YMMV / Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia

• Best Known for the Fanservice: Among non-fans and even some casual fans, the series is very well known for the sheer amount of fanservice and innuendos it contains. Qoga gets this treatment worst of all, due to stripping being an actual game mechanic. Some parts of the fanbase are a bit resentful of this, as it gives the games an unfortunate reputation in the eyes of the public.
• Complete Monster:
  • Bourd Rade is the second-in-command of the Tenba Organization, notorious for its shady practices. Rade has a penchant for using innocent people in his army, and lets them abuse the Reyvateils they capture. Seeking to dissolve all governing bodies as a power grab, he worked with Bishop Falss to awaken Mir. To do that, he first stole the song, "Chronicle Key", from the Star Singer Misha, to prevent the ritual which would keep Mir's seal intact and kidnap Misha to be his personal weapon, burning down an innocent village to get her. One day, Bourd was told to meet Lyner by Falss and tries to forcefully recruit him. After chasing him and Misha in an airship when they escape, Bourd takes Aurica as a hostage and threatens to throw her off until Misha returns to him, and then goes back on his word, throwing Aurica off anyway. When Lyner and his group goes to stop Mir, Bourd tries to stop them, seemingly killed by Misha; he survives and continues to antagonize the party. After entering Bourd's secret lab, Bourd reveals his goal is to use Mir to create an army of lifeless Reyvateils under his command and use them to destroy the world's government and establish himself in power. He is encountered one last time trying to kill Misha and Lyner to prevent the newly regained "Chronicle Key" from being sung.
  • Bishop Falss is the seemingly friendly leader of the Church of Elemia, but, as his name suggests, is wearing a false facade to hide his true colors. From Platina, Bishop Falss's true identity is Kyle Clancy, one of the leaders of Platina who became obsessed with power. Believing he could use the Mother Virus Mir to prosperity and glory, he tried to awaken her only to go mad with power which led to banishment by his fellow leaders Shurelia and Leard. After another attempt Kyle went into hiding in the lower world where he changed his name to Falss. Gaining leadership of the Church of Elemia due to his advanced knowledge from Platina, he began manipulating everyone to start Mir's awakening, working with Bourd Rade and twisting the Church to declaring war against Platina to get revenge on them even if it means sacrificing his own allies. Returning to Platina during the war, Falss manages to awaken Mir and gain her power, which he uses to try kill the heroes.
  • ~arpeggio spinoff manga: Masticus is a seemingly-kind scientist who aimed to non-humans like the Reyvateils, as he blamed them for two apocalyptic disasters in the past, despite humans playing a strong role. Unleashing the Reveris virus, causing Reyvateils to go berserk and comatose, Masticus plans to perfect it with the Hymn Crystal "Soporific", having Espada's parents killed to get it. Once Sonnet manages to retrieve it from Espada, Masticus began to show his true colors, revealing to Sonnet she's the latest version of the virus, transforming her into the perfect version of the virus and ordering her to kill her friends Espada and Adagio. Once Sonnet was able to break free, the virus manifests itself into a physical form, and under his command Masticus orders it to kill everyone. Once the virus is dealt with, he laughed at the heroes for their ideals before throwing himself to his death as one last attack. A hateful scientist, Masticus pretends he fights for humanity, but in actuality just wants to satisfy his discrimination.
• Game-Breaker: Not really needed considering you have the Reyvateils doing the damage more than your vanguards, but you can actually make anyone (though Lyner gets to use his Wind Slash even before going through the first level of the battle phase) into a Glass Cannon capable of dealing up to 25,000 points of damage. Of course, said party member dies after one hit. The real game breaker though is when you revive them, the person revived gets to act immediately on their turn. Long story short, Wind Slash everything into oblivion. Of course, you do get called out by your current Reyvateil whenever you rest at a camp.
• Ho Yay: Ayatane's relationship with Lyner is a little too close for mere friends. Carries over into Cross Edge.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • The Mother Virus, Mir Teiwaz Ar Tonelico was made to be a weapon as the most powerful Reyvateil, but after seeing them murder someone she loved, Mir went to war, driving humanity to brink of destruction before being sealed away by Shurelia and Tastalia. Resurfacing during the events of the game, Mir in her hundreds of year stasis prepared for the same acts that thwarted her before, overwhelming Platine and manipulating Bourd and Fals. Not short of back-up plans, Mir sent a virus disguised as a Teru name Ayatane to be a double agent to hijack Shurelia in case they managed to stop her, nearly victorious until being stopped by Shurelia's Heroic Sacrifice and later changing after Lyner showed he understand her anger. Returning in the 2nd game as an Anti-Hero under the name Jacqli, Mir used the Grand Bell to get the Heart of the Land for a plan to save the planet Ar Ciel, and later assists the heroes with her intelligence even outplays Infel in a quest to redeem herself from her sins as the Mother Virus. A respectable adversary later ally, Mir has cemented herself as one most impressive individuals in the series.
  • Ayatane Michitaka first shows himself as a kind Teru warrior assigned to be Lyner's partner and Shurelia's protector but in actuality is a spy who would later find himself working for his own wishes. Ayatane is actually a Virus and Mir's son sent by his mother to get close and hijack Shurelia while eliminating those intending to use her. Gaining their trust after stopping Bourd and Falss and the Viruses, Ayatane unleashed his trap, successfully hijacking Shurelia for Mir, becoming her main enforcer in taking over the tower, even sabotaging their main weapon EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY and nearly leading them to victory. However, while fighting Ayatane, he slowly regrets his decision growing fond of Lyner and his group, ultimately turning on his mother before working with Lyner to stop Mir, but making sure to spare her, becoming a vital role in the final battle before peacefully returning to his mother side satisfied with how it ended.
• Moe: Saki certainly looks this way. Not to mention the series in general draws upon a wide variety of things considered "moe" in some form or another - and even parodies them with the attack item Moe Firepowder in Metafalica.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The music track Sleipnir resembles the Pyramid Cave music from Sonic Adventure 2.
• The Woobie: All three of the heroines in various ways.