Tales of Symphonia
Title: Tales of Symphonia
Type: Manga
Artist(s): ICHIMURA Hitoshi
Status in Home Country: Complete (5 Volumes)
Scanslation Status: Complete, Ch 22
Scan Groups: Wings of an Angel, Eternal
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Shounen
Summary: In the land of Sylvarant people are suffering because a group of people who call themselves Desians have swept across the world setting up human ranches. Colette, however, is the chosen one who is destined to travel with her friends to release the seals in the world and to reach the Tower of Salvation in order to rid the world of Desians.
Once upon a time, there existed a giant tree that was the source of mana. A war, however, caused this tree to wither away, and a hero�fs life was sacrificed in order to take its place. Grieving over the loss, the goddess disappeared unto the heavens. The goddess left the angels with this edict: "You must wake me, for if I should sleep, the world shall be destroyed." The angels bore the Chosen One, who headed towards the tower that reached up unto the heavens. And that marked the beginning of the regeneration of the world.
Colette is the next Chosen of Mana to undertake the Journey of Regeneration in order to regenerate the dying world of Sylvarant. On the Day of Prophecy, Colette receives the oracle at the Martel Temple and thus began her journey to heaven. Together with her two childhood friends Lloyd and Genis, her teacher Raine and the mercenary Kratos hired to protect her, they set off on a journey to regenerate the world.
Review: From the same artist as “Coda”, this is a fantasy series that is very different from her more recent work. While the artwork was good and the plot decent; I have to say that the story pacing was absolutely horrid. As an adventure type of story where you have to go from point A to B in a quest, this story was horrible. The group has to accomplish certain goals, but the story never shows you how they went to accomplish those goals. After being told what to do, the following panels just show the conclusion of what happened after completing those goals. It’s like being in a game where you didn’t have to do anything, and you completed the level without any sort of trial. The problem w/ that is that it gives no sense of suspense, drama, or character depth. It’s like reading the introduction of a story and then the epilogue without any of the middle stage. The only reason I kept going was that the artwork was decent, and I figured that that the chapters were short enough that I could finish it relatively fast.
In the end, the plot was kind of different from the summary. Elves left for some where uknown, leaving half elves and humans by themselves. The humans and the half elves keep duking it out, and then humans are used for magical fodder. Throw in some dwarves just to be in the story, and then half-elf hero turned angels who have split the world into 2 dimensions because of a sibling love and there you have a confusing plot w/ bad story telling. Overall, it was kind of bleh. It’s a read it and forget type of story.
Rate: 4/10