Greetings Minna-san, It is finally summer and Anime Girl is back. I haven't really had time to write as much as I wanted to because of university, but it is summer break now and that means three months of anime, anime and just anime. I started right away with catching up all the anime I missed this year starting with the Winter 2017 season. I did watch some of them like Youjo Senki, KonoSuba 2 and Tales of Zestiria the X 2 and now it's time to write a review on the one I finished yesterday.
I am still searching for an action fantasy anime that will literary blow my mind with its awesomeness, and believe it or not, this anime had potential to do so. But man, they really screwed up the anime at some points and made it a little less enjoyable than I expected. Give it up for the first review of this summer: Chain Chronicles: The Light of Haecceitas.
PLOT & STORY LINE 📜
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The first and probably the major issue that this show has is that the first episode looks like a mid-seasonal highlight. You play the episode and out of nowhere you have the protagonist fighting alongside his companions against the main villain of the show. He wants some sacred book, the world is becoming dark, some fairy (that seems very important) suddenly disappears and you're just watching and thinking...wait what? I had the feeling that I missed out on something and I did. It has a prequel from 2014. But that 1h long Short Animation didn't give me any insight to to story. Now that is some plot hole, don't you think? It is like half of the season is missing. But what is it now about?
The story starts off, as I said, with our main characters of the Volunteer Army fighting the Dark King and loosing. As mentioned, some little fairy disappears and a very important book called the Chronicle is split into two. The Chronicle is said to hold the entire history of the world and if it were to be stained black, the whole world would too fall into darkness. One half is now in possession of the Dark King and after the battle ends in a big loss for the Volunteer Army, they were forced to retreat. Yet their hope did not disappear entirely and so they set off on another journey to find Pirika (the lost fairy) and gather more allies for their upcoming fight with the Dark King.
Even though the anime has a really messed up story line, it still got a 8/10 from me in the MAL rating, and here's all why:
1. The fantasy-magic setting of Chain Chronicle is one of the best I have ever seen. I know I have seen such setting in a lot anime, but this one special in some way. First of all the powers are based on both magic and mana-powered swordsmanship that just looks so amazing in the fight sequences. The world it self is extremely interesting seeing all the different regions from desserts to forests. I just hoped they had put more effort in the details of each of the seven regions and their rulers. The setting was fantastic and the anime was magical. I loved the fights and enjoyed every battle each of which was epic and thrilling at the same time.
2. The cliche hero-friendship bond story was not boring and irritating as it happens to be in most other anime. The core and in some way the moral of the anime was that friendship bonds are stronger than any dark power that exists and that each hero, no matter how strong he is, cannot overcome evil all by him self. And despite the fact that every episode had at least one scene where they wanted to point that out it didn't annoy me. It was the way the anime conveyed the message that made it enjoyable and really emotional. Many fight scenes but also these 'emotional speeches about friendship and loyalty' gave me enormous chills and I enjoyed every single second of it.
3.The story is not centered about one character alone. I think that this is definitely the best thing about Chain Chronicles. Even though we know right from the start who the main characters are, the anime still manages to put every character in the spotlight for some time. And what's also good, you don't get an annoying over powered main protagonist with powers served on a silver plate. Through the anime you see the hardship and difficulties that each character is facing and overcoming so in the end you forget that the anime actually started from something you might call a highlight because you get the feeling that you've been with the characters from the very beginning.
To conclude the talk about the plot and story line, 24 episodes for this anime might have made it a real masterpiece but nevertheless it is extremely enjoying and entertaining just as it is. And now more about the characters:
CHARACTERS 👦👩
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Just as I mentioned before, all the characters in Chain Chronicles took part in the story. From the main characters Yuri, Phoena and Aram to some side(main) characters like princess Juliana, Burckhardt and other, each of them had its own side story and they were really good. Most of them were really emotional due to the bonds they shared for each other. The two main male protagonists Yuri and Aram both share a pure and kind personality and willpower. Where they differ? Well, Yuri is a down-to-earth and calm individual that tries to omit conflict at any cost. Aram, being just a boy has a really short temper and gets easily in trouble.
When it comes to the female lead Phoena, I must say that I didn't like her in the beginning. I thought she would be just a useless side-kick like Sakura but she actually went through an amazing character development being the keeper of the Chronicle. My favorite character was definitely princess Juliana. She was such a lovely yet though and extremely capable leader that showed strength in moments when she was needed by both her friends and her people. Also one of the most amazing moments was when she fought...SPOILER..in the and. You can see a part of the fight in the GIF on the right.
ANIMATION AND STYLE 💻
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I still have no idea what to talk about in this section. As every animation nowadays it is extremely good. Still the thing that not every anime has is detail. The backgrounds of Chain Chronicle are amazing and as mentioned before the fight scenes are incredible. As for the style, I gotta say that I loved the character design. I know it wasn't that special but it was also not ordinary. And one more thing that is definitely worth mentioning was the opening. The theme song "My Liberation" and the video were really catchy and the proof for that is the fact that I actually did not skip it in every episode. CONCLUSION 📌
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I really don't understand anime makers form time to time. Were you really that lazy to make additional 12 episodes? It would have made the anime so much better if it actually had a beginning and a proper introduction to the story. Still, awesome characters, a really interesting setting and amazing animation made the anime really enjoyable, entertaining and worth your time. And so I still didn't find my fantasy masterpiece, but until then I entertain my self it other good anime, and Chain Chronicles is definitely one of them.
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