I've just finished watching it! A fansub* (see note below) version.

As an anime, it sucks! I mean, the budget for it is too low, and most of the action, well, is far from thrilling...

But still, it's undispensable for any hardcore Xenosaga fan! Specially those who didn't played Episode I!

There are a few changes on the storyline, but that's actually for the better. Looking at the whole picture, the story on the anime is a bit more well written than the game's. For starters, <little SPOILER: Mark to read>[Virgil doesn'die at the Woglinde, so we get to know him a bit more. Cherenkov fans -- if there are any --, in the other hand, may not like the animation...]. Also, it's pretty clear that the TV version was made to match perfectly with the Episode II game, or at least the later chapter's were:
for example <minimal SPOILER, I won't even bother to hide it!> the URTVs are already wearing those pijamas... I mean "uniforms"(!) of episode II, instead of the yellow and blue tight ones from the Episode I game. You also get a sneak peek of Jin (his participation is slightly bigger, but still minimal!), Cannan and even E.S.s (Actually, the word "E.S." is spoken still at the earlier chapters, unlike the game, that refer to Simeon as a "mysterious mech".). There's much more I'd like to discuss, but i'll leave it for later...

Well, I've watched the whole 12 episodes, and now i'm watching it again! Then I'll go straight playing Episode II!!



*FANSUB:
As many of you probably know, "Fansub" means Fan Subtitled, it's a fanmade translation of an anime, tv series, movie or whatever. Before anyone goes saying it's "PIRACY", i'll say it's NOT. Not as long as the series in question doesn't have copyrights on my country. Commonly, when a series is officially released, the fansubbers, stop publishing/selling copies of that series.
You probably will be able to find this series -- and many others -- on torrent sites. I, VERY UNFORTUNELY, still use phone banwidth, so I had to buy a hard copy (DVD) at an specialized store (they, as a store, are not suposed to sell it, but since is praticly my only option for geting subtitled and UNcensored anime, I'm not complaining nor telling... )

I personally don't think the anime's story is better at all. Albedo shows up much too early and it isn't nearly as good as the original events, though we do indeed get to see a bit more of Virgil. But Cherenkov and his background story is still one of my favorites, and having it scrapped completely just to see Virgil sticking around a little longer was quite disappointing.

Actually, the only thing I found a really interesting change was the Kirschwasser's story (though something similar later happens in the original story, for those who know the events of XSIII: A Missing Year).


He also demonstrates his double tech with chaos (Ice Brand), which is in Episode II (of the games) as well.

Well, forgive me but, although i to simpathysed with Cherenkov, he was a pretty useles character. He's only an excuse to show the true face of kevin and the Act Recycle Act. Maybe his character would be more developted in the original script, maybe he would become a Testment or whathever. but the fact is, he didn't. And, if you take into acount, the turn the game series took, than the anime is better fitted to the plot than the game.

No, no, and no.

He was fairly essential to the plot. He's the one who caused Ariadne to vanish. He also caused the Kos-Mos Archetype to run rampant. Even though he did so with Kevin's help. You're pretty much pulling the Testament crap out of nowhere. He was never ment to be one. He's just a Life Recycling Variant. He's also an example of just what happens when a human 'survives' being touched by a Gnosis. His story was fairly tragic, as well. I certainly couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Also, the anime's plot was completely whacked. I didn't enjoy it at all. Particularly Shion not even trusting Kos-Mos until the last half of the final episode. The animation was fine, though. This really should have been a 24 episode long series, and not 12.

I didn't watch the whole thing... it confused me... I haven't played episode I and so there is a lot I missed out on a lot of scenes. I know the Animation follows a MUCH different route but watching made me unsure of what happened in the actual game...

I didn't think it was all that great anyway... with the DVD of the first Episode only Chernkov's story is cut short but I agree with Asuka it still seemed important. Although in the long run of things he doesn't have a huge impact on the story I think it was nice that Episode I could go at such a pace that it could explore a less important character's story so indepth. Episode III was far too rushed and barely even covered the main character's storylines.