Tales of Zestiria the Cross: Saiyaku no Jidai

This episode is fascinating to me, and maybe I'm just not well-versed in prequels, but the fact that this prequel was aired before the main series is interesting.

So, for art and music, is it sufficient enough to just mention that this is made by ufotable? I think it is, but I'll talk about it anyway. The music in this episode was nothing short of majestic. It felt sweeping and epic, and it made many of the ending scenes feel that much more grand. Obviously, though, the real pièce de résistance in ufotable works is the art. In this particular episode, everything from the smoke ... to the fire to the water to the lighting was done to perfection. This is potentially the only studio that will ever be able to pull of CGI elements in their anime and this one is no exception. There's this amazing moment during this episode where the ground is literally upheaved, and it was animated beautifully.

At this stage, there isn't much to say about the story or the characters since this is only one episode, but I will say they hooked me. The storytelling in this episode built to a crescendo in a lovely way. You'll understand if you watch it, but the pacing of it was quite nice. This isn't much of a review-like statement as much as it is an opinion, but the sections of the characters we did get to see in this episode were probably the parts of the characters we needed to see to get excited about what's to come, so good on you, ufotable. Another thing this studio does really well, in my opinion, is fighting sequences, and this episode also showcased that nicely as well.

The reason I haven't given this episode a ten despite all that stuff I just said is partially because it was simply a single episode, and it's difficult to earn a ten on just that, but it's also because it didn't explain much at all. For a prequel, I thought that what was happening on screen was going to be explained a little better than it was. That's what I usually expect out of prequels anyway. If it gets explained in the main series, then great, but I felt like this episode should've given me a firmer foundation to leap off of going forward. Like I said, though, I am excited, so we'll see what comes next.

Dubbed also as “Tales of Zestiria the X Prologue it takes place before the series and features a certain event that happened with Alisha the princess and her few comrades and why princess Alisha decided to find shepherd and why did she ended up in that Ruin at the begging of the first episode.....

The main star of this prologue was Alisha although the MC of the series is Sorey the shepherd as i mention it just features a certain event that happened with Alisha on her journey

The animation was outstanding as obvious because it was created by ufotable studios .....


well what can ... you expect from a prologue ? Its basic purpose is to give an Idea of the past, character's background and a little information about the events that caused the story of the anime to take place

So as for those purposes this prologue achieved it's purpose completely and gave everything which was expected from it so for that it deserve a 10/10 !!!

Just an introduction episode to set up the story. The poster boy wasn't in it and we are really only introduced to the princess. There seems to be some political strife, ongoing natural disasters (which don't seem to be natural at all), some mysterious runes, and some magic stuff (which kind of just inserted at the end). The narrative was a bit confusing because it kept jumping around but the art and animation were pretty good. There is the sword in the stone reference to King Arthur. Not familiar with the source material but I'll give the main show a try but we'll see.