To continue with the anime based on video games that we are having this year, ‘Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal‘ has joined the ranks of the fall premieres. The first two episodes have already been seen on Crunchyroll to fully introduce us to the main adventure of the series, so it is the perfect time to stop and recap on how its start has been.
Of wandering princesses and monsters
the anime of ‘Legend of Mana’ starts out as a good manual Japanese RPG, in an idyllic little town where our protagonist has a normal day until adventure knocks on his door. Shiloh is a young human who one day meets The bluea knight searching for a lost princess.
Since Elazul is desperate, Shiloh agrees to help him look for Pearl, who has entered a cave alone. turns out The blue and Pearl belong to the Jumi race, who have external hearts of precious stones and are persecuted and hated.yes When Shiloh discovers that a jewel hunter is after them, he decides to leave his village to protect them.
It has to be said that ‘Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal’ on a style level is a really nice anime, with beautiful aesthetics and very detailed character design. Everything, from the opening, the scenarios and the gallery of characters that we meet in the first episodes, transports you fully to that video game feeling, with which we can say that of course Graphinica and Yokohama Animation Laboratory They have nailed the aesthetic.
The problem comes because the story itself is not accessible at all. Specifically adapting ‘Legend of Mana’ is not easy, because the game is made up of three main arcs and numerous sub-stories that overlap.
For ‘Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal’ we have entered headfirst into the history of the Jumi (although it should not be ruled out that the others will be touched later), but it seems that the anime is oriented only to fans of the video game and forgets to make the relevant introductions.
Adapting video games is never easy, but we have had other stories like ‘Tekken: Bloodline’, ‘Castlevania’ or even ‘The Cuphead series!’ where from the first moment they make it clear to us who is who and what we can expect for the future of the series.
Instead, when start ‘Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal’ gives the feeling that you have arrived in half res to a series that is already half and he has not given you a summary at the beginning of the chapter.
So in part you have to arrive with your homework done if you want to find out who all these people are, although it does come with the cool video game, the anime leaves us with a lot of little details and references for fans to catch. But again, and since there was almost no exposure, It’s hard to empathize with the characters and get them to care enough to continue the series beyond the first two chapters.
Be careful, this does not mean that ‘Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal’ is disastrous, but it does have a chaotic and very cumbersome beginning that takes time to start. On a graphic level, it’s a real beauty, and although it doesn’t have dazzling animation at all times, it makes you want to stay in the world of Fa’Diel.
Now all that’s left is for the story to get its act together and finish catching a good rhythm for the plot, or at least something that really gets you hooked.