The Spring 2017 Manga Guide

Tales of Zestiria Vol. 1

What's It About? 

Tales of Zestiria by Shiramine is a manga adaptation of the video game of the same name, a recent entry in Bandai-Namco's long-running Tales fantasy role-playing series. In Tales of Zestiria, the world is plagued by a corrupting force known as malevolence, which transforms humans, animals, and more into terrible monsters called Hellions. Sorey is a young human raised in safety among mystical beings called Seraphim, including his best friend Mikleo, who are invisible to normal humans. They have a chance encounter with a human princess named Alisha, who is searching for a legendary heroic figure said to appear in times of crisis, the Shepherd. Sorey and Mikleo follow after Alisha when she returns home, and Sorey becomes the Shepherd when he bonds with a Seraph named Lailah. Now wielding the power of purification, Sorey sets off with his friends to save the world by destroying the source of all malevolence, the Lord of Calamity.

Tales of Zestiria volume 1 (6/13/2017) is available for $12.99 from Seven Seas Entertainment. Tales of Zestiria the X, an anime adaptation of the game, is currently streaming on Funimation's website.

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating: 2.5

As the streaming reviewer for Tales of Zestiria the X, I was really excited for this volume. I'm the sort of media consumer who likes to experience the same story in multiple formats (one day I will play the game), so I'm always interested in how a story will be changed to fit a different medium. All of that said, I'm a little disappointed in this particular reworking, mostly because of the pacing. Where the anime took its time getting things going, taking longer to get Sorey and Mikleo on their journey and giving Alisha the chance to develop on her own before joining up with them, the manga rushes through all of that, with this first volume ending just before they meet up with Edna. We do get glimpses of Zaveid and Dezel, however, and it seems like Edna's brother is still hanging around their mountain peak, so it feels possible that this condensing of the action may be in order to introduce new story elements.

As for things I do like, I seems as if Mikleo is a more obviously upset that he's not getting to participate in the battles once Sorey becomes the Shepherd. There's a clear feeling that he's got a case of the left-outs, which makes perfect sense – up until Alisha bumbled into their lives, it was really just Sorey and Mikleo, and now Sorey is moving very quickly ahead to a place that Mikleo can't follow. In some cases this is simply because Mikleo is a seraph and most humans can't see him, but it's also because Sorey has abruptly been “chosen,” and his general good nature has transformed him into a hero who will save the world. Sorey himself doesn't seem to have changed, but Mikleo can see things are different, and he's not a fan.

The characters are all very recognizable from both game and anime designs, with Rose and Mikleo looking a little softer. Somehow Zaveid's pants appear to ride even lower (how do those things stay on?), and we've seen none of Alisha's self-protecting body language that was used to such good effect in the show, probably a casualty of the pacing. In fact, Alisha seems just generally less troubled, and there's a rapport between she and Sorey that's new, at least in its level. These aren't bad changes (unless you ship Sorey and Mikleo), but they do change the tone of the series, making it much lighter in general.

So far this is not my favorite iteration of the story, but I'm still interested to see if and how things are going to be changed going forward. While I'm sure that the changes I'd most like to see (*cough cough* Dezel *cough*) won't happen, I am invested enough in the franchise to see how this plays out. That's the real interest of this book; as a stand-alone fantasy story, it feels a little thin.

Amy McNulty

Rating: 3

Tales of Zestria is a completely inoffensive manga that relies heavily on classic fantasy tropes to weave a tale that's as welcoming to newcomers as it may be to those familiar with the game. Each of the four main characters is fleshed out enough on the page to infuse some life into them, even if they're still largely defined by a single characteristic or two. Seraphim Mikleo in particular shows some personality, even if it's mostly jealousy over main hero Sorey's budding friendship with the Princess Knight Alisha. The twist on the traditional sword in the stone tale, where the “lady in the lake” is a Seraphim invisible to most human eyes, is an especially intriguing variation of classic tropes and Lailah is clearly hiding something about the former Shepherd and the dark forces Sorey now faces in the role. It's also refreshing to see a princess as a knight who's vowed to serve her kingdom regardless of the danger it puts her in, though little is shown in this first volume to indicate Alisha's royal blood, other perhaps than the speech she makes to some of her citizens and the fact that there's a target on her back. When she and Sorey forgive a lord for hiring an assassin to kill her, though, this strange act is distracting enough to take the reader out of the story for a moment. She doesn't even order his arrest as far as the reader sees, simply chalking it up to politics and a man trying to “discredit” her.

This speaks to the main weakness of this volume. The characters are all too good—almost flawless. Sorey and Alisha might actually be without characters flaws entirely. While stories about completely likable and pleasant people are not necessarily bad, they can become dull in the long term if the characters never demonstrate much room to mature and change. Plus, there are fewer opportunities for humor when the characters wouldn't dream of hurting a fly (unless it was the noble thing to do to save countless others). There are a couple of chuckles in this volume, but it's generic and innocent humor largely based on cute emotional reactions to surprising news.

Shiramine inhabits the world of Glenwood with skill via meticulously crafted art with stunning fantastical backgrounds. No small detail is overlooked, from the moderately complex armor designs to the wide and open landscapes. The few fights that occur in this volume are depicted in just the right flow, never dragging on and frequently presenting the clashes from new angles. While Tales of Zestria doesn't present anything groundbreaking in the genre in this first volume, it should appeal to readers of all ages who are fans of classic fantasy.

Nik Freeman

Rating: 2

Tales of Zestiria is very obviously a video game adaptation. Even without knowing of the Tales series, you would probably get the feeling that it was strangely similar to a video game. There's the unnecessarily spread-out exposition, the cut-short encounter with a recurring foe that can't be harmed at first, and the introduction to otherwise unimportant merchants. None of this is too obtrusive, but eventually Lailah begins giving Sorey ability tutorials, strangely technical explanations with a lot of terminology that never comes up in the rest of the volume. There's a nice joke about how Sorey can get Alisha to briefly communicate with Mikleo and Lailah, but it's made redundant when Sorey essentially just adds her to the adventuring party to make this permanent.

The story suffers in adaptation for the same reason all video game adaptations do. Stories designed with interactivity in mind are simply less effective when that element is removed. Sorey is such a bland character; everything from his backstory leading up to his being anointed Shepherd is eye-rolling in how standard it is. He refuses to work under a politician so swiftly and steadfastly it's as if he already knows the man is corrupt, even when they've never met and Sorey has no reason not to at least consider his offer. He's so incredibly pure-hearted and perfect that he's not relatable in the slightest. Putting a player in this role works fine, as it grants them a sense of power and pride, but watching someone else acting this way makes you realize how uninteresting they are. This is the main symptom of a common issue faced by adaptations of games, and it's all throughout the manga. So many straightforward, black-or-white characters and issues are in desperate need of additional complexity to make them at least a little interesting. As is, it's a completely run-of-the-mill fantasy saga that could be easily mistaken for dozens just like it.

If looked at as promotion for the game, Tales of Zestiria might come off as intriguing, but as a pure manga series, it's not all that special. Not enough sets it apart for it to be worth a recommendation, as its artwork, characters, and plot are all unexceptional. Action scenes are barely worth mention because they go by so quickly. Big fans of the Tales series and Zestiria in particular will naturally be more inclined to pick it up, and may perhaps get more out of it than I was able to. As a non-fan, however, it strikes me as really only something to pad out a collection or as a gateway to the game itself.