Tales of Zestiria the X Episode 2: [Elysium]

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Last week we were left off with a strange  cliffhanger where Alisha asked Sorey if he was a Shepherd. What she actually wanted to know is if there are any Shepherd around here, who could save the world from all the shit that’s happening down there. Sorey doesn’t really understand where that question comes from and replies that he is sadly, just mere human. Hearing that statement, Alisha kinds of loses her hopes since she believed in the legend of the Shepherd. Hearing that they might not exist is like hearing the world is doomed to its destruction, which is not a nice thing… I guess…

Mikleo worried about Alisha’s intentions, whereas Sorey believes in her with all his heart. Oh and yeah, by the way, Alisha can’t see Mikleo, because he’s a seraph, and “ordinary” humans can’t see seraphs, at least not anymore. I thought this was rather obvious last episode but I did not mention it in order to avoid spoilers. What I can say about this “revelation” is that they choose to make it sound less important than in the game/OVA with just Mikleo saying “oh right she can’t see me because she’s human”. Also, that part with Alisha not being able to see Mikleo wasn’t funny and it changes the atmosphere of the series quite a bit but I’ll come to that in a minute.

For the moment take a long look at Mikleo shouting at Alisha’s face:

Sorey brings her to the seraph village called Elysium where he has been living with all the seraphs since almost forever. Of course, Alisha can’t see Seraphs but even if she can’t see them, she begs them to help her save the world. It is quite and interesting change I must say. In the OVA Alisha doesn’t really believes in the existence of the seraphs (or at least doesn’t show it too much) and the fact that Sorey is acting a bit weird is used as a comedy element. In the OVA Sorey talks to Mikleo a lot and Alisha notices he talks alone, then once in the village, Sorey introduces his Seraphs friends to Alisha and of course, since she cannot see them, it’s like Sorey is talking into the void and seeing things.  Same with Mikleo shouting in front of Alisha and her not caring since she can’t see him.

When I thought the anime was going to follow the same path and make this scene in the villae a bit awkward and funny like in the OVA, the anime surprised me. Alisha begging for help caught me off my guard and was a pleasant surprise.

Overall it was a rather dramatic turn of events. It’s like this change gives more importance to Alisha’s backstory and makes it more believable. After all, she just saw her friends die two days ago, she’s not supposed to be all happy right after that. Speaking of which, her trauma is still fresh and present, as she’s having nightmares while staying at Sorey’s place.
But the seraphs did not answer Alisha’s call and left her even more depressed and powerless than she was before. All the legends she once believed about the Shepherd and Seraphs saving the word are proven to be wrong, so now what does she have left? She has lost everything she used to believe in.

Gramps and all the seraphs do not accept humans on their grounds so they want to kick her out. Which lead to one of the main issues, themes brought up in Zestiria: the difference between humans and seraphs. They used to live happily together but not anymore, and their differences has grown to the point where humans can’t see seraphs anymore and the latter cut themselves from the rest of the world not caring about it. Which might explain why nobody answered Alisha’s help request: they might simply not care about Humans’ fate. Well at least they used too, since near the end of the episode Gramps mentions the connection between Seraphs and the human world. The two are still connected and what’s happening outside of Elysium can affect them too, so they need to do something about it.

Because of her trauma and I guess the fact that nobody answered her call,  Alisha ceased to believe in the legend of the Shepherd but Sorey tries to convince her to continue believing it. But oh well, I guess if you can see seraphs and know for a fact that they exist you are most likely to believe the legend of the shepherd too. However, Alisha does have a strong connection to the seraphs too, since she was able to feel their presence a bit. At least that’s what she says when leaving the village.
Also, I guess seeing someone who strongly believes in this legend and who is quite the optimistic like Sorey must have been some kind of relief for her and must have lighten her worries.  So her stay in Elysium helped her recovering a bit and gave her more hopes for the future.

When Alisha leaves the village she delivers a nice little speech on how Sorey gave her a bit more confidence and how she’s ready to believe the world can be saved again. She also invites Sorey to LadyLake in order to pass the trial of the sword. According to some legend, there’s a sacred blade in the capital Ladylake, and whoever pulls it out becomes the shepherd. That’s the animu Excalibur for ya.

As soon as Alisha leaved, Gramps spots an intruder on the Seraph domain. It’s Fox guy who’s killing  a guy. Mikleo and Sorey call the fox guy an hellion which we might assume are the bad guys of the show. The fight was well animated and a lot more awesome and dynamic  than in the OVA. Gramps got a power up too, smashing the ground like that, now I’m afraid of him.

After the fight Sorey realizes Alisha is in danger and decides to leave the village in order to save her. He planned to leave alone without telling his bro Mikleo and I say: “not cool Sorey, not cool, forgetting your best pal? tstststststs no cool”. But of course, since Mikleo can basically read Sorey’s mind and the situation very well, he’s ready to follow him and doesn’t leave him any choice. Mikleo also got some clues on Alisha’s identity and suppose she’s a high ranked knight or a member of royalty.
Sorey is glad Mikleo came and we got a nice little tsundere moment from my favorite water seraph “I-I-I not following you because it’s you… I-I just can’t let you wander alone in the human world, it’s too dangerous”. Yeah, Yeah Meebo you’re not fooling anyone here.

So this episode was a lot darker than in the OVA thanks to Alisha’s backstory. Expect Mason’s death since he did not die this time. I don’t know how I feel about this… I guess I don’t really care? Neither the game nor the OVA spend time about characters grieving the death of this poor Mason so him being alive doesn’t change anything.
So yes, I feel like the whole prologue episode now makes sense and I’m glad the directors did not forgot about it and made this traumatic experience have repercussions on Alisha’s mind and behavior.

Random babbling: 

We got to see Mikleo’s whole wardrobe… and I liked it. Nice outfits meebo, such a stylish guy AAANNND Mikleo’s bed hair, which is always a nice thing to see too. Also, Alisha with her hair down is a plus, I find her more beautiful this way, but that’s just me, although it might not be convenient during battles.

Finally, I have the feeling that the anime gave us more Sorey x Mikleo moments. Personally, I don’t really mind, I’m not a big shipper but I do see Sorey X Mikleo as an obvious ship… I guess? Well, to be more precise, I’d say that I don’t really care, they can be together that’s fine, if they aren’t that’s fine by me too. I’m just wondering about the intentions of the game developers when they made Zestiria, if they planned on making those two canons or if it’s just me and my brain influenced by too much filthy internet weeb shit, who mistook things. I’ve read a couple of articles about their relationship and I can’t find a proper answer. Maybe because they aren’t any… god dammit. But I’ll have to admit, they are pretty gay together… which makes Mikleo the best heroine of Zestiria.

Skit: I’m waiting, if Mikleo is not making the next episode’s skit with a funny face, I’ll be mad. I’ll be really angry and disappointed. Don’t betray my expectations skits!

Ps: I think I’m taking too many screen shots of Mikleo … I need to stop… but it’s haaard…. he’s soo beautifuul…