RahXephon

A Review

by MattBoySlim

 

and an addendum by Mighty Doom

I finally finished watching the fansubs of this show about 2:00 last night. Overall, I liked it a lot. I've noticed that a lot of people compare it to Evangelion, and I can see the similarities. However, I think those kind of people (the "That's so copying Evangelion!!! Hideaki Anno must be rolling in his grave!!!!" people...) have lost sight of the fact that one of the main aspects of Evangelion is that it was made to kind of poke fun at Giant Robot Show conventions. But that's a subject for a different article altogether (one that I will write....eventually. Maybe.). Anyway, lets get on with it, shall we?

Story

Ok, so this show does kinda follow the "EVA formula":

1. A teenage boy suddenly has to pilot a Giant Robot under duress with no training and has to fight off an alien invasion.

2. There's a quiet, mysterious, emotionless girl.

3. Robot, boy, girl, families may or may not all be involved in a larger scheme orchestrated by an ultra-shady and clandestine group with the purpose of changing/ruling all of reality.

However, that's where the similarities end. The main character, Kamina Ayato, lives in Tokyo in the year 2012. Aliens known only as the MU have invaded earth and wiped out 90% of the human population. As a battle rages above, a mysteriously Trinity-like woman saves his ass and seems sent from somewhere to retrieve him. He loses her and finds his way to some temple and discovers RahXephon. He somehow breaks free from Tokyo inside RahXephon. Outside of Tokyo, the woman informs him that it's actually the year 2024 (or something) and that most of the world population was not destroyed. Oh, and Tokyo is enclosed in a hemispherical dome that looks strangely like Jupiter. Evidently, time runs a lot slower in there, and the whole city is under MU control. Mystery and action ensues, and it keeps you with this "What the F is going on?!?!" feeling throughout the show....like Evangelion. Unlike Evangelion, though, the main character may get despondent or depressed, but only for about 5 minutes. He accepts revelations pretty quickly and without much whining, if any at all. The show gets serious a lot of the time, but refuses to stay dark, even for a whole episode. It's like a light-hearted Evangelion, but it really stands on its own, and you don't really ever have to compare the two.

On another note, if you haven't heard, they're working on a movie. They actually inform you of that fact at the end of the last episode. I have no idea how they're gonna do it, unless they do a whole "2 hour retelling" kinda thing. I don't wanna give away anymore about the story, so I'll just leave it at that.

Audio

Well, for DivX, it was pretty good. The voice actors were incredible. I actually watched the first episode on The Anime Network on Comcast On Demand, and it seemed that the dub was more than adequate. I'll hafta get the DVD's to get the feel for the whole thing, but I liked what I've heard so far. Music was good too. It was really repetitive in the first half of the series, but the last half was full of variations on the earlier themes. Good variations. I'd recommend the soundtrack if you can find it.

Video

Again, it's really good for DivX. A lot of the recent shows (Naruto, Wolf's Rain, etc.) look almost DVD quality. RahXephon is a really colorful show. Even when very serious/disturbing stuff is going on, it's still all bright and colorful. There's a lot of symbolism, mostly in just the use of red or blue (which makes more sense as the series progresses...). The sybolism doesn't always beat you over the head, either, which is nice. Robot action is really the highlight of the animation in this show. It's usually top notch and jaw dropping. It seems to me that if a show is by Bones, then it's gonna look pretty.

Conclusion

This was a really good show, and demanded my attention the entire time. Again, I guess it's similar to Evangelion, but it's really fundamentally different. There are many parts where it could easily get really depressing, but it refuses to wallow in self-loathing and introspection. It's motto is "Yeah, that sucks, but guess what? Life goes on." It's familiar and refreshing at the same time. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a good Giant Robot Show.

Here's the rating scale(damn, I'm running out of bodily functions....):

1 = Guaranteed to make you deficate in your pants in utter disgust.

2 = Guaranteed to make you deficate in your pants with slight nausea.

3 = Guaranteed to make you deficate in your pants with a general feeling of "Meh.".

4 = Guaranteed to make you deficate in your pants with a feeling of "Hm. That was good.".

5 = Guaranteed to make you deficate in your pants as you bow before your TV, worshiping the images and sounds that issue forth and bring you to a new state of conciousness.

I'll give it a 4.4. It's a lot of fun, action oacked and still makes you think....without making you want to share a nice bubble bath with a plugged-in toaster. For that, watch Evangelion + End of Evangelion.

MIGHTY DOOM’S TWO CENTS ON RAHXEPHON

            This show is fucking weird.

            I half-watched a couple of episodes of this a while back, paying little attention because it seemed absurdly derivative of Evangelion at the time.  It does borrow a bit too often from that series, and there are shades of The Matrix, The Twilight Zone and even Phantasm, but RahXephon holds up well enough on its own.  The mech design is incredibly bizarre (Fortissimo seems to be part opera singer and part carnivorous pretzel, with just a hint of tuning fork), and there are some obscure references to ancient civilizations, namely Mu, which ADV’s typically inept translators probably haven’t even heard of outside the scope of the series, and ancient Egypt.  The music is well-orchestrated, and the animation is generally impressive.  I’m unimpressed with the DVD.  For one thing, it’s not in widescreen.  For another, as I already said, it’s poorly translated.  Who the hell is “Ollin?” Oh, maybe you jackasses meant THE ORIN.  If you’re going to translate a series with an abundance of mythological references, BRUSH UP ON YOUR GODDAMNED MYTHOLOGY.

            How does this compare to my other current “giant robots save the Earth from invading aliens” series, Argento Soma? Well, both have their pros and cons.  Argento Soma’s main character is a lot more entertaining because he’s a disfigured, revenge-driven bastard, and there’s a giant alien named Frank who can punch your head into the stratosphere before you can say Jackie Gleason.  On the other hand, RahXephon doesn’t seem to have much in the way of filler episodes, and its secondary characters are considerably deeper.  I’m keeping track of both series.  Still, I’d like to see Ryu Soma kick the shit out of RahXephon’s bumbling Ayato.