XENOSAGA: THE ANIMATION

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionXenosaga Episode I

REVIEWS

• 

  Ghonf

  70/100
  Xenosaga: A Space Odyssey

  One fairly strange anime adaptation of one of my favorite games originally created by two of my favorite creators, Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga, that despite its flaws as a far from perfect adaptation still manages to ultimately deliver a fairly fun time, even with not being able to come close to its original source material and missing some of its most memorable moments.

  Some of its changes prominently can be quite jarring but in the same way offer a slightly different take on the story, which can end up being interesting for a watch to see these differences, but with some of them unfortunately ultimately misses the mark, extending to cutting the character arc of one of the most interesting and most fleshed out side characters from the original games, which is nothing but a shame. Given the runtime of a 12 episode long anime is much shorter than what the first entry originally had with the seven hours worth of cutscenes, I do think these changes partially end up being understandable but end up cutting some significant content and likely could've been executed better, while still having decent additions such as characters as Kirsch who manages to add up nicely and even ends up getting reintroduced in the DS remake of Xenosaga I & II.

  Its animation and artstyle are overall fairly fine and manage to sort of capture the style of the game while translating it into this anime as something slightly more of its own. Certainly not the best and perhaps a bit messy here and there, but works well enough within this set piece it creates and certainly nails KOS-MOS design.

  Still even with these parts that can slightly fail the way they were adapted, I do feel like this remains an enjoyable watch that has its heart in the right place, by no means trying to be actively bad or actively dismissing its source material, but trying its best to somehow adapt it into a cohesive rather short anime. It's clear Yuuichirou Takeda, responsible for the script of this adaptation, cared about this series and tried his best within these constraints. Plus it brought life to a decent opening and ending song that if anything as with the whole soundtrack are a neat bonus even if not reaching the same heights as Mitsuda's outstanding score for the original game did.

  Resulting from this, by no means would it make much sense to experience this anime adaptation if not already having played the game, but in spite of this as some additional supplementary material, it still remains a fun watch that, even if not all of them, retains many of Xenosaga's strengths that set the series apart as something fairly unique and ultimately more than memorable that by its original creators was clear as day created with pure love and passion.

  In the end Xenosaga still has my favorite characters in fiction and a story and world I hold extremely dear to my heart. Even in a far from perfect adaptation of this story, I still love them and its story a whole lot and cannot help but have a smile on my face while watching them interact with each other.

  Continue on AniList

SIMILAR ANIMES YOU MAY LIKE

• ANIME

  ActionSubarashiki Kono Sekai The Animation
• ANIME

  ActionChoujikuu Yousai Macross
• ANIME

  ActionShin Seiki Evangelion
• ANIME

  ActionUchuu Senkan Yamato
• OVA

  ActionUchuu Senkan Yamato 2199
• ANIME

  DramaKidou Senshi Gundam
• ANIME

  ActionAldnoah.Zero
• ANIME

  ActionSenjou no Valkyria
• ANIME

  ActionDevil May Cry
• ANIME

  ActionTezuka Osamu no Kyuuyaku Seisho Monogatari: In the Beginning
• ANIME

  ActionMetallic Rouge
• OVA

  ActionTop wo Nerae! GunBuster