The Tales series is probably still my overall favorite JRPG series. I love its mix of action-based combat and surprisingly deep character development. That said, the series has had an interesting history of anime adaptations—from Eternia’s anime-original story to Symphonia just covering its main story beats, Abyss being a mostly solid adaptation, Vesperia acting as a prequel, and Zestiria being a weird mix of adaptation and anime-original content.

Before all the modern adaptations, there was a four-episode OVA of the original Tales game, Phantasia.

The best way I can describe this OVA is… quick fan service. The fight animations are solid, and for the most part, it does a decent job of conveying the personalities of the five main characters while providing a general idea of the setting and plot.

The scenes that are included stay faithful to the game, and there are some nice, wholesome character interactions that are fun to see fully voiced and animated—something you wouldn’t get from the original game, which was originally a Super Nintendo title that has only been ported as 2D sprite-based versions and never received a full remake.

You get an idea of what sets Cless and Chester’s journey in motion, some ship-tease moments between Cless and Mint, as well as Chester and Arche, and Klaus being a decent enough "old man" support character. Suzu, though… it’s disappointing that she never got fully recruited in this OVA.

Unfortunately, that’s about all the praise I can give. If you're looking for even a half-decent adaptation of Tales of Phantasia’s story, you won’t find it here.

The episodes jump around so much that unless you’ve already played the game, you’ll probably be confused about how characters get from one event to another. There are massive gaps in the story, and character development happens off-screen between episodes, making it feel disjointed.

For example, every single character recruitment scene for the main party is completely skipped. These moments are crucial for building emotional connections with the characters and understanding why they join the quest, but the OVA doesn’t bother to include them at all.

That said, it’s still cool to see the world in anime form and get a glimpse of Dhaos, the main villain, who helped start the trend of Tales antagonists having "greater good" motives that clash with the heroes. But even then, Dhaos isn’t given nearly as much development or buildup as he had in the game.

At best, this OVA might serve as a teaser to make you want to play Tales of Phantasia. But if you’re hoping for a complete or even decent retelling of the story, you’re out of luck—unless you just want to see some cool fantasy action.