Opening Song: N/A
Credits Song: Ring A Bell (by Bonnie Pink)
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis and my opinions at the very end.
Summary:
A substance known as "aer" is used by the people of Terca Lumireis (the planet) as a fuel source. The crystallized form of aer, known as Apatheia, are used to create barriers around towns to protect them from monster attacks. Near the town of Shizontania, two knights new to the Niren Corps, Flynn Scifo and Yuri Lowell, aided by their fellow Corps members Hisca and Chastel, deal with a monster infestation. While on the job their blastia (devices that use aer to cast elemental magic) malfunction. The group also encounters heavy concentrations of aer causing the trees to die and the normally invisible aer to take on a red color.
After their assignment the group stops by the local pub for a meal. They overhear one of the local guild members boasting about having scammed an old man, so Yuri initiates a brawl with the man that quickly engulfs the entire tavern. The leader of the local guild, Merzhom Keida, puts a stop to the fight as soon as one of his men draws a knife and promises to make good on all future contracts. The group leaves to treat their wounds and Niren, the captain of the knights stationed in Shizontania, reprimands Yuri for starting the commotion and deducts the pub repair costs from his pay.
Niren is called by Commandant Alexei to attend a formal gathering at the imperial capital of Zaphias, but with the red aer concentration still unsolved Niren decides to send Flynn as his proxy. Flynn is admonished by Alexei for requesting reinforcements and barred from attending the ceremony because of his low rank. Meanwhile, Niren and Chastel leave to meet with a blastia expert named Rita Mordio who provides them with a device to capture aer. Yuri and Hisca stay behind to care for Niren's dog Lambert and his pup Repede.
The town is attacked by a tentacled aer monster that absorbs Lambert and two other war-hounds. Hisca freezes with shock over the sight of the monster's victims, forcing Yuri to kill Lambert to protect her. The invasion is repelled and word arrives that reinforcements will not be coming. Flynn and Yuri come to blows over the difficulties of their assignments, but make amends later that night. Raven, one of Merzhom's men, also spots a member of the royal guard in Shizontania reporting to an unseen individual.
Niren decides to take the knights to investigate a fortress at the center of a nearby lake, believing it to be the source of the excess aer. Garista, the strategist for the Niren Corps, tries to dissuade Niren and Flynn but to no avail. The investigation of the fortress turns out to be more dangerous than expected when the knights are attacked by living water and the castle itself. Merzhom and his guild-men arrive to lend a hand, intending to protect the town, their place of employment, and to avenge the men that fell in the previous battle. At the center of the fortress the knights find a giant blastia that someone had built and activated. Niren deploys the device he received from Rita to plug the gushing of aer from the giant blastia, but the sudden halt to the flow triggers an explosion that knocks out Chastel.
Niren manages to carry Chastel to safety before the floor beneath him crumbles, stranding him in a sinkhole of gushing aer. Yuri attempts to pull Niren out but the high concentration of aer dissolving Niren's arm makes rescue impossible. The knights are forced to leave without him as the fortress crumbles. Upon returning home they find the barrier blastia that keeps Shizontonia safe has shattered, however, the knights and the entire town still take time to mourn Niren's death.
Flynn comes to realize that the blastia used in the fortress, along with a piece he found on the floor, are a specialized type of blastia used only by Garista. Yuri and Flynn confront Garista, who openly admits to experimenting with new kinds of blastia. The most recent experiment went awry, so Garista decided to allow the blastia to destroy itself, taking Shizontonia with it. He also admits that a similar experiment in the past killed Flynn's father. Yuri and Flynn kill Garista and Shizontonia is evacuated. Yuri decides to leave the knights, taking Niren's blastia and Repede with him.
Final Thoughts
The voice acting, animation, art direction, music, and general presentation was just really on point. I like the pastel color palette, the general softness, and the nicely detailed backgrounds, but the story was kinda weak. They didn't want to interfere with the video game's storyline too much, so a lot of character arcs and story elements are left unfinished. The end credits even kick off with a series of scenes from the video game that promise a story bigger and better than the one in First Strike. I wasn't a fan of the new twin characters, Hisca and Chastel, who are essentially just the token female characters in an otherwise all-male knightly order. They primarily act as escorts, nurses, and damsels in need of saving the entire runtime. Niren even calls them by chest size rather than by name at least once. Fans of the game will also notice a host of inconsistencies:
- Alexei is a secret villain in the game, but in the movie it is obvious from the get-go that he is up to no good.
- In the game Repede is four in human years, and Yuri and Flynn took care of him together after his owner went missing. In the movie Yuri (reluctantly) raised Repede all by himself, and Repede's father and pipe have a different origin.
- Rita Shouldn't know what an Aer krene is until Duke tells her at Keiv Moc, which invalidates a large part of the movie's plot.
- Yuri and Flynn joined the knights at the same time with the shared goal of changing the empire from within. In the movie Yuri joined after Flynn and only because he had nothing better to do. Yuri originally left because he came to realized he couldn't save anyone by following orders. It's the other way around in the movie; he leaves because the one person who actually saved people by breaking the rules died.
- Yuri has sex jokes fly over his head despite making sexual comments in the game.
- Flynn willingly assists Yuri with the murder and coverup of Garista, which makes the conflict he suffers over this type of thing in the game pointless.
- Yuri and Flynn don't always see eye-to-eye but you can
tell they know and respect each other on some deep level, except in the
anime where they are very antagonistic towards each other.
I fully support some of the changes the prequel made, such as Repede's
backstory which felt more fleshed out and personal here versus the game
where it seemed like more an afterthought. Flynn disliking his late
father for putting people in danger by breaking the rules, the same
qualities Yuri admires, was also a nice addition. Overall it's a fun
movie, and while it can be enjoyed on its own as a standalone
installment, it is best viewed after having played the game because
there are a lot of obvious nods and winks to the game that serve no
purpose outside of just being a cameo; such as the Flynn and Estellise side-story.
Have you seen Tales of Vesperia: The
First Strike or played the video game? What were your thoughts on the
movie? If you haven't seen it, do you plan to?
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