Tales Of Eternia

Didn’t think I would be so quick to watch another Tales series after my very recent stint with Tales Of Phantasia. This time, Tales Of Eternia. Yeah, am I unconsciously trying to watch all the Tales series? I don’t know but since this is a retro show (this adaptation was aired way back in 2001 – over f*cking 20 years ago!!! Oh damn do I feel so f*cking old right now!!!), you know me, it’s about time for that retro nostalgia. Sometimes good ol’ retro fantasy series may be the best way to blow away modern era blues. Oh heck, who am I kidding? I was just curious about yet another Tales series that is literally unrelated to the rest. Different story, different characters but practically the same basic fantasy formula of good versus evil.

Episode 1
As narrated, in the aftermath of the Aurora War, the nations of Celestia and Inferia cut communications with each other. But now an incident will bring disaster to both nations. Hence our young adventurers, Reid Hershel, Farah Oersted, Keele Zeibel and Meredy are on a journey to prevent Grand Fall. You see, both nations are somewhat like floating continents. Each year, the gap between them is decreasing and at this rate, they will collide AKA Grand Fall. Meanwhile a group of shady people are observing the group. They are more interested in Meredy, though. They ponder the reason she is travelling with them and how she got to this land. When the party stop to rest and as Farah is about to cook dinner, she realizes her meat is missing. Turns out Reid stole and ate some last night. Yeah, she really chases him down to hell to beat him up! So as he tries to make up and hunt for meat, he also inadvertently saves a bard named Corina Solgente. She is impressed with him and wants to follow him around to write poems. Not that he is interested anyway. Hence she warns him not to wander too close to some swamp because some monster will tend to bait and lead unsuspecting ones there and then a pack will attack. You don’t say because Farah is also looking for food and chases this lobster to this swamp. Oh well, time to beat down this pack of lobsters for dinner. As Keele and Meredy wait, they remember the first time stumbling into Meredy. Yeah, she couldn’t speak a word of their language and it was chaotic. Reid returns. So where’s Farah? Right now she is battling the big mother lobster. In no time, her pals come to her aid with Keele unleashing his elemental spirits to do the job. Yeah, now we have a great lobster feast! While they are eating, suddenly this hot chick assassin babe, Marone Bluecarno shows up before them and declares she will kill Reid. Wow. So upfront. I guess she’s not a fan of underhanded sneak attacks.

Episode 2
Reid manages to block her attack but is out unconscious. The rest realizes Marone is kidnapping him but she flies away in her dragon. She also tells them that Reid is weak so it’s best they forget about him. Wow. She literally judges them after seeing them fight with those lobsters, huh? Reid dreams about Keele and his university reporting about the prediction of Grand Fall to their Inferia king. So what does the king do? Blame it on Celestia that this is part of their destruction plan and go to war! OMFG. Hence Reid and co are on a journey to stop this before that stupid war comes. Yeah. As he wakes up, Marone explains she is a bounty hunter and needs his help for now. So I guess she was lying about his skills suck because now she says she is impressed. He is brought back to the maritime city of Verkaniu of the Verka Island. Its ruler, Excia has requested for help to slay a sea demon that has been terrorizing their waters lately. Anyone that has ventured out to sea has never returned. Farah and co find Marone’s camp site and conveniently sees this note too. Yeah, some kind travellers will take them across the ocean to Verkaniu. Reid thought of escaping but Marone tries to change his mind by stripping?! Don’t worry, she’s wearing a sexy swimsuit. Then she pushes him into the pool! WTF. Heh. They have a good laugh. She then apologizes for her uncouth ways when they met. She won’t force him to be his partner but needs his help for now. He agrees. Though, she says she is doing this for the money and won’t say further. That night, Reid sees her crying alone and lets her be. Next day, Farah’s side have reached Verkaniu and the go into action to slay the sea demon. Keele summons his spirits again. They fight the sea demon but soon he realizes he has wrongly analysed this species because the more damage it takes, the stronger it gets. WTF?! So the only way is to destroy it in 1 blow. Yeah, better hurry because it is heading for land. But don’t worry, like all heroes coming in at the last moment, Reid and Marone fly in and strike it dead with their swords. Wow. SO EASY?! Reid returns to his party as Marone warns Farah to walk the talk. Why is she trying to stir up some b*tch fight or something? Marone alone accepts Excia’s reward as our heroes join the islanders hosting a party for them that night.

Episode 3
Reid and co get rewarded by Excia. Since Farah wants to continue their journey as soon as possible, Excia allows them to rest up in the hotel owned by Platia. She’ll gladly serve whatever they want. The guys want food! Farah seems hasty in wanting to get ready for the journey so she forces the guys to go shop for the necessaries afterwards. In town, Reid is unsure on what to get so this local girl, Minima guides him around. Not sure if he got bamboozled because he bought all the useless things! You bet Farah blows her top. Can’t carry all that on their journey, can they?! But how is Keele holding up? He wants to buy this entire building of books! Yeah, the guys are hopeless. Meanwhile Meredy makes friends with Corina. They have fun together with the guys. Farah is not amused and tells off Corina to not get in their way because they’re on an important journey and don’t have time to fool around. Poor Corina feels so hurt, she left in a hurry. That night, a storm is going to hit the island so everyone is told to stay in. Platia is worried she didn’t see Corina since she is also staying here. Minima then says she saw her left this afternoon. Which means she didn’t get the hurricane warning. Oh dear. Farah feeling guilty now. Trying to go save her in this storm? Don’t be to rash. Because Reid calmly assesses the situation. Need a map of this place and someone who is familiar with the mountains. I don’t think clinging onto a tree can save Corina because before her is a landslide! Luckily Reid and co come to her rescue. With the spirits buying time for them to escape, suddenly the spirit powers are cut off. Better run faster! Can they outrun a landslide?! It gets more dramatic as they cross the bridge, Reid and Farah fall through. Thankfully Marone saves them with her dragon. Uhm, not going to lend a ride back to town? Can’t her dragon sit extra 5 people? Oh well, the storm’s over. Damn, that was fast. Farah and Corina emotionally reconcile. Now Farah learns how to chill as she has fun with the gang. We’re such happy people!

Episode 4
All Reid wants is just to relax peacefully. What’s Farah being noisy about? Oh, looking for Marone to borrow her dragon to get back to mainland. He goes to chill somewhere else. Oh, Corina singing her horrible songs… He swims to this uninhabited island. Only, infested with bugs! Try somewhere else… Meanwhile Farah has found Marone but the latter rejects her request. The start arguing and are about to fight each other when Platia accidentally splashes water on them. Cooled down a bit? Then she suggests settling their dispute the local way AKA Sea Challenge. Oh wow. Suddenly everyone is looking forward to this and sets up this festival-like atmosphere. Basically, anyone can enter this challenge of swimming around the 9 islands of Verka. The winner gets her wish granted. The race starts. Damn, Meredy swims faster than both of them?! Thank goodness she has no sense of direction and swims away towards the ocean. So as Marone and Farah are neck to neck (and still arguing), a sea lizard attacks them. Damn, it has tentacles for tongue?! Luckily Marone’s dragon saves them to a nearby island. Farah then realizes why Marone was so against her suggestion. Looks like the dragon is injured and it will be impossible to it to fly all the way back to the mainland. So now they argue about getting the dragon to see a doctor? You mean a vet. Okay. Whatever. Yeah, not even the lizard can get in between their argument! Then they realize the race is futile since both have the same idea. As they prepare to return to the race, the lizard is getting back up. However it is making irritating noises so Reid who is relaxing nearby gets annoyed, cuts it down to have it STFU! In the end, the duo took too long so Meredy returns and wins the race. Yeah, now they’re arguing who to pay for the dragon’s medical fees. Meredy’s wish is for both of them to get along. And just like that they’re friends! Yeah, maybe they were just waiting for an excuse because of their pride… Meanwhile Reid thought he could finally relax for good. Then it starts raining… No chilling today…

Episode 5
Farah thinks of building a boat back to the mainland since the recent storm wiped out many and Marone’s dragon is too injured to fly. Yeah, who made her the boss to tell her pals what their roles are? Oh heck, just do it! However that will soon come to a halt because of the storm, prices of wood have skyrocketed. Yup, not enough money despite their reward. This makes Meredy sad because she really wants to get back to Celestia where she is from. She even had a sad dream from being parted with Garenos, a powerful magician who raised her. She talks this problem with Corina and she’s willing to help her earn some money. They see Minima who suggests a few jobs. Waitresses? Clumsy! Fired! Drink seller? Drank everything! Fired! Hard construction labour? Not a chance! Then they see a poster for help at a nightclub. This is where Marone is singing too and damn, I have to admit, she is a much better singer than Corina!!! TRUE!!! After she is done, it is Meredy and Corina’s turn. WTF this lively and bubbly cutesy idol act?! Oh heck, everyone loves it. Only Meredy, that is. The duo expect their pay but the pervy owner thinks of making them do extra ‘service’. They don’t want too and he is mad. Luckily Marone is here to stop this. Owner can’t fight her but luckily he hired some bodyguard to do so. It’s Reid! Since he got paid, he hopes she’ll lose. Not a chance! Their fighting on stage, the people thinks it is a play. Meredy needs to solve this so she summons her spirit to flood the entire place! WTF?! In the aftermath, Farah lectures them for giving trouble. But then thanks them because they’re trying to help in making money for the boat. Speaking of which, they have enough to buy what is necessary. Let the construction begin.

Episode 6
The boat is ready and… It sinks! Yeah, Keele was so proud of his design. He thinks they assembled it wrongly!!! With no more money for another boat, Farah sees Excia. Sorry, queen can’t help them but she recommends to take a bath. Since the water isn’t suitable, Minima suggests the hotspring. Meanwhile Reid dives to the wreckage and brings back this strange coin. Keele examines it and realizes it contains the language of Melonix (the language Meredy speaks). While it is used in Inferia as summoning rituals and scholarly literature, it is more commonly used in Celestia. Further investigation shows that the Melonix era has left behind lots of stuffs on this island. The stone monuments which are visible from town aren’t located on any of the maps. It could’ve been a popular tourist attraction so could it be left out on purpose? So while all our usual ladies go to the outskirts to enjoy the hotspring, the guys investigate an abandoned village where a stone monument is. Then he finds another strange Melonix coin. More walking until they reach a Melonix ruin. Keele finds it strange because the locals couldn’t have built something this big and all the altars in the village were facing the stone monument. Coming to a dead end, they find a secret lever and use the coin to open a secret passage. How freaking convenient! Apparently this looks like the base of those shady people so they are hell bent in preventing them from discovering this place. As the girls dip in, Farah sees Marone’s weakness as she can’t stand too hot the water. Since she considers her friend, she reveals Meredy’s origins from Celestia. Surprisingly but not, Marone doesn’t laugh because that is what others would do when Farah says so. Farah then goes on to tell all the quirky personalities of that of a Celestia being. Go ahead, we’re listening… Meanwhile the guys stumble into a monster. Too bad Keele’s fire spirit doesn’t work on it because it also breathes fire. Keele remembers a canal above so he makes a hole in the ground and wets it. Got defeated just like that?! Wow. This monster must be really weak with water. Then they crawl up the hole. Turns out it is the hotspring. Yeah, it’s dry now. Time for the girls to give them a beat down! Meanwhile those shady people are hell bent on their goal to get revenge. Until that happens, no one must interfere with their plans. Ooooh, I’m so scared!

Episode 7
Look what the shore washed up? A bunch of so called heroes? Folks, meet Greid, Mimi and John. They are Wings of Darkness! Oh boy, if they being passionate being heroes, let me tell you know that you’re right when they are actually idiots! Because you see, they are here to slay that sea demon! HOW MANY EPISODES LATE YOU ARE?! Yeah, meet Reid who defeated them. Because of that, Greid thinks Reid is his admirer since they share almost the same name and that Reid took after his name! WTF?! Worse, he lets Reid join their group as they go investigate the ruins. Yeah, I can see why Farah is getting upset as she spews comebacks after comebacks over their idiocy. So as we see the Wings of Darkness fumble their way, when they reach underground, Greid’s hips give way so he lets Reid lead. In this maze-like tunnel, Reid has already left droppings as mark. Only if John didn’t pick them up and eat them!!! Then they stumble into a room of monsters behind a cage. Yup, Greid accidentally releasing them! What was he saying trying to cut them all? Not today?! So run!!! There is only so much Reid can do to cut them down so keep running. Meanwhile Farah and the rest try to investigate the ruins too. But they see monsters attacking the village. Eventually Wings of Darkness resurfaces as Reid joins the rest to save the villagers from the monsters. A success. Farah about to thank Reid but seeing other girls beating her to it, I guess he pouting continues. As Meredy and Keele examine a monster closer, Meredy realizes these monsters are from Celestia. Being kept in a cage means they must have a master, right? Meanwhile, the Wings of Darkness has left the island. So where are they paddling to while clinging onto this log? Well, paddle hard because… SHARKS! Thank goodness that will be the last we’ll see of them!!!

Episode 8
Yet another strange dream from Meredy. Watching beautiful lights floating into the sky as well as her comrades gearing up for war that they are willing to risk their lives for. We also see those shady people praying to their God, Nereid. The leader believes her prayers have gotten through as the hidden power within the land has awakened. The only thing left is some summoning spirits and they need the strength of one who can hold such spirits. But before they get to that, they have to eliminate some troublesome people… Keele and Farah discuss about those monsters. It hints that Celestia could have been on this island. But Reid doesn’t care if that’s the case because it’s like implying Celestia is the source of bad luck but has any of that been since they meet Meredy? However this makes Meredy sad as she thinks she is the source of the trouble. Before Keele could calm her, Reid takes the lead and pushes her into the pool?! Now we’re all splashing water so Meredy is distracted and having fun again. Keele laments that despite Reid being lazy, crude and not the smartest, he envies him for being able to touch people’s hearts. Excia soon revives an old custom and that means the nation will celebrate a festival soon. It is said that the sea will shimmer with light. When that happens, their tradition allows females to confess to the guys they love. You thinking what I’m thinking about Farah and Marone? Yeah. Why the blushing? So we see them being clumsy or fluster whenever they are near Reid. Oh well, looks like Meredy and Corina has got more guts than them as they admit they want to confess to Reid. But as big brother. Yeah. What were you expecting? Oh, even Platia and Minima asking Reid to meet them at a certain point. Now this is worrying. So Farah and Marone talk this out especially about their stupid pride. Do they even know their own feelings? Eventually they give excuse to spy on Platia and Minima because they don’t want them to have a fallout over Reid. Wow. You sure about that? The festival begins and it is a beautiful sight to behold. Keele takes this chance to apologize and make good with Meredy. Meanwhile Corina has been hypnotized by the light.

Episode 9
Corina is in a trance dancing over the sea of light. Since Reid is so impressed with this phenomena, Platia and Minima can wait their confession as they lead him to a spot to have a better view. Yeah, time to think of all the times Reid being kind and helpful to them. Breaks your heart, isn’t it? As Keele is researching more and finds the interesting fact that the books here centre around Nereid who is the God of destruction, when Meredy points out some fact, Keele realizes this whole island is in danger. Gotta rush and tell his friends. Meanwhile a couple of those shady people try to kill Reid from behind as he is admiring the view. Luckily they miss? Surprisingly but not, Reid recognizes them as Platia and Minima. Such a wonder that Farah and Marone can see this happening from across the coast and fly right here. Reid tells them not to attack as the perpetrators unmask themselves. Great timing as Keele arrives to impart what he has found. When Inferia and Celestia were at war, some of the latter fell to this land. Hence they had to keep their identities a secret by living here. This explains why this island had lots of stuffs that are peculiar to Celestia. This is all admitted true by the big boss who is no other than Excia! Why am I not surprised either? She reveals being the ruler of this island is just a cover up as her true role is the leader of Nereid worshippers. As some of Celestia’s finest warriors were sent here to fight, something changed and left them stranded on this island, forcing them to live in secrecy. For generations, they pass down the hatred of Inferia. Excia gets rid of Platia and Minima before they could reveal her true goal of revenge. Excia unleashes her monsters to fight them but this is a trap as she waits for the heroes to bring out their spirits. Then she uses Corina and a device to steal them. Excia reveals Corina has this ability to manipulate spirits, something she was born with. With this Celestia technology to control them, now they are hers. Yeah, now that Corina is no longer useful, she tosses her aside as she uses the spirits’ power against the heroes. She disappears so she can start her lifelong revenge. Oh Reid, that scratch on your arm from that failed assassination must have really affected his skills badly, huh?!

Episode 10
Oh, Reid is poisoned so that’s why he isn’t healing like normal. With some of the islanders reverting to their true identities as Nereid worshippers, you bet our heroes want to avoid clashing with them. To keep Corina safe, they hijack a boat (damn, so easy to knock out those guards?!) but after Marone paddles halfway, she calls her dragon to fly back to the island. Reid and Farah swim back to shore to go save heart. I guess Keele and Meredy are stuck looking after Corina. On land, Marone gives herself up and in exchange wants to see Excia. Easy for Reid and Farah to sneak in because just don those same cult garb! Are those easily available everywhere?! And yeah, those garbs must be blocking their vision since the duo can just go anywhere and get away. Not that the guards care. When Marone sees Excia, she is in the cult’s garb. Before spying Reid and Farah think she is a traitor, there’s more. It seems Excia knows her father, Kastek who is also a Nereid worshipper. This means she knows who Marone was all along and didn’t say a thing to test her true intentions. Although Excia needed some pure Celestia blood by her side, some like Kastek began mating with the local Inferia. Marone is a halfie. He soon left the island as he prefers to coexist with Inferia and abandoned worshipping Nereid. Marone claims she is different from Kastek and wants to rejoin this Nereid worshipping cult. Excia cannot trust her yet so Marone promises to find Reid and kill him. When Excia gets close to accept her, suddenly Marone stabs her! Yeah. All was just a trick for this moment. Seems Marone’s parents were killed by monsters sent by Excia to silence them. Revenge. Too bad the big bad boss won’t die so easily because Marone just killed her shadow. You don’t think the real one is dumb enough to get close to her, do you? With Excia summoning monsters to get rid of her, time for Reid and Farah to stop spying and help their friend. Marone summons her dragon for them to escape. But wait! Inferia chasing them in UFO saucers?! NOW I’VE REALLY SEEN EVERYTHING! But remember they are so dumb that Reid can even hijack one and shoot the rest down! Damn, they come prepared with parachutes! But here is this big mother cannon! Marone seeing Reid is still injured as well as her dragon, she has Farah take care of them. She has her relay the message she loves Reid. And of course Farah too. Then she crashes into the cannon. Holy f*ck! That did the trick?! MARONE, NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Episode 11
Wow. Corina wakes up just in time. She surprises Meredy with the truth that she is a native of this island and that Excia is her mom. Well, if only she heard how Excia has never seen her as her daughter and only used her to get the spirits from the previous episode, she’ll be so sad. Oh wait. She just heard Reid returning and telling Keele all that has happened including Marone’s death. Corina so sad. She wants to take a boat to talk to mother herself. Can she?! Oh well, Meredy helps her. There, they sneak around in a basket?! Solid Snake will be so proud. They eventually get caught and as Corina tries to use her authority as Excia’s daughter, too bad Excia has given orders to kill anyone who claims herself to be Corina! Luckily Reid and co return to save her and escape. Corina remembers an island where she used to live by herself. Yeah, Excia only visited her twice a year. And only for a short while! However on this island there are monsters attacking the villagers. After getting rid of them, they realize these people are those who disobeyed Excia. Hence they are rounded up on this island and with the monsters, Excia knows well Reid and co cannot move so easily. Yeah, sneaky queen using Corina’s existence to full use. Corina must be really sad. She feels useless and has caused trouble but Meredy notes she likes her singing. That’s right. Corina doing what she does best. Singing. Honestly, this is the worst singing I’ve heard!!! Yeah, everybody so kind to enjoy it. Suddenly Corina remembers a secret passage where there are hidden weapons! WHAT?! Platia returns with her Celestia guys who are anti-Excia. The weapons are here in preparation for this. Platia also reveals more truth about Corina and Excia. Can Corina’s take it? Yeah, Excia is not her true mom. Her parents died in a shipwreck and baby Corina was picked up by Excia. She saw her spirit summoning potential and raised her as her own in hopes of gaining control of it one day. Well Corina, that should be enough to sever ties with your mom and stop calling her that. With monsters attacking, all the villagers grab the weapons (holy sh*t, there’s a gun blaster too?!) and with our heroes, kick some ass. Yeah, a warm up for the final showdown! We’re unbeatable!

Episode 12
Surprise, motherf*cker! Because Marone is still alive thanks to being saved by a doctor who is part of the anti-Excia group. He went on to explain the abandon village near the ruins were once inhabited by Celestia and Inferia. Kastek didn’t want to live in the shadows but had to defeat revenge obsessed Excia first. He tried to gather some men and left them with this, uhm, diary? Reid’s side is also being told about this and the Chain of Existence. It is the last secret weapon of Nereid worshippers. Excia stole the spirits to bring this back. No prizes to guess what kind of destructive power it will have if combined with the spirits. Marone gives our heroes a happy surprise. Farah the first to hug her. She then gives them this diary. Since it is written in Melonix, Keele needs some time to decipher its secrets. Excia has finally succeed in summoning the dead Celestia comrades. They are only filled with hatred. Now that they are under her power, she turns against her followers. Yeah, who needs puny humans when you have an army of the undead! Our heroes have to run to higher ground when they see a tsunami approaching. Turns out it is a flying fortress island AKA Chain of Existence. Revenge on Inferia is at hand. While treating to more wounded islanders, Keele has finally decoded the diary. Please speak English when trying to tell this confusing legend! Basically when Celestia soldiers hid here, there was a ritual that would grand revenge against Inferia by making infinite number of souls. So all you need is hatred for Inferia and other negative emotions to be used in the spirit magic to make new souls. A young girl was chosen for this ritual and no surprise that girl is Excia. The doctor’s grandpa also served Excia before, indicating she isn’t human to begin with. It is believed her real body lies asleep inside Chain of Existence. The Celestia ones all remember this weird dream of a girl crying. It could be Excia who is lonely. Yeah, bet it is her who has been put in that state for 2000 years just as sacrifice for Nereid. Excia’s disillusioned followers have decided to join them. So you think numbers will do the trick, huh? Because as they fly up in their saucers to the Chain of Existence, Excia shows them what they’re up against as she fires a long range spirit cannon! HOLY MACKEREL! Which poor island just got the atomic bomb treatment?!

Episode 13
Wow. This cannon is also on autopilot mode so when it reaches the mainland, it can destroy the castle?! Better hurry now. Reid and co arrive on Chain of Existence as they split up their team to go look for Excia and her real body. Marone’s side is the latter as they find a young girl encased in a pod. Yup, that’s got to be her. But too bad, zombies all over! Reid’s side faces off with Excia but she fuses with the zombies to turn into a monster and summon other monsters to keep them at bay. Wow, everyone getting owned. Meredy trying some conversation. Please stop. Not working! When everything is looking hopeless, our Celestia characters start wishing hard they have power. And suddenly a miracle happens! The real Excia awakens from her slumber. She makes her way to where the evil Excia is and vanquishes all the monsters! Like a boss! Excia is in distraught to learn the war is long over and laments her overwhelming hate has made her activate Chain of Existence when it should not have been. This loli was supposed to be her guardian but all those years of waiting turned into hatred and locked her out. Excia is sad that all she wanted was to protect Celestia. Meredy then tells her about the Grand Fall. Hence their journey was to collect the spirits to prevent this. Loli Excia hands the trapped spirits to Corina. You know what to do, right? Under pressure… Corina frees them. Excia allows Marone and Corina to have revenge on her but they won’t. Both Excia then fuse and return as one as they were 2000 years ago. She leaves it to Reid and co to sink Chain of Existence. Yeah, got to fight those zombies first. Because sinking this flying fortress is somehow so damn easy. And just like that, the world is saved. In the aftermath, Platia becomes the new chief of Verka since Excel goes on a journey with Marone and Corina. To wherever. But they see off Reid and his party as they blast off upwards into the sky, on to their new journey to Celestia. For the future!

Marooned Morons
Well… I don’t know whether I should be laughing or feeling cringe all over because that’s how it feels the entire series. But to be fair, this is not really all that bad and some parts were entertaining (term used quite loosely, mind you) and to be honest, this isn’t one of the worst animes I have seen nor anywhere close to it. Yeah, just pretty average. Heh. You know me. My middle fence answer as always. It fulfils and checks the list of the usual ingredients and clichés that is needed for a typical fantasy genre. A group of heroes, check. Underlying villain with the plot of getting revenge (if not world domination or destruction), check. In the end, good triumphs over evil, check. Happy ending. It’s so basic that we shouldn’t be complaining at all. Aren’t you glad it doesn’t get crappier than this?

While watching the series, it soon dawned to me that the entire plot could have been one big detour. You know, Reid and co get stranded on some tropical island. I mean, the bigger plot is for them to go on a journey to stop Grand Fall, right? You still remember that? Instead, they get stuck on this archipelago and getting into weird stuffs, distracted from their main mission. Like as though this was all a side mission. In fact, the first half is more comedic than anything as it is so freaking random with dumb characters that only appeared once (Wings of Darkness if you don’t know who I am talking about) and distracting plots that don’t matter (Farah and Marone swimming around the island all because of love. How sweet and cliché! And even that stormy landslide for some friendship reconciliation trope!). Thus the first half could actually be done away but I guess that will take the fun out of everything. I mean, Reid and co are already ‘invested’ in the island after their stay here for a while. If they jump into the second half where the so called plot thickens, it might feel a bit too rushed and unrealistic. Uh huh. Imagine Reid and co coming to this island and suddenly stumbling upon this nefarious Celestia revenge plot! Oh no, that won’t do. And hence all those funny shenanigans first to make us all warm up to the idea that they are now part of the gang and family on this island before they can go save the world. Yeah. That.

Therefore I am wondering if this was actually the story from the game itself that the anime was adapted from. Long answer made short: No. Ah yes. Now I see why the anime adaptation turned out to be so cringe and funny-cum-weird. That’s right, when you read the words ‘loosely based’ on, oh boy, that is the sign that the producers and directors of the animated adaptation are going to have very free creative freedom and reins over it. That is why at the end of the series, Reid and co only finally make their real journey towards Celestia. Yup, the anime deviated from the game’s plot and now it’s going back there. So we can view this as good and bad. In the sense that fans and non-fans alike will not lose anything much if they only experience one of the formats and did not the other since the anime and game’s story are unrelated. But fans of the game might be confused or get mad at this crap because well, it’s not part of the actual lore. So while our gang are down having fun and settling stuffs on Verka, I wonder how much time they have lost as Grand Fall inched closer to doom both worlds. Yeah… Better hurry up and fly to Celestia!

With that, this means that aside from Reid and his party, the rest of the other characters are anime only. Of course, I found out there are other characters in Reid’s party that appeared in the game but not in the anime but I don’t particularly care about that at this point. Oh boy, where do I start? Heck, how do I start? As you can see, Reid’s party is pretty cliché and typical of an RPG fantasy team. You know, Reid being the main character and the main front fighter of the group, Farah the healer, Keele the magic user and brains and Meredy the, uhm, foreigner?! Yeah, they even have a Pokemon-like mascot character but it is so insignificant and didn’t contribute to anything major (other than to sometimes distract us for looking cute) that I don’t even mention it once in my blog.

However the anime feels like it does not have a lot of fleshing out of the main group since we do not delve too much into their past. I’m sure you remember whatever trauma Farah had with those initial short lightning flashbacks, right? Oh you don’t? Me neither. Hence Reid is seen here as some laidback hero who just wants to lie down on the grassy plains and watch the sky. Yeah. I want to be this kind of hero lacking all urgency! Keele tries to look and sound smart but, well, he isn’t. Sorry, but it all feels like for plot convenience, the same reason for Meredy’s existence. Yeah, when you have another race in your team, at least there is someone there who knows about the other race’s customs and all.

It also feels like the sake for having some sort of cheesy and fleeting romance when Farah and Marone are pitted against each other for Reid’s love. Though it won’t descend into some unsightly catfight, again this serves as a distraction because what else is there to do when you are marooned on the island. Why do they even like this guy is beyond me but who am I to say? At least Reid has got the girls of all ages liking him! And to think that Marone’s character’s plot twist is being a halfie and gunning for revenge. I can see why she failed miserably. It’s a good thing she let it go in the end. Corina’s singing is the worst so other than the minor plot device for her being some great spirit summoner, she’s just there to be friends with Meredy because what a great way for 2 lolis to be friends and be so happy-happy on the island. Yeah. My only shock is that she is Excia’s daughter because I never believed it was ever so even when the so called plot twist came about. Simply because, Excia is dark, Corina is fair! Call me a racist but damn, could you not see how Excia being her biological mother is not freaking possible?! How can a tanned tropical lady (though by right she is Celestia) can have a fair blonde girl?! Just think about it!

Everything screams typical plot cliché in this series from the Melonix ruins to the Chain of Existence and this means Excia herself as the big bad villainess. Yeah, saw it coming from miles away that she is that shady character from the start. I mean, who else could it be if they are going to be fair to viewers? But unlike many antagonists and baddies who meet their doom in the end, Excia has got some sort of redemption for herself. Yeah, no need for a hot babe like her to be killed. As long as she realizes the err of her ways and heck, even kind enough to offer revenge (what are you going to be a jerk/dick and accept her offer to kill her?!), everything is forgiven. The way of the islanders. Let bygones be bygones. Okay, I made that one up. But you get the point.

If there is one thing appalling that I find, it is those spirits. I was under the impression that there will be many of them. But what the f*ck?! THERE ARE ONLY 3 OF THEM!!! COUNT ‘EM!!! And those same spirits, I am wondering how they will help prevent Grand Fall. I mean, at least I thought they would have spirits covering the 4 main elementals. But what the heck, where’s the earth elemental spirit?! They’ve got wind, fire and water, but they don’t even have an earth elemental???!!! Isn’t this the most important spirit because you know, the lands of both nations are going to collide!!! Do you not need an earth spirit for that???!!! Sheesh. And to think those spirits can be easily trapped in some Celestial technology item thingy, makes me worried how they are going to fare in stopping Grand Fall. Oh right. I don’t care at this point.

Action wise, feels pretty average. In fact, mediocre. It’s not really that exciting to be honest. After all, it feels obligatory because when you have Reid as the guy who holds a sword, naturally he has to swing it around to cut down his enemies. Yeah, pretty boring since I don’t see him conjure up some fireballs or lightning strikes when he fills up his rage meter or something. Yeah, I didn’t play the game so sue me for not knowing the basics or how it works. Because all the enemies that they have fought are just mindless monsters or zombies, this is what makes the action looking less appealing. I mean, there aren’t any so called higher level enemies with higher intelligence or unique skills that they have fought. Just the same ol’ lame grunts that require the same sword swinging action or just cast a few spells to easily destroy the enemies. Yeah. That is as exciting the action could get. Because nobody in current era dies too. Uh huh. Trolled us with Marone’s ‘death’ for some drama. Give back our tears! WTF Farah and Marone’s Soudou Shoutei-ha. I wonder if this is Kamehameha rip-off or something.

Art and animation are also average. Again I won’t say it is the worst since it is bearable for most of the times. It’s retro anime after all animated by Xebec (To Love-Ru, Love Hina, Mahou Sensei Negima, Maken-Ki). For the voice acting, nice to recognize Yui Horie as Corina, Akira Ishida as Reid and Megumi Hayashibara as Marone. Yuko Minaguchi as Farah (Akiko in Kanon), I thought her voice sounds a bit raw for her character but maybe that is how she sounds. The other casts are Souichiro Hoshi as Keele (Son Goku in Gensoumaden Saiyuki), Omi Minami as Meredy (Tama in Gintama), Kotono Mitsuishi as Excia (titular character in Excel Saga), Rumi Kasahara as Platia (Isabel in Mahou Senshi Louie) and Tomoe Hanba as Minima (Etna in Makai Senki Disgaea). Veterans might find the opening and ending theme to be familiar because both are sung by Masami Okui. So if you’re familiar with her brand of music, you’ll be fine with her slow rock opener, Sora Ni Kakeru Hashi and the slow tropical-like sultry ballad of I’d Love You To Touch Me as the ending theme. Both are quite okay in my books.

Overall, if you watch this series just for its popcorn entertainment value, then it lives up to that expectations and only that. But if you expect more or put high hopes in it, you’d be in for some disappointment. There are lots of dumb and funny moments that make the whole series look more comedic in nature than that of a serious fantasy genre as well as the very cliché stuffs permeating all over. But as I have said, this is not the worst series ever nor will it ever drop into that category since I had a few laughable and cringe moments so it’s not really that bad. Who knows? Could have been better? Oh right. Go play the game! If you can still find it around. Next time I want to take a vacation on a tropical getaway island, can I just be like Reid, sit back and relax and do nothing? Because uncovering a nefarious revenge plot and becoming a hero to save the day isn’t part of the itinerary. Can everyone just leave me alone and let me enjoy my holiday?! Yeah, maybe I need to take a break from anime. No way! It’s a fulltime dedicated job! ;p