Star Ocean EX 2/10

Oh man! This show really crashed and burned. It was like a train wreck. So sad.

Based on Star Ocean 2: Second Story for Playstation, I had such high hopes. The game was a little weak in the story department but the amazing music, visuals and interesting character designs made up for it. The music was especially memorable and I was looking forward to more of the same goodness in Star Ocean EX.

BZZZZT! WRONGO ZENITH27ERINO!

Dang.

Starting with the visuals, the small bright spot in this series is the retention of the basic character designs from the game and the nice colours. The problems start right away with the inconsistent animation quality and lack of any great effects in post-production. The backgrounds are sub-standard but since the story rarely goes anywhere interesting this isn't a real problem. The great symphonic music from the game is completely absent here and replaced with boring and uninspired generic synth crappiness. The OP theme is annoying but the ED theme isn't entirely a waste of time listening to. The VA's are average and I have no real complaints there. These 26 episodes aired back in 2001 and I'd like to go back to that time and slap the creators around a bit.

The plot goes something like this. Claude is a crewmember on a spaceship with his father as captain. They go down to a planet and Claude is accidentally teleported to a planet and marooned there. He meets Rena, a girl who believes Claude to be the legendary hero destined to save the world. The world is in trouble from the Sorcery Globe on the next continent over and it's creating monsters and wreaking havoc on the populace. Claude and Rena set out to save the world with and meet various characters on the way who join them on their journey. They ultimately get to the Sorcery Globe and..I won't spoil the ending.

This is a rather short plot summary but that's about all that happens. The other characters are thrown in and there are so many of them they don't get any real growth or plot involvement going. The game had all these characters but you were forced to choose 7 or so out of the 12 or so available. Star Ocean EX attempts to cram everyone in, to the detriment of the story. It's almost like the first and last couple episodes are simply framing for a bunch of filler. Also the ending of the series was atrocious. The game has multiple endings depending on the relationships between the characters established during play. The show's story ends before the game's story ends. What!? YOU HAD 30+ ENDINGS TO CHOOSE FROM AND PICKED NONE OF THEM!!!??? CRIPES!

With the somewhat crappy production quality, bad writing and retarded ending I can't recommend this show to anyone other then fans of the game. Not-recommended.