FullMetal*Panic!

Heya guys,

I just watched RahXephon and wanted to give my opinions on it. I originally thought this was just a fantastic remake of Evangelion.

Shy, Dorky, and unhappy kid with parent issues hooks up with strange but sexy older woman who takes him to a secret military group in order to pilot something only he can pilot. He meets a sexy but possibly related to him girl whom has a connection with the alien war mecha like race enemy and boards with a redheaded girl who is rivals/child of the older military girl.

Kid resolves his issues in the End of the World. It's secretly all the work of a hidden cosnpiracy seeking to pit the Aliens vs. the Humans. Lots of fun western religious iconography with no real context to it.

It seemed to me that it wasn't a rip off though but a wonderful way of streamlining all the elements of EVA that sucked. The characters were significantly colder but somehow it all made sense in the end.

The plot though of being an Eva remake I think was deliberate and shameless marketing since the episodes after the "fake out" make it seem like it was saying 'Okay, we've hooked you to the series...now go watch it for our ACTUAL plot'

The only problem I have with RahXephon now is the fact that it's TOO well wrapped up unfortunately in the end. It's murder on fan support really since there's very little dissent in fanfic for those who think...sister or not...Ayato should get with Quom or squeaky voiced girls. Rather annoying but its good that they explain everything and the story Bible is rather extensive.

I'm personally a Quom fan and still rather annoyed that there wasn't more development of their relationship. Personally, I wish the series had left room to continue since the world could have been explored signifcantly more in my opinion.

Here's my theory of what exactly happened into the series

SPOILERS
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Okay, having only seen the series and heard from friends what's going on in the movie...(I've only seen the dub too)

The Mu are a race of humans from an alternate dimension. For whatever reason, only one race can survive the coming Apocolypse. As near as I can tell its a quantum mechanics problem rather than a mystical one. The two worlds are going to merge.

I think the "merger" started at 2012 which is the Mayan end of the "Sixth Age" (I may be confused by Lord of the Rings and Dragonlance here)

It's unclear in my mind whether or not the leaders of the Mu actually know this. It's entirely possible that they came to this planet merely to either ask to co-habitate with humankind or was just trying to make first contact when their floating city was nuked by a Japanese first strike.

They even sent "observers" ahead in Quon and Maya. They probably sent in many more by the amount of Egyptian, Mayan, and Easter Island motiff around them.

Barbheim clearly knows everything though. Probably an observer sent many years beforehand, he intends to facillitate the end of one of the worlds. Unlike the Mu though, Barbheim seems to want to give humankind an equal chance to survive this conflict or he believes strongly in mystical reasons why they should merge the worlds

(The Mu seem to simply want to destroy humankind with their battle cruisers and Dolems and live in the planet)

Barbheim is playing both sides as a Mulian but he seems an outcast from his own race and creates his human/Mulian hybrids by sabotaging the Mu's own observation projects. He keeps Quon in stasis and tries to create his own Dolems while taking over technological development (after the Tokyo disaster its probably likely all the very vaguely Mulian architecture and science of TERRA comes from Barbheim)

Ayato, Itski, and others are created by him to facilitate the creation of the RahXephon, though clearly his agents in the Muverse are doing much better with their plan by creating the weapons. Quons is created though and so is Ayatos, the Super Dolems that will allow a controlling over the dimensional energies through music that will "correct" the flaws that are causing the world's to merge.

Barbheim is ruthless and evil but if you read his activities, its entirely possible he was working for the greater good of both worlds. Somehow make sure both survived in one world. It's also possible to think that he simply wanted to test which world deserved to live through by combat.

Ayato is the only one of his creations who is able to meld with the Dolem though and become an Olin. He sends him off with Maya to prepare for him to become a pilot along with the rest of the people of Tokyo Jupiter, those who are in fact human beings brainwashed into becoming shock troopers for the Mu (or genetically engineered with all of Tokyo's original population dead....its difficult to say)

I suspect Tokyo Jupiter was actually a 'plug' of some kind to keep the world's from merging personally. Barbheim can't stand the idea of this because it invalidates his plans. He thus uses Itski to prepare his weapons to shatter it, it will thus cause the worlds to merge immediately.

Ayato when its done has suceeded in transforming those whom he likes into human beings and leaving the folk like Barbheim into becoming so much dust. The Mulians cease to exist along with Super-Humanity but the new humanity contains qualities of both.
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END SPOILERS

My friends also had some fun comments about the series too I'd thought I'd share

Some fair warning, they have Megaman brains. We all know a few folks like this in real life I think.

I do not personally believe any of the comments below (except Vampire Quon)

BTW I agree Genius very much, he was a guy who definitely deserves happiness. I wonder if Ayato has him as a brother in the new world. He was mysteriously in the new world's visions alongside him?

"Everyone's freaked out at TERRA because the guy doesn't want to learn about the history of the world. Hell if I was him I wouldn't either. I'd say WHERE'S MY GIANT ROBOT!?"

"I hate anime where characters have the same hair color. I automatically can't tell them apart even if they look nothing alike."

"Is the scientist guy gay?"
"No, he's just European."

"Quon is so sweet...in a vampire sort of way."

"She wants to drink the blue wine...OF BLOOD."

"Ayato doesn't like older women....what the hell is wrong with him!?"

"I dunno, strange older woman, wants to pick me up....promises to reveal secrets of the universe to a sixteen year old boy, sounds perfectly normal to me."

"Any thoughts on the scientist girl's motivations?"
"Slut slut slut slut slut slut slut slut slut....kill head scientist....slut slut slut slut."

"So what's with the whole Aztec motiff? What's the spiritual and cultural significance."
"It looks cool."

"Gawd d***, I'm glad I'm not Ayato. I'd hate to have a mom that hot."

"So the aliens are from Jupiter? They're like lizards right and like mecha shows?"
"No, that's Nadesico."
"Man, Japan has problems with the giant planet. Must be a metaphor for America and their relations."
"You've gotten weird since college sociology, really."

"Is the guy with the white hair gay?"
"Again, just European."
"He looked like a girl in the flashback though."
"He did both slutty girl and Haruka."
"D*** Europeans."

"Have you noticed the guy whose the Vice Commander is playing Nadesico's June."
"That's just because of the dub."
"Dude, they LOOK identical. Its synchronity."
"Besides June sucked."

"D*** Haruka really let herself go to hell if that was her as a young woman."

Finally I'd like to express my disgust with the manga that has more in common with Gatekeepers (I even here the guy who does Shun Ukyia's voice in my head instead of the RahXephon guy) than it does with the animated series....

Even with giant robot panties amongst other benefits

Ok buddy this is my fav so let me say the falowing the movie SUCKED
the movie was most of the Tv gutted and mish mashed with a few new parts.

the story line does bare A striking similer story line to Eva but where in Eva the story is a retelling of the deadsea scrolls and a debate of the id ego and super ego. in Eva every member of Nerve is a messed up individual who just makes matters worse no matter what they do.
Spoilers

Rah Xephon is the story of one chosen child (Ayato) and how his presence affects the world in that he changes every thing once he arives , how every thing he knows is a lie becuse he was rased beleving that every thing but Tokyo was distroyed yet in truth it was just that Tokyo was sealed off from not only the world but also time. how the girl he loved and lost (Haruka at age 14) is still alive now an adult and still loves him and how he deals with a phantom like being (Ixtli aka Reika) who took the form of a young Haruka and he confuses her for Haruka and she introduces him to his mech. his relation ships with women. the other relationships around him and last how they all comes to terms with all that. before the Tuning of the world

although i am a Rei fanboy I consider Rah Xephon my fav

ps.one of the best ways to get me to hunt you down and hurt you is to call Rah Xephon a Eva remake

However I believe the similiarities end after episode five, like the entire start of the series was in part a way of getting everyone interested who loved EVA before introducing their own....after that, its all mostly coincidental

Personally, I love the series

I just acknowledge alot of similiarities

yah a couple of the eps are really similler especialy once the first Vermillion shows up. but it was like at most one Eva like ep for every four orginal eps

I think the similiarites are meant to evoke one another personally but I do think that RahXephon's main difference is that the Mulians are inherently comprehensible.

Ayato's mom and Ayato's friend both are individuals who are sympathetic in their aims. Indeed, I tend to be more sympathetic to the Muulians.

TERRA tends towards ruthlessness, cruelty, and behavior entirely understandable but unpleasant to witness.

At least in my opinion

Charles Phipps wrote: TERRA tends towards ruthlessness, cruelty, and behavior entirely understandable but unpleasant to witness.

At least in my opinion

may be i should use that in my sig?

you are right my friend but terra is nothing compared to the Bahbem foundation now they are the worst of the worst but they had an understandable goal in mind true it was selfish but to a lot of people the phrase "the means to an the ends" rings as true

Oh ho ho ho, a long post about Rahxephon. I guess I should post my opinion of the show also.

Well, it's been around a year since I saw this series. I'm one of the minority that didn't like it at all. I thought it was bad.

I'm not gonna talk about what's really going on in that world since the world of NGE is just as confusing and I love NGE. Rahxephon can't compare with NGE.

The characters are bland. The hero Ayato is one dimesional and has no faults. All the other main characters of great anime series have faults (except Kenshin, the guy's perfect!). Ayato is like a robot. Throughout the series I never felt I can relate to him, so how can I cheer for him? Why would I care if he gets his memory back and falls in love with his childhood sweetheart and save the world in the meantime?

One of my pet peevs is when girls fall in love with a guy for weak or no apparent reasons. For Rahxephon, I guess it's just one girl: Megumi Shitow, the red haired younger sister. Ayato wasn't especially nice to her and they barely knew each other. She's seen him with her sister when she was younger right? Maybe she had a little crush on him then but it's been a long time since then. Either he must be the only man her age that she's ever met or all the other boys at school must be ugly and cruel. She is going to school on that island right? The other women and their feelings are more understandable. I need to find me an island where I'm the only avaliable guy :p.

It's overly emotional. Like Chobits, every episode wants to work your heart or get some response outta ya. Except Chobits includes humor. Rahxephon just feels like it tries too hard.

Even though I had all 26 episodes ready when I was watching it, the pacing feels so slow. It felt like watching Noir without Mireille and her guns.

Um, that's all I can think of right now, feel free counter my arguements and I'll think of a response (if not then you'll win that one ). But basically, I don't like Rahxephon cuz of its slow pacing and boring characters.

well C you have the right to your opinion
but i have the right to nitpick your opinion
Megumi "Haruka's younger sistor" quit school and worked for Terra she had a crush on Yagumo (the vice commander of terra) but he was in a relationship with her best friend Kim so Ayato was just a fall back.
as for her knowing Ayato when Megumi and Haruka lived in Tokyo Megumi was Two years old!!!
when the show takes place Megumi is fourteen. and there for has few memorys of Ayato who would have been fourteen then
when the show takes place the world inside the TJ only aged 3 years well the the world out side had twelve

He was just a fall back huh? Soo desu ka (So I see).

Another couple of things about Megumi. She wasn't liked by her classmates... there was a scene in the beginning when she and Ayato spoke to them and they teased her.

She could have become obsessed with Ayato because of Haruka. Haruka was obsessed with him and Megumi may have become jealous and tried to get him for herself or when she noticed the significance of Ayato to her sister she thought, "Hey, if he's good enough for my stand-offish sister, he's good enough for me."

I enjoyed the subtlety of the show. Kind of funny since many people at Anime Club disliked it fairly strongly. *shrugs* I couldn't stand Azumanga Daioh, and that was the hands down favorite. RahXephon requires a lot of thought and effort to enjoy because of the complexity of the story.

A show I'm watching now has the same "feel" as RahXephon. Soukyou no Fafner. I've watched the first two eps and while the character design is a whole lot less attractive and the 3D doesn't blend well with the 2D animation, the stories and characters so far have my interest. I highly, highly recommend the afk/solar version... the translators notes at the end of each episode are phenomenal. They explain all the German references--I think the show borrows heavily from the Ring of the Neibelung opera.

Samantha

Wasn't Quon the aunty and not the sister?...

RahXephon, which is one of my personal favorites, does have some things over EVA. I just think EVA was a more psycho mind trip thing, specially the end of the world movie *shudders*

Have to agree with the fact that RahXephon series kicked the movies ass!

Haruka is Mishima, just changed name after Tokyo Jupiter incident. She's only about 10 years older than him now, lol... I have the sub version, sold all the dubbed. Quon was kinda trippy though. And that silver haired guy, and that one blonde chick that was with the silver haired guy and Ayato's brother back in the day.

The one thing I never got was, how could Ayato pilot the Xephon and not his brother. The brother could barely get in the darn thing!! Where did all the power in that family go? Ewwww that means he liked his Aunty! Nasty... Man all I know is that at least the last six episodes weren't crappy like EVAs was. (In my opinion!)

Ayato is a character that I wouldn't actually go put into the ranks of "anime men without flaws."

He and most of the RahXephon's cast I would actually put as amongst the more realistic of anime characters since their behavior remains fairly even. They don't have extreme flaws or extreme benefits to themselves either. Anime perfect guys are sensetive, sweet, stoic, and helpful....Ayato quite a bit less so than Ichiro Oghami for example. Ayato treats his friends according to his feelings that day, fails to see how much his mother loves him even when she's working for world domination, is frequently moody, and justifiably freaks out when he gets into the RahXephon.

I also point out Ayato's appeal; good looking, doesn't say enough to be offensive, and he has a giant robot!

Personally, I think the answer of why Ayato could use the RahXephon and Itsuki couldn't because of the alphabet after their names. Isshki is a "D", Helena is a "B", Ayato is presumably an "A" along with Quon. You can see where their DNA varies by the fact that Ayato doesn't have the Doctors astigmatism.

Itsuki was personally my favorite character. The Doctor started off as one of those loathsomely creepy characters but gradually you realized that was all a front. I think Itsuki was one of the more heroic characters actually on the show. Always putting others before him and trying to win the hearts of the two women he cared about but whom had only eyes for another.

(I still love Quon and Ayato personally...incest aside)

I hope he got a happy ending in the 'tuned' world

isshiki is not Ayatos brother he is the evil friend of his brother (Dr Kigaragi Itsuki) as for lack of flight there seems to be a age limit (like most mech animes) the pilot has to be in there teens between the ages of sixteen and seventeen
Quon was placed in a state of suspended animation and so she did not age alowing her to awaken when the time was right

okay .. so i really didn't have the hots for NGE .. and hearing some peeps claim it's a NGE clone .. (and a bad one) got me convinced not to watch it.
i am a mecha nut but i can't stand shinji like characters.
so, is it worth it ?

AYATO IS NOT SHINJI though they come from simler back grounds
Ayato is a hell of a lot more adult, and is willing to deal with his problems
well shinji will one day go nuts and well the kid is phyco

and RahXephon is not a NGE clone

i want the names and addresses of those who called it one!!