new audiences to the game and I don't really think it detracts too much from the main plot any more than anything with sequel bait that never gets delivered on (Teen Titans Season 6 and Legion of Super Heroes Season 3 when?). Granted, said hook is poorly delivered as it's never explained that the game continues the story and generally expects you to infer much by the fact that Aika got added to the game, which isn't something that people who don't know much about the game would know.

Overall 6/10

Beyond that though it's generally just junk food anime, meant to be quickly consumed in small quantities.

This anime starts out slow, like SAO, it takes place in a video game, The art goes from 2D to 3D, 3D when in the game 2D when on Earth. I loved the art transfer, and then mystery of a few of the characters. The anime I feel like should have another season, but I did not like the end much, although The feelz! Even though it only has 12 episodes, it has an interesting twists that puts a huge turn on the plot. I feel that the characters could have more development and that is one of the reasons I give this anime a ... overall 7.

When I saw the game(even though I've never played it yet.), it has a great response to me. I was looking for a good MMORPG to play, some of it were boring. But checking out PSO2 really got me. So when I first watched the anime, I thought it would be good.

So starting off with story, Itsuki Tachibana(a primary protagonist who kinda make no sense depending on his personality and voice actor, Aoi Shouta), who's assigned by Rina Izumi(who's the focus character with full on aspect.) to play PSO2. So he does. One of my favorite characters in the show is Aika(voiced by M.A.O., ... which I'm clearly a fan of.). She may be serious, but we all know she's just doing her job just protecting the universe. Other of my favorites are Matoi and Quna. The OP is fast and we barley look at the other characters. The other characters are quite boring. From OrgeCats to KID to Silver to Yumiko and Last Samurai.

And one of my huge complaints are the original characters from EPISODE 4 of the game, Hitsugi, Kouri, and Enga(which is a TOTAL KNOCKOFF because all we saw is him looking at Itsuki like he wants to tell him to stay out of his way). Hitsugi and Kouri were in the show, but were just secondary characters doing nothing. The anime itself is based on EPISODE 4 from the game. Which leaves the original characters. They left Xiera, Io, Euclita, and a BUNCH of cast left to boot.

So, is it a good anime to watch since everyone plays PSO2? Well, I doubt that... But it's true. This anime has problems. From plot to characters to the writers. Put less effort and time for a miraculous piece of awesome, then you get an adaptation that is a plot driving mess.

Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation (2016)

I have to say this has one of the most frustrating endings I have ever known. You are finally getting the confession you waited for to be interrupted and reminded that this is essentially a 12 episode advertisement for the game. That said it is not a bad show but then it is not great either, it is just good.

The story is very much slice of life with a PSO2 situation going on. It does get a bit wacky in the second half but it helps I guess with the immersion of the game the studio wants you ... to feel.

The art is a good standard for 2016 and plays very well. It fits very nicely and is throughout the majority of the show consistent.

The sound comes with a good OP and ED and generally sounds and SFX is very good for its age too.

Characters do develop and you see many NPCs from the game and they are shown in a different light in a way which is pretty nice.

In terms of enjoyment, you get some confusing romance plots going through which sort of resolves but also give a very bad ending on the romantic side being that it sort of just finishes without finishing. You are then, of course, reminded that it is really just an advert for a great game. You get a nice moment in episode 10 of 3 girls blinking in unison which was cute. It does wrap itself up in a very rushed way maybe 13 episodes would have been better.

It is worth a watch and doesn't deserve the slating it often gets.

This anime is basically just an ad for the game Phantasy star Online. Not a good ad. At times, the dialogue is completely horrible. It feels almost like there is NOTHING in the entire Japanese country, but this one game, our Protagonist has to review, and that game is, as you might have guessed Phantasy Star Online 2, which is, if you didn't know a real game. Conveniently, to advertise the game, everything our dense Protagonist writes about the game is unrealisticly Positive. Well, for the story, the anime actually has one! But... the story after the secand half makes the story completely irrelevant, also ... almost everything is predictable. At least the story has an ending, just not a good one... but hey, it has one! For the art and animation, they used a ridiculous amount of CGI and crappy animations, which makes the anime even worse. Ok, but for the sounds, well yeah, it has sounds, not the best, but they have sounds, ill give them that. To be fair, the opening, which was very likely made for this anime, is pretty ok. And for the Characters (at least for the ones i remember) we have: Student Council girl, Sad troll boi, very misterious and not at all predictable blonde girl with big tiddies, big monster that has no real backstory but apparently likes to posses things, of course our incredibly dense and generic protagonist and some side characters, that are completely irrelevant. I honestly don't know, why i didn't drop this anime.

Story: 6
Art: 7
Sound: 7
Character: 7
Enjoyment: 9

Overall: 7

Phantasy Star Online 2 (Pso2): The Animation is a anime that is inspired by the game Pso2 and was created while the game was in the Japanese release of episode 4 related content. The anime mostly served to be advertisement to get word out about the game, but also it was there for a side plot that happens inside of the game.

To the average viewer who has not seen Pso2 or played Pso2, this anime could probably seen as not that great. Honestly, I probably would not recommend watching if you have not bothered with Pso2's story. However, ... for those who HAVE seen the story and do play the game, then I can recommend this as it provides a bit of context for characters that don't get explained as much in pso2's Episode stories. It is commonly assumed by those who are fans of the game that this is not cannon. This is a big misconception, the events of this animation are confirmed in later episodes of pso2's story, so that must only mean that this anime is actually cannon for what happened in pso2's story and universe.

Now more onto the anime itself, the anime is mostly in the issue of being good, but not great. It re-uses a lot of assets from pso2, such as sound effects but I most let this slide since that this is a side story of the game itself, that said there's nothing outstanding about it that makes me cry at times with the music either like pso2's sound and music. The story explains a bit of pso2's lore- however it doesn't deeply explain it as much as it should have, hence requiring to play the game itself to understand the story, not only that but the ending is rather abrupt and weak (however ties into the lore with pso2), gives it the weakest part of the show. Characters are good as they are not too cringe worthy of being just like game characters- and the art is a nice blend of 2d and CG animations, honestly similar with how pso2 is...

As a fan of the game of pso2, At first I watched this anime way back when I had not seen the story of pso2 and was left confused about the story. Now that I have finished all of pso2's story in the game, the anime's story and plot makes a lot of sense to me and makes me find it rather enjoying and a lot more satisfying than it once was. If your a fan of some Pseudo Isekai RPG anime, then I can probably recommend this animation for those who wanted to enjoy it along side Pso2's story. However for people who have no attachment to the series...I can only say that its mediocre at best.

(P.S. for those who are unsure when to watch it after playing the game, I recommend watching it after you have finished episodes 1-4 of the game, it will make a lot of great sense of context where it is in the timeline.)