And here's the report on the events of Tales of Festival 2013 Day 2. Again, this is mainly based on Famitsu's own report. Aside from the usual skit performance, Day 2 of Tales of Festival 2013 was mostly about upcoming Tales of merchandise.
The day begins with TalesFes 2013 hosts Masaya Onosaka (Zelos Wilder - Tales of Symphonia) and Shiho Kawaragi (Cheria Barnes - Tales of Graces f) opening up the event on stage, though this time, they're not in cosplay. Kawaragi mentions that cosplaying on Day 1 was really fun and that she might get addicted to it.
Day 2's special skit was entitled "The 1st Tales of Athletic Meet ~With Love From The Field~." The Tales characters formed teams of their own and participated in an athletic meet, not just to see who's the strongest, but also to test out the bonds of the team members.
Yuri Lowell (Kosuke Toriumi, Tales of Vesperia) and Milla Maxwell (Miyuki Sawashiro, Tales of Xillia 2) appear as hosts of the event. Followed by the participating teams: Amber/Kohak Hearts (Marina Inoue) and Jadeite/Hisui Hearts (Masaya Matsukaze, Tales of Hearts); Asbel Lhant (Takahiro Sakurai, Tales of Graces) and Cheria; Zelos and Lloyd Irving (Katsuyuki Konishi, Tales of Symphonia); and Ludger Will Kresnik (Takashi Kondou) and Elle Mel Mata (Mariya Ise, Tales of Xillia 2). Zelos complains about there not being man-woman teams (Ludger and Elle don't count, apparently). Asbel was about to say something, but long-haired version Luke fon Fabre (Chihiro Suzuki, Tales of the Abyss) cuts in ("I am the goodwill ambassador!!!"), and participates as a one-man team.
A fun part in the skit was that Ludger, like in his game, doesn't talk much. Choices would come up for him from time to time, and that was the only time he'd speak - or he'd make gestures and it would be Elle who'd do the talking for him.
The games for the athletic meet were: 100-meter Majinken Race, which Asbel wins; a Gel/Gumi Eating Contest, which Amber wins no problem because all the gels had miso in them, her favorite, mainly because Jadeite strategically placed there so they could win; an Obstacle Race and a Relay. The games were really lively, especially during the obstacle race and the relay, where the voice actors would actually jump down the guest seating area surrounding the stage from time to time.
For the Obstacle Course, the first "obstacle" was Walter (Tales of Legendia, also voiced by Takahiro Sakurai). Ludger (through Elle) mentions that he has a plan - and they all attack Asbel. Once Asbel was defeated, Walter also disappears - because they have the same voice actor. Ha ha ha.
The second obstacle was Hubert Oswell (Takahiro Mizushima, Tales of Graces)... Though apparently he only came because he thought Pascal would be at the event. He tries to leave but they end up fighting anyway. He gets defeated by Luke and Ludger's teamwork. Ludger however, is injured in the process.
The final event is the Relay. The course was basically a sort of semi-circle, and the baton is exchanged whenever they're at the center of the stage. Elle and Ludger are having trouble because, well, Elle is slow and Ludger's injured. He then goes into Corpse Shell Mode and outruns everybody. Luke gets tired but Asch (also Suzuki Chihiro) gets the baton from him and continues the race. In the end, Asch wins. Luke says there's no meaning to this even if it is "his" victory, so he cuts his hair and reflects on his actions.
Free talk by the voice actors followed the skit. They're all breathing heavily because of all the movement they had to do during the skit. Those who are first-timers in TalesFes talked first. Kondou says he's sorry for the very few lines - that is Ludger, after all. Ise mentions that because of that, her lines for Elle increased. Mizushima mentions that he's very happy since he's always wanted to appear in TalesFes.
They also mention, unfortunately, that Day 2 will not be included in the Tales of Festival 2013 DVD. The exact reason is unclear. They just mention that they had more freedom for today because a DVD for that day wasn't being recorded. Whoops.
This was followed by, again, the "You Think Of It - TalesFes 2013 Event Planning" segment, a sort of survey done in Viva! Tales of Magazine, where they asked their readers what events they want to happen during TalesFes 2013. For Day 1, it was about putting Leon and Yuri in a Hall of Fame and having a party for them. For Day 2, there were a lot more ideas implemented: The guys performed Dual Mystic Artes based on the shirts they had; they also thought up their own Mystic Artes (these were done during closing); a short musical by Asbel and Cheria; and this was followed by a ridiculous short story by Asbel about his family. The audience loved them.
Another suggested event which they did was to imitate another character the best they can. They had to imitate lines by Luke (done by Mizushima/Hubert), Elle (done by Inoue/Amber) and Keroberos (Tales of Innocence, done by Matsukaze/Jadeite). After doing so, the actual line is played, followed by the audience also saying the lines themselves.
The latter parts of the event include an information corner. Announced were TalesFes collaborations for the Tales mobile social game Tales of Kizna (cards of which were already added to our gallery here), followed by announcement of Tales of merchandise, many of which were showcased during the pre-event. The trailer for Tales of Symphonia Chronicles/Unisonant Pack was also shown again. The merchandise introduced were:
Banpresto's Tales of Series Ichiban Kuji #2 starts this September. Prizes include the Leon Magnus (Tales of Destiny) and Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia 2) figures, along with new Chibi Kyun Chara figures of Leon Magnus (Tales of Destiny), Rita Mordio (Tales of Vesperia), Zelos Wilder (Tales of Symphonia) and Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia 2). The rest are the usual clear files and towels. The biggest prize for this Ichiban Kuji is apparently an alternate color figure of Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia).
Prizes for Banpresto's CraneKing. We covered this during Day 1.
New stuff from Kotobukiya: a Tales of Friends Rubber Strap Set and Tales of Friends Button Pins Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. These were pre-sold during the event, too. The Dream Cushion Cover of Zelos and the Tales of Symphonia/Dawn of the New World Rubber Strap Collection, which were also announced during the ToS Unisonant Pack announcement, will be out this year. The 1/8 Scale Colette Brunel Figure will be out 2014.
The new stuff from Lalabit Market. We covered some of these in our previous reports.
New stuff from Japan's Tales of Fanstore.
The Tales of Series Acryl Carabiners (Pre-order here) and the Yuri Lowell Cutsew (Pre-order here) by COSPA.
Tales of Xillia 2 microfiber towels by Enterbrain.
The Tales of Vesperia 1/8 Scale Raven figure by Alter/ALTAiR, which is supposed to be released this month (...We'll see...). Pre-orders are still open at Play-Asia.
The Tales of School and the Tales of Xillia 2 Color Collection figures by Movic. Both will also be released at the end of this month.
The Tales of Xillia 2 Vol. 1 manga, which will be released on June 27th. Pre-orders available at CDJapan. Viva! Tales of Magazine August 2013's issue, which was released last May 28, talks about the Tales of Festival as well. There are still 7 copies left over at CDJapan.
Tales of Vesperia Comic Anthology The Best released this June 1st (5 still available at CDJapan), Tales of Xillia 2 4 Koma Kings Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (Vol. 1, Vol. 2) and the Tales of Xillia 2 Comic Anthology (still available here).
The event was closed with a special live performance by DEEN. It's also their 20th anniversary this year. They performed "Eien no Ashita" (Eternal Tomorrow, Tales of Hearts' opening theme), "Kono Mama Kimi Dake Wo Ubaisaritai" (I Want To Carry You Away Like This, this is DEEN's debut song). They also performed some of their other hit songs: "Hitomi Sorasanaide" (Don't Avert Your Eyes, Pocari Sweat commercial song), "Kimi Sae Ireba" (As Long As You're With Me, one of the opening songs of the anime Cooking Master Boy) and "Hitori Ja Nai" (You're Not Alone, Dragon Ball GT ending song). They closed of their performance by singing "Yume De Aru Youni" (Like A Dream, Tales of Destiny's opening theme). Loud cheers from the audience came as soon as they finished this song.
After the performance, DEEN's vocalist Shuichi Ikemori expressed how happy they are to be back in Yokohama Arena because of Tales. The last time they were there was for a live way back in the 90s. They mention that in their upcoming live to celebrate their 20th anniversary this October 12 to 13, they'll be sure to include the two Tales of songs they performed, and they hope it'll be as lively as that day.
The voice actors go back up on stage for the closing. As suggested in Viva Tales Mag, they perform their Dual Mystic Artes, but with a twist. This was started off with Onosaka/Zelos and Konishi/Lloyd performing (or rather, yelling out) a "True Hunny Judgment" Dual Mystic Arte, followed by the rest. Suzuki/Luke yells out "It's not my fault!!" followed by Asch "It's not my fault either!!" Toriumi/Yuri, whose partner isn't around for Day 2 (Midorikawa/Leon), pairs up with Matsukaze/Jadeite instead and performs a "100 Sweets Domination!" Kondou/Ludger's partner also isn't around (Yonaga/Jude), so he does it with Ise/Elle instead and performs a "House Husband Chain Attack!" Sawashiro (as Alt!Milla) has no Mystic Arte shirt, so she just yells "It's not my fault!!" together with Ise.
And with that, Day 2 comes to a close. Those were an exciting two days of Tales fun! Too bad Day 2 won't be in the DVD. They still haven't explained why... Anyway, you can check out the entire album of Day 2 pictures here in our gallery.
