OOH! kamikaze!! (SnH ref)
Good news is that this episode turned out to be a lot better than the previous one although it still didn’t do much to change my current opinion on the series. What a shame D:
Thoughts: And considering that the cramming for the ending is still continuing, I am rather surprised to find myself at a loss for words on what to talk about since not a whole lot besides two or three ‘major’ events happened here. But anyway like I was told, this episode should be the final event that wraps up Anise’s story for the series or until when she has a death match with Arietta. Sadly I think she has more of a story than compared to Tear or Jade which is rather strange to me (I mean come on…Tear is supposedly the female lead…).
So getting right into the episode we have Anise revealing her true colours here since it revealed the shocking fact that she has been a spy for Mohs all along. Although in all honesty I didn’t see that coming, from the way she was being so suspicious in this episode kinda spoilt the surprise as the pieces came fell into place. But the reason behind it was ridiculous nonetheless. Though considering it is Anise, her greed and wanting to protect her parents (parents that should burn in hell already for being so stupidly naive), kidnapping them was the perfect way to get Anise to be a spy. I am just disappointed in Anise that she couldn’t have done something else other than to comply to Mohs’ demands.
Although one good thing did happen out of Anise’s betrayal, which is the death of Ion (muhahahaha!). Call me evil but I just couldn’t stand Ion’s character despite knowing his tragic “boo-hoo” story. I suppose that was the reason for him to be so damn weak but honestly, if he was on the side of good then why does he have to cause such a mess and follow everything people tells him to do. I find it completely annoying that he didn’t have the guts to say “NO!” to either Van or Mohs whenever he was kidnapped to do something. Ion should have known that what he is doing is aiding the villains yet he continues to do it anyway!? I would respect him more if he said that he would rather die than help anyone but giving in just like that is a kicking the the butt for everyone.
But while it was good riddance, I guess I should at least thank him for removing the poison from Tears body and as if that isn’t another deus ex in itself. Actually, the way the whole poisoning thing suddenly ‘happened’, dropped and then returned was a huge plot hole in itself. I value consistency which frankly didn’t happen here. Oh and do I have to mention the large amount of occurances where we have Tear dropping face first onto the ground, ouch >_<‘
Other points worth mentioning from this episode:
- Arietta >>>>> Anise, but since she is always getting the short end of the stick I would imagine her to be defeated by Anise. Where is the justice ;___;
- Replica zombies! So Van’s army of the undead has finally taken action. Guy’s sister ;_____;
- Ion’s reading of the score. “Blah blah death, blah blah war, blah blah Luke will save the day”.
- I wonder when the other generals will show up so that they can be sent to their final resting place already.
Screen caps and comments:
Amazing how much Anise can lie through her teeth
Coincidence? chance? or just the need for the group to come together to foward the story
Stirring anew? You make it sound like he died and everything stopped moving
Jade needs to have a “nice talk” with Dist afterwards
ZOMG, suicidal! I guess you also have fonic poisoning
But come again, why were you sitting in a chair?
Here we going again
Thankfully Natalia is a lot understanding than her father so no wars broke out
Tear’s first face plant of the day, someone should have caught her >.>
You mean you guys didn’t do anything at all for an entire month? SHIT!
DO IT!.
He will what? die? *laughs*
Nevermind Mohs, what is Anise doing on that side
And why isn’t she smacking Mohs for mouthing off like that
Attack of the zombies
Poor Guy, having to meet his sister like this
Face plant number 2 (still noone catches her >.>)
Blah blah stupid Ion
That’s not enough Luke, you need to slap him
A sacrifice? But the score no longer matters so…
Why didn’t you say so earlier!
Wohooo! ^^v
So since Ion is a replica, he disappears after death?
I skipped all the explanation from Anise, but you should get the point
When Anime Past Meets Present 
The death of Frings was such a shameful throwaway. Had this been a 50 episode series, we could have gotten the side-plot concerning him and Cecille, which would have made his death 100x more tragic.
And the game handling of the team’s reunion is obviously much better than this. Guy and Jade suddenly showing up is symptomatic of this massive cram for the end. It doesn’t look good at all. I am not even sure what kind of crop work they have to do to fit the rest of the story in (there’s still a lot).
That’s quite a shame. If it was going to be this bad toward the end, they should have managed the earlier episodes much better.
The reading of the score itself was enough to kill Ion, but that and healing Tear was what brought him to his absolute death. It was implied in the game that if he did heal Tear of her miasma poisoning, he would die…(the classic “I will…” and then he gets cut off)
For me, I’m more partial to Ion than Tear. Tear comes off as a really bland character…Even Ion has a better backstory than her. *is not wooed by her “moe” factor at all* In all simplicity, her backstory is pretty much “Please refer to Van’s backstory”. I was kinda pissed off with her for a good portion of the game.
While Ion could have spoken against Mohs and the others, you have to take into account that he was pretty much a puppet (see Chapter00 of the manga). However, his actual escape from Daath pre-game and his speaking against Mohs during Natalia’s reunion with the King do count as 2 times where he refused.
You also have to take in account that even when he was captured by the God Generals and Mohs, he couldn’t really escape. For one, to incapacitate them, he’d have to use a Daathic Fonic arte, which would drain his energy. And also, even if he managed to get away from his captors, his weak body would only take him so far before he was recaptured. It’s not shown well in the anime, but the Cathedral where he was held in w/ Natalia was HUUUUUUUGE and full of enemies. Not to mention, the portion of the Cathedral shown here in episode 19 is a completely different part of the cathedral. You can easily get lost in the Daath Cathedral for hours. DX
I also agree with Abel. Frings’ story with Cecille would have definitely made his death more touching. They also cut out a few of the lines from his death scene, since they didn’t cover the sidequests nor did he appear enough in the anime to speak his lines about his thoughts on the Score. Also, the reason why he’s in the chair is because he’s in Grand Chokmah’s sanctuary (mini-church). In the game, he was brought to the military headquarters to give his report, but then he requests to be brought to the sanctuary for his final moments.
The reintroduction of Guy and Jade was really weak. I kinda facepalmed when I saw it. Still, to reunite with them in the game, you’d have to do a fair amount of travelling…which they obviously wanted to do without with so few episodes left.
If the dead person is a replica, he disappears when he dies. I’m pretty sure it’s connected to the absorption/radiation gates, which collect and distribute 7th fonons respectively. The anime didn’t touch on this well, but the reason why so many replicas failed before Luke/Ion was because they began to degenerate soon after being created since their 7th fonons disappeared (all replicas after a certain point are made of only 7th fonons). Anyways, dead originals have corpses, that’s all you need to know.
Some stuff always has to give in adaptations. No adaptation is perfect and there are always rough spots. Except apparently in Clannad from what some fans would like to lead me to believe, but no, this is still leagues above Phantasia and Symphonia and any other game adaptation in recent memory that I can think of.
I’m also really not one to nitpick adaptations to death. I know it gets Deathie’s ire up and he loves to compare and contrast till the cows come, but as long as I am able to follow a story and enjoy it then that’s good enough for me. I’d rather do that then spend all my time going, “Well x part of the game wasn’t in the anime, so I’m going to just say FUCK IT!” or “I like y in the game better since….” because there’s always something lost in an adaptation, especially pacing wise. Except apparently in Clannad…..I’ll be taking those 1000:1 odds payouts from the Suki forums now please. Hehehehehe….
P.S: Everyone I know likes Arietta better then Anise. For me it’s because in the end she comes as more devoted and true to the people she’s supposed to care about. Also Anise get’s an attack called Ion in one of the versions of the game and I believe on a New Game+. Take that as you will Deathie.
@Kaio
I disagree on pretty much all points, Kaio (even Clannad).
First, I’m not willing to say that a bad production is good simply because it happens to be better than other game-to-anime productions. Naturally, there are things that are cut out or altered. But when it gets butchered to the point where you ask “why bother showing it at all?” then you’ve gone beyond the limits of adaptation. Had none of us played Abyss before (so no game bias), would that Frings scene, for instance, be touching at all? My money bets that it would not. This isn’t about whether game v. anime is better (though we often talk in those terms). It’s about the show, on its own, being so weak as to be unenjoyable.
Second, I think Anise is clearly more interesting than Arietta. While Anise does have that spy mark against her, at least she tried throughout the story to help Ion accomplish change in the world. Arietta doesn’t consider Ion’s feelings at all, chases him like an obsessive ex-girlfriend spurned, and constantly gets in the way of Ion’s dreams. Anise, conflicted though she may be, is actually devoted to serving him.
@Miken
I agree that Ion is much more interesting than Tear. In large part because I am annoyed with how hypocritically self-righteous Tear is toward Luke. I tend to like characters with their heads screwed on straight, and Ion was the only one who (rightly) did not blame Luke for Akzeriuth, and often comforts him rather than scold him (like Tear does), when Luke questions his right to exist.
Frankly, I tune out tsundere characters like Tear on reflex. That’s why I am so annoyed by the show (and game’s)endlessly recycling the Tear/Luke dynamic, and feel that it’s a waste of air time. How many times do we need to see Luke doubt himself, just to see Tear snap at him, just to see him apologize profusely?
@Abel: Well I really don’t think it’s even a tenth as weak as you seem to be describing it. Average maybe, but certainly not drop worthy or butchered.
I’d rather reserve butchered for Phantasia and Symphonia, which actually were unwatchable and skipped way more than this ever did at any point. At least we are touching on most of the key points in the story instead of starting halfway through and then failing to resolve much of anything
Plus if this were unwatchable then none of us would be following it at all. Sorry, but I think this is an okay adaptation. It’ll never match up to the game, but that doesn’t mean it deserves to be called a butchery or unwatchable.
@Kaio
I wasn’t referring to the whole series as butchered and unwatchable (though this cramming toward the end really is messing with the quality of the latter episodes), but rather specific elements of the story. Why just toss Fring’s death out there at all, if that death has no value? There was little attachment to him in the game to begin with — the only characterization he received was through the Cecille sidequest. Without that, he might as well have been an unnamed NPC. Which is essentially what he is in this anime — and suddenly, wham, they try to pull a tearjerker on us with a guy who’s had all of 3 frames screen time?
That’s what I meant by why bother showing it at all. It came across as cheap, cheesy, and thrown in for the hell of it. The execution was so bad, they might as well have left that out.
You know what, the character called Fring, did he even appear once before this episode since I seem to have no recollection of ever seeing him in the past hence says a lot about what Abel is trying to say about putting in a useless character just for the sake of it. I mean everyone else was crying over Fring’s death whereas I was pretty much asking “who the heck is this guy”.
And Kaio don’t twist our opinions to the extreme in saying that we think this is unwatchable. I am largely just disappointed how below average this series has become since I had higher hopes before. It is still far from being bottom of the barrel but it isn’t exactly an outstanding series (unless you are in denial). And I say again, don’t put words into our mouths since we never once said anything about “butchering” (frankly I never even played the game so on what basis do I have to compare? no these are 100% honest thoughts from a fan).
And awwww…how can you guys say Ion > Tear *sniff*
If only she was given proper development *sigh*
@Kaio:
“Also Anise get’s an attack called Ion in one of the versions of the game and I believe on a New Game+.”
I think you’re referring to Luke’s Radiant Howl extension.
@Death
Actually, to be fair to Kaio, I was the one who used the word butcher. And I meant it, just not to the extent that he interpreted it (as explained in the previous post).
@Death: Frings appeared in 2 scenes in episode 12. Once to lead in soldiers for a charge and another to lead the group to Peony.
In comparison to all the other Tales adaptations we’ve had so far, Tales of the Abyss has to be the closest to the original game in terms of material covered. Of course, I was never a HUGE fan of Abyss myself, I think it’s weaker than a lot of the other entrances in the series…and I say that knowing full well I’ll get eaten alive by a bunch of fangirls. Still, I like it enough most of the time.
The anime itself seems to presume that most of its viewers have played the game. This kinda backfires a lot though. DX
(I’m beginning to see a real bias with adaptations here…4/5 of the Tales adaptations that are either out or announced have been entrances with character art by Kosuke Fujishima…Uguuuu, where’s my pretty Inomata art? *needs a Team Destiny anime now*)
@Miken
Well, if you don’t mind being eaten alive by a fanGUY, I’d be happy to fulfill your prophecy. 🙂 Actually, I have a lot of complaints with Abyss myself. I pretty much tune out Luke/Tear, which is a good deal of the game/anime’s focus. But I have to applaud the game for its copious amounts of sidequests/events/skits that help flesh out the rest of the cast. And it’s nice to have an adventure that “feels” long, instead of the underwhelmingly short stories of other rpgs.
A shame that more episodes weren’t allotted to pace the main story properly, and also to include more characterization fluff. I realize a lot of you feel that this is a better game-to-anime adaptation than most (implying that we should be impressed it’s even this good at all), but that doesn’t say very much, because we all know that bar isn’t very high (disgustingly low in fact).
I also agree that Tales of Destiny is a classic that needs a (proper) adaptation (though it’s funny I always thought the Swordians had more personality than their wielders).
@Abel: For me, Abyss was just extremely frustrating in terms of Luke and Tear. Especially Luke’s loreleidamn “HERO” moments. While I do like that he develops, it kinda feels like he starts out low, progresses to a massive migraine, turns acceptable…and then he goes into facepalm territory. It basically made me think: “No wonder so many people used the map walk glitch to use Asch in battle instead!” DX
Tales of Destiny was utterly predictable, but entirely lovable for me. Ah, I love Chal~ I think the best part of the Swordians is how they relate to their masters. XD;;
Eternia deserved a much better adaptation than it did — its story was really fun to go through. Not to mention, Melniks is a fun language to learn and not *that* hard either. Though I wouldn’t mind a Tales of Rebirth Adaptation either. We’d get a few hundred more lines of “KUREA!”
“A sacrifice? But the score no longer matters so…”
If the score doesn’t matter what’s the big deal about reading it for Mohs? Besides its a lot harder to say no when the gun isn’t to your head but the head of someone else. If he didn’t act for Mohs it would have meant the end of Anise’s parents which was the last thing he wanted. I’d just give Ion a bit of a break since he saved Tear’s life and a fate of falling flat on her face for the rest of the series.
Besides Tear can rub you the wrong way if you get caught up in some things. I mean who cares if Anise takes some money from nobles? They are rich and it’s not like Anise stole it from her. She does quite a bit of preaching in the anime that’s for sure.
Still am more on the Arietta side of it. I mean no one on any side has told her the truth. Might really get her off your case if someone like Ion said he was just a replica. But really it always gets drawn into a fight partially due to Anise’s taunting. If you could get a God General off your back by simply telling the truth it might be worth going for. Sure she’d be hurt by it, but better than letting her go off misinformed.
🙂
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