Here’s another ancient artefact unearthed during my idle excavation of anime past. RahXephon is an original anime series from the long-gone era of 2002, back when George W Bush ruled the free world with an iron fist and people thought Witch Hunter Robin was actually enjoyable. Those were simpler times. *switches on flame shield*

I enjoyed RahXephon the first time I watched it, so naturally when I recently had the chance to revisit the series, I assumed that like most good things from my (relative) childhood it would turn out to be a piece of turd. Fortunately I was proven wrong.

Boy meets girl

Ayato Kamina is a perfectly normal boy… Oh screw it. I’m too lazy to write a summary for this, so I shall plagiarize one from ANN:

In a world where time passes at a crawl and the blood of your neighbor runs blue, 17 year old high school student Ayato Kamina goes about his daily life within Tokyo Jupiter oblivious to the world around him, having been educated with the fact that the all civilization but Tokyo has been destroyed. But all that changes when the mysterious civilization “MU” invades his home, raining destruction down from the sky in the form of strange monsters called Dolems. The events that occur next will lead Ayato to the mysterious woman named Reika Mishima, to the truth of their existence, the discovery of what and who he is, and to the powerful angelic robot RahXephon.

Rei + Violin = Quon

Once again invoking my arguably paradoxical belief that all anime can be mathematically derived from preceding titles, the appropriate equation for this occasion is probably: Evangelion – Judeo-Christianity + Music + Mesoamerica = RahXephon

It would be somewhat of an understatement to say that RahXephon bares striking similarities to Evangelion. The influences are unmistakeable and a compelling case can be made that RahXephon was intentionally conceived to be an improvement upon Evangelion’s framework.

Boy meets girl… again

Let’s see here… Ayato is basically a cooler Shinji who is a gifted painter and popular with the chicks. During the attack on Tokyo, he meets Haruka Shitow, an agent working for TERRA, a paramilitary organization under the umbrella of a futuristic UN. Haruka is basically Misato except she is the female lead. After some love comedic ups and downs with the older woman, Ayato ends up at TERRA’s headquarters where he meets Quon Kisaragi, who is basically a hotter and cuter Rei, i.e. a constant source of mysticism and fanservice.

Boy meets yet another girl

The battle music in RahXephon is curiously reminiscent of Evangelion’s “Decisive Battle” and there’s a whole shopping list of other similarities that can be found between the two: a mysterious organization influencing global events, biomechanical mechas with dark secrets, ancient prophecies of world-resetting armagaddon and all the standard post-Eva existential essentials. Normally, I would be one of the first to reject these superficial similarities as merely the common features of an established genre, but RahXephon, I feel, goes beyond that.

Down the Geofront.. oh wait

Remember how when you first watched Evangelion, the ending left you confused and emotionally traumatized? I believe, with little evidence beyond my gut, that RahXephon’s producers set out to recreate the complex web of emotions that Eva gave us so as to give it the proper finality that End of Evangelion failed to provide for many. It’s kind of like how fan-fiction writers write alternative endings to match their wishes for the characters, although it sounds rather lame when I put it in that context. Haha.

Mulian weapon

That is not to say that RahXephon is trapped in the shadows of its source of inspiration — It is a story of human emotions that stand very well on its own. Perhaps because I’m not fluent enough in the language of the heart to fully appreciate the depths of Evangelion, but I found its presentation of human psychology rather incomprehensible at times, perhaps overly avant garde for the sake of it. RahXephon has its fair share of Alice-in-wonderland moments, but somehow manages to do a better job of tying things together while remaining relevant. In that sense, RahXephon provides a much more engaging and emotional experience.

RahXephon is like a work of art, really.

Beyond its heavy use of music as an important plot device, it is also highly effective in its visuals. I think there are few episodes in any anime that left such a deep impression on me as RahXephon’s episode 19. As Ayato desperately tries to protect his childhood friend Hiroko from the attacking Mulian in an ironic gesture whose futility can only be appreciated by the audience, the entire city’s power grid became a flashing display for a young girl’s heartfelt affection. The word “goodbye” trails off into infinity and, after a moment of darkness, the city is once again lit up. A powerful and imaginative scene.

The final episode also does an excellent job in its surrealist presentation.

As usual, I shall end my post here in an abrupt manner before I end up spoilering the entire series. Oh yeah, Maaya Sakamoto voiced Reika Mishima, so huzzah! And with that, I leave you with a bunch of purdy pictures.

Maaya <3

Racial diversity ftw

Shinji has nothing on this guy

Guess the situation >_>

The angelic-wing motif plays rather heavily in the show

orz

Ayato, playboy extraordinaire

And so I continue my way. Life is once again settling into a comforting rhythm, though deep in my heart I sometimes wish for a beautiful girl to descend from heaven and take me to her world with her giant mecha. Maybe that is why I recently brushed the digital dust off this ancient relic from the classical era of 2005 and gave it a second spin after its premature deposition almost exactly four dozen months ago. (I think I watched the first episode then.) Whatever the reason, I’m glad I did it.

Eureka Seven, to put it in a deceptively simple metaphor that actually complicates matters, is the anime equivalent of chicken soup. It’s definitely not a masterpiece worthy of Michelin stars, but its down-to-earth warmth does so well to melt the heart. Sure, some of it is probably just artificial flavouring and monosodium glutamate, but even those in the know find it hard to resist the smell of such basic goodness.

Eureka Seven is a show that tugs at your heartstrings even as it hits you no the head with its blatant nature. Bones is quite good at this genre, I think. To continue with my awful culinary metaphor cum pun, Bones (marrow) makes good chicken soup. I promise this is the last time I use it. Let’s try something else…

If I were to describe Eureka Seven as a Frankenstein chimera assembled using the severed body parts of preceding Bones productions, I’d say that it is a composite of RahXephon, Scrapped Princess and Fullmetal Alchemist… Let’s throw some Kurau Phantom Memory in there for good measure too, if only because I think Ayako Kawasumi is awesome. I hope I’m not making things too confusing… I guess I should just stick to chicken soup.

Eureka Seven is set in a distant future where mankind inhabits a planet that is permeated with Transparence Light Particles, or Trapar waves, a mysterious energy source that shoots out of the ground unpredictably like geysers and whose existence allows thrill seekers and combat mechas to ride in the sky in a fashion similar to surfing. This is mostly just a cover story so that the mecha designer could draw cool robots with giant surfboards.

Human civilization found in Eureka Seven is a curious mix of simple 19th century socio-economic order and futuristic dystopia with a heavy undertone of WW2-style militarization. The fictional Vodarec religion in particular largely resembles the isolated feudal lifestyle of pre-Communist Tibetan Buddhism complete with a leader whose name fits the bill. And oh yeah, people drive giant rods into the ground to prevent sudden outbreaks of what can only be described as ground erections. Also, the planetary government is run by three old geezers who look like the witch from Snow White.

Set in this somewhat crazy background is a rather conventional growing-up love story. Renton Thurston is a boy living in a rather boring town. He dreams about “lifting” (surfing the Trapar waves), but the Trapar activity in his town is rather lacklustre. His idols are a ragtag group of anti-establishment thrill seekers called Gekkostate and he dreams of lifting just like them some day. His grandfather, his only relative, however intends for him to take over the family business and become a small-town mechanic. His life changes forever when a girl from Gekkostate lands her mecha, Nirvash, in front of his grandfather’s workshop and asks for repair. That girl’s name is Eureka. I still can’t figure out what the “Seven” part means.

Unlike my usual posts, I shall go all out on spoilers from this point on. Since Eureka Seven is a relatively old show that falls right into the viewing spectrum of most of my readers (all three of you left), I shall forego all the dancing about the point I always try so hard to do and get down to it.

There were a few parts in the story that left an impression on me. Surprisingly, the love story between Renton and Eureka wasn’t actually one of them. I mean, it is nice how despite the clichéd setup there is some substance in the relationship beyond “I like her, does she like me?” teenage angst that anime loves to fall back on, but ultimately I can’t shake off the feeling of artificiality that echoes each time they reaffirm their love vows. Perhaps a recent revisit to His and Her Circumstances gave me unrealistically high expectations when it comes to emo internal monologues, but Eureka Seven’s idea of romance just doesn’t cut it for me.

The first quarter of the series where Eureka and Renton first fall in love is particularly weak, to the point that when Eureka declared her love in words, I was literally shocked because I don’t see what made her feel so strongly about Renton at that time. I suppose I can be lenient and chalk this up to Eureka’s inexperience with human emotions, but that’s such a cop out.

I do love the small side stories that build up the overall background, such as the good-natured farmer who developed a strongly optimistic outlook to life after his wife fell ill to the Desperation Disease and essentially became a soulless empty shell. In some ways, he is borderline insane when he claims that his wife talks to him all the time, but somehow the show forces the audience (or at least me) to look beyond the cynicism and want to believe. It’s so sad and yet he looks so content. That’s some Kino’s Journey-grade material right there.

Another episode I loved is when Renton, Eureka and Matthieu are stranded in Controrado, a country that resembles a Cold War-era South American banana republic. There Renton meets his uncle, Yucatan Iglasias, a former military man who is a true believer of glory and honour as prescribed by state propaganda. Yucatan recognizes Matthieu from the wanted posters and assumes that Renton is being held against his will, oblivious to the fact that Renton is a member of the rebel Gekkostate on his own accord. Yucatan attempts to help Renton, resulting in Matthieus’s arrest, but Renton rejects his help and mounts a rescue mission.

Yucatan, having spent his entire life as a soldier believing in the just cause of the establishment, cannot reconcile that belief with his love for his nephew who has willingly joined the Gekkostate, a supposed terrorist organization. As a coup de grâce, he is arrested for being a suspected terrorist after Renton and the rest successfully make their getaway. The crestfallen and confused look on his face as a group of soldiers, people whom he can never imagine betraying, ransacks his house for evidence and treats him like a criminal is simply heartbreaking.

People get hurt sometimes even if one makes a right choice. Powerful stuff if you pause to think about it.

My favourite part of the whole series is probably Renton’s run-in with the Beams couple, a loving pair of freelance pilots hired by Dewey to destroy Gekkostate and kill Holand. Villain couples who suffer tragic death and parental figures who later return as antagonists are both common themes in storytelling, but I simply love how human this sub-story feels the way Eureka Seven does it. When Darth Vader dies to save Luke (omg spoiler), it’s more of a surprise than a tearjerker since it’s hard for the audience to truly empathize with him.

Charles and Ray Beams however are very lovable characters who genuinely love Renton, offering him parental love that he never had in exchange for a child they can never have. The circumstance in which they are forced by their code of honour and the realities of the world they live in to face off Renton and the Gekkostate and ultimately suffer tragic deaths is profoundly stirring. Deep down, I think we all wished that the two of them could somehow have survived.

Beyond those three examples, the general war-torn state of the world, the persecution of Vodarec and the various personal ties that revolve around the Gekkostate offer plenty more to ponder about. (i.e. I’m lazy to write more.)

And oh, for some reason the final ending theme left a really deep impression on me. It’s not so much the music, but rather its combination with the slide show of “photos” that accompanies it.

They look a lot like photos from the European theatre in WW2 and really bring added realism to the story universe. Personally I find it a pity that the series itself doesn’t venture more into the back story of what appears to be a world with a tragic contemporary history. I think those faux photos show some great potential for further storytelling.

And oh right. What’s with the lack of character development for Anemone? I thought Dominic and her deserved way better than the slip-shot treatment they received from the script. So much is hinted at the emotional tensions that exist in the two of them, but ultimately all was for naught. It feels like the writer originally intended for them to play a bigger role, like an equal but opposite version of Eureka and Renton, but then decided there wasn’t enough airtime and just randomly prescribed a generic happy end for them. Well at least it was a happy ending.

And that Eva-seque berserking scene was just totally out of place in my opinion.

This post is getting way longer than I had intended so I shall cut it short here and just say that Eureka Seven was much better than I expected… So anyway, see you next week assuming my posting momentum holds up.