I love your analysis, it's comforting to know that I am not the only one seeing that Sorey and Mikleo are complementary, to faces of the same coin. They are so healthy, cute and domestic with each other, it's just melt my heart ! I firmly denied the characterisations of Tales of Zestiria the X, SoreyX is so OOC and poor Mikleo constantly rejected and left aside, it's the same problem with Laila, Ednan and the other they became part of the peanut galery, what a shame !

I've watched all the anime adapts of TOZ and finished through the game, I think the thing that stuck out the most is that in game, Mikleo is seen more like a brother, while in the anime he is seen more as Sorey's caretaker. Maybe I'm just being sappy cause I prefer Mikleo and Sorey over Sorey and Alisha but in game Mikleo and Sorey's relationship is more of the center. In the anime Sorey and Alisha's relationship feels more like the center.

I hadn't watched the anime yet but... I cannot believe they removed the argument. Why would they do that? It was such a good part of the plot and their characters and it seems so weird for it not to be there...

Oh god, I already love Tales of Zestiria, especially Sorey and Mikleo, but hearing how the Manga handles some of the moments, especially the argument REALLY makes me want to read it

I hate the anime. I only watched it because I really wanted to see Sorey and Mikleo animated, but I pretty much discarded any "canon" it offered and pretended they were just extra scenes to the game. I think the anime's worst problem was that it felt like it was made to cater to the Alisha fans who were butthurt by her leaving. They chose to expand *a lot* on both Alisha's and Rose's character, not to mention all that non-sense with the Tales of Berseria episodes that didn't even make sense at that time, and with all that happening, they had to cut time away from all other characters, including those who should have been the main ones. So, the problem wiht Sorey and Mikleo in the anime is that they've been shoved into secondary roles so Alisha and Rose could become main characters instead. (Edit: They spolied Rose's character to me, too. But to explain why, I'd go into a completely deep analysis of game vs anime Rose.) The only thing about the anime I love is the epilogue. My headcanon is 100% that Sorey is a Seraph, and the two of them are now bonded due to the connection Mikleo left open. I'm not letting go of that headcanon, haha.

I love them, like one soul in dif bodies, they work best when together and are happiest. the only things i rescue from the animation is the quality of ufotable as always, the music, the acting and the effects, but not the plot changes.

Excellent musical choices for each section. It's an editing touch that adds punch to your points.

This is a great analysis. I can’t wait to watch more of analysis.

Great video! The anime is like the Cliff Notes version of their relationship. Completely agree about the consolation prize ending. I'm used to anime downplaying bromatic relationships as not to scare off fans who aren't woke enough to appreciate them. I'm definitely gonna check out the manga now

I ship them!😊

I watched the anime first because I didn't know the existence of the Tales series (yeah I know I'm late). While the animation is good, but there's something wrong with the character development for some characters. The only character development that I like in the anime is Rose because it suits the plot and it's neatly organized. I have also discussed about the anime with my classmate since he also watched it. To know that this is the adaptation from the game excites me. But to watch the comparison that you highlight between the game and the adaptations surprise me a lot because I never know that so much things have been left out in the anime. This is a great insight! Thank you for your video.

Wow, all I really gotta say is just... thanks. Thanks so much.

Thank you for making this analysis and explained how the different adaptations have handled the story and the characters. I've been a fan of Tales since 2010 and I played Zestiria when it first come out in Japan. I enjoyed the game a lot and when I heard Ufotable was going to make an anime adaptation of it, I was so excited, like many other fans. However, in general, I did not enjoy the anime besides seeing my favourite charas being animated by one of my fave animation studios. Besides that, they decided to skip many important moments from the game and add some other events which are exclusive to the anime, I couldn't really tell why I was disappointed in the anime until I stumbled across your Zestiria analyses. It may have been 3 years since you did this video but I still agree with many points you mention in this one (and other of your videos)

I like the thumbnail how big difference high of sorey and mikleo was :3

Very nice video! I enjoyed it very much. I am probably a very rare exception in that I love the anime adaption of Zestiria. While I will agree that I don’t like how they changed so much and took away many of the good points of the story, I also acknowledge that the anime has a lot of little treats scattered in it for a fan such as myself. I consider the anime as a bonus to Zestiria’s story. And I love any extra material. Being a devout lover of the Sorey and Mikleo pairing, just the anime giving beautiful shots of them together was enough to make it enjoyable for me. But it also had other good points that I loved, including the happier ending for Eizen, and a few of the action sequences. And it is my belief that Sorey and Mikleo have an absolutely perfect happy ending, perhaps with Maotelus blessing Sorey with the immortality of a seraph. I actually haven’t had the chance to get any volumes of the manga yet. And this video gave access to some very beautiful and touching pages of it. And that makes me very happy, only strengthening my love for Sorey and Mikleo’s relationship. I thank you for it. I love the way the game, anime, and manga handle the story, each in their own way, as for me, it’s all about Sorey and Mikleo being together. And that is the thing all three have in common.

It was because of the first half of the anime that I played the game and afterwards it was just amazing how much better the game was. I actually haven't finished the anime as I got the game between the two parts of it and reaching near the end I just keep cringing. I really want to read the manga but can't afford to yet, I'm glad to know they haven't changed too much and have expanded on it. Like the video!

This is the 5th time I've seen this video and I still find it very insightful. As someone who saw the anime first and checked out the game later, I still enjoyed both versions of Zestiria though I think the anime could have been better if it included the Sorey/Mikleo argument since even the best of friends will have disagreements from time to time. I also think that the biggest mistake the anime made was glossing over the scene of Sorey/Mikleo's origins. Including that would have made up for the anime's other flaws, IMO. Even so, I can still tell the boys are close and the game made me realize how much closer they are.

I love the analysis, it just shows how the relationship between Sorey and Mikleo in complementary and healthy. I find myself understand the game plot more after watching this video. I have never read the manga but only watched anime and the game video, and I think I will also enjoy the manga adaptation more than the anime. The anime is really awful especially for season2, the good thing in the anime is the visual effect and Alisha fans services, guess the production team is too busy that they put all the focus on FATE, they were not considerate on the setting and plot. However, I quite enjoy the Epilogue part of the anime despite the setting as they show some reactions between characters....that is fan services

Thank you for this video~ I actually discovered Zestiria through the anime and while I have noticed and love Sorey & Mikleo's relationship from the beginning, I learned from various fans (especially Japanese fans) that it didn't do justice to them. I enlightened myself by checking the playthroughs and learned further. I haven't read the manga yet and I plan to get them in the future so this video helped me learn the differences on the manga side. (I guess I can say the anime sucks despite it's awesome animation by ufotable but of course, the last episode also made me happy...and the openings/endings songs? lmao)

I've seen the anime, read the manga and have been playing the game and I can say that I do agree with you that there are changes in their relationship within each...instalment? Adaptation? xD They actually remind me of Yuuri and Wolfram from Kyou Kara Maou! in some ways with Yuuri and Sorey both being the proclaimed heroes and Mikleo and Wolfram being the ones they seem to have most closeness to (to me anyway concerning Wolfram and Yuuri). Their personalities are also similar; Yuuri can often find himself in trouble and act recklessly whereas Wolfram will act like a voice of reason to him. Though their start is different slightly; Yuuri and Wolfram come from separate worlds (literally) and are seen to take a near enough instant dislike to one another (particularly Wolfram) but eventually they begin to put more trust and even belief in one another. I can't say I've read the Kyou Kara Maou! manga (I'm hoping to find a copy soon) or played the game so I've only based their relationship from the anime itself. Nonetheless, even though the stories differ, it's still a pretty good anime to try out. Sorey and Yuuri even have near enough the same dream; they want both races to come together in peace. Sorey wants humans and the Seraphim to come together, and Yuuri wants to put an end to the fighting between humans and Wolfram's kind; demons (or...I forget what name they used outside the dub but it might be the same). Also with how Sorey learns about the world around him as he travels, so does Yuuri in some ways. I've actually seen a piece of fanart of Yuuri and Wolfram wearing Sorey and Mikleo's clothes which first led me to see their similarities xD But honestly, you should try and see if Kyou Kara Maou! would be of your interest ^^

As an anime only fan there was times where the show felt like it had a lot of holes in it. I enjoyed the show but I did enjoy your analyst and helped to fill in a few holes for me. It always felt like Mikleo was just following Sorey because of his love for him and not to share in his goal. Also dislike the ending and how vague they are. Sorey loss of the girls and never helped to heal the dragon.

I would love to see a comparison video like this but with Sorey and Rose instead. I feel like the anime in many ways wholly refutes some of the themes in the game and I think that's very much worth discussing.

great video hope u get more views

While this video was a great analysis, i do think you left crucial parts out of your sections like; the spin hug thingy they do in the anime (which if that was platonic i dont know what isn't, lol) I honestly can't see their relationship as just friends. Its too deep and suggestive of love. And I'm not one that usually ships people like Harry and Hermoine over Harry and Ginny for example

God your video just hit even MORE nails on the head for me why I can't stand the anime and had to bail halfway through season 2. Right at the beginning you talked about the "soul" of the game and yeah, it was not there. I knew it was going to disappear just as season 1 ended (and the fandom reached Peak Annoying levels) but just. You nailed it. This is the first time I've seen your analysis and there's little I can disagree with here. I used to be neck deep in ToZ lore, analysis, etc. on my social media and a lot of what you've said about them and the game/anime/manga is right about what I've experienced with it, aside from actually finishing the anime (I never did, I hopped off as soon as I watched the trainwreck that was Alisha's aborted development etc etc) and the manga (I need volumes 3 and 4). Anyway I'll wrap this up because I'm running in circles. The video is very informative and the comment about the anime's epilogue being a "consolation prize" just earns some bitter laughs from me. It's not wrong.

All I understood from the video was that manga>>>>all adaptations bYE Jk jk but that is also correct. I loved the first season of anime tbh but I had to push myself to finish second season. About being no argument in anime, it didn’t bug me that much tbh because it showed just how much Mikleo cared about Sorey and was a great bonding moment with Lailah. Sorey’s shown to having difficulties relying on others to share his burden but isn’t Mikleo also similar? He seems to keep his feelings to himself too and to me, him opening up to Lailah like that was a huge thing that didn’t really exist in game. While Mikleo was away we also see Sorey trusting Mikleo instead of kinda babying and underestimating what Mikleo can do. Also, Mikleo returned when they were fighting with Drake and this was way more intense than some random fire resistant hellions imo. This is maybe because I was introduced to the game by the anime and I still haven’t finished the game but that part at least was okay to me. I won’t even bother talking about the second season because I didn’t even know what happens in the game while watching the second season yet it bored me to hell. And washed away Mikleo’s importance. I just couldn’t bear seeing my fav character only shouting Sorey’s name yet not doing anything. At least we got kamui!Alisha and adorable Rosali and Sormik, I can’t complain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This was a great and wholesome video, can’t wait for more from you

17:20 yep that is what the generic male and female childhood friendships are like in the nutshell XD

One thing I strongly disagree with many people about is that many use the anime's differences to claim how bad it is. But different does not equal worse. I very much enjoyed the anime, not by seeing it as an attempted adaptation, but as a new story altogether. The world and plot it's set up diverge very severely, to the point that I don't believe they were even trying to be accurate to the source material at all, but had always intended to go a different direction. In a way, it's similar to the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime to Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Two adaptions that that diverged from each other for one reason or another, so they deserve to be criticized as an original work and less like a poorly accurate attempt. The points you brought up did make me think about the relationships the anime established, perhaps I should watch it again. Still, I enjoyed it a lot.

Hello! First of all, let me express my gratitute for creating such an in depth analysis and video about Sorey and Mikleo's relationship! I love your analysis, and can't help myself agree to almost each and every of them. The anime indeed lessen Mikleo's role in the story, but generally speaking, as I was also introduced to this series from the anime (I used to play lots of RPG and Tales series before, but due to lack of time and console, I don't really do it much nowadays), for me, the anime is more like a game promoting material, just like many other game originated anime. But even in the anime, I can sense the importance and the extraordinary relationship they both share with each other. From there on, my curiosity took the best of me and I proceed to play the game, where their relationship's portrayal there really touched my heart. We can't say that the anime is not canon, but personally I have a tendency to take the first and original material, which in this case the game more into my mind, and I have to admit that the portrayal there is just perfect. I haven't read the manga yet, but from your video, the manga also gave some more depth to their relationship, though often more in depth from Mikleo's POV, it would seem. The argument part is especially touching for me. As for the ending, I'm a bit curious as why they have to make it rather differently in game, manga and anime. I've heard before (rumors or not, I'm not sure of though) that the 20th year celebration of Tales series will consist of trilogy, starting from Zestiria, Berseria and something else, but due to mixed response Zestiria gained, it's unclear whether they will really continue this trilogy concept thing. But considering this trilogy thing, I can came to an understanding of the game's ending, since it'll be easy to do something or even anything from there on, once Sorey has reawakened and reunited with Mikleo there. As for the manga's ending, personally my take of it is more into your 2nd interpretation (just like you), that Sorey has reawakened (as a Seraphim?), and returned to Elysia with Mikleo, spent some time there and from there onwards they're going to fulfill the dream they've been sharing together. Sorey doesn't don on his Shepherd clothes anymore since he's not (supposed to be) one anymore when he reawakened. And for me, the way Mikleo saw his memories of his childhood and younger days with Sorey depicted the important chapters in their life, the first one being their childhood, the second chapter being the beginning of the game's journey, and the last shot is the journey they'll be going from now onwards, since I believe the knock Mikleo heard should be real and not just a memory. As seen in the manga's epilogue, even in their childhood and the beginning of the game, Sorey tended to depart somewhere on that certain hour of day, hence my take is that Sorey is the one who knocked on Mikleo's door, and while Mikleo went out to see him, he also saw some of his past, the numerous times they're going to depart on a journey, finally join him on top of that cliff, and will soon go on another journey together, judging from the word "let's go" and "we find each other and we continue to walk on". The part which kinda bugs me in the manga's ending is the Celestial Records Mikleo was holding, it should be Sorey's and if he has reawakened, I think he would want it back ASAP. Of course, there's always possibility that Sorey asked Mikleo to hold on to it for a little longer, or if Mikleo is just about to return it to him from now on, but somehow it kinda bugs me. As to why I take Sorey should be a Seraphim is that his human body should not be able to withstand such long sleep, we saw Asura during the Water Trial gone as soon as he's being purified, since his body has long gone with time. Of course, there's also chances that the flow of time deep down there is different or doesn't affect him at all though.. But if Sorey did ended up to be reborned as Seraphim, it could also be that he might not remember every details of his human memories, hence why Mikleo still keep his Celestial Record as to slowly help Sorey to regain the memories from here on. But, regarding the first interpretation, some part of me kinda feel that if that's it, it'll mean that Mikleo is being half delusional (or maybe so delusional that he heard a knock on his door?), and I kinda don't want to believe that? XD So sorry for creating such a wall of words here, but after watching your video, I can't help but to rethink and analyze more and more about this unique and beautiful relationship they shared together. Apologize in advance if my thoughts and opinions might sound weird for you, but if you have any opinions on my thoughts here, I'd love to hear and discuss them! Once again, thanks so much for creating this analysis video!

-i found tales of zestiria by an amv song -found djs lol super confused but loving them more (comments said they were cannon so i cried happiness) -searched the manga ...just found 2 chapters ahhhh so im kinda lost there too x') -watched tha anime lol (i felt like something was missing, i knew about the feeling they must have but everything was somehow different and i was more confused about that but less confused about the plot) -watched this video and im like "pinshe sorey del animu sabia q algo no andaba bien" pfff -about to watch a movie recompilation of the game ...im srry im poor to buy the game so gameplays here i come o

Waking up after everyone has died or moved on.... Thanks, but I'd rather just die.

I watched the anime first and honestly, the story felt a little rushed and incomplete. like their was a good story in their but it was going to fast and jumping from place to place so much that the emotional weight was lost in a lot of places. Its actually quite exiting to me to find out their is far more lore and world building to explore than the anime portrayed and a format where the story is told better. for instance, the anime never brings up the blind side thing. like, ever. I didn't even know about till this video. Alisha just stays one of Sorays squires with Rose and they don't imply that it takes any tole on him at all. it would have been nice to have that little bit of interaction between Mikleo and Soray like they have in the game. it gives us a tiny peak into just how much these two understand eatchother. now, don't get me wrong. with it being my first exposure to the story, tales of zestirea the X will always be dear to me. seriously, I had never heard of it before and found it on funimation. I spent the entire time watching it saying x and not cross. I actually still read it like that on habit ,:3 regardless of what it lacked, I still enjoyed the characters and got very invested in the plot. I full on sobbed at the end and actually felt really betrayed on behalf of Miklio. all in all, I think the anime had potential to be a good adaptation but it just didn't take the time to slow down and explore everything it had to unpack. perhaps that's just because they weren't given enough episodes to do so (though we probably could have used those two episodes running around with edgy, boob woman for no reason to do something else) but still.

I want the mangaaaaaa QAQ

Where did you find the manga...?.... Where can I read it online...?

Love your analysis, I recently started delving into forums and videos of Tales of Zestiria and is interesting to know very different points of view. For the most part, people agree that Sorey and Mikleo have a very close bond between each other but like always there's other that says their bond is very subjetive and they never thought of SorMik as more than friends and I have also encounter people saying they have a disgusting relashionship and how they regret playing the game just for this reason. So I wanted to watch the anime and read the manga just to find more aspects of the story and come to a conclusion, saddly I stopped watching the anime since I kept reading comments of very angry fans claiming how awful it was. I can see that the anime panders to all the angry SorAli fans and it hurts me how much the personallity of the characters change. I truly believed Sorey turn into a seraphim at the end. I won't take into account the anime since it seems to have a lot of contradicting ideas with the game (Sorey armatizing with Mikleo at the end) I have also noticed all the hate towards Rose, something I don't understand because I absolutly adored Rose in the game. Over all, is nice seeing someone talk about SorMik relashionship without being a crazy shipper or a really angry SorAli fan. Sorry if my comment was too long and sorry for my bad english.

I like the episodes 5 and 6 of Tales of Zestiria the X

How can sorey purify hellions if lailah is not there. He needs the power of purification

As someone who watched the anime first, I adored it and it made me buy and play the game alongside the manga. Now that I have read the manga and played the game, I can agree the anime is the worse of the three.

So then we can say that the adaptation was best done in the game and manga, but not the anime. *breaths in* Boi.

Gotta question. Was there anywhere anthing that confirms any ship in Tales of Zestiria? There are a lot of people stating things as "cannon" but show no evidence. At this rate I am just confused XD

Seriously, UFOtable needs to hire better storywriters. Not only they do not follow the game's/manga's story closely, they decide to alter a lot of things and everything became a complete mess.

Your analysis is truly magnificent. Been watching it several times hahahha. You know what, I really believe that SorMik is canon ship however due to the fact that heterosexuality is the default and Japan is not open for homosexuality, the producer decided to tone down the ship. But if we are really going to look at it, Sorey and Mikleo truly belong to each other despite the anime showing some moments between Sorey and Alisha.

Tbh when it comes to Sorey’s resolution I think I prefer the game 1 reason, the speech everyone made as they fought Heldalf taking about truly living and accepting pain rather than eradicating it like Heldalf suggests

Welp...I guess I’ll stop watching the anime now

Gay couples are cute 🌈🌈🌈

they are brothers god damn