RahXephon

Wow, the show that started out like an Evangelion-ripoff actually had a better storyline and ending!

The story started conventionally enough, Kamina Ayato, a 17-year-old boy was caught in a war as Tokyo came under attack. But who are the invaders? The rest of the world had been destroyed years ago! A mysterious woman offers him the truth while government agents are hot on his heels. And why are the man in blacks bleeding blue blood?

Sure, that might sound all cliched and all, but if you manage to continue watching, you will realize that RahXephon is much more. (just like Evangelion was) All these are just the cover plot for something more. If you managed to go pass the first few episodes, you realize that everything that happened before was not important at all, and the REAL story starts. Oh course, I can’t tell you what it really is, that will be a huuuuuge spoiler. Imagine if I were to tell you what the Human Instrumentality Project actually was and the true nature of EVAs when you are still at the first episode of Evangelion. However, if you were disappointed by Eva’s incomprehensible plot, (watch it again!) RahXephon might lose you in a few plotlines, especially towards the end. However, in my personal opinion, RahXephon’s ending was done much better than Evangelion’s, it concentrated on solving all the unanswered questions and bringing an end to the plotline, unlike the ending of Evangelion, where the director finally went mad and made it as open-ended as humanly possible, leaving all the unfinished plot for the viewer to guess…

The animations in RahXephon are beautifully-crafted, this was probably due to its talented cast. The director, Yutaka Izubuchi, had worked on Patlabor and Raiden. The character animater, Hiroki Kanno, was also involved in Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop. The rest of the non-voice cast talents came from previous experiences like Gundam: Char’s Counterattack, Nadesico, Serial Experiments Lain and Space Battleship Yamato to name a few. Heck, some of the animations were even done by GAINAX. (anime sometimes have a lot of studios working on different parts, for example, look at End of Evangelion’s credits, many scenes were animated by a variety of studios)

The voice cast are all veterans of anime. (pity, no Megumi Hayashibara, she would make a good Haruka) Here’s a summary of the voice talents and their previous works:

Kamina Ayato by Hiro Shimono (the only newbie among the main characters)
Reika Mishima by Maaya Sakamoto ( Mishio Amano / Kanon, Hitomi Kanzaki / Escaflowne, Beatrice Ratio / Gene Shaft )
Haruka Shitow by Aya Hisakawa ( Nyamo / Azumanga Daioh, Yuki Soma / Fruits Basket, Chloe / NOIR, Sayuri / Arjuna )
Kuon/Quon Kisaragi by Houko Kuwashima ( Minoru Kokubunji / Chobits, Kirika Yumura / NOIR, Harriet Bartholomew / Argentosoma )
Megumi Shitow by Ayako Kawasumi ( Koishi Herikawa / Onegai Teacher, Mahoro / Mahoromatic, Elie / RAVE, Akari Kamigishi / To Heart, Lafiel / Crest of the Stars )
Hotal Kim by Fumiko Orikasa ( Meia Gisborn / Vandread, Hikaru Shina / Figure 17, Seiko Kasuganomichi / I My Me! strawberry-eggs )
Soichi Yagumo by Kouki Miyata ( Daisaku Kamiya / Real Bout High School, Masato / Super GALS! )
Elfy Hadiyat by Yu Sugimoto ( Saotome / Kochikame )
Itsuki Kisaragi by Mitsuru Miyamoto ( Ayame Soma / Fruits Basket, Roger Smith / The Big O )
Zin Kunugi by Joji Nakata ( Folken / Escaflowne )
Makoto Isshiki by Toshihiko Seki ( Cid / FF:U, Mousse / Ranma 1/2 )
Hiroko Asahina by Yumi Kakazu ( Dita / Vandread, Akari Fujisaki / Hikaru no Go, Aya Mikage / Ayashi no Ceres )
Mamoru Torigai by Hirofumi Nojima ( Yoji Suganuma / Boogiepop Phantom )

Also, deserving another mention, Maaya Sakamoto also sang most of the series’ original soundtracks, including Hemisphere, Yume no Tamago and in the RahXephon movie, Tune the Rainbow. She is a very talented singer, look out for her single, “Ongaku”. < -- My new favourite song. :P All in all, RahXephon will NOT disappoint you if you are looking for an anime with a damn good plot. It also excels in that it did not contain a single episode that one can call “filler”. (watch Love Hina, everything in the middle of the series can be called fillers) Every single episode in RahXephon moved the storyline, and that was the main reason it managed to captivate me throughout the 26 episodes. However, if you are looking for a showdown between good and evil with a lot of mecha fighting, you WILL be disappointed. Fight scenes last shorter than other mecha animes, which to some, like me, was a huge plus. In RahXephon, the mecha was the not important part of the story, the relationships between the characters was. (although Evangelion did that too, Rahxephon focused on it even more) Also about the good and evil part, here’s a tiny spoiler: like Evangelion, there IS no good or evil. Don’t be too quick to judge who is the generic “bad guy”. The roles would probably change a few times throughout the series, but in the end, there really isn’t a real bad guy at all… Kind of like the real world, ne? Anyway, concluding… WATCH IT DAMMIT! I was somewhat skeptical, but after watching the whole series, I was finally converted: THIS is what Evangelion should and could have been. (I’m looking in your direction, Hideki…) Evangelion might have excelled at going into a psychological level no anime has gone before, or after, (except maybe S.E. Lain) but it loses a great deal of points for having a lackluster ending. (which although was GREAT, did not end the plot at all) Watch RahXephon if you want a story as deep as Evangelion but with a heart-warming ending. Final Score:
9.99/10
That’s as much as I’ll ever give. Nothing can take a 10 from me… :P