Running time: 23 minutes
Number of episodes: 26
Vintage: 2002-01-21 to 2002-09-10
Age rating: Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Genres: Drama, Mecha, Mystery, Psychological, Romance, Science Fiction, Shounen
Production: BONES
Source: Anime News Network
The Good: Excellent art and animation.
The Bad: The story isn’t worth remembering.
Status: Dropped
My impressions and review:
A very long time ago I read a very bold statement somewhere that sparked my interest in RahXephon. The person basically implied that RahXephon was better than Evangelion. It really takes a lot to say that and since Evangelion is one of my favorite anime of all time and a pioneer in progressive mecha storytelling, it was natural that I would be interested in finding all about RahXephon at some point. Well… as always the weight of those few words were upheld by very little substance and I was largely disappointed.
RahXephon isn’t so terrible that it can’t be watched, in fact, it’s good enough to at least accomplish that. However, once engraved in your mind that you’re watching something superior to Evangelion and your expectations skyrocket, the show ends up being more of a disappointment than it already would have been.
The first episode is fairly good and transitions well from introducing a few characters and their long-lasting friendship to the imminent danger and confusion the characters face early on. Soon enough the story follows the mold of revelation that your world and your life is not as narrow as you believe it to be. Kamina Ayato, the main character, is freed from the shackles of what is known as Tokyo Jupiter and becomes aware of how contrived and constricted his perception of the world truly was. This also includes the flow of time and how it affects relationships on many levels — such as family, lovers, friends, and even strangers.
The mecha in RahXephon almost have no bearing to the story and the fighting is never as dramatic as I was expecting. The reason for which humanity fights is almost nonexistent and set aside to allow other things to be explained. The drama in between the survival of humanity is long and almost irrelevant to the greater issue at hand. The troubled youth, the lies, the sexual desires, the love problems, all of this crap distorts the finer details of the story. The mecha in RahXephon, especially RahXephon itself are less technological feats and instead treated as deity above our realm of existence. The pilots, or rather, the “instrumentalists” are then vessels between the deity and the current world. These Gods and servants of Gods channel their existence through the Mulians, or at least that’s what I understood.
The way that characters express themselves is so robotic that it really starts to bother you. A character may decide to take a stance and do something, only to begin the process and the monologue about whether or not he or she is doing the right thing. It’s like slamming the breaks after deciding to drive really fast; no gradual change or precision is considered at all.
There’s plenty of plot holes that never get explained and are not even worth trying to figure out either. At the beginning of the show, humanity doesn’t have a useful weapon against the “threat” so they rely on RahXephon. Then all of a sudden they create mecha similar in function and abilities to RahXephon. It all sort of just happens with little reasoning behind it and a fancy engrish name is attached to everything. There’s very little care about the technology behind the mecha. While this may be a way to differentiate itself from Evangelion, a large part of what made Evangelion so captivating was the care for technology and explaining it to the viewers. The condescending personality of many of the older characters is terrible at hiding any substance or important story details.
One of the bigger turning points in the story later on is seriously flawed. The crying and the angst about leaving the space you just entered made no sense at all. I find it hard to believe any of the people clamoring superiority in storytelling and innovation are celebrating such a feeble attempt at bringing the characters closer to the viewers.
It’s less of a roller-coaster of angst, guilt, responsibility, danger but rather a soap opera of love troubles these characters have. Evangelion is emo, so emo it almost hurts, but RahXephon is emo and dry at the same time. The weight of the world’s greatest enemy is insignificant and is distant third in opposition to the love drama and the Mu-Human relationships. It’s funny how sound and music is prominent in the show, yet the rhythm and flow of the show is extremely dull. It’s a lot like listening to a very slow and boring song and waiting for the beat to pick up. Many times the characters will go on and on about little things, yet the mecha action is void of any narrative thus relying entirely on appreciating the abstract occurrences and not really immersing you into what’s going on.
The show’s veil of mystery is almost too simplistic that it loses its effect. The mecha born from eggs, the blue blood, the Mulian language and songs, the history behind the Mu and how it’s related to Tokyo and Ayato’s family is all very stretched out. Rather than set the mood for a surprise revelation, the story drags on and on countless times about the same issues all until the very lackluster end.
Some would argue that not being able to easily decipher or explain the happenings in the story is its strong point, and to a certain degree I would be obliged to agree. However, if the hook isn’t there and you’re not immersed in what’s going on the allure is lost. Even if you can’t understand what is going on, there needs to be something pulling you in and keeping you immersed in some plane of understanding. Without that grounding you’re left afloat in doubt and boredom and you’ll lose interest in the show’s prolonged deferment of the grand revelation that may or may not come through in the end. In just as much possibility for a great end connecting the dots exists the possibility of sudden stoppage to the narrative with little to no fulfillment which is exactly what happened.
RahXephon’s inspiration from the Aztec and Egyptian cultures gives a very nice appearance to the artwork, but the underlying story and its relevance leaves much to be desired. Evangelion, regardless of its numerous flaws, was the first of its kind and even to this day is upheld as a staple in mecha anime. RahXephon doesn’t have the legs to become a timeless mecha story at all thus pales in comparison to Evangelion. The risks they took were not significant enough to surpass Evangelion and the coherence and talent lacks much to tie everything together and be considered a meaningful and transcending work of art like Evangelion.
)
Recent Comments