DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU*

Contrary to popular RPG gameplay mechanics, staying overnight at an inn does not miraculously restore your HP and heal all wounds/ailments; You still have to manually cast the appropriate curative magic on yourself. What exactly have I been paying for? Lodging?

Probably one of the more resourceful lolis you'll ever meet, Anise not only completes her mission objectives despite being separated from everyone else, she manages to turn her status report into a love letter meant for Luke. She is everything you'd want in a girl, but only if you have a fat wallet.

Yeah, I mean there isn't a possibility that he could have like, studied that in school or him originally being from Malkuth and having to move to Kimlasca for whatever circumstances and all that.

Levallan and grindan, the timeless chore in every RPG! I'm surprised they even managed to slot this in, though it does serve to highlight how fabulous Jade is as a character, and something I'd like to call a projectile turtle, since he really just needs to stand there can spam magic all day long while Luke acts as a damage sponge.

This is why Anise's so adorable; She's not. Even I know a scheming loli when I see one, which is why I don't like her as much as I'm supposed to. However, the deadpan delivery of her dark(er) side is what really make her endearing to me.

Instead of acting all flustered that Luke just saw her for what she really is, I like how Anise makes the transition to her other self as though nothing just happened. Kinda like how I got caught looking up skirts long ago, though that's another story.

While it's pretty obvious that Van is the villain, he's an antagonist only in the eyes of Tear for the time being, which is why for this portion, everyone decides to take a breather and talk about boring stuff. Thankfully, just like how I'm able to skip dialogue by repeatedly mashing the X button, I can do the same here by playing about with the timeline.

When they mention your next destination twice within the span of 5 minutes, you know you're bound for a story critical location, which is exactly it. Obviously I can't tell you what's in store, so let's just say that there are at least two brick shitting revelations that is tied to a bigger conspiracy later on.

I Most of us can only dream of being embraced by cute little girls, but Guy reacts as though he was being humped by a diseased primate in a dress. That's also got to do wonders for Anise's self esteem too, though being a good girl, she wasn't pertubed by it.

Now here's someone you can truly sympathize with. It's not that he hates women or anything; Guy simply just cannot approach them due to a traumatic experience he suffered in the past, rendering him unable to hit on any females as a result despite being a handsome stud. Definitely a far cry from me, who doesn't look half as good and will hit on pretty much anything that remotely resembles the opposite sex and then some more.

I think Jade is a pretty cool guy. eh is willing to kill a loli and doesn't afraid of anything. When you exude far more ℳℴℯ❤ than everyone else in the room, you tend to be impervious to those who aren't on par with the appeal, seeing as how Jade didn't show much hesitation and would have probably finished Arietta off had Ion not stopped him.

If you think about it hard enough, you'd be able to infer from Guy's astonishment as to what he just saw; He either recognizes it as a familiar face or he's having vision problems and is seeing double. Having Sync share the same seiyuu with another member of the cast would probably be another hint, though I have to say this wasn't made that obvious for gamers.

Shin Says

Nothing to comment again, so I think I'll just talk about the following screenshot instead, which was a rather anticlimatic means of ending what was yet another good episode which made me almost expect an announcer to go JIKAI, TEIRUZU OBU JI ABISU! I guess  another means of doing it was having Luke stand proudly at the bow of the ship looking into the sunset as he heads off to another continent with his party members, so it was really case of using one cliche over the other. Useless archer girl next week(in before manga drones on about how good she is), so I'm not terribly excited.

*Yes, I realize that the colors are wrong.

I have a sharp phallic object and am not afraid to use it on the little girl.

Some interrogation is in order, though it doesn't take long for the accusations against Luke and Tear to be dropped, since they don't look like villains, even if the former does sound like a condescending twat. Noteworthy however, is the fact Malkuth allegedly played a role in Luke's kidnapping.

"Luke is (a gold)mine!" she says. Gold digging loli has struck it rich! Okay, that might sound a little rude, since I'm sure it is every girl's dream to settle in with a nice man. Having that said man being rich and influential is really just a perk.

As it turns out the whole kidnapping of Ion was a ruse set up so the latter could escape the clutches of an evil Pope-like figure who's out to instigate war between Malkuth and Luke's home country. Officially, that is. Can't blame Ion for wanting to flee the church though, because if you know the kind of things priests do to their altar boys, you'd want to run for your life too....

What is pride? It is but an emotional buffer used to shield one's insecurities and low self esteem. When you're as awesome as Jade, you're virtually impervious to taunts and insults and able to use it against your instigator, thereby relinquishing any sense of superiority that person might attain from putting you down. That is just a sample of how FABULOUS this man can be.

I expected Tear to hit Luke on the head with her staff for that comment, but I guess she's too mature to be annoyed by it, playing her role as coo-dere to a tee.

With such a high profile target missing, it doesn't take long for Moh's goons, otherwise known as the God Generals to infiltrate the Tartarus. Pictured here is Largo the Black Lion, a badass mofo with a scythe the size of a Playstation 3. Not pictured here is Arietta the Wild, whose name is not actually derived by her being a party junkie, but rather her affinity with beasts that do her every bidding.

When faced with someone as fabulous as Jade as a foe, you're going to have to go all out and not pull any punches, which is why Largo has with him a fon-slot seal, which viewers soon find out, is a device that locks away all one's Fon Artes. For gamers, it really was just a convenient method to knock Jade several levels down so that he'd be able to join the rest of the party on equal footing. Ah ha!

Bipolar personality or a display of Anise's true (underwear) colors? Either way I found this scene to be very hilarious as she falls to her inevitable doom cursing the soldier who threw her off. As if.

People die when they are killed. That concept at least applies to the poor sap that Luke unwittingly stabbed with his sword.

J-RPG hero angst! Despite thinking that he's the shit, Luke is really just a wuss who has just come to realize the harsh realities of war. In other words, character development.

With Luke temporarily regaining his bearings, Jade officially joins the party and orders a lockdown of the entire ship through a voice automated control system. In the ensuing confusion, the party makes their escape and turns the tables against their oppressors. God General Legretta is thoroughly impressed by the length and girth of Jade's spear as she views it up close and personal.

What I would give to enter the amazing Guy. While I love Jade the most, Guy's my best character in game, as he was a good alternative to Luke since they shared the same fighting style while being far more agile, though sacrificing some attack power in the process. His only weakness is still an awkward and baffling one.

With pursuers on their tails, the party is left with no choice but to fend off against the Oracle Knights, though Luke's actions early on still haunt him and he is unable to fight. Overwhelmed by fear, the redhead chump gets distracted and in a blink of an eye, Tear throws herself at Luke as she couldn't take it any longer protecting him against an attack and is injured in the process.

Shin Says

A basic four man party has been formed, though the show will seem to be picking up the pace a little by covering up to Choral Castle, where Luke was held hostage as child, if I recall correctly, but I guess that's okay, since there's only a dungeon and town in between. Not much else to comment since they're pretty much staying true to the game, and I can't wait for the appearance of the two most annoying characters next episode.

Breaking news: I'm gay for this man.

Part of Luke's annoying characteristic stems from him being more ignorant than your average country bumpkin, though it's understandable in the former's case as he has been kept under strict supervision ever since the kidnapping incident. It does however make for good comedy as it tends to land him in heaps of trouble, as demonstrated here where he helps himself to an apple without paying for it.

There he is, in the flesh! Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Jade Curtiss, the bespectacled pillar of fabulous and sex! This is the first time I've listened to his original Japanese voice, and I'm more than elated knowing it's handled well in the hands of Takehito Koyasu, whom you might recognize as To Love-Ru's Zastin and Mu Flaga from Gundam SEED.

One of these characters I want to take home and do all sorts of nasty things to. The other is Anise, Fon Master Ion's bodyguard and member of the Order of Lorelei. Having authority as the church's biggest pimp, Ion vouches for Luke's innocence with proof that something else was responsible for the theft of food in the village.

Chances are, if you have a diary or, to keep up with the times, own a personal blog, you're doing it to share your experiences with others, among other reasons. In Luke's case however, it's to keep tabs on all the major events of his life to ensure he never loses them to amnesia again(and to nicely summarize the end of each chapter in game).  His display of frailty would make one feel sorry for him. Almost.

And what's with the excessive blushing?!! I know someone's happy to see Luke going dere-dere like nobody's business, but it totally clashes with his character as an arrogant brat! Never mind that now, it's time for some leveling and sidequests!

These low level mobs are about to find out the hard way that Ion-chan is not an easy rape meal despite looking the part of a weak bodied and delicious shouta.

Tales of the Abyss can't call itself a J-RPG if it didn't include some needlessly cute furry animals that needs rescuing.

Far more adorable however, is seeing how Tear reacts to them. Behind her mostly level headed exterior is someone with a penchant for all things cute. The fact that she tries to hide her feelings of adoration towards them adds to her charming personality even further. HNNNNNNNNNNNNG~!

The monstrosity standing before you is revealed to be the root of Luke's woes as it inadvertently triggered a fire in another part of the forest, causing the carnivorous inhabitants there to hunt these creatures down for food. In exchange the aggressors are provided with the stolen food from the village.

And before you can say new party member, Mieu, as that flying hybrid between a rabbit and some marsupial is known, has to join Luke to "negotiate" with the monsters it wronged in the first place. Our hero does something right for once and shows that beast its rightful place, which may probably anger animal rights groups.

Because the party has been skimping on random battles, they reach their first obligatory boss fight unprepared and subsequently get their asses kicked.

Who better to bail these whippersnappers out then the best offensive magic user, who is conveniently 20+ levels higher than your entire party at that point in time? Out of the Liger's den and straight into another set of predicaments, our heroes are placed under arrest for suspicion of being related to the Seventh Fonon reaction(the one that got both Luke and Tear over to this continent)

Shin Says

With a couple hours of gameplay compressed into about 50 minutes of animation, with no signs of major story elements being sacrificed, the show is thankfully on a right track. Even if Luke felt out of character with his over dere-dereness, everyone else is as I remembered, especially Jade, who retains his sharp wit and sarcastic nature. Can't wait for the God Generals to make an appearance next episode, especially the sexy gun wielding Legretta!

Having finished the game ages ago, Sunrise had but one simple task of presenting it as though I'm playing through the entire thing from scratch from a spectator's point of view.

Let's start with the obvious. I despised Namco Bandai USA's relutance of implementing a dual track audio in their RPG titles, so listening to Karma(the OP) in its entirety again instantly got me pumped up again. I'm glad that although Sunrise wasn't able to match Production I.G's opening sequence in terms of quality, they retained the song for the fans.

Sure feels RPG around here! Just like how the game kicked off, you have Luke engaging in a rather needless conversation with his gardener. Yes, his. You see, Luke is the sole heir of the fon Fabre house, which has direct links to royalty, and as such, he is twice the bigot when compared to your other RPG leads.

Luke's confidante and best friend, Guy's fear of women translates rather well on screen, even if the reasons for his gynophobia are rather hilarious.

Why hello there, Natalia, whom I didn't bother including in my party! From here on, the anime deviates a little, by introducing Luke's fiancé way ahead of time, though it hardly impacts the anime's storyline, since it only serves to highlight the fact that Luke has no memories of his promise to her as a child ever since he got kidnapped a decade ago.

After a quick introduction to Van, Luke's master, it's time to explain the basic controls of the game through a tutorial battle! Also, it's Jouji Nakata voicing the former, so we have another Code Geass member onboard.

And here she is, Tear, who makes a rather stealthy entrance by knocking out everyone at the mansion with her hymm. With everyone near incapacitated, Tear launches a surprise attack on Van, only to have Luke intervene in the nick of time.

Early signs that the two have some sort of chemistry with one another, their clash triggers a reaction that teleports both Luke and Tear to an undisclosed location.

By undisclosed I really mean the early portion of the game where you have Tear as your party member in some monster ridden forest as you familiarize yourself with gameplay mechanics.

Okay, this may be fanboy nitpicking on my behalf(it is), but that's not what Tear's default weapon is supposed to do, not to mention that she's as efficient in melee combat as Guy is with females. Again, it really isn't much of an issue. and I guess it's better than having her staff shoot bubbly balls.

With a pocketful of Gald and some levels later, the party stumbles upon a lone villager who offers to take Luke and Tear to the next town in exchange for 「Tear's Necklace」 which she seemed very reluctant to part with. Don't worry, crafty players will be able to retrieve it later in game!

As the party make their way to the intended destination, they come in contact with an enormous battleship, dubbed the... Never mind, I'll let you guys discover that for yourself next episode. Let's just say you'll be meeting someone fabulous onboard, and arguably the best character from Tales of the Abyss.

Shin Says

More often than not, I steer clear from an anime's source material which is usually limited to manga or light novels, solely to avoid making comparisons and getting annoyed if things turn out differently, but being an RPG aficionado, this was something unavoidable, though I'm happy to say to say that there's not much for me to get worked up over for the time being. Having never listened to what the original seiyuus, I was looking forward to hearing how Luke would sound like, and sure enough, he's shaping out to be the dickhead which I came to admire. Yukana does a stellar job with Tear and listening to ~Song By Tear~, quite literally brought tears to my eyes. Guy is still gay, and I still can't seem to feel anything towards Natalia, mainly because having her around was frustrating, though that's another story altogether. Definitely, a keeper, if only for nostalgic purposes.