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ObscureAnimeMemories
Добавлен 7 сен 2022
After spending years fixating on various obscure productions, my Loved Ones have finally suggested I ramble to someone other than them. Enjoy my adoration of series you may not have even heard of before, my rushed editing, and my patent-pending somewhat bumbling style as I seek to share my love of these shows with the world.
The Big RahXephon Retrospective, The Complete Wrestling with RahXephon
Welcome to the full Version of Wrestling with RahXephon, an in-depth retrospective on one of the oddest obscure animes out there. While some things about the series are clear, like its divisive nature and great technicals, many things are not like much of its writing and whether or not its actually "good". Here we will try to add some clarity to these points by examining some of the series' plot, characters, writing, and themes. And no, RahXephon is not an Evangelion clone, and we'll talk about that too. And of course...
All properties shown here belong to their respective owners. "RahXephon" is a production of Bones and a creation of Yutaka Izubuchi And.....
Copyright Disclaimer under sec...
All properties shown here belong to their respective owners. "RahXephon" is a production of Bones and a creation of Yutaka Izubuchi And.....
Copyright Disclaimer under sec...
Просмотров: 136
Видео
When Reach Exceeds Grasp, My Final Thoughts on RahXephon (WwR 17)
Просмотров 6914 дней назад
Well. Its finally time. After having spent way too long examining and analyzing RahXephon, its time to finally call it. I've spoken on all I've felt like and all that's left is to give my final thoughts on this odd art piece of a series. Its not great, sometimes its not even competent, and yet its oddly captivating in its own weird way..... And of Course. Dog Footage from the amazing TV pilot "...
RahXephon's Failed and Fumbled Themes (WwR 16)
Просмотров 5221 день назад
Hi everyone, its time for the "theme component" of the RahXephon Retrospective. As I have already spoke on the idea of duty in the intro video, and how the series promotes poor mental hygiene in the Haruka and Eva Vs RaX episodes, this one will focus on a few smaller thematic elements I picked up upon. Please enjoy as I prepare to wrap up this series. And of course... All properties shown here ...
Ayato Kamina: Some of the Best and Worst of RahXephon (WwR 15)
Просмотров 44728 дней назад
Well folks, we've finally done it, we've finally got to the main character of RahXephon and he's... here. Ayato is a difficult character to talk of because he sort of embodies some of the best and worst character writing of the series and is a good microcosm for its character writing. Here we will see how, And of Course... All properties shown here belong to their respective owners. "RahXephon"...
The Curious Quandary of Quan (WwR 14)
Просмотров 121Месяц назад
Hi everyone, and welcome to a video about one of the oddest characters I've ever looked at on this channel. Now as a character Quon, isn't that weird, but from a writing stand point she very much is. Her place, role, and character feel very experimental and even if its not always a successful experiment, this experimental nature is still interesting. While she initially simply feels superfluous...
EvaPhon Musical Fusion (Odd/Low Effort OST Edits)
Просмотров 151Месяц назад
The Soundtracks of Evangelion and RahXephon are both delights to listen to even if RahXephon as a series is rather flawed. While editing various videos on both of these very different series, I have become quite familiar with both their OSTs and decided to do some experimental edits. Please enjoy this low effort edit I cobbled together in the 4 hours of free time I had this week. I had to pull ...
The Troubled Tertiary Cast of RahXephon (WwR 13)
Просмотров 112Месяц назад
Welcome back everyone to more character examinations of RahXephon. In another diversion from traditional format, we will look at the tertiary cast here before either Quan or Ayato. This is because.... I guess I felt like it. Anyways, the tertiary staff of this series isn't great, but does have some stand outs. Please enjoy! And of course... All properties shown here belong to their respective o...
RahXephon is the Anti-Evangelion
Просмотров 15 тыс.Месяц назад
Ever since the beginning of this retrsopective, I knew I would have to prove why RahXephon isn't just an Evangelion clone, and I think I have. While the two share many visuals, at there core they are very differnet and here I will elabotate as to why. Also quick disclaimer, while I may be critical of some of RahXephon's creative decisions here, I don't hate it, and still think its worth a watch...
Why RahXephon Doesn't Make Sense (Muddled Motivations) (WwR 11)
Просмотров 1812 месяца назад
His everyone, and welcome to a special episode of Wrestling with RahXephon. This was originally the video on the tertiary cast, but a small rant about motivations in it got me thinking about why everyone in RahXephon wants to re tune the world. And I came to the conclusion that its not really explained and this in turn explains a lot of the subconscious confusion the series causes me to feel. H...
Mismanaged Megumi (WwR Part 10)
Просмотров 632 месяца назад
Welcome back everyone, to a more coherent and short installment of Wrestling with Rahxephon. In this installment we will look at Megumi Shitow, sister of Haruka and one with the exact opposite problems. Where Haruka is plot essential, but poorly developed, Megumi is well developed, but almost completely irrelevant when we zoom out. I ask, does this completely invalidate mismanaged Megumi? And o...
RahXephon's Weakest Link (WwR Part 9)
Просмотров 812 месяца назад
Welp,its time everyone, time to finally take a look at Haruka and see why she is the show's biggest issue. Her writing simply doesn't really work in my opinion and her development is surprisingly non-existent. Let's get into things. And of course... All properties shown here belong to their respective owners. "RahXephon" is a production of Bones and a creation of Yutaka Izubuchi And..... Copyri...
The Curious Case of Anime Columbo (WwR Part 8)
Просмотров 1842 месяца назад
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Wrestling with RahXephon. We are now getting into the characters which struggle to be both well developed and plot relevant, and many past this point are solely either one or the other. Among the most interesting of these is Futagami or "anime Columbo". As a reporter, he does a good job explaining things to us, however his presence is very odd as this seems to b...
Elvy: The Elite Bunga Mawar (WwR Part 7)
Просмотров 1043 месяца назад
Hi everyone! For this episode of Wrestling with RahXephon, we will look at Elvy Hadhiyat, the Bunga Mawar, and ace pilot of Alpha Squadron. Like Kim, Elvy is a relatively well characterized member of the cast and a good supporting addition, telling others of the need to be strong, and showing strength herself. How so? Let's find out. And of course... All properties shown here belong to their re...
These Two Should Have Been the Main Characters of RahXephon (WwR Part 6: Kim and Yagamo)
Просмотров 1,2 тыс.3 месяца назад
Hi! For this installment of Wrestling with RahXephon, we will look at two characters! Soichi Yagamo and Kim Hotal. Now I feel Yagamo does enough and is generally characterized enough to warrant his own video, but upon reflection, I was surprised on how developed Kim is. Since the two are a couple, and Kim is much better written than a vast majority of the cast, she gets to be here and not in th...
Malignant Makoto (WwR Part 5)
Просмотров 693 месяца назад
Hello everyone and welcome to the Makoto section of wrestling with RahXephon. Now this was a fun episode as while the snake doesn't have the most screen time, he makes the most use of it and, on a personality level, is by far the most interesting (and arguably best motivated) of anything the show has close to an antagonist. Let's see how, and of course... All properties shown here belong to the...
Commander Kunugi and his Conscience (WwR Part 3)
Просмотров 1153 месяца назад
Commander Kunugi and his Conscience (WwR Part 3)
Wrestling with RahXephon (Part 1 of ???)
Просмотров 5914 месяца назад
Wrestling with RahXephon (Part 1 of ???)
The Dual Nature of Armitage III Dual Matrix
Просмотров 1595 месяцев назад
The Dual Nature of Armitage III Dual Matrix
How Neon Genesis Evangelion Horrifies Us
Просмотров 2,2 тыс.6 месяцев назад
How Neon Genesis Evangelion Horrifies Us
Final Visions of Escaflowne (VoE Retrospective Conclusion)
Просмотров 1636 месяцев назад
Final Visions of Escaflowne (VoE Retrospective Conclusion)
Escaflowne, Agency, Self-Discovery, and Making One's Own Future
Просмотров 1516 месяцев назад
Escaflowne, Agency, Self-Discovery, and Making One's Own Future
Celebrating the Tertiary Cast of the Vision of Escaflowne (Vision of Escaflowne Retrospective)
Просмотров 1256 месяцев назад
Celebrating the Tertiary Cast of the Vision of Escaflowne (Vision of Escaflowne Retrospective)
Hitomi Kanzaki: The True Vision of Escaflowne
Просмотров 3217 месяцев назад
Hitomi Kanzaki: The True Vision of Escaflowne
Von and the Construction of a King (VoE Retrospective)
Просмотров 1577 месяцев назад
Von and the Construction of a King (VoE Retrospective)
Leon and the Lost Episode (the Rant) (VoE Retrospective...?)
Просмотров 887 месяцев назад
Leon and the Lost Episode (the Rant) (VoE Retrospective...?)
Allen Schezar: Deconstruction of a Knight (VoE Retrospective)
Просмотров 1217 месяцев назад
Allen Schezar: Deconstruction of a Knight (VoE Retrospective)
Millerna and Making Fate (VoE Retrospective)
Просмотров 748 месяцев назад
Millerna and Making Fate (VoE Retrospective)
Ooooof. You're channel acronym sounds VERY similar to a fascist right-wing conspiracy theory "news" channel, aka One America News network, OAN.
Johnson Ruth Williams Betty Garcia Margaret
They way I look at him is he is the character that became aware of the stage and didnt like the character he was playing and went out of his way to make everyone aware of it and change the script, even if the the maincast had not caught on yet. It would have been poetic if we saw Schwartz's character be rewritten, recast and replaced by Alan Gabriel or turned into Alan Gabriel, a character who does whatever is needed to fit the narrative going forward, Doesnt care about the truth or have a need for the truth. Only to be haunted by the memories of who he used to be in big Duo.
Bro literally ascends the trappings of his mortal perspective. Returns to the world from this Nirvana with eyes unclouded with singular purpose "Kill God". Then in the crisis of his defeat and the surreal nature of his being/existence revealed he chooses reality for what its true value is; The small moments of love he felt for his family and his daughter who he never had the ability to understand or come to terms with. I couldn't help but fight tears watching him pick himself up with the mantra "Can I see her one last time?"
I agree, feel like the ending was miss understood and the ending was a not continusous loop with the reset but a reboot and all the characters are in a better place than they were before including the director. If anything the ending leaves the story in a happy ending and honestly opening to a future continuation (if that happened the series timeline can be started with a soft reboot and characters can continue forward.)
The crew of second earth like every one on that planet is contaminated to a maximal or mimimal quantity by the blue so that made them insane to attack Miyagi the sane human leader. I like Yuji but he is just a blue in human form just a milimeter from being like Tony. Gaia or whatever it is its appellation is a pathogen infesting the planet inhibiting humans or any intelligent being that harms its hosts that it parasitizes. If this thing is intelligent or just running on mechanical instinct I do not know even if it is natural or artificial eludes me. Gene-steal infestation or dead space marker signal insanity with necromorph outbreaks is the closest example I know akin to it.
Big kiss for this amazing serie of retrospectives to my childhood anime
I'm glad my retrospective was good! I Love bringing light to some more forgotten series!
Raul’s story is a fucking tragedy and it kills me how underrated he is 😭
Raul really shined in my later viewings of the series. He is very human, and even if not always for the best, its that humanity that makes him so interesting. He's not a saint, but he's also not completely evil, he's just a human trying to overcome extreme odds.
Pino is the cutest! And she brought joy in every scene she was in, which was critical in an otherwise bleak setting.
I think the placement of a child character in Ergo Proxy is great because it establishes a sort of continuity of life and ties into the series being about rebirth, even if on the surface it seems to be about death.
Honestly hated it. The wordlbuilding was more interesting than theme-wanking.
the ironic thing here is that evangelion will eventually do the same with rebuild, basically escapist fantasy with everyone living happy ever after with the msot escapist ending (a complete reset with 3.0+1.0).
Yeah, I got to agree, and I think its why I am biased against the rebuilds (its fine if people like them but I could never quite buy in). If either the original series (plus end of Eva) or the rebuilds existed in a vacuum, it would be fine, but the fact they are part of the same franchise is still weird to me considering how different they are, at least in tone. Now I understand there is some potential real life reasons for the change in tones (Anno admits that getting married "mellowed him out" and he's in generally much better head space since marriage) and so the rebuilds can be seen as a sort of extension of Anno 'rebuilding' his world view into a more positive one, but again it feels like that should have been a completely new franchise and not just a new Eva.
Would still recommed slay the princess if you want a more unsettling/weird soundtrack.
I need some more stuff to listen to while editing, I'll look into that OST!
@@obscureanimememories6697 Well, you do need associations with specific scenes to feel that-through as it doesn't quite work without context.
Almost 5 and a half hours of solid analysis. That is impressive. The fact that the show still makes very little sense even with that analysis is actually also impressive in its own way. Looking forward to your next video and thank you.
Thanks for watching! I honestly wish RahXephon was less coherent, just go full art mode, it could have been even more memorable!
This was a really genuine and very pleasant series of videos. I'd never heard of Rahxephon outside of it's mention/inclusion in some Super Robot related material I saw. I never thought much of it, but hearing your thoughts really makes me want to check it out. Once again I appreciate that you don't hyper fixate on the negative like a lot of other videos. It feels sometimes like people are very eager to write things off as either terrible or fantastic. The fact that you go over that it's flawed, and even frustrating at points, but it still has artistic merit is really refreshing. I believe that kind of approach leads to more genuine, and ultimately more enjoyable, discussion around things. Thank you for your hard work! I'm excited to see go over in the future.
Thanks for watching! I started this channel to do work just like this, getting into the details of series some people, but maybe not many, might remember. I Love getting into the details of things, even if they are not perfect, because its fascinating seeing how and why things ended up being the way they are. Its fascinating to try and comprehend art even if its not the best simply because the point is the humanity put into it and not just "good or bad". Its important to distinguish between objective and subjective and realize that "good/bad" is not the same as "interesting/uninteresting" or "high effort/low effort". Its ok if you don't like an objectively good series and its also ok to take interest in a very objectively flawed series, because part of interpreting art is not only trying to see what is being said, but also interpreting yourself and your own views on various concepts.
Nobody tell him about the weird sex stuff in the uncut version.
oof
People might want to look up the artwork for this show.
While RahXephon is mostly style over substance, that style is often AMAZING. While I think the show has many issues, it excels in visuals, especially in some supplemental materials. I always loved the water colors used for some of the soundtrack stuff, they often are more emotive and elicit more of a response than some of the actual episodes.
Thank you for these! I personally cannot stand a broken story or fumbled characters and themes so my opinion of this series is pretty low. That said it does have a strange appeal that lead me to try watching it again despite it committing writing sins that would get most other series blacklisted. There was a ton of potential with this shoes concept at least and it is genuinely sad that never flowered.
Thanks for watching! I always try to distinguish between "good/bad", and "interesting/uninteresting" because something can be objectively good but just not my cup of tea, or a complete dumpster fire, but fascinating for that particular reason. While I would not go as far as to call RahXephon a dumpster fire, its certainly flawed, but those many flaws are exactly why I find it so interesting.
I always loved this show for being so experimental and esoteric , with a bunch of awesome fighting robots. but one thing always got me. If the event (universal amnesia) was 40 years ago, that makes him (and everybody else) basically 60 or 70 years old. The storyline would make much more sense with the 10-year memory Gap
I'd like to think Roger and the cast are just really good about eating right and exercising.
I've always found it funny and interesting that in SRWs, Big-O is one of the featured mech that gets to interact with all the other series that has similar themes about existentialism. The Super robot series might be colorful but they have always been bleak and grim hence the existence of mighty magical robots powered by the infinite will of the pilot and some "dark energy source" that resembles the concept of nukes. Even with Go-Nagai's Mazinger series, the mech genre has always been dark and that humanity has questioned their existence against the vastness of the universe. Getter Robot would also have the same theme of building power only to cast or create what would be a universe eater. The influence even reached the more "realistic" mech animes like Votoms in which there is a super AI capable of managing an entire galaxy or Gundam in which humans through robots and wars will spell humanity's reset once it reach the peak of human evolution amd peak of technological innovation paved by war. Even Metal Gear has these themes albeit more political. I think Japanimation in itself respects the dreams of a future full of powerful machines that can make the work in our life easier. But such power can be daunting to the hands of the imperfect humanity. The discovery of Nuclear energy is testament to this and Japan itself. There has always been an anti-war and anti-nuclear messages in most of these mech animes. And while Big-O only has this as a plot device, the same concept remains where when a time comes that a big machine weapon becomes a necessity then the world will be meeting its end.
Its ironic that the mech genre, one on the surface focusing on mechanical constructs and inorganic technological progress, often tends to be one of the most human as it, by examining how people use and interact with technology, holds up a mirror for us all. Technology doesn't just exist in a vacuum and how people think about and use it greatly reflects their own nature and that of humanity in general. It really is both beautiful and freighting that no matter how much changes we are all still humans at the end of the day.
Its been 16 parts? Well, thats... a lot of attention.
I may have gone a little too far in a few places... but its time for some new stuff soon!
One thing that occured to me watching this vid is, did Ayato and Haruka go to the same school or not? In the after credits scene where we see them meet it seems like they don't, but earlier in the series I think its mentioned they did. Small point, but I think indicative of the lack of forward thinking by the writers.
I'm not sure, but I think they did after meeting the first time on the island. Its another small detail that is inordinately important when we zoom out and, yeah, is indicative of a lack of tight planning. I feel like the series would have been better if there was either a lot more planning and streamlining, like in a conventional series, or just none at all, like a true art piece ignoring all logic and going in even more truly weird and abstract directions. We could have either had a much more coherent or much less coherent show and I feel both would have been more interesting than what we ultimately got.
You can see what they were doing with the Meso American imagery, they saw how subtle and on the nose references to religion worked for Evangelion amd tried their hand and failed miserably especially by comparison
It just feels so under baked to me I can't wrap my head around what the plan was. Was it supposed to tie into the concept of circular time and some deeper themes connected to that or was it just because it looked cool? Either one could have worked fine, but the aspects present are so underutilized I ask "why even bother?". Its another classic example of ideas out running resources.
Dornkirk biggest sin was hubris.
I think that's pretty accurate. Though he sought to help everyone, the belief he could so dramatically is what led to his crazed actions and downfall.
I think timbre is pronounced with a flatter “a” sound, like the “a” in Baben. At least that’s how I reconcile with it being a French word that I can never hope to pronounce properly. Pronouncing it like “tamper” sounds appropriately American. Also fate can also be a positive theme. Where instead of the struggle being about coming to terms with a cruel fate, the struggle can be about improving oneself in order to accept an important fate and the responsibility that comes with it. Probably in the format of a coming-of-age hero story.
That's a good point about how someone can be assigned an important responsibility, and this in turn can shape them for the better as they work to be able to see to it. I still don't understand RahXephon's viewpoint on fate. I think the series does want it to seem like Ayato is running from his duty to re tune (his fate) and coming to accept this as he matures. While this would strip him of some agency (as it essentially forces him to re tune and limits his future options), if it was readily apparent this was needed and more was done to show Ayato run from duty, it could have worked. But instead alot of Ayato is dedicated to figuring out who he is and what he wants, only for him to go along with other's plans anyways and essentially reduce himself to a tool. It seems like the series is stepping on its own toes here. I don't know, RahXephon makes my brain hurt sometimes.
Your point on the romantic relationships is spot on. It is honestly amazing so many problems with the writing in story and themes made it to the final draft. Obvious problems no less.
RahXephon's writing, while often very flawed and objectively questionable, is one of the reasons it fascinates me. Its fascinating because it is so weird and flawed, because it makes me ask if anyone even bothered to do any drafts past the very first. The series is such an odd combination of technical skill, bold ambition, and borderline incompetent writing.
Thinking about it, the story definately qualifies as what I would call an "idea salad". It doesn't feel like its mostly the creation of one individual imagination. It feels like the ideas came from a large group of writers, and then the director selected which ones he liked, and merged them together in a very clumsy way.
It makes so much sense, that the creator of Yandere Simulator is a huge fan of RahXephon.
I wonder why...
I don't subscribe to the notion that the reset reflects the nature of "life going on". Life going on would be taking the good with the bad and moving forward, not going back and hoping for a better roll of the dice. It's easy to imagine how to solve a problem if you have the option to start over. The real judgement of one's character is how they deal with the hand they are dealt. A far bolder story to me would be one where the person with the power to reset the world is convinced NOT to, even when everything is seemingly lost. The whole narrative revolves around people dwelling on the intangible phantom of an unknown past. A wholly better moral to me would have been learning to let go of that past and moving forward. To take account of what was lost as a reminder not to squander what remains in the here and now.
I think that's a completely valid point, and I can see an ending where Angel basically destroys everything and then Roger's speech convinces her to put everything back, while allowing her creations to retain their memories, instead of simply making a new, better timeline for them, where they probably are unaware of what happened earlier. That ending would probably be just as thematically appropriate and in line with "there is no true ending". It would still be good, and less of a compromise than the full reset (where Angel is convinced to carry on, but does wipe the slate clean, something which may not always be the most practical/realistic). To be honest, I think this option wasn't chosen though, simply because the reset was the "bolder" option, the one that made less logical sense in the production room. One thing I Love about the Big O is that it while it takes itself seriously enough, it never feels like the creative team is overly serious. They know they're working on a lower budget piece and just want to have fun and get experimental. I think the reset is part of this, its sort of them just "going for it" and I Love it (even if its isn't objectively the most logical).
Another thing I never understood is why none of the cast questions why Quon says such strange things or what her role at Terra is?
The Foundation must have pulled some strings to prevent people from asking too many questions. Honestly, I want to see a version of RahXephon where the only difference is people ask all these sort of logical questions and see how different it would turn out. I have a feeling it would be very different.
I always wonder, how did Haruka even know where to find Ayato in episode one?
I never thought of that, but that is a very valid question. My head cannon is she happened to find his residence before the invasion and Maya was simply to lazy to change residences.
I'd only watched this one once back in the day and found it disappointing. Finally revised a couple years ago, and while I don't love it this was better than I remembered. Armitage and Ross are still great characters, which help carry it, but other than their daughter I never felt much investment in the new cast.
I watched the movie cut of this over a hundred times back in the day, loved it, but wasn't aware or able to watch the OVA version until much later. Always glad to see someone covering it in any positive way, rather than immediately dismissing it as I've seen tons of reviewers do. A pretty flawed but still very enjoyable series imo.
I love blue gender it’s one of my all time favorite anime’s. I’ve watched atleast a handful of dozens of times. It still aggravates me that they didn’t make at least one more episode after let me I mean I know yuji was able to take control of the entire blue and ultimately take back the earth but still would have been nice to get the last part what if the blue sorta helped rebuild earth and through the process the blue get fed up for being controlled and rebelled and it was up to yuji and Marlene’s kid to try and fix everything again. Because we all have to remember everything evolves including the B cells or better known as the blue cells.
Its an interesting point that everyone and everything thing can have B-cells as it really does show how interconnected various forms of life are. As for the ending, it is an unfortunate trope of single season anime that they tend to have quick and somewhat open endings. Its difficult to fit the entirety of a complex story and cast into only 26 episodes so corners were often cut back in the day. None-the-less, Thanks for watching!
@@obscureanimememories6697 yeah I know what you mean and get where your coming from im actually the same way in that view because some things aren’t meant for a sequel I’ve actually seen a couple of shows and movies that actually ruined the whole thing just because it ended and took care of everything in the first season/movie and they ended up making a second and there was no need to and it actually hurt it more.
My favorite anime review channel; the Rahxephon channel
Thanks! We are nearing the end of the retrospective though, so it won't be the RahXephon channel for too much longer. Its almost time to move onto new obscure memories!
@@obscureanimememories6697 its honestly been such a tiny joy to experience Rahxephon through a critical lense cant waot for the mext seroes retrospective
As the one who retuned the world, I always assumed that future/new Ayato kept some admin privileges so to speak. Both memories from the previous world, and powers over the new one. Memories carrying over might be a possibility, considering Baben went through a great deal of effort to live long enough to see the RahXephon system activated. If no memories retained whatsoever, what would even be the difference between the Mu and the Humans? Just retune the world so they’re both living on the same planet, without any nasty history between them. The ending is too free to end in a perfect “happily ever after” that it lacks punch. The climax about rejecting Reika Mishima’s machinations could be interpreted as rejecting his fate as a Mulian to retune the world for Mulians, though this one is much more of a stretch. I think the weakest part about the world retuning, assuming it’s known by Ayato that the dimension merge will destroy everything otherwise, is that we don’t get a glimpse into how the world is retuned. A lot of stories with an innate conflict between two peoples have a hard time creating a good solution, but it can be done. The Hero is Dead was working itself towards some sort of tragic conclusion before I stopped reading, one of the Aquarion shows (Evol?) had this too, where the lives of two groups of people are mutually exclusive because of some terrible fate. Either make a tough decision and doom one group, or strike a flawed compromise and try to live with a tumultuous status-quo that might end up dooming both groups. Sometimes rebelling against fate itself is the answer, be it overthrowing god or making a new world, or maybe the characters try to innovate their way to a brighter future, like how we avoided the Malthusian crisis. RahXephon could have headed towards a tough decision like this, and doing so would have fleshed out more of Baben’s intentions, and of how this creations worked. Maybe the intention would be for an Olin representing each species would fight, and the winner would create a world for only their people, but Ayato and Quon would choose peace and retune the world together. Ignore the Oedipal implications.
I really like the idea of a getting a few "post re-tuning" episodes, because I honestly wonder how different the new timeline is from the old one, and whether or not any party of any sort is even aware of the past timelines. It is kind of a time travel thing though so I understand if no one really does, but still it would have been cool, because I think the ending does feel a little too perfect. I understand that in universe there is logic for this, but still, it always surprises me how unaffected I feel when watching the ending again.
Megazone isn't obscure, just old.
Glad to hear its more well known than I thought!
My thoughts on the relationship between Eva and RahXephon are similar to my thoughts on A New Hope and The Force Awakens. The real problem isn’t that it copied Eva, it’s that it didn’t copy Eva ENOUGH, or more accurately it didn’t copy the things that were worth copying. For example, a number of the Dollum battles are visually very similar to some of the Angel battles, but they lack the elements that gave those Angel battles a sense of tension. Additionally, I think Eva’s small cast size would have been more worthwhile emulating, in comparison to having their own “Rei character”, just for the sake of imitation.
I remember taking notes for the RahXephon retrospective and writing "There's too many characters" by episode 7 and never seeing this get resolved. I have to agree that RahXephon's weaknesses lie not only in having elements simply to check them off of a list but also failing to get many of the small things right which are critical to any great series. The bloated cast and excessive ambition here really limit the series as it results in a bunch of half-baked ideas in place of a few really well polished ones, to the detriment of the series.
I think the final speech was about art affecting the creator, how it can speak to its author(in this case literally) and help to go through personal crisis
I have to agree, and I really Love this message not only because it validates creativity and personal expression, but also because of how meta it feels. Its obvious that the Big O was never the biggest production, that it is a niche show made on a shoestring budget, and that it never had the most planning put into it. And yet it also feels like the production team always had fun making it. It always seemed to me they knew of the limitations present and just had fun making it and in this way the final speech kinda goes full circle because it not only applies in universe, but also seems a sort of fun note directly from the people who worked on the series.
One of my favorite anime. Its some Eva and some AOT kinda mashed together and it's great.
I've rewatched Blue Gender a couple times since my review of it, and I gotta say, every time I see it it grows on me a little. It is kinda weird and you can tell the budget wasn't the highest, but that adds so much charm to it. I can't honestly see something like it being made today simply because of how unique it is and some of the odd structural decisions taken. Someone in the production room really seemed to say "what if we just switched main characters half-way through?" and then they did as Marlene takes over a bit to fix Yuji. Stuff like that is just so weird and endearing to me. I Love it.
Another example of RahXephon taking inspiration from Eva in a totally thoughtless way. Rei serves a purpose in the plot prior to instrumentality by piloting Unit zero. She might talk in an abnormal, but most of what she says to other characters makes sense in context. They missed all that though, and just decided that "Eva had a strange supernatural pale girl who ended the world. Lets do that too, but make her even MOOOORE strange!!"
While I think RahXephon and Eva are very different, its also obvious a lot of surface details/concepts from Eva were 'imported' over for... reasons. Usually its just visual cues or oddly specific small details, but Quan and her bizarre relationship with Ayato was when it was most on the nose, and probably the only time I thought "they might have just ripped this off". I will also say Rei and her character are MUCH better written and make much more sense in basically every way possible.
I remember really liking this show when I first saw it, but every time I’ve tried to rewatch it, I always get caught at around episode 5. And then I just skip to Blue Friend because it was the one time I felt completely engrossed in everything that was happening. And I think the reason for that is despite Asahina’s lack of screentime, even with that one episode (but also the preceding bit back in Tokyo Jupiter where everything starts to unravel for her) you know enough to understand what she’s going through. And it’s arguably the one time where the show’s insistence on keeping the viewer in the dark worked to its advantage. Because you immediately empathize with this girl. And it’s heartbreaking. Also while I think it would’ve been cool for her to get more screentime, I think the lack of it works to the drama. Because as she realizes, her whole life was a lie. There’s nothing built for her outside of Ayato because she was a tool to nurture him. He was the only real thing in her life.
Asahina is without a doubt the best of the tertiary cast as her character's circumstances and setup do make for a very interesting mirror to Ayato. Like him she is kept in the dark and overwhelmed by things out of her control. Unfortunately she doesn't have main character powers though and is killed off. Even this though is one of the more effective deaths in the series as the set up does make it very easy to emphasize with her. It feels very tragic and defined and hence its effectiveness.
@@obscureanimememories6697 you know with those parallels I also find it interesting that Ayato, despite relating to her, also keeps her in the dark about a lot of what he knew. Not just with what Dolems are, or what he’s been up to the past month, but when she’s been shot and asks if her blood is blue, he lies to protect her feelings, just like Haruka and his other friends at Terra who knew he had the Mu gene did to him. Unintentionally contributing to her spiral when she brushes her teeth and finally sees her blood is blue.
She was one of the few characters that stood out for me in this bland, overly large cast. Granted, I haven't watched this show since it first came to the US.
You are correct in your assertion of RahXephon's cast being bloated. There's simply to many characters to sufficiently develop any in the given screen time, and while this is true of Quan too, I do appreciate at least she was bizarre enough to stick out.
Do it. I know you want it too. Mirai Nikki; The Future Diary Open then pandoras box. Embrace the pretentious schlog. Go down into the abyss of convolution and rise about it. xD
As someone who voluntarily watched K9000, I'd like to think I can appreciate both mid and confusing. I have always considered doing "condensed reviews" where I take about 30 minutes to talk about a series (as opposed to the longer format I currently employ) because there are many series that seem interesting that I am unsure about going completely in-depth about. Maybe one day...
Even though people say this an Eva copy show. It’s a really good mecha anime I loved it the music, the mecha and monster designs and animation are phenomenal and a must watch as it is a very underrated anime
The technicals of RahXephon are definitely a strong point of the series. While I have have questions about some of its writing and structure and other things, the technicals are consistently very good to amazing, in fact the OST is why I was willing to give the series another watch after my first one caused some mixed emotions.
Given the show’s huge flaws, it’s shocking how universally positive and uncritical reviews/discussion were for this in the period it came out. Shows how different “geekdom” was back then, and what they were willing to accept/overlook. I think if it came out today the reception would be way more negative.
I have to agree, and I think RahXephon is the first series I've dived into here that I would considered seriously flawed. Its a shame though, as I think that's why its fascinating to me though, as its flawed in such weird ways. I don't know why the series isn't seen in a more critical light, but since it is so unique and ambitious, I can still appreciate it.
I agree it's fascinating to watch. I think its because its an odd mix of a great deal of effort, alongside a great deal of incompetence. I've watched it 5 times despite hating it.
@@OrtegaSeason Exactly! it feels like someone had a lot of ideas and inspiration, but had no practical script writing or story telling experience, and no real desire to really learn solid writing. Sometimes it works as an art piece and often times it just makes you go "Huh?". I'm not really a fan, and yet it fascinates me so.
I think the Raul and Pino storyline is far-fetched. He didn't do anything, knowing Pino was to dispose as a cogito-infected autorave and at the same time being the chef of security. Plus he didn't look for Pino after she left the city, although he personally witnessed it. He didn't care about Pino at all...untill he saw MCQ show. For some reason he saw her with Vincent, as if he "stole" her. Confusing...On the other side Pino's attitude towards Raul makes more sense to me.
I am conflicted on when Raul really started to see Pino as the end goal here. I always figured he went into shock immediately after the mall incident and fell into denial/his work to try and cope with this. He tried to put his job above all else, regardless of his personal feelings in order to bury them and try and move on. This is untenable for him though as his job leads him directly to Vincent and hence Pino and thus he slowly starts to be more open about him missing Pino, both out of some sense of genuine attachment and acrimony towards Vincent. This is just my theory, but it always seemed to me something was buried inside and he simply unearthed more of it as the series progressed.
You are fully right about the design. Initially he looked much more mature, but his design was changed to what we see (one of biggest changes actually) Here I am referring to the Ergo Proxy artbook At first i even felt sorry for him, because he literally created 2 women and both left, and moreover to the same guy, but after rewatching Ergo Proxy it seems to me that he is just creepy
I was unaware of the design change (but am excited to look up this art book now!), but it was (in my eyes) the right call to go with the redesign because that further reinforces his immature and complacent nature. This is a guy who metaphorically refuses to grow up and even sort of "leave the womb" (note how he is in charge of the womb-sys room) and his entire character serves a a list of behaviors NOT to emulate, so I think it fitting (and arguably more creepy) that the redesign looks younger.
It’s like the Matrix. But one where all humans died in the Final War. The machines were lost, without purpose, and could only lament their creators deaths. All they had were their memories.
I never thought of that , but I can see the point. That's beautifully ironic considering Paradigm's status as a city with no memory
I suggest you look into Phantom Dust (yes, it's a video game, not an anime or a show); it's got very similar core concepts minus the giant robots and also circles around finding oneself's identity in a made-up world.
Man just writing this comment at 2 am as I finished the anime 30 minutes ago. It was worth the loss of sleep of though. Also the first anime I've ever seen besides the Studio Ghibli movies. I really loved this from beginning to end. It reminded me of several different sci fi franchises. Yuji and Marlene's relationship might be my favorite in all of fiction. And that's probably due to how it develops through the entire season. They definitely play with quite a few themes in this anime. One such theme is the loss and regain of one's humanity. Soldiers on second earth are trained to completely ignore and even downright kill civilians if they get in the way. It does seem kind of odd as with a dwindling population, sacrificing the people that are left doesn't make that much sense to me, but whatever. It's fascinating how Marlene though seems to regain her humanity thanks to Yuji, as well as Yuji's descent into madness thanks to his b cells controlling him. And of course, the action is really cool. The animations are crisp, they kind of remind me of youtube clips of the pokemon show. I know somebody else said that this looks like Starship troopers. Sure, at the surface it does. But beyond fighting bugs and even some of the soldier uniforms looking exactly like the ones from ST, I don't see a lot of similarities. As you've said though, it's not perfect. I think my biggest complaint is that it really needed a second season. Im not sure if they weren't allowed to make another one, or if they chose to, but I felt like I had mental whiplash with how fast everything was happening. A second season would've been perfect to let the plot breath. I'm sure there a lot of people that disagree with me on that though. Another thing this reminds me of a little is Starcraft BW. Just in that I was kind of confused if the Blue were a creation of humans, or if the Earth created them. I'm pretty sure it was the latter. But anyway I got a strange bit of nostalgia because I experienced a similar feeling with Starcraft BW being a little confused at first about how the Zerg came about. One of the terran missions suggests that the Zerg might have been created by the confederacy as a weapon. My second biggest complaint is the quality of the sound effects. I think there were a lot of stock sounds being used. And I think the soundscape for the show could've been a lot better if they had more original sound effects. Music and voice acting was fantastic though. The music starts becoming more industrial, louder, and bopping whenever a blue was about to approach. And then ominous atmospheric music outside of combat. It reminded me of video games that do the same thing when you encounter enemies. I can't believe I wrote a whole essay on something like this so late in the morning. But I guess I just liked this series that much. I love it, even with it's biggest flaw of not being long enough. And I'll probably watch it all again soon.
Congratulations on having finished your first series! I think Blue Gender is a good first anime as it has some strong characters, an interesting (but not super complex) plot, some good social commentary, some interesting production values/issues, and of course great visuals and action. I do consider it a sleeper hit after all, and it is impressive how well written Yuji and Marlene's evolving relationship is in a series, on paper, about giant killer bugs. As for some of the flaws noted, a lot of them probably stem from the nature of anime production. While there are many famously long or high value productions, there are many more which try to get by on modest budgets and solely afforded one standard 26 episode series to get stuff done. This can both help and hinder many productions as while it can force the creative team to use its resources as efficiently as possible and streamline stuff, it also means that issues consistently doing so can cause many unforeseen issues to crop up. Sometimes 26 episodes simply isn't enough time to really do stuff right, but the production staff has no real other options and must try to make everything work. This often causes the tonal and mental whiplash you noted. It should also be noted that this was a bigger issue in the 90s and early 2000s as the industry continued to evolve. In spite of these flaws though, I very happy to have found stuff like Blue Gender because it proves there are a lot of small gems waiting out there to be viewed. While I Love a lot of more well known series like Dragon Ball and Ghost in the Shell, etc. etc. There's always something special about watching a stand alone 26 episode series and appreciating all the creativity and effort that went into it.
I loved both shows *because* they were so different from each other
That's a good point. I'm glad RahXephon can be appreciated for what it is and attempts to be as opposed to simply (and lazily) cast off as an "Eva ripoff".
@obscureanimememories6697 it definitely helped to watch Eva then Rahxephon, like immediately after. Was one of my main introductions to anime in general. And I definitely miss the style that these shows had. I want more anime with eldritch horrors being vaguely explained in the final episodes lol
Great video. Despite my love for the series, i agree that Knives and Legato could've been more fleshed out(mostly due to manga being unfinished) i do think Legato is still quite effective and has air of mystery that i find intriguing in the anime, despite not having detailed backstory, but it is somewhat subtly hinted, but not fully realized. However, i disagree with every villain needing to be relatable. Understandable, maybe, but not outright justifying their actions. Frieza is iconic, yet he is the most pure evil of a villain he can be.
Thanks! In hindsight I do regret not putting a little caveat in the video explaining that the source material wasn't completed by the time the anime was and hence some limits were placed on certain characters. I also think that it is a valid point that evil character who are simply evil (like Frieza) can and often do work very well, I think I just got a little carried away with the notion that some more detailed motivations here would have been nice.
@@obscureanimememories6697 Thank you. Don't worry, i do think you made great points and i somewhat agree. Great video overall. I wanted to say, that i wish the anime would have shown something of Legato's backstory because his backstory is fucked up beyond belief, but it does explain his nihilism and reason why he joined Knives. You could almost tell in the anime that Legato is technically begging Vash to end his life, to end his pain.