The results of game series turned anime have been tumultuous at best, but every now and again, through the sea of mediocrity, a terrific adaptation washes ashore. One such adaptation is the recent 13 episode TV series Tales of Eternia, having been based on the third game in Namco's Tales series (Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Destiny and Tales of Eternia, as well as a fourth undisclosed title currently under development), while maintaining a separate, fresh plot.

The series premiered on WOWOW January 8th of this year and ran through March 26th. The Tales of Eternia OST is currently available at AnimeNation here, while the single for the opening and ending themes, Sora ni Kakeru Hashi (Bridge Built In The Sky) and I'd Love You To Touch Me respectively, which contains both instrumental and vocal versions of the songs performed by Masami Okui, can be found here. The first volume of the series itself is set for a May 23rd release in Japan, and will feature episodes 1 through 3 on both VHS and DVD for approximately $40 a piece. Tales of Eternia Stage 1 is currently available for preorder at CD Japan, but don't wait till the last minute to order your copy, as only the initial pressing will contain a bonus trading card!

Can't wait till May to catch a glimpse of this great series? Fear not! Anime Dream has your fix with a download of the Tales of Eternia opening movie! Grab the movie here.

Another game series turned anime is Star Ocean EX, the TV series having just recently had its debut on TV-TOKYO on April 3rd. While it was originally speculated that the anime would follow the story of the upcoming Gameboy Color version of Star Ocean: Blue Sphere, it has now been confirmed that it will instead be based on Star Ocean: the Second Story, the PSX incarnation of the series.

Take a peek at the Star Ocean EX opening animation here, accompanied by the song To The Light performed by Amika Hattan. The movie is in DIVX VKI AVI format, so if you don't have that codec and are having trouble viewing the movie, download and install the codec from here. As an aside, the ending animation features Hearts sung by Saori Nishihata.

April seems to be shaping up to be a very good month for game based anime series. In addition to the debut of Star Ocean EX, April 6th saw the debut of Z.O.E. Dolores, i, a new TV series based on Hideo Kojima's amazing game. The opening song, Zone of the Enders, is performed by LAZY, while the ending song, Ring on the World, is performed by Heart of Air. There's also an OVA series based on Z.O.E., which was released back in early March. In addition, PaRappa the Rapper, a 8TV adaptation of the PSX game being made by Production I.G., is set to air on Fuji TV today, April 14th. The official website was recently updated to include information on the main staff and cast. Head over and take a look here.

As a final tidbit in the cross game / anime theme, ADV has announced a date for the first volume of Orphen. This first volume is scheduled to street July 10th.