Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike Blu-ray Movie Review

Tale as old as time.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 26, 2012

Which came first, the videogame or the anime film adaptation? In the case of Tales of Vesperia, while the videogame predated Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike by several years, the film is actually a prequel to the game itself. That in and of itself isn’t particularly unusual, but in the case of Tales of Vesperia it’s a kind of odd decision due to the fact that the Tales world is an incredibly labyrinthine one, and this prequel is strangely divorced from the actual game play story arc. While there are threads tying the two projects together (how could there not be?), Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike introduces many characters and plot developments which don’t show up in the game, and therefore avid fans of the game franchise may be wondering what they have gotten themselves into as The First Strike unfolds. On the other hand, newcomers to the Tales of Vesperia universe may enjoy The First Strike immensely, but then be somewhat confused if they move on to the videogame, again wondering what the film really had to do with what is unfolding in the game’s world. Tales of Vesperia is a fantasy laden outing that bears a resemblance to any number of other animes, something that may actually hurt its reception, at least with those who aren’t familiar with the videogame version. The setting for Tales of Vesperia is a planet known as Terca Lumereis, a planet which is home to a magical substance known as Aer (pronounced like our word “air”). Aer can be molded (for want of a better term) and structured in a variety of ways, and one of those ways provides the main energy source for the planet. Another way that Aer is utilized is to erect huge force fields which keep various cities safe from marauding monsters, some of which look like vicious wild boars with glowing green eyes. Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike gets off to a rousing start with a well constructed sequence that introduces several main characters as they attempt to erect a force field while at the same time they try—not entirely successfully—to evade more and more attacking monsters, including a giant behemoth crab that looks like it could have stumbled over from a nearby Ray Harryhausen production.

The two main characters in Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike are “brother knights,” though like all brothers—by blood or simply close association—there’s a degree of sibling rivalry. These two apprentice knights are Yuri and Flynn, and the exploration and delineation of their back stories provides Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike with a great deal of its emotional resonance. These two are something like a medieval Odd Couple. In this case, Flynn would be Felix, kind of anal and uptight about various rules and regulations, while Yuri would be more akin to Oscar, a kind of “go with the flow” sort of guy who is perhaps a bit more even keeled as a result. Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike traces the arc of how these two different characters came to be like they are, stories that go back to their childhood and various decisions their fathers made.

The actual main plot of Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike has to do with some strange formations of Aer, including a sort of gushing amount of the substance which is wreaking environmental damage, including the death of forestlands and some weird mutations in the already weird monster class that is regularly attacking various enclaves. Flynn and Yuri set off to try to discover exactly what’s going on, and of course uncover a well hidden conspiracy that highlights the oft told tale that Man shouldn’t be sticking his nose into areas that are better left to the Divinity.

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike has a number of extremely well done elements that help it overcome some of the ballast that weighs it down from time to time. The two lead characters are extremely well delineated, perhaps more than might be expected due to the stark differences between them. That said, Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike can’t quite overcome a certain lethargy which is due to too many tangential plot elements being woven into the main storyline, and too much time spent on several supporting characters, time which would frankly be better spent with the star duo.

The film benefits from some very appealing character design, as well as some judiciously used CGI. There are several “summoning” sequences where the heroes and their comrades erect huge mandalas of force fields, all of which look patently cool and three dimensional. Some of the other effects, such as a supporting character’s ability to heal wounds with a magical ring on her finger (see the fourth screencap included with this review), may not have the outright “wow” factor that the force fields do, but nonetheless provide some visual interest that adds to the allure of the project. The general outlines of the world and culture are well handled for the most part, though once again newcomers to the Vesperia universe are probably going to be at least slightly confused by various elements, even if that confusion won’t stand in the way of a general understanding of what’s going on throughout most of The First Strike.

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike concentrates on developing the slowly growing appreciation Flynn and Yuri have for each other’s varied responses to obstacles (as with all good Odd Couple pairings), but it also deals with a whole host of supporting characters, none of whom appear in the game, which then begs the question of what the film has to do with the game franchise. It’s almost as if Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike is a standalone offering, or at least one that might have done better had it focused solely on Yuri and Flynn and left the rest of the “cast of thousands” far in the background.

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a very sharp and well detailed anime that offers some very nicely drawn characters and painterly backgrounds (many of which in traditional anime style are rendered in a sort of quasi-Impressionistic vein). As is mentioned above in the main body of the review, there are also some very effective CGI elements woven into the film (see the first screencap for a good example), typically in the "summoning" sequences when Aer is utilized to erect force fields and the like, sequences which offer some very intricate designs and a really nicely rendered quasi-three dimensional aspect. Line detail is very strong throughout the film and colors are varied and pop very nicely.

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike has two lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes, one in the original Japanese and another in English. The basic mixes are identical save for the language. You can't really go wrong with either of these tracks, as the English dub is really rather good and follows the general ambience of the original Japanese language track quite well. Fidelity is superb throughout both of these tracks, and dynamic range is quite wide. There are some fantastic surround effects throughout the film, starting with the exciting first sequence, which sees various grunts and roars from the attacking beasts dotting the sound field and then when the force field is erected a huge panning sweep of sound that also incorporates some very impressive LFE. Dialogue is clearly and cleanly presented in both languages.

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promotional Footage Collection (HD; 8:29)


• Picture Sound (HD; 3:24) is a series of what look like storyboard sketches playing to some of the soundtrack music.


• U.S. Trailer (HD; 1:33)


• Previews for other FUNimation Entertainment Releases

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike is obviously going to be of most interest to fans of the videogame, and for those this anime will probably provide enough information about Yuri and Flynn to make the other nonessential data (including a glut of supporting characters) tolerable. Newcomers to the Vesperia universe may be somewhat less impressed, as Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike is awfully redolent of any number of other fantasy laden animes, several of which also feature "magical substances" and many of which are set in a sort of feudal realm of Knights and Damsels. The anime does offer some very appealing animation, and Yuri and Flynn make for a fun lead duo. This is one of those "glass half full, glass half empty" offerings whose allure is going to depend squarely on an individual viewer's background more than most animes. But for fans of the videogame, this release should certainly warrant at least a rental if not an outright purchase.