What makes a great anime show over a good anime show? Or even a bad one for that matter...It's about blending elements and getting them to work together successfully. In Rahxephon the elements of deep emotions, Mecha, music, science, religion, relationships, family and even unlined racism are added and fundamentally, blended beautifully to make one of the most amazing anime series ever.
First off, this show is visually a feast for the eye. With crisp, clear animation, which despite not being the greatest in an anime show (in terms of attention for detail), is very effective, bright and colourful to the eye. Some of the battle sequences, such as the original Tokyo Jupiter invasion involving Elvy Hadhiyat and Allegretto in a dogfight is excellently choreographed being executed with style and artistry. All the characters in Rahxephon are beautifully designed also. From the quite ordinary boy, Ayato Kamina to the reserved, Quon Kisaragi. The purely macabre Helena Bahbem to the interestingly 'wise old' figure of Seiya Rikudoh. All are wonderfully written and share great layers of depth and scope. With the best instances in the show being that of Dr.Itsuki Kisaragi and Makoto Isshiki. You sense a lot of history with these characters and in the case of Makoto, a real sense of hidden malevolence, making them so compelling to the viewer. It is something that most Anime just can't produce despite there best intentions. The key being, managing to create believable characters in a fictional world. Another area in which this series really excels is the music.(With it being a huge theme throughout) The Mu, the protagonists of the piece, are creatures of music and tone and for this the creators decided, as is the way in these apocalyptic dramatisations, that Classical should be the music of choice. Whilst this adds a real strength to the emotion of the show overall, striking the right notes, this does raise a curious connection. That of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which decided to use classical producing and existing classical tracks in the day to day lives of their characters. This connection with Evangelion is seen in other areas as well, including scenarios and set pieces. Eg. The Rahxephon having to kill a D-1 in orbit from the ground or a D-1 that takes the opponent into negative space through a black hole type phenomenon, enveloping the Mecha and it's pilot. But looking no further than the main lead can really see where these 2 champions of Anime differ. Ayato Kamina and Shinji Ikari. One thing that really made this show work was the amazing realism involved in Ayato. He does really seem to be a young man coming to terms with the world around him and acting accordingly. Whilst at the end of Evangelion, fans and critics alike were becoming a little less than enamoured with Shinji as a character, not to mention the voice actors! Shinji fell into depression and became almost excruciating towards the end.
This series is a wonderful piece of emotional anime with classic design work and classic characters. Excelling in every department, including the area Evangelion failed on. A fitting and compelling ending. Both in the series and the movie endings.(Again following Evangelion with a movie alternative ending) It's not a rip off of Evangelion, but another piece of work with similarities, that stands on it's own, in it's own right. People debate, which of them is better, saying you can only like one or the other. This is wrong in my opinion, with both being Genius (in a word) and excelling in different areas. But I can only see the comparison as a pure compliment to Rahxephon. That after it's ran it's course the show is constantly being compared to one of the greatest anime series ever.
Rahxephon comes highly recommended and for some parts of the series, it is the best Anime around. It very rarely gets better than this. 9/10
First off, this show is visually a feast for the eye. With crisp, clear animation, which despite not being the greatest in an anime show (in terms of attention for detail), is very effective, bright and colourful to the eye. Some of the battle sequences, such as the original Tokyo Jupiter invasion involving Elvy Hadhiyat and Allegretto in a dogfight is excellently choreographed being executed with style and artistry. All the characters in Rahxephon are beautifully designed also. From the quite ordinary boy, Ayato Kamina to the reserved, Quon Kisaragi. The purely macabre Helena Bahbem to the interestingly 'wise old' figure of Seiya Rikudoh. All are wonderfully written and share great layers of depth and scope. With the best instances in the show being that of Dr.Itsuki Kisaragi and Makoto Isshiki. You sense a lot of history with these characters and in the case of Makoto, a real sense of hidden malevolence, making them so compelling to the viewer. It is something that most Anime just can't produce despite there best intentions. The key being, managing to create believable characters in a fictional world. Another area in which this series really excels is the music.(With it being a huge theme throughout) The Mu, the protagonists of the piece, are creatures of music and tone and for this the creators decided, as is the way in these apocalyptic dramatisations, that Classical should be the music of choice. Whilst this adds a real strength to the emotion of the show overall, striking the right notes, this does raise a curious connection. That of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which decided to use classical producing and existing classical tracks in the day to day lives of their characters. This connection with Evangelion is seen in other areas as well, including scenarios and set pieces. Eg. The Rahxephon having to kill a D-1 in orbit from the ground or a D-1 that takes the opponent into negative space through a black hole type phenomenon, enveloping the Mecha and it's pilot. But looking no further than the main lead can really see where these 2 champions of Anime differ. Ayato Kamina and Shinji Ikari. One thing that really made this show work was the amazing realism involved in Ayato. He does really seem to be a young man coming to terms with the world around him and acting accordingly. Whilst at the end of Evangelion, fans and critics alike were becoming a little less than enamoured with Shinji as a character, not to mention the voice actors! Shinji fell into depression and became almost excruciating towards the end.
This series is a wonderful piece of emotional anime with classic design work and classic characters. Excelling in every department, including the area Evangelion failed on. A fitting and compelling ending. Both in the series and the movie endings.(Again following Evangelion with a movie alternative ending) It's not a rip off of Evangelion, but another piece of work with similarities, that stands on it's own, in it's own right. People debate, which of them is better, saying you can only like one or the other. This is wrong in my opinion, with both being Genius (in a word) and excelling in different areas. But I can only see the comparison as a pure compliment to Rahxephon. That after it's ran it's course the show is constantly being compared to one of the greatest anime series ever.
Rahxephon comes highly recommended and for some parts of the series, it is the best Anime around. It very rarely gets better than this. 9/10