Tales of Phantasia - The Animation
The Heroes of Space and Time
by Fredrick Guese
Tales on Phantasia is based off of the Super Famicon and Game Boy Advance RPG of the same name. It's the first installment that has mostly been remembered by the RPG community to have actual voiceovers in game. The series deals initially with a group of friends who are fighting against the Demon King Dhaos. The protagonist party is led by Cress, a run of the mill warrior, and his group that is made up of a laundry list of J-RPG clichés. First there is his childhood friend Chester, and experienced archer, and then a young healer named Mint, whose relationship with the other characters is a bit ambiguous. The show begins somewhat into after the beginning of the game. At this point, general named Mars has captured both Cress and Mint in a mausoleum, and has taken away their family pendants. He uses the pendants to summon Dhaos, who was defeated a hundred years ago. All hope seems lost after the Demon King is summoned and kills the general in a burst of energy, but a mage named Trinicus sends Cress and Mint back in time to bring back two of the heroes that sealed Dhaos in the first place.
The show has a somewhat straightfowrward storyline. It manages to work rather well because Dhaos is a villain with a just cause. . Rather than something selfish like ruling the world with an iron fist or vengeance, his cause is the protection of The Great Tree that has been threated by humans themselves. It may turn the viewer off of Cress, but the plot itself though is pretty straightforward and manages to cut a few plot points here and there. Think of it as a more of a cohesive digest than just a straightforward translation to the original game. This is a good thing because some of the things in game plot wise would only work as a game. The "Tales" series will accept these liberties as they help translate the story to a less interactive medium. First time viewers may never notice the difference. You don’t really feel like they butchered the game’s narrative, but didn’t stray to far from its source. It reminds me of the often serious tone of the original Loddoss War OVA of the early 90’s. It is something of an epic scale and is treated with the seriousness, good characterizations, and care.
The DVD image quality meanwhile is crisp with an antapromorphic transfer, and a pastel colored appearance similar to the series it emulates. Everything is bright and cheery which is juxtaposing of the serious tone of the OVA. You’d expect something lighter from the cover art. It doesn’t really have the deinterlacing and other artifact problems you’d see in master of a TV series. The character designs are the same as the game with Kosuke Fujishima at the helm. This means it’s easy on the eyes and isn’t ornate as some of its counterparts.
The audio meanwhile has you’re standard English 5.1 mix and Japanese mix. Unfortunately the Japanese one doesn’t support surround sound which hasn’t been remastered in Dolby Digital. The dub is pretty good with each of the voice cast giving out decent range. Nothing seems monotone nor forced, but isn’t really inspiring that’d it’ll immerse you. The choice between voice tracks in this one is preferential Viewers should try both out as it’s a give or take affair. Music meanwhile is pretty solid with the expected epic orchestrated themes with some traditional flutes which give it an eastern flavor. It emphasizes the large scope of the show, and gives it that added punch.
Extras on the DVD are the weakest point of it. It consists of the now arbitrary clean credit opening and ending animations. There’s also a small art gallery you can look through with character and background sketches. There isn’t much else to watch except for the actual show itself besides some trailers.
This is one of the few successes of video game (be it animated or live action) to show adaptations that have worked well. The universe will be familiar to series fans, but at the same time doesn’t alienate you’re average viewer with obscure references or throwing all out disconnect them by putting them directly after the series. The villain’s motives are also a pool for fantasy fans with him having a noble cause, but having ultimately destructive means. Think of it as the video game equivalent of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ film adaptations, a trimmed down version of the show without the filler plot that’s usually associated used to keep a video game player occupied. Though lacking in supplemental bonus content the series alone is worth watching. Hopefully other publishers will take note and make these adaptations more accessible.
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