Tales of Symphonia The Animation: Sylvarant-hen

Story:
Well, this OVA of course comes from the video game Tales of Symphonia. So, the story is the same, however theres quite a few parts left out. However, I don't think it is quite right to say that just because of that the story isn't that good. This is the animation, not the game. Sure, it's based on it, but it's not gonna be an exact copy of it.
It starts really being a kind of 'save the planet' storyline, as a girl who is the Chosen One and her friends set out for a journey to a tower where she'll become an angel and rescue ... the planet. However, after Lloyd (the main character) learns something serious about becoming an angel, the story takes a pretty big twist, which it pretty interesting. The OVA ends really like only about half-way through the game, so it does not give you a feeling of closure whatsoever, but that's exactly why more episodes are supposed to be made at a later date.

Art:
The artwork is similar to the cut scenes from the video game. Which means it's pretty good. Everything is nicely drawn, and the motions are pretty fluent. It's more of a simplistic style, which is actually quite nice.

Sound:
The voice acting really couldn't have been better. The voices really fit the characters greatly. The background music isn't spectacular, but serves its purpose and is fairly good. The OP, I feel, couldn't have been better for this OVA. It, for some reason, just felt so perfect for the overall mood and tone of the show. The ED is actually a song that Collette, the Chosen One, sings in the series, so I guess it was a nice idea to have it as the ED.

Character:
The characters are all pretty cool, and each have a different personality, making them very likable. They didn't really get too develop themselves very much, which is unfortunate and disappointing, but I don't think it is fair to degrade the show for that, since it's simply 4 episodes.

Enjoyment:
Enjoyment would have been a 9 if the battles were better. That's really my biggest disappointment. The fights were very short and curt, and rarely involved a lot of intricacy or really just intensity, especially the battles against the seals. However, despite that, it's still a pretty enjoyable watch since there's a lot of emotion and, well, it's really just fun to follow it along, even if you haven't played the video game.

Story: This OVA is based off the game by the same name "Tales of Symphonia" basically there is a girl that is the "chosen" and she is to go on a mission to save her world from dying of a mana shortage. She is joined by her friends and they go on the journey for her to become an angel, which she needs to become to save the world. Now, I won't say this OVA won't be enjoyable if you haven't played the game, but you will notice that there are big gaps in time which they are supposed to be filled in in the ... game. And if you've played the game, you'll be disappointed only because it has sooo much potential to be a very good anime series, but it cuts short :( Assuming you haven't played the game, there'll be some plot twists, and should keep you interested.

Art: If you've played the game, then you've seen the movie cut scenes that show up every now and then, and seeing as how Gainax produced those scenes, it's understandable that it was high end animation. Although Gainax doesn't produce the OVA, the quality stays. The characters are drawn well, and all the animation is smooth.

Sound: I assume sound means the soundtrack and voice acting, both of which I felt were okay. I enjoyed the voice acting more than I did the music, mainly because of a very good cast. You'll recognize many of the voices, and I they fit the characters well. The soundtrack wasn't bad, but nothing memorable, personally, i got kind of bored the OP, and ED.

Character: The characters never had a chance to progress, mainly because the series was so short. There was some progression, such as with Sheena and Lloyd, and change of character with someone else..., but there wasn't much gradual change. The characters are fun to watch, there are many personalities, serious, nerdy, naive, kind, etc. with all of them complementing each other.

Enjoyment: Ever since I played the game a few years ago, I loved the movie cut scenes, and always said that they should make a series just from this, and now that they did, I had to watch. Although it did not nearly meet my expectations, I did enjoy it, in fact it had me wanting much much more. But as a person who has never played, I'd imagine that they would enjoy this series moderately, seeing as they'll obviously notice plot gaps, and a pseudo-ending.

Overall: I give this series a 7 mainly because I thought it had an unimaginable amount of potential, but alas, this OVA series seems more like a promotional trailer for the game. And seeing as it is an OVA, it's too short, making the creators progress the story too quickly. I'd recommend anyone to watch this, and it may even make you want to play the game.

Tales of Symphonia, the original being a video game, is probably the best rpg games out there for both Gamecube and PS2. From its epic plot to its memorable characters--one of the best villains of all times, Yggdrasill!--all the way to its awesome soundtrack, it is a masterpiece.

The OVA does an excellent job in capturing the most important aspects of the videogame, although, leaving out some major side plots that are very significant to the overall theme. Even with it's fast paced, and sometimes obviousness that is not present in the original game, the OVA allows fans to relive that heart-rendering experience with the ... characters in control. Although, we, the players, have no more role in revealing the destiny of their Worlds, it would seem as the characters have evolved from our level of direction! Awesome OVA, 10/10.

The problem that occurs when trying to make a show/movies/anime about a game is that you are inevitably going to have cut a fair amount of content, this problem is amplified when you try to adapt an RPG, because you are cutting a 50+ hour game down to 2-10 viewing, and skipping this content normally REALLY hurts the show in question. Now it's time to see how hard Tales of Symphonia hurt itself, at least for the first part.

The Short Version:
(+)The music is delightful.
(-)The entire thing feels rushed.
(-)The characters aren't really fleshed out.
(-)You can tell they just want to get past the beginning of the ... game in the first episode.
(-)The art quality is below average for its time

The Story (6/10):The story is a simple thing to grasp in this show, one of the main characters is more or less chosen by 'God' to become the Child of Regeneration and save this world from it's own destruction, basic 'Save the world plot'. But there are points in the story that WILL throw up a "Dafuq?" flag in your brain. An early example is what would be the first boss battle in the game, where some "baddies" have appeared in the MC's village and threaten the populace, the MC and head baddie duke it out, the hero wins, but then the show cuts to the villages salvaging their burnt down houses, this is the point where I thought, "Hang on, where the fuck did the rest of the baddies go? Did they die? Or did one of them just go, "Well I'm going home, whose coming with?" Then the rest of the lads followed him. There're a couple of these moments throughout the OVAs but there's not enough of them to leave you questioning the entire show, just a fair amount of it.

Another thing with the story is that it horrendously rushed, like someone on the development team just said, "Ok, I know we need to make this good, but let's just get through all of the beginning of the game so we can get to the better stuff A.S.A.P." If you're not a fan of fast paced anime, this may very well throw you off, as the entire show for the most part, plays out in this format.

The Characters (6/10): Their are 5 Main Characters in this anime, to get these guys and their relation to each other out of the way for future reference:

Colette Brunel, The Child of Regeneration and childhood friend to Lloyd and Genis.

Lloyd Irving, Male lead and evident love-interest of Colette.

Genis Sage, Child mage and brains to Lloyd's brawn.

Kratos Aurion, hired bodyguard of Colette and probably knows more about the situation then he's letting on.

Refill (Raine) Sage, group healer and big sister of Genis.

The characters as a whole are a fine group, but individually they would not hold this show in the slightest. But as a group though, they hold it just enough to keep you going. The love exchanges between Lloyd and Colette are cute, Kratos fills the mandatory badass slot but he pulls it off without also being an asshole, Genis and Raine are there to help Lloyd and Colette along and almost nothing else.

After 4 OVA's I feel that we know just enough about the characters that we get their emotions and motivations, but not enough to feel for them in any given situation, and another thing I noticed was that there are what I call 'Houdini' characters, characters that pop up for a couple minutes then disappear just the reappear later on.

Art and Sound (14/20): Now if you actually read the anime info off to the side, you'll notice that this anime was in fact animated by ufotable. I'll warn you right now, don't expect their Kara no Kyoukai, UBW, level of animation, it isn't here, but the animation that is there is good for the time, you're looking at Fullmetal alchemist level of animation, not Brotherhood, just the original series, but with smoother edges. Special note that, even then, they had their 3D revolving on point.

The sound isn't your everyday fare. The OP is actually rather calm compared to modern day anime and the ED is much the same, and the voice acting is standard but special note to Kratos' VA, his voice is so good.

What do you think of this anime?

I won't actively go out a look for a physical copy of this show, I wouldn't even buy it if I just saw it at JB Hi-Fi and thought, "Yeah lets buy that one." I would've seen this in the recommendations and just streamed it at home.

Would you recommend this anime?

Yeah I would, only for the last stretch of the show, so unless you pre-plan to watch all three parts, you might very well only watch this part but I implore you get watching, you'll be pleased.

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next.

Tales of Symphonia was a Namco RPG released for the Gamecube in August of 2003, or July/ November 2004 if you don't live in Japan. It wasn't the first Tales game to receive an anime adaptation with both Phantasia, which some of you may recall from one of my previous reviews, and Eternia getting adapted before it, but it was the first to have the anime adaptation handled by Ufotable, the same studio responsible for Kara no Kyoukai, Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight, & Fate/Zero. Yeah, it's a bit strange, but most anime adaptations of the Tales franchise have been handled by different studios. So, ... how did Ufotable handle the series?

Story:

We open with our heroine, Colette, getting ready to undertake a journey of world regeneration to save her dying world. An angel, Remiel, descends to give her instruction and send her on the way. With the aid of her teacher, Refill Sage and a mercenary hired by the church, Kratos Aurion, she heads out on her journey. Colette's friends, Lloyd and Genis, both want to accompany them but are left behind. Until their village is attacked by people who want Lloyd's Exsphere, a mysterious object. At which point they decide to leave for the safety of the village and rendezvous with Colette and the others to aid her in any way they can.

So, it's basically the same plot as the beginning of the game. Now, you've probably already noticed the major problem, the pacing is horrendous. All of those significant events I just described are in the first episode with little time between them. Events are thrown at you one after the other with no time to get a good grip on what's happening. The plot points also aren't expounded on very well. If you haven't played the game you will find yourself wondering what just happened on several occasions. Which is why it's probably a bad idea to condense a good third of the narrative of a plot heavy, multi-disc Gamecube game down to a four episode series. Sure, they managed to do it pretty well with the plot of Phantasia but that was a SNES game and much lighter on the plot.

In all fairness, the anime does do a decent job of hitting all the major points in the part of the game they cover and the narrative, though rushed and condensed, does still hold up pretty well and has some really strong scenes, albeit somewhat weakened by being rushed through. They also chose a good stopping point considering that they had more OVAs to come.

Characters:

The OVA has all the characters you see in the series, except significantly less developed since a lot of their conversations and other character scenes get cut. Still, the series has some great characters. Refill, Genis, Sheena, Kratos and Lloyd are all great characters. No, I'm not including Colette. Honestly, she annoys me. She's one of those self sacrificing characters who worries about everyone else and is supposed to be pure and innocent. I've never been a fan of those characters. They just come across as kind of trite and boring to me. It's even worse in the anime version since she doesn't get any of her funny lines from the game.

Art:

The art is really good. The character designs, action sequences and background details are all really nicely drawn and animated. Really, there's only one complaint I can make about the OVA. The action sequences, though mostly good, have too many blur line scenes. You know the type. Character is shown in an action pose, multi-coloured lines appear behind them and no contact is made between them and the enemy, assuming they even bother showing the character and their enemy in the same frame.

Sound:

They got some really good actors. Mizuki Nana, Konishi Katsuyuki, Orikasa Ai, Touma Yumi, Okamura Akemi and Tachiki Fumihiko take the roles of our major characters. The music is also really good with Mizuki Nana and Kawai Eri doing lyrical work.

Ho-yay:

There's not any ho-yay in this. Making the ho-yay factor a 1/10.

Final Thoughts:

Tales of Symphonia the animation is made for fans of the game. If you're someone who hasn't played it, the pacing is going to leave you confused and without a lot of the context behind events. If you are a fan of the game, you'll probably enjoy it okay as a supplementary work. For myself, I'm giving it a 6/10. It's a decent OVA with some good moments but it definitely suffers from the pacing. Next week I'll take a look at Potemayo.

This is what caused me to start loving anime in the first place. I was excited when the video game I liked so much was becoming an anime. It may not be in the top 100 animes, but it sure wins my heart!

Everything in the anime is just like the video game! Same characters, same plot, it does have some differences in the scenes that play out. The characters look the same as they did in the game. The music and sound are great for the anime. However it sucks how the entire story is split into three different animes and is shorten to only ... 4 episodes in the first two and only 2 in the third one. But I will always love Tales of Symphonia no matter how it's made. 10 out of 10.

Hi, I'm not very good at writing reviews, but I hope this can help someone decide whether they wish to watch this anime or not. Thanks for reading.

Story ~ 7/10

The story is based off the Gamecube/PS2/PS3 game "Tales of Symphonia". The story is split into three OVA series. (Tethealla-hen, Sekai Tougou-hen)
In the first part, the characters are introduced and the journey begins. In the first part, is is the standard "Hero on a journey to save the world".

There are quite a few technical terms used that can leave newcomers to the series feeling confused.

Additionally, much of the backstory and other scenes are left out, leading ... to possible confusion for newcomers.

Art ~ 7/10

The art is alright, but nothing incredibly amazing.

Sound ~ 7/10

I can't really remember much of the BG music, not memorable at all.
However, the OP and ED themes are both excellent. The OP theme may sound like gibberish, but it is probably the 'Angelic' language mentioned in the game.

Characters ~ 8/10

The characters from the game are very deep, but not much time is spent developing them in this anime. Also, there is a lot of backstory that isn't included and so some aspects may be confusing.

Enjoyment ~ 7/10

I enjoyed this anime as a companion to the games, but I don't feel that it stands very well by itself.

Overall ~ 7/10

I think that this anime is best for people who have already played the games. With the recent HD re-release for PS3, Tales of Symphonia Chronicles, the game is far more accessible than before.

So, I'd recommend to play the game first, and if you liked the game, then you may also like this anime.

Note: This review was written on my Review Book on Wattpad. If you are interested, don't be shy to check it out! (Link's in my bio)

Also: I'll be posting the same review for all three seasons, since I made a general review for the series, not the seasons in separate.

Ok, so if you guys don't know, Tales of Symphonia is one of my FAVORITE animes, along with the rest of the Tales of Series. After i finished ToS, me and a friend had found other animes in the series as well, which we both love to death.

So my friend said she found an ... old Gamecube game that her father owned called "Tales of Symphonia." It was an anime RPG about a girl, Colette, was chosen to be an angel, and the Chosen to regenerate the world. A few days later, I saw she was an anime on YouTube, and it was a good thing a stopped her there, because that was when things got really sad and intense, and she probably wouldn't have looked that happy in first period that day. But anyways, we started watching the series from episode 1, and we finished the series in a few weeks time. For a short anime, Tales of Symphonia is a very good anime, that is really worth watching and re-watching over and over again. I've only watched the series 3 or 4 times, but my friend said she's seen it around 30, maybe 40 times.



Anyways, let's get started on the review! Hope you all like it!



WARNING! THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!



Story: 10/10



Ok, so I'm sorry if I'm taking this not hard enough, but like I said before, I LOVED this series. It's one of those short stories where you rewatch them over and over again. And only for 11 episodes, it surely brings out its potential.

Tales of Symphonia takes place in the kingdoms of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. where three races of people lived; humans, elves, and half-elves. The half-elves believed that their race was treated unfairly, and formed a pact, called the Desians. The Desians were defeated long ago by the hero, Mithos, and the goddess Martel, but, over time, their power had weakened, and the Desians has risen once more. Meanwhile, Colette Brunel, a 16-year old high-school girl, has been chosen to become the Chosen Angel of Regeneration. Her friends, Lloyd Irving, Genis and Raine Sage, accompany on her journey of regeneration, only to find that out that her journey was more like a sacrifice, if you know what I mean. Now, the gang must try to get her back, while saving the world from hatred. Recruiting a new team of allys, Lloyd and his friends set off to save Colette. and the rest of the world.



Like I said before, this is a beautiful story. I'm not going to go much into detail, due to some really big and sad spoilers, but it's a really good story to the anime, and I definitley give it a 10/10.



Art: 10/10



Again, I really feel like I'm being to easy on this anime, it's just I love this anime a LOT. The art style is beautiful in this anime. The special effects, the battle scenes, the designs, EVERYTHING. And I gave it a 10 for art, because everything was beautiful. I'm sorry I'm giving everything on this a ten, I just really fell in love with this series as a whole, art, characters, everything.

Another thing I really like about the art is the character designs. My favorites are paticualry Sheena's, Colette's, and Presea's. They're very unique, compared to your typical combat skirt, or suit of armor. Like I said, maybe I'm being to easy on this anime, maybe I'm not. But anyways, another 10/10 for the art.



Sound: 9/10



Ok, I really love the soundtrack to Tales of Symphonia. I have all three theme songs on my iPod and I listen to them ALL the time. It's just you don't want to listen to some of them too much, especially right after you finished the series. It kinda stirs up some of the sad scenes from the series (*cough cough* DEATHS *cough cough*) My friend says she hardly ever cries, but this was the first anime that was really hard to watch in public. Even so, there are some themes in the ToS soundtrack that make me smile, while others get me teary-eyed. Whether you see that as a good thing or not, I really enjoyed the soundtrack, even though it gets you in tears at times. So basically, I'm giving it a 9/10, not another 10 suprisingly.



Characters: 10/10



Okay, so like I said before, I LOVED everything about this anime. The cast is AMAZING. Like, theyre the kind of cast that you grow attached to, no matter what kind of character they are. And by that, I mean your characters can range from the pervy and outgoing Zelos, to the quiet and strong Presea. And I'm going to admit, I love each and every one of them. It's just one of those animes where I can't choose just ONE favorite character. Like, this is one of those animes where you love ALL of the characters. So yeah, basically another 10 for Symphonia.



General/Enjoyment: 10/10



Yeah, I know, not really a big surprise here. I said this many a time before in this review, I LOVED this anime a lot, and there's really no flaws that I saw in it, unlike the past couple of animes I had just given reviews on. And if you're like me, and loved the series just as much as me, I'd reccomend trying the game if you can afford it, as well as others in the series, like Tales of the Abyss, Zestiria, and Vesperia. Yeah, what I'm trying to get at is that it's a really good series, and I think at least everyone should at least try it before they bite it. It has a little of everything for everyone; drama, action, adventure, a little comedy and romance... Yeah. Anyways, yeah, a big One-O goes to this anime, its a great anime, and I highly reccomend it for anyone.

i just got done watching tales of symphonia and i must say, wow. i know, 4 episodes for a whole rpg game can't do it justice right? well honestly, i watched a lets play of the game up to the part where this anime stops before continuing so i was able to understand everything that was going on. for someone who played the game and watched this, yes there are parts that were left out and changed but in all truth, i really enjoyed it none the less. it was rather amazing to see what they did manage to do in the 4 episodes that ... were made to this point. i can honestly say that i loved this anime and even though it didn't follow the game 100%, it satisfied me. the true emotion in the anime brought tears to my eyes and inspired awe that i got while watching a lets play. i can't wait to play the game and continue with this because i can't honestly say, i loved it.

I came across Tales of Symphonia almost by mistake after noting Lloyd (the main character)'s Seiyū was none other than Katsuyuki Konishi. It should also be noted that I haven't played the Tales of Symphonia game this OVA series is based on, but given the fact that I played 'Tales of Vesperia' and loved it I decided on a whim to give it a go. Oh boy, am I glad I did! Epic sword fights, a heart-wrenching story and beautifully designed characters in a fantasy setting? Yes please!

Tales of Symphonia (as a series of 3 OVA chapters) is very much a story of 'heart', ... the belief in oneself and friends against seemingly impossible odds with some amazing plot twists along the way. The way the story was told had me in tears on numerous occasions and some parts really make you think.

I really enjoyed Lloyd as a character, he is determined, passionate and charismatic, but he is also human. He's overly trusting, he feels pain and questions himself but despite these struggles always manages to overcome and stay true to his ideals.

The art and music were both beautiful and complimented the genre, certain tracks in particular were just amazing. Voice acting from all characters is top notch! The animation is a little dated, it doesn't have that 'shine' that a lot of new anime are displaying but it worked really well for the earthy, honest feel that the series had.

Tales of Symphonia: The Animation has definitely made it into my top 10 favourite series.

I have yet to play any Tales game all of the way through, but I have always really wanted to. I debated on whether or not to play the game before I watched this, but I think I enjoyed watching this first as a primer to what to expect. I was actually really surprised at just how much charm this very short OVA managed to pack in. The animation is cute and gives the cast a lot of character.

While to be honest, I couldn't tell you what makes these characters more unique than any other RPG save the world party, and there wasn't much ... time to get to know them, I still found myself loving them so quickly and easily. Their banter and dynamics were well defined, and I think that just goes to show how character-driven the game must be if it's coming through this well even in such a short adaptation.

I was especially enamored with the relationship between Lloyd and Colette, which seemed a lot stronger than just a simple "has a crush on each other, wants to protect each other." There's really a foundation of true friendship between them in the easy way they interact, and I found it extremely endearing.

I will likely not watch the rest of the OVA sections until after I play the game, but this peek into the world of Symphonia really did whet my appetite for the game, so in that respect, it does its job admirably.

After looking over some of the reviews on this adaptation of the video game by Namco, I decided that there was a need for more reviews coming from someone who has played the actually game previously. The "Tales" series has been very dear to my heart since my childhood. Yes, it is near impossible to fit all of a 80+ hour game into a short list of OVAs. However, just based of the nostalgia factor and the content alone that makes Tales of Symphonia a success makes this anime worth a shot. The character development and storyline of this game is what makes it great. ... You can feel a connection to each character individually. You are able to feel the love between Colette and Lloyd from the very beginning and watch it blossom overtime. Each character has their own story and reason for what they do and I think the anime does its best to capture that. Once again, it is extremely difficult to place EVERYTHING within the game into an anime. The same can be said for any movie/tv show adaptation such as Harry Potter. There will always be those that complain about some part not being featured. Despite this, I still suggest you give this show a chance, it surely deserves it.

(4)Story:
Well, it's a really good plot, BUT for only 4episodes it's horrible.
It's not like you get to much info on a small about of time, it's just that you want to see more. And not just rush through it all.
But, then again.. the other aspects of the series made me want more.

(10)Art:
What I really love about Tos is the scenery, you always know "where" you are.
You always know the surroundings, and they are GREAT. Alot of beautiful colors and some of the best drawn landscapes I've seen.

(8)Sound:
... The opening on ToS tells you all you need to know about the sound.
It's really not a typical way to use sound in animes. "Ghotic and peaceful"

(5)Characters:
Being only 4espisodes you get a real ide of how the chars are, and how they react to certain things. But still, you dont really "feel" for them.

(9)Enjoyment:
Now this is a good one. The fighting in ToS is the best fighting EVER, you can tell the anime is based on a video game (not in a bad way). It's raging awesome, you dont really need to know the story behind the fight to enjoy.

(8)Overall:
It's a really good anime, and it's good a good rewatch value.
Although you cant stop thinking how it could be better, it's an overall good anime. Not great, but good. And if you watch 1Episode, you can decide if you like it or not.
(And BTW, its NOTHING like tales of the abyss... that show sucked balls)