"Did you know that his name is ironic!?" Ha, that's one catchy line. The main antagonist having uninteresting motivation or none at all is always a fatal issue to any story, but here it just incredibly on the nose... So many themes could've been tied to it. It's somewhat obvious how they could not hangle the scale of their own narrative.
While I find Torugai insufferable, the fact he elaborates on the irony of his name to multiple characters multiple times is bizarrely funny to me. I know its supposed to be serious, but by this point, as the narrative is falling apart, it feels like some kind of on the nose self-parody. I think the Mu/Foundation not having concrete or detailed motivations is probably the weakest part of the show for me. In its attempt at being grandiose, RahXephon tries to have both a complex/large cast and a large over arching story, but the limited resources present mean that these tasks essentially became mutually exclusive. There simply isn't enough screen time to do everything well, and the failure to make cuts here and there results in a lot of under-cooked/poorly done stuff instead of a few really solid things. The size of the cast means none of them are developed enough for the viewer to get super attached to them, which means we (or at least I) aren't super into the muddled plot, which in turn is muddled because a lot of screen time goes towards a bloated cast. Its a vicious cycle and I think RahXephon is a textbook example of why its important to make cuts/streamline a production instead of trying to get everything from the rough draft into the final picture.
@@obscureanimememories6697 you know, maybe you could retroactively fill out the show with more episodes in order to better develop the characters. But I don’t think you could properly fix the major problems without a few significant retcons.
I found your RahXephon is the Anit-Eva video, which inspired me to watch RahXephon again and all you videos about the show. And i have to say. RahXephon is a diamond in the rough. Like M.D. Geist. There a super cool and mist opportunities. RahXephon would have been absolute epic if they had stolen the plot from Future Diary, and Haruko entrapped the main cast in some kind of timeloop in which she can reconnect again and again her loved one, BECAUSE of her toxic issues and the inability to let go. So overcoming this issue would free every one. And the Mu would be the ones who figured out that it happens and they try to prevent the resets by force. Then you have a third faction, which want the reset but on there own conditions, at this point the show writes itself.
Thanks for watching some of my other videos! I like your vision of the show more than the actual result we got as it seems to me RahXehpon suffers from the scope of things it tries to cover. I think that's why it interests me so much though. While RahXephon isn't my favorite, I can see why it is fascinating, and I do Love how experimental it tries to be. Its really pushed me to ask what makes something worth watching, and I think it is, even if not for all the reasons initially intended.
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.
Quon, of who, I assume there will be a standalone video of, feels egregiously badly written. Maybe it’s intentional to have her with very little personality, considering she was asleep for ages, but that feels incompatible with referring to Ayato as Olin. She’s both a naive sheltered character, and one who understands the plot as well as Baben. She seems to be there to move the plot along, but Ixtli does a far better job at that.
Yes! Quon will be the topic of the next video, Audio is done, and I just need to get the video part done! I think Quon is one the aspects of RahXephon my opinion has evolved on most. While I maintain a lot of RahXephon is a mess with a lot of iffy writing, my opinion on Quon has improved a slight bit. When I first watched the series, I loathed her presence in the show as it felt forced, out of place, and to be honest pretentious. However now, I still think she's not super well done, but I've come to appreciate the attempt of creating a god who doesn't initially realize its divinity. I think as a concept, Quon is actually really cool, however her lack or personality, motivations, interesting interactions, and yet seemingly endless knowledge, essentially dooms her to being, at most, an interesting creative exercise, as opposed to an actual character. This is all made worse by her weird relation with Ayato and the fact its pretty obvious she's mostly around for plot purposes. I think they wanted to created an "outsider" non-human character who is awkward, but good natured and embarks to fit in with and understand humanity (like Data from TNG) but simply dropped the ball.
"Did you know that his name is ironic!?" Ha, that's one catchy line.
The main antagonist having uninteresting motivation or none at all is always a fatal issue to any story, but here it just incredibly on the nose... So many themes could've been tied to it.
It's somewhat obvious how they could not hangle the scale of their own narrative.
While I find Torugai insufferable, the fact he elaborates on the irony of his name to multiple characters multiple times is bizarrely funny to me. I know its supposed to be serious, but by this point, as the narrative is falling apart, it feels like some kind of on the nose self-parody.
I think the Mu/Foundation not having concrete or detailed motivations is probably the weakest part of the show for me. In its attempt at being grandiose, RahXephon tries to have both a complex/large cast and a large over arching story, but the limited resources present mean that these tasks essentially became mutually exclusive. There simply isn't enough screen time to do everything well, and the failure to make cuts here and there results in a lot of under-cooked/poorly done stuff instead of a few really solid things. The size of the cast means none of them are developed enough for the viewer to get super attached to them, which means we (or at least I) aren't super into the muddled plot, which in turn is muddled because a lot of screen time goes towards a bloated cast. Its a vicious cycle and I think RahXephon is a textbook example of why its important to make cuts/streamline a production instead of trying to get everything from the rough draft into the final picture.
@@obscureanimememories6697 you know, maybe you could retroactively fill out the show with more episodes in order to better develop the characters. But I don’t think you could properly fix the major problems without a few significant retcons.
I found your RahXephon is the Anit-Eva video, which inspired me to watch RahXephon again and all you videos about the show.
And i have to say. RahXephon is a diamond in the rough. Like M.D. Geist.
There a super cool and mist opportunities.
RahXephon would have been absolute epic if they had stolen the plot from Future Diary, and Haruko entrapped the main cast in some kind of timeloop in which she can reconnect again and again her loved one, BECAUSE of her toxic issues and the inability to let go.
So overcoming this issue would free every one. And the Mu would be the ones who figured out that it happens and they try to prevent the resets by force. Then you have a third faction, which want the reset but on there own conditions, at this point the show writes itself.
Thanks for watching some of my other videos! I like your vision of the show more than the actual result we got as it seems to me RahXehpon suffers from the scope of things it tries to cover. I think that's why it interests me so much though. While RahXephon isn't my favorite, I can see why it is fascinating, and I do Love how experimental it tries to be. Its really pushed me to ask what makes something worth watching, and I think it is, even if not for all the reasons initially intended.
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.
Quon, of who, I assume there will be a standalone video of, feels egregiously badly written. Maybe it’s intentional to have her with very little personality, considering she was asleep for ages, but that feels incompatible with referring to Ayato as Olin. She’s both a naive sheltered character, and one who understands the plot as well as Baben. She seems to be there to move the plot along, but Ixtli does a far better job at that.
Yes! Quon will be the topic of the next video, Audio is done, and I just need to get the video part done!
I think Quon is one the aspects of RahXephon my opinion has evolved on most. While I maintain a lot of RahXephon is a mess with a lot of iffy writing, my opinion on Quon has improved a slight bit. When I first watched the series, I loathed her presence in the show as it felt forced, out of place, and to be honest pretentious. However now, I still think she's not super well done, but I've come to appreciate the attempt of creating a god who doesn't initially realize its divinity. I think as a concept, Quon is actually really cool, however her lack or personality, motivations, interesting interactions, and yet seemingly endless knowledge, essentially dooms her to being, at most, an interesting creative exercise, as opposed to an actual character. This is all made worse by her weird relation with Ayato and the fact its pretty obvious she's mostly around for plot purposes. I think they wanted to created an "outsider" non-human character who is awkward, but good natured and embarks to fit in with and understand humanity (like Data from TNG) but simply dropped the ball.