Ar Tonelico II

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As somebody who completed Ar Tonelico II on PS2 (emulator), it is a very good game that deserves to be more well-regarded. The manga has many problems, but still yields a good experience overall. This review will mostly be for people who have played the game, because this is not a well-known manga.

In a very specific way, the Ar Tonelico II manga keeps some of the emotional heart (i.e. some of the trauma that Croix, Luca, and Cloche have to deal with and the developing relationship between the Maiden of Homura and the Maiden of Mio) that makes the game’s story so good. Croix in ... particular gets more attention in the manga, having his connection with Targana and his past in general being more important, which is an improvement over the game. The art is lacking on occasion, but when it needs to be good, it is very good, depicting pain in the hearts of characters and some beautiful vistas very well. What’s actually there in the manga is genuinely very good, especially for just a videogame tie-in. However, it is incredibly clear that they cut out so much from the game’s main plot that it causes problems. The plot up to Phase 2 is pretty similar to the game, but this is there where the significant cuts start happening. Phase 2 is cut down to around a chapter (I personally think Phase 2 is very good so this is sad to me). Phase 3 has most of its beats, but Phases 4 and 5 are also gutted heavily for time. This causes a chain reaction which messes with the entire work's meaning.

Some of the themes in the game are almost entirely removed as a result of cuts. Probably the most important single cut (other than the lack of diving) is Reisha Trulywaath, Luca’s mother. She does not appear a single time in this manga, despite debatably being on the fringe of being a main character. Not only is she an extremely important character to the plot, but she has significant connections with multiple main characters that serve to drive important themes of the story that are entirely lacking in the manga. Class struggles are pretty much nonexistent here. Luca’s class and her living in poverty with her mother is not mentioned at all. Not a single time. It’s a major sticking point for the reconciliation of Luca and Cloche throughout the entire story in the game, as well as being a theme in the background (The Slums, relating to Cloche’s relationship to Sasha, the IPD descriptions, Luca's Cosmosphere, etc). She’s also a part of the Found Family theme as related to the party at large and specifically Amarie with Leglius, another theme removed entirely from the manga. This also includes the removal of Amarie’s family (Chester and Lakra). The removal of numerous side characters also must be disputed, as they are an important fixture of everything surrounding Replekia and the union of people’s hearts in order to create Metafalica (not just Luca and Cloche, but of everybody on the rim), their connections with the main characters giving them more depth (Sasha, Skycat, Spica, and Cynthia specifically), and the sacrifices they have to make to summon Sol Marta at the end of the game. There are also a few plotholes that are contrary to what is known in the game (Croix not knowing about Sol Ciel despite Spica existing in the game, having come from Sol Ciel, etc). A personal gripe I have is Jakuri; Jakuri is an extremely good character, especially if you do the second half of her Cosmosphere in the game, and she gets…. Almost nothing in this, which is very sad.

If you want a summary, it’s this: the manga has pretty good art and some artistic enhancements over the game’s limited ability to show varied character faces, and has some core themes from the game that still make it a good read and make it have meaning, (the core reason of why I love Ar Tonelico II), but it’s missing so much it's hard to even start trying to systematically break down. I might have been a bit harsh on it, but I do personally believe that it is still worth reading, especially for Ar Tonelico II fans, but some may find the cuts too drastic for their tastes.