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Normally when I talk about older anime, I have to remember that they came out a couple years ago, back when they didn't have the technology to make something to the level of quality that we’re at today. But then you have shows like this that seriously make me question if I’m actually watching something that is 8 years old. Because they could’ve released this around this time today, and it’d still be better than most of the shows that are coming out every season.

The Short Version:
(+)The story is original and unique.
(+)I love the lead character.
(+)The music is great.
(+)The art is better than most anime ... coming out today.
(+)It only took the first scene to capture my attention.
(-)Takes a while for the story to get moving.

The Story (8/10): The story starts out with us meeting the lead character who, after some circumstances, is hired to protect a Prince from his own father. I won’t say why cause spoilers, but the reason is clear cut by episode 4. That’s where the story just kinda stops for a little bit, since we get a bit of a cat and mouse game between the main characters and their pursuers which makes the story grind to a halt. Normally this would be a bad thing, but it’s at this point that the show takes the opportunity to develop the living hell out of its characters, while sprinkling some plot points here and there for good measure.

One thing that I love about the story is that it shows off a world that’s kinda like ours, but not really. There’s an element of the supernatural in the background (There’re two moons for some reason), and there’re all these different creatures that live in this world that we don’t really see. Little details like this made me interested in the world, instead of it shoving the details in my face with my response being, “Okay, now let's get a move on.” It was more along the lines of, “Damn, this world is pretty cool.” As for the ending, I feel like the entire last stretch of the show was a little bit dragged. Not to the point that I hated it, but enough to make me notice. The actual conclusion though, I was perfectly fine with.

The Characters (8/10): The characters…. What to say about the characters. Most of them are really good. There’s only one or two that I don’t find interesting or noteworthy, and that's including the entire cast. Two out of nine are pretty good odds. One thing about the characters that I noticed was that the show spent time on people it didn’t really need to. For example, one of the characters that was chasing the leads at one point, gets his own scene worth about 5 minutes of screen time; those 5 minutes gave me everything I needed to understand why he was doing what he was doing. The characterization of all of the important characters is excellent. Speaking of main characters,

Balsa Yonsa: The best female lead I’ve ever seen in anime and one hell of a spear wielder.

Chagum: The entire reason this show is happening and manages to be a prince without being a little shit as well.

Tanda: Childhood friend to Balsa and saves the show on multiple occasions (Prevents key people from dying).

Torogai: Shaman and abuser of rabbits.

As I said in the short version of this review, I absolutely love Balsa because, where most other anime would’ve made her psychically attractive, this show choose instead to make her appealing through her actions. Balsa is rarely indecisive, a badass when it comes to fighting, and always keeps a cool head and always has a plan in mind for when shit hits the fan. In short, Balsa is just fucking great. Chagum as well is a really well done character. Being a prince, I expected him to be a whining little shit for most of the show since the kid understands the situation he’s in (at least enough not to be a little shit) and, I’m going to come out and say it, Chagum is probably one of my favourite little kid characters in all of anime.

The Art & Sound (9/10) & (8/10): The art is done by production I.G. and with it, you get exactly the quality you expect with that name. The art is fucking unbelievably well done; everything is in motion is fluid and the lighting is on point and then some. The first scene was so beautiful that I was almost tricked into thinking I was watching a movie, and the animation just shines when it comes to the fight scenes, like...fuck me it’s so good.

The sound is, again, great; not a single speaking person sounds like they’ve phoned it in. The OST isn’t exactly the sort that makes you pay attention to it. Instead, it kinda plants itself into your brain and sits there accompanying the visuals with astounding effect. The only real part of the OST I didn’t like was the opening, but then again, I don’t really enjoy J-pop that much so it’s probably just me. The best thing about the sound is all the effects they give for each scene.

What do you think of this anime?

I’m desperately trying to find a blu-ray for my Holy Grail Collection.

Would you recommend this anime?

Yes. Watch it. Please watch this show.

I normally open my reviews with a witty remark about whatever I just watched/read, but I feel that I would rather be tasteless this time, so straight to the review it is.

*RECOMMENDATION* It's best to go into this completely and utterly blind. Finish reading this review then just go straight into the manga, don't even read the synopsis.

The Short Version:
(+)The length is near perfect for the story.
(+)The characters, expect for one, react as people might.
(-)I didn't like the art (you might though)
(-)There is one character that I hated, that I REALLY hated.

The Story (8/10): This is a high school romance story. I don't think ... you can get much simpler than that, but the thing about this manga (I feel), is that it's a lot more focused then other manga of the same nature. Instead of going off on tangents and adding in the obligatory ecchi moments (i.e. the characters walk in on one another while their taking a bath or something), this manga has a complete lack of it. I'll say this now: You're probably not going to laugh at all while reading this manga. It's a very serious story that tackles some very serious subjects with its cast, but it's by far one of the most involving and frankly better high school romances I've ever read.

The Character (8/10): One of the reasons I said this manga was a lot more focused is because over the 32 chapters this manga has, it only has 6 characters, and each of them having some sort of impactful role in the entire overarching story. Now to the main characters.

Daisuke Suwa: The lad of the story and the one with a really tough position to get himself through.

Hinako Aikawa: The female heroine and goddamn I feel sorry for her.

With this being a romance manga, the characters need to be good and engaging. And to be honest, it's safe to say that all of the characters, even the ones that are introduced all the way near the end, are interesting in some way. I have a problem with only one of the characters though. I get that a someone is doing these things to try and get close to another character, but fuck me. There's a limit as to how much stupidity I can handle from a single character, and this character in particular blows over that limit and then some.

The Art (6/10): This is just me, I know this is just me, but I didn't really enjoy the art at all. If you like the standard shoujo style of art, like Host Club or maybe Sukitte Ii na yo. But the art does it's job well enough. It's nothing horrible to look at, and the characters expressions match what the character is saying most of the time. Again I don't really like the art but that's just me; you may like it a fair bit more than I did.

What do you think of this manga?

I'm probably going to buy a physical copy if I can find one anywhere.

Would you recommend this manga?

Yes. Please go read it right now.

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.

One of the hardest things I have to do as “reviewer” is try and justify why I thought a show was good. Sometimes it’s easy as hell because there’s so many things I can easily point to and say, “This. This is the reason I like this show.” Other times the things that make a show good are a lot less evident and normally lead to me having to say something like, “It’s just good because.” Kure-nai is definitely one of those anime that belong in the latter category, and as hard as it may be I’ll try to justify my point.

The Short Version:
(+)The characters ... are well rounded.
(+)The art is splendid (Except the OP, I don’t even know what that was).
(-)There’s not exactly much of a story.
(-)The sound isn’t anything special.

The Story (6/10): The set up for the story is simple, the MC is a peacekeeper of sorts and has been hired by someone to do some peacekeeping, namely acting as a bodyguard to an important child, (I made the leap in logic that she’s an heiress to one of those extremely rich and old-timey corporations or something like that) and that’s kind of it. The MC needs to protect this child and as the audience, we follow through said body-guarding and follow the characters in meeting people along the way. That, and we meet the MC’s friends for school. Up until the latter half of the show when it starts to pick up, thus becoming a bit more interesting for the action-heads among us, there are also a lot of supernatural undertones throughout the show and those undertones are the reasons why he knows one of his friends at school. Well, that and a certain *cough* that he possesses. The ending, while I understood why characters did what they did, didn’t really sit well with me. But then again I would’ve really only changed one thing. Apart from that though, it was peachy.

The Characters (8/10): One of the things I can always appreciate in anime is a tight cast of characters, because that gives me time to, you know...give a fuck. If you throw 50 different characters that you’ve been telling me to follow for an entire show, I’m not going to give much of a toss if some of them die. But if the main cast consists of about 8 people and you throw them into a dire situation, then I’ll probably be biting my fingers down to the bone. With that little thing out of the way, onto the mains.

Shinkurou Kurenai: The MC and not the standard archetype of protagonist.

Murasaki Kuhouin: The plot device more or less and a lot stronger than I initially though.

Ginko Murakami: An information broker and the less obvious love interest.

Yuuno Houzuki: The more obvious love interest and the closest person to Shin.

The characters are really well done considering I went into this anime expecting the bog standard archetypes for each person, ie. The Tsundere, the Childhood friend, the wimpy protagonist, and I got some of those but they put enough of a spin on them that they felt new. All that and the characters acted like people would act in some given situations.

The Art & Sound (7/10) & (7/10): DON”T BE FOOLED BY THE OP! The art in this show is halfway decent, it’s fluid and kinda unique. This is one of the problems I mention at the start, I know its good I just don’t know how to put it apart from, “It’s not janky and it’s good to look at.”(For the most part) That and the characters are a lot more properly proportioned than other shows I’ve seen.

The sound is alright, the voice acting across the board is well done as the voices of each person felt like they belonged to that person. The sound design and the OST however aren’t exactly much to speak of, however there is an entire half of one episode where the cast sang a beautiful choir number. That part *tick of approval*.

What do you think of this anime?

It’s alright to kill some time; not going to buy it though.

Would you recommend this anime?

Yeah if you’re looking for a show to watch after work to fill that gap between getting home from work, dinner, and going to bed, then sure, watch this show.

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next.

After reviewing the Symphonia OVA’s and the Vesperia movie I’ve finally arrived at the only full length Tales adaptations (apart from the one from WAY back in the day; I'm not going to review that). “So, how did it go?”, “Is it any better than the other adaptations?”, “IT’S STILL NOT AS GOOD AS THE GAME!” I hear you cry. Well shut up and let me tell you!

The Short Version:
(+)There’s blood; I always think this is a good thing.
(+)Characters actually grow and change instead of remaining static.
(-)It takes too long for the show to kick into gear.
(-)The MC is downright unbearable for half the show.
(-)The ... writing has plot holes; yeah it’s that bad.

The Story (6/10): Being a JRPG adaptation, the show starts out pretty simple but then kicks itself into gear to a grander scale and just becomes generally better. With the start of the story you have a lad who is unsatisfied with his life at home when a certain event takes places he’s suddenly transported to the opposite side of the ‘world’ and is now trying to make his way back. The story then evolves into preventing a war for happening between the two major powers in the show, and then even later into something much bigger that a war between to powers. I have one problem with the story, because I haven’t played the game some of the stuff included in this adaptation didn’t make sense to me. “That’s just because you haven’t played the game.” You’d probably say. Well I shouldn’t need to play the game because no matter how good the source material is. If the adaptation can’t stand by itself to deliver the same experience as the source material then the adaptation has failed.

The Characters (7/10): This being a JRPG adaptation there’s a fair bit of characters to remember in the sense of who’s tied to who and for what reason, but they’re aren’t so many that it makes the show feel blotted in any way, the main characters take up most of the screen time with the occasional side characters in order to provide some necessary plot development, helping out the main party when needed. In this sense it’s just like a JRPG. Now to do what I normally do and run through the main characters really quick.

Luke Fon Fabre: A fucking coward and a spoilt shit until he grows a pair; then he becomes tolerable.

Jade Curtiss: A colonel and the one with the most badass nickname.

Tear Grants: One time assassin and main love interest.

Asch: Someone I feel sorry for and has the lushest red locks ever (for a lad).

Guy Cecil: Servant to Luke and gynophobe

Natalia Luzu Kimlasca Lanvaldear: Bethored to Luke and….. That’s really the only trait she has.

Anise Tatlin: Hyperactive and Puppet-master.

Ion: The one with the voice that annoys me and is more of a plot device than a character.

This is very much a slow burn type of show when it comes to the characters, because as it goes on the characters change and some of their secrets are revealed, and the MC is a LOT more likeable past the halfway point. For the romance element that this show has, the relationship in question is really quiet baffling in the beginning but then you get past the magical mid-way point and you actually start believing.

The Art & Sound (7/10) & (6/10) : If you ever seen a Tales adaptation or an OP from the games you know what you’re in for. The animations for the most part are fine and there’re no real points that are unbearable. A side note that I always like to see in any anime that involves even a little bit of action is if there’s a bit of blood. Not to the point to where you think there’s an entire blood bank stored inside of them, and there’s not so little that a massive gash across the chest is more akin to a pin prick. The character designs, as a whole, are really quite good I felt. The only person who I felt didn’t really have a unique design was Guy because he was designed the same way as the civilians were. But my favourite design would be Asch’s; his red and black cloak just radiates the word BADASS. A quick word of warning to the intolerant, there is CGI in this anime but it isn’t as bad as say…… Kill la kill. (Or anything made by GONZO).I don’t really pay attention to CG so it didn’t bother me too much, but if you’re not a fan of 3D rendering, some scenes aren’t going to sit well with you.

The sound is all round pretty solid, nothing in the OST was ground-breaking or great. It was good. Average. Par. Stan- okay I’ll shut up. The voice acting was also done to standard no outstanding performances from the cast, but there was one characters voice that annoyed me to no end.

What did you think of this show?

Well I’m not buying the show, nor am I buying the game.

Would you recommend this show?

If you’re a fan of the game, or just the series in general, go right ahead. Otherwise you’re not really missing out on anything if you don’t watch this.

Gangsta is one of those action anime that is more grounded in reality when compared to its competition. There’s no Mech’s flying all over the place, no one is literally throwing fire or lighting around the joint, and there’s no incest vampire twins or a terminator esque maid trying to kill the main cast. Sorry to disappoint you.

The Short Version:
(+)Different location other than Japan (Yes that’s a good thing.)
(+)Tiny cast of characters gives them opportunities to be fleshed out.
(+)OP tells you exactly what to expect.
(+)They made a deaf person intimidating.
(-)Subtle storytelling doesn’t equal good storytelling.
(-)Apart from the OP the sound isn’t really that special.

The Story ... (7/10):
A problem that anyone could have with an action anime with an overabundance of story-telling, is the possibility of sacrificing screen time that could be used for badass fight scenes, as opposed to bland exposition. That’s why Gangsta tells its story more by slipping the details of the world into the background. For example, a radio will be playing as the main characters are talking to someone else about something, and if you pay attention the radio will let slip some details about the world and Twilights.

I’ll put up a warning right now, don’t expect this show to come flying out of the gate with action and blood and ALL that good shit you came to see. Don’t worry there’s plenty of blood in the first episode, but to be honest (and this is probably just me) the show is boring for the first half or so, and then the second half of the show happens and HOLY SHIT. Let’s just say that some of the questions you had in the first half are explained and that the shit collectively hits the fan at the speed of a fighter jet. Now I come to the weak part of the story, the ending. The ending tells you one thing and one thing clearly. Go read the manga, because these endings suck the story is getting a 7 instead of an 8 from me.

The Characters (8/10):
This is one of the two reasons I like this anime. The characters, especially the main troupe of characters, are great. Now to do what I normally do and give a quick description of each main character.

Worick Arcangelo: The brains behind the Handymen, lifetime ‘friend’ to Nicolas, and has something similar to total recall.

Nicolas Brown: A-Class Twilight, and most intimidating deaf person I’ve ever seen.

Alex Benedetto: Ex-whore and secretary to the Handymen.

There are a few side characters that grabbed my attention but these three are the main reasons you will be watching this show. The interaction between Nicolas and Worick tell how close they are, and how long they’ve been working as the Handymen. Worick and Alex have cute little exchanging, but it ultimately feels like Worick is teaching Alex how to survive in this world she’s now a part of, and when Nicolas is with Alex he’s a bit distant but later on he starts genuinely caring for her, and I thought one scene between the two of them in the later half was rather sweet.

The Art and Sound (6/10) & (7/10):
The art is the other reason I like this show, while not the most fluid stuff you’ll ever see, it does a good job considering what the shows content is. Blood comes in buckets and the Twilights fight like I would imagine people who are hopped up on performance enhancing drugs would fight. The character designs are alright, the only problem is apart from a variety of suits, there’s no real unique designs anywhere, the only design that caught my attention was Alex’s because of her two……distracting.....mounds.

The sound is kinda meh honestly, apart from the OP there’s only one other moment that I really enjoyed the sound. The voice acting was standard across the board, but special mention to Nicolas’ voice actor. Good job mate, you made a deaf person sound scary as fuck, and all of the sound effects for fight and such are what I’d expect from an anime from 2015

What do you think of this anime?

I think I might buy this when I can, but only if there’s a second season otherwise no, I won’t put money into it.

Would you recommend this anime?

Yeah I would, if you like shows like Black Lagoon for instance that this show will definitely be your cup of tea. If you’re more into the light-hearted-moe-slice-of-life shows, you’re probably not going to enjoy it as much.

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.

Having reviewed the entire Tales of Symphonia series, I thought it might be a good idea to review the rest of the Tales adaptations I can find. So first on the table is Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike. Standard rules apply with video games adaptations. The adaptation should be able to stand on its own, meaning even if the viewer hasn’t played the games or seen anything related to the series, they should be able to enjoy it just as much as someone who has. With that little parameter out of the way, let’s get cracking.

The Short Version:
(+)Animation is good, really good.
(+)The battles ... are great.
(+)The story stacked up on itself little by little.
(-)Nothing in the sound design stands out.
(-)Most of the characters are there to serve a single purpose and nothing else.

The Story (7/10): The story doesn’t introduce itself right off the bat, rather going through a couple different plot lines that evenly add up to the overarching story of the movie. If you want a very general outline of what the story is about, the characters are there to defend a town from monsters. That’s literally it. They hint towards the end what you’ll do in the game. Within the story itself there’s not a lot I really liked that much, the construction of the entire story and how they handled it was great it’s just that the story didn’t really get me invested. This is probably a lot of background regarding how magic works in this world that goes unexplained. I feel like if they explained it a little better I would’ve been just a bit more into the story. That being said I’m pretty dumb so if you decide to watch this movie you’ll probably pick it up right away and be fine.

The Characters (6/10): The characters in this movie, for the most part, are background props, even some of the ones that get a name are there for one scene at most, but the main troupe of characters have a purpose (duh that’s why they’re the main troupe Richard.) I’ll argue that two of the main characters could’ve disappeared and the story wouldn’t have been impacted that much, but anyway TO THE MAIN CHARACTERS!

Yuri Lowell: Resident protagonist and cynical bastard.

Flynn Scifo: Childhood friend to Yuri and the more military of the two.

Niren Fedrok: Guard Captain and at times the comedy relief character.

Hisca Aiheap: The quieter half of the twins and the one doesn’t get throw around like a rag doll.

Chastel Aiheap: The ‘bigger’ half of the twins and the one that does get thrown around.

The rest of the characters aren’t really worth mentioned because they’re really underdeveloped, but I will say this. Best little dog side character ever.

Art & Sound (8/10) & (5/10): The art is exactly what I expected from a movie adaptation, the characters move fluidly whenever they need to, the 3D manoeuvring is more than satisfactory and the CG doesn’t look that out of place when it’s used apart from one scene where the characters running looked like they were on ice, but as a whole the animation was well solid.

The sound is (for me) the weakest part of this entire movie, the OP & ED weren’t great, the OST didn’t grab me and the side characters voice acting was…. Not great. The main cast and the battle SFX were the best part, but they weren’t good enough to pull up the stack from the rest of the department.

What do you think of this anime?

It managed to kill 2 hours of the day and was pretty to look at.

Would you recommend this anime?

Yeah. If you’ve got some time to waste or want to watch a movie with your friends go ahead, if you’re a fan of the Tales games even more so. However you probably shouldn’t watch it if you’re expecting the next big thing, because this isn’t it.

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.

RahXephon caught my attention for probably the wrong reason, and maybe it’s also the reason that you want to watch it, but I’ll say this about RahXephon. Any comparison to Evangelion is stupid, because RahXephon is two things: A show that is just as good, if not better (depending on who you ask) than Evangelion and a show in its own right. Just because its shares some similarities with Evangelion doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist or that it’s a bad show and if you don’t take my word for it…. Watch the show and make your own judgement, and for those who don’t have a ... clue what Evangelion is, don’t you worry your pretty little heads about it.

The Short Version:
(+)The music man, THE MUSIC!
(+)The emotional impact of some scenes are phenomenally executed.
(+)The pace of the story is damn near perfect.
(+)There’s not a lot to hate.
(-)The art is a little bit dated.

Story (9/10): When you look at the synopsis, the first thought you’ll have about the story is that it’s probably about saving the world, as it is with most Mecha shows, or just most shows in general, and you’d kinda be wrong. While the story is about saving the world, it’s a lot more focused than just that general goal, focusing more on the hero and the people helping him save the world instead of the actual saving itself. That’s the thing I feel will draw you to this show, because it just builds the characters to such a point that when they go into battle that doesn’t look that great, you’re actually scared for these characters.

I’m not even going to get into all of the Mayan and Aztec culture references, and just how psychologically deep they get with the main characters, other people will do and have done that for me, and I’ve always geared myself towards strictly entertainment value, like 90% of the community BUT. If you like your anime to be a bit more intellectual then RahXephon’s got you covered. Hell, that’s the reason people call it a rip-off of Evangelion.

Characters (10/10): When I look at the characters in this anime (As in all of those with a name.) I look at them and I feel like all of them are actual people and I could tell you that this person loves that person, this person is secretly related to that person but not by blood, but before that a quick run-down of the main characters:

Ayato Kamina: The pilot of RahXephon and the one who faces many a dilemma to come.

Shitow Haruka: Mother figure to Ayato and seems to know something about Reika

Quon Kisaragi: The ‘mysterious’ character and the one who doesn’t mind just casually touching Ayato whenever she wants.

Reika Mishima: Classmate of Ayato and is somehow connected to RahXephon.

While the entire cast does get some development in, there’s always the few who don’t but in this case I’m going to wave that aside because:
1. Its only 4 characters and
2. They development everyone else more than they needed to.

The script writer really went all out when thinking of the character development, and sometimes it’s not even your normal; Character-tells-other-character-something-just-within-earshot-of-the-MC, it’s more, yeah-there's-something-in-this-shot-that-tells-you-about-this-character. An example is how they development the commander, who comes off as a dick up until a certain point, but then the episode finishes and you suddenly know why he is such a straight collar military man to his core, this sort of development happens to almost every character with the exception of only a few.

Art & Sound (8/10 & 10/10): The art for the time would’ve been just fine, even nowadays it would hold its own with most of the common show’s that come out. Not the prettiest show to look at, but its fluid as hell, for back then this was probably considered some of the best stuff you could do without treading into movie territory. The sound HAD to be good, considering that the show involves crypt dialogue that heavily hints at musical piece, hell the core elements of the show, RahXephon and Ayato, are later referred to in musical terms. So with all that in account I can say that…. The sound is bloody beautiful, if I find an OST disc I’m buying without a doubt. Keep in mind I only have one other OST disc. I take my OST’s very seriously.

What do you think of this anime?

I ordered a copy off eBay as soon as I finished it.

Would you recommend this anime?

Yes. Hell yes. In my opinion this anime is grossly underrated because of its apparent ripping off, but if the Evangelion was never made, this show may very well be on the same level of fame as Evangelion. Yeah I think it’s that good, you should go watch it for your own opinion.


Goodbye my brethren, See you in the next.

We know when immediately finish an anime, and you just don't know what to do for a while? That will happen after you finish this show and try to process what you've seen onscreen.

The Short Version:
(+) Story is very gripping beyond episode three.
(+) Great Villain
(+) Voice acting is on point.
(-) The MC doesn't development in any way.
(-) Some of the content is hard to stomach. (aka, show is kind of fucked up.)

The Story (8/10): The story starts off pretty simple; boy meets girl, girl needs help for guy. Then, out of nowhere, massive snake mechs come out, and after a small fight against them, the ... MC and the girl are transported to a different world where everyone is now out to kill or capture the MC and do God knows what to the girl he's helping. The theme's in the show are more or less an exploration of a more prominent theme. War, and what happens when a genocidal regime is takes place at the same time. The themes that this show touches on are: Rape, child soldiers, and mass murder, so this show isn't exactly for the faint of heart.

The show manages to puts all these points across in such a great way, and that's because it knows how to pace itself. The show has moments of such intensity that are followed by slower sections that give you time to think about what you just saw and ask yourself, "Why the fuck is this happening?" It also is rather indirect with some of it's themes; more slipping them under your nose rather than ramming them down your throat, causing you to almost miss it, but then you realize what has happened and you feel an overwhelming sense of dread, to the point where you wish you had missed it. The ending of the show left me feeling kind of hollow, not in the sense that nothing was resolved, or the show just ended with all these loose ends all over the place. It finished, I understood where all of the characters were and why they were there, it's just that I was left with a feeling of emptiness. It's the same feeling I got when I finished shows like, Clannad Afterstory, Code Geass, and Madoka Magica. Just the lingering question of, "What do I do next?"

The Characters (9/10): The characters, apart from one or two, are really interesting once you meet them, varying from exceptionally damaged to utterly insane. Like with previous reviews I'll quickly go over who are the main characters.

Shuuzou "Shu" Matsutani; Hero of the story and wielder of the strongest plank of wood I've ever seen. Out of the characters he's the one I like the least because despite experiencing all of the shit this show throws at him. His character doesn't change in the slightest, which makes his character both static and boring.

Lala-Ru: Water Bender and 'Ice-queen' character of the show. Lala is the person or thing, depending on how you look at it, holding this entire story up because if there wasn't Lala, then there wouldn't be a story.

Nabuca: Child soldier and the one with the biggest moral dilemma. Nabuca very much appears as a cut-and-dry filling in the 'Character-whose-an-asshole-but-will-probably-help-the-MC-at-some-point' role, but in truth he is much deeper than that. Again he has moral dilemma which is wanting to end the war and go home, but is forced to do things that would test anyone's mental state, thus tearing him apart inside.

Sara Ringwalt: Doppelganger to Lala and the most damaged character both physically and mentally. Sara is definitely, as I just said, the most damaged character in the show; seriously the shit she goes through I wouldn't blame her if she committed suicide at some point. (I won't tell you what since that would be spoilers, but you'll know what I mean when you see it.)

The only other character of note is the villain, people say (normally in movies) the villain can make or break a show, but don't worry, the villain for this show is done so well that once you hear his voice, before you even see the dude, you know that he's not all there up top. That and his very existence makes me sick to my stomach.

The Art & Sound (7/10) & (8/10): I wasn't watching anime when this show came out so I'll be comparing it to the only other anime I've watched from around the same period. It's pretty much the same as Evangelion without the major budget skimping in the later episodes, and it still baffles me the fact that everything you see is drawn.

The Sound however is good, all voice acting is up to today's standard, but the villains voice. As I said in the character section, the dude's voice alone lets you know what type of character this guy is. (I imagine the voice actor went through a similar process that Heath Ledger went through to play the Joker.) The OP wasn't anything special, but the ED was something...different. I don't know exactly how to explain it it's just...good, better than a lot of other ED's I've heard.

What do you think of this anime?

If I saw this anime sitting is the DVD of my local JB HiFi I would buy it in a second, because I want this show sitting in collection. Like right now.

Would you recommend this anime?

Yes. If you can handle dark themes, and some truly fucked up shit happening to child, yeah go ahead and watch this show. If you can't handle something like children killing other children, stay the hell away.

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.

With the first part being less than great and the second being a fair bit better, the third and final part to the Tales of Symphonia story, and thankfully it makes for a nice conclusion.

The Short Version:
(+)A satisfying end to the series.
(+)The characters come full circle
(+)Sound is again back to form
(-)Yet more Houdini characters (They appear then disappear)

The Story (8/10): This is the point were the overarching story that begun in part one and was in the background for the entirety of part two, reaches it's ultimate climax and my god is it good. Having more modified than change the original objective, the span ... of the story has increased while somehow feeling as focused as it was in part two. Surprisingly, there is a theme within the story, and it's a problem that still exists in our actual world. Prejudice. This question makes think for a little bit in-between all the drama and such, and it's refreshing for this series, that previously didn't really have a question or meaning at all, tackling a concept that is so prevalent and obvious in today's society. (Although I have a problem with one scene that has really out of place humor)

The Characters (8/10): With the entire cast already having plenty of previous screen time, each of them individually feel like proper characters (In my review for part one I said, "None of these characters can hold the show by themselves." I take that back for this part.) As for what comes with the conclusion of any given anime, revelations between characters are made, every secret is revealed, and the villains motives are brought to light, which in the case of this anime are actually rather grounded compared to other extreme examples (I'd compare the final goal to Lelouch's from Code Geass). The villain himself though believes in 'the ends justify the means' approach to things.

The Art and Sound (8/10 & 7/10): The art just keeps getting better as this series wears on, it is much more standard for ufotable if still a bit downgraded, but it is an improvement from the previous entry. (I'm pretty sure this is because the upped their game with their lighting and shadows).

The sound is also an improvement from the last entry, the OP has again to the level of part ones but it's more akin to modern day OP's with the momentary rapid score then slowly down to a more steady pace before picking back up as the episode name pops up, the ED is still on the same level as the previous two though, just with up-tempo vocals this time. Everything else when it comes to sound is good enough to be considered standard but nothing really jumped out at me and made me say, "That one part was great."

What do I think of this anime?

This was a fitting ending to the series, it's just a shame that you have to go through two lackluster entries to get here. I can not suggest buying this series, it would be preferable to stream the entire show.

Would I recommend this anime?

Yes, without a doubt. I still highly recommend that you go back to the start and work your way back up to this point, but yes. Please watch this show. Just remember, since this is a threequel, you'll have to watch the first two parts of it in order to get here, and they're not really the best material to watch.

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.

With the first part of this game adaptation being rather lackluster, the second part is now upon us and it's time to re-ask the same question from the first part, how hard does this part fall over itself because of cut content?

The Short Version:
(+)Returning characters feel much more fleshed out.
(+)When the new characters are introduced with more or less the same level as with the returning cast.
(-)Core character downgraded to a plot device.
(-)There's more Houdini characters. (I.E. characters that appear then disappear)
(-)Lackluster Soundtrack.

The Story (8/10): With the carry on from part one, the story having layers stacked upon it now, the connections between the characters ... and the events surrounding them are becoming easier to tie lines between. The overall feel of the anime has improved as well, where as the first part felt like it was more about saving the world, this one is on a much more personal level, which is why I think that this story is better that part one; it's a lot more focused. For instance, in part one the show put emphasis on focusing how important the journey is to restore the diminishing world. Part two on the other hand is focused solely on restoring Colette, making the entire show all the more effective when aiming for the feels and there's a few of those moments spread throughout this part. The show does this while managing to keep the over-arching plot present, which is also another plus.

The Characters (7/10): With the majority of the cast returning from part one, they feel a lot more whole and more like proper characters, with the exception being Lloyd and Colette. I feel like he's falling into what I call the 'Classic angry protagonist' abyss, where the character is trying to do their best with the given situation, but they can't help but get angry every time they feeling like, "I can't do anything and that makes me angry and sad. (like for example, Eren from Shingeki no Kyojin.) It was annoying in part one, and it's still annoying now. Thankfully though, that does change after a while. On the side of Colette she has been demoted from Core Character that actually has a presence, to a plot device that is more of a background prop, bad move series. Bad move.

Aside from the returning cast we have several new characters, again I'm just going to stick with the main cast.

Sheena Fujibayashi: Enemy turned friend and is more vulnerable than she seems.

Zelos Wilder: The Child of Regeneration for Tethe'alla and the red head.

Presea Combatir: A failed by-product of the Exsphere experiments and female lumberjack.

Regal Bryant: The new character who gets the most development and a lolicon.

One thing they did well while developing the new characters is that, while they were developing one character, they were also detailing some of the other ones, going to the extent of even giving one of them an episode long backstory. Of the new characters it's definitely Zelos that's the most underdeveloped, all I know about his is that he's the Child of Regeneration and that's it, and he stands out like a sore thumb for that very reason.

The Art and Sound (7/10 & 6/10): The art hasn't really changed between the two entries, although you can start to see more of the famous animation quality from ufotable starting to seep it's way through, the 3D movement is again improved and the fight scenes feel like a much more basic version of the ones we saw in Unlimited Blade Works. Not exactly the kind of quality I expected from a company at the peak of their game.

The Sound on the other hand has taken a slight dip in my opinion. The OP and ED aren't as enjoyable as part one's and they put in what I call 'Jump-scare queues' When they suddenly just put in a very loud sound for dramatic effect. Then again, the show's quiet when it needs to be for the emotional weight of certain situations, and the rest of the musical section is about as good as part one.

What do you think of this anime?

I think that this second part, as a whole, is a vast improvement from the first. The characters are more fleshed out, the art is finding it's feet, and the story is getting better. I wouldn't say I'd buy this anime though still after all of its obvious flaws.

Would I recommend this anime?

If you've seen part one? Yes definitely. If you're just jumping in at part two for some reason? No, because you won't have the same experience as someone who has seen part one. (Thus I highly recommend you go watch part one, then come back to this entry.)

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.