Seiken Densetsu: Legend of Mana - The Teardrop Crystal

Game-based productions aren't anything new. If they're any good, they can be like Fate/stay Night or Clannad; done poorly, well, there's no shortage of terrible Hollywood movies based on popular games, which should say something about Hollywood writing.

Here's a TL;DR: People who have played the game will appreciate the expanded backstory for the Jumi, but they may be put off by some plot decisions made by the writers. For those who have not, some elements will likely be a distraction from enjoying the series. As someone who has played and enjoyed the original game, I don't regret watching this, but I do hesitate to recommend ... it.

Visually, I'm of the opinion that the staff did the best they could based on the concept art. A lot of then-Squaresoft's concept art put people (particularly boys) in some, shall we say, unique costumes, and Legend of Mana is no exception. Creating character designs that can be animated but at the same time be faithful to the original concept and game artwork is no easy task, and I think they did all right, though it may be off-putting for some people. I did like the designs for the all-new characters Sappho and Marina, and if Square Enix had any sense at all they would make them a part of Echoes and release Legend of Mana style title card art featuring them (I won't hold my breath). The animation itself "felt" a bit amateurish to me for some reason. The studios animating this aren't ones I'm super familiar with, so this isn't Kyoto or Shaft quality by any stretch, and it seems that they ran out of time to finish the final episode because there are still or blank frames used at key dramatic moments. Hopefully they'll be filled in for the Blu-ray release, even if they're probably quite graphic.

As someone who has played the original, I enjoyed the recreated environments and the nod to the world creation system, but to be honest the stuff about artifacts creating places lost to time probably would have been a lot better had there been a fair bit of context from this era of Mana games.

In terms of performance and direction, again, I think the cast and director did a pretty good job. They managed to cast Kaori Nazuka with her massive vocal range for Pearl and Saori Hayami for Serafina, and while I have no idea who did the vocal direction, they clearly know what they're doing. Hayami also sang the opening and closing credits songs, the ending being a lovely Japanese version of the Song of Mana from the original game. And while the fantastic Yoko Shimomura wrote the soundtrack for both the original game (which is rearranged for the anime) and some additional tracks, she didn't write the opener, which is a bit of a shame. The intro's all right, it makes full use of Hayami's vocal talents, but it's not something exceptional, I skipped it after the first time just like any other intro.

That brings me to the more controversial bits, which is the story. The anime's plot hews closely to the events and dialogue in the game, with a couple of key distinctions. First and most important, the Jumi backstory is greatly expanded, so the new content involving Sappho and Esmeralda is well worth it for fans of the game. Second, unlike the game where you're compelled to pick the boy or the girl (now officially named Shiloh and Serafina), both player characters are part of the story. The anime progresses as though Shiloh is the player character and Serafina is a unique NPC, and there are some decisions made in the story specifically to include Serafina in some significant fashion that will be off-putting to some viewers who have played the original game. I'm honestly of two minds about this. On the one hand, having Shiloh and Serafina both involved can be amazing if written well. Serafina's character arc incorporates things that are already firmly established in the game's story, even in the Jumi arc itself. And yet, there's a simplistic feel to it, the plot twists felt like they were straight out of a 1980s Saturday morning kids' cartoon (think DC superhero movie but dumbed down), and the justification was 2 very brief glimpses into Serafina's past in the final episode that didn't really convince me. I think this could have been 2 episodes longer: 1 episode to delve into Serafina's past, and 1 more episode or a 1-hour finale because the final episode felt like a rush job other than the still frames. I think the idea itself is interesting enough to warrant giving it the time it needs, but unfortunately, that's clearly not what happened. I also think that dropping the audience into the story without the larger context of a shattered world is doing the game's story a bit of a disservice. Marina was introduced as a new character and even got regularly shown in the credits, but in the show itself she is criminally underutilized.

I can understand doing a series on part of this game's story. It can be a jumping-off point to do the other 2 arcs and even the broader story involving the Mana Goddess, or spinoffs that explore some of the one-off stories in the game or even content involving other Mana games like Trials or Secret. Clearly someone at Square Enix thinks the Mana franchise is important enough to greenlight this. But here's the thing, animation is expensive, and it wasn't important enough to Square Enix to invest in a quality production so other shows in the Mana world can happen-- if this show doesn't sell, sponsors will be more reluctant to invest in the franchise. It's a good effort, but I fear this might be the last production in the Mana world at a time when fantasy anime is a dime a dozen.

Here is my review of this anime in 2023!

Story (8)
The story is about a young man who's gonna save a Jumi (People that have gemstones in the middle of their bodies) who is being hunted by the collector. Then He found 2 Jumi and wanna save them but sadly it's very hard to have an adventure with them since they are being targeted. That's how their journey begins.

Art (8)
The art in this anime is great! As expected from Square Enix. But sadly, the 3D animation that they use is not quite good and has less effect... If they use more effect it will be better. ... I love the color they use in this anime and it matches with fantasy ambiance.

Sound (8)
All the sounds that they used were suitable and adjusted to the animation. I love the opening song but is quite mismatched with the animation...

Character (8)
The main and supporter character is memorable. But I prefer to the main character where He's too weak but I love the character design.

Enjoyment (8)
It's enjoyable to watch this movie in 2023.

Overall (8)
It's recommended to those who love fantasy, the legend of mana, action, and not much effect anime.

Summary: I was really torn about this anime, I particularly love the game and it was amazing to see an anime of the game and its references, but unfortunately the anime left a lot to be desired, for me what most sinned was the writing of the story, because the animation is beautiful and very faithful to the game, like several scenarios. I really wanted to give this anime a 10, but unfortunately an anime is not just about faithful animation of characters and scenery or reference. So this anime is a turning point, either you'll like it or not, but it's likely that if ... you've played it you'll like it for nostalgia, but for those who don't know the game, I think the anime shouldn't attract much.

Positive:
- Simply beautiful animation
- Characters faithful to the game
- Scenarios faithful to the game
- Elements of the game
- Game references
- sound design is the same as in the game

Negative:
- Story, could be written in a way more adapted to an anime
- Events, really a reference of the game was very good, but I felt that they made the events too fast
- Dialogues at times were too slow
- sound design, it's great to be part of the game, but at certain times it didn't match
- Fights, especially the fights, unfortunately were very slow and very simple

For those who don't know,this anime is based on the videogame of the same name "Seiken Densetsu" or Legend of mana" in the west. The game is very charming with its "children story book" aesthetic and non linear story telling. But,the there is tiny detail that should be mentioned is that the game doesn't really explore neither your characters's (considering you are a "silent protagonist") or other character's personalities. That just isn't what the game is. The point is to explore the world and meet its many quirky characters. The world of mana is the "true protagonist" of the game.

And,well,considering all that,how can all ... this be translated in form of media where interaction (gameplay) cannot be applied?

ANSWER: You can't. You have to make reasonable adaptations to make it work. Effort should be invested in making a good anime BEFORE making a good "translation" of the content from one form of media to another and you have to understand the appeal of both types of media. This anime......doesn't do that.

It feels way too "safe" for its own good. Aspects of the game where "translated"almost in a "literal" way and this is not a good thing for a media that depends on character depht for quality. The characters 's personalities are just as non-existent as they are in the game making the interactions feel like a videogame tutorial.

No attempt was made to replace the world exploration aspect with anything else. In an attmpt to make an story that was not suposed to linear,welll......linear,they killed one of the aspects that makes the universe feel alive.

But not everything is bad. This anime is OBSESIVELLY faithfull to the game's art style. Clothes,scenarios,etc. Everything is there. Maybe this is a subproduct of this anime's "copy and paste" philosphy.

The game also covers relativelly well the arc they choose to adapt,that is the jumi arc,one of the three main arcs of the game. So if you are worried that this arc will some way feel "incomplete",don't worry,the anime tells the arc's story from beggining to end with all the game's events to an almost obsessive level.

With that in mind,lets weight the pros and cons:

-PROS
-Beautiful animation
-Faithfullto the game general appearence
-It actually does what it suposed to do,tell the jumi story arc that is.

CONS:
-Souless
-Criminally average
-Character's personalities are non-existent
-Forgetable

If anyone has interest in watching,iwould recomend this anime if you already played the game and like to know how they would adapt the game. For anyone else,i recommend playing the game.The game is the only thing that justifies this anime's existence. Wiithout the game,this anime is just a very uninspired nostalgia cash grab.

PS:This anime was directed by the same guy who directed shield hero season 2. Yeah,if you watched that you know what i am talking about..........