Oh but it is…
I must say, I haven’t been so pleasantly surprised by such a scene in an episode like this in a long time. Yes, the sheer epicness of this episode when those heart stabbing lines were said to Luke almost rivals the legendary “I am your father!” line. Luke sure had his ass handed to him and it is just the occasion to pop open some drinks…maybe some glass bottles filled with water…
Thoughts: Replica, so Luke was the replica afterall and who would have guessed *dot dot dot*.
I personally thought that this was a wonderful episode that manages to speed up the plot without ever feeling rushed (to me as an anime watcher anyway). Though compared to the manga, it was a shame that they decided to skip over Tear singing a song to temporarily heal those affected by the miasma and just to mention, this episode pretty much passes the manga scans at this point so that means no more inside knowledge for me. So without being furthered spoiled by the manga, whatever comes up next from this point will really become a treat for me, if they keep up with the ‘amazing’ story telling and pacing.
But yea, Luke sure had it coming to him this episode though I feel no pity at all. Why? It is because he has been the prick on my side ever since he showed his ugly mug and all this “revelation” was his just desserts…or karma :p
There is only so much everyone can take in putting up with him, clearly tender-love-and-care haven’t done much for him even after all these years and so it can be assumed that the “tough love” method is more suitable for a character like him. From where I come from, brats like him get the lashing and that certainly did wonders in my upbringing.
On the otherhand, I am finding myself being attracted to Asch’s frank and harsh personality and attitude towards Luke. Sure he is overly arrogant and smart assed, as you would expect from a “villain”, but compared to Luke he is just the lesser of the two evils (HA! At least Asch isn’t one who would kill thousands of people without even realising it). In fact you would say Asch even tried to do a good deed by saving Tear from her calculating brother and even tried to stop Luke from making such a big mistake…but as you would know, Luke never listens to the one in his head usually called a brain but for Luke, air.
One of the best parts of the episode happens at the end where Asch taunts Luke and tells him the full truth and it was about damn time. As you know, Luke is actually the replica which should have been hinted at you guys for a while now. Well I thought that it was the biggest possibility out of the three cases and it turned out to be right. I think Asch had every right to tell Luke that he is the second rate copy whereas himself is the real original. Luke is lucky that Asch haven’t killed him (yet) as I surely would have earlier if finding out the guy who has been living off my privileges is such an ungrateful git when I have been rolling around in mud. The world is unfair right? Then deal with it! If not, Luke is doomed to hanging himself, which isn’t a half bad idea in itself.
But I was certainly surprised when Van actually did an extra little set up to try and save Tear. So does he really care for Tear or is this just a false mask thing again? Gut feeling tells me that it is the former and that this will become such a tragic story though we will have to wait and see.
What I am even more surprised about is that Ion removed the seal on the door just because Luke did a bit of begging. Is he mad? Anyone with any self respect would have said “screw you” to Luke especially since he didn’t have a shred of respect for Ion in the first place. Yet Ion just removed the seal like it was nobodies business and contributed to this disaster. I am getting less and less impressed with this so called “master” Ion…he is young and lacks experience but is that really a good excuse? I think not…
The next scene after Luke destroyed the continent was also a shocking surprise. So who would have thought that the “land” they are on is actually suspended in air by these pillars. And it so happens that Luke was conned into destroying one of these important pillars causing everyone under it to die. Tear’s fon hymns saved them from the fall (OMG HAXX XD) but now they are stuck on ground as far as I know.
Also it is revealed that Tear was born in the land below the outer lands; Qliphoth. I would suppose that this is the same for Van and the fact that he is trying to destroy the outer lands must have some connection with this Qliphoth place. Maybe he is trying to sunder the world so that everyone returns back to their “roots” rather than living in a fake world, you know, the classical cases.
Then we have the gangbang on Luke with everyone expressing their disappointment in him. HAHA, this was a brilliant scene…especially when he starts to blame it on his master…I guess when you are backed into a corner, anything you say goes. Shame on you Luke, for shame…
And Finally we have Luke going “USSODAAAA!” in front of Asch when he reveals the ugly truth. Sweet desserts 
Screen caps and “wise guy” comments:
Natalia is unlike any oujo character I have seen in ages
Ditto with Luke’s existence
I personally would have slapped him for being un-human
Come to think…what is this poisonous gas anyway?
Sure your royal highness
But it is one impressive lump of rock
Judas!
Listen to this man, he is the good guy on contrary to popular belief
Mind haxx get~
I can’t help but laughing at this line…yea right XD
Ion loses serious points her for the lack of free will. I personally would have spat in his face and made him lick my shoes before doing him a favor
Why Van did this at all was confusing
Dreck XD You gotta love that word
NO SHIT SHERLOCK!
“I am you…” oops, wrong source
Hypnosis etc, then Van screwed him
Van’s “just as planned” face
AH HA! I bet that foiled your plans…even if it is just a little
Thanks for the advice
That is some powerful spell Tear used, and she doesn’t even look worn out afterwards
Explanations etc
And all that has been said in a nutshell
*glares as Luke*
Oh but face the facts, thousands of people died
He also told you to bend over but did yo…OH SHI~~
Jade is so mature XD Strike 1!
Strike 2!
Strike 3! You’re out!
Cry moar
I mean even your best buddy has given up trying to lecture you
Tear ❤
Seriously, I am beginning to think whatever Asch is planning to do isn’t for bad causes
Frank hahaaa~
Does he have to spell it out for you? R-E-P-L-I-C-A
Or that…
His “USSODAAA” face again
Honestly, I am with you
And that is no light grudge, the damned dreck!
SHIN NEEEE!
When Anime Past Meets Present 
I did like Natalia’s behaviour when she got out there. It shows that she is honestly a princess that cares a lot about people. Telling them to hurry a couple episodes ago was partly due to the real concern she had.
Trust me if you like Asch calling Luke a dreck it will happen quite often. Honestly its this kind of information that made Asch one of my favourite characters from the game. I mean the guy has had everything ripped away from him and forced to exist as Asch the Bloody. This is one of the worst things that can happen to someone. Losing everything that defined you. Your relationships, lifestyle, home, identity, and your very name. Considering how Luke can behave its no shock how much Asch hates him. I’m just glad someone finally went out and told him the truth. This time there was no Sync to stop Asch from saying what was on his mind.
On a lighter note its no surprise Luke is Asch’s replica. Notice how they both get carried away by flying creatures :). But seriously this was a pretty dramatic episode. Azeriuth was completely annihilated. You can’t predict that Van was planning to do something that dramatic. Even Tear knew Van was up to something, but that’s a crazy thing to do.
At least we know how important the Sephiroths are now. They are the things holding the Outer Lands in the sky. A shock to know that all those years ago they moved the outer lands up to protect the people since the Miasma appeared out of nowhere and made it impossible to stay on ground level.
Told ya it was coming. Yup, Luke is indeed a replica of Asch. Like you said, there are definitely some points in the previous episodes that would lead you in that direction if you listened carefully. The fomicry talk earlier in the episodes was definitely a hint and the amnesia was definitely questionable. To tell the truth, though, I know some people originally didn’t see it coming until Van said ‘foolish replica Luke’. I guess it’s because most games, to my knowledge, did not make the main character the clone. If there was another character that looked or reminded someone of the main character, then the real person was the main character and the other character is some dark side, some clone, or some other weird thing (Sora-Roxas connection in Kingdom Hearts 2 would be one example). Tales of the Abyss changes that with Luke actually being a replica of the real Luke fon Fabre.
Of course, since we finally get our first real answer, we get a couple of questions that come along with it. Remember when Jade said Luke would eventually come to hate him? Does that have anything to do with Luke being a replica? Also remember that Luke originally did not like pinky swearing according to Natalia, so now that we know that it’s actually Asch, we get a few more questions regarding both his past with Natalia and his time spent as part of the Oracle Knights. I know all these answers and you could always look at parts of the game to find out what they are, but most of them will eventually be answered.
As for Ion, I don’t know. I guess one assumption could be that Ion felt that Van practically had Luke as a hostage. Because Luke is completely set to cause a hyperresonance upon Van’s command at any time, he could always take the risk of playing the bad guy to make sure everything goes according to plan and Ion didn’t want that to happen, and so forced himself to comply for Luke’s sake. Even after everything, he sees Luke as his friend.
Your comment toward Luke saying “What the hell are you talking about?”, I honestly think that Sunrise portrays that more as denial. Unlike in the game, Luke has that flashback to Jade’s talk about fomicry and the creation of replicas, which is definitely making him think “OH SHI–no way! I can’t be a–!” until Asch finally tells it straight.
Luckily, while this is him at his lowest point with almost every viewer except TotA veterans wanting to kill him, this is where Luke will have to make the decision to repair his respectability or not. Can he do it?
Well, perhaps this video might enlighten us (Of course, don’t watch it if you’d rather wait for the next episode):
You know… that Luke is only seven right?
I don’t like the seven year old excuse. Sure he only has 7 years worth of experiences. But he’s not in the body of a seven year old I don’t have memories for every single year of my life, but should I cut away that from my age to excuse myself? Just don’t think its a great excuse if he was raised being treated as a certain age and saw himself as a certain age.
IMO, Whether it’s fair to Luke or not doesn’t matter. What he seriously need is that great big push of his cloud and onto reality. I mean, there’s only so many times he can use ignorance as an excuse.
Asch is nothing but an hypocrite. He spends his time whining about how Luke took everything from him, but he never really tried to get anything back either, and he’ll get plenty of occasions now that everyone knows the truth, but no, that doesn’t interest him *roll eyes*
He keeps saying the contrary of what he’s doing xD
That’s probably why I love him so much<3
Huh? Do you actually know how asch had to spend his childhood while “luke” was taking over his life?
As far as the anime has shown, there isn’t any hint or whatsoever that Asch was living as a free man or whatsoever.
If you factor the fact of him being known as a God generale of the Lorelei Army, it would be way too difficult to claim back his true identity.
That has nothing to do with hypocrisy and whatsoever.
(Many apologies for not commenting recently!)
The reason behind Asch’s perpetual frown — REVEALED!! XD;;
Sorry, I couldn’t resist myself — But yeah, Asch has enough of a reason to hate everyone but Natalia, since he lost everything he really had when “Luke” was inserted into the picture. From the previews for next week, I’m presuming that we’ll get a little flashback similar to the Asch Gaiden chapter of the manga.
My advice is not to follow too closely to the manga plot, since it does stray from the game plot at a number of times. Still, for an anime adaption…I guess it does well enough (even though I will not be able to release a single chapter for a while, since the translator is having life issues and I’m having school issues).
This is basically where Luke hits his lowest, it was quite relieving to see his friends abandon him like that after that point in the game. He needed that nice kick in the -youknowwhere- to bring him to reality.
Rule #?? of Anime: No one who is introduced with questionable loyalties is actually evil unless he starts acting like a Pedobear.
@Setsu ~ Your Jade comment makes me think that maybe he had a hand in creating Luke…I mean he is a scientist afterall…
It will be interesting to see how Natalia would respond to this revelation…that and whether Asch will even look at her considering how much of a different person he is to back the. Or is it really? The way he refused to pinky swear was quite mean :p
@sterling01 ~ What FLareKnight said. I personally don’t see an excuse in his behaviour though I have already said something on that on AS.
@miken-chan ~ Well even if it isn’t 100% accurate, the manga does follow the game in showing the most crucial parts. Too shame about delays on the chapters though, but there is no rush
@deathkillz ~ Am interested in seeing Natalia’s reaction in the anime. I mean its a huge revelation for Luke, but this is also important for Natalia. A major thing for her is getting Luke to remember that promise after all. Now you kind of have one that should remember it. Really that attitude about the pinky promise makes so much more sense with the replica information :).
So many Luke-hater
Well, I respect ur opinion
BTW, Do you guys know why TOA has an anime? (most tales game don’t have)
Because TOA considered one of the best game in term of storyline(that’s in Japan), the main character is
-SPOILERZ!
Trying so hard to atone for his unforgiveable sin.
And his love life really tragic, despite they love each other, Luke can’t tell he love her because he will die. The same implied to the girl.
-END SPOILERZ
@someone:
Eh, Tales of the Abyss is extremely overrated in my opinion. I like it and all, but I hate it at the same time…Honestly, I don’t know exactly why, but Luke and Tear are extremely annoying in the game even when I know they’re not supposed to be — it’s like a badly written soap opera at times. Also, the story, like all other Tales games, is extremely cliched (almost to the point of being downright painful).
Bah, I don’t know why they didn’t make a Legendia anime instead. Sure, it was lacking in gameplay, but it definitely had a better story and more likeable characters (Shirley excluded). Hpmph…I guess they have to appease the fanboys first.
Of course, in terms of programming/storywriting teams for the Tales series, I’m biased towards Team Destiny even though Team Symphonia seems to get all the budget (though Vesperia seems pretty good). -_-“”
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Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote
the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that,
this is great blog. A great read. I will definitely be back.