So the first episode aired earlier today in Japan. From what I understand it’s supposed to be a 26-episode series, not an OVA.
As long as it turns out better than stuff like the Xenosaga TV series it should be alright.
First impressions on the episode are good, it follows the story while changing up a few things (Natalia showing up to talk with Luke and Guy, for instance). Animated Luke is hilarious.
Oh, and the opening song is Karma. Yes, it’s awesome.
Haven’t seen it, but I liked Star Ocean EX and the Tales of Eternia shows. Not the greatest, but fairly entertaining. And colorful. Not, like, colorful-unique, colorful color-wise. Very bright.
Ooo…I totally forgot about this. Just finished playing Tales of the Abyss about a month and half ago. Hopefully, this will turn out pretty well.
Though I’m curious as to how you take a 50+ hr game and turn it into a 26 episode show. (Now if they do 52, it’d be more feasible.) That’s just assuming they stay true to the game’s story.
Also, Karma rocks. One of the few games where I’d let the intro go just to listen to the music.
Hmm. So the fall season’s starting up ehh.
Too bad I haven’t played TotA yet otherwise I would watch this. 
For those interested, here’s the opening song as in the anime.
As for trimming it down, I think it could be possible. They could abridge a few points, not to mention glossing over having to visit all the sephiroth, that could cut down on some time.
Alternatively, they could just end it early, perhaps at Van’s initial defeat. Or they could cut some stuff out entirely in the middle of the story.
I don’t care so much how they go about it, since changes are inevitable anyway, I just hope it keeps up the quality that it has so far. Episode 1 looks really good, it’s promising.
Dare I hope for an anime tv series based on a recent RPG that doesn’t suck?
:hyperven:Honestly, I’m excited to hear that it is 26 episodes long. I mean the Tales of Symphonia one was only 4 episodes and it felt too rushed and only covered half of the game. I’ll admit TOA was so long that 26 episodes could be too short, but I think it wouldn’t be too hard to cut corners in TOA’s storyline. I mean there are many side plots that don’t need to go into the anime. Still, I hope they spread the focus to all the characters instead of just the main character like they did in TOS.
ToA is a perfect game for cutting corners… there were a whole whack of fetch quests and revisitations that could easily be excised.
I really liked ToE, but after the first few episodes, SOEX went right downhill. A lot of anime seems to suffer from this… here’s hoping ToA will remain true to both its source and itself.
SOEX had a bunch of problems, not the least of which was using way too many stock anime expressions/lines/scenarios, but had a few standout moments that saved it for me.
In the beginning Rena latches on to Claude thinking he’s the hero of light. The first episode has the scene of him firing his gun that makes her think that. Events throughout the series really make you come around to the idea that the prophecy is a load of bunk. And then there’s another scene somewhere in the latter half where he actually steps into the image of the expected hero. It’s sort of a transcendent thing. I know a lot of shows run the same idea, but this one stood out for me.
And not that this saved the show for me, but I like how they animated and gave sound to the witch’s explosion spell.
Actually I think the Tales of Symphonia OAV has recently been announced to continue with the second half of the game. Last I heard anyway.
But, yes, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for TotA working out better than its predecessors.
I only ever watched SOEX for Ashton, I think most people did. 
Ashton was awesome. He had excellent comic delivery.
ToE was probably the best video game-to-anime transition I’ve yet seen (though the last few episodes were a bit cliched). I haven’t yet seen Disgaea, though, and I want to.
No, you don’t.
Originally Posted by Seraphim Ephyon
[i]
Quote:[QUOTE]Originally Posted by Cidolfas View Post
I haven’t yet seen Disgaea, though, and I want to.
No, you don’t.[/i][/QUOTE]
Seconded for reasons like having Flonne try to kill Laharal in his sleep followed by a bunch of random one shot episodes (including a body switching episode and so on).
Okay. So I may have lied a tad when I said I wouldn’t watch it until I’ve played it. <.<
Though it doesn’t really matter that much thanks to my lack of understanding of the Japanese language. That aside I think it kinda alright though I would like it better if I could understand the words coming out of everyone’s mouths (I know I’ve missed a couple of humorous comments here and there). Fortunately the third episode looks like it’ll have a few more fight scenes though which should help (there will be more fight scenes right?).