Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation

In the year 2027, the video game Phantasy Star Online 2 is all the rage at Seiga Academy. Every student is on board the fad—except for Itsuki Tachibana, a well-rounded student who doesn't play video games. Due to its popularity, the game is currently under review at Seiga Academy to see if it has a negative impact on the students. Consequently, this causes Itsuki to catch the attention of Rina Izumi, the perfectionist student council president who aims to prove that the game is not to blame.

To accomplish her objective, Rina recruits Itsuki as the student council vice president and tasks him with learning to play the game while keeping his grades up. Now obliged to report his daily findings of the game to Rina and analyze its merits, Itsuki carries the fate of Phantasy Star Online 2 in his hands.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tachibana, Itsuki Main

Aoi, Shouta Japanese

Suzuki, Aika Main

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

Izumi, Rina Main

Suwa, Ayaka Japanese

Matoi Supporting

Satou, Satomi Japanese

Quna Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Patty Supporting

Asumi, Kana Japanese

Tia Supporting

Iguchi, Yuka Japanese

KID Supporting

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

Zeno Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Casra Supporting

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Kikuchi, Hitoshi Producer

Hasegawa, Shunsuke Producer

Kawaguchi, Keiichirou Director

Iwanami, Yoshikazu Sound Director

Reviews

Nov 11, 2021

Lulech23

Recommended

This may be one of the most underrated shows I've come across in a while. I held off watching PSO2: The Animation for *years* because of its low review scores, but after recently getting back into PSO2 the MMORPG, I decided to finally give it a try. And oh boy, I was not prepared for what a treat this is.

**This review is spoiler-free**

PSO2: The Animation is something of a victim of its own marketing. The premise of an anime created by Sega where a real-world Sega videogame enjoys universal popularity feels pretentious, as if the whole thing were nothing more than an extended commercial. But ... while the anime's existence may indeed be advertising, its plot has far better motives. In fact, remove PSO2 and you'd still have a nice story, albeit nothing groundbreaking.

Contrary to fans' hopes at the time of release, PSO2: The Animation is not an adaptation of the game's story. (We later got PSO2: Episode Oracle for that.) Instead, it serves as a *prequel* to Episode 4 of the MMORPG--and a rather critical one at that. At its release, Episode 4 provided a jarring tonal shift for the series, and at first glance, The Animation only adds to the shock. In hindsight, however, it was clearly intended to do the opposite. Viewers are presented with the gentlest of on-ramps from a typical highschool rom-com to the sci-fi world of PSO2 itself blended with reality in some genuinely interesting ways.

What's more, the execution of both sides of the coin is unexpectedly competent. The highschool drama may play off familiar tropes, but it does so specifically to create contrast with its more original elements. And more surprisingly, it manages to avoid the cringey pitfalls typically ensnared by the setting. The main protagonist, Itsuki, is neither a flat nobody nor an untouchable god. The love triangle is not overplayed nor sustained on contrived misunderstanding. His friendship with both leading heroines actually makes sense, and each character contributes something unique to the story.

Then there's the red herrings, which are, in a word, brilliantly played. Without spoiling anything, I can only say again that the tropes here are used as a plot device, not a crutch, and the writers are very aware of their audience's awareness of them. While the outcome is nevertheless predictable (this is a PSO2 anime, after all, and PSO2 things are bound to happen) the payoff is so satisfying when it comes that it nearly feels like a second season packed into one.

In addition, the way the show incorporates elements from the game demonstrates real understanding of players, right down to self-deprecating humor that any veteran will appreciate. The way characters interact with each other and with the game is possibly the most lifelike of any MMO anime I've seen--especially important considering this is aimed at players of a real-world MMORPG. The attacks, the sound effects, the locations, and even play styles are faithfully represented without ever being too on-the-nose. This does of course mean that prior experience with the game is an absolute prerequisite to follow the show's plot and cameos. But this only serves to demonstrate that advertising was a second priority for Sega. PSO2: The Animation is a love letter, first and foremost.

And no more clearly can this be felt than in the original soundtrack. While a few PSO2 tunes make an appearance to capitalize on key moments, a majority of the time your ears will be treated to something completely different. And I do mean "treated"--the main theme in particular immediately caught my ears, and the piano rendition is now one of my favorite anime tracks of all time ("POTENTIAL ABILITY -Heart-"--look it up!).

PSO2: The Animation could very easily have wound up a simple cash grab to shove PSO2 the MMORPG in your face. In fact, by all rights, that's all it ever *should* have been. Instead, it's one of the most successful videogame anime tie-ins I've ever seen, and it may just be the highlight of the entire Episode 4 arc. Whether or not you're a fan of PSO2, you've seen everything here before. But if you are, there's something special about seeing it in this context. The Phantasy Star series has long held a quiet influence over pop culture at large, and The Animation handily stands on its own amid the franchise. So long as you happen to fit in its rather specific demographic, it'll put a contented smile on your face from start to finish.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 12, 2019

SeireiAki

Mixed Feelings

PSO2 is amazing! The story is just great and I always love to relive it. . . . The game that is.
When it comes to the animation . . . all I can say is it's average.

The story focus on a character that is not relevant to PSO2 and only mentioned like 3 times in 'Episode 4' (The EARTH arc in the game).

PRO:
+ PSO2 Anime
+ Some characters from PSO2 show up

CON:
... - The main characters aren't that amazing.
- Unless you play the game, you don't really see why somethings happen.
- Low amount of fighting scenes (especially after awakening) !

Overall I rate it a 6. While it is a decent anime to watch to kill time, it is not an anime that will make you go WOW AMAZING. If anything I suggest you play the game and play through the story. You'll find that it is 500% more interesting especially the first 3 Episode (arcs).

Finally I want to say: Thank God They're Planning To Make Another PSO2 Anime! This time following Episode 1 - 3 (the first 3 arc of PSO2 game)

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 5, 2020

Tzystiq

Not Recommended

This anime is basically just an ad for the game Phantasy star Online. Not a good ad. At times, the dialogue is completely horrible. It feels almost like there is NOTHING in the entire Japanese country, but this one game, our Protagonist has to review, and that game is, as you might have guessed Phantasy Star Online 2, which is, if you didn't know a real game. Conveniently, to advertise the game, everything our dense Protagonist writes about the game is unrealisticly Positive. Well, for the story, the anime actually has one! But... the story after the secand half makes the story completely irrelevant, also ... almost everything is predictable. At least the story has an ending, just not a good one... but hey, it has one! For the art and animation, they used a ridiculous amount of CGI and crappy animations, which makes the anime even worse. Ok, but for the sounds, well yeah, it has sounds, not the best, but they have sounds, ill give them that. To be fair, the opening, which was very likely made for this anime, is pretty ok. And for the Characters (at least for the ones i remember) we have: Student Council girl, Sad troll boi, very misterious and not at all predictable blonde girl with big tiddies, big monster that has no real backstory but apparently likes to posses things, of course our incredibly dense and generic protagonist and some side characters, that are completely irrelevant. I honestly don't know, why i didn't drop this anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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