Tales of Zestiria, Vol. 1 (2025)

It was pretty good.

This is an okay adaptation, but it's definitely not a good stand alone. Tales of Zestiria the manga is a book adaptation of a video game in the Tales of series. I wanted to give this a try because the gameplay in Zestiria wasn't so great for me, but I loved the characters. If you are familiar with the entire story in the game, you'll find something new here, because it's not just a condensed version of the story. Some lines, dialogue, plot, and actions have been slightly changed. If you never played the game or you never finished out the story, you're probably not going to enjoy this very much. I think if the manga adaptation was double the volumes, it would have had a lot more space to develop and could have been something really special.

Where this manga really shines is it's art. I absolutely love how everything is drawn here. If you did like the Zestiria game and want some more content, then this isn't a bad purchase for how cheap it is. Just keep in mind that you aren't going to get much Edna here and the references to Berseria are just vague at best.

3/5 stars for the manga series overall

Volume 1 of the Tales of Zestiria manga seems to follow the video game pretty closely, mostly in the beginning and more loosely as it goes. If I hadn't played the game I feel I'd be a bit lost because scenes change and battles end very abruptly. The art is beautiful. At the end of the manga there's a little scene that plays like one of the "skits" the Tales games are known for, in which a maid brings a box of Alisha's childhood dress-up items for the characters to play with. That may even be a real skit from the game that I never saw, but I'm not sure. Overall, pretty cute. But if I hadn't been a fan of the game and just randomly picked this manga up, I think I'd be bored and not read any more.

Note: My native language is not German, but this manga was gifted to me in this German edition, and I managed to read it thanks to what German I know. Hence I might have missed out on some minor details in my amateur translation as I read.

As someone who has played the full game of Tales of Zestiria thrice now, I enjoyed the first instalment of the manga adaptation immensely. I felt like this adaptation is so far being handled much better than the anime adaptation, Tales of Zestiria the X. Not only is this faithful to the game, but it also stays true to the characters.
The art style is gorgeous and engaging. I can't wait to get my hands on the next volume.

I've played the game this series is based off, and the first volume is a pretty solid adaption of early game play. The artwork is good and as a stand alone manga, I like it. Not anything to get hyped about or really excited, but a solid work.

...can I have a manga based on Tales of Graces f, though?

If gorgeous art, likable characters and dragons are your thing (and I mean, who doesn’t like those?), then look no further! Tales of Zestiria follows the adventures of Sorey, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary destiny, and his companions as they try to stop malevolence from spreading throughout their world.

Tales of Zestiria is one of my top Tales of games so this content is dear to my heart. The Manga is doing a retelling as far as I can tell and its okay. I feel like its missing key points of the story which I hope other volumes will revisit.

The art is beautiful though, I really love how they drew Eizen, he looks beautiful.

Obviously, to get a full 5 stars, you'd have to be familiar with the game. I do think the Tales series games are too convoluted at times unless you're familiar with the gaming series.

We really enjoyed playing the game as a family. This is a great introduction to Sorey and Mikleo for fans of the series.

Basically a step-by-step play through of the video game. I wasn't expecting much more than that anyway, at least the art was nice to look at. Once all of the characters are together, I'll definitely enjoy it more.

Start to read it yesterday and could not lay it aside again. Its a perfect start and I already fell in love with the characters. I want to know how it will go on with mikleo and sorey and their way and friendship because he declines his wish. Poor mikleo but they will work it out will they?

The Game and Anime were better.

This was good but I like the anime and I haven't played the game either but all in all a good read :)

It's ok. Well drawn, but a little too sharp for my taste. Typical Arthurian plot, within an easy to understand but not detailed world.

zestiria will always have a place in my heart and every time mikleo is on the page i start crying so yeah 5 stars everyone read it rn

I've already read this volume in the German edition, but when I found the English edition at a local convention I couldn't resist buying it. And I feel it was a good decision too - I was able to confirm my amateur translations of the German edition with the localisation, and to see the decisions made by the English publishing team when they localised it into English.
("Call it Mikleo's intuition" is a line which made me laugh. Localisation team, what are you doing???)
My opinion on the contents themselves have not at all changed, other than being even better than before. As I could read it in my native language, I caught nuances which I missed during my first reading of the manga. I also found I could appreciate the art style even more as I wasn't busy trying to understand the text itself.
I'm even more looking forward to the second volume now!

I found the story line in this book to be really well thought out. However, it can be a tad confusing at times. Overall I would recommend this if you are into mythical creatures such as dragons and demons.

Just like the early gameplay so quite enjoying it so far!