Tales of Phantasia: The Animation

They do things and go places. While doing things, they go places to get things that make them do more things. Overall the things they get to do makes the other things they don't do make it seem less about the thing the originally done. TLDR: They do things and go places.

No other matter in the universe could be this dense. Have you seen those ads where they try to get you to play a puzzle game by showing you someone playing it so badly that you feel the need to step in just to demonstrate how it's done? This show feels like that, only without the option to step in and do it right. A turnip could have resolved the entire plot in less time than it takes this MC. That said, if you can resist the urge to ask, "How can anyone possibly be this stupid?" out loud every two minutes, you may find the show somewhat entertaining or even enjoyable. Aside from the shounen MC, the characters are likable enough, and the quality is pretty decent, even if the premise is about as solid as a tissue after my dog's fished it out of the garbage and chewed it up.

There are some really good ideas here, and it was kinda going somewhere. Unfortunately, they did not give enough time to flesh out the characters or the story. This really needed the full 12 eps minimum to explore all the things going on properly. Not sure why they made the choice to stuff it all in 4 eps. I would have liked to see this done well, there was potential here.

-Edward D. Morrison --- The greatest and first Tales game in the franchise, this video game and anime establishes the metaphysic examination of civilization, so continued throughout the entirety of the Tales series. While the anime OVA comprises a highly compressed and substantially alternated version of the game to fit the time, and as the game remains vastly superior overall, nevertheless this 4-part series is high-grade film with superb music composition.