Source : AnimeNewsNetwork

Obviously sometime dreams do come true

Well if any of the Tales games deserved a full anime series then TotA would be it - here's hoping it turns out to be so in preference over another short OVA.

EDIT : After looking around for a bit and thanks to the good people at Abyssal Chronicles have managed to find a bit more info. It looks like a number of key members of staff have already been announced
Director: , Kanetsugu Kodama
Character design: Yoshihito Hishinuma, (Inuyasha)
Animation: Sunrise (too long to list)

Source : Moonphase

You sir, are the bearer of great news. I'll be waiting for it.

How were anime adaptations of the other Tales games?
Haven't heard much about them...

The OVAs of Tales of Symphonia were particularly good, the only trouble being it was way too short (only four episodes) they stopped half way through the story and no one's sure if they are going to finish it. Seriously if your a Tales fan in the slightest then you should look this one up.

I've not watched Tales of Phantasia as have yet to play the game - another one that was fairly short (about eight episodes I think) but from what I have seen it does looks to be good and seems to be of a similar quality to ToS OVAs.

The Tales of Eternia anime - well in short it had very little to do with the actual storyline of the game but this was done by a different anime studio than the other two so wouldn't judge the others by this one.

Good news indeed. =D. I'll definitely be watching this one. Saw the ToS OVA (still waiting for the last half...) and loved it, so I'll be anticipating this one. =).

good news indeed.. cant wait

Sounds good, but I can't say any other good stuff about it, I may end up cursing it. Let's hope for the best.

Well I think this should remove any doubt whether this is going to happen or not,











This is going to be good!

I think this is going to be good. The artwork looks really nice so far. And I hope they keep their original Japanese voices as well.

looking very smooth, ive enjoyed all the Tales animes i have seen so far so cant wait for this.

Woo, Ferrell can't wait!!!!!!!!! I really liked TOS anime too, so I think this will be good.

I would actually like to see this one dubbed in English (I know, shoot me for not being a "purist") but I liked the voice actors of the game.... execpt for Luke. (But, Luke was a whiny brat for the first like 9/10's of the game anyway, so it was fitting )

The Japanese voice actors for the ToS OVA were really good (I think they were the same ones from the game anyway), so I’d love them to keep the Japanese voice actors for Abyss and just add the English subtitles at the bottom. I never really listened to the English VAs when I played the game (can’t remember if there was an option to turn them off, but I think that’s what I did. Not because I thought they were horrible, but I just usually do that with a game).

Anyway, it’s looking good so far. Can’t wait for it to come out. =).

UPDATE: Forgot to mention this in my original post - the air date for this is set for around October 2008 and has been confirmed to be a 26 episode series - so it looks like their going full out on this one.

I really wouldn't be surprised to see this one get a stateside release, especially considering its popularity and I wouldn't give up on seeing the ToS OVAs coming over either; the first four episodes are getting their first air dates in the coming months so perhaps we'll see an announcement about the final four episodes sometime after then.
So I wouldn't worry about the whole sub vs dub issue as i'm pretty certain they'll include both soundtracks on the DVDs so you'll get the best of both worlds.

Tbh I wasn't as keen on the TotA japanese voice overs as I was ToS (which were the ones from the game - you were right DB) - certain characters just didn't quite fit for me - perhaps if i'd heard them before the english version I might have felt different but for me the english VO for characters like Jade and Anise were just spot on, so i'm with you on this Theferrall

FINALLY one that is a full series..

Well, be it Japanese or English voice-overs, I won’t mind much. I don’t even know what the Japanese ones sounded like, but usually they aren’t bad (Symphonia for example). No idea what the English ones sound like other than Tear though. Can’t remember any of the others (from the cut-scenes where there was no choice *but* to listen). Anyway, it’s good news to hear that this will be a full-blown 26 ep. series. Gives me something to look forward to watching, as I usually don’t watch anime otherwise.

Amen to that!


Check out the videos on Youtube - most of the exhibition matches are done on the Japanese version and you usually get the cut scenes that occur before hand - not to mention the in-battle voice overs. ITs interesting to see the different takes on the characters personality - so if your really bored one day and have nothing better to do go and do a quick search and see what you think.

As for the english voice overs - its fairly hard for me to escape them atm - it seems every single anime i've watched of late has had at least one of the TotA cast in it (or ToS for that matter) especially in the Bandai titles but that's to be expected really - its amazing how many voices you'll recognise in anime after playing a few RPGs and vice-versa.

Seriously this is going to be sweet!!!

TRAILER

umm can you say hell yea???

Looking good. =). This is somewhat an off-topic question, but is there any place to buy the OVA to Symphonia (and this one when it gets released)?

ZOMG, hope I get to watch it, even though never played XD

I don't know that many places that import stuff to both the UK and the US so I can only point you in the direction of one supplier - however the prices are fairly steep and tbh I think you'll need to be prepared to pay a premium where ever you go and bare in mind you only get a single episode per volume.

Play Asia

If I were you give it a couple of months and see what happens about the other four episodes and that way even if we don't see a release outside of Japan you may be able to hold of a complete box set which may prove a bit cheaper - short of that see if the box set of the existing four episodes amounts to anything.

Seriously though I'd save my money and get a XBox360 and ToV instead - you know you want to

Nice trailer. The animation quality looks top notch. Can't wait for this. Looks like it's starting in October.



Jade doing his as usual.

Haha...Yeah...I think I'll pass with the OVAs for now (don't want to pay so much for just one episode on a disc. >.>.). Still thinking on the xBox 360 and ToV, but there's a good chance I might go for it. We'll see what my money says when the time comes. =p.

A slightly extended (and better quality) teaser trailer was released at the start of the week - tbh the extra material is that short that I thought it was the same one from last time but there is extra footage at the very beginning showing Yulia followed by a clip showing Momma, Papa and baby fon Fabre
Teaser Trailer

The official website is also now up and running, so to keep up to date with the new information as its released in Japan - and for some seriously nice new artwork (under the characters section) mosey on over to:
http://www.tv-toa.jp

This seems like a decent Idea. I played the game (To a certain point then I got bored) and it was a decent game with a ok Plot, so turning it into an Anime/OVA may be a good thing (I never watched the Tales of Symphonia OVA so I don't have anything to go off of)

UPDATE: A new trailer, with plenty of new footage - this seems to cover a lot of the events covered in the early part of the game so its looking like they really are going to do this one properly.

Bump of Chicken's Karma (japanese OP from the TotA game - we just got the instrumental version) has now also been confirmed to be the music from the opening sequence - so that can only be a good thing - well I think so at least.

TRAILER THREE

Go Tear! I've said it before and I'll say it so many times again - this is going to be sweet!!!

I think that every second anime character with glasses does that.

In any case, the anime looks great. I had some doubts, but not anymore. I just hope they keep original voices, both Japanese and English.

Nice trailer. ^^. I know Luke does this in the game too, but I thought it was kind of funny/cute when he swung Mue (spelling?) forward to use the Sorcerer's Ring. But yeah, this is looking really good. October can't come soon enough.~

I think it was Mieu, but not so sure. Too lazy to check out.
But yeah I remember that scene, it was pretty funny. Also, Guy reflecting bullets from Legretta with his sword looks badass. I was wondering how Tear will look when doing a Fonic Hymn, but it looked great to me, same as she does in the game. And yeah, October can't come soon enough.

awesomness *hopes for extended ending*

For those of you who haven't been keeping an eye on the official site the show is due to start on 3rd/4th October in Japan - give it about 48-72 and it should be fairly easy to find a subtitles version floating around on the net somewhere. Less than a month to go people!

More artwork has been uploaded on to the site and I must admit my fears about the show being done by someone other than Production I.G. were unfounded.

thanks for the update PAL, cant WAIT

Yeah, this is gonna be great. I just hope the ending will be more explained and a bit longer.

Yay, me's excited!!!

For those of you who want to know, they're keeping with the same voice actors as the game. I don't know about the english ones as it has yet to be dubbed but meh.

I'm surprised BUMP OF CHICKEN does OP/ED themes x_X.

several fan-subs plan to pick this up in cluding Shinsen.

One last little taster to tide you over for the next few days until release, enjoy.

TRAILER 3

thank you yet again PAL, cant wait to start watching this once theyt get the fansubs out.

Lol, what?! <see five seconds into Trailer 3>. Haha, sorry, that made me laugh. I'm excited though. Was sort of surprised to realize that there's only one (or two) more days left 'til it releases (though how long we'll wait for fansubs I don't know, but still.). ^^.

I have a very thin anime watch list. VERY thin. Like Code Geass and...crap. XD So yeah, this is something to definitely look forward to in the coming months. As in, I'll probably watch a ton in large sittings while on Christmas break or something. At least by then I'll FINALLY have my Gundam Wing on DVD then too, haha. Hoo...its nice to be posting in here again. XD

Okay this is officially my favourite anime opening ever and I'm not just saying it because it is Tales - this is awesome.

Opening Sequence

Gotta love Karma - wasn't sure about it when I first played TotA but its one of those tracks that really grows on you.

You've gotta hand it to these people they get the videos up quick!

Now to go and watch that opening again...

I was surprised! I usually hate most of the openings since it tends to exhude same old-same old J-Pop/Rock that sounds the same in every generic anime. This one actually sounded pretty good though, I actually...liked it. Shocker really. For being an anime based off of a game that was released some time ago...it looks pretty high quality. At least I noticed the short blip of the Tartarus. One thing I'm hoping for is a lot of Jade's quick sarcastic jabs. I ADORE him, seriously hilarious. It always irks me when the lead guy hogs nearly all the attention from the supporting cast. But I wouldn't mind if others stole from Arisa or Natalia, I didn't care for them much.

Also if it is eventually dubbed, I really hope they get the original cast. Again with my fandom, but seriously, no other english voice actor can replace the guy who did Jade. Also as random speculation, I wonder how many episodes it'll be? Considering just how long the game is, it makes me wonder. At least I'll know there will be an ending to it, unlike anime's like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, etc.

EDIT : Allied G has got the right of it - the series will be 26 episodes long - something that I have actually posted myself earlier in the topic so I don't know which series I'm getting mixed up with saying its 32 - sorry for that!

As for a dub, I think the chances are higher than us seeing ToS due to the fact that Sunrise and Bandai Visual are involved in this one. As for Jade I'm in complete agreement with you - absolute classic - the original voice actor is still doing work for Bandai so I can't really see there being too many problems for getting him involved. They did manage to get the required cast together for ToW:RM so I'll take that for a positive sign as well.

That is true, if they got all those voice actors together for ToW:RM then it probably wouldn't be a problem. To the American fans (since I don't know if England/Europe gets Adult Swim), Bandai tends to put their dubs on the Sci Fi channel, I've lost most of my confidence in Adult Swim since they took off their saturday anime showing. Now they just play their crappy animated comedies which pissed me off and made me stop watching. But hopefully TotA's dub will play on Sci Fi. Or else I could hope for an eventual DVD release. But I'll probably save those thoughts for after I actually see the anime. Hopefully some decent fansubs show up on youtube pretty soon. I'm usually not so excited about an anime haha. I should probably hurry up and beat the game first. I only just got it, but I definitely love it already. Besides 'long hair' Luke being a total douche.

I just finished watching Episode 1, and I'm very pleased so far. Very good animation quality. And not only does Takehito Koyasu (Mwu La Flagga, Lord Zetta) do Jade's voice, but I noticed that C.C. from Code Geass does Tear's voice. Deithart also from Code Geass voices Van. And Aizen from Bleach voices whoever is speaking to Luke telepathically in the beginning. There's no mistaking his voice, yet I can't find Aizen's voice actor listed as a voice actor for the Tales of the Abyss game for some reason. Who is it that's talking to Luke telepathically in the beginning of the game? I used to think it was Van (probably because I heard it before actually hearing Van), but that doesn't seem to be the case.

~Edit~
Oh yeah I forgot that it's supposedly Lorelei. The fact that she appears as female in the anime threw me off.




Strange choice of voice for Lorelei, although she had a mans voice in the game as well.

Though we do get Adult Swim, as a late night slot on Bravo, I don't think its anything compared to what you get stateside - the most that's shown on ours is the likes of robochicken and afro samurai. We did have an channel devoted to anime for just under 12 months but after about 6 it only showed GitS and Cowboy Bebop on continuous loop.

The fan subs should be up within the next 24-48 hours, as is obvious from Athrun's post the RAW files have already been up and ready for a few hours, only took them about 24 hours to get it uploaded. The guys over at Abyssal Chronicles have already put a team together for the project, even going to the lengths of asking visitors to the site about preferences of specific translations pertaining to certain in-game terms to perfect the sub. I thought they did a real good job of the sub of ToS but that's just down to my own limited knowledge.

Thanks for the heads up Athrun, I saw it go up on youtube earlier but still waiting for the sub to come up. With regards to the telepathic communication to Luke at the beginning I think that its Lorelei but I could be wrong.

EDIT: Turns out one of the Japanese networks showed the first TWO episodes this week, the RAW of second episode has now been uploaded to youtube, but still no sub on either unfortunately.

@Athrun: I thought that character shown in the screenshots (nice ones by the way) was Yulia, which was she transforms into Tear, her descendant, in the opening sequence, I hope they don't start messing around with stuff like that.

This is too awesome ^^

Suddenly really like the fact I have TOTA merchandise (huge tear ^^) but not played game yet ..

I hope it gets subbed soon and not just bt uploads and somewhere reliable i.e. not veoh

Also 2nd episode is avaliable.

According to Anime News Network its 26 in total. Also high possibility its based on the manga as well.

The subbed version is now available for download at http://www.abyssalchronicles.com/. I'm not sure if they intend to upload to Youtube so you may want to give it sometime before downloading.

There may be some other subs appearing over the next day or two but be warned there are meant to be a few fairly bad ones - names proving to be a bit of a stumbling point for a lot of them.

Enjoy!

Why would anyone want to watch on youtube by choice? It's a complete butchering of the original quality.

Its quick, its simple, everyone knows where to find it and caters to those who are low on the hard drive space or are using shared computers - though I agree with your point 100%.

Ugh, why did I choose the torrent? It's taking me three times the time to load it as it would for me to have just watched it. I should have just tried that other downloading place. Torrents always take so blasted long. Anyway yeah, youtube works best for me because as is now obvious, I don't like the time it takes to download it or whatever and watch it in good condition on my PC, when I can watch it on youtube immediately where it just looks okay. That's where I watch most of my anime, though I wish they had some older ones on there. They only have like seven episodes of FMA. So much for not spending a bundle on THAT anime. Maybe I'll watch the TOS OVA in the meantime...