Tales of Zestiria the X (2016–2017) User Reviews

Good animation/sound and decent plot/characters

[Cinefil_Original · 6/10 · 29 January 2017]

Intro: Tales of Zestiria the X:2 continues telling the story of a young man and his group of friends that are doing their best to save and clean the human world of evil. This anime reminds me of the trilogy "Lord of the Rings".

Plot: 5/10 The plot is not one of this series's strong points. Tales of Zestiria the X presents the story of a young man named Sorey, and his group of friends who are doing their best to save the world. At first the plot is slow paced but as the story progresses it picks up the pace. I see no point for ep 5-6, since it adds nothing to the plot.

Characters: 6/10 The characters are fairly generic, they do not get much character development but they are likable.

Animation: 10/10 The animation and art are splendid, truly mesmerizing. One of the best animations I have ever seen. Just by looking at a few scenes you can imagine all the work that was put into the creation of this anime. Tales of Zestiria the X is produced by the studio Ufotable, a studio known for its high quality production.

Sound: 9/10 The OST is great as well, it deepens the emotions and perfectly blends with the animation. The opening theme is highly enjoyable, the ending theme is decent.

Enjoyment: 7/10 The fight scenes and the backgrounds are stunning but the story itself is nothing memorable.

Overall: 7/10 Even if the plot and characters are nothing special, the show is worth the time just for the animation and sound. I recommend this anime to anyone who is looking for eye candy and wants to find out what high quality animation looks like.

a feast for the eyes

[shamushkhufu · 6/10 · 20 June 2017]

just a quick note to say that I am reviewing this anime after watching only 13 episodes. but usually I can tell if a show is going to capture my attention from at least episode 6. but sad to say this one hasn't really done that. saying that I still have faith in it and will continue to watch it until at least the end of the first season. I don't know if anyone else felt the same but I found the story a bit hard to follow at times. I thought the action was really good but the main thing this show has going for it is the visuals. The beautiful scenery, the uniforms and the buildings had a deep attention to detail. even though I still think the pace of the show didn't capture me I still appreciated it's beauty.

Beautifully animated

[TheGreatGreenBadger · 8/10 · 20 January 2020]

Amazing anime if you are really into fantasy and beautiful animation! Sorey, Alisha Diphda, Rose, and the seraphs are amazing characters. The concept, the characters, the music, and the animation is what this anime is about! Highly underrated and unforgettable!

Good animation at least

[Sandrowman · 7/10 · 17 December 2021]

Show not tell when characters talk about how painful it is to purify a dragon (which could not be done in the games, not sure why they changed that) they should have relied on animation to show their struggle. Also added the plots of Alicia and Berseria in it. Just one problem. Tales games are about character development/dept more so than the plot.

Decent plot/Awesome animation.

[glenjacob-26612 · 8/10 · 20 June 2020]

Now there will be some people who have watched Tales of Zesteria the X disagree with me,but still it's unique in it's own way.It has one of the best animation.The story takes time to understand but eventually you'll understand it.There will be times that you may wanna quit watching it because I did the same till 6 episodes.My brother watched it too and He didn't get what is happening till 12th episode.Still it has it's own plus points.And has a decent ending.

And one more thing it does not show any kind of Love relationship between characters.Its kind of friendship and support type based anime.It has some funny moments but it's less. I don't regret watching this anime.

Stunning visuals. "Weak"/underutilized villains. Somewhat preachy and may not appeal to everyone

[rtayaben · 8/10 · 17 July 2020]

First and foremost, the graphics are BEAUTIFUL and so detailed. Fight scenes were also top-notch. Finding out later that the anime was adapted from 2 video games did not detract from my original experience. {7/10 Stars for basic story/likable characters +3 Stars for extreme production values} Scientiiaa's review provides a good background and plot review. On the other hand, mnasirdey raises several discrepancies with the games (which I haven't played); however, 5 of his 10 questions were explicitly answered in the series so this guy wasn't really paying much attention. Now, Episodes 6 and 7 are from Tales of Berseria and jarringly seem out of sequence with the rest, but to be honest, I might've lost interest if they were shown later. The intense excerpts only raised unrealistic expectations. Alas, there would be no more scenes from this "prequel" or hints on the fate of Velvet Crowe. Perhaps we're forced to play the game? ToZ is NOT an action anime although there was a lot of it. As it progressed, it became more like Charmed where the sister witches use their Power of 3 to "vanquish" demons; in ToZ, the main character Sorey draws a magical sword from a stone (ala Excalibur) and becomes the Shepherd, whose destiny is to "purify" malevolent (corrupted) creatures by taking on their malevolence. And therein lies the show's main pitfall. After only a few weeks on the job, Sorey achieves feats that no Shepherds before him had, so there is no dramatic tension or sense that he could lose. Like Charmed's hapless demons, none of ToZ's baddies, no matter how powerful otherwise, are immune to purification, so you already anticipate the final battle will be anticlimactic, and it is. The most glaring omission is of even one battle between Symonne and any of the heroes. {-1 Star for losing emotional buildup} Similar to the ebb of action scenes, which really bog down after Episode 18, the moral "direction", if you will, is also all over the place. With a title like The Shepherd and the fact that he previously spent his entire life in Elysia (a paradise inhabited by the peaceful Seraphim, a race of immortal supernatural beings with elemental-based powers), it should surprise no one that Sorey would espouse a form of pacifism (humans should never be killed). But despite her huge on-screen time, why Princess Alisha ended up the same way wasn't adequately explained. She was an excellent combatant who fought well against monsters and unknown assailants, but balked at defending friends/family who are under direct attack? Rose, the traveling merchant and secret leader of a "good" assassins' guild, was a little more developed, almost to the point I forget she was easily duped into a contract to kill Alisha. But the show left many loose ends about her evil victims, er, targets (their crimes never came to light). I was especially unsatisfied with the aftermath of the royal who killed her father, or rather, the lack thereof. Other reviews have already noted how several bad guys had changes of heart out of nowhere. {-1 Star for inconsistencies} Overall, I enjoyed exploring the Zesteria universe, except The North (yes, I might be spoiled by GoT). I imagine most viewers getting up to 18-20 episodes of eye-candy or even thought-provoking entertainment ("immediate justice over unreachable ideals" anyone?), before the series becomes too weird/rushed/predictable. ToZ is good, not nearly great, and hampered by the gradual diminishing of action, with no romantic angle to compensate. Although those two girls at the end... hmm? {Final grade: B- or 8/10}

If It Weren't For Ufotable...

[mnasirdey · 5/10 · 3 October 2019]

Dear God...where do I even begin here? First off, as anyone who's played the game (which was a work of true art) can tell you, this show was NOTHING at all like it, which could've been a good thing, if the show didn't suck so much. I've got so many questions: Why was Alisha such a main focus in the show? Why was Maltran not revealed to be a hellion (which made Alisha a much better character in the game)? How did Rose know Dezels real name having only met him just a bit ago? How did Sorey know Lailah, Edna and Zaveids real names without ever asking? Why was the war between Rolance and Hyland like a sideplot of a sideplot? Why was the fact that dragons couldn't be purified just thrown into the wind for plot development? How did Rose and Alisha go from not being able to armitize without being half dead, to being able to do it perfectly in the very same episode. Why was Symonne just graciously accepted and allowed to follow the team to the north? Why did Lunarre suddenly change his view of the world and humans and kill himself protecting them? How was Heldalf able to completely subdue Maotelus (one of the 5 Gods) without any effort whatsoever...I could go on and on but this review would get very tedious. Let's just say this, if it weren't for Ufotables ever incredible animation, and the soundtrack ripped straight from the game which I adored, this show would be like a 2/10 at best. Also, Sorey is literally the worst anime main character I have EVER been cursed to witness. He is not only responsible for Rose having an existential crisis, and changing her way of life as a result, but the death of Dezel who is one of my favorite characters. This show sucked, don't waste your time.

One of the worst of tales anime

[rdmccaphish · 1/10 · 15 June 2017]

Now Tales of anime do not have a good track record if you're not talking about Tales of the Abyss. However this is among the stinkers of Tales anime. Now the main sin of most of these anime is being so short that an adaptation is made pointless, but this, this betrays a lot of the character archetypes and lore of not only Zestiria but Berseria as well all for giving Alisha more screen time after the flack Namco got for the marketing controversy around her, which in all honesty should've never happened. To elaborate on the betrayal with no spoilers there are far too many examples to list but an example is the alleged main character Sorey acting too much like Kirito instead of a cheerful nerd, and as for lore Berseria establishes that things that shouldn't or can't happen in Zestiria due to Berseria's epilogue or various sidequests happen anyway here. For instance the anime says that so and so will die if such happened while such happens in Berseria and no one dies. Also there is way too much Alisha that she comes to the detriment of several other characters including Sorey the main friggin character. As every episode gives her five minutes which should be devoted to developing other characters that ultimately contribute nothing to the story just to say 'oh look how cool Alisha is'. So I would recommend anything else and avoiding this anime.