Tales of Phantasia is a small OVA, consisting of four episode and based on the RPG with the same name which came out about ten years ago. I truly recommend this to everyone who’s looking for something interesting to watch.
People might claim that this anime is only worth it if you played the game as well. That is absolutely not true. I didn’t play the game either and I totally loved this. Okay, in the beginning, you’ll see a lot of inexplainable thing happen. But don’t see that as a reason to quit this anime, see it as a reason to use your own head for a bit. Try to figure out what happened before. This way, you’ll be able to enjoy this OVA even more.
The graphics in this anime are totally amazing. Perhaps they even stand above the extreme quality of Tsubasa Chronicle Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi. In any case, they belong in the category of top-5 best graphics ever. The CG is just brilliant to see. There’s just so many attention put into the details, and don’t forget the incredible way the creators integrated these with the rest of the graphics. The character designs are also one of the very few today that really are unique. Each and every one of them stick to your mind like superglue. It doesn’t really plan to come off too soon. They look just too awesome, my favourites are Arche and Klarth. The music also is a masterpiece. Ranging from the OP to the ED, from the quiet moments to the dramatic moments to the battles, everything just perfectly fitted.
The characters themselves are also greatly developed. Especially if you consider that this OVA just takes a mere two hours to tell its story. I know some anime which couldn’t even come close to achieving this much character development in four times the same amount of time. I also liked the fact that every personality has something unique, which at the same time really characterizes that particular character. The way each character interacts with the other is also just amazing.
The story itself isn’t too complex. This, however, is greatly made up in the way it’s told. The creators somehow manage to make each second of this anime count. As the tale to be told is huge, and there are only hours available, the pace of storytelling is high. There are some rushed parts, but these take in no way at all away the power of these scenes.
There’s just one thing I don’t like about this anime. It’s just too damn short! I would have loved to see each of the characters fleshed out even more. I would have loved to see even more character developments, backgrounds, stories, et cetera. Maybe four episodes was a bit too little for such an awesome series. Still, I’m glad I was able to see this.
Final Rating: 95/100
Great review!
Yes, it was too damn short. As a fan of the ‘Tales’ series (and an even bigger fan of Kosuke Fujishima) I was a little disappointed with how they handled Suzu Fujibyashi – IMO, one of the more complicated backstories. But, hearing Klarth say various summons and Arche shouting “indignation” made up for it.
Hmm, I never knew Suzu had such a complicated backstory. It’s indeed the drawback of having just four episodes. I’m also finding it a bit strange that I’m the only one in the anime-blogging community who’s noticed this series, as I never saw any review of any of the episodes at all. Anyay, thanks for the comments. ^_^
Wow I totally agree with your review..just finished watching it and I have to admit, it’s one of the most satisfying endings in anime I’ve ever seen. Same complaint though…tooooo short :*(
I just finished this series earlier this morning and I loved it! But not to a point where it’s going on my top 20. But I loved it nonetheless! And even I didn’t even play the game (along with Tales of Symphonia and Abyss).