It was with pleasant surprise that I formed my initial, highly favourable, impressions of the Tales of the Abyss anime adaptation, and now after seeing three such episodes of superb quality, I’d like to take the opportunity to recommend the anime unreservedly.
Adorable loli-shota combo Anise and Ion make their appearance in the second episode, and in the third we get to meet her angst-loli antithesis, as well as Tear’s icy sensei. Everything follows the game in this respect.
The animation is fantastic, with ravishing backgrounds, fluidly animated characters, and the same beautiful character designs from the game.
The game also provides a superb cast of top seiyuu, all of whom reprise their roles in the anime with practiced perfection.
It looks as if the anime is looking to be completely faithful to the game, and whilst a fan such as myself might complain that the game could perhaps be split into two seasons with good results, in all probability the fast pacing the anime displays serves the interest of a general audience best. Certainly there is a lot to be said for not having to play through the actual game to get at the superb story.
Anyone who is a fan of a Tales game should probably consider this obligatory viewing, and for anyone who is not, I can only suggest you try it, for it clearly is an absolutely first class adaptation, probably the best of any RPG to anime conversions. Of this season’s titles, I’d definitely put it on the same level as the other excellent major action anime airing, A Certain Magical Index.
Couldn’t put up with Luke and the deplorably plain animation. Who do they think they’re fooling with all that block colour? Boring.
If they manage to keep Jade’s sarcastic attitude in the anime, then I’m all set, “oh no, I’ve been frail since birth *fakes cough*”, haha, priceless.
This anime is shaping up to be an excellent replacement since Geass is over.
Again, it behooves me to say that Anise hijincks + Jade commentary = Lord of the Rings Epic WIN
Just wanted to chip in with a nitpicky comment and mention that it’s not exactly correct to say that the entire cast from the game is back – Ion’s seiyuu has been switched from Ohtani Ikue to Kobayashi Yumiko, since I think after the birth of her child the former is taking some time off from her work.
I too am finding the Abyss anime excellent and I’m just amazed at how gorgeous the animation is, considering most video game adaptations have been given the short end of the stick in the past. I do hope the quality manages to keep up for the entire 26 episodes!
Thanks, I thought I noticed something different about Ion’s voice. I quite like the husky twang she brings to the character.
Does anyone know if this is due for 26 or 13 episodes? I thought 13…
I personally prefer Ohtani Ikue’s Ion since he’s cuter, but I think Kobayashi Yumiko does a good job voicing him as well. 🙂
If you go to this page and scroll down to the Tales of the Abyss section, there’s a sentence which goes “アニメ化のお話はかなり前から頂いていまして、もうすでに全26話のシナリオが上がってきている段階です。” It’s basically saying that the scenarios for the 26 episodes have already mostly been written, so since this article is an official source the information has to be true. 🙂
What fantastic news!
My brother loves this anime so much… he played the game like 3 to 5 times …that’s like couple of 200 to 300 hours of gameplay. I myself support this anime aswell.