The main story of Tales of Zestiria revolves around the story of the Shepard and more precisely the story of the newest Shepard who in this is the main character Sorey. The Shepard is supposed to a powerful figure that has the power to interact with a spirit race called the seraphim and in conjunction protect the world by ridding it of malevolence and defeat the one responsible for causing them which is the lord of calamity.
The story follows the journey of Sorey as he explores the land and meeting the lands many people while at the same time cleansing them of Malevolence. At the same time Sorey and co find themselves tied to the fate of the kingdom that they currently travel in.
Sorey is the main character of the series and though in the beginning he was a rather plain character that was always willing to explore new areas this changed when he become the Shepard. In the beginning Sorey was honest, kind and loved to explore the old ruins that were located near his home. As the only human within the seraphim settlement that he lived in he was able to see the normally invisible race and establish a kinship with them. Sorey had since he was little looked up to and respected the race thanks to a ancient book that he had read and continues to read and believes that despite past events the seraphims and humanity would once again work together once more like they did in the past.
Once Sorey becomes the Shepard his personality underwents some changes. Although still positive and kind Sorey becomes determined to end the malevolence that plagues the land to protect the weak and the helpless from it. Although Sorey still has a lot to learn about being a Shepard he tries to learn all he can and think though things before committing to an action.
Sorey can be stubborn at times but often this to to help a friend or people that need help. One aspect that i like about Sorey is his restraint in that he understands that killing would create more malevolence and in turn create more hatred meaning that no matter how much someone deserves it Sorey shouldn't kill him. In the anime there were instances where Sorey could have ended these people there but instead held back and only purified them something that i respect him for.
Mikleo is Soreys best friend and is a seraphim from the village that Sorey grew up in. Unlike Sorey Mikleo is calm and collected and not given to rash action. He's usually the voice of caution within the party. In the beginning Mikleo was the sole spirit user in the group and advised Sorey on everything and was especially wary of humans due to limited contact with them. He was also wary of the role of a Shepard and did not wish for Sorey to become one.
However this misgiving changed when he saw how Sorey excelled at being one. In the beginning Mikleo's spirit power was relatively weak and therefore could only provide limited support to Sorey. This was a fact that bothered him a lot that he managed to solve by finding an ancient artifact that was suggested by Lailah that boosted his powers a lot. Mikleo's interactions with Edna a fellow seraph was pretty funny though.
Alisha is one of the main characters of the show and is the princess of the kingdom of Hyland. Alisha is kind, caring, intelligent and detests war and the suffering that it brings. She is loyal to her country and strives to protect its people. As a member of the royal family Alisha often find's herself having to
deal with the countries politicians in the ruling of the country especially among the warmongers. Because she detests war she does not advocate starting wars or fighting them. Alisha can be stubborn at times especially
when she tries to help people a trait that i admire about her.
Despite being a princess Alisha is also a fully trained knight and is a capable combatant with her spear able to fight members of the assassin guild that was hired to kill her on even terms.
Alisha believes wholeheartedly in the existence of the seraphs and their eventual return to help Humanity in their hour of need. As such Alisha has a good relationship with Sorey and believes in him and respects his
opinions greatly.
Alisha is portrayed by veteran seiyuu Ai Kayano who is one of my top ten fav seiyuu's of all time. Her performance here was just as amazing as always.
Lailah is a fire spirit and a seraph that acted as the guardian for the sword that people must pull out if they wished to become a Shepard. Wise, kind and beautiful Lailah despite being centuries old still looks to be someone in early adulthood. Within the story Lailah acts as one of Sorey's main advisers
and teaches him on the duties of a Shepard and whats involved. Despite this she is patient with this and teaches Sorey slowly so as to not overload him with info.
When Lailah doesn't want to talk about something she
abruptly changes topic while smiling something that i find quite funny.
As a fire spirit she attacks with pages from a book that she wields that incorporates flames in their attacks.
Within the anime Lailah was voiced by veteran seiyuu Noriko Shitaya who replaced the seiyuu that played her in the game Miyu Matsuki who sadly passed away before the anime started. Within the anime Lailah along with Alisha is one of my fav characters largely due to their respective seiyuu's. Here Noriko Shitaya of Fate stay night fame did a fantastic job portraying Lailah whether being the witty and calm Lailah outside of battle or the serious and wise one during battle she truly excelled.
Edna is a seraph and is aligned with the power of Earth. Appearance wise Edna is pretty and petite on the outside but in the inside she detests humans. However this changes somewhat after she meets Sorey because he was different.
Personality wise Edna can be cold and merciless at times but to friends and people that she respects she can be warm to them. Her character has some interesting interactions with Mikleo. Although Edna was skeptical of Sorey
like a lot of people she does eventually warm up to him after seeing his determination and courage.
Rose is a main character and a human being. Appearance wise Rose is a teenage girl of average height and short red hair and appears to be a merchant or at least part of a company that does that. However this is not actually the case. Rose is a interesting character in that she actually has two persona's that she presents depending on her role. In normal form she is polite,devious and sneaky at times. In her alternate form she is serious, logical and lethal with her weapons. In this season Rose wasn't given much of a large role and as such its difficult to judge her character.
Zaveid and Dezel are two seraph's that Sorey and co meet during the course of the anime. Zaveid and Dezel are both wind users though they have different personalities. Zaveid's personality is more like a trickster as he isn't loyal to anyone compared to the other seraphs. Within the anime
Sorey and co meet Zaveid at the same time that they meet Edna as both were engaged with a dragon that they both knew. And both had reasons to face it. In this season neither was give much of role and its difficult to see and judge their characters with regards to the story.
Animation as expected of Ufotable the makers of the fate stay night series is top notch and clear with the fight scenes being the most impressive. Art style was pretty good overall and i felt that the character
designs were well designed and were largely faithful to the source material.
Music was generally good across the anime with scene to scene music being appropriate. Opening and ending themes i felt were especially good.
Overall Tales of Zestiria was a great anime that had top notch animation, great story, interesting characters and stellar voice acting from a talented cast. I was overjoyed to hear that there will be a season 2 to this anime.
