Tales of Zestiria the Cross 2nd Season

Having said that, I will now analyze the different aspects of "Tales of Zestiria the X" as a whole:

Story: 3/10
Tales of Zestiria’s main issue is that it came out in 2016. For anybody who has experienced a decent amount of fantasy stories, the whole premise of "a crew with different powers goes on a journey to save the world" gets old quickly. And while it's true that Zestiria might work as a baby's first show, this alone doesn't make up for its shallowness and lack of originality. ToZ also disappoints when it comes to direction and pacing. The original idea of the show taking liberties ... with the plot seen in the game was originally promising (due to it being considered below average by a large portion of the Tales fanbase), but unfortunately, the result proved to be disappointing too. There are several anticlimactic/awkward moments across the show: namely characters who suddenly laugh, cry or scream for no reason. Lastly, the fact they rushed the finale in spite of the slow-paced first cour is unacceptable for a 27-episode show.

Animation: 7/10
Ufotable is known for providing high quality eye-candy. They deliver where other studios usually fail: smooth fights, good-looking backgrounds and CGI usage. That being said, ToZ's animation failed to live up to the high standards set by Ufotable's older works (e.g. Kara no Kyoukai and the Fate series). The character designs are charming at first glance, but part of the cast often looks inexpressive or has forced reactions. It is also worth mentioning that ToZ's CGI dragons strike as jarring compared to other animated elements. Additionally, Zestiria tends to show off its backgrounds too frequently, taking up screentime that perhaps could have been used to fix pacing issues.

Music and voice acting: 6/10
Unlike other successful Ufotable works, Tales of Zestiria does not have a memorable OST. However, I felt like the soundtrack was acceptable overall, with FLOW taking the lead. The music used throughout the show wasn't mold-breaking and is mostly forgettable. Regarding the voice actors, most of them did a nice job, especially Fukuen Misato as Edna and Ono Daisuke as Dezel. Only a reduced amount of the cast does not have fitting voices.
 
Characters: 2/10
Most of the cast is generic, bland and has no real development. Rose and Dezel are two of the few exceptions, but they don't get to excel regardless. Besides, dealing with Sorey's dull personality is challenging for those who have medium/high standards for main characters. This becomes a serious matter at a certain point of the story, where Sorey's mindset should take a turn for the better, but he ultimately decides to keep up his idealistic antics. Truly frustrating.

Enjoyment: 4/10
This show picked my interest after watching other works by the same studio, but those expectations were slowly crushed on a weekly basis. I didn’t drop it hoping for a great fight scene that never came. Those two promotional Berseria episodes from the first cour were the most interesting part of the show, even though they were only slightly above average. It is safe to say that Ufotable's animation and the soundtrack are the only redeeming features of ToZ from an objective point of view.

Overall: 4/10
In short, Tales of Zestiria is a walking cliché not worth anybody's time investment. For those interested in Ufotable’s gorgeous animation, Kara no Kyoukai and the Fate series are far better choices. Most popular titles from the fantasy genre are superior to Tales of Zestiria, and have done everything it does, but better.

Story(7)
It may sound dull but i enjoyed it because it gives me some enjoyment even though is long and boring and actually killed some time for me to enjoy, even though the story is not really a well written one, the story overall surprised me a bit as it is way interesting than i thought originally, it may have some difference from the game but its normal to me to see this change

Art(10)
Ufotable back at it again with yet another beautifully finished animation that actually gave me interest to the characters and the place

Sound(8)
It retains the OST from the game but the OST is not ... my very concerned one comparing to Fate/Stay Night UBW OSTs, yet beutifully done.

Character(6)
Oh boy, this is where it drops, Sorey is not very appealing to me as he may be a pure-hearted type of protagonists with a friend named Mikleo ever since S1, but it seems what i captured most interesting was Alisha and Rose comparing to the rest. Yet the character Development is quite poor. sadly, if the character development is better, i would give this a 7

Enjoyement(8)
This anime has yet made me enjoyed the whole series even though some are changed in the ending, It is a nice anime to kill some time and enjoy and yet very amusing if the game continues

Overall(8)
Quite my Approval to watch this, Not must watch though, but it is surely a good anime even with its major flaws present, So give it a try :D

Out of all of the games in the 'Tales of-' series, many people were skeptical at Ufotable's choice at adapting Zestiria, which was understandable given how it had one of the weakest stories in the entire series. And honestly, the skepticism backed itself up very well given the final product.

Story: Continuing with its previous season, Tales of Zestiria brings us back to the world plagued by malevolence where we follow our main protagonist, Sorey, as he fully realizes his power as the Shepherd in order to save the world from humanity's own faults and wrongdoings. At least...that's what I think the show's about? ... It's not really all that clear.

Unfortunately, the muddiness and lack of detail of my own synopsis to me shows just how difficult it is to describe Tales of Zestiria from a story sense. With the entire game adapted into roughly 25 episodes worth of material, many liberties were taken by Ufotable in order to squeeze it into this tiny, tiny runtime. But it's not just that the show was rushed, rather, the show decides to focus more on specific sections of the game (more specifically, the arc about our newest member, Rose) and run with that as the main brunt of the runtime. As an end result, the show ends up being extremely choppy and uneven in pacing, as there's this huge jarring scene transition in the middle that turns it from a character-based story about our females leads, into an overall journey deciding the fate of the world.

The consequences of these actions are both prominent and many in number. The antagonists of the series ultimately have difficult to understand motivation to the point that there might as well not be any, the amount of world building is both laughable and poorly structured, the pacing is horrendous (especially in the last few episodes), and above all, there's no emotional weight or anything to bring us this far. The last one is the biggest problem of them all because I find that there's really no reason for anything the characters do to matter so much. Sure the ending might be predictable, but at least make me feel SOMETHING for the characters when they struggle. I just found it very hard for me to even care with what was going on, let alone understand what was even happening half the time since things go from zero to one hundred in the span of an episode.

Zestiria makes a difficult case for itself because due to its vast number of problems, it becomes very hard to find anything positive to say about its story. A show becomes a trial to watch when the plotline has our heroes try and solve some kind of civil war in one episode, then already at the doorstep of the 'main antagonist' in the next. If it's any consolation, the previews where our characters banter with one another before unveiling the title for the next episode is arguably more entertaining than probably anything else that we get from here.

Overview:
- Messy writing
- Horrendous pacing
- Choppy scene transitions
- Gives the audience very little reason to care

Characters: Characters fare slightly better than the story mostly because not only is a brunt of the screentime devoted to the characters' stories, but their interactions are for the most part, quite entertaining.

As far as the cast from the first season goes, there's not really much to say. Sorey and his seraphim friends still go about his journey to save the world from malevolence and Alisha is still the princess who's dealing with power struggles in her kingdom. Sure Alisha gets a little bit of expansion to her eventually resolved problems, but the placing of it combined with the lack of the antagonist's motivation for doing anything sort of undercuts any and all tension that would've been had. Sorey however doesn't change. The show doesn't focus on him at all in any way shape or form over the course of season two, so trust me. He's still the same dopey MC with good intentions as he was before.

Despite it being Sorey's journey, the true star of season two is Rose, the spunky merchant girl who literally steals the show by being the only character with ample screentime or devoted story time to. Sure while her story's all well and good, my main gripe with her is the fact that she completely overshadows anything that's going on. The surge of world-ending malevolence is completely ignored in order to devote at least two-thirds of the show's overall runtime the personal trials of one character. While I don't think that Rose is a terrible character, the decision to make her the star of the season two was a bad one at best, especially when last season ended with our main characters meeting the big bad guy for the first time.

Both side characters and antagonists serve only one purpose: background decorations. No one aside from the main characters really have any weight on the flow of the story, as everyone that isn't an elemental seraphim or one of the three colorfully dressed humans serves only to move the story along. This becomes painfully obvious with the villains because even with watching the series in its entirety, it's not really quite clear what all of the antagonists hoped to achieve with all of this. Especially with the "Lord of Calamity" that keeps being brought up.

Overview:
+ Entertaining main cast
- Very little screentime for the main protagonist
- Rose takes up too much space
- Everyone who's not a main character is background fodder

Art: A general consensus for Ufotable is that they have top-tier animation that blends both hand-drawn animation and computer graphics together to form breathtaking scenes. (This becomes especially clear with their work in the Fate series.) With Zestiria being given that same treatment, that statement rings true once again as Zestiria has Ufotable's signature shine and beautiful animation to make the series a visually pleasing experience to watch. Alright, what's wrong with it?

You know, for being a series based on a JRPG, there's not that much fighting. There really isn't. Zestiria might as well not have any fight scenes because it seems like the show just flat out refuses to show any. Hell, when they show any fight scenes, they're always so short and unmemorable that it feels like it never even happened. The final fight with the last boss lasted THREE MINUTES. Admittedly, actual movement in Ufotable's fights is rare, but at least in other cases, they pad it with the combatants talking to each other to make it seem like the fight goes on longer than it actually is. Zestiria's fights hardly feel like a battle at all.

Overview:
+ Ufotable-level artwork
- Literally no fight scenes. (You get maybe 10-12 minutes of total fighting in the entire series.)

Sound: Season two sports a brand new OP and ED that in comparison to its season one counterparts, sounds like there's a lot more weight to the entire situation. Both its OP, "Illuminate" and its ED, "Innosense" have a lot more urgency to them and make it feel like that there's a lot more at stake for our protagonists in order to save the world. While that's an utter lie, the tracks give the show that illusion.

Personal Enjoyment: I really wanted to enjoy Tales of Zestiria, I really did. But I for the life of me don't understand what is even happening. One episode there's a hostage situation involving Alisha dealing with her power struggles, then Rose wants to take revenge on someone? And now...they're fighting the big bad guy when just two episodes ago, our characters couldn't even use the game's biggest battle mechanic of armatization like...at all. It came to a point where I sort of threw my hands up in the air and gave up on making any sense with what was going on because the show just made it that difficult to follow what was going on.

Did I like this anime?

I enjoyed the first season, not so much this one. Admittedly, the first season was painfully slow and had its own set of problems, but at least things weren't all over the place like season two.

What didn't I like about this anime?

In terms of specifics, the ending felt like a cop-out. It really feels like a huge cop-out. I wish it wasn't a cop-out.

Would I recommend this anime?

I don't really find much worth in watching Tales of Zestiria. Sure the visuals are nice, the soundtrack is pretty good, and the characters are entertaining, but the story makes everything so difficult to fully appreciate. Ufotable's attempt at pressing everything down to make it fit does a lot of harm to a story that already a lot of people weren't too keen on in the first place. As such, if you do plan on watching this, I would be sure not to keep expectations to high and just sort of go along with it. If you're not planning on watching this, then it's not worth the time.

Tales of Zestiria The X S2 continues just about where we left off. Sorey and friends continue their journey. From what I'm seeing, things can get more serious, and the OP clearly shows that. I will review this as someone who's watched the whole gameplay of the game, since I am clearly too poor to afford it.

Fitting 80+ hours of gameplay can prove to be difficult in 24 episodes. But I do like how Ufotable is handling the adaption so far. They keep the key points from the game and they don't tend to rush everything. They do it in a pace that is ... fairly satisfactory.

Story (8)
The story continues as they adventure and travel across the land. They might get stronger so that they can have a chance to beat the Lord of Calamity once and for all. I'm interested on where they'll take the story from here.

Character (7)
We get to see more of Sorey getting stronger to try and fight Malevolence so that he may gain strength to fight the LOC (Lord of Calamity). The Seraphim are the same, with the same personality. Edna, of course, still being my favourite out of all the seraphim.

However, we do get to see more of Dezel and how he stuck with Rose almost his whole life. He admires her, and will not hesitate to kill, if it is for the sake of Rose.

Speaking of Rose, we get to see a bit more about her. About her past and the revenge she wanted because of what happened to her Fatherly Figure, Brad. Who has died in Rose's past and is now out for revenge for the one who caused all of it. If she hadn't met Sorey, it was probably a possibility that she may fall into Malevolence. Which I wouldn't have wanted. As we dive more into her past we can see why she is quite the badass with those dual knives. She was taken in as a young child due to her parents being either dead or missing, I don't remember. Brad was kind enough to take her in and raise her, and of course train her. Thus forming the Rose we see today.

Art (10)
I guess there's no surprise there, It is Ufotable after all.

Sound (9)
The Soundtracks being used for this anime are definitely the right ones. To the OP and ED (imo the OP and ED should've switched, but I'm guessing they're aiming for a different tone for the 2nd cour, which I'm totally ok with btw.) The nice orchestral soundtracks in the background intensifies each moment which adds a nice touch.

Enjoyment (8)
I did enjoy this as much as Season 1, heck, maybe even more. The action is quite nice and I do like some conversations between the characters. So I'm satisfied with that.

Overall (8)
This anime continues to be going at a steady pace. I'm glad that Ufotable took the game adaption with care (Although the game itself wasn't very good imo) But hey I'm liking this a bit more than Season 1 because of how the plot gets more interesting and thickens. Some characters are starting to show their true nature, and more problems begin to occur. I wonder how it'll turn out.

And with this, Sorey and his gang continues the adventure. Hoping to take down the cause of all the problems...

As someone who has played the games and now watched the anime I dont like some things they did to it.

Story 5/10
While I loved the game and its what got me into the series I have to rate the story of the anime a 5/10 because while season 1 was good with minor changes season 2 has gone into major filler and is skipping like half the story do to fitting it into 13 episodes.
While I appreciate the Berseria tie ins they have gone way out of there way to add them into it and there spoiling the whole story

Art/Sound 10/10
animation, character design, theme ... and background music is top tier

Characters 7/10
I love the characters but I feel like the anime has skipped over a lot mainly do to fitting 13 episodes which I think makes the character development kinda lacking.

Enjoyment 5/10
going into season 1 I was excited because like Ive said before I loved the game but after time went on it just kept getting less and less enjoyable to me. I guess its mainly because I had played the game and knew what would happen and excited to see it fully animated and when that didnt happen and it started to change and I didnt like a lot of what they changed but also liked a few things they added.

Overall 6/10
season 1 started good then it just went down from there.

The art surrounding the story is like a beautiful wedding dress surrounding a goat that was mauled to death by a bear last week.

This series gets the first 10 I've ever given for art, rounded up from 9,6 because the derpy faces of some characters could have looked better while the rest looks like it had the budget of an entire small nation. That's the only good thing about this insanely retarded mess worth praising.

Mr. Shepherd keeps clinging to his ideal that nobody should ever be killed and it gets ever more annoying as time passes. There are so many thousands of good examples of ... how refusal to do away with a souce of suffering and death results in absolute disaster that I won't even bother listing any. Yet this blockheaded colossal dork never even once has to make a tough choice because he is ALWAYS conveniently presented an option where he doesn't need to get his hands dirty, his disgusting aura of plot convenience even infects others.

As awful as the brain dead single track characters are the story is even more appalling, the first season was terrible but could have had some development that turned it into something mildly interesting if the second season had been the least bit clever. The main problem is that the stupid idea of "malevolence" is a core pillar and the story adamantly held onto it being a manifestation of crappy feelings and emo stuff from people and it can be "purified" by beating it up with magic, this is so childish I can't even find proper words to describe its idiocy. "Oh you're an evil person? Lemme just brutally slash you with my magic sword that does zero physical damage and you'll become a good person and totally won't become evil again only to ruin someone elses life, because your malevolence isn't part of you despite being part of you and stuff."

As if the above isn't bad enough the story also includes numerous plot holes of enough size to comfortably fit an apartment complex, three market stands and a community pool. No matter how low your expectations you will likely still be disappointed.

To clear things up, this is a review of Seasons 1 & 2, or better put "Tales of Zestiria the X" as a whole.
This review will not follow a typical format, I think everyone already knows that the art is great and that the sound is probably great too. As such I'll focus on everything wrong with the show.

So lets start by getting this out of the way:


Art: 9/10 , it's ufotable, I gave Fate/Zero a 10 and rated Garden of Sinners equally as high. Zestiria is still up to scratch, or though at times quality fluctuates slightly and just doesn't meet previous standards set ... by the studio.


Sound: 'Very good' 8/10, as a guitarist myself I could appreciate the slightly rockier OST parts and Flow is always great.

And now for where it goes wrong.

Story: 3/10. Honestly this didn't come as a surprise to me and nor I should think to anyone else familiar with the Tales Series, specifically Tales of Zestiria, that the story should be a convoluted mess. When I say convoluted, I don't mean that in the sense that there's so many intricacies that its impossible to follow the narrative, in fact the story is as boringly simple and cliché as you might expect from any run of the mill RPG, or a Tales game rated as low as Zestiria was. Instead the story is convoluted in a far worse sense, the characters are thrown around from place to place, meeting new and underdeveloped characters that are quickly thrown to the roadside for half the season only to return in just an episode or two and do nothing.
Minor Spoilers here, after coming to Lady Lake, Soray becomes the Shepherd in a rather underwhelming fashion (though the fight that ensues is fun to look at). After the fight he blacks out, and wakes up later in a palace bedroom. Some mild shipping then ensues with Alisha and then he buggers off to save the world and what have you.
That's basically the narrative, as from then on Soray migrates from place to place, picking up chicks who don't seem to like him like some crappy but extremely mild harem show. As he goes from place to place he also finds malevolence and predictably kills it, or rather purifies it because the Shepherd's above killing. I should mention there are plenty of subplots to break up the narrative here, which if handled right could've been a good and refreshing divergence from the narrative, but its not. After they head separate ways, the narrative will chop and change between Soray and his entourage and Alisha and her girl power posse, (which I will return to later). Like I said this could've been good for the show, however the way they do it, spending a few episodes here, cutting from the action to spend yet another few episodes developing unrelated characters you don't care about is infuriating. This really isn't helped by the fact that Alisha is the worst character in the show, something I'll reason out with you later.

The other bad thing the show does with the story is the random 2 episode (or maybe three, I struggle to remember) section covering the beginning events of Tales of Berseria. Now, I know what you're thinking, 'you stupid ruddy twat, Tales of Berseria is way better than Zestiria! How can it detract from the narrative? Well, quite simply. It's totally pointless. The events of the prequel to Zestiria (that's Berseria), especially the very beginning of Berseria, don't relate at all to what happens in Zestiria, not in a way that needs to give background to all the characters from Berseria. Mild Spoilers here, the end events of Berseria are the cause of the current issues going on in Zestiria, something that's all explained in about 10 seconds of exposition from the King of Rolance (Roland? I dunno) half way through season two. Ultimately this 40-60 minute escapade feels either like a cheap excuse not to adapt the infinitely better Tales of Berseria, or just the studio realising that the story sucked and that maybe if they stuck part of a better story half way through, the show would be improved. Well, it isn't. Given that for the story of Berseria to matter at all, you need to develop it waaaaay past the character introductions (of whom the only ones that matter are Mavin (Mayvin?) and Velvet anyway).

Without going into too much Season 2's plot in particular was rushed, a bit weird at times and diverted from the original plot slightly, sadly not for the better.

Enough of the story, lets move on to the greatest disappointment;

The Characters: A solid 2/10.

Now if I hadn't mentioned this earlier, most of you are probably thinking this will now turn into a multi-page bitching session about Soray and his cliché and predictable behaviour, lack of personality and plot armour. Well, you'd have been wrong.
However lets start with Soray anyway.

Soray: So, he's our protagonist, the Shepherd come to rid the world of evil yadah yadah. Honestly given the premise I already kind of knew exactly what he'd be like, and once the show confirmed that for me, I in turn knew his every decision and action that he'd take throughout the whole god damn story. Soray is a goody two shoes through and through, always taking the righteous and perceptibly good path. Now, characters that do this aren't always flat, boring and one dimensional characters, however for me to buy into them being like that I have to be given a viable reason for them being like that. To give you an example, Nino Kuni's Oliver. Now he is not by any means the most complex and well fleshed out character ever, far from it. However his situation is very similar to Sorays. Put into a new world (I use this term loosely, as for Soray going out of the Seraphim's village is essentially like entering a new world) and called the 'Pure-hearted one', or as Drippy says, the 'Puuuuuuueeeer-hearted one', Oliver is in a very similar situation to Soray. He is the savior who can mend broken hearts (basically like purifying) and rid the world of this unnatural suffering (basically malevolence). However Oli boy doesn't do this just because he's good like that. Mild Spoiler Warning- He went to this alternate world to save his mother, who he feels responsible for killing, having lied to her in order to escape her watchful eye and have some somewhat dangerous fun. This is a character drive that makes me believe that someone in Oli's position would do as he has done, and the fact that as he develops as a character in the new world, he gains other motivations to fulfilling his duty as the savior only adds to my ability to believe in the narrative. Soray has none of this kind of backstory or motivation. He grew up sheltered in a social paradise, and became the Shepherd because he's just that nice. It makes events like when he tries to stop people from killing clearly evil people in revenge for their crimes really freaking annoying. He just seems like an entitled brat that for what ever reason people do what he says and things just go his way.



The Seraphs: I'm treating these guys all as one character because otherwise there isn't enough to talk about. To be honest, the Seraphs aren't really characters, they're just ways in which the narrative can explain where Soray's powers come from, as well as acting as exposition dumping machines (especially Lailah). They're invisible to all except Soray and a few others and quite frankly could just be voices in Soray's head for all the difference they make to the narrative. The only exception might've been Edna with her somewhat more interesting subplot with her brother which may seem to indicate that seraphim are becoming dragons. Only issue is that she never says anything and that subplot goes nowhere, so in the end she's just as much as a sockpuppet as the rest of them are.

Rose: Rose was at times a more enjoyable character than the rest of the cast. She was developed, had reasons for what she did, and goals she was aiming for. At first I thought she was just meant to be another Alisha-esque token badass female lead to beat up a couple of grunts here and there. But as she was developed she was given viable reasons for her basically super-human skills when compared to others in universe.
I was happy with her character, until the end of her character arc when she basically became Soray's bitch and was totally uninteresting for the rest of the show, assuming similar ideals to Soray, forsaking her old ones and just basically being an emotional potato for the rest of the show.
I feel I should mention, malevolence is a basically a plot tool justifying Soray's ideals that all killing is bad no matter what as all it does is spread malice, lines that he shot off to Rose during her infinitely more interesting character arc that eventually collapsed it down to the aforementioned disappointing end we were left with.

No other characters really matter, even the villains (especially the villains), so as I saved the worst for last:

Alisha:
I really don't know whether to keep this short and sweet or just to furiously type words of hate until I get bored. I'll settle for something in between.
Alisha is one of the worst characters I've seen, ever, and whats worse, I really struggle to tell you why. Maybe there's just so much wrong that I gave up trying to decipher it all half way through, who knows.
If I were to sum up and list them though, I'd say;

-All of Soray's problems, namely goody two shoes, lack of personal motivation and plot armour.
-All of Rose's problems, without Rose's backstory, namely being an irritating token badass girl for the sake of being a female power statement (I'll explain myself later, I have no issue with strong/badass females in any media, my issue is with the way in which these characters are implemented as such and why I think they did his in the first place).
-Her own crappy backstory, if you can call it that.
-And the worst of all, is not actually an issue with Alisha herself, more with how everyone treats her, and how that affects her character development.

So, in order, and I'll try to be brief here: She shares all of the problems Soray had, self righteous attitude to everything, with no explanation as to why she is as she is. She also inherently has plot armour, so you know nothing life threatening is going to happen to her, at least until the very end (maybe). This includes being attacked by a tornado, then a dragon, then assassins (who by all rights should be far stronger than she is), as well as being stabbed through the stomach, apparently. All of these (and more occurrences later on) honest to God don't mean shit to her. She survives everything completely fine, and is up and about a few hours later, as if somebody's rusty iron blade hadn't just permeated her stomach lining a few hours earlier. Its irritating to say the least, but hey I'm used to plot armour by now that alone wouldn't kill it for me, so lets move on.


I'll skip what I said about Rose for now as that fits in better later on, so on to her crappy back story.
Well, to be blunt, she doesn't really have any, she's a princess, I guess. She was trained by some Brazilian-looking chick who has a massive rack, I guess. Oh oh, and she's not actually noble-blooded. Her mum was a commoner, and hence the court has mistreated her sob-sob fuck off. That's about it honestly. This alone is annoying enough, however the way we were first told about it somehow makes it worse. It was just casually thrown in there as a "by the way" kind of statement. Seems like the writers thought she might not be relatable enough, so they just threw that in because you know, from the bottom to the top stories are really relatable and endearing especially if the whole process of going from the bottom to the top was before you were born. This adds nothing to her character and only served to piss me off a little more. The way in which this was added kind of reminds of the way GATE (Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri) added to their protagonist, by listing his bullshit achievements in a totally casual way with absolutely no way of showing how he got them. At least in that show, cliché and PR filled as it may have been, the other characters had the suitable reaction of being pissed off at the bs themselves.

-And now the worst one. The way the other characters interact with her, the way everybody just goes along with it. You know what made Louise such an annoying character in Familiar of Zero? It wasn't her god awful attitude and bitchy nature, bad as they were. It was the fact that she got away with everything, everything always went her way.
The same is true for Alisha, though it isn't really her personality that I hate, as she doesn't have one. Its her ideals clashing with others, and everyone just going well fuck! She's totally right! On top of this the way the show portrayed anyone and anything with a less than perfect, or in-universe, less-than-Alisha way of looking at things is supposed to be totally corrupt and evil.
Case and point- Bartlow. Note that there will be spoilers here. For those who don't know, Bartlow is basically Alisha's antagonist, a somewhat minor villain who is the cause of most of Alisha's issues throughout the show. Now, true enough Bartlow's motives are clearly revealed to be a struggle for power towards the end of the first season and all through S2, as he is clearly after the throne. However at the very beginning when you are first introduced to him. He and Alisha are at odds. He wants to send soldiers to Rolance's(?) border as he is expecting war. Alisha says No! as clearly defending your border only breeds war. The subplot is as follows, Bartlow meets with the Scattered Bones, a group of assassins that only kill evil people and convinces them to off Alisha as she would sacrifice her own people for her ideals. They agree. Now the show presents this as the Bones being used to kill Alisha by the evil Bartlow, but quite frankly I absolutely agree with his motives. As far as I know, Bartlow is a man in position of power charged with defending his country from another powerful country that contains hostile factions. His actions make perfect logical sense, even having Alisha eliminated, as she really does threaten the nation's safety with her naivety. Alisha of course survived because of plot armour and dependence of Soray, and story moves on with Bartlow clearly meant to be the bad guy. Let me back up my point. For those that have watched the first season, think about the fight between Hyland and Rolance at the end of the season. Hyland's troops, as they approached their border were drawn into battle with Rolance, and then ambushed from behind their own border by another division of Rolance troops. Rolance clearly had planned to attack Hyland regardless of Alisha's or Bartlow's decision. Now, four things happen here that serve to make me hate Alisha even more. 1. Despite Rolance's actions she still goes to the commander in charge to stop the fighting. As a bonus she does deservedly get stabbed, but then 2. Plot armour! She's totally fine despite quite literally being gutted. 3. She is ultimately totally useless and needs Soray to save her country and her sorry ass. If you are confused what I mean by this, I'll explain. Rolance had successfully ambushed Hyland's forces, and Rolance's Generals were clearly very confident of victory. Taking that into account we can assume that Hyland would've lost and then next thing Alisha would know is that Rolance is knocking on Lady Lake's holier-than thou doors.
And 4. Despite all of that, she learns nothing, at all. Because she was saved by Soray she doesn't seem to think for even a second that maybe she was in fact wrong and should compromise with Bartlow. Nope, to her this is proof from the Gods above (or Seraphim or whatever) that she is truly righteous.

Now, I said I'd explain myself, and I will. Lets sweep the floor clean first. I am not sexist. Couldn't care less if a powerful character is male of female. However Alisha and her posse of overpowered peaches is exactly how you do female empowerment wrong. Add Soray to lord over them all and you've got a winning formula invalidating everything your character is and does, as well as pissing off half the audience.
To set it out, this is my issue with Alisha and her posse and why I find them so irritating. Other than them all thinking Alisha is God's own gift (I get that she's their princess, so I can forgive them that) they all share this certain dynamic in Alisha's command structure. All of her second in commands, as well as her 'master', are chicks who are inexplicably, insanely adept at killing things, as well as being physically stronger than any other trained knight on the battlefield. It doesn't make sense and the sheer abundance of it seen in this show is annoying. All of her men are just tools to look stupid and die pointlessly, temporarily making her feel bad until she thinks what would Soray do and then spouts some cheesy one liner. In fact its instances like the ones when a bunch of her men die after she tells them not to kill any of her characters that makes what Bartlow said to the Scattered Bones at the start so true, and the fact that there is never any come-upance or reckoning for Alisha is too hard to swallow.
Back to topic, its a difficult thing to explain, but the majority of women in this series don't feel like powerful characters in their own right (or even characters in their own right), instead it seems like they are tokens, stuck in there for the sole purpose of putting some strong females in the script, except that they're not because Soray is the only one who can get shit done apparently. It's annoying, pointless and poorly thought out. Rose is a character done well in this manner, if not done well overall. Alisha and her posse are there to satisfy the modern political correctness in anime that girls have to be powerful, except when they're not.
In the end its an accumulation of fairly minor details like this that just multiply the effect and make Alisha such a poor character, in her own right and through the interactions with those she surrounds herself with.


Well, I'm done. Seems like this review turned into more of a messy dump than I thought it would, but I hope by this point you got the gist.

Overall this series gets a 5/10, mediocre. The only reason for this being the sound and art. I personally care a lot about animation and sound design in anime, if I didn't I'd read manga or light novels, however as it stands I do care, and that is the only reason this show rates as high as it does for me.

Now, this was my first review, so critique is welcome.
Cheers.

Does doing a necessary evil still make you good?, can you ever eliminate all evil?

The second season of Tales of Zestiria the X was for LA a decent improvement from the first season merely since the first season was essentially setting everything and LA does EVERYTHING up, from it's characters, settings, major plotlines and slight character developments, the second season more or less gives resolutions to many of those major plotlines that was established in the first season.

So this second season is much more character heavy and LA says this in a good way as we focus on two of the major characters that already ... established some character arcs from the first season, Rose and Alisha. Rose is up first and is about her revenge to which her beliefs of doing a necessary evil makes her evil or not and obviously this goes in conflict with Sorey's beliefs because of it and to be honest, Rose was greatly developed in this second season because of it, not only because she causes conflict to the main protagonist but her beliefs also make Sorey question his own venture of wanting to purify all malevolence. Rose was given the entire backstory department and to WHY she wants revenge and why you can sympathize with her to root for her revenge as well as helping some characters revolving around her, mainly Dezel voiced by Daisuke Ono and why he's pushing Rose to her goal of revenge, like if anything, the second season really devoted half of the second season to Rose and again this isn't a bad thing, she was fleshed out and for LA, she was the best developed character in the series because of it, no kidding, now onto one of LA's favorite characters, Alisha, well her character arc that was still going on from the first season was due to her ideological and political conflict between the asshole Bartlow and it ends pretty swiftly compared to how fleshed out Rose's debacle but nonetheless Alisha's resolution to the political struggle was finally ended...even though it was kinda an anticlimax especially to Bartlow's demise, just come on, not even a satisfying death!!!, anyways Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season definitely improved in the character department and more or less kept LA"s investment in the series that much better, nonetheless Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season had some flaws, much like it's first season.

With it's character development, Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season definitely added more to it's world building, much like it's first season did, like Sorey and the rest of the gang though split up, develop their world building, be it a new country and their problems with the malevolence and better yet we at least get more development to Sorey and his powers and how it extends to the seraphims and his new appointed squires and how they operate towards Sorey being the Shepherd and they played around with it and utilized it later on to great effect. Also something that LA criticized the first season about the entire subplotline of Velvet Crowe FINALLY goes full circle in a ways and is something of world building backstory revolving around malevolence in general which GREATLY helped and LA is sure Velvet has her own game to be the main protagonist in so Velvet not getting involved in this second season, LA can see why, but the flavour text helps nonetheless.

So this second season has the occasional pacing problems but LA will defend this flaw by at least saying the character arcs developing and fleshing out it's characters was much appreciated. Like LA aforementioned from Alisha's anticlimax towards Bartlow, well to be honest due to Sorey's beliefs causes almost all the anticlimaxes, yes including Rose's due to his involvement and heck LA might as well say that Sorey as a character is rather annoying, always holier than thou and pacifistic white knight-like nature deflates ALOT of the character arc climaxes, BUT at least whenever it involves the hellion and dragon fights, those climaxes are at least balances it out, but the anticlimaxes still can't be ignored. Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season also felt liked it was almost rushing towards it's final arc involving the Lord of Calamity as well but that a bit later. Finally would be since Tales of Zestiria goes into classic RPG style, it's villains are also the same, Rose's villain to Bartlow were comically the typical royal douchebag villain characters ESPECIALLY BARTLOW for how much of scumbag asshole he is and they are just evil, nothing else, kinda weird since the LORD OF CALAMITY seemed to have less of an "evil for evil sakes", than the human villains, yeah even though the villainy department of the anime is cliche and typical...LA REALLY can't defend this flaw in any way. The second season's flaws don't completely cripple the anime as it's strengths still hold up for LA at least but it feels a bit more pronounced in this season as well.

The animation done once again by ufotable, well it's typical, well detailed and extremely blended CGI at it's finest, LA really doesn't need to say much as it's basically the same criticism LA talked about in LA's first season, crisp and distinct character designs, awesomely done battles, well executed CGI, utofable consistent quality, what else.

Now here's something different, LA looked at the English dub by Funimation and yeah there isn't much to really say about this dub, LA really liked, it, almost felt seamless from the Japanese, having the inflictions and cadences of the majority of the characters their due, Robbie Daymond as Sorey for LA was a bit hard to used to as his cadence wavered and fluctuated at times but Robbie grew on LA later on. LA watched the dub for about half the second season then switched to the last half to Japanese just to see if it was seamless and it was. LA will give major props to BOTH Mikako Komatsu and Caitlin Glass as Rose as she was the best MVP of this second season due to her character arc and of course LA will give Alexis Tipton and Ai Kayano as Alisha major props as well. BOTH Japanese and English dub casts was great and LA would say to watch on either and especially for dub, they pretty much reprised their video game counterparts so there's that too so a decent A rank for the dub.

So the finale, or more or less Sorey and the rest of the gang ACTUALLY facing off with the Lord Calamity and we get some backstory to how he came to be and again he was a much more sympathetic villain than the human villains, the fight against him was crazy while still holding to Sorey's beliefs and the game's beliefs with that fight and though the final fight lead into a "sorta" anticlimax the fight was nonetheless awesome. Now this goes into the ending and it was something of a sombre ending giving us a full conclusions to the main cast as it were, BUT those final moments of the series made it kinda a "cliched happy ending" but the ending left on a good note anyways.

Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season massively improved from it's second season with it's greatly fleshed out characters of Rose and Alisha and the conflict of beliefs towards Sorey and just made the investment to watching the anime that much better and engaging, but from this came an onslaught of anticlimaxes and somewhat nearly rushed pacing at times, cliched royal asshole villains but LA can give this second season some grace as it's strengths of greatly fleshed out character development, world building and awesome battles and production value typical from ufotable and a decent nicely tied up ending that outweighed it's weaknessness.

Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season got zestier for sure but gotten it's own new set of flaws different from it's first season as a result and LA stands by ufotable with this adaptation of Tales of Zestiria as a whole, it was nicely adapted, sure it has flaws but the experience watching the both seasons was still satisfying for someone who's never played ANY Tales games left a good impression on LA and LA WANTS to play the games and if that was the mindset of LA after watching a video to anime adaptation was LA wanting to play the games and liked the anime adaptation afterwards, then it did it's job and Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season did it's job very well.

This is my first time reviewing an anime. I decided to review this one because i have played the game, both berseria and zestiria, and try to compare it with the game. Without further ado, here it goes

Story: 7/10
I really like the story in the anime, compared to the game, which i will not spoil. It takes a different route compared to the story which in my opinion is very fresh and great, and no certain someone is booted from anywhere. It goes very steadily at the first 10 episodes. However, when you talk about the pacing in the last 3 episodes, the pacing seems ... rushed, forcing you towards the end. Normally i don't like taking too long in the episodes, but for Zestiria's pacing before the last 3 episodes, it should've take longer. Maybe another season would be nice, but that's my opinion. I like the Berseria tie-ins very VERY much, but i feel like ufotable is mocking me with all the reference. Berseria is through and through a prequel to the series, so in my opinion, the events must be explained, at least until i understand what's going on. There's even a chance in the episodes where everything can be explained by a single person, yet the anime completely ignores it.

Art 10/10 Sound 8/10
This is an ufotable anime, so this level of quality of art and sound is expected. The art is very detailed and visual effects are superb, a very movie-like quality. The sound, compared to other ufotable works, is good, but not as a good compared as Fate/zero or Kara no Kyoukai.

Character 8/10
The characterization in this anime is actually better than the game. You can see progress seeping out of each of the main characters. And, no one is just booted out like that from the party, which is nice. Each character is not boring, even the secondary characters gets their chance to shine.

Enjoyment 8/10
I thoroughly had fun while watching this. I had my moments of "Holy cow! this is awesome!" Mainly because of the story goes and the visual effects. Also, the pacing is also one of my main reasons why i enjoyed it. It steadily goes on grabbing your hand and telling the events very nicely. It also steadily tells the story by getting very good build-ups and very calming cooldows in a couple of episodes. Once again, these last 3 episodes did not have a good build up, especially nearing the end, and that decreases the enjoyment in my opinion.

Overall score:8/10
All in all, this anime is very good, refreshing, and a superb experience to those who like the fantasy series. Ufotable has done this series justice, and the studio has made this anime a superior version of the game, in my opinion. So, overall, i like this anime and has made a good impression for fans of the game such as i.

Thank you for reading

Note:
English is not my primary language, so there may be errors in the review grammar wise. Everything is subject of improvement and will improve in the next review i make.

(UH-OH, FIRST EVER REVIEW INCOMING)
The first season of Tales of Zestria the X was something that I had enjoyed as much as I thought I would. The visuals were as expected from ufotable, the sound was appropriate, the characters were defined well enough and, most of all, the threats and challenges presented to the characters (specifically the lord of calamity, dragons, and the strain that purifications put on Sorey) were shown to be something that the new, inexperienced heroes couldn't even TRY challenging. The show's world, logic, and power differentials between characters were all well established and I was decently excited to watch this ... new series. What even happened between then and now? Keep in mind that I will constantly be mentioning the last season, and will not explain anything that that season did, so watch that before this, m'kay? Mm'kay.

Story: well, i gave it a 4
The last season's story set up a large, epic adventure that could easily span several seasons beyond this, though it was quite cliched. However, that shouldn't have mattered, as the one thing the Tales series is known for above all else is their strong main cast of characters that get better as they get time to develop. Despite this, this series starts off at a slow, boring pace that somehow manages to brush past the setup of last season and ends up with the entire thing being way too rushed and arriving at a conclusion way before it actually earns it. The dragons, malevolence, and Lord of Calamity were all impossibly powerful in comparison to our new Shepard, but in the span of less than a month, he can somehow (DO SOMETHING THAT IS CONSIDERED SPOILER TERRITORY) without any meaningful effort. I'll get into Sorey when that section comes. For now, I'll just say that I was at least able to force myself through the show, and I have a pretty low tolerance for bull, so do with that as you will.

Art: 8. Yeah, ufotable was slacking
I was not impressed by the art at all (btw, I consider the visual part of the OP to be art, as well as other things that have to do with directing, as there isn't really a section for that on MAL's review guidelines). Of course, it did look good, but it was much more boring bland, and stiff that what I've come to expect from ufotable. The fights and such were usually spectacular, with the CGI integration being a bit inconsistent, with it sometimes being good, and other times looking not very good. The other scenes (you know, 70% of the show), had no visual style or flair and made me want to skip them. There were no longer any beautiful backgrounds or interesting indoor sets to look at while the characters just sat around, it was excruciating. The OP was significantly worse that the last seasons's, in my opinion. I just didn't have anything interesting to look at. I skipped it almost every time. The ED, however, I never skipped. It looked very good when it was moving and the still shots made me feel like they were trying to convey something about what they were showing. It also reflected the darker tone of this season compared to the last one, as the entirely chill and heartwarming ED of last season was replaced with shots of the characters struggling to fight against their foes and showing their unwillingness to back down. Speaking of the last ED, there are several shots and scenes in the show that mirror it and have the same sort of tone, which I really like. I also love how they integrate those random conversations from the games into their next episode previews. As a fan of the series (albeit a minor one), I was ecstatic that they included those.The score for art still is high because of the brief but constant scenes of fantastic looking action, which is the least that I expect from ufotable.

Sound: oh god. (2)
It's so bad. I personally didn't like the OP song at all. The ED managed to keep me occupied enough, as it is FLOW, who rarely disappoint me. The reason this is so low, though, is due to how the music was used in scenes. These "epic" scenes of the Shepard and his comrades fighting off there great evils are undermined by music that just doesn't do anything but act as background noise. It;s absolutely ATROCIOUS in some places. The sound effects weren't even good, this being in the same season as Youjo Senki, which had no problems at all in this department, with every attack feeling powerful and significant. The voice acting was good out of the main cast, with nobody from the main eight having poor of slacking VAs, but they didn't really try to stand out or do especially amazing. They put the requisite amount of work in. The other VAs were not as solid. there were some moments that they simply didn't do a good job, along with one or two slip ups from the main cast as were. I'll let you decide when, where, and who.

Character: what a disappointment. 6/10
The one reason that this section was doomed from the start is how rushed the story moves along. The only two characters with any meaningful growth were Rose and Dezel. My favorite character, Edna, only got two lines regarding advancements in her subplot. Sorey had some well done development In the first season with him changing from a naive kid to a naive kid with a thorough understanding of the hardships that he is destined to deal with, and that he cannot deal with the Age of Calamities by himself. It was made VERY clear that Sorey and his comrades were not very strong in the grand scale of things. He was ready to grow drastically into a very good character, or act as an anchor to the other character's development, but no. The other characters get NOTHING. The closest to development that the other's get is Lailah with her backstory that only references her in name. With this it's obvious that the story changed from the game. A tales game would never let their characters stay as they are,

Enjoyment: 4. I have to wait until Apr 29 until I can finally say i'm done with this series? Ugh.

Overall: 5
5 is not bad. 7 is not average, 5 is. a 5/10 is simply not worth watching. A 7/10 is what is expected from a series that people are expected to watch. The only reason this number doesn't round down is due to the action's visuals and how much I enjoy the banter between the characters from the last season. Anyway, thanks for reading, even if you just skipped until here. If there is anything you happen to want to point out or discuss, go ahead and message me, assuming this site has that feature. I don't actually know. Also message me if you thing I can improve my reviews, i appreciate your time.

Watching this as someone who had played both of the games it is based on, I can safely say that this anime is better sequel to Tales of Berseria than the eponymous game.

That said there are a few very jarring inconsistencies between the story here and the story of ToB. I will not describe them here to avoid spoilers but let's just say that, among other things, Zaveid would not be happy to discover that dragons can in fact be purified.

The story is also quite different from the Tales of Zestiria game, especially in this season, where pretty much the only common point is ... Sorey defeating the bad guy. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I would have loved to see some of the other locations and plotlines from the game, though that would require a longer run that the 25 episodes.

As for the characters, I think that they were majorly improved compared to the game. I know that a lot of reviewers consider them to be pretty weak, but as someone who spent the 50+ hours necessary to complete the game I was overjoyed to find that Mikleo and Dezel were actually given personalities. The only one who was downgraded was Edna, who spent the entire game snarking at everyone and there is seriously not enough of that in the anime.

The art and sound are both amazing and the pace picks up a bit compared to the first season. I honestly can't judge the anime from the position of someone unfamiliar with the lore, so I can't say whether they would like it, but if you played ToB and want to know what happened with the world afterward, give it a watch. It's shorter than the game at least.

This is my first time reviewing Anime and i am no critic this is just my opinion on what i have seen also this review is for both season 1 and 2 of Tales of Zestiria the X

Story is 6 for me cause this version of the story had better character development than the game but i am mostly talking about Alisha i liked that she was more involved here unlike in the game where she's not present in the final parts of the game like she suddenly turned into a minor character other than that the story is decent enough but not enough to ... blow out the story of the game all together

Art is a 8 I loved Ufotable's animation enough said

Sound is an 8 as well the music in the game was used here and i believe some new tracks which is great and i loved Flow's opening and ending theme

character is a 6 like what i said in the story segment i loved that Alisha is more involved in the story and she stuck around until the finale but the others are mediocre at best as other than Alisha the rest of the cast are not as developed as their game counterparts

Enjoyment is a 9 cause Unlimited Budget works and Flow

Overall is a 7 for me i'ts a decent anime to watch and it had so much potential to totally beat the game counterpart which was mediocre but fails and only barely goes into a good adaptation as it felt it was too short if this was given at least 3 seasons instead of two it would have been more time to developed the characters and the story itself another thing why this is a 7 and not lower because this has nice tie-ins with Berseria and i love that game but god that last episode of season 2 was so rushed this could have been an 8 if they gave us an awesome ending and if the last episode had at least an hour to tie up lose ends instead we have this to short final fight and rushed ending sequence they should just given this series three seasons or 2 seasons but with 24 episodes each

thank you for the time to read my review hopefully it was good enough and if my english is bad i apologize it is only my second language i am not very good at it i would recommend this anime but to fully enjoy this i'ts a must lower your expectations other than that have a nice day/night and peace

Tales of Zestiria second season
Slight spoilers mainly in character analysis.

Tales of Zestiria the x2 is the second season of the Tales of Zestiria the x-anime series that was adapted from the game series of the same name. This season continues to expand upon both of what was established in the game itself and what was introduced and expanded upon in the previous season. As I have yet to complete the game that acts as the anime’s source material I have no idea whether it still follows the game or not but in any case, this season continues the journey that Sorey ... and his seraph friends embarked upon in the previous season as they try to stop the lord of calamity from bringing eternal darkness and despair to the land.

While the previous season was largely set in the country of Hyland this season features much more different countries and environments that Sorey and his party get to visit. These include the country that served as the enemy last season which is the Rolance empire and the northern lands of the continent. While the main story itself is still very much focused on stopping the lord of calamity the anime’s story also has a number of subplots that are interlinked between the main plot and have consequences in the main plot.

The overall plot of Tales of Zestiria the X2 like the previous season follows the adventures of Sorey the newest incarnation of the Shepard an ancient hero that has the ability to both see and interact with spiritual beings called Seraphs and use these beings to aid him in battle. The main role of a Shepard is to cleanse instances of malevolence that have taken root in the world and to ultimately confront the source of it which is the lord of calamity. While the first season served to establish both the world that this series takes place in as well as establish the individual characters and their respective skills and personalities with relation to their roles in the party this season was more focused on dealing with the effects that the malevolence has had on various people and closing in on the source of this which is the lord of calamity. In addition to the main plot this season also has a number of sub plots that help establish characters that have already appeared in the series while also changing some so that their roles in the story are better.

Sorey

Sorey played by veteran voice actor Ryouhei Kimura of Angel Beats fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the protagonist of the story. A kind, honest and caring person that tries to believe in the best of humanity Sorey is an adamant believer in diplomacy and prefers to converse with others to try and stop conflicts with diplomacy rather than settle them with physical might. Even before Sorey become a shepherd Sorey could see the spiritual beings known as seraphs that inhabitant the world alongside that of humans. While kind and positive Sorey is also a determined person that doesn’t tolerate injustice of any kind and will try to stand up for those that are too weak to do it themselves. While preferring to avoid combat Sorey is however still an able combatant that can easily knock out enemies quite easily. As a shepherd Sorey takes his duties seriously and perhaps a little too seriously. When confronted with impurities that are caused by the malevolence Sorey will always try to purify them even when the alternative of ending their lives would have been many times easier. In a way, this personality trait of his is what defines Sorey and makes him really stand out. Sorey is someone that values friendship and dialogue more than others and as a result he is someone that can get on well with most people no matter which country they are from. This is helped by the fact that Sorey is an understanding person that tries to understand what ails a person. In the previous season Sorey was very much still learning about his role as a shepherd. As a result, Sorey at that time was more brash in his actions yet at the same time somewhat reluctant and hesitant in his new role with regards to purification.

Though this season takes place only a few weeks after the first season ended we can see that in this season we can see that Sorey has grown more confident in his role as a shepherd and yet at the same time developed a sense of caution that tampers his love of exploration and the taking of risks. The reluctance that seemed to bother Sorey though not actually gone has been replaced with a determination to find out what caused the lord of calamity to be borne and deal with that to protect the world. Abilities wise in the second season Sorey has been shown to be much more proficient in his use of weapons and using the abilities of his allies when he armatizises with his seraph allies.

Rose

Rose voiced by veteran seiyuu Mikako Komatsu of Re creator’s fame is one of the main characters of the series and one of Sorey’s allies in the story. While Rose was a support character in the first season in this season she is given more of a main role as she is important to the story. A young woman that Sorey and co encounter back in the first season Rose was a part of a large guild of merchants that often sold their wares in different locations due to the fact that the continent that they were on was in the middle of a war. Because of this profession Rose was a cheerful, positive and polite person that was also a bit sneaky. However, beneath this positive personality of hers was another personality that she adapted when she became an assassin. In this alternate personality Rose is logical, serious and lethal and only cares about fulfilling her mission. In this we can see that Rose actually takes a lot of pride in her work as an assassin. Rose is someone that believes heavily in the idea of justice and as a result is someone that can’t tolerate people that flaunt the law which also expands to those in power as to her their positions give them the means of circumventing the law. Back in the first season Rose was one person that didn’t completely believe in Sorey’s role as a shepherd yet at the same time she was able to sense the existence of a spirit near her. In this season after the events of the first season we can see that Rose now believes that Sorey really is the shepherd though she also uses every opportunity to use him to help her business.

One aspect of Rose that was hinted upon back in the first season and expanded upon in this season was how popular and how respected she is by the merchants that she crosses paths with and how they are akin to a family than anything. One of the subplots that forms a part of the series narrative is one that shows Rose’s past and what her childhood was like. This subplot I felt was really well done as it allowed us as the viewers to see what Rose’s childhood was like and what caused her to turn into the person that she is now. This act also helped introduce Rose to the work that Sorey does and helped reaffirm the faith that she had lost in humanity as a result of what had happened in her childhood. All in all, I felt that Rose as a character was well designed and it was nice seeing her character evolve as the series went on. I felt that her seiyuu Mikako Komatsu really did a fantastic job portraying her.

Lailah

Lailah voiced by veteran seiyuu Noriko Shitaya of Fate Stay Night fame is one of the main characters of the series and is a seraph companion of Sorey and one of his chief advisers. A long living seraph that had served the previous shepherd before coming to serve Sorey Lailah is a kind, caring and wise person whose long life means that she has seen a great many things and has acquired a great deal of knowledge of various matters. Despite being centuries old Lailah still looks someone that’s in the early days of adulthood. As the senior seraph within Sorey’s party Lailah often acts as the voice of reason and calm for Sorey and advises him on the best path and course of action that can be taken. Patience and warm are perhaps the best words that can be used to describe her. In the first season Lailah’s main role was to tamper the inexperienced Sorey and introduce him to the role of a shepherd slowly while making sure that he is learning. Now that Sorey has gained a degree of experience in his role and more understanding of his role ins season 2 Lailah’s role is more like an adviser than a teacher yet her knowledge is still something that the cast relies on. Like all seraphs Lailah is also an able combatant with her attack style making use of pages from a book that she uses that uses the element of fire to enhance her attacks. This I felt was a nice match to both her personality as a wise and long-lived person and her status as a fire seraph. I felt that Noriko Shitaya really did a good job portraying the character of Lailah.

Mikleo
Mikleo voiced by veteran voice actor Ryota Osaka of Valvrave The liberator fame is one of the main characters of the series and is one of Sorey’s seraph companions and allies. A childhood friend of Sorey as they grew up in the seraph village together Mikleo’s character is a contrast to Sorey’s character both in terms of attitude and in personality. Mikleo is a calm, level headed and considerate person that prefers to observe situations and consider all possible outcomes to a situation before making his move. As a result of this personality Mikleo serves as another of Sorey’s advisers alongside that of Lailah. As childhood friends Mikleo has a very strong bond of friendship with Sorey and while there are often times when they don’t see eye to eye on certain matters they always ended up resolving this when Sorey’s hunches proved to be correct. Back in the first season it become apparent that except for Sorey Mikleo doesn’t hold humanity in general in high regards and as a result does not place much trust in them as he believes that they can be corrupted far too easily.

Though his meetings with characters like Alisha and Rose and in this season with the king of Roland have done much to show him that perhaps within the race are humans that have a strong enough personality and determination that will enable them to stand strong against the malevolence Mikleo’s views have so far only changed a little. Still while still early it is nice to see that Mikleo as a result of this has managed to forge friendships with both Alisha and Rose. A recurring event that continues from the first season is the little byplay and arguments that take place between Mikleo and his fellow seraph Edna that stems from the fact that at first Edna did not respect him that much and often lumped tasks to him. However, in this season while certainly still present the battles that both have been through as they protected Sorey have managed to forge a bond between the two that allows them to respect the skills of each other. While the bickering between the two is still present it’s far less seen and instead in its place it is a bond that is built on trust.

Edna

Edna voiced by veteran seiyuu Misato Fukuen of Aokana Four Rhythm across the blue and Darker Than Black fame is one of the main characters of the anime and is one of Sorey’s seraph allies. A young woman of somewhat short stature that however has a personality that contrasts her appearance. Personality wise Edna is a quiet, blunt and direct person who isn’t afraid of speaking her mind to matters. However, this doesn’t mean that she is heartless or cruel as when Edna is warmed up to someone she can be warm and compassionate to them as well. Like most seraphs Edna has lived for a great many years and as a result she has had the opportunity the observe the human race and its progress that it’s made over the years. As a result of these actions Edna did not have a very high opinion of human’s due to their actions that caused her brother to become a dragon. In the previous season Edna had a notable personality trait which was the fact that she had a dislike of humans in general which often caused her to be rather icy towards them when she encounters them. As a result of the actions that she has seen them do both in the previous season and in this season however her opinion of them has changed quite a bit and now it can be seen that she has developed a sense of respect for them. I felt that her seiyuu Misato Fukuen did a great job portraying the character of Edna.


Dezel

Dezel voiced by veteran voice actor Daisuke Ono of Denpa Kyoushi and Attack on Titan fame is one of the main characters of the series and is one of Sorey’s seraph allies. A seraph with the ability to manipulate the power of the wind Dezel is a character that’s been Rose’s shadow and protector since she was little and in a way, shares a deep bond with her. Though a quiet person by nature Dezel shares many of the traits that define Rose’s personality such as her determination, tenacity and most importantly her belief in justice and the desire to bring justice to those that have avoided it due to their rank and position. Though a seraph and an ally of Sorey and the party Dezel’s most important duty that he sees is the protection of Rose which is borne out of an agreement that he had made with Rose’s adaptive father Brad. Though usually quiet and not one that can be seen to take part in rash actions there are times when Dezel can get angry enough with someone that he slips his personality bounds and when in this mode he can be overly aggressive. For the most part, however this is very rare and his default personality is a quiet and reserved person who only speaks when he has something useful to say. Dezel’s most prominent trait is of course loyalty to both Rose and to Sorey and while the former is probably the strongest one the latter is still just as strong. Though Sorey and Dezel did not have much interaction in the previous season it can be seen that in this season Dezel has at last developed a bond that is built on a degree of trust as both want Rose to have a happy life which can’t happen until the source of evil in the world which is the lord of calamity is dealt with.


Alisha

Alisha voiced by veteran seiyuu Ai Kayano of Anohana and School live fame is one of the main characters of the series and one of Sorey’s human allies. A teenage girl and the daughter of the king of Hyland which makes her a princess Alisha is very loyal to her country and its people. Her loyalty to the people and country however has made her a problem for some of its politicians who look down on her beliefs and her loyalty to the people and as a result Alisha often finds herself dealing with them. Personality wise Alisha is a kind, caring and honorable young woman that can also be stubborn when she tries to help people. This trait of hers is one of the many things that I admire about her. The personality traits of Alisha’s and the fact that she actively cares about the people means that much of her countries people actually respect her and look up to her as a shining example of what a ruler should be. Although not a seraph and not having special abilities like they and Sorey have Alisha is still a capable fighter because as part of her training as a princess she was also trained as a knight by some of the best knights within the kingdom. In terms of martial might Alisha is well versed in the use of the spear and can fight reasonably well by herself.

Though not explored as such in the previous season the sub story arc that was created for Alisha in this season also highlighted and introduced several traits that also helped define her character. In the previous season Alisha’s belief in the existence of Seraphs and in the existence of Shepherds served as part of her motivation for her actions but in doing so this also made her look inadequate in the face of the threats that Sorey and the others had to deal with. As a result of seeing her determination to help people and also help them as well Alisha and Sorey through Lailah established a pact in which she is able to both see seraphs and also have some of the power that Sorey has in merging with them. though only usable in times when Sorey and Alisha fight together this makes Alisha more capable in providing support to Sorey especially in the later parts of this season. While on her own she is still a capable combatant I thought that it was nice seeing Alisha get the extra offensive power that this ability provided.

As a result of the sub arc that was used in this season Alisha and her men found themselves pursued by a vastly superior enemy force that beats them in both numbers and equipment and as a result Alisha and her men had to use creative tactics to stay one step ahead of them in order to achieve their goals. In this we can see that while an dependable leader Alisha is also one that can inspire and command loyalty within her men while at the same time remaining both determined and resolute in her beliefs. Arguably the most important of her traits is her restraint in that while killing the one mastermind behind the troubles in her kingdom may have been the wisest and perhaps easiest choice it will however not be the best choice as the effects that it can have can be unpredictable. Being able to think of the after effects to both the kingdom and her people and not just the initial effects is what truly defines her. All in all, I felt that Alisha was a pretty well-designed character and that her seiyuu Ai Kayano really did a great job portraying her.


Ian and Sirel

Ian and Sirel voiced by new seiyuu Yuri Ehara and veteran seiyuu Masumi Tazawa are support characters and are fellow knights of Alisha that serve as her trusted subordinates. As knights of Hyland’s military both are extremely skilled in combat despite their young age with Ian being an expert archer and Sirel being a capable swordswoman. As with all of Alisha’s men both Ian and Sirel are very loyal to their princess and respect her a great deal. While neither has encountered Sorey before it can be seen that both believe in the legend of the shepherd and as such both though skeptical of his abilities to a degree still believe that he has the ability to restore order back to this world. Arguably both of these characters bring to the plot a degree of comedy to the series as despite being friends they often argue with each other about the most trivial of matters often involving Alisha in their arguments as well.


Previous Shepard

The previous shepherd who had the name of Michael who was voiced by veteran voice actor Satoshi Hino of Naruto and Overlord fame is a support character of the series that is nonetheless an important character for the main plot. Michael was a shepherd and was the direct predecessor of Sorey and was Lailah’s previous master to which she also acted as an adviser. It is through his hard work that the world was able to enter a period of peace before the darkness once again returned. From what can be seen of his personality Michael appears to be a calm, honorable and compassionate man that cares a great deal about people and life whether its human or seraph. He also seems to value loyalty and honesty among not just his friends but also his allies and expects the same from them to him as well. As a result of these qualities of him it can be seen that Michael was well loved by much of the people and that they had a great deal of respect for him. Although Sorey never actually met Michael as he was deceased long before Sorey came into the world Sorey was able to understand a little about his personality thanks to Lailah and it can be seen that Sorey had a degree of respect for him as like him he too fought for a world where humans and Seraphs can live in peace with each other. In terms of impact I felt that the idea to introduce the previous shepherd into the story in an idea to allow not just Sorey but the rest of cast as well to determine the origin of the main villain was an interesting move and one that succeeded from a story writers view.

Sergei and Gouldman

Sergei Strelka and Gouldman who are voiced by veteran voice actors Hideyuki Hori and Kentarou Itou are two support characters that Sorey and party meet during their visit to the Rolance empire. Both are knights of the country that are both loyal, steadfast and command great loyalty upon their men. Though both are knights Sergei and Gouldman actually serve different knight orders with one being in the military and one serving the church. The age-old rivalry that exists between a state and a church that is not commonly seen in anime is here cleverly put in. Though both are loyal to the country it can be seen that this can work in two ways as the church being the spiritual heart of a country can also be called the heart of the country much like the monarchy that rules the kingdom can be seen as well. The two characters while disliking each other do however respect each other and the contrast between the two was interesting to see. With regards to their interaction with Sorey Sergei at first viewed him with a little suspicion and perhaps hostility as to him he was someone that was powerful yet an unknown that had helped defeat his countrymen in battle. However, this hostility and suspicion was gradually replaced by a sense of respect and gratitude as Sergei was able to see just what kind of work Shepherds like Sorey were doing on behalf of the people. Overall these two characters I felt were good additions to the cast as they showed that no matter which country you are in there will always be people that are both loyal and patriotic to their country yet still remain true to their king and lord and retaining their sense of honor. The angle of the government vs the church though not often seen in animes was an interesting thing to put in as was seeing the church get humiliated by both Sorey and the king.

Lord of Calamity

The lord of calamity voiced by veteran voice actor Takayuki Sugou is one of the main characters of the series and is the main villain of the anime. Though only seen briefly back in the first season the lord of calamity is very much expanded in this season both in terms of role and personality. Back in the first season the Lord of calamity was mainly used to show the difference in power that lay between him and Sorey at that time. Though only seen briefly we can see that at this point the lord of calamity’s personality is that of a menacing being that has an aura of menace in him while also conveying a sense of power and arrogance. It can be seen at this point that he considers not just Sorey but that of both seraphs and humans alike to be beings that are beneath him. It can also be seen that at this point his opinion of Sorey was not particularly high at this point. In This season, however the personality of the Lord of calamity is expanded upon significantly due to him being the main villain for the main plot. In this season, you can see that the lord of calamity is while still arrogant and menacing also displays a level of cunning and intelligence that makes him a powerful villain that’s not just powerful in terms of might but also in mind as well. Though he values loyalty in his subjects this is outweighed by his overriding goal to bring the world to its knees to the point where he will willingly sacrifice his own subjects if it means that he will gain an advantage even a temporary one.

As a central part of the main plot for this season it was important that the main villain of the series as the lord of calamity was be fleshed out and given a personality that makes him stand out among the many evil characters that Sorey and Co must deal with. While the lord of calamity was briefly shown in the previous season not much of his personality was explored and as such while certainly a threat he was still an unknown. The insight into his personality as provided by the main plot of this season was interesting as was the look into his past and the events there that shaped him into what he would later become. I felt that this season really did a great job of showing the origins of the lord of calamity and established him as a villain that though evil was more of one that become what he was by his actions that was of his own doing than anything.

Arts and animation

In terms of art I felt that the character designs for the series was pretty well done with each being largely faithful to the original source material. The designs for the new environments that the cast go through in this season which was the Rolance empire and the northern lands I felt were also well done and looked pretty different to what we had seen in the kingdom of Hyland. Additionally, the insight into the time period where both the previous shepherd Michael and the being that later become the lord of calamity both existed as humans was interesting as it allowed us to see what outfits people wore at the time. Animation as ever I felt was excellent as can be expected of the creators of Fate Stay Night. The fight scenes for this season I felt was pretty well done and had a good level of detail on them. This season also featured more purification scenes for Sorey and the cast with them notably getting larger as they have to deal with larger creatures. These scenes I felt were pretty detailed and featured a good mix of colors that contrasted nicely with the areas in which they took place in.

Music

Music for the series I felt was reasonably strong with both the opening and ending themes being my favorites. Individual scene music was also nicely done. The opening theme was which the song illuminate that was sung by veteran seiyuu Minami I felt was really grand and did a good job of creating a sense of excitement for the episode as you enter its world once more. The ending theme which was INNOSENSE which was sung by the band Flow I felt conveyed a sense of confidence and determination which is helped by the visuals that are shown in the ending vids. The contrast between these I felt was a nice touch.

Voice acting

Voice acting for the series I felt was pretty well done which is helped by the fact that the series had a very capable voice cast. The seiyuu’s for the characters of Alisha, Lailah and Rose who are Ai Kayano, Noriko Shitaya and Mikako Komatsu as well as the voice actor for the Lord of Calamity as well as his human version I felt all did pretty good jobs in particular. The character of Alisha had a notably larger role in this season that she did in the previous season and the types of situations that she was put into this season meant that both her tone and emotions must be changed and adapted quite quickly to suit these situations and I felt that in this Ai Kayano did a great job of portraying the different sides of Alisha from the resolute and determined one in one scene to the more human and caring one in the other. The character of Rose like Alisha has a much larger role in this and due to the rather unique occurrence of having two different personalities her seiyuu Mikako Komatsu notably had a tougher role to play. However, in this I felt that she was able to portray both the positive and upbeat mask of her and the deeper and more logical and darker side to her reasonably well. She also did a great job of playing the more human version of her character that starts to show as she realizes that her actions do not reflect the thoughts that she has on her role. Other’s that deserved some praise was the voice actors for the king of Roland and Sergei as well as the voice actors for Ian and Sirel who I felt all managed to portray their characters pretty well.

Overall conclusion

In conclusion, I felt that the second season of Tales of Zestiria X was a great follow-up to the first season. While the first season did an excellent job of creating the foundations of the world and its setting it also did the same for its characters as well as laying the foundations for the story. This season built upon this excellent foundation by reinforcing both of what was in the game itself and introduced in this anime. While the overall plot of the first season was focused on introducing Sorey the new shepherd to both his duties as the shepherd and to the countries that are on the continent that they are on this season very much expanded upon that by both introducing new territories and also showing how much Sorey has improved both in terms of skills as a shepherd and in his beliefs as well. The overall plot of this season also as a result of the foundations now shifted to the task of addressing the source of the problems that Sorey and the party had been battling in the first season. Whilst the first season was more about learning about the lord of calamity and reacting to his moves this season was focused on determining what his plans were and stopping them before they could get any worst. A side effect of this was that it allowed Sorey and co the chance to explore new countries and meet new people that share their views. Watching all this and seeing them identify and deal with the causes of the malevolence was tremendously satisfying. While the main plot was of course dealing with the lord of calamity the idea to actually discover his source through the diaries of the past shepherd I felt was an interesting move but one that fitted well with Sorey’s personality of preferring to understand a problem rather than solve it by might of arms. In this we get to both explore a time period that took place before Sorey was born and see not only what the world back then was like but also get to see what the previous shepherd and the lord was like. I felt that this was an interesting experience as it gave us a look into the personality of the previous shepherd who had saved the world before Sorey did and also see how he was regarded by the lands people and also see why Lailah held him in such high regard. Additionally, it also gave an interesting look into the original form of the lord of calamity and the circumstances that caused him to turn into that form. Using this opportunity to look into the causes for the lord of calamity’s creation I felt was a great move and fitted well with Sorey’s determination to purify all sources of malevolence rather than going the easy way of eliminating them. with regards to his origins I have to say that I was genuinely surprised by the events that caused him to transform into that form. As a result of Sorey and co visiting new countries and territories that they had yet to visit before they encountered a number of interesting characters like the King of Roland who despite his struggles with the church still managed to convey a sense of compassion and kindness that showed that he cared a great deal about his people and the characters of Sergei and Gouldman whose differences in order meant that they will be opposing each other despite both being loyal to Roland. These characters I felt were interesting as they help give Rolance its own sense of identity and proves that no matter which country you are in there will always be people that will stand resolute against chaos and protect its people.

The sub story arcs of which there were two in total I felt really did a good job of expanding upon the characters that they had as their focus which in this case is Alisha and Rose and the events there I felt also did a great job of not just developing their characters by introducing new personality traits but also in expanding and improving their existing ones as well.

One thing that this season seemed to have more of was the act of purifying an area. While the previous season did a good job of introducing the concept of purification this season once again upped that by featuring it more while also increasing its scale as well. This I felt was a good way of showing just how much power Sorey has managed to attain through his hard work and training. The scale of the larger purification's I though was impressive. Tales of Zestiria has always been famed by for impressive fight scenes and this season is no exception with each of the fight scenes in this season being impressively detailed and animated with my favourite being the last battles of the series.

The endings for any anime series has always been a tricky thing to do depending on how many characters you have and how the story ended but in this I was really impressed by how the series actually ended and how it managed to feature just about every one of the main and support characters in a future that’s both logical and makes sense. The way that they did it via the use of an ending within the episode I felt was an interesting way to do it as well. More importantly they also managed to use this to convey the true direction that they should go following the wishes of the shepherd that not just the two rulers but everyone knew and respected. In a way, I felt that this is probably one of the best endings I seen in a long time as it not only ended on a good note but also addressed both the many loose ends that the series had as well as showing the results of the bonds that individual characters have forged while also showing how their individual stories ended as well.

All in all, I felt that the second season of Tales of Zestiria the x was a worthy improvement to the series that built upon the foundation that was established by the first season while also improving upon nearly all aspects of it. The strong points of this season I felt was the interesting story, strong characters, strong character development, interesting setting and the Excellent voice acting. This is further reinforced by the strength of the animation and the excellent combat scenes and music. It’s the combination of all these things that made Tales such an interesting series.

Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season was nothing special for me just like the 1st season


When i 1st heard about the anime I thought it would be good and full of action and stuff like that
but I was really disappointed the story was boring,character were a bit interesting but nothing special,the animation was fine,although the whole anime is about purification and stuff like that you can predict what's gonna happend in the next episode or in the next scene...

I wouldn't recommend this anime to anyone,but people like stuff like this,well it's up to you to chose whether you gonna watch it or not ... :D

TALES OF ZESTIRIA SEASON 2 ANIME REVIEW

OVERALL: 8.2

PLOT: 8/10

The first season of this adaptation is really a great one for me. Since it tackles human emotions, the capability of human to destroy things cause by their greed, by their selfishness, it really captures my excitement. However, the continuation of this anime kinda disappoints me. Though it still focuses on what the first one is, there are questions that failed to found its answers. It feels like something is missing. Some valuable explanation has been left unsaid, which I think I can find in the game itself. Still, I like how all of the characters made ... their way to do the right thing even if it means sacrificing their very existence.

CHARACTERS: 7/10

The characters are too perfect, now that I think about it. Except for Rose who show her hate, her pain, her loneliness. The main protagonist is too good to be true. He is innocent and kind and good natured that it is too hard to believe. Well maybe, that's the very reason he became the shepherd. The unending forgiveness and understanding. I think, the character of Velvet which belong to a promotional videos (2 episodes) is great. She's like a ravage beast killing someone who stops her objective but also hides her pain using that.

ANIMATION AND SOUND: 10/10

There's no doubt that the animation is great. The action scenes are really something and the angle of it are very well shown. The voices of the character perfectly matches the expression they're making, it's incredible. It's song is catchy and entertaining to listen to, you'll be persuaded to watch it.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10

Naturally, I really enjoyed it. Apart from the fact that is has an almost perfect animation, it's story is really interesting. Though I can't really think of a genre much more interesting that humans' mentality. The one thing thats really aggravating is the hanging questions of mine which I really don't get an answer to.

ENDING: 7/10

Combining all of the seraphims in one body is kinda lame, sorry. It's cute though. Maybe it will look cool if after that fusion, something new will come out of it. Like a new skill or what? Like something unexpected will draw out of it. That's just my opinion. But the real question of mine is why it ended like that? It feels like I'm watching a shounen-ai and yuri in the end. There's no need to be that close, isn't it? Or are they really ended up together?

I'll be honest, the only reason this is getting a seven is because the last few episodes were pretty solid. If only, if only the rest of the series was like that.

Alright, so I saw some definite improvements this season to last season, though I kind of felt like other stuff was sacrificed for it a bit, but I'll go through what I was happy to see in this second season. As far as the main character's development, I enjoyed that it swayed more towards and actual motive for this season. He seemed like he was fighting conflict within himself to decide how he wanted ... to use his power, and he ultimately figured out the answer. Getting that insight into his character is something I was craving from the last season, so I'm glad I saw it here. I also thought that the focus on one of the other characters and her story was the best thing I saw in this series. They wrote it really well to compliment her overall feelings toward the world she was living in. Other points on this season that I loved: the fighting sequences and the art. We know about ufotable's art style already and how amazing it is, but the fighting especially brought out how phenomenal it is.

So, this season did improve in a few ways, especially in how it presented it's story, but it still didn't wow me that much. There were characters whose stories weren't necessary to be told, there were characters that tried to become important for five seconds for no reason before disappearing, and the explanation of the world and the story didn't improve at all. I still don't really understand why the world is the way it is in this anime, and they didn't explain what was happening in the plot all that well either. Sometimes stuff would just happen that had no precedent for making sense, but the anime didn't take the time to say, "Hey, just so ya know, this is why this is like this." That theme stayed with it all the way until the end. I did enjoy watching this season, perhaps, a bit more than last time, but it fell short of what it could've been.

I'm not gonna come back to this, but I did at least get the chance to exercise my creative thinking by revising this story in my head so that it fits better with what it was trying to accomplish. So, it's not like I didn't get anything out of it.

P.S. It actually isn't unwatchable, it just bores me, so don't let my judgement stop you.

You always have to be careful when taking in a squeal.
You can either be ecstatic or really disappointed which is why I am always hesitant if i only liked the anime.
I was surprised that I liked the second season more than the first.
I found that they did not repeat plot and the characters actually developed but, did not loose key personality traits.
They did sometimes switch to 3D animation but not to the point where it became a pain. The action sequences did improve. They added more detail but not to the point where you dont know where to look.
Overall, if you ... liked the first season you will love the second.

The second season started off really well, and made me like Rose as much as I did Alicia in the first season. Following the Sparrowfeathers/Shattered Bones made for some intriguing moments and Rose was really fleshed out well as a character. But, once things shifted to the final battle with the Lord of Calamity, the anime was just far too rushed and killed what could've been a great anime. Major events were just happening in a blink of an eye, and it kind of baffled common sense. For example: (Spoiler) Rose was having a horrible time Armatizing with her own close ... Seraph Dezel, but later on, Armatizes with Mikleo in one go, just out of nowhere. No discussion, nothing. She's suddenly just there with Mikleo in her. Makes no sense.

Because of the rushed speed, some characters were making major decisions and sacrifices with hardly any thought, or forewarning, and then they just went and did it and it was over. Way too rushed and it hurt the story. Also, aside from Rose, there was no further character development whatsoever. This left characters like Zavied and Edna very flat and one-dimensional, even Lailah became just someone there to do explanation of the plot. They also hurt Alicia, because in the first season, she was a boss, but in this season, she was just a (mostly useless) sidekick. And they never even explained what was the deal with the random Hellion following Alicia around.

The story just really didn't come through in the second season.

The animation was still beautiful, though, and the soundtrack was good, especially the ending song. But, at the end of the day, this turned out to just be another mediocre fantasy anime. Not terrible, but something I'll forget I ever even saw in about a year.

Story: 6
Art: 10
Sound: 10
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 7
Overall: 6

P.S. I'm not very good at reviews, nor am I very technical when I am reviewing. This is based entirely on my own personal opinion.

[BASIC SPOILER FREE REVIEW]

Story: 6/10
Art: 6/10
Sound: 7/10
Characters: 7/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 6.6/10
...
[IN-DEPTH REVIEW WITH SPOILERS]

Story: 6/10

The story of this season takes a hit in its score in comparison to its first season. The general series of events is a little confusing, and the timeline jumps around quite a bit. The pacing is just as odd as the first season, but the complexity of this season's events makes comprehending the story in spite of its pacing issues more difficult. Additionally, the ending seemed a little rushed.

Art: 6/10

The art is just as good as last season. The only reason I've docked a point from my review of the first season is that there is more action in this season, meaning more CGI. The CGI doesn't blend well in some places and for me personally, the movement of it is nauseating (so warning to those of us susceptible to motion sickness from video games and the like).

Sound: 7/10

Sound is just as good as last season. Doesn't get the extra booster points the first season did because the opening isn't as good.

Characters: 7/10

Characters continue their development into this season. Sorey has some development issues, as he doesn't really progress or regress. Other characters get good time slots to develop, including backstory explanations. Rose's character arc is the most interesting, as is her relationship with Dezel.

Enjoyment: 7/10

Season 2 was just as enjoyable as season 1.

Overall: 6.6/10

Tales of Zestiria the X Season 2 was a good way to continue where we left off in season 1. The ending was rushed, but its minor issues didn't impact its enjoyability too much.

The road trailed by this adaptation is boring most of the time, with some nice character moments and fight scenes here and there.

The plot is predictable most of the time, but not in a bad way.

The visuals are stunning thanks to the great work from ufotable

Music can be generic AF if you played Tales of games before. Most of it will sound the same to you after a while.


Inspite of it all, this anime has one of the best endings from the last 6 years. With that in mind, you decide if it's worth to sit through a lot of high minded retoric about good ... and bad, weird slow pace and rushed stuff at random, all for a pretty sweet last episode.