I went into The Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal anime with a very patchwork understanding of the original game. I have never played the original title from 1999 nor had a chance to play the recent remaster released in 2021. I do have some familiarity with the Mana series (originally Seiken Densetsu in Japan) in general, though, having played Secret of Mana on the original SNES when I was a kid and recently working through the 2020 Trials of Mana remake on Switch. And while I'm not hugely deep into the lore of any of the titles, I know that, like the Final Fantasy series, some common threads and themes run throughout each entry. That was the extent of my background before going in. With this passing knowledge and a general feeling of enjoyment towards the larger series – which I imagine is not uncommon here in the US – I gave The Teardrop Crystal a watch.

The results were decidedly mixed.

This is not a bad series by any stretch, and it has a few positive elements. The strongest and most apparent is the general vibe of the setting. The Seiken Densetsu series has a distinct visual style that sets it apart from many other fantasy settings. The entire world is awash in bright, vibrant colors from top to bottom. The characters' clothing runs the gamut in style, make, and accessories, often using outlandish proportions to create wholly unique character silhouettes. Humans interact with jewel-hearted Jumi, strange vegetable-like sproutlings, talking cat detectives, and all manner of unique beings. Standard fantasy towns sit in the shadow of a giant world tree while mountains of glowing crystals reach towards the sky.

This all comes together to create a wonderful canvas for telling stories. Even when characters are standing still and conversing, it is simply a pleasure to look at, with warm colors and interesting designs around every corner. It is a curious mix of the familiar and the absurd that gives the show (and the rest of the games in the series) such an allure. It hits many of the standard high-fantasy adventure storytelling beats and archetypes, but the extra layer of whimsy from the presentation makes it appealing in a novel way. I can't help but want to find out what is happening with all these funny little characters in their strange and wonderful world. Even the map fills up the same way the original game did, with new locations springing up on a blank canvas as the party travels from one place to the next. The possibilities seem endless.

Sadly, a show is not just possibilities and vibes—The Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal struggles with executing a meaningful plot. Shiloh, our hero, knows he is called to something greater and quickly gets swept up in the murder mystery of the Jumi and why they are being hunted. However, the problem is that the impetus and connections here all feel flimsy. Shiloh has decided that he wants to do this and make this his mission, but at no point does it feel like there's a compelling reason for him to be here. He's doing this… just because, I guess.

Which is fine! Don't get me wrong that is all the justification one needs to pursue something in real life. But characters in fictional works often need more compelling motivations to push them through their trials and tribulations, lest it leaves viewers asking, “Why is this happening again?” Shiloh is constantly faced with certain death or strange happenings far beyond his ability to handle, all to save people who were strangers to him days or even hours before. This makes it feel like he is risking his life on a whim, which undermines a lot of tension the show is trying to build.

The sense of aimlessness extends to the structure of the show as well. This is very much an episodic series. Most episodes follow a standard formula: Shiloh comes to a new town or village, meets an interesting Jumi, and the Jumi hunter appears. Near the show's end, more plot and significant events start bearing down, but most of the show is about Shiloh wandering from place to place and befriending new Jumi. Without much overarching motivation for Shiloh, the quality and impact of any given story can vary wildly depending on how engaging a particular episode's plot is – the double-edged sword of episodic storytelling.

Sadly, the Jumi just are not terribly engaging as characters. While their designs are very creative and have cool or interesting powers, their actual personalities are often paper-thin. Pearl is the meek princess, Elazul the driven knight, Serafina the caring friend, and… yeah, they don't deviate much from these norms. Even as shocking reveals, starting backstabs, and sudden twists start hitting near the finale, none of it seems to have much impact. Shiloh just met these people, and they've all been pretty flat characters up until now, so any personality changes feel like hollow pivots. Whether a heel turn provokes a shocked gasp or an indifferent shrug depends on how fully invested the audience is in the characters, and there's just no investment to be had with this cast.

This is further exacerbated by the confusion surrounding the Jumi. Much of the show's mystique comes from the unraveling mystery behind the Jumi. Who are they? What tragedy befell them? Why are they being hunted? These questions circle throughout the show until the end, but the mystery is not that engaging. The overall conclusion by the end of the series is that the Jumi don't feel all that different from anyone else. While perhaps that is the point on some level – that we are all the same – this does undermine one of the only central plot elements we have running through an already episodic series. There are two later reveals that go into the life cycle of the Jumi that also actively undermine a lot of the tension related to the murder/assassination plot, and by the end, the drama did not land for me at all. Sure, events were occurring, and they made sense in terms of plotting, but due to the revelations about the nature of the Jumi, it all felt incredibly hollow.

The rest of the show is mostly fine. The animation quality is okay, with a few brief moments of exceptional brilliance and a few dips into dodgy off-model territory, but it is mainly consistent and fine. The voice acting is solid, if not superb, and the accompanying score is pretty good. The opening and ending themes stand out as exceptionally high quality, though, which helped me get through the entire series. There are no genuinely egregious moments to speak of, though, at times, the sudden spike in violence being depicted was surprising. It happens rarely, but when it does, it takes you out of the whimsy the show is so good at building up.

Perhaps The Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal offers something more to long-time game fans excited to see it adapted. But for most viewers, this is not a series that can hold their interest even for its twelve-episode run.