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Old September 29th, 2004, 03:46 PM   #1
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Default Anybody seen Rah Xephon?



My friend Steve, described the plot to me in a comic shop, but I had to watch six episodes last night just to understand what he was talking about!

It's intriguing and the character design is excellent, you really care about the characters too.

Peter
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Old September 29th, 2004, 04:10 PM   #2
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I've seen the whole thing. It is absolutely beautiful. There is one episode in there that will break your heart. It was really really painful, poignant, and tragic.

Though I have to admit.... the plot is well...confusing. And dramatically it is more convoluted than interesting to me. But boy do I like the art. Its rare that you get character design that is this good consistantly throughout the show. Alot of money and time went into hand drawn animation.


I think they wanted to do something like Evangelion. They have succeeded on many levels. But I can't give it an A grade.

But a damn good attempt.
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Old September 29th, 2004, 04:13 PM   #3
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Btw... there is another series hat is simiiar to this that is going on right now in japan... It's called Soy-something no Fafner. I think Rowen is following it.

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Old September 29th, 2004, 05:09 PM   #4
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I've got to agree with you on the art Thomas, it's beautiful.

Hopefully, I'll get to see the rest of it.

Peter
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Old September 29th, 2004, 05:15 PM   #5
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Peter -

Not yet.... I have it in my rental queue for Netflix.com. I've been busy watching Blue Gender (and enjoying it!) and both the Star Blazers series. I should be done with them by next week.

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Old September 30th, 2004, 10:13 AM   #6
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MYself I am waiting for the inevitable "Perfect Collection" - I'd like to see it but not enough to pay "full whack" for seven DVDs.
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Old October 17th, 2004, 06:35 AM   #7
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Saw six more episodes this morning, this is outstanding, I don't know where it's going to go next!

Anyone know if you can get a book with the desiigns in?

Peter
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Old October 17th, 2004, 07:39 AM   #8
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Peter -

I saw my first 5 episodes yesterday, I'll have to wait until Tuedsay or Wednesday for the next disk.

In short - I loved it an can't wait to see more! It's a good job that there are 7 disks so I can enjoy it for a while...

Oh, and as to your question about the book - here it is:

RahXephon Bible

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Old October 17th, 2004, 12:21 PM   #9
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Cheers Bryan, I've picked one up on Ebay!

I can't wait to see the next batch of episodes, I'm not really into anime really but this is fantastic!

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Peter
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Old October 17th, 2004, 01:06 PM   #10
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Peter -

I'm glad you were able to find the book on eBay! Well done! I never even had an idea that there would be a book when I checked Amazon.com.

I was in Blockbuster Video a little while ago and I saw "RahXephon - The Motion Picture" on DVD. I know that some anime film features can be quite different from the series, and I had a free rental credit coming, so I took it home with me.

I'll let you know what I think when I sit down to watch it...

So, you've never done any anime before, eh? I'm kinda picky about it myself - I tend to go for the more adult storylines and series. I know that some like anime in general and watch almost everything, but that's just not me.

If there are any other anime features or series that you are curious about, just give either Tom or myself a holler. If I haven't seen it, I'm pretty sure that Tom has!

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Old October 17th, 2004, 01:55 PM   #11
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Any guesses on who the girl in yellow is and on how it relates to the main guy? (I won't spoil it for you)


btw there is an additional video that came after the main series. I think it was called Interlude. Highly reccomended for Rahxaphon fans. It is mostly reused footage from the series, but its additional footage really adds wonderfully to the story.

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Old October 20th, 2004, 02:49 PM   #12
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I've got episode 17 and up to see now. This is really the bee's knees.

MUST SEE MORE!!!

Peter
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Old October 20th, 2004, 02:59 PM   #13
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Thumbs up

Congrats!!!


What do you think of episode 19? That was my favorite of the series. I loved it. Though its hard to watch repeatedly.

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Old October 20th, 2004, 06:37 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thomas7g
Any guesses on who the girl in yellow is and on how it relates to the main guy? (I won't spoil it for you)


btw there is an additional video that came after the main series. I think it was called Interlude. Highly reccomended for Rahxaphon fans. It is mostly reused footage from the series, but its additional footage really adds wonderfully to the story.
Tom -

I watched RahXephon - The Movie last night. You were right, the extra footage did fill in some of the gaps and answered a lot of questions for me. I was able to figure out the "puzzle" pretty quickly - I had the same info available to me with the first few eps of the series, but I didn't make the connection until last night.

The movie was pretty good, but some of the action scenes seemed like they were just "dropped" into place without any connection to the story. The soundtrack for the movie had some parts that weren't in the series and seemed a bit inferior to the overall quality of the music used in the series - at least what I've seen so far.

The movie did make me want to watch the rest of the series even more, but I forgot to switch my priorities on my Netflix queue, so I will have to finish watching Star Blazers - The Quest for Iscandar first. I will get back to RahXephon next week.

Best,
Bryan
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Old October 24th, 2004, 06:32 AM   #15
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Now I've seen every episode, and it was fantastic, there were some twists and turns and some truly jaw-dropping moments, as well as some very sad ones.

One of the best cartoon series I've ever seen. Period.

Peter
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Old November 4th, 2004, 09:07 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peter noble
Now I've seen every episode, and it was fantastic, there were some twists and turns and some truly jaw-dropping moments, as well as some very sad ones.

One of the best cartoon series I've ever seen. Period.

Peter
Peter -

I've only got one more disk to go - it should be arriving in the post tomorrow or Saturday. I'm so blown away by this series and the writing. It isn't really so much about the Sci Fi elements of the show - It's much more character driven than you would suspect.

There are indeed some "jaw dropping" moments in the series, but the emotional ones are the scenes that really get me. You really get sucked into the story and the characters, it almost makes me sad to think that the ride is almost over....! I only wish that American TV had this level of depth in it sometimes. The Japanese really are quite the artisans when it comes to all the elements that come together where anime is concerned - the artwork, the character design, the story, the characters......it's just unbelievable!

By the way, did you get your RahXephon artwork book yet? I want to hear what you think of it. I looked on eBay and there was one for 25.00 USD, but I checked Amazon.com and they had it marked down to only 13.99 USD. I did purchase the first CD of the 4-CD series soundtrack - I love the opening and closing themes for the show!

Best,

Bryan
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Old November 6th, 2004, 07:54 PM   #17
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Default Just finished....

Okay -

I just finished the last 3 episodes of RahXephon....

I didn't want it to end! The last 3 episodes were somewhat bizarre - so many people die and things just happened so fast! My heart almost stopped a number of times when some of the main characters got killed during the battle with the Mu. I think the worst was when Haruka was in that plane between the two Xephons - I thought she died for a moment.

The last episode was almost too difficult to follow - it was so abstract in nature, but still quite beautiful to watch anyway. The scene in the final episode where Ayato and Haruka finally come together and she tells him that she's always loved him....a real heartbreaking moment. I really enjoyed the scene where we see Haruka on the phone talking to her sister and Haruka and Ayato are married adults with a baby named Kwan.... Just beautiful!

The last and final scene after the end credits roll, where we see Ayato and Mishima meet for the first time as children was the biggest surprise for me. I had thought that it had ended without really knowing for sure that Mishima and Haruka were one and the same. I know that it was stongly suggested all the way through the series, but adding that scene really did it for me!

The story and characters are so complex - even for anime. I don't know if anything I've ever seen comes as close as this. I know that I've enjoyed a lot of anime in my time, but this story was the most satisfying one of all. I'm usually only able to appreciate the character design, the animation style and the artwork. RahXephon works on so many levels - I think that I liked it even more than Last Exile (the last disk doesn't come out until December!).

My next anime experience? Neon Genesis Evangelion!

For right now though, I just got the second disk for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and a blast from the past - The Harlock Saga (which I've never seen!). I was in a local comic store that sells anime products looking for the soundtrack CDs for RahXephon when I came across a CD that looked familiar in design, but the cover only had Japanese writing on it. When I went home and cruised eBay for the RahXephon soundtrack, I saw the same cover and it was the soundtrack for Macross Zero - It's only 11 bucks at the comic store, so I'll be out tomorrow to pick it up!

You could say that I've been watching more anime in this past year than I have for the past few years combined - I guess that I'm making up for lost time!

Best,
Bryan
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Old November 6th, 2004, 08:28 PM   #18
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I'm glad you liked it!

I really enjoyed the series too. The story not as much. Mostly I liked the art. I had difficulty following the story. But that was a very old version.

My favorite episode was teh one where the city lights at teh end spelled Sayonara (goodbye). Oh man was that brutal. But it was really well written.



Its funny you mentioned Neon Genesis Evangelion. I take it you heard someone mention that this show takes alot after it. I have all the Evas. Though I had to get the Laserdisks for the final movie ending cause the vhs tapes took forever to hit america.

Another insane anime series.

American shows seem so unimaginative to me now.

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Old November 6th, 2004, 08:54 PM   #19
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Quote:
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My favorite episode was teh one where the city lights at teh end spelled Sayonara (goodbye). Oh man was that brutal. But it was really well written.
Tom -

Was that the infamous Episode 19 that you referred to earlier? I hadn't seen that one yet when you asked, but I had seen a bit of it in the RahXephon movie. It was so tragic that Ayato was pledging to keep Asahina safe, but wound up killing her instead.....really hard to watch! If you need some refreshing on the series, I found an English RahXephon website with all the details:


http://www.escaflowneonline.com/rahxephon/


Quote:
Originally Posted by thomas7g
American shows seem so unimaginative to me now.
Tom - I know what you mean....! The stories, characters and the artwork are more than enough to entertain me. There are evenings where I will pop in one of my rented anime DVDs instead of watching American network television. I think that we are getting spoiled watching what is some excellent programming. I don't think that the Japanese know how good they have it! It's like the difference between reading pulp fiction and a well written novel. Even if some of the more esoteric concepts escape me at times, I'm still having a ball watching!

Best,
Bryan
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Old November 12th, 2004, 07:43 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thomas7g
I think they wanted to do something like Evangelion. They have succeeded on many levels ... But a damn good attempt.
I could be wrong, but doesn't RahXephon predate Evangelion? In Japan, at least.
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Old November 12th, 2004, 07:43 PM   #21
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I need to watch the Movie, I loved the series but found the story a little confusing.
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Old November 12th, 2004, 07:47 PM   #22
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I need to watch the Movie, I loved the series but found the story a little confusing.
Stray Viper -

I actually found it the reverse. I had no problem following the series, but the movie didn't seem very well edited - some of the scenes appeared to just be thrown in with little regard to context. The main reason for seeing the movie is the first 15 minutes or so of extra dialogue and scenes not used in the series.

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Old June 5th, 2005, 03:37 AM   #23
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Well...I said I'd wait for the boxed set. And now it's out and I've watched it all. Finished it about half an hour ago...

My reaction? Shallow. And disappointing.

It seemed to be concentrating on a stylish appearance to disguise the lack of substance. Sometimes that works, but in this case it didn't.

I've just been rereading the thread, and I must say that I agree that I consider Episode 19 to be the most emotionally impacting of the series. But that's not saying much. Hiroko's character was too underused and under developed for what they were trying. Plus the whole thing had been telegraphed too much. The same way they treated the Haruka-Mishima link...it was obvious that the picture was Haruka almost from the start - the actual identification of the link between the two was almost unneccessary. Particularly as it wrecked any sense of uncertainty regarding the choice Ayato made.

I recall watching some of the early episodes last night. Four of them in a row seemed to be the same story retold in slightly different ways. Only the differences were so minor that they blurred togather. Then there was an entire flashback episode that could have been dealt with within two minutes within the main structure of the series...from its' position in the run I can only guess that they didn't want to do a traditional recap episode but were stuck for ideas.

Characters...I found as I was watching it that I didn't give a damn about any of them (well, bar one.) The sum total of what to expect from them could be gleaned from the first couple of times they spoke...there was virtually no development. Even for Ayato. He was still the same dull as dishwater personality at the end as he was at the beginning. The only character I was remotely concerned about was Megumi - but was simply because she was the only one of them with any sort of personality.

And Quon (or however the name is spelt) must be the most annoying "mysterious girl" in anime history. She makes the slightly disappointing Rei Ayanami look like a goddess!

As for the ending...the egg cracked...and judging from the epilogue it was basically the same as it was before...and, of course, there was the throwaway "class reunion" bit...which if taken one way means episode 19 loses what little impact it had...and also leaves you unsatisfied as it makes you want to see the rest of the cast - just to make sure the dead ones are still dead.

All in all the series was virtually a total miss.
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