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
