CLXXIV: "Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike"

Once more, we have anime that is set as a legit part of a game's storyline. We visited this scenario before in post 22 covering Devil May Cry. This time, it's the game Tales of Vesperia, another game created by Namco Bandai games, and it has a prequel anime film called Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike.

Obviously, it tells the events prior to the game's setting, but more so in the past of the protagonists. Continuity is in question, and it isn't entirely clear exactly when this takes place, but supposedly, this is 10 years after the Great War (the game goes into detail as to what the war dealt with.) The story kicks off as the previous Emperor passes away in the Imperial Capital of Zaphias. People use the substance known as aer for day to day living, be it for mere handwork or for defensive purposes. When gathered, large amount of aer is concentrated in a crystallized form known as Apatheia, which people use in inventions known as blastia. Whether to fight off monsters, or to protect the town, Apatheia is used and cores are made, to be used in various blastia, more commonly for Barrier Blastia to fend off monsters from the outside. Even with all of this, and save that there has been no heir prior to the Emperor's death, Zaphias' Imperial Knights still perform their duties of defending the people outside the towns.

Childhood friends Yuri Lowell and Flynn Scifo (both protagonists of the game) are seen as new recruits of the Imperial Knights, fed up with the treatment they were forced to endure within their home, Zaphias' Lower Quarter, thus, wanted to change and uphold the laws from within. With new characters known altogether as the Niren Corps, Yuri and Flynn, alongside the puppy Repede, encounter many trials and tribulations of being a knight (with a conflict that revisits somewhat in-game.) Aside from those three, we also see other characters known from the games: the mage Rita Mordio, Princess Estellise, and the mysterious old man Raven. Protagonists omitted were Judith, Karol Capel, and the PS3-exclusive Patty Fleur. The movie tells of the many conflicts as an Imperial Knight, which leads to his resentment towards being one in the game.

Nearly 2 hours in length, the animation was done in studio Production I.G., also responsible for the animated scenes in game. For now, it's a Japanese release under Kadokawa Pictures, which came out in 2009, a year after the Xbox 360 game was released in both Japan and US. While it's unknown if it'll be dubbed at all, Funimation has gained the license for the animated movie, with release rumored to be sometime in 2012, but this isn't confirmed quite yet. While the concern of continuity was posed before, it poses more of a concern with the Japan exclusive PlayStation 3 game, released the same year. But judging by the dialogue involved within the game, ToV: The First Strike bears some relevance to the game storyline, mainly into Yuri/Flynn's character development.

I enjoyed it, but found it's conflict (late in the film) all too familiar with the game's, save for numerous factors. In any case, ToV: The First Strike gets a 7 of 10 from me, and while I am quite the fan of the game, I was a bit disappointed with the prequel film, for it didn't amaze me much as far as the protagonists' pasts. Still, to be 1 of 4 animated adaptions of the Tales game series, I was pleased.