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piranhareturning to the study of japanese means that i'm again mainlining anime in my free time; i've got quite a bit stored up from a couple of years ago.
tales of the abyss (shounen[1]) is based on a video game. normally i avoid such anime if i haven't played the game, because the anime tends to be directed at people who are familiar with the game, which means newcomers often don't have implied information and it becomes hard to figure out what's actually going on. but hey, this one has suzuki chihiro voicing not just one, but two characters, and i've made it my life's goal to watch/listen to everything he's done :).
the story takes place on the fictional planet auldrant. luke fon fabre is the spoiled son of a noble family from the kingdom of kimlasca-lavaldear (the names, the names! *ack*). seven years ago he was kidnapped by people from the rival kingdom of malkuth, and since his recovery he has been confined on his father's property to protect him, and that chafes him something fierce. he has no memory of his childhood before the kidnapping. sometimes he gets bad headaches and can hear a mysterious voice calling to him. one day, while he is training sword fighting with his mentor van grants, a strange woman by the name of tear makes the guards fall asleep by singing an odd hymn. she's come to kill van, but during a struggle luke and her touch and they are both transported far away, unfortunately to the rival kingdom of malkuth.
and so begins the saga during which -- naturally -- everything changes for luke, as he gets caught up in the machinations of various factions who all have different ideas about the future of auldrant. it's mostly action adventure, with a good dollop of coming of age story.
overall i liked it. it's not very deep though it handles some deep subjects; friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, but that's common for shounen anime -- it just scratches the surface, and people grow up very quickly. there's enough to hold my interest, because blessedly there are not too many fights. and what fights there are, are unusually interesting because they're not always the same (game adaptions often have that problem). there is also no typical "levelling up" by our protagonist's magical weapons/spells getting bigger and more elaborate; everybody who can use spells seems to have mastered them already. in a game that's boring, but in anime i find levelling up tedious, so this works well for me. there is sufficient backstory for most of the primary and secondary characters, though i wouldn't have minded more. there's no fan service! well, there is a bit of a moekko [2], but it's not that bad. there's very little romance; for the most part who's attracted to whom is subtle (and there is a bit of subtext for the fujoshi [3]). there is believable character development, though it's a little rushed in parts. there is a plot, though i felt pieces were missing, but it hung well enough together (for anime; i have much lowered expectations by now).
what's tedious are the infodumps about the planet's history and physical make-up. in a game one can introduce that sort of information gradually, but they didn't manage that here. this isn't helped by me finding magic/physics invented out of thin air silly, unless i am shown some internal consistency, not just sparkles and weird non-japanese names. THE BLOODY NAMES! there is a way to invent fictional worlds with languages that feel real -- good SFF writers here manage it; but the japanese seem to have a tin ear for western languages, so what they invent sounds tortured and wrong. it really hinders me getting absorbed in a story.
technically this is a fine anime. the voice talent is generally good (and suzuki does a fabulous job voicing two different-yet-similar characters). koyasu takehito plays a character that fits him; he does snark well. oh yeah, hayami show has a small role! don't get to hear him much these days, and i really like his smooth, deep voice a lot. as always, the high-pitched girl voices grate on me, but there are not many of those, and they're not main characters. the character models are all distinctive and manage to even move their faces to change expressions. there's some nice scenery. the fight scenes are fluid. the CG for the spells is beautiful, and the 3D CG blends in seamlessly (this is something that's often hideous). the music is appropriate to the action. the opening song is "karma" by BUMP OF CHICKEN, and i sang along with it for every one of the 26 episodes, because i love it. the ending song is something that bored me, and i've already forgotten it.
[1] shounen: the demographic at which the anime is directed; boys/teenagers
[2] moekko: a character who's particularly cute, precious, adorable, innocent; a cutesy idealisation of feminity.
[3] fujoshi: literally "rotten girl" (腐女子); pejorative term in the process of reclamation, for women who are fans of "boys love", male-male romantic/sexual relationships in manga/anime. it's a delicious pun in japanese.
overall i'd recommend it for fans of the game, and of anime in general, but not to people who want an interesting intro to anime, or an outstanding example of it.
tales of the abyss (shounen[1]) is based on a video game. normally i avoid such anime if i haven't played the game, because the anime tends to be directed at people who are familiar with the game, which means newcomers often don't have implied information and it becomes hard to figure out what's actually going on. but hey, this one has suzuki chihiro voicing not just one, but two characters, and i've made it my life's goal to watch/listen to everything he's done :).
the story takes place on the fictional planet auldrant. luke fon fabre is the spoiled son of a noble family from the kingdom of kimlasca-lavaldear (the names, the names! *ack*). seven years ago he was kidnapped by people from the rival kingdom of malkuth, and since his recovery he has been confined on his father's property to protect him, and that chafes him something fierce. he has no memory of his childhood before the kidnapping. sometimes he gets bad headaches and can hear a mysterious voice calling to him. one day, while he is training sword fighting with his mentor van grants, a strange woman by the name of tear makes the guards fall asleep by singing an odd hymn. she's come to kill van, but during a struggle luke and her touch and they are both transported far away, unfortunately to the rival kingdom of malkuth.
and so begins the saga during which -- naturally -- everything changes for luke, as he gets caught up in the machinations of various factions who all have different ideas about the future of auldrant. it's mostly action adventure, with a good dollop of coming of age story.
overall i liked it. it's not very deep though it handles some deep subjects; friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, but that's common for shounen anime -- it just scratches the surface, and people grow up very quickly. there's enough to hold my interest, because blessedly there are not too many fights. and what fights there are, are unusually interesting because they're not always the same (game adaptions often have that problem). there is also no typical "levelling up" by our protagonist's magical weapons/spells getting bigger and more elaborate; everybody who can use spells seems to have mastered them already. in a game that's boring, but in anime i find levelling up tedious, so this works well for me. there is sufficient backstory for most of the primary and secondary characters, though i wouldn't have minded more. there's no fan service! well, there is a bit of a moekko [2], but it's not that bad. there's very little romance; for the most part who's attracted to whom is subtle (and there is a bit of subtext for the fujoshi [3]). there is believable character development, though it's a little rushed in parts. there is a plot, though i felt pieces were missing, but it hung well enough together (for anime; i have much lowered expectations by now).
what's tedious are the infodumps about the planet's history and physical make-up. in a game one can introduce that sort of information gradually, but they didn't manage that here. this isn't helped by me finding magic/physics invented out of thin air silly, unless i am shown some internal consistency, not just sparkles and weird non-japanese names. THE BLOODY NAMES! there is a way to invent fictional worlds with languages that feel real -- good SFF writers here manage it; but the japanese seem to have a tin ear for western languages, so what they invent sounds tortured and wrong. it really hinders me getting absorbed in a story.
technically this is a fine anime. the voice talent is generally good (and suzuki does a fabulous job voicing two different-yet-similar characters). koyasu takehito plays a character that fits him; he does snark well. oh yeah, hayami show has a small role! don't get to hear him much these days, and i really like his smooth, deep voice a lot. as always, the high-pitched girl voices grate on me, but there are not many of those, and they're not main characters. the character models are all distinctive and manage to even move their faces to change expressions. there's some nice scenery. the fight scenes are fluid. the CG for the spells is beautiful, and the 3D CG blends in seamlessly (this is something that's often hideous). the music is appropriate to the action. the opening song is "karma" by BUMP OF CHICKEN, and i sang along with it for every one of the 26 episodes, because i love it. the ending song is something that bored me, and i've already forgotten it.
[1] shounen: the demographic at which the anime is directed; boys/teenagers
[2] moekko: a character who's particularly cute, precious, adorable, innocent; a cutesy idealisation of feminity.
[3] fujoshi: literally "rotten girl" (腐女子); pejorative term in the process of reclamation, for women who are fans of "boys love", male-male romantic/sexual relationships in manga/anime. it's a delicious pun in japanese.
overall i'd recommend it for fans of the game, and of anime in general, but not to people who want an interesting intro to anime, or an outstanding example of it.