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Released in 2013 (2012 in the US and 2011 in Japan), Devil survivor 2 was an isometric tactical RPG similar to Final Fantasy tactics. Players lead a small team into each battle throughout the 7 days working towards defeating the 7 Septentriones bent on the destruction of humanity. Core combat and game mechanics revolved around collecting, fusing and summoning "demons" from various fables, myths and pantheons to fight alongside players. Each demon had their strengths, weaknesses and choosing the right demons was key to victory. Devil survivor 2 focused on human behavior and actions of society when pushed to the edge of collapse or given vast amounts of power. Each character outside of battle had their own agendas and problems. social interaction strengthened the bond with those characters unlocking useful abilities and demons . But more importantly, it determined who would help or hinder the player when it came to the final roll of the dice to decide the fate of humanity.
Also released in 2013 was Devil Survivor 2: the animation which adapts the DS game, incorporating it story and characters into an anime. Lasting only 13 episodes long (half a normal anime season), the plot unsurprisingly moves at a break neck speed. There's rarely a dull moment as no sooner has one threat being contained the next one appears, ensuring plenty of impressively animated action all throughout the series. But the fast pace is also the root cause of all the shows problems. Many of the characters are given little to no introduction before being killed off. Those lucky enough to survive longer than an episode quickly fall into uninspired personas that lack any real personality before being killed off an episode or 2 later. Those unfamiliar with the game will fail to connect with characters even when they die as so little is known about them. Viewers who have played the game would know that each character had more fleshed out personalities and back story. This only exacerbates the issue further as they deserved to be portrayed much better throughout the animation.
Understandably, sacrifices had to be made to squeeze any resemblance of a complete story into a tight schedule. Whilst there is a complete story, it comes at a great cost with content being cut or rewritten to making things work. At first DS2:TA follows the original source material relatively faithfully, episode 1 does a decent job setting the scene from hibaki and friends surviving their predicted deaths and discovering their new found abilities. But the plot slowly derails, substituting the original story into something increasingly simplistic and cliched. All the Subtlety, mystery and the philosophical discussions on the various facets of humanity is lost giving way to a battle of good vs evil. What's worse is how large chunks of plot are cut or explained away in seconds. In Episode 9, the 5th most powerful Septentrione (Alioth) and all of Thursday's struggle is explained away in less than 10 minutes whereas at least an episode is dedicated to battling each Septentrione.
This is all before mentioning the disappointing English dubb . Lines are delivered with such little emotion at times it felt uninspired or characters come across stiff and lacking personality . For example, Yumi isn't portrayed as the Kooky, scientifically driven scientist who enjoys experimenting on any unfortunate volunteers. Choice of voice actors also seems suspect as they don't fit the character properly, viewers couldn't be blamed if they believed HInako was older than 19 whereas Alcor's demon lackeys take top honors being the most irritating to listen to. It's not helped that various names are mispronounced like the secret organisation JPs in the game is pronounced "Jips" as opposed to vocalising each letter separately.
Overall Devil Survivor 2: the animation is hard to recommend and best avoided as It's not a particularly good anime let alone one based on a game. It was always going to be difficult to pack an exciting or compelling story that had 15 characters, told over 7 days in an average 24/26 episodic anime series let alone in half that time. Granted, the animation had its moments and the impressive action does work in its favor. But It's not enough to address the poor use of the original source material, lackluster dubb and how disengaged I was watching it. There are far better examples of games being adapted into an anime like Persona4 or Steins;gate that are enjoyable even without prior knowledge or experiences with their respective games to enjoy them. Alternatively, play the game on the DS or Pray for the 3DS remake; Devil survivor 2: break record, one day gets released in Europe and get that instead.
4/10
Also released in 2013 was Devil Survivor 2: the animation which adapts the DS game, incorporating it story and characters into an anime. Lasting only 13 episodes long (half a normal anime season), the plot unsurprisingly moves at a break neck speed. There's rarely a dull moment as no sooner has one threat being contained the next one appears, ensuring plenty of impressively animated action all throughout the series. But the fast pace is also the root cause of all the shows problems. Many of the characters are given little to no introduction before being killed off. Those lucky enough to survive longer than an episode quickly fall into uninspired personas that lack any real personality before being killed off an episode or 2 later. Those unfamiliar with the game will fail to connect with characters even when they die as so little is known about them. Viewers who have played the game would know that each character had more fleshed out personalities and back story. This only exacerbates the issue further as they deserved to be portrayed much better throughout the animation.
Understandably, sacrifices had to be made to squeeze any resemblance of a complete story into a tight schedule. Whilst there is a complete story, it comes at a great cost with content being cut or rewritten to making things work. At first DS2:TA follows the original source material relatively faithfully, episode 1 does a decent job setting the scene from hibaki and friends surviving their predicted deaths and discovering their new found abilities. But the plot slowly derails, substituting the original story into something increasingly simplistic and cliched. All the Subtlety, mystery and the philosophical discussions on the various facets of humanity is lost giving way to a battle of good vs evil. What's worse is how large chunks of plot are cut or explained away in seconds. In Episode 9, the 5th most powerful Septentrione (Alioth) and all of Thursday's struggle is explained away in less than 10 minutes whereas at least an episode is dedicated to battling each Septentrione.
This is all before mentioning the disappointing English dubb . Lines are delivered with such little emotion at times it felt uninspired or characters come across stiff and lacking personality . For example, Yumi isn't portrayed as the Kooky, scientifically driven scientist who enjoys experimenting on any unfortunate volunteers. Choice of voice actors also seems suspect as they don't fit the character properly, viewers couldn't be blamed if they believed HInako was older than 19 whereas Alcor's demon lackeys take top honors being the most irritating to listen to. It's not helped that various names are mispronounced like the secret organisation JPs in the game is pronounced "Jips" as opposed to vocalising each letter separately.
Overall Devil Survivor 2: the animation is hard to recommend and best avoided as It's not a particularly good anime let alone one based on a game. It was always going to be difficult to pack an exciting or compelling story that had 15 characters, told over 7 days in an average 24/26 episodic anime series let alone in half that time. Granted, the animation had its moments and the impressive action does work in its favor. But It's not enough to address the poor use of the original source material, lackluster dubb and how disengaged I was watching it. There are far better examples of games being adapted into an anime like Persona4 or Steins;gate that are enjoyable even without prior knowledge or experiences with their respective games to enjoy them. Alternatively, play the game on the DS or Pray for the 3DS remake; Devil survivor 2: break record, one day gets released in Europe and get that instead.
4/10
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Released in 2013 (2012 in the US and 2011 in Japan), Devil survivor 2 was an isometric tactical RPG similar to Final Fantasy tactics. Players lead a small team into each battle throughout the 7 days working towards defeating the 7 Septentriones bent on the destruction of humanity. Core combat and game mechanics revolved around collecting, fusing and summoning "demons" from various fables, myths and pantheons to fight alongside players. Each demon had their strengths, weaknesses and choosing the right demons was key to victory. Devil survivor 2 focused on human behavior and actions of society when pushed to the edge of collapse or given vast amounts of power. Each character outside of battle had their own agendas and problems. social interaction strengthened the bond with those characters unlocking useful abilities and demons . But more importantly, it determined who would help or hinder the player when it came to the final roll of the dice to decide the fate of humanity.
Also released in 2013 was Devil Survivor 2: the animation which adapts the DS game, incorporating it story and characters into an anime. Lasting only 13 episodes long (half a normal anime season), the plot unsurprisingly moves at a break neck speed. There's rarely a dull moment as no sooner has one threat being contained the next one appears, ensuring plenty of impressively animated action all throughout the series. But the fast pace is also the root cause of all the shows problems. Many of the characters are given little to no introduction before being killed off. Those lucky enough to survive longer than an episode quickly fall into uninspired personas that lack any real personality before being killed off an episode or 2 later. Those unfamiliar with the game will fail to connect with characters even when they die as so little is known about them. Viewers who have played the game would know that each character had more fleshed out personalities and back story. This only exacerbates the issue further as they deserved to be portrayed much better throughout the animation.
Understandably, sacrifices had to be made to squeeze any resemblance of a complete story into a tight schedule. Whilst there is a complete story, it comes at a great cost with content being cut or rewritten to making things work. At first DS2:TA follows the original source material relatively faithfully, episode 1 does a decent job setting the scene from hibaki and friends surviving their predicted deaths and discovering their new found abilities. But the plot slowly derails, substituting the original story into something increasingly simplistic and cliched. All the Subtlety, mystery and the philosophical discussions on the various facets of humanity is lost giving way to a battle of good vs evil. What's worse is how large chunks of plot are cut or explained away in seconds. In Episode 9, the 5th most powerful Septentrione (Alioth) and all of Thursday's struggle is explained away in less than 10 minutes whereas at least an episode is dedicated to battling each Septentrione.
This is all before mentioning the disappointing English dubb . Lines are delivered with such little emotion at times it felt uninspired or characters come across stiff and lacking personality . For example, Yumi isn't portrayed as the Kooky, scientifically driven scientist who enjoys experimenting on any unfortunate volunteers. Choice of voice actors also seems suspect as they don't fit the character properly, viewers couldn't be blamed if they believed HInako was older than 19 whereas Alcor's demon lackeys take top honors being the most irritating to listen to. It's not helped that various names are mispronounced like the secret organisation JPs in the game is pronounced "Jips" as opposed to vocalising each letter separately.
Overall Devil Survivor 2: the animation is hard to recommend and best avoided as It's not a particularly good anime let alone one based on a game. It was always going to be difficult to pack an exciting or compelling story that had 15 characters, told over 7 days in an average 24/26 episodic anime series let alone in half that time. Granted, the animation had its moments and the impressive action does work in its favor. But It's not enough to address the poor use of the original source material, lackluster dubb and how disengaged I was watching it. There are far better examples of games being adapted into an anime like Persona4 or Steins;gate that are enjoyable even without prior knowledge or experiences with their respective games to enjoy them. Alternatively, play the game on the DS or Pray for the 3DS remake; Devil survivor 2: break record, one day gets released in Europe and get that instead.
4/10
Also released in 2013 was Devil Survivor 2: the animation which adapts the DS game, incorporating it story and characters into an anime. Lasting only 13 episodes long (half a normal anime season), the plot unsurprisingly moves at a break neck speed. There's rarely a dull moment as no sooner has one threat being contained the next one appears, ensuring plenty of impressively animated action all throughout the series. But the fast pace is also the root cause of all the shows problems. Many of the characters are given little to no introduction before being killed off. Those lucky enough to survive longer than an episode quickly fall into uninspired personas that lack any real personality before being killed off an episode or 2 later. Those unfamiliar with the game will fail to connect with characters even when they die as so little is known about them. Viewers who have played the game would know that each character had more fleshed out personalities and back story. This only exacerbates the issue further as they deserved to be portrayed much better throughout the animation.
Understandably, sacrifices had to be made to squeeze any resemblance of a complete story into a tight schedule. Whilst there is a complete story, it comes at a great cost with content being cut or rewritten to making things work. At first DS2:TA follows the original source material relatively faithfully, episode 1 does a decent job setting the scene from hibaki and friends surviving their predicted deaths and discovering their new found abilities. But the plot slowly derails, substituting the original story into something increasingly simplistic and cliched. All the Subtlety, mystery and the philosophical discussions on the various facets of humanity is lost giving way to a battle of good vs evil. What's worse is how large chunks of plot are cut or explained away in seconds. In Episode 9, the 5th most powerful Septentrione (Alioth) and all of Thursday's struggle is explained away in less than 10 minutes whereas at least an episode is dedicated to battling each Septentrione.
This is all before mentioning the disappointing English dubb . Lines are delivered with such little emotion at times it felt uninspired or characters come across stiff and lacking personality . For example, Yumi isn't portrayed as the Kooky, scientifically driven scientist who enjoys experimenting on any unfortunate volunteers. Choice of voice actors also seems suspect as they don't fit the character properly, viewers couldn't be blamed if they believed HInako was older than 19 whereas Alcor's demon lackeys take top honors being the most irritating to listen to. It's not helped that various names are mispronounced like the secret organisation JPs in the game is pronounced "Jips" as opposed to vocalising each letter separately.
Overall Devil Survivor 2: the animation is hard to recommend and best avoided as It's not a particularly good anime let alone one based on a game. It was always going to be difficult to pack an exciting or compelling story that had 15 characters, told over 7 days in an average 24/26 episodic anime series let alone in half that time. Granted, the animation had its moments and the impressive action does work in its favor. But It's not enough to address the poor use of the original source material, lackluster dubb and how disengaged I was watching it. There are far better examples of games being adapted into an anime like Persona4 or Steins;gate that are enjoyable even without prior knowledge or experiences with their respective games to enjoy them. Alternatively, play the game on the DS or Pray for the 3DS remake; Devil survivor 2: break record, one day gets released in Europe and get that instead.
4/10