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wizz-o-matic
07-01-2005, 02:46 PM
Title: Xenosaga - The Animation
Jap. Kanji: ゼノサーガ THE ANIMATION
Synonyms: xenosaga
Genre: Action, Mecha, SciFi
Type: TV series [12 episodes]
Year: 2005
Companies: Toei Animation


Plot synopsis:
The year is T.C. 4767. Four thousand years have passed since humanity abandoned its birthplace, the planet Earth. Beset by the hostile alien Gnosis, mankind is now scrambling to find ways to defeat this threat to their existence. The development of KOS-MOS (a specialized android with amazing capabilities) by Vector engineer Shion Uzuki was one response to the threat. But when their ship is destroyed by the Gnosis, Shion and her companions find themselves thrust into the middle of a battle with no clear sides...

Story (9/10):
It's great, almost perfect. It really drags you inside. Quite complicated, you don’t really get who is friend or who is foe, and at the same time really interesting ^_^ During the animation we get to know of some past events that marked the current time in the anime.

Animation (10/10):
I must say great! It has a lot of great effects, amazing space battles and nice computer graphics … too bad that I watched a rather low quality fansub -_-; The characters are well drawn, I especially like KOS-MOS, they greatly converted her from the game to the anime ^_^

Characters (8/10):
There’s quite a lot characters involved in this series, some of them quite interesting ^_^ I was most fascinated by the 99th series Realian aka Kirschwasser, about her thoughts of being rejected by others, her pain, and everything else.
And of course by KOS-MOS, especially her skills and power, a true mass-destruction weapon O_o'

Music/Voice acting (8/10):
Oh, I must say excellent … I love the opening them (must get the OST xD), and the bg music fits in every situation ^_^
Just, some mirror voice synchronization flaws were bugging me, but nothing serious.

Overall (8.5/10):
Great animation, lots of action, great effects, deep story and nice music ^_^ I suggest it to everyone that likes all of this along with space animes.

[BlackDeath]
07-16-2005, 09:08 AM
Story (7/10)
The story wasn't so good i thought, it was almost exactly based on that of the first games story line with some things left out. Though a good story it was i would've liked to have seen something completly different.

Animation (8/10)
Battle sequences were a little too simple, dull and quick. They looked like those old school animes and looked like it was all acted out as a play or stage performance. General animation was good i give it that, smooth animation.

Characters (9/10)
Again, exactly the same as the games character but the character are again, still good character. You can easily distinguish each one and see the difference and how unique that character is. Artwork for the characters was very impressive though.

Music (10/10)
I also loved the intro theme and the OST of the anime doesn't dissapoint, like the game counter part both are excelent.

Overall (8.5/10)
In the end it really is just an anime version of the first game with it slighty dubbed. So for those that have played the game this really isn't anything new, but those who havn't played the game it is an anime well worth watching.

Saint Mana
09-23-2005, 03:59 PM
Okay, just so you all know, I am writing this review as someone who played Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille Zur Macht for PS2 before seeing the anime. And as such, I will be rating the Anime from my perspective as a gamer seeing the anime based of a game.
Warning: My review will contain spoilers of elements not seen in the anime. You have been warned. Another note, my review will contain very minor spoilers for Xenosaga Episode II: Junseits von Gut und Bose.

Storyine (6/10)
Flawed. Underdeveloped, choppy, and badly paced. The anime did a horrible job of conveying the true stroy of Xenosaga Episode I: Der Will Zur Macht.
In the game, the story is told in long cut scenes in between gameplay. And also in shorter scenes scattered throughout the game. The game's story is brilliant. It contains a well developed world with vibrant characters, mysterious events, and mind numbing cliffhangers. Plus, the christian overtones are very interesting to me.
The anime however, butchered the story. It cut out events, added events, and altered events. It added characters, and even blatantly atlered some characters very roles. Take Leutenant Virgil for example. He dies on the Woglinde. He is killed by KOS MOS, as she calculates that the highest probability for Shion's survival meant his termination. He then becomes one of the cloaked figures in association with Willhelm, of the Dammerung.
That Mass-produced 99-Series Observational Realian masquerading as a 100 Series. She was not in the game.
Okay, one event that was completely skipped in the anime: The Cathedral Ship.
I mean, what the hell!? In the game, your party, and some NPC's are swallowed by a massive Gnosis. Crucial events take place in the Cathedral Ship, how dare they remove it. Integral development of Commander Cherenkov talkes place there.
Well, my point is, the story of the game version deserved 10/10 easily. the anime version howver, is hacked and butchered. Blasphemy is what it is.

Characters (6.5/10)
Before I begin let me say this: In game characters: 10/10.
Okay, in the anime, the characters were undeveloped and flat. What hell yeah?
I mean okay, the characters were more or less the same as they were in the game, but in the anime they recieve almost no development! A travesty really.
One thing that bugs me most is chaos. chaos, in the first game, recieves little development, but he is portrayed in a way that you know there is something up with him. You just know that is some manner of extremely powerful angelic being. In the anime, he is just some random kid who can salt Gnosis. chaos is one of the most mysterious characters I have ever seen, he deserves more than the anime gives him. Although, come the end of Xenosaga II, you are beating yourself in anticipation of learning more about him. Basically, the name Yeshua comes up. If you don't know what that means, look it up.
The other characters, are undeveloped in the same manner. I won't rant on every character, as I do not want to spend that much time.

Animation (8/10)
Not bad really, the animation is quite good. Although, absolutely despise the style of anime chosen for the game. This anime should have been done in a realism style, like that of Witch Hunter Robin. That, however, is personal opinion and I cannot dock the animation points because I dislike the style.
What it does lose points for though, is that the anime's action sequences were actually inferior to those on the PS2 game. That is utterly pathetic. Completely inexcusable. The game didn't even use FMV for is action sequences, it used in game models. PS2 models no less!! The fact that the anime can't surpass those is an absolute freaking insult. Were the animators even trying!? I mean come on...
At any rate, other than the action travesty, the animation if fluid, colourful, and does a decent job of conveying what little story is present.

Music/Voice Acting (8/10)
The music was pretty good, I like the opening theme. Plus, the background music rarely seemed out of place. Okay job there.
I think that the music could have used a bit more personality though, it seemed a bit flat and uninspired.
The voice acting, standard. Nothing exceptional really. I think some better voices could have been picked, but they seiyuu present did a good job.
Really, I have little so say regarding the audial side of this anime. Surprising I know...
Anyway, the music neither helps nor hinders this anime. Though, it is never annoying, and that is good.

Overall (5/10)
Okay, before I conclude, I have one more rant. I just had no other place for it.
Now as you know, the year is TC 4767. What does that mean to you? To you it probably means simply this: The Future. Well, to me it means, damn near SIX THOUSAND YEARS into the future. If you look up the timeline of Xenosaga, that should be more or less accurate. Anyway, if this is six thousand years into the future, then why the bloody freaking hell are the mech designs so inferior!? Did you see the mechs used in that so-called "final battle"? Those were a farce! I want to know who designed those, so I can spank him with 100 Episodes of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny. Seriously, the mech designs are worse in the anime, than they are in the game! I have no words for how massive and oversight this is. My god, such madness as this is defies sanity...
The mechs do improve in Xenosaga Episode II: Junseits von Gut und Bose and in Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Okay moving on...
Overall, the anime was an insult to the game. If you have played the game and you like it, then watch the anime for the sole purpose of comparing it to the game. It is only 12 episodes, you you can trudge through them in little time.
To be fair, I have heard that the anime is better if you have not played the game first. However, that is simply a way of saying that if you can't find the treasure, settle for the trash.
My reccomendation: Play the games for PS2.

Sinnaku
03-13-2006, 07:23 PM
I doubt that any of you actually know that Xenosage for the PS2 was made into an Anime. The reason you don't know this is because it is Japanese only, with no english subtitles.

Being the Xenosaga fan that I am, I went to great lengths to acquire this particular series.

Plot: 6/10 For some reason, it is the same for each episode. There were only five but the story was nearly completely identical to the previous one. What a dissapointment.

Audio: 7/10 The series sounds fairly well with interesting song choice. But I felt that the constant rock music that looped in the background in some areas did get annoying. And although the song choices were good, there weren't that many songs to hear. How sad. The songs were short and too light and some were even emo-ish that made me curse the song forever. There were some interesting 'Enter (character)' themes though. Ranging from slow hip-hop to all out Heavy Metal. It was good listening for the most part, if I ever designed an Anime I would definately try to find some relating bands to the styles used in this anime series.

Voice Actors: 5/10 Strangely unusual and bland. Chaos has some of the gayest lines in the movie. The actors picked out were just completely unskilled. I did NOT enjoy listening to Shion talk at all. Some actors were good however. Jin and Kos-Mos's actors did quite well. They did manage to get the moods right. I thought that the Patriarch's actor, though didn't make sense, still had some previous skill in voice acting.

Animation: 7/10 I found the way the characters were drawn to be quite odd. Not bad in a way but it was more like the originol type of art that doesn't make the artist famous. The character models reflected those of the game, but the colors looked far too cliche against the background art. And why don' trees blow in the wind? The Subcounsciance Domain chapters were awkward and looked nothing like the way it was in the game. Then, the snow domain was completely forgotten. When in the game, the winter domain is one of Jr.'s key aspects to the story line. The characters at least did resemble their video game counter parts. The details were not as good as they should have been. Then there was that whole beach thing in the last episode with Kos-Mos's swimsuit again looking nothing like the one in the game. Last I checked, the swimsuit was a zip-up one piece. So why is she now wearing a metallic two-piece thong tankini? I don't understand it one bit.

Story: 8/10 It bears good similarity to the video game. Some things were taken out that should not have been though, but even without some unimportant scenes it still makes sense to watch. The problem was this: the rolls that the characters are playing seem to switch. Bringing me to my next subject.

Characters: 9/10 Each one's personality was a near perfect resemblence to the game's versions. Kos-Mos lost too much personality. And we all know that we only like Xenosaga for Kos-Mos, so why did they take away nearly all of her idealism. She is now as dead as a ghost. Quietly (And I noticed that she also seems very depressed in some scenes) answering tactical questions that the party asks her. She never speaks out of turn until the 3rd disc. Why? I don't know, but it's terrible. As for Jr., still he is an annoying brat. Ziggy, MOMO, Shion and Jin however had a strong and firm personality. Worthy of a better anime though, it seemed (for once) almost TOO goo for this series.

Overall: 7/10 Xenosaga is a good game. But the Animation did not live up to the game's enjoyability and fame. It could have done so much better but sadly, didn't. I can't recommend this to most people, but I know the insanly hardcore Xenosaga fans are going to go out and find this. I hope you guys and girls can speak fluent Japanese.