Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike

Ten years after the Great War against the demon-beasts, the empire rules over the world and prosperity relies on the massive use of aer.

Yuri Lowell and Flynn Scifo are two young men who have just enrolled the ranks of the prestigious Imperial Knights. One day, they are sent to the town of Ceazontania, where abnormal aer activity has reportedly caused the proliferation of horribly mutated beasts, with serious threat for the whole region.

Meanwhile, the Knights Supreme Commander Alexei Denoia and the naive Princess Estellise are involved in a behind-the-curtains struggle for power in the capital. The situation in Ceazontania deteriorates as the garrison of Imperial Knights finds that they cannot expect any immediate support from the capital.

Then, Niren Fedrok, commander of the Imperial Knights in Ceazontania, takes an unexpected decision that is going to change Yuri and Flynn's destiny forever.

What are the secrets behind the extraordinary events that are happening around Yuri and Flynn? Will they be able to defend the innocent people of Ceazontania and stay true to their beliefs?

(Source: Funimation)

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Adaptation:	Tales of Vesperia
Character:	Tales of Gekijou, Tales of HR

Kosugi, Juurouta
Japanese

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Cook, Justin

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Saitou, Shigeru

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Terakawa, Hidekazu

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Kamei, Kanta

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Opening Theme

"Kane wo Narashite (鐘を鳴らして)" by BONNIE PINK

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Ending Theme

"Kane wo Narashite" by Bonnie Pink

Reviews

Jun 23, 2020

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: A prequel film that is a bit strange in how it connects to the game it's related to and has slow pacing, but is a well made film that fans of the game should enjoy nevertheless.

Tales of Vesperia: First Strike is a prequel to the game Tales of Vesperia, which was released about a year after the release of the Xbox 360 version of the game and about a month after the PS3 version of the game. As such, I would consider it a film targeted at people that had already played the game, even if it is a prequel. To an extent it ... definitely is. It does provide background to a number of aspects from the game that weren't really fleshed out, such as Yuri's time in the knights or how Yuri and Repede formed their bond, and it also hints at a number of plot threads that end up being critical in the game. It also makes sure to have elements that very much play into adoration fans have for the game, such as including characters from the game even if it feels a bit forced or having opening of the game as the ending theme.

But at the same time there were also things that made it feel like a different thing entirely. There are a lot of inconsistencies where the film and game don't match up and not just minor things that can be explained away as differences between the game and film medium, such as in the game Yuri states he's never left Zaphias before and seems to possess the knowledge and experience of someone that hadn't but this entire film is takes place outside of Zaphias. The story of the film is also subtly connected to the main story of the game, but it also feels kind of off, such as in that Flynn's entire arc is centered around a background that as far as I remember wasn't mentioned in the game at all. And while it did try to hit things that fans would want to see, it didn't go completely out of its way to do so, and things that I would have appreciated like showing Judith, Karol, or even Patty, didn't happen.

Thus its kind of hard to decide how to judge it, as something viewed solely on its own or as in the context of accompanying the game. Ultimately, as I did just go through playing the game before watching this, I'm going to have to go with viewing it as an accompaniment to the game, and from that perspective, seeing the characters and glimpses of something that is essentially their origin story in spirit, if not completely due to the inconsistencies, was enjoyable and handled pretty well and the overall story was pretty reasonably solid. The largest issue however, was that the pacing felt incredibly slow, wherein it was bearable at first in part due to how there was a good amount of comedy, but as it went on and things became purely serious, it really felt like things were dragging on at times.

The production values of the film were incredibly solid, with great art, animation, and music. The animation was especially excellent during the fight scenes, though I should note there was use of CG monsters, though it was pretty solid most of the time. Also, as noted, the choice to play the opening of the game during the credits worked really well, though its strange that they played the 360 opening and not the opening to the PS3 version. The first two specials were really amusing and I was surprised and happy to see that Patty was in them. I did not watch the last one however as I'm not going to spend half an hour watching skits, especially without English subtitles.

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Nov 21, 2016

Marshmewwos

Recommended

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

Tales of Vesperia is a RPG game that was exclusive for the XBOX 360. It had done so well that it had received a movie adaption, that takes place 10 years after the Great War. Yuri Lowell, hero of Zaphias, along with his loyal friend Flynn, have just become Imperial Knights. Meanwhile, Estellise, Princess of the Capital, along with the Imperial Knights Commander, Alexia Denoia, are currently fighting for the power in the Capital. Now, Yuri and Flynn ...

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Jan 14, 2016

hoping

Mixed Feelings

following is just my opinion about this anime: i found it slow paced and simple minded. it has some interesting original elements but the flaws and the plainness waste it all. the art had some nice points (a mix from various shows). the story develops without surprises, the fights have original elements but flawed. the characters are ok, nothing more... like the rest of the anime. maybe for some its worth watching because of some original elements but for me its just feels like one of the many shows that didn't pay enough attention to detail and made of something with good potential (and enough ...

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Poll: Tales of Vesperia ~The First Strike~ Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) tsubasalover - May 31, 2010	114 replies	by thebluesquiggly »» Jun 10, 2023 9:41 PM
Is this a standalone film? StevenHu - Dec 28, 2013	2 replies	by StevenHu »» Apr 7, 2014 1:16 PM
Is this prequel show better than the videogame? LilKis1986 - Oct 24, 2012	4 replies	by FullmetalRaikou »» Aug 9, 2013 7:48 PM
The DVD of tales of vesperia the first strike ( 1 2 ) Hisham_Qurashi - May 28, 2010	79 replies	by Falcomster »» Nov 7, 2011 12:13 PM
When will this come 2 the internet ? Kawaii-Vesperia - Oct 9, 2009	37 replies	by Red-Liquid »» May 28, 2010 5:24 AM

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike

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Lowell, Yuri

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Fedrok, Niren

Aiheap, Hisca

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Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike

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Information

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Synopsis

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