Tear casts Tales of equivalent of Cure, Luke recovers 1 HP.  Luke at Max HP!

WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY OVERDUE.

Take this! TRIPLE FINISH!

It’s super effecti-!

lrn2EVtrain, Thundering your Gyrados ass.

I’m glad that Van’s fight was a little longer than previous fights, but shouldn’t that have been the case anyway? If Van is the final boss, then yes I do expect a bunch of pretty lights and swordplay, especially from LUKE. Yeah, as it stands, Luke went through the entire series without using any sort of Arte. Hell, Natalia at least used one by the time Van went deaders, and as I said before during the first Van fight, it would’ve helped emphasize Van’s superiority over Luke in terms of swordplay if Van backhanded him everytime Luke used one; not that Van needed to demonstrate it anyhow…at least when he was shrugging off attacks like mosquitoe bites before Tear started to sing and “Oh dear, you’re singing is atrocious!” enough to cripple him worse than a Pokemon affected with every status defect facing it’s opposite element with one hit point left…and it has no PP left…and it’s Cynthia from D/P.

Wild VAN fainted.

…How the fuck does Luke stab him when the Key looks like a gigantic popsicle stick?

Yup, game ended EXACTLY like this.

The ending was abrupt, but this is unsurprising since the the game ends the same way. Obviously, the person at the end is Luke/Luke-dominant fusion of the two/something dumb like that. Would’ve been nice if they chose to add onto the ending, if anything to silence the Asch-believers. At least the ending illustrations are different…they don’t do anything really, but it’s different.

Closing

Overall, I enjoyed Abyss’ story. It’s unfortunate that any given episode has a sense of hastiness, as no matter the significance of an event, it will never be doted on for very long before moving on. I also wish that the anime would add on or elaborate on the ending, it’d help bring something new to the table and have another reason to watch it other than being an extremely loyal adaptation. Still, as a loyal adaptation, it does it’s job in condening an 80-hour or so RPG into about 8 hours. A bit of a hit or miss (especially if you don’t like Luke for the first 9 episodes…or the show for the first few episodes), I’m sure only Tales fans and/or those who’ve already played the game will appreciate it, and even then still prefer the games, but Abyss can stand on it’s own as a fantasy series…or at least coerce people to spend $30 bucks in order to gain a better understanding of this Planet Storm, Seventh Fonon/Fonim, Memory Particle nonsense. Then you can enjoy it more…I think…

The true villain of ToA.

Anise is evil in the game, I renounce any compliments I ever gave her (…I don’t remember giving one?)

-Jay (Next up, explanation for my leave of absence and how this will continue for a while…)

Luke’s sword always seems to grow longer than it’s sheath the minute it’s pulled out (hurr hurr).

Not one technique in this fight.  ;A;

As expected, the rest of the God Generals have died pretty quick deaths, thanks to Tear’s hax song that instantly “ZA WARUDO” effects all enemies (I’d complain more, but I herd she’s pretty broken in the game too), though I did find Sync’s attitude towards Anise and during the battle in general to be satisfying enough to excuse his particular death: he spends the entire time speaking down on the defunct Ion and guilt tripping Anise over his death (which also gives Anise a chance to announce her HEROIC RESOLVE, except without the part where she starts kicking ass). When he finally starts disintegrating, he merely laughs over how he’ll finally be released from the world, having absolutely no redeeming values whatsoever; all of the other God Generals had at least a semi-justifiable reason to fight (Largo’s loss of his family, Arietta’s love for Ion), but Sync leaves with emotions other than his hatred of those who created him. You could argue that he’s being a bit emo, but at least he’s still badass while bitching.

The non-explained past doesn’t work well with Legretta though, other than the fact that “I want my beloved to achieve his dream.” We know that the Generals were treated like shit before they came to Van (except for Asch, who was treated like shit before AND after meeting him), but it’d be nice to understand where Legretta’s POV stands. Oh well, she was a poor shot anyway, it must not be a very clear one (hyuk hyuk).

Asch is past the point of “pissed off” and seems to just be whining over how he thinks Luke sucks compared to him just because he’s a replica, yet considers him a threat enough to want to challenge him to a duel in order to back up his ideal/ego. It’s funny that in this way, he’s almost a bit like spoiled, pre-haircut Luke in that he seems to be fairly immature about the issue. On the other hand, the issue about the replication process fucking over his life seems to explain why he’s been so agitated, especially considering the fact that whoever dies first gives their remaining fonons to the other, which I assume may stop the other one’s decompisition. Regardless, he doesn’t accept his defeat very graciously, but at least does seem to at least reach the same level of understanding that the two are different and goes back to using the name “Luke” once more…RIGHT before he’s skewered by three swords (he pays that back, but damn. o.o).

Asch’s death marks the end of the God Generals, and now only Van stands in the group’s way…

Abyss is already over, so no preview thingy this time (I’m not so sure they were even as useful as when I did them for Clannad, either. o.o) Stay tuned next time for review of the finale!

Poor Natalia. 1st choice is dead, and 2nd choice is going to choose someone else.

 -Jay

WORST. MOTHER/GRANDMOTHER. EVAR.

That settles it, Natalia, hands down, has the most fucked up past out of all the cast in Abyss.

Exactly one episode later, Mohs suffers an arguably lamer death than Dist did, what with Tear finding the time to RESOLVE and pull a hi-level Mystic Arte out of her of her ass. And what’s this crap that he was “trying to save the world in his own way?” The guy’s ugly face just screams villain, let alone the fact that he manipulated Ion(s) and on few occasions has tried to kill/harm the party. Some severely half-assed attempt to redeem him, or Tear just being incredibly naive again? You decide.

And TWO rushed deaths (solved by Natalia’s own RESOLVE) in the same episode? Largo’s backstory at least made him pitiable unlike someone like Dist who’s past isn’t much to sympathize over: the guy has his wife and kid taken from him for retarded reasons, so yeah, I’d be pretty pissed off too. Still, during his fight, him breaking the circle (you can do that?) confused me, was he just going to break it so Luke and Co. would fall, then just decided “Fuck it, I’ll try stabbing him instead,” without at least aim for Guy? Or even Natalia, since he just stated he didn’t think of her as his daughter? Then, he praises her right after she kills him…nope, don’t get it.

(Insert QUALITY joke here).

Asch has another hissy fit with Luke, though he also mentions that Luke IS him (weird, considering I’ve seen him state the exact opposite in the game’s version of the Yulia City fight) and is pissed how Luke says they’re two different people (I’m sensing Len/White Len or Shirou/Archer vibes here, though that’s not really in the same contet). Again, both don’t have very much time, Asch is probably expecting to die before Lorelei is freed.

Personally, I’d love to hear George Nakata sing. o_o

Van’s now pulled a Dr. Manhatten, as did Sync, and has been able to reform himself. Now, if Van is holding Lorelei hostage or captured him in some way, why is it that Van explains that Lorelei answered his pact and gave him the power to live in the first place? What’s more, his hand is shown to disappear in the same way Luke’s does, so he must not have much time either unless he somehow learns to control it.

Even with the amount of moments these two have had, Luke’s attempt to confess just seemed laughable, since said moments haven’t really progressed their own personal relationship so much as deal in plot advancement with Van or Luke’s post-Akzeriuth emotional problems. Not exactly the greatest romantic pair, and I’ll probably still think that right up until the end hits.

Oh, and remember how I praised the use of more Mystic Artes? Recycled Animation =/= More. Fuckin Sunrise.

PREVIEW

There are still Legretta and Sync left on Van’s side, and I don’t think they’re deaths are going to be any greater, especially with only two episodes left. The inside of Eldrant has some sort of broken world inside of it, and I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s Hod. And it looks like Asch and Luke are finally going to have their rematch. I pray that they’ll at least use some techniques. >_<

No Anise, they’re the reason why the first Ion died. o.o

-Jay

QUALITY FACE OR QUALITIEST FACE!?

 It never occurred to me that Mieu doesn’t get tired, the little shit.

Well, scratch what I said about Dist somehow screwing over the remaining God-Generals with his own personal agenda, because he dies 7-minutes into the episode and not a very unique one either since his new machine is detroyed with one Fonic Arte just like last time. It all felt so half-assed, as if Dist got so annoying the writers wanted to off him in the quickest way possible; he hardly even fought back. In the cut segments between him getting killed by Jade (who, thanks to off-screen development, is at his prime again), we learn that he had still clung to the belief of reviving Professor Nebilim even after the pros and cons of a replica, but a detail like that is rather minute and I would’ve welcomed Dist at least trying to attack or resist in the slightest rather than screaming “Whie~????” In fact, it would’ve been nice to see Dist attack by himself using Fonic Artes as well; I would assume he would’ve learned to use some since he spent all that time trying to be like Jade, he should have had some sort of backup plan should he not have a robot to defend him. Maybe he’ll come back out of nowhere like Sync did (assuming Sync is the same Sync), but it looks like the cage crushes what’s inside, so I doubt it.

;A; 

Despite knowing that Luke wasn’t going to die from it, I started tearing up during the decision to sacrifice him in place of Asch. Think about it: he’s only 7-years-old, his identity is revealed to be a lie, he’s been used and betrayed, his very existence a tool was originally a tool to be used by Van (you can say similar things about the other replicas too). Yes, it’s clear that he wasn’t going to die (at least for now, since the end of the episode implies otherwise), but the dialogue with the other characters and Luke’s cry for everyone to die with him made it harder to believe it wouldn’t happen.

The other important thing to point out is what Tear’s grandfather said, about how the Tower of Rem being built upon a town of miner’s and that the Score is either referring to this situation specifically, or that the autenticity of it’s prediction is undeniable, in part due to how vague the scriptures are. Neither Luke or Asch died from Akzeriuth, however, and neither died here either, yet both have now been implied to die later on. Does this mean the Score is wrong because they didn’t die on the spot, or is it right because they may eventually die? I don’t suppose Eldrant was built on/is a miner’s city, and there’s also Ion’s prediction of the city of machines to consider. If only one is to die, I would expect Asch to do so if Ion’s reading was really referring to Luke.

Also, yay for more Tear and Luke development.

PREVIEW

Looks like there are a few other Ion-replicas left after all. Largo’s has adorned new battle gear, so like Arietta, it’ll be his final fight next, and I assume Natalia is hesistating to fire during this particular fight.

TWINKIE HOUSE!

Finally, some payback for all those cracks about replicas and drecks.  Luke-1, Asch… o.o

-Jay

Zombie Replicas. I can dig it.

HUEG COMBO POST! Or, it would be if I wasn’t so lazy and just want to get this done. Therefore, I’m not touching anything related to the Planet Storm, the Absorbtion Gate, or anything else since Jade obviously does a better job than I do of explaining.

Aww, without the visor, Sync looks like a tsundere-Ion.

Suspicions were correct, Sync is a replica of Ion. The twist? Ion is ALSO a replica of Ion. I’ve never liked these moments where a crucial fact about a character is revealed without any sort of hints or allusions whatsoever, unless you count the reassigning of Arietta and Anise as the Fon Master Guardian, but even then that hint was left pretty vague, and definitely not enough information to figure out that the real Ion died, and they created not one, but seven replicas before he died, with the current Fon Master being the one that carried most of the original’s abilities and potential, even though Sync is much more of capable fighter, it’s hard to believe they’re alike; maybe all they needed was for an Ion to be able to read the score, but if so Tear would more or less be a viable choice since she and Van are Yulia’ descendants. Regardless, I’m also a bit ashamed on Sync’s death, considering he had the upper hand until Luke broke through his defense ONCE, then deciding to an hero himself after his role was over, while Ion’s “I’m crying” monologue seemed a bit unnecessary as the meaning behind it isn’t clear until he talks about sealing his emotions after disliking the idea of being someone’s replacement.

Episodes 19 and 20 bring to a close to the Anise arc, shedding more light on the relationship triangle between Anise, Ion, and Arietta. Ion’s death felt pretty sad, especially considering he died being a tool for someone else while also being betrayed/deceived by Anise, his first and best friend since his birth. Anise’s deception seemed too sudden too, it would’ve been more acceptable had her parents been held for ransom during the one-month timeskip, but to all of a sudden reveal that Anise had been relaying information all this time without, again, any type of allusions or hints toward it seemed pretty half-assed, and I can only hope that said hints were just cut during the transition of the material. To wrap it all up, Arietta’s death at the end of the duel makes a tragic arc even sadder. Her death was a bit unexpected; aside from the disbelief from the fact that Anise has now directly killed someone (With a technique you wouldn’t guess would be life threatening, either. o.o) I would’ve thought that out of all the God Generals besides Asch, she would be most likely to cut off all ties with them and maybe repair her relationship with Anise; alas, that didn’t happen, as it seems like the animosity stemmed merely from jealousy, and she instead dies without even knowing the truth. Perhaps it’s better that way. ;_;

“Say ‘what’ again, SAY ‘WHAT’ AGAIN!”

The factions among the antagonists seem to be divided into not only two, but three sides now: Legretta, Largo, and Van still seem to be following their original plan, Mohs is seeking to have the Score followed once more so that he can rule it through manipulation (by becoming a Fon Master and transforming into a giant…????…) while Dist continuously is interested only in his research or whatever. During the final confrontations with Largo and Legretta, he’ll most likely betray them due to Largo’s scolding of Dist’s response towards Arietta’s death while at the same time ending up dead because of it; can’t wait either, because he’s really gotten annoying from the overly pompous douche we met episodes ago. Most importantly, it might even be what sets up the reconcilation between Largo and Natalia before Largo eventually dies, since the truth is bound come out during it.

So…is this Sync “an hero” Sync, or is this another replica that takes place of Sync should he die? Van’s proven that falling into “the abyss” (hurp durp) doesn’t necessarily kill you, so I’m leaning more towards the former.

Collar-grabbing: the most clear and efficient way to express that you’re pissed off and not gonna take it anymore.

As much as I like Asch, I do find it a bit laughable that he feels the need to throw a hissy fit everytime he has to talk to Luke; Luke’s done more than enough to make up for his previous behavior, and I would think that the person mad at him for taking away his home would be at least a bit happy and appreciative to be arranged to meet his parents again after seven years. I do recall Asch uttering his shortage of time, even before Van slashed him, so his short temper isn’t completely uncalled for, and since the two will most likely fight over the use of replicas as sacrifices for the hyperressonance, it’s probably best if they don’t remain so close.

Ancient Chinese secret, huh?

And WHEN was Luke training to use his hyperressonance better? “In secret” my ass, I’m sure you would’ve heard Luke shoot an energy beam during practice if that was the case.

The fights have gotten a lot more exciting than before, thanks in part to the incorporation of more Artes and magic than previous ones. The only other problems I have now include the fact that Luke, Asch, or Van haven’t used any yet either, something I would’ve expected in their fights due to the fact that both were each trained by Van and could help emphasize how much more skilled and powerful he is over the two of them if he were to counter their techniques; instead, Van’s takedown of Asch was too simple while Luke was made out to just be physcially weaker than him while also making the mistake of showing sympathy towards his teacher when Van didn’t even have an opening. I also mentioned earlier that Anise’s last attack at Arietta (”Tatsugeki Bukouken!”) looked stupid and didn’t particularly look like it could kill, especially with her doll missing one arm. Nevertheless, I’m going to guess that since techniques have been more common now, Sunrise will be spending more of the budget on these effects on the final battles; I, for one, want the proper battle between Luke and Asch to not suck.

PREVIEW

Guy’s having trouble with the succesor of Dist’s previous machine that got nuked by Van on the Tartarus, and later seems to be pretty pissed at Jade. The group has caught up with Asch at the top of the Tower of Rem, and Luke is shown holding the Sword of Lorelei, which might mean that the Jewel has been found as well. What’s more, it may mean Luke will be using it as his weapon from now on, that Asch isn’t the one meant to wield it because Luke holds the same isofons as Lorelei himself…or maybe he just beat him up and stole it?

Hissatsu! SHINING FINGER!

-Jay

“MAEP THE RAIDS! No, whoops, I mean, oh shi-”

It hasn’t been a problem until now, or if I’ve complained about it before I don’t remember, but sometimes the quick pacing of TotA becomes WAY too quick at times. Issues are resolved in a mere episode after it began, or even in the same episode, and the last proper fight I remember that didn’t last only 2-3 minutes was probably the fight with the Liger Queen, and even that is stretching it. They have a lot of story to cover, sure, but it’d be nice if they spent a little more time on the fights, especially after all the talking that happens in one episode. Case in point…

Natalia’s “Arc” seemed to play out similar to Luke’s situation, though to be more correct it’s more akin to what Asch went through, being stripped of your home and birthright, but I feel it relates to Luke more because like him, Natalia isn’t the “real Natalia” and more or less a replacement. Feeling discouraged at the rejection from her father, it’s only until Asch gives her the same advice Guy gave to Luke earlier that enables her to continue: to disregard your status and origin and instead do what you can (Funny, why couldn’t he do that with Luke? ^^;).
That’s nice and all, but it doesn’t really have the same impact it did when Luke went through his dilemma: his was necessary for character development because of his initial attitude towards others, whilst this recent one with Natalia was stupid because it felt too “Shit Happens” for me. It felt that much stupider when 2 episodes later, the Duke actually thinks for himself and breaks free from Mohs’ manipulation (that’s two Fabres that’ve been used at this point, three if you count replica-Luke), since apparently it escaped his mind what really makes someone family or not. And just like that, the war ended as quickly as it began. Just like Natalia’s problems. Unlike Luke, it most likely won’t affect her actions later down the road, and she’ll probably just revert to what she’s been doing the entire time: shooting arrows that might as well be small rocks unless plot happens, and being indecisive between wanting to get banged by Luke or Asch. The only other issue left is going to be who her real father is, who at this point I’m willing to bet its Largo.

Speaking of Asch, this guy really tends to get around (don’t they all?) if he can pop up next to Natalia at a random peer somewhere. Since LukexTear is imminent, AschxNatalia pairing might not be too far behind either…assuming Asch lives by series end.

“It’s RAEP TIME!”
“Oh, is it now?”

Guy’s story, however, is a lot more interesting: turns out he knew Van from back in Hod, something not unexpected since Guy was a noble back then, but has also been conspiring with him for revenge up until he learned to like Luke and found out the method in which Van intends to exact his revenge. All of this kind of came together way too fast though, since there’ve been absolutely no implications that Guy had met with and discussed with Van regarding anything throughout the series, even though there’ve been a few occasions for them to do so; maybe there’s more to it in the game and they just cut them due to time constraints or pacing issues, but it might’ve been execute just a bit better even if they made it too obvious that Guy has a connection rather than bringing it up with no sort of clear foreshadowing at all. The way everyone just accepts it too happens a bit too quick as well, though after the loyalty Guy showed Luke after his hair cut, Luke probably would’ve accepted it anyway.

Isn’t it sad, Arietta? ;_;

Arietta’s return is unfortunately a very short, 2-3 minute one, which is rather disappointing since we haven’t seen her for about 10 episodes. The only thing it does is establish how much power Ion either has over her, or how important Ion is to her so much that she’ll stop if he becomes stern with her. Chances are it’ll be important if the three loli’s history together is explained later on, which again leads to what she meant about Anise stealing away Ion earlier on.

*cough*Lifestream*cough*

The plan to stop Van means more terminology that I have a hard time understanding: what makes fonons so efficient is the creation of the Planet Storm, a circulation system that distributes energy/mana across the Outer Lands. It, however, has deteriorated over time, and is the cause of the Qliphoth’s liquification (and likely the cause of the Outer Lands needing to be created at all) since it makes the core of the planet shake violently when it shouldn’t be; those vibrations in turn withers the Sephiroth trees and will eventually make them unable to support the Outer Lands any further. Because stopping the Planet Storm would lead to many things using fonons unable to work anymore, the only other way is to stop the core from vibrating by getting a reading of the core’s vibration measurements and building a fon machine that can stop it: the stopped vibrations will (assuming I’m getting this right) in turn stop the miasma in the Qliphoth from liquifying anymore of the lands that fall into it, and the Outer Lands can then be lowered slowly into it after the Sephiroth trees are gone. How they intend to lower it “slowly” is beyond me, since St. Binah fell pretty damn fast, but that’s another explanation for another day. Of course, since Van already knows all this thanks to Jade letting that old guy go, it’s only a matter of time before he fucks up this plan too.

Luke’s existence is deviating from the Score’s predictions, namely that the original stated that “Luke” was supposed to die in the collapse of Akzeriuth after destroying it, but Asch is not only alive, but has never even exhibited having a hyperressonance, only stating that he knows that Luke has one. Maybe replicating him also took away his ability to create one and instead gave it to Luke? Now that the pre-destination knowledge of the Score has been unreliable once because of the creation of Luke, and Legretta’s previous disdain for it’s worshipping, Van’s actions could very well be a challenge to it.

Thank you Ion, I’m sure that information wasn’t necessary until just now.

Especially after this TWEESTed council council: Guy’s mother being from Kimlasca, as well as the true meaning behind Hod’s destruction: prior to the outbreak of the Hod war, all fonic related experiments were ceased from operation with the exception of fomicry research. A test subject was then being used to artificially generate a hyperressonance, who turns out to be Vandesdelca Musto Fende, Van’s true name, making Van indirectly responsible for the destruction of Hod. Like Luke tried to blame Van for making him destroy Akzeriuth, Van must blame the Score and the people who allowed/caused it to happen, and intends to revive it, even if it is just a fake.

And if Van had stuff done to him to create a hyperressonance, what does that mean for Tear? She was able to reactivate a Sephiroth tree in order to get the readings, at the cost of feeling sickly. Maybe “Mystearica” means something in Ancient Ispanian that contradicts Van’s, and thus become a future trump card…or something lame like that.

PREVIEW

The device to stop the core’s vibration still needs to be built, and since Van already knows about they’re plan, he’s sent the God Generals to stop it. Doesn’t look like they’ll succeed since the group is heading to the core, but another encounter with Sync might throw them off course.

Suddenly, the lyrics to Karma make more sense, huh?

-Jay

This entry was actually ready a few days ago, excuse my laziness to take screencaps.

“oh hai littel gurl, i fixed ur dawl lol”

I guess Jade puts up his facade very well, because there hasn’t been any indication of his supposed “true” nature Nephry warned about save for the brief excahnge with Legretta prior to reaching Akzeriuth. While it’s good to know some of his backstory, there are a few things one’s left wondering about: how the hell did a 9-year-old grasp or come up with the concept of using fomicry? Jade being a “genius” doesn’t really offer a viable explanation, unless the concept was already thought of in the past, and Jade somehow miraculously found that missing component that makes it all possible, which even then sounds a bit half-assed. Also, seeing as how Seventh Fonon Artes so far have been related to healing magic and putting people to sleep, I’m not sure what kind of spell Jade was trying to cast that made an entire house blow up, but it clearly demonstrates the notion that one has to be born with the ability to use the Seventh Fonon and it can be otherwise fatal to attempt to without the gift. After Jade learns that replicas have no memories of who they were, it seems like he’s finally learned his lesson to accept that “People die when they are killed,” but why does Nephry still feel the need to warn Luke about the tragedy of Professor Nebilim happening again? I would think those should be more directed towards Dist rather than Jade, since Dist might be trying to create a replica of Hod for Van, but since Jade has apparently “gone back to the way he was before” (What, killing animals for fun, blowing up houses, and replicating dolls? When did he start doing those again?), what is she trying to warn Luke about? Safest bet would be Jade’s still trying to create a replica WITH memories of Professor Nebilim, and in a sense becoming an actual “Necromancer,” but those like many things are guesses based on tuition.

Guy’s history reveals that he, like Tear and Van, originated from the island of Hod, under a noble family nonetheless: Gailardia Galan of the house of Count Gardios, whose estate was attacked by Duke Fabre during the Hod War on the day of Guy’s 5th birthday. It seems like Guy barely escaped with his life with an old man who looks suspiciously like the gardener from the Fabre mansion, and entered in the Fabre service in order to exact revenge, but established a big enough friendship with Luke and Natalia to not carry it out, or at some point found executing the plan meaningless. It also establishes the old man at the mansion to potentially become an enemy or at the very least a sabuteur later on, though I honestly doubt that’ll happen. The only thing left to wonder is Guy’s exact relationship with Asch back in those days, as well as what the sword on the wall he stared at during his time at the Fabre mansion.

Evidence A:  Non-Physical resemblance of  “mother.”

Decisive Evidence:  Cradle-robbing grandmother

I’m not sure if this is all just a gigantic lie staged by Mohs or not (I don’t know if it’s the Nanny’s character, or because the seiyuu decided to approach the role like this, but that was the worst example of serious crying I’ve ever heard in an anime), but Natalia’s revelation of her birth does have enough evidence to say that she wasn’t born from the Queen if she doesn’t look like her. And yet I ask you: was the royal family that retarded to not question the fact that Natalia looked nothing like her mother until the moment Mohs decided to bring it up? Did they just accept the whole “recessive genes” theory until someone said “hay gaiz! i dun’t thnk Natalia be ur daughter lulz,” and immediately take action on that? And what kind of grandmother steals her own daughter’s kid away just to make the Queen happy? Hell, what kind of grandmother reveals the truth of her granddaughter, knowing full well that she’s going to die because of it? I honestly hope that the game has a better explanation for this nonsensical shit, at least the whole replica ideas are somewhat plausible. On top of that, I’ve said before that Largo seems to have some history with Natalia, but maybe he’s also one of the few people who knew who she really was; in that case, who does that make him? Come to think of it, Largo has green eyes too…

You can’t see it from here, but Largo’s eyes really are green.

I guess the God-Generals don’t seem to be in sync with each other (I’m so witty), because they always seem to have conflicting ideals even now: Asch’s sudden rescue of the group isn’t so surprising, and his tattling on Dist’s leak of information to Mohs in opposition to Van could just be so that Largo will be on his side, but what’s Dist being offered so much that he’d betray Van, since the information on Hod should’ve been collected by him in order to go along with Van’s plan? (A better question: exactly what information did he give Mohs that was so important?) Largo seems to have hesitation in killing the group during Ep. 13 when an episode ago, he was gleefully swinging his halberd at Luke, but it might just be because of his earlier acquaintance with Natalia.

…No Luke…no you don’t…

-_-

Although Luke’s definitely become more tolerable now that he’s received his attitude change, there’ve also been a few times when his over-humbleness has annoyed me: first off, his whole “I can relate” talk with Jade about Jade’s previous endeavors with fomicry just seemed a bit ridiculous, since I honestly don’t know how he could possibly relate to that; a few episodes later, he screams at Guy that he doesn’t understand his feelings about reconstructing St. Binah because “I was the one who destroyed Akzeriuth!”, which made it feel a bit contradictory. When Guy’s past is explained, it’s understandable that he would want to apologize since he doesn’t know if Guy started to hate him because of a selfish action he caused somewhere in the past, but I’m tired of listening to Luke put himself down as the person who destroyed Akzeriuth for the 50th time; yes we know he did it, and we know he feels guilty and is trying to take responsibility for his actions, but enough is enough: by the time Mohs pointed out “You destroyed Akzeriuth,” I was more surprised (positively) that Luke didn’t get butthurt and instead proceeded to call Mohs a jerk and a liar. Granted, nobody should really know why Akzeriuth collapsed and that he was the cause, but he’d honestly be better off hiding that fact…

Well, moving on…

And we’re given a little bit of TearXLuke action since Luke cut his hair, with Tear becoming emotional support. Not very obvious, but it was pretty sweat (It’d be better if Mieu wasn’t there making annoying sounds though. >_<)

PREVIEW

Now that the war is broken out, and Natalia and Luke’s credibility tossed out the window, there doesn’t seem to be any way of negotiating the fighting to stop. Van’s back ever since Akzeriuth’s destruction, though it seems he’s only making himself seen to Guy, and there’s no hostility involved either; could Van be trying to recruit him by offering Hod’s replication? More bits of Guy’s past are shown, including the women he saw falling earlier when Anise hugged him talking to him, perhaps his sister. Ion’s reading a Fonstone, and most importantly, Arietta’s back. ^_^

“oh hai littel gurl, i fixed ur dawl lol”

-Jay

The only thing I’ll miss of old Luke: harsher Mieu silencing. T_T

Apparently, everything that happened at Akzeriuth was staged…by the Patriots Score!

Legretta’s earlier words to Tear about the Score taken too much to the heart of Auldrant reveal a bit more about the Grants siblings: Van and Tear both originated from Hod. Van seems to be taking revenge on the Outer Lands, who let Hod be destroyed as per written in the Score…and yet, Yulia’s prophecy previously indicated something along the lines of “the one who seizes glory will destroy his island of birth, and will come from Hod.” It could mean that Van accidentally destroyed Hod, perhaps in a similar method he had used Luke to destroy Akzeriuth, and maybe the Order of Lorelei took action and forced Van to cooperate in order to make sure that the event happened, or inaction by not trying to prevent it. At any rate, it does provide more examples of the Score having a negative effect on humanity, to the point where Tear’s grandfather merely classifies Akzeriuth’s destruction as being “part of the plan,” to where Mohs’ ambitions for starting the war is revealed to be in order to obtain the unprecedented prosperity promised, and lessening the worry of Van’s planned collapse of St. Binah because the Score says a battle between Kimlasca and Malkuth will take place there.

Luke’s reference to Rock Lee’s “nice guy” pose only served to frustrate baby-sitter Tear even more.

Luke’s loss of his obnoxious and loud attitude is welcomed, though I can’t say I’m very supportive of his guilt-tripping that’s present right now. It was a appropriate when he was conversing with Tear over what to do from thereon, but I would think he wouldn’t bother with sobbing over his replica status; saying goodbye to him being Asch’s replica should’ve happened when he said goodbye to his old outlook and hair. Instead, it took more emotional support and advice from Guy, whom he knew cared for him regardless of his identity due to his linked mind with Asch, in order for him to stop blaming himself so much for Akzeriuth and to instead look forward…the same things Luke resolved to do anyways and episode earlier, unless “I’m going to start with what I can do” had a different meaning. As far as his resolve to kill…it hasn’t improved much, but he at least is willing to now go that far in order to accomplish the mission, albeit still uncomfortable with taking a life so much that he briefly screams about it.

Could you live with this loli hating you?  COULD YOU!? O.o

He does, however, deserve his fair share of sympathy, especially with how the party now treats him; since they haven’t yet heard his apologize for Akzeriuth, and their last impression being of him not accepting responsibility, the party is effectively split regarding their current feelings towards him; Jade doesn’t acknowledge him as part of the group at first, with only a lecture about being able to kill being the most meaningful, while Anise becomes disappointed when she figures out that Luke came along with them instead of Asch. Natalia, on the other hand, still seems to be having a hard time distinguishing her feelings towards Asch and Luke, quickly trying to rebound her initial reaction of being somewhat disappointed when the group comes to rescue them. While a heartfelt and sincere apology, and maybe some sort of atonement, could restart Luke’s relationship with Jade and Anise, it won’t exactly clear up the matters that are going on in Natalia’s heart at the
moment.

One more thing: This further demonstrates that Ion exists solely as a plot device for kidnappings.

PREVIEW

Just in time for the holidays, the groups heading to a snow town next, with Jade meeting another bespectacled woman. Chibi versions of said woman and Jade seem to have met before, as well as Jade using some sort of “Field of Fonon” at an early age as well (I’ll wait for miken-chan to clarify my terminology…or if I even got that right. ^^;) using fonons at an early age (I told you I wouldn’t get that right. o_o) And call me crazy, but that kid in the last picture kinda looks like Dist…

Does it feel good, Jade?  Mmmm…

-Jay

Attack of the Clones Replicas?

My use of the word replica has increased tenfold this past week. ^^;

That sword is as tall as he is, how the fuck can he use it effectively?

Not to revoke my classification of Asch’s awesomeness or anything, but I think the guy does have a flaw: what’s up with his sudden change of heart? The guy had every reason to want to kill Luke, not only for Akzeriuth but for replacing him as the Fabre heir, and was in prime position to stab him; all of a sudden, Luke’s unconcious body is in his care and he even houses Luke’s conciousness inside his own due to the way their fonon frequencies are able to connect through fon slots. Upon further reflection, Asch hasn’t really been entirely hostile towards Luke, and since it was him who enabled their link to each other to be established, I would think Asch probably has some sort of plan for Luke later, perhaps because of Luke’s ability of creating a hyperressonance on his own (It still remains to be seen if Asch can do it as well, but he at least knows Luke can). Even so, to just give Luke some ominous words and cast him aside instead of dragging his body to fulfill whatever purposes does seem to raise questions about Asch’s exact feelings towards Luke: he doesn’t seem to blame (or finds it fruitless to otherwise) Jade for proposing the ideas that led to replica-Luke’s creation, so perhaps that extends to Luke as well seeing as it was not really his fault that he was created for the purpose Van wanted.

With Asch’s identity known to both Guy and Natalia, it creates strains on their current relationship between Asch, the original Luke who the two have known since childhood, and the replica-Luke whom they’ve come to know and care for the past 7 years. Natalia for one seems to quickly change loyalty and favor towards “the real Luke”, citing Guy’s concern for Luke as spoiling him despite Luke’s world shattering due to the revelation of his being, and wanting to care for Asch due to not being able to support him for 7 years, even going so far as to try and call him his actual name again. It’s understandable, but a bit cruel of her to want to suddenly jump onto the arm of the person she loved as a child while not wanting much more to do with the one who needs every bit of help as the other does. Guy’s loyalty, on the other hand, while very caring, does seem to raise some questions as to why he would choose the replica over the true one, as his conversation with Asch seems to imply that the two weren’t actually close friends as much as he and Luke are.

Mieu’s loyalty was pretty heartwarming too. Almost makes up for how annoying the little shit is…ALMOST…

There’s more information on fomicry revealed, namely that Jade proposed the ideas of fomicry (and subsequently the one who forbade it), as well as another part of Van’s plan: the replication of the destroyed town of Hod (mentioned in Yulia Jue’s prophecy during the first episode) as well as it’s inhabitants. Here’s something I don’t get: if Van wants to replicate Hod, then why destroy the Outer Lands? If they want to basically reconstruct Hod, wouldn’t it collapse once the Sephiroth’s holding the Outer Lands are destroyed as well? Doesn’t look like they can build it on the Qliphoth’s lands either, especially since the miasma there is so strong. Perhaps they’ll modify the replicas to correct this…but that wouldn’t really make them replicas would it? This could also mean that Van is the one mentioned in the same prophecy as well.

Also, ten bucks says Wyon is either Dist’s real name or real first name. Or his father. Or something.

Another thing worth mentioning is Jade’s inquiry with Spinoza about prototype replica’s of living things have some sort of fate in store for them, which I’m sure is most likely death at a short life span(Luke doesn’t have this problem due to him being Asch’s “perfect replica”). Later, Ion seems to be pretty depressed when Jade is reviewing the clues Spinoza left behind. Depressed about replicas, maybe?

Luke’s attitude change finally starts to take place and…it went really fast. o_o Just as fast as Asch decided not to kill him did Luke suddenly have a change of his actions, such as actually appreciating Mieu’s kindness, as well as beating himself up in front of Tear when she denounces him for wanting to rush into St. Binath. Let’s not forget that just an episode ago, the guy was constantly making excuses for his part in Akzeriuth’s destruction; the cooling period after finding out he’s a replica, boom, he’s almost completely different. Maybe there’s more to it in the game than the few minutes the episode focused onto it, but I would say that the change is welcomed for the time being (though, this also means there probably won’t be any more Mieu torment from now on T_T). We’ll have to wait and see what traits the new Luke takes and leaves from the old one. Hopefully, more of the latter.

PREVIEW

Looks like Luke and Tear do get to meet up with Guy as well as Jade and Anise, but it also looks like Natalia and Ion have broken away and Asch isn’t seen to be in view. A pissed-off Mohs also shows up again, with Legretta by his side. Perhaps he wasn’t aware of Van’s plan? And yay, more fighting!

Thanks for all of the support I received from my rallying cry, if I can get it to work, you can bet that I’ll have Episode 10’s entry in a few days or so (If I’m not lazy o.o). If not, well…at least I know for sure that I need a new PC. ^^;

Obligatory Anise Pic. There was a lack of moe-Anise this eppie, so you’ll have to deal with it being a preview shot and all. ^^;

-Jay

REPLICA REPLICA REPLICA!!

This entire Akzeriuth Arc seems to have been brought specifically to test the audience’s patience with Luke to the most extreme level, because I stopped believing he was the hero of this story up until I watched Episode 8. Everything about him during the trip to Akzeriuth, save for his chance encounter with Asch after using the tunnel to get out of Kimlasca, has been a constant “Me, me, me!” fest ever since he was entrusted the responsibility of saving the town. Right from the get go, he automatically assumes leadership in the most pompous way possible,
reprimanding Natalia for making a few errors during their fight with the spiders, and again when Ion, who’s long been established to be short-of-breath, needs to take a break from their constant walking into Akzeriuth. For all of his talk about being leader, he can’t even handle the ultimatum of taking time off to rescue Ion from his capture or giving Akzeriuth’s salvation priority without complaining when not too long ago he was preaching about how he’s “the goodwill ambassador, and what I say goes.”; what’s more, he even complains about the rescue becoming an unnecessary detour, citing that the war won’t start as long as he’s around. Jade’s mockery of his in-charge attitude, as well as the group’s intolerance of his arrogance fit very well here.

And to top it all off is his approach in proceeding to rescue the Akzeriuth townspeople: not even stopping to help some of those who have succumbed to the miasma for too long. One oculd argue that he was thinking logically, since he was under the impression that by neutralizing the miasma as quickly as possible, then it wouldn’t be much of a problem, but his reprimanding of Natalia for stopping to help a mother who had been acting up, telling her that she’s dirty and that she might infect her with something, show otherwise: that he has no empathy towards the common people, only seeing him playing “hero” as a great reward, moreso than he actually deserves. His blind devotion towards Van and his words serve to betray him later, as foreshadowed earlier by Tear’s warnings of this behavior, and yet he still accepts no responsibility in the destruction of Akzeriuth and it’s townspeople, repeating that he was trying to save the town and placing all of the responsibility of it’s destruction on Van. The party had every right to hate him as they did, with even Anise calling Luke a loser and abandoning him. His rambling was so nerve-racking, I had expecteced (and hoped) that Tear or someone would deck him one. Let’s hope this is the last of Luke’s whining we have to hear, because I honestly don’t know how he can go any lower.

And with the recent turnout of the plot (REPLICA!), with Luke being the way he is, Asch is everything Luke isn’t, including a total badass. Now that the turnout of Luke being his replica has been revealed, Asch has been turned into a very sympathetic character; as stated during Luke’s assault, Asch was robbed of his true status as the actual Luke fon Fabre, robbed of his family and his home. As if it’s not enough that Asch couldn’t go by that name any longer, the fact that the person replacing him, a selfish drone who knows nothing, is more than enough to make one’s blood boil. Asch hasn’t even been onscreen for very long (with his face in view, at least ^^;) and he’s already sold as my favorite character of the show.

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but one of the things I enjoy about this series are the constant relations each character seems to have with one another; sure, it’s a bit of a plot device for everyone to have openly heard of each other, and thus automatically have a past ready for them, but the show seems to do a pretty good job of it so far: Largo is shown to have some sort of connection to Natalia, though she doesn’t seem to know him. Tear and Legretta’s comraderie is touched upon for a brief second, as well as the apparent anger that Jade has towards Dist for continuing the research towards fomicry and replication.

Look, they’re even the same damn height!

And though it’s only doted on for a second, with Luke and Asch’s connection being revealed, the next one to be brought into question is Sync’s origin, seeing as how he’s used a technique (Daathic Fonic Arte to be exact >.>) that Ion knows can’t be used unless he’s a Fon Master himself; thus, it all points out the possibility that Sync could very well be a replica of Ion, albeit an older, taller, can actually hold his own in a fight, one. Guy is the only one to have seen his face, and I assume he’s just going to play dumb and not say anything like Tear, Ion, and Jade did with Luke.

Pirate-ninjas are very efficient.

Speaking of Ion, this kid gets kidnapped alot, I wonder why they deem it only necessary to assign two guards to protect him when the little shit can’t even do anything to protect himself. Pirate-ninjas: 1, Kimlasca Royal Guard: 0.

A lot of the big stuff regarding how things work in Abyss is out of the way, so new terms are kept to a minimum here: Jade’s hammerspace for his spear is (unnecessarily o_o) explained to be a contamination fusion technique that allows him, from my understanding, to break apart the particles that make up the spear and store it on the outer layer of his right arm. Since he’s the only known person to be able to use it, it means someone else is going to use it, most likely Dist, and surprise the shit out of the group.

With Van’s betrayal comes his master plan (new terms!): to destroy the Sephiroth, the pillars that support the Outer Lands where most of our heroes inhabit , in order to supposedly crash down into the miasmic waters of Auldrant’s origin, Qliphoth. Yulia Jue read from the Score in order to raise the land, which explains why the Score is held so high in regard, to the point where it could decide one’s meal as Legretta had said. Although Van wanted the one in Akzeriuth unsealed in order for Luke to use his hyperressonance in order to destroy the Sephiroth located there, there’s also the issue of Asch kidnapping Ion in order to get the one in the Zeo ruins unsealed as well (Asch was accompanied by Largo and Sync, though, that may have had something to do with it).

PREVIEW

At any rate, Asch seems to be aiding the group now that this whole replica business has been taken care of. He doesn’t seem to be following orders as the rest of the Six God Generals are, since he’s voiced his disapproval of Van. And with him being the Luke fon Fabre kidnapped seven years ago, this may provide a change of outlook coming from Guy and especially Natalia, who seems to be quite shocked at meeting her actual fiance once more. Tear’s also seen giving replica-Luke a small knife, so this may be the end of long-haired, “Foolish replica” Luke.

HELP ME MAKE THE ENTRIES FOR THIS FASTER!
I realize by this point, ToA 9 is already subbed by gg, and I’m usually an entire week late by the time I post these. The reason for this is because I can’t play gg’s h264 format on my piece of crap computer, even though I have some suspicions that I might be able to. I dislike having to wait for Shinsen or Abyssal Chronicles take their time to sub these since they’re never consistent and I like having an entire series by one fansub group if possible. If I am able to play gg’s, then I can at least also get rid of those nasty leftover subs for better pictures. So, if anyone’s interested and would like to help me check if I really won’t be able to play gg’s format for ToA and seriously need a new computer, please contact me at newtypeseed@gmail.com. Much obliged.

Tear shudders at the thought of AniAri not being up to date. Don’t let her down. ;_;

-Jay