Forum - View topicREVIEW: Atelier, Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky Sub.Blu-Ray
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Via_01
 Posts: 551 |
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Escha and Logy was the first game of the Atelier series I played, and I'd like to say that it's really not necessary to play Ayesha in order to understand Escha, as characters from the past game are mostly introduced as new characters to our protagonists, and though there are some arcs that deal with them a bit more in depth, they are merely optional, and don't affect the main plot in any way.
This adaptation somehow feels more than a sequel than the game though. Weird. In any case, though it has a lot of faults, the first few episodes of the show made me go pick up the game, and I didn't regret it (so I suppose it served its main objective?) Oh, last thing: there's no hot springs scene in the actual game. Actually, barely any fanservice at all. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3676 |
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I've played a few Atelier games, though none from the Dusk trilogy, and the "sequelness" of the show didn't really register with me. Nor did the poor plot pacing, for that matter, because the show felt very slice of life, with a mostly-irrelevant plot.
I'm led to suspect that not having any experience with the game improves the show. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2660 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I think you may be right, Ytterbio. I've played "Atelier Annie" and "Atelier Rorona," and both my sister and I commented that we kind of wished we'd gone into this cold, so to speak.
I am glad to hear that the game is much less sequely, though, because like Via_01 said, the show did make me curious to play this particular game. (Then the lack of "true end" made me change my mind. Then I did research and learned why I wasn't wholly satisfied with the ending and decided I wanted to play the game again. So now who knows?  )
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Chipp12
Posts: 332 |
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I've thought that the music was quite good though (not familiar with the original games and series).
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belvadeer
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As I mentioned previously, watching the anime will spoil the final boss earlier than you'd see in the game. I'd recommend playing the game first and then watching this. Still disappointed in the lack of an English dub.
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razisgosu
Posts: 657 |
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I know the anime was mostly filler garbage but I love the games so I bought it anyways.
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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I'll probably pick the discs up for collecting purposes, but the animation was often poor or bad. the voicework was even lower than the game's standards. There's just a lot wrong with this production, but it has a few good messages. A franchise where working together to research solutions as a primary solution and combat as a final resort is rather refreshing.
Though I was pleased to see Wilbel the star of nearly every episode guest art. it is nice to have a favorite reaffirmed like that from a character that was only playable as DLC. |
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Hunter Sopko
 Posts: 259 |
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It was doubly baffling given, of pretty much any Atelier game, Ayesha had the strongest in-game narrative that could've supported it's own anime. Meanwhile E&L had some of the most fluffy and empty chapters of any of the games. Argh. Wasted potential.
I've heard talk from friends familiar with the 2ch Atelier scene that Ayesha wasn't particularly liked because it broke a lot of the series' traditions (lack of assignments, much looser character story progression, etc), so E&L went back to many of them hardcore. May explain why E&L got an anime while Ayesha didn't. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I'll attest to this. I've never played any of the games (in fact, I've never played any Japanese RPGs to begin with), and I liked the show for what it was. It was harmless without being boring, sweet without being saccharine, and I enjoyed the way the characters interacted with one another. I also thought the frontier-style setting to be a nice change of pace. The only thing I thought was disappointing was spoiler[how Escha and Logy didn't end up together. They clearly liked one another and would have made a cute couple.] |
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navycherub
 Posts: 233 |
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I got more mileage out of this show than some it seems. I liked the show a lot - the mood and characters were really relaxing and homey, and the setting was at least a little interesting. My brother has been a fan of the Atelier games for a long time, but about halfway through this show airing I decided to play Escha and Logy and I plowed through it really fast - the first ending I got was so bittersweet, and it brought tears to my eyes! I still haven't played any of the other games, as I am told they are pretty different from Escha and Logy, but I definitely cherish this show for being just nice enough to introduce me to these characters and this world.
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mewpudding101
Industry Insider
 Posts: 2210 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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I said they should have made an anime of Mana Khemia, which has better characters and story, but nooo don't listen to me lol
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HyugaHinata
 Posts: 3505 |
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There's also the issue of the sheer quantity of characters. The more characters, the less likely it is to develop all of them. And the more the anime feels like dipping your fingers into a lake rather than going scuba diving in the lake. |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 4006 |
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Same here. Really liked the game's dub cast. |
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belvadeer
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Every male gamer in Japan who played the game would basically want Logy dead if that were to happen. They absolutely detest his very existence, I kid you not. They feel the Atelier series never needed male leads, but it's okay if they're party members that support the main alchemist girl. That might be part of why the Iris trilogy and Khemia games failed. I mentioned this before, but something that can only be described as typical otaku insanity happened in Japan when a scene in Atelier Rorona only slightly implied Rorona may have had feelings for Iksel, the young chef who runs the restaurant in town. The short scene basically had male gamers making ridiculous condemnations of Rorona being impure and disgusting, and that she was officially defiled. The Atelier girls have never once had romantic feelings for any guy in the series; they blush a lot in cutscenes when talking to male characters, and that's perfectly normal for girls, but no it has to be treated like a serious offense. These otaku, nuttier than fruitcake I tell you.
There's one problem with that: Mana Khemia and its sequel both sold poorly in Japan. Neither title did much to impress the Atelier fans over there, and there's little to no discussion about either these days over here for that matter. It didn't help that Mana Khemia 2's story was utter crap from the start, the cast was absolutely stupid as hell and the culminating "final combined story" was a waste of time to even embark on, all of which essentially doomed any possible plans for a third entry. From what I understood years ago, Mana Khemia was an experiment in the Atelier line, to see if they could change things up with the whole "passing days as you do alchemy" feature. I guess the experiment was too drastic a change for most longtime fans. Remember Japan enjoyed all of Atelier from the very beginning with Marie in 1997, while we joined the party fairly late with the first Atelier Iris, though it's come to my understanding that the Iris trilogy fared no better.
Right? They were great in their roles. This reminds of how lame it was that the dub cast from Tales of the Abyss couldn't be rounded up for the home release of its anime either, especially when the English dub for Abyss gets nothing but praise from all but the most annoying original audio purists. I imagine the DVD didn't sell very well due to a lack of an English dub. |
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mewpudding101
Industry Insider
Posts: 2210 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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The thing about Mana Khemia is, it's not about developing the characters... It's watching the characters bounce off of each other as they are involved in this deeper story. The characters have backstories, sure, but most of them can be summed up in like, one or two sentences. Philo: spoiler[I really like alchemy, so I tried doing it outside of school without a license as a child and got caught by the police. I also caught a Mana with a bug net.] Loxis: spoiler[My family really liked gambling, so we fell into debt, and that's why I'm envious of Vayne's father. Since my family likes gambling, I use cards as a weapon.] Gunnar and Mupe: spoiler[I want to rule the world with an iron fist!] ...among others. I feel like Escha & Logy's characters are pretty empty when bouncing off of each other, and I have played the game. I love the Atelier series, but the games as of late have been focusing more on moe archetypes rather than actual character and story |
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