Welcome back to Animondo. Today, we're going to take a look at the slightly oddly-named anime based off of the video game Tales of Zestiria (and to a limited extent, Tales of Berseria): Tales of Zestiria the X.
I've seen the whole "X" thing a few times in anime and video games - it's normally pronounced "Cross," and I'm not honestly aware what it stands for officially. My best guess from how I've seen it used is "alternate" or "side story," perhaps? Xenoblade Chronicles X is kind of a spinoff or alternate take on the series' mechanics and concepts with a different story, while this, Tales of Zestiria the X, generally follows the concept and story of the game it is based on, but does have some notable differences - some for the better, some for the worse.
But first: Tales of Zestiria the X is set in a fantasy world, themed largely off of medieval Europe but with some other cultural influences from time to time. Once, humans and seraphim lived together in harmony - humans prayed to the seraphim, and the seraphim gave the humans their blessings. Now, though, most humans no longer see or acknowledge the seraphim, and a malevolence is spreading throughout the world, corrupting it and the life upon it into beings called hellions. Disasters and disease are spreading, the threat of war is on the horizon, and the world is crumbling. There is a legend, written in the Celestial Record, of a figure called the Shepherd who was blessed by the seraphim and could bring an end to the chaos - and Princess Alisha of Hyland thinks she's found the Shepherd in Sorey, a young man who grew up among the seraphim and can see them. But with the world swiftly falling into ruin, can even the rise of a Shepherd save it?
Zestiria takes place across 2 seasons of 13 episodes each, covering the journey of Sorey and his human and seraphim friends to try to understand the roots of the malevolence plaguing the world and purify it - while also struggling with very human evils along the way. Though Sorey's primary focus is the supernatural evil he's trying to uncover, the story actually spends quite a lot of its time on the ways that quest can be derailed...which sounds like it could be bad or break the show's focus, but ends up actually being a good center for the story itself. Humanity is its own worst enemy in Zestiria, and as ever, a force of power like the Shepherd is something many see as something to be manipulated and controlled for their own ends.
The tale can be a bit uneven at times, though - it struggles a bit with exactly what to spend its time on. There are parts of the plot that feel like they get exactly the right amount of time, and other parts where it feels like we kind of breeze past things that should've been more complicated or gotten more exploration. There's a bit of this in Season 1, where it feels like the Marlind plot about a village affected by plague could've had more time before it was resolved, but the feeling is more notable in Season 2. The Rolance Empire plot takes up about half the season but actually still feels smaller than it really should be - problems are sometimes introduced and resolved within minutes, and there's a political power struggle going on that just kind of feels like it doesn't get explored at all - it gets set up, mentioned a couple times, and then just kind of overruled in such a way that I'm not quite sure why it was built up as a struggle. Overall, it feels like the story doesn't quite fulfill its potential at times.
Don't, however, take that to mean that Zestiria is a bad story at all. Despite my complaints above, it does a very good job of exploring its world and telling its tale. Though it falls short of its potential at times, it usually gets close, and even getting close is enough to make this one of the strongest fantasy anime out there. The Shepherd's quest is not an easy one, and it provides some real challenges to Sorey and his friends - both in terms of physical dangers and, at times, the struggle of how to hold true to an ideal in the face of a world that doesn't seem to permit it. There's a lot to explore, and though there are parts I feel get shorted, the most important parts of the tale are covered very well and get a lot of time.
The strongest part of the show, though, by far, is its cast. Zestiria's characters are excellent. They have very well-defined personalities and are very easy to like. Sorey is a particular strength of the show: a true hero with an unyielding determination to not only do what is right but to do what is right in the best way possible...even if it is an incredible struggle to do so. He's a hero who sticks by what he believes and works his hardest to save everyone, even those thought lost...a principle which is challenged over and over by the show, and which leads him into some dark, dangerous, and costly situations. Sorey is a true hero, but while Zestiria honors him for it, it also shows that it is very hard to be the pure good guy. Sacrifices are made, important things are lost, and there are times that we question whether Sorey's ideals are worth the pain...but all the same, he's easy to admire for those very ideals. He feels the pain of his quest and the weight of his choices, and there are points where we wonder if Sorey can remain Sorey - which is painful, because we like Sorey.
Alisha and Rose, the other two human leads, provide an interesting dynamic alongside Sorey. One, Alisha, uses the same principles as him - providing more examples of how hard it can be to be a hero, and what it can cost you. Meanwhile, Rose still fights for good, but has a method focused more on the immediate good than the ideal...what she knows can be achieved. But sometimes, that pursuit of immediate good can leave bigger problems to be resolved...and sometimes, it can lead one to try to solve the wrong problem, or the right problem in the wrong way. There are negatives to both approaches, and while I wouldn't call Zestiria evenhanded about it, it does a good job exploring the question of just how to be a hero the world needs and what it is going to cost you to do so. Personalities are broken down, principles are questioned, and everyone is forced to find out who they really are and what they really believe.
The seraphim, meanwhile, get a little less exploration than the three humans, but are still a great part of the show. Mikleo and Dezel probably get the most focus - the former Sorey's best friend, the latter a figure in Rose's life - but all the seraphim on the journey have some real personality and life to them (not to mention some great character designs). Mikleo's "archeology buds" brotherhood with Sorey is a particularly fun part of the show, and the two feel like lifelong friends - with in-jokes and habits that are theirs and theirs alone.
I think that's the biggest strength of the show, really...the characters and their interactions with each other. It would be easy for a show with such a big plot and so many moving parts to lose sight of its characters, but it never does. They remain front and center, and while they're explored to varying degrees, you always get a great feel for how they relate to each other and you get to see them grow as friends and allies. There's a very nice growth and change to relationships, and it's nice to see them go from strangers, to tentative allies, to true friends that can rely on each other to the end. At the points where the plot seems to slip a little bit or the show doesn't quite explore something as fully as you'd like, the characters carry it. Their developments as people and as friends feel earned.
There is one character - an Assassin who comes after Alisha early on and ends up hellionized - who feels like he has somewhat of an inconsistent plot, though. It's hard to follow his development. (Worth noting, I had the same problem with him in the game, and the show does actually feel a little better for me...just not all the way to the good.) One moment he's definitely evil, the next he's...protecting the good guys...and then he seems to be totally on their side...but still acting evil, and...I just didn't get his motivation much at all. Fortunately, he's not a huge part of the show.
The show's art is excellent - I've already mentioned the great character designs for the seraphim, but the world overall is beautiful, and the characters, outfits, and armor and weapons all have stunning designs. Sorey's Shepherd outfit in particular is great, a different sort of look for a fantasy hero that feels like an amalgamation of different cultures and traditions (fitting, since he's the hero for the whole world). And, of course, we get some wonderfully over-the-top anime weapons at times (particularly in the final battle, with one of the most epic anime swords I think I've seen - makes Cloud's famous "Buster Sword" look reasonable). That is not a complaint, by the way - it's a compliment.
The action varies a bit...or rather, the show is variable in how much action it includes. When there is a fight scene, it is exceptionally well done, with great smooth animation, hard-hitting blows, and a good fast pace. But considering the story's theme, fight scenes actually don't come as often as you'd think, and there are points where the show leans perhaps a bit too heavily on more of a contest of will than an outright battle. It would be nice to have more elaborately choreographed fights, since the show is very good at them.
Finally, I have to mention the exceptional use of color here. It's something I'm fond of in a variety of anime - Dusk Maiden of Amnesia being the strongest in that regard - but its very notable here too. Aside from just having a bright and colorful world to begin with, Zestiria makes great use of color to represent the supernatural sides of the story - a beautiful blue light for the purifying power of the Shepherd, a sickly orange for malevolence, with other colors thrown in the mix for the various Seraphim powers. When supernatural powers are being thrown around the screen becomes a wonderful mix of colors that makes everything immediately feel otherworldly, in a way beyond even other anime with big superpower effects - it just changes the tone of the show and makes it clear where we're dealing with things beyond humanity.
I'm reviewing the show here, but I do want to take a moment to highlight how it relates to the game it is based on in a few ways:
Dubbed or Subbed? I watched the dubbed version, which as I mentioned above involves the same cast from Tales of Zestiria's video game form. It's a great dub with some exceptional character portrayals, and a cast that was really willing to go all out to make you feel the emotion of the moment and their friendship with the other heroes. From what I understand, the subtitled version is similarly faithful to the game's voice cast and similarly high quality. Either way, I think you'll get a great show.
More Anime to come!
But first: Tales of Zestiria the X is set in a fantasy world, themed largely off of medieval Europe but with some other cultural influences from time to time. Once, humans and seraphim lived together in harmony - humans prayed to the seraphim, and the seraphim gave the humans their blessings. Now, though, most humans no longer see or acknowledge the seraphim, and a malevolence is spreading throughout the world, corrupting it and the life upon it into beings called hellions. Disasters and disease are spreading, the threat of war is on the horizon, and the world is crumbling. There is a legend, written in the Celestial Record, of a figure called the Shepherd who was blessed by the seraphim and could bring an end to the chaos - and Princess Alisha of Hyland thinks she's found the Shepherd in Sorey, a young man who grew up among the seraphim and can see them. But with the world swiftly falling into ruin, can even the rise of a Shepherd save it?
Zestiria takes place across 2 seasons of 13 episodes each, covering the journey of Sorey and his human and seraphim friends to try to understand the roots of the malevolence plaguing the world and purify it - while also struggling with very human evils along the way. Though Sorey's primary focus is the supernatural evil he's trying to uncover, the story actually spends quite a lot of its time on the ways that quest can be derailed...which sounds like it could be bad or break the show's focus, but ends up actually being a good center for the story itself. Humanity is its own worst enemy in Zestiria, and as ever, a force of power like the Shepherd is something many see as something to be manipulated and controlled for their own ends.
The tale can be a bit uneven at times, though - it struggles a bit with exactly what to spend its time on. There are parts of the plot that feel like they get exactly the right amount of time, and other parts where it feels like we kind of breeze past things that should've been more complicated or gotten more exploration. There's a bit of this in Season 1, where it feels like the Marlind plot about a village affected by plague could've had more time before it was resolved, but the feeling is more notable in Season 2. The Rolance Empire plot takes up about half the season but actually still feels smaller than it really should be - problems are sometimes introduced and resolved within minutes, and there's a political power struggle going on that just kind of feels like it doesn't get explored at all - it gets set up, mentioned a couple times, and then just kind of overruled in such a way that I'm not quite sure why it was built up as a struggle. Overall, it feels like the story doesn't quite fulfill its potential at times.
The strongest part of the show, though, by far, is its cast. Zestiria's characters are excellent. They have very well-defined personalities and are very easy to like. Sorey is a particular strength of the show: a true hero with an unyielding determination to not only do what is right but to do what is right in the best way possible...even if it is an incredible struggle to do so. He's a hero who sticks by what he believes and works his hardest to save everyone, even those thought lost...a principle which is challenged over and over by the show, and which leads him into some dark, dangerous, and costly situations. Sorey is a true hero, but while Zestiria honors him for it, it also shows that it is very hard to be the pure good guy. Sacrifices are made, important things are lost, and there are times that we question whether Sorey's ideals are worth the pain...but all the same, he's easy to admire for those very ideals. He feels the pain of his quest and the weight of his choices, and there are points where we wonder if Sorey can remain Sorey - which is painful, because we like Sorey.
Alisha and Rose, the other two human leads, provide an interesting dynamic alongside Sorey. One, Alisha, uses the same principles as him - providing more examples of how hard it can be to be a hero, and what it can cost you. Meanwhile, Rose still fights for good, but has a method focused more on the immediate good than the ideal...what she knows can be achieved. But sometimes, that pursuit of immediate good can leave bigger problems to be resolved...and sometimes, it can lead one to try to solve the wrong problem, or the right problem in the wrong way. There are negatives to both approaches, and while I wouldn't call Zestiria evenhanded about it, it does a good job exploring the question of just how to be a hero the world needs and what it is going to cost you to do so. Personalities are broken down, principles are questioned, and everyone is forced to find out who they really are and what they really believe.
The seraphim, meanwhile, get a little less exploration than the three humans, but are still a great part of the show. Mikleo and Dezel probably get the most focus - the former Sorey's best friend, the latter a figure in Rose's life - but all the seraphim on the journey have some real personality and life to them (not to mention some great character designs). Mikleo's "archeology buds" brotherhood with Sorey is a particularly fun part of the show, and the two feel like lifelong friends - with in-jokes and habits that are theirs and theirs alone.
There is one character - an Assassin who comes after Alisha early on and ends up hellionized - who feels like he has somewhat of an inconsistent plot, though. It's hard to follow his development. (Worth noting, I had the same problem with him in the game, and the show does actually feel a little better for me...just not all the way to the good.) One moment he's definitely evil, the next he's...protecting the good guys...and then he seems to be totally on their side...but still acting evil, and...I just didn't get his motivation much at all. Fortunately, he's not a huge part of the show.
The show's art is excellent - I've already mentioned the great character designs for the seraphim, but the world overall is beautiful, and the characters, outfits, and armor and weapons all have stunning designs. Sorey's Shepherd outfit in particular is great, a different sort of look for a fantasy hero that feels like an amalgamation of different cultures and traditions (fitting, since he's the hero for the whole world). And, of course, we get some wonderfully over-the-top anime weapons at times (particularly in the final battle, with one of the most epic anime swords I think I've seen - makes Cloud's famous "Buster Sword" look reasonable). That is not a complaint, by the way - it's a compliment.
The action varies a bit...or rather, the show is variable in how much action it includes. When there is a fight scene, it is exceptionally well done, with great smooth animation, hard-hitting blows, and a good fast pace. But considering the story's theme, fight scenes actually don't come as often as you'd think, and there are points where the show leans perhaps a bit too heavily on more of a contest of will than an outright battle. It would be nice to have more elaborately choreographed fights, since the show is very good at them.
Finally, I have to mention the exceptional use of color here. It's something I'm fond of in a variety of anime - Dusk Maiden of Amnesia being the strongest in that regard - but its very notable here too. Aside from just having a bright and colorful world to begin with, Zestiria makes great use of color to represent the supernatural sides of the story - a beautiful blue light for the purifying power of the Shepherd, a sickly orange for malevolence, with other colors thrown in the mix for the various Seraphim powers. When supernatural powers are being thrown around the screen becomes a wonderful mix of colors that makes everything immediately feel otherworldly, in a way beyond even other anime with big superpower effects - it just changes the tone of the show and makes it clear where we're dealing with things beyond humanity.
I'm reviewing the show here, but I do want to take a moment to highlight how it relates to the game it is based on in a few ways:
- It largely follows the same plot, but there are some points where there are differences. Some - Alisha's greater involvement in the anime compared to the game - are big positives. Others - the reduced exploration of Marlind and the Rolance political scene - are negatives. Overall I think the anime comes out with a very strong version of the tale, but don't expect it to be a direct comparison.
- It uses a great amount of music from the game itself, and the same voice acting cast (with one exception in the Japanese version, I understand, as the voice actress had passed away). Immediately makes it feel more legitimate if you're a fan of the game. Honestly, the music in particular is such an easy thing that I'm astonished more video game films don't do it - at least use the game soundtrack to inspire your film soundtrack and you'll honor the source material more! Sadly, the game's amazing title track, "White Light," isn't the song used in the anime - but the title tracks they made for the anime are all excellent.
- I adore how the anime does its "next episode preview" segments. The Tales games feature lots of little skits of the heroes just talking to each other and being friends, and include a lot of great and very funny moments. The anime has chosen to use those for its "next episode preview," and matches the look and style of them absolutely perfectly. If you don't know the games, it's just a funny little quirky way of doing the previews. If you do know the games, you're totally in love with the show when one of those comes on.
- Unfortunately, there's one big negative I have to mention that relates to the games...and that's that, oddly, Tales of Zestiria the X chooses to spend two entire episodes covering the introduction to the prequel game, Tales of Berseria. Heroine Velvet Crowe is even in the anime intro, even though those are the only two episodes she actually appears in. This is, by my understanding, because part of the reason this anime even exists is to help promote Berseria, but...even though Berseria is strongly related to Zestiria, these episodes don't really add anything to the show. They just serve as a weird kind of side jaunt that distracts from the main story. It feels like we could've just had a few short clips while the Zestiria heroes found a book or some such rather than spending two entire episodes on this, especially when there are parts of Zestiria that don't quite get explored enough...or, alternately, that we could've truly made this a mixed show and had more content from Berseria. The episodes are actually quite good, so it has made me want to play Berseria...but from this show's standpoint, they're pretty skippable.
- I could also have done without the Normin characters - they're cute, but they're not heavily involved in the plot and in the game they're really more there just as part of a system that the anime obviously doesn't use. They're a really minor part of the show, so this isn't a big deal, but it feels like they probably could've been left out.
Dubbed or Subbed? I watched the dubbed version, which as I mentioned above involves the same cast from Tales of Zestiria's video game form. It's a great dub with some exceptional character portrayals, and a cast that was really willing to go all out to make you feel the emotion of the moment and their friendship with the other heroes. From what I understand, the subtitled version is similarly faithful to the game's voice cast and similarly high quality. Either way, I think you'll get a great show.
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