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Tales of Zestira the X (TV).

So is this going to be a straight adaptation of the game? Or maybe some sort or side story of spin off. I have yet to play the game as my backlog is too big (still have Vesperia, Xillia, Xillia 2, and Hearts to play) so if it's a side story I'd have to skip it.

We know from the scene earlier and from the game that he's trying to assassinate Alisha, so it makes sense that he would follow, but not why he'd fight spoiler[Symonne].

I'll try to see what I can figure out for estimations on how things will line up, and I'll post that once I figure it out.

And ufotable is blowing its load everywhere as usual.

I'm not really all that sure what to think about this episode. So much stuff going on, but with no knowledge about the plot, characters or the world, none of it really much sense.

Hmm.. I think I have a dirty mind.

Got some mixed feelings on this. Not bad, but mixed.

First off, apparently Daisuki is doing a week delay for the US. And funimation is making up their own translations for terminology, instead of using the game's (Daisuki's matches the game). If funi doesn't fix theirs for the home release, that may be a deal-breaker for me.

Secondly, the animation. It's beautiful, of course, being ufotable, but especially during the fight, it was a bit hard to tell what was going on.

Now, of course, we have the events of the episode, what it reveals, and how it relates to the events of the game.

I love Zesty. I know some people didn't like it, for various reasons, but I love Zesty. I wasn't sure until the end, but it managed to bump Abyss down out of my #1 Tales game spot, something I wasn't expecting any game to do. And Abyss' anime was wonderful. Some things were changed/condensed/skipped, but it stayed true to story, characters, and feel of the game. I'm expecting no less from Zesty the X.

So we start out with new content that's not in, nor mentioned in, the game. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it's fleshing out Alisha's character and backstory, something that was lacking a bit in the game.

We begin with Alisha investigating the ruins of a village that was destroyed by tornadoes. In the game, there are many such ruins that you find (though the cause of the destruction isn't revealed for most of them), so this works. We're introduced to her interest in the Celestial Records, and her hope for a Shepherd. One thing I found interesting, in the anime, is that it seemed that while Alisha hoped for a Shepherd to appear, and had pressed for the Holy Sword Festival, she didn't necessarily believe. This works well with her character in the game, especially early on.

That being said, there's a few things that seemed to contradict either itself, or the game. The first one, and most important, was spoiler[when Lunarre attacked her. It appeared that when Lunarre became a Hellion, Alisha could see it happening. This directly contradicts the game, as only Seraphs, and people with high spiritual power can see Hellions for what they are, and that Alisha, with whom it's a plot point that she cannot, should only see the man that he originally was. This also comes into play with the mist, the malevolence in the ravine, and dragon, as they fall under the same rules as Hellions.]

Where X contradicted itself was with this supposed "forest." When we were first coming upon the village, it appeared that there was a forest just to the other side of the village. Yet, when we're supposed to go to the forest... there's a huge area with giant ravines, and no trees? That just didn't make sense.

Finally, I want to touch on the fight between spoiler[Lunarre] and spoiler[Symonne]. I greatly approve of spoiler[Symonne] showing up so early, it'll give more time for character development, something she was sorely lacking in the game. It also seemed that she was planning on spoiler[killing Alisha to cause despair, which would lead to malevolence]. Or, at least, this is the only thing that makes sense, based on the game. Why she fought spoiler[Lunarre] makes no sense to me, though. We know from the scene earlier and from the game that he's trying to assassinate Alisha, so it makes sense that he would follow, but not why he'd fight spoiler[Symonne].

And, of course, we have the opening. Pretty standard, and I'm impressed that they opted to not spoiler[show Rose's Armatization], usually there's tons of spoilers in the opening. Did find it interesting that they only showed Sorey's Armatization with Mikleo (my preference, personally), and none of the others. And it'll be interesting to see how Velvet is mixed into play. I have some theories, but I'm not sure.

spoiler[In the game, you learn that while some Seraph are born that way, others are humans who have died. It is possible that Velvet became a Seraph after her death, and that she joins the party in that capacity, or at least they meet her like that.] Alternatively, it could be that spoiler[they find an Iris Gem with story for her. This could also have story from other games as well]. Not knowing much about Berseria, these are the only things that makes sense to me, barring time travel.


Overall, I enjoyed the episode, and am looking forward to next week's. The series is going to be 25 episodes (13 in Summer, 12 in Winter), so it'll be tight, and much will be cut, but it seems that it'll work. I'll try to see what I can figure out for estimations on how things will line up, and I'll post that once I figure it out.

1. So uhhhhh why did Lunarre just leave Alisha there? Isn’t she his target? He even says that she was his prey. Yet he awkwardly just leaves her when she was vulnerable. Why?

leatherhead333 wrote:

1. So uhhhhh why did Lunarre just leave Alisha there? Isn’t she his target? He even says that she was his prey. Yet he awkwardly just leaves her when she was vulnerable. Why?

Where would be the fun in finishing off an already weakened opponent? He'd probably only be satisfied if he beat her after fighting her at her best.