Tales of Symphonia The Animation: Tethe'alla-hen

Tales of Symphonia Tethe'alla is the 4 episode OVA that follows the four episodes of Tales of Symphonia, only it's set in another world, known as Tethe'alla. To start off, if you've seen the first four episodes, you'll be aware that the episodes in this anime are quite long, about 40 minutes long as opposed to the normal length for anime episodes, about 20 minutes. This doesn't bother me in the least; actually, I found it quite refreshing, not having to click on a new link as often to continue watching the show.

If you've played the game for this anime, you might be more familiar ... with the characters, plot, and overall universe, but as for me I had played it only briefly several years ago and didn't remember much when I started watching this. So don't think you need any background knowledge: I certainly didn't need it.

Tethe'alla is an amazing world, bespeckled with grand castles, interesting people, highly advanced technology and something that made me rather excited to see: dragons. I loved the storyline in this world. Lloyd's adventures to save Colette caused him to come across new enemies and allies, and everyone has their own unique story to tell. At some points the plot took real twists -I would blink in a surprised fashion as I stared at the screen and wonder why someone had done something, or how something had happened. In this way, it became so that I couldn't figure out what was going to happen next, and for me watching something with unexpected turns is a real treat.

Because Tethe'alla is a chapter only four episodes long, like the first chapter, things are going to be moving at a good speed to keep the plot rolling. There aren't any unnecessarily long scenes of reflection, and flashbacks are kept concise. Background information on characters is given to us, but we are shown only what we need to know to understand character motivation, so if you like seeing scenes that show more about the character's life I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. What I really liked was how there could be great action in one moment, and then, only a scene or two later, everything would slow down to give viewers some time to process what had happened while the characters recovered and figured out what to do next.

Lloyd is a fantastic main character. He's charismatic, determined, strong-willed, and he keeps everyone focussed towards the goal of freeing Colette. I feel like the other characters fill in all the standard group holes: Genis, the cheerful companion who still seems a bit too innocent. Rain, the instructor and sister to Genis, ready to help out where she can. Sheena, the woman who is at first a bit of a mystery, and seems cold and distant, but later she shows that she's got an amazing heart. All of these guys, and a few more, really come together and make the perfect team.

The music in this anime was definitely not what I was used to. It's got depth, layers, and it fits the scenes brilliantly, raising tension and setting the tone. If you're expecting to hear something catchy and memorable, no, it isn't. To be honest I can't remember one tune from the show. But that's what's different about it: it's wind instruments, drums, and so on, building up on emotion and just creating a great feel for the story. It didn't have to be catchy or memorable. The opening and ending themes were fantastic. They aren't the usual norm, either. If you're expecting classic J-Pop or J-Rock, no, you're not going to receive it. The songs are just beautiful. Entrancing. Delicate. ...And rather unprounceable. However, I enjoyed them, sincerely.

I don't know what to tell you that won't get into the finer details of what you're considering you might watch. I won't tell you about the twists, or the ending (although I will say that it ended on a note that left too many loose ends, I believe we're in for a third OVA to tie everything up). However, I will tell you that in my honest opinion it's definitely an anime to set aside time for. If it doesn't captivate you by the opening sequence or by the end of the opening theme, then this probably is not the genre or anime you're looking for, though I assume you watched through the first four episodes to get here, so why even consider whether you want to see the Tethe'alla chapter? If you enjoyed the first chapter, you'll enjoy this one, and though it's an often repeated line it's completely true.

ok for one this 10 will only make sense if you have played the game

I have been a die hard fan of this game for a long time, and when i first saw the original series i felt rather, well disappointed, it skimmed through half the game in a an instant, then came along this second season and it put my skepticism to a rest, the Tethe'alla arc ended up not only meeting the quota of the game but it actually topped it by a longshot,

The 2 big changes that the anime did better in the anime appossed to the game for this ... were the big twist and actually making the romance between lloyd and collete a real romance, i wont spoil the twist but there is a big one concerning lloyd in the final epiosde, in the game it was pretty mindblowing at the time but it wasn't really placed right and it didnt feel very climactic, the way they do it in the anime was holy shit worthy for anyone who hasn't played the game, its climactic, makes sense, ad has a very badass fight because of it

and back to the romance thing, in the original game the romance was kinda just there and it had no conclusion it alowed you to pick another girl named sheena aswell but it wasn't really that good and doesn't make any sense whatsoever for him to do it, the game just felt like it hacked it on there just because but the anime kinda made it a huge driving force for lloyd and it made a few scenes very emotional, and heres the real kicker thta made me go 100% fangirl, they actually give a conclusion to the romance, keep in mind ive been supporting that ship or 9 years and i finally got something from it, im gonna fangirl like crazy, i honestly think when it happened my penis went back inside me and turned into a vagina, that's how fan-girl i got when it happened,

but thats not the full reason why i mentioned this, im mentioning it cause it all makes the show overall better, the romance while not HUGE it does take up a bit and really built lloyd and collete as characters, and we also in the anime get to finally meet up with the entire cast fully and they handle them very well, specifically zelos was handled perfectly in the anime version, hes stuck up, jokes around, got kinda of a ego but hes also someone you dont want to fuck with and is hiding something that may screw everyone over, he reacts great with the entire cats though the most entertaining are the ones between him and lloyd and him and sheena, they just work kinda well off each other


One thing that's just a nice little plus for this, these episodes include small little skits making fun of the anime with he characters themselves and they are very funny, they make fun of things like kratos not getting enough screen time, genis being useless, lloyd being a idiot ext. they are quite funny and a treat to TOS fans out there

if you have not played the game i do suggest watching the anime instead, though the final part is still to come out(will come out this fall)

the show has everything you might want

-comedy
-action
-drama
-fantasy
-adventure
-romance
-and by god even Psychological at points

and do not be dissuaded by the length, even if these are only 10 episodes for both seasons keep in mind they are all longer than a normal show, the original season was 30 min per episode so it kinda ended up being a 10 episode length and this is only 4 episodes but it is the length of 2 normal shows episodes(20 min is normal length) of 40 min, so overall just these 2 season equal the length of a 18 episode series and with the finale on the way it may end up being a 24 episode length,

to summarize this if you'v played the game this will be a treat to watch and if you haven't its something that anyone can enjoy cause its got borderline something for everyone

The story is rushed and all over the place and I know that since it's so short, they didn't have enough time to shoehorn in a lot of things from the game, but since the game is so long, I think they should've made this into a regular T.V. series than in OVA. That way, they can flesh out these complex characters and include more events that happened in the game. While, I can do with a few changes, such as the whole Chocolat thing because I don't care much for her, I would've loved if the series had stayed much more faithful to the ... game.

There is too much crying in it, while the game has came out in the time where video game characters hardly ever shed any tears, that still doesn’t warrant this much crying throughout every other episode of the series. Yes, I realise the characters have plights but I could do with some less crying. Presea cried a lot more than I remember her doing in the game. Now, let's go into more details about the problem with these characterizations and we'll compare them to the game:

Lloyd seems much more bubbly and silly here. While he does have a fun-loving side in the game, it's more toned down in the game. Yes, Lloyd is a kid, but he comes off as overly perky and it's annoying. Anime Lloyd is a lot more of a passive innocent bystander in the OVA while Game Lloyd was more of a pacifist who loves peace. Lloyd is also more of an idiot here than he was in the game such as in one scene that isn’t in the game where Soulless Colette is about to attack and Lloyd uses the power of love to stop her. What a cheesy scene. Game Lloyd was idiotic but showed some street smarts and logic at times. His hotheadedness and immaturity is also cranked up here, too.

Colette's tenancy to see the good is exaggerated here. She is so overly positive that she brushes off people fighting as a friendly sort of thing. While she was overly optimistic in the game, she still was more pacifistic in the game when it came to fighting and wasn't as optimistic towards people fighting.

Sheena is a lot more aloof in the anime and her hot-headedness is exaggerated here. She is a lot more violent than I remember her being. Anime Zelos is much more sassy here than he is in the game. He probably showed a bit of sass in the game but it's cranked up here. Presea is more impulsive here, shown when she suddenly attacks Regal right after hearing that he has killed Alicia. Game Presea was slower to anger and while held a grudge to Regal, she didn’t start fighting him off the bat until towards the end of the game.

Overall: This anime is a mess. This TOS series has completely screwed up Miyajima's vision of these characters. Play the game instead, it may be a little cheesy but a lot more realistic than this. This is just a cheesy adaptation of a nice game that is not the same as it.