Minnie: Here is a fresh announcement about Tales of the Abyss. Episode 8 will not be aired next week for reasons unknown. Instead, two weeks later, we will be watching Episode 8 and Episode 9 back to back. If new news prove me wrong, I will post it somewhere to inform everyone that I was wrong. For now, I believe this information to be correct so our next ToA review will be next next week. For those of you who notice that our blog is ToA-centric, it is because all of our members are watching this anime. Right now, we are trying to recruit two more people into our gang. For anyone else who wishes to join in our cause in at least writing one review a week for one anime, please e-mail me at potter29vo@yahoo.com or contact me on MSN Messenger using the same e-mail. Thank you very much and I will go on to the actual episode.

Minnie: The reason why Luke is in a hurry to get to the Zao ruins isn’t because he’s too worried about Ion. In actuality, he wants to meet Master Van sooner. Jade makes this pretty clear in the beginning. They also figure out that Dist must have done something to Luke at the castle so Asch can talk to Luke telepathically. Natalia and Guy moment! *puts on shipping goggles* Natalia wonders why Asch looks like Luke when there should have been only one son born to the Fabre household since Guy suggests the brothers separated at birth idea. Jade interrupts and reminds them their priority is Ion, nothing else. Hmm.

Minnie: God-Generals alert this episode from the OP alone. I love how the OP for the past few eps include shots of the actual show. Oh! The Dark Wings will play their role in this episode. I can’t wait to see those three again! After the OP, the gang goes in the Zao Ruins with Anise leading. They go down the stairs and admit that it’s pretty hot in here. The reason may have to do with them being in the ruins in a middle of the desert or Mieu’s work. Take your pick. Meanwhile, Asch forces Ion to break the seal on the door even if it may not do anything or so Ion says. The minute Ion opens the door the group catches up and confronts Asch. Except Asch is not alone. Oh no. There’s Largo and Sync ready to protect him. Jade is impressed that Largo is not dead, in which the former replies that he doesn’t die from such attacks. Largo also uses this time to mock Luke who was spineless the last time they fought. Nice Largo. Your taunt worked.

Minnie: I will not summarize the fight scene between the group of six versus Sync and Largo. I can’t write battle scenes and I surely can’t summarize correctly. Hopefully, Garrick or Ric have enough skills to do this. However, there are a couple of important facts to pick up from this battle. One, Sync is super fast and uses a whip-like weapon. Two, Sync leaves a curse mark on Guy’s right arm after Guy saves Natalia (awww!). Three, Luke seems to be almost too cocky while facing both the God-Generals. This is until Asch releases Ion and fights Luke head-on. This is when Luke notes the obvious- Asch has the same trainer as him. Asch was trained by Van as well! Can they be any more similar? However, thanks to the two of them fighting, the Ruins are falling apart. Sync of course doesn’t want to die here and tells Asch to retreat instead. This place is getting dangerous. While the three leave, Largo hears the name “Natalia” and reacts to it. Asch also reacts to the same name in which Sync clarifies that it’s “Princess Natalia”. The two of them have a history with her but none of them want to talk about it to each other.

Minnie: Safe from the Ruins, Luke is being annoying again in front of the rest of the group. He’s making Ion feel so guilty that the boy apologizes multiple times. Anise is upset at Luke as well as Tear. However, Guy breaks this off quickly. They talk about the Daarthic seals and such. Do I really have to recite all the technology terminology here? Basically, the seals are a form of protection toward the Sephiroth and only Fon Master Ion can unlock these seals. However, Asch wants him to break them, even if it leads to nothing for now. This Sephiroth stuff means something later on but for now, like Luke did, who cares? They move on to Chesedonia, the trading market town that is nearby to the ruins.

Minnie: Again, there’s not much to say except Luke is a bigger ass now that he’s in charge. The only one who is taking this lightly is Jade who keeps poking fun at Luke for being the leader. I love Jade. Ion will be staying with them until after the rescue, in which he wil return to Emperor Peony with Jade. Because Luke’s so annoyed at Jade, he goes on ahead only to meet the Dark Wings, who mistake him for Asch. Once they figure out that he’s not Asch, they vanish in the smoke. On their way to the boat, Guy’s arm starts reacting to the curse mark and hits Luke by accident (or on purpose?). Ion examines it and reveals that Guy has a Curse Slot on him. That sounds horrible! Especially to this Guy fangirl. You put a Curse Slot on someone by using stored memories to control them. It’s very effective if the person who places it on you is nearby. Since it’s reacting right now, Sync is nearby so Ion suggests they leave immediately. As they are leaving, Sync says they’ll die eventually at Akzeriuth. And also, one last thing, Ion says that only Fon Masters can use such a powerful Daarth Artes… hmm…

Minnie: They are now walking through Deo Pass which leads to Akzeriuth where Van is waiting for Luke. This part is a pain to write because all I want to do is knock Luke off the cliff and hope he dies a miserable death. At least, everyone else is feeling the same way. Luke calls rescuing Ion a “detour” which made everyone get mad at him except for Jade as usual. Guy as well I guess. Instead, Jade notes that everyone here is so young and moves ahead. As for Guy, he keeps his thoughts in his head to himself about Luke. Later, Guy also notices that Anise is not too happy with Luke but of course, Anise needs to keep up her cute act and pretends that she’s not bothered. Here, we get a bit more information about the road and how it is used in past to get to Akzeriuth. The hostility between Jade and Natalia indicates that there’s still hostility between the two countries despite the peace they are trying to ensure.

Minnie: Ion is tired because he doesn’t have much physical strength. Even though Luke insists they move on, no one agrees with him and sides with Ion instead. At last, Luke gives up and says that a bit of rest won’t hurt. Jack ass much? Boy, can he get any worse? Oh wait. He can. Legretta decides to give them a visit but not to fight them. She’s here to retrieve her previous student Tear into her side. The reason why she and the other God-Generals are fighting against them and doing all of this is because they don’t want to depend on the Score anymore. The world is so dependent on the Score in telling them what to do that they can’t make decisions on their own, even when it comes to eating a meal. This is the reason Legretta and Van fight for and they want Tear to rejoin them.

Minnie: There’s a quick flashback, showing that Tear is once under Legretta’s care. Legretta is the one who teaches her how to use a lance and fight. However, in the present, Tear declines and says she will not return to them until she completely trusts Van again. This means unlike Luke, Tear does not trust her own brother and does not believe in his cause. Luke is so stupid for not putting these pieces together. Anyways, it seems that the Legretta group are doing some forbidden technology stuff which Jade understands completely. Ion appears to have knowledge of this as well. This is the only time so far in which Jade loses his cool. He is angry that they are resorting to this forbidden technique and is willing to fight Legretta about it. She has a gun though and at a high place so Jade can’t do anything about it. Before Legretta leaves, she pleas to Tear one more time to return to them.

Minnie: I think my summaries are pretty lousy so far but it’s really hard to say anything without spoiling. Most anime-watchers only will be very confused by all this. However, once you watch Episode 8/9, everything will be clear and everything will wrap together perfectly- at least half of the puzzle. In the end, we are seen Luke at his worst. He’s being a spoiled brat who needs someone to explain things to him and tell him what to do- in this case, Van. Tear warns him that if he doesn’t think for himself, he will end up doing things he can never take back. Foreshadowing? Luke is still arrogant though and even screams at poor Mieu who is still by his side. He thinks about Van again and chases after the group. What an odd place to end an episode but I guess it does the trick. Not my favorite episode. It sets up a lot for next episode. Now, next episode, without watching, I can predict a 10/10 coming. I can’t wait for that one. ~

Minnie’s Overall Rating for Episode: 7/10 (I could give it an 8 for two Guy/Natalia scenes…)

Minnie’s Anticipation for Next Episode: 8/10

~incomplete review~  Minnie’s review only~

Tags: Anise, Asch, Guy, Ion, Jade, Largo, Legretta, Luke, Natalia, Sync, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of the Abyss Episode 7, Tear

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 9th, 2008 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Tales of the Abyss (Anime). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.