“Shining Tears X Wind” is a thirteen episode anime series that had recently finished airing in Japan around June 29, 2007. This is based off and adapted from the games for the Playstation 2 called “Shining Tears” and “Shining Wind.” This is a mix of action, fantasy, and adventure. Anybody that has already played both Shining Tears and Shining Wind may already understand the story of Shining Tears X Wind. To people who haven’t played the game can possibly enjoy Shining Tears X Wind as that, an anime series.
The correct pronunciation is Shining Tears “Cross” Wind as it looks to be a crossover between Shining Tears and Shining Wind. Shining Tears X Wind revolves around a group of students in modern day Japan whom attends a prestigious school called the St. Luminous College. They decide to investigate the mysterious disappearance of citizens in this place called Tatsumi Town. One of the female students enters the room with a book titled “End Earth” talking about a different world. Souma leaves the class but realizes that he had forgotten his cell phone. It’s established that there is an existence of another world.
That seems to pique Souma’s curiosity even more and establishes that he’s going to be of the main protagonists of Shining Tears X Wind. Then a mysterious girl manages to appear in the world we live in looking for a person named Zero who is a winged being also from her world. Everything takes an interesting turn the next day as Souma confesses his love to a fellow classmate named Kuriya. Then a wolf-life monster appears and starts wreaking havoc in the school courtyard. The mysterious girl makes her appearance and starts fighting the monster. Much to Souma’s disbelief, the girl isn’t human as she possesses cat ears.
It turns out that Souma and Kureha are no pushovers. Souma managed to take the beast to the ground in one punch and Kureha was about to pick it off with a long bow. Instead of killing the beast-man, the three of them tie him up for some sort of interrogation. The girl with cat ears explains to the two students about her world, a fantasy continent called “End Earth.” The beast-man gets free and attacks the girl but shatters a mirror she wore. All three of them get magically transported to End Earth. The mysterious girl reveals herself to be named Mao.
Then Zero appears and entrusts the world to Souma. The story tends to revolve around Souma and his classmates trying to find their way back to Earth. Shining Tears X Wind revolves around them getting back to Earth while trying to protect End Earth from destruction at the same time. At the same time, they are in the middle of a way for an item called the “Holy Grail.” They are also charged with the prevention of awaking the guardian of time and space called Zeroboros. These are the driving forces behind the story of Shining Tears X Wind.
This is an interesting storyline despite it being adapted from a videogame. It is not uncommon for anime series to be adapted from videogames. Other examples are “Xenosaga: The Animation” which was adapted from “Xenosaga Episode I: Dur Wille Zur Macht” and the “Gungrave” series which was adapted from the Gungrave game from Sega for the Playstation 2. So far, those series have proven to be very great when viewed as series as a possible supplement to the games. But Shining Tears X Wind looks to be a great series to watch.
There is an interesting soundtrack behind the series. Shining Tears X Wind’s opening and ending themes are the same as Shining Tears. In a sense, the series remains true to the games. Within thirteen episodes, there is very much a lot to be show. Watching the first few episodes, I myself was impressed with the storyline. Anybody that loves role-playing games (RPGs) will possibly enjoy watching Shining Tears X Wind.
The series while airing was only available on Japanese network television. It is unknown whether there will be a North American release in the future. Realistically, one can expect a possible North American release in at least one to two years.
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