As an anime series, there is nothing very special about "Xenosaga: The Animation" as it’s merely an animate adaptation of the actual game released on the Playstation 2 called "Xenosaga Episode I: Dur Wille Zur Macht." The story of the anime series pretty much follows the same storyline but with a few changes to the storyline. Some characters have been killed off early in the anime whom had died off later in the game. Then there are characters that have died off early in the game but still appear through the anime series. The scene re-writes are merely for the purpose of the anime series. One could say there’s nothing really special about the series. But it’s one way to breeze through the story of the game itself.
The pace of the anime is fast and gets straight to the story. Xenosaga: The Animation gets to points of the story whereas it would take several hours of game play. As it got to a specific point of the story in five episodes, it took me about twenty to twenty-five hours at least in my case in the game mainly to me constantly defeating enemies to level up and so forth. But the game itself brings a deeper explanation to the story than it does in the anime. There is much to cover in a series. In the series, it’s much easier to present the story itself along with the main points.
Following the same story of Dur Wille Zur Macht, Xenosaga: The Animation revolves around a conflict between mankind a race of inter-dimensional creatures known as Gnosis who have been attracted to our time-space fabric due to an artifact called the Zohar. The main protagonist is Shion Uzuki, a division chief of this powerful corporation called Vector that specializes in all sorts of combat technology. Shion and other Vector employees are stationed on a Galactic Federation ship known as the Woglinde. The Woglinde is where Shion has been testing KOS-MOS a powerful battle android who is able to produce a time-space ripple called the Hilbert Effect which makes all the Gnosis tangible in a certain radius of miles.
However, the ship has a Zohar on board in which the Gnosis materializes in space. Most of the crew of the Woglinde have been slaughtered as the Gnosis leave with one of the Zohar. The only survivors seem to be Shion Uzuki, the assistant chief Allan Ridgely, Lieutenant Virgil of the Galactic Federation, and KOS-MOS. There’s a slight contrast as Virgil is killed off in the game and is replaced by Commander Andrew Charenkov. In the anime, Charenkov is killed off in the beginning with Virgil taking his place.
All of the main characters present in Dur Wille Mur Zacht are present in the anime. There is "chaos" whose origins are unknown, Jr who is a kid who has two handguns, Momo who is a special series Realian (synthetic human), and Ziggy a.k.a. "Ziggauraut-8" who is a cyborg. The crew of the Elsa such as Captain Mathews, Hammer, and Tony are also present in the anime.
The same groups such as the Kukai Foundation and the U-TIC Organization are also present. Antagonists such as Marguilis and Albedo from the game are also present.
Xenosaga: The Animation is nothing special as it’s a simple retelling of Xenosaga Episode I: Dur Wille Zur Macht. I found it somewhat entertaining but wasn’t impressed with the series as I had already played the game through. Most people might enjoy it as an anime. In most cases, people who have played the games might find it a bit boring and redundant as everything is very much predictable. But if you’re not familiar with the games, you might be able to appreciate the series more.
If you already have played the games, you’re already going to know what’s going to happen in the anime. Only differences are that the story is sped up along with some of the scene changes. Xenosaga: The Animation would be better if was made into a side-story that wasn’t available in the game.
The show is easily accession on Japanese TV networks but far more difficult to find on North American TV networks. In short, Xenosaga: The Animation is not easily accessible to everybody. The series itself is difficult to find if you want to buy it. However, if you’ve already played the games, don’t buy the anime as it’s going to be very redundant. Save your money to buy something else.