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[duckroll]

Ok so the first episode has aired, how does it stack up?

Xenosaga the Animation

Episode 1 "Awakening"

The first thing you'll notice about the series is the low budget. The production budget seems to be similar to that of ZoE Dolores,i or maybe slighly lower. The art looks "cheap" and the colors and designs lack detail. The opening and ending themes are pretty bleh, but the actual music in the show is pretty decent. As far as the adaptation in concerned this show will cover only XS Ep1, and is pretty faithful to the game. The writer has added scenes and changed some stuff around to pace it for an anime series, I think the scenes worked pretty well. They're in character and provide something new for fans that already played the game. For the most part the main cast is intact, although Virgil got a new seiyuu. The episode ends with KOS-MOS awakening as the ep title implies, so it's not really rushed. There's a good mix of action and drama in the first episode and it covers the game events pretty well, the game's cutscenes are still FAR superior as far as anything is concerned but did anyone really expect the anime to be better? Considering what happened to XS Ep2, I'm not disappointed by the anime at all. At least the team seems to know what they're doing and is worked around the budget and plot constrains they have.

B+

Note: Whoever posted my pic to Animeondvd Forums the last time, you do NOT have permission to do it again. If you want you can ask permission to host the file somewhere on your own but I don't need several forums leeching off my photobucket account at once.

 

[Chrono]

heh I was just downloading the raw for this then I saw your thread!

I have not played any xenosaga game so I'm wondering if I should check it out when it gets subbed -- do you need to play the games to understand the anime? I'm guessing no since that'll seriously narrow their viewers but I'm just curious.

 

[duckroll]

heh I was just downloading the raw for this then I saw your thread!

I have not played any xenosaga game so I'm wondering if I should check it out when it gets subbed -- do you need to play the games to understand the anime? I'm guessing no since that'll seriously narrow their viewers but I'm just curious.

I had a discussion with Bebpo about this (he doesn't like the anime), he thinks that you need to play the game to understand it but I don't. It's hard for either of us to really have a good grip on that because we've both played all the Xeno games to death. The story itself is an anime adaptation of XS Ep1, so it should cover the entire game with slight changes and new scenes added, some scenes removed, etc. You shouldn't have a problem with it, it's not a continuation of either game or anything like that.

 

[Bebpo]

My first impression after watching the ep:

...but I guess it could be worse. I mean if all they're adding are lolita lesbian subtones to the show I guess I can live with that.

--Character designs are pretty terrible. Jin has gone from being a suave obi-wan type mentor to an old fat headed man. Allen looks like he came from the slow bus.

--Music is ok, but I'd rather the composer try to be original than just copy Mitsuda's style like he is doing. He's not anywhere near as good as Mitsuda so it just comes off as bleh.

--Voice Actor changes suck. They lost Virgil and Margulis who had awesome voices in the games. Hopefully they at least get Wilhelm.

The only thing positive about the series is that if they make a 2nd season covering ep2, there's a heck of a good chance even at this state the anime will tell the story much better than the 2nd game. Oh and that there will be a boatload of new doujins inspired by the anime ^^;

 

[duckroll]

My first impression after watching the ep:

You must have missed this:

 

[nubbe]

Looks good!

 

[Drexon]

PM me a good raw place.

 

[Drexon]

Welllll this was tripe. So what I'm watching is essentially the first 10 boring hours of the game? Tell me when the anime surpasses that.

 

[madara]

Hmm I dont know I have yet to see one anime based on video game done half way right. Final Fantasy and most recently the god awful Tales OVAs are downright painful but I keep this one in mind if it makes way subtitled on dvd in region one I'll give it rent first.

 

[Mugen]

Is MOMO on this one? NO MOMO NO SELL.

 

[Cloudy]

Any subs out yet? I only see raws...

 

[Wario64]

I'd rather have a Xenogears anime than a Xenosaga one

 

[Pachinko]

You dont need a xeno gears anime though, theres not a single ounce of originality in teh game just watch the 10 animes they stole from instead- like Macross and Power Rangers... hell the giant plane looks identical to the planes in Future Boy Conan...

 

[Dead]

Fanservice galore!

Xenosaga the way it was meant to be seen!


REVOLUCION

 

[kiryogi]

Hmm I dont know I have yet to see one anime based on video game done half way right. Final Fantasy and most recently the god awful Tales OVAs are downright painful but I keep this one in mind if it makes way subtitled on dvd in region one I'll give it rent first.

Hold a minute. What's godawful about the Tales OVAs? You mean Phantasia right?

 

[duckroll]

Hold a minute. What's godawful about the Tales OVAs? You mean Phantasia right?

The ToP OVA is completely incoherent. If you're a fan of the game you -might- accept it has a random collection of "good moments" in the game, but even then. >_< The first episode started

Spoiler

with Dhaos' followers having captured Morrison, Cless and Mint. Then the general revives Dhaos as Chester breaks in and saves them all and Cless is surprised that Chester is alive, nevermind that if you didn't play the game you don't even know WHO these people are. Then Dhaos revives and kills the general, Morrison sends Cless and Mint back in time while Chester stays to protect Morrison. Suddenly the show fast forwards from 4-5 hours into the deep into 15 hours into the game where Cless is fighting the monster army approaching Mid Galds city. Klarth and Arche are also suddenly in the show and it's obvious that they've been "together" with Cless and Mint for some time now, except well, hey why show it right! People are telepathic! The episode ends with the fighting of the Mahou Cannon and by then I was so completely disgusted I'm not even going to bother watching the remaining 3 episodes. The animation was pretty good though.

 

[Dead]

This couldve really ended up a lot worse than how it turned out. I guess thats an endorsement, albeit unenthusiastic.

The animation is definately "eh" especially compared to the new Ah! my goddess, whose raw is already out as well

 

[duckroll]

This couldve really ended up a lot worse than how it turned out. I guess thats an endorsement, albeit unenthusiastic.

The animation is definately "eh" especially compared to the new Ah! my goddess, whose raw is already out as well

The animation is actually fine and pretty damn good. It's the art and production values which show the low budget of the show.

 

[Dead]

It definately looks "Empty" if thats what you meant, low detail etc thats what I was mostly reffering to... Piss poor CG as well (early Gonzo quality? worse?), though that hardly bothers me regardless. I like the actual character designs, since im a sucker for Nobuteru Yuukis stuff, although this is obviously some of his weakest stuff.

I wonder if they animate ep2 if theyll change the designs to the new ones as well?

 

[duckroll]

It definately looks "Empty" if thats what you meant, low detail etc thats what I was mostly reffering to... Piss poor CG as well (early Gonzo quality? worse?), though that hardly bothers me regardless. I like the actual character designs, since im a sucker for Nobuteru Yuukis stuff, although this is obviously some of his weakest stuff.

I wonder if they animate ep2 if theyll change the designs to the new ones as well?

Yeah that's what I meant. Lack of details, simplified designs, empty layouts, etc. As for the CG, I think they're reusing many of the actual game's CG models, which is a great idea because while it looks pretty shitty on screen at least it looks consistant with the shitty 2D as well AND they get to save money. Hopefully the money saved on that will net a few solid scenes of animation throughout the series.

 

[Bebpo]

Hold a minute. What's godawful about the Tales OVAs? You mean Phantasia right?

Write something that makes ToP OAV sound good

I was going to watch it but then Duckroll said it makes no sense for someone who hasn't played ToP (me). I really like the OP animations for all the Tales games, and if the OAV is like that level of visuals then I kinda want to check it out.

 

[kiryogi]

Write something that makes ToP OAV sound good

I was going to watch it but then Duckroll said it makes no sense for someone who hasn't played ToP (me). I really like the OP animations for all the Tales games, and if the OAV is like that level of visuals then I kinda want to check it out.

Well...the point of an OVA is usually extra content or a retelling of something isn't it? Sorta like how the Sakura Taisen ones are. So yes, it's rather quite worthless to the non-veteran, but if you have played Phantasia before, it's really a bit of a treat. (And this is where I attack Madara's ignorance on..) It does bug me on how they'll handle it with just 4 episodes, but hey, it is an OVA. But on a fun note, it seems like they modified what happened in those select scenes. And yes, the animation is quite nice