Tales of Phantasia The Animation

Tragedy strikes the lives of Cless Alvein, a young swordsman, and Chester Barklight, a young archer, as they return to their village of Totus to find it razed to the ground by the mysterious Black Knight. To take over the world, the Black Knight seeks to claim the power of the Demon King, Dhaos—sealed away by the ancestors of Cless and a young cleric named Mint Adnade. Dhaos' reawakening signals not only the end of the Black Knight, but potentially the world. Cless and Mint must now journey a century into the past to rally allies capable of vanquishing the Demon King once and for all.

Tales of Phantasia The Animation follows Cless and Mint's journey through time to long ago, where they forge an alliance with the half-elf sorceress Arche Klaine and the summoner Klarth F. Lester. Together, they strive to defeat Dhaos and his army in saving the past as well as the years to come.

Klaine, Arche Main

Kanai, Mika Japanese

Alvein, Cless Main

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Lester, Klarth F. Main

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

Adnade, Mint Main

Iwao, Junko Japanese

Barklight, Chester Main

Itou, Kentarou Japanese

Dhaos Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Fujibayashi, Suzu Supporting

Kawata, Taeko Japanese

Martel Supporting

Tanaka, Rie Japanese

Sylph Supporting

Nakajima, Yumiko Japanese

Nakamura, Makoto Producer

Yoshimoto, Masakazu Producer

Hiramitsu, Takuya Sound Director

Suzuki, Masami Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Jun 26, 2010

Archaeon

Recommended

Game adaptations are rapidly becoming a dime a dozen in anime and, surprisingly, the Tales franchise is leading the charge. Like all adaptations though, they can be a bit hit and miss and, in the case of some of them, heavily dependent on first hand knowledge of the game itself.

Tales of Phantasia should be a prime example of this. Should be ...

The story is basically the same as that of the game, barring a few minor differences of course. A band of heroes must defeat the evil sorcerer Dhaos, with much in the way of fantasy action shenanigans along the way.

Surprisingly, the whole anime ... actually works rather well as the plot doesn't really let up at any point, and because of this, watching Tales of Phantasia is more like watching a good action fantasy movie. In essence, the series is nothing more than an abridged retelling of the game's story, and while there are some minor differences, the essential points remain the same. The show doesn't really try to portray itself as anything that claims to have a degree of substance, and to be perfectly frank, this works far better than a faithful 13 or 26 episode adaptation.

Like many adaptations though, Tales of Phantasia looks and sounds better than it actually is, however unlike most others, the difference here is marginal. The designs are taken from the game, again with some minor alterations, so there's no real creative skill involved there. Where the show does shine though, is with the smoothness and fluidity of the animation. There is a lot of action in Tales of Phantasia, and the animation level never really drops in speed or quality throughout the show.

As for the sound, the music is either taken from, or inspired by, the game itself. Once again, the fact that this is an adaptation places certain creative restrictions, however the choreography is very good, especially during the more frenetic scenes. In addition to this, the acting is actually pretty decent throughout. Since the original game didn't really feature any voice acting, there was a certain amount of freedom in choosing the right actors for the roles. While the are some minor niggles here and there, the seiyuu are generally good in their portrayals of Cless, Mint, and the rest of the gang.

To be honest, I wasn't at all sure I would enjoy this the first time around as I hadn't played the game at that point (I have done so now though), however I found that this didn't really stop me enjoying the show as long as I didn't try to treat it as anything more than a decent action fantasy. In that respect, it works surprisingly well as entertainment, in particular because there's usually something interesting going on in the show, one of the advantages of the abridged format.

While I know that there are numerous people out there who will decry Tales of Phantasia for "not having enough plot" or "not developing the characters", I should point out that if one is watching a show in order to be entertained, then such things are not always necessary. In the case of this OVA for example, the length of the series prohibits any serious development, yet the fact that the whole tale has been compacted into an easily watched anime means that the story is accessible to a far greater audience than before.

Tales of Phantasia is a rarity in game adaptations, not simply because it really is entertaining, but also because it's easy to watch (there's a difference you know). Like any game adaptation though, the creative limitations sometimes leave one wishing for something with more bite.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 24, 2009

brand_182

Mixed Feelings

Based on the video game by the same name, Tales of Phantasia follows the journey of Cless, Mint, Klarth, Chester, and Arche as they try to defeat the demon king Dhaos, who is bent on annihilating the human race.

Like most anime series based on video games, Tales of Phantasia lacks many essential storyline elements, preventing it from living up to its initial potential. While the premise promises a grand, fantastical adventure, Tales' limitation to 4 episodes makes this impossible. The storyline is rushed and unless you've played the game you won't understand some scenes (why, for instance, is Fujibayashi suddenly in a fight to the ... death with her own father to prevent him from entering Dhaos' castle?).

The series' brevity further results in a lack of any substantial character development, and moments that should have some build-up are forced and unrealistic (Chester and Arche go from disliking each other to cuddling up close after a 5 second apology). The story itself lacks depth and is cliche, and it may become hard to watch even all 4 episodes when there is nothing suspenseful or shocking.

Weak storyline notwithstanding, Tales has exceptionally clear, attractive animation and lots of cool magic spells. Characters and scenery are sufficiently detailed but nothing special, and character designs are original. Both the Japanese and English voice casts are superb: in particular, Cless (in English) is voiced by the extremely popular Johnny Yong Bosch (see Ichigo in Bleach, Lelouch in Code Geass, and Kiba in Wolf's Rain). The OST is nothing spectacular but it gets the job done and sounds professional enough. Overall, aesthetic and audial elements make Tales of Phantasia a well presented package, but the storyline plays out too much like the video game on which it's based and cuts too many corners to be anything special.

Animation: 7.8/10
Audio: 7.4/10
Storyline: 6.3/10
Overall Score: 6.7/10 (Good)

Find snapshots and downloadable episodes at my blog, http://animefiend.blogspot.com

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 18, 2023

Ala-Ma

Not Recommended

Have you ever seen an anime so bad that it's entertaining? This is one of them.
I wanted to like this, I really did, but eventually it didn't feel like even the anime took its job seriously anymore, so why should I?
I LOVED the game tales of phantasia, and was looking forward to watching its anime version, even if rushed.
Rushed? No. It wasn't in a rush, it never even tried to adapt the game, instead choosing to focus on side-characters and animate huge scenes that were never in the game to begin with.
It adapted exactly 1 scene from the game in total, which it changed severely.
The ... animation itself is actually pretty good, music was okay.
I can only hope that one day they remake this and do justice to the game, thus ends my first review :)

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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