Phantasy Star Online2 The Animation - Discussion

[redBadger]

When is the next episode / season?

[MaximusLight]

When is the next episode / season?

I don't think there is one unless it ends up being really popular, I think it was intended to be a one-off from the start.

[Altiea]

I personally believe that the problem with the story is that:
A) We were told it was a prequel, so we naturally assumed that it would have ties to the current plot going forward, when in all actuality it was rather self-contained and more or less harmless. Sure, Apprentice got stopped, but what actually happened? The only thing that will affect the current story now is Aika being a character. This is due in part to the fact that the anime was trying to cater to both non-player audiences and player audiences simultaneously, which was a terrible mistake, and the plot paid the price for it. When you think about it, you could also say the same for the game's current state to a lesser degree.
B) The writers played it EXTREMELY safe writing that ending. There were at least three other roads they could have taken with what they had set up, but they went with the easiest route that could be resolved in a 25 minute episode without setting up a sequel hook not related to the game. The result was mind-numbingly normal and had no tension to it because we all expected it was going to happen, but it solved pretty much every plot thread not related to Hitsugi/Phantoms, so ta-da.

[Keilyn]

Anime Rating:

Plot: 1 / 10
Character Design: 6/10
Personality: 3/10
Potential: 8/10
Music: 2/10
Animation: 3/10

Plot: It took forever to start the plot and even when it did it was the typical garbage that we see in-game, except it was cheezier and even more idiotic. An Amateur fanfiction writer can write a better plot. Hell, I can write something better......

Character Design: I actually loved that the characters had their design scheme and there was complexity between real life characters and their in-game avatars including shifting of the rules when one has their photons drawn and now has to physically fight darkers and can have their life ended by them as well. The reason I don't give this a 10 out of 10 is because there were far too many Good Guys, and not enough Bad Guys. We knew there was going to be a Falz-Type at the end since its Phantasy Star and we knew the resolution was going to be bullshit, but too many good guys and what I consider one-half a bad guy to me makes an animation suck.

Personality: There was too little personality and things were linear. Aside from the usual two protagonist characters talking and wondering about things, almost every interaction that involved a third character ended up in the same way.... A third character to advance the arc or plot, or move to the next scene. It became so standard that characters felt more mechanical to me.

Potential: This reminds me of the game in the sense that SEGA had POTENTIAL to actually start slow and steady and really make something good, but as usual ends up transforming something unique into something worse than stereotypical trash. I gave it an 8/10 simply because they could have done so much with the characters and expand on each character or do something comical in each end. Filler or Not, I remember having questions and wondering about each character about both, their Online Habits and their Offline Habits. We really didn't meet enough of the characters Online enough to actually get to know them well enough....so there was so much potential for much more....

Music: While I like the opening theme, the ending theme is fun but leaves much to be desired. I didn't mind the Rappy Song too much, but it made me wonder. What else could SEGA have done? Perhaps a new Quna Song? Maybe something more random? Instead they gave us a RAPPY SONG, with the whole RARE DROP associated with striking them after they get up..... Sure they are the mascot of the game, but it does not change the fact that SEGA ripped off music from its own game and gave it to us in shitty quality. They did the very same with the Quna song and other pieces of game music. They should know that when one transmits lower quality audio on top of a higher quality audio track for the anime itself, that the music distorts and pops and the difference in quality can be heard when the Clip is heard at different sampling rates that would make anyone without an ear for music actually hear it. This happened very frequently that it actually bothered the hell out of me. What was their sound engineer doing or thinking when he tried to equalize an already mastered low quality track into an animation audio file?

Animation: Animation is the "Phase" where characters are brought to life with their voice actors paired with the characters and their motions to make things look real. There were a lot of scenes where characters would speak to each other, but it was noticeable that they were in a Still-Frame. For example, that one classroom scene where two characters were talking to each other and everyone else in the picture rather than actually move as part of the action stood though as if time had stood still. There are also sections where a full high resolution scene is recorded, cut into pieces and to make it fit to the screen in editing, they "blow it up" and so the close ups of the body (like the hot springs) actually one can notice all that is wrong with the outlines, inking, and edges...because they decided to run a high resolution scene like 1920 x 1080 and then take a portion of it, say maybe one corner where something was occurring and blow it up......

Thoughts:

This is the perfect anime to show a bunch of film and anime students to identify what is right and what is wrong with animation. There were some neat things that the characters did, but it was at the sacrifice of the environment itself.

SEGA is amazing at making people dream for more and then holding their minds hostage, filled with false hope for years as one expects for more on a project that delivers far less. It happened with PSO, PSU, and PSO2 and it will happen with any future product.....which is like what i said before...

"If I treat PSO-2 like a B-Rated game rather than a AAA-Rated Game, it feels more justified to SEGA doing what it does"

Why should the anime be any different? This anime actually has more Fair to Poor Ratings combined than Good to Excellent by a ratio of 2 : 1. This is NOT an Anime worthy of the name Phantasy Star, but it is an anime worthy of showing us how typical SEGA is, and what the future truly means... ..mainstreaming more crap and hoping for the best, considering this anime is just one large advertisement for the game itself.

[Kondibon]

So my biggest take away from all of this is that I want a fight against full powered apprentice.

[SteveCZ]

Well, that was a short story. *disappointed* :|

Without being skeptical, I hope everything continues whether it's in the game or the next season.

TEAM ITSUKI X RINA!

[Xaeris]

Hey, if we get a victory cutscene where we make a Love Love Tenkyouken with the MPA, I'm down.

[Altiea]

So my biggest take away from all of this is that I want a fight against full powered apprentice.

Shame that "full powered" means you die to "friendship + plot armor".

[Naska]

AIS corp going in, die after taking 1 hit by DF Apprentice lazer.
Itsuki going in with Massive Hunter, taking a few lazers and still not dying.
PlotArmor2OP.

[loafhero]

I pretty much called it that Itsuki and Rina wouldn't get together since PSO2's story (both game and in the anime) is extremely stubborn when it comes to moving any kind of relationship to a romantic one.