I absolutely love love LOVE the Tales of the Abyss anime! It's just a good old-fashioned fantasy show... for some reason, there's not a lot of those around. >_>
FANBOY RANT = ENGAGED
No major adult content for starters-- it's becoming increasingly hard to find good fun shows that I can watch with my siblings without feeling embarrassed. There is some minor blood and a couple limbs hacked off generic monsters, but my family can handle that.
Very nice animation quality. Beautiful landscapes, consistent smooth animation, and IHMO, cool looking character designs.
...the fact that I fell in love with Tear the second I saw her has
nothing to do with it.
Cool battles? Check. There were even a few "crowning moments of awesomeness", but overall they were well choreographed and exciting.
Interesting world/universe? Check. In fact, the secret of where their "lands" really were... most original idea for a world I know of. Can't think of a single other story that's done that. The differences between the countries, use of "technology", and a deeper world backstory was also nice.
Interesting characters? Check. The main cast was pretty likable, though there will always be haters who disagree with me and demand perfection from the start.
- Annoying Luke never annoyed me that much, but he toootally changed half-way in anyway... I came to like and root for him before long.
- Jade rocks-- let's just face it.
- Tear-- a female protagonist that breaks stereotype situations-- when mad at Luke, she doesn't PUNCH HIM like any other female anime lead would, but actually *talks* with him-- and also, she never gets kidnapped. She saves everyone else who gets themselves kidnapped. xD
My brother wrote a short blog about her character actually. I'm surprised she doesn't get more love...
http://euphoricskies.tumblr.com/post/498919582/best-females-of-anime-day-3
- Mieu-- I could've survived without this one. Thankfully, he/she/IT takes a back seat in the story. .... Don't look at me that way Tear! o_O
- Guy-- he was cool swordsman from the very beginning. How can you *not* like him?
- Natalie, Anise, Ion -- I'm sad I didn't get to know these three a bit more, but they were a good support to the team and interesting enough on their own.
- Villains-- except for a couple, the villains definitely did NOT get a good enough development. Though I was rather impressed by Link's skills, and wish I could've seen him more.
Interesting story? I will admit that the entire piece *feels* like it was ripped from RPG, but considering the plot twists and turns, it manages to avoid being totally cliche (or it just comes from a very good video game
) and kept me glued-to-the-chair by its 2nd half.
FANBOY RANT: DISENGAGED
Good old-fashioned fantasy anime. That's what Tales of the Abyss is. Watch it. Enjoy it. Love it.