Forum - View topicRahXephon (TV).
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Barring Quon, Megumi spoiler[was the only girl Ayato's age that he interacted with at Nirai-Kanai. He didn't have any male friends, so in his eyes he just saw her as a fellow teenager and friend. Where Megumi went wrong is trying to get over Souichi by taking her friendship with Ayato and progressing it further on her side without checking to make sure he felt the same way. She was just setting herself up to fail, but I suppose the desire to ease a broken heart was so strong she tricked herself. However, although she was heartbroken a second time by that stage she had the maturity to choose to support Haruka and Ayato rather than be bitter about it. She might not have ended up with anyone but she had become an adult and not a petulant child with a crush. So there's a silver lining. Or should I say, her maturity, confidence and happiness came with - and because of - some roadblocks on the bumpy road of growing up.] |
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Crisha
Moderator
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Anime Marathon Discussion (Nov. 6th, 2015 - Nov. 15th, 2015)
Spoilers Reminder for Marathon Discussion: Tag all spoilers within your post(s) and record the episode number(s) you're discussing at the top of your post. |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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Episodes 1-5
It's been years since I've seen RahXephon, and I've only seen it once all the way through. RahXephon is often compared to Evangelion, and I can see that, as there are a lot of similarities in their styles, but I'd argue that RahXephon has the edge on Eva, if only because it makes more sense (not that it makes a whole lot of sense, as I remember, but it does make more sense). Although it's a bit reversed, at the same time, since in RahXephon, it's spoiler[the parent's organization that's the bag guys]. Watching the first episode, with the train crash (not marking that as spoilers, since it literally happens in the first 5 minutes or so), reminded me a lot of Devil Survivor 2, though. Train crashes with MC and female and male friends on board, somehow they survive and there's destruction all about. Of course, that's about where the similarities stop, too. One thing that always stuck out to me about the series is how strange the mechs look. It's obvious that they were going for a bit of an Angel-esque look, mixed with mechs, but man do they look weird. RahXephon itself, however, looks pretty dang cool. Watching the first episode again, I'm seeing some plot holes. When Ayato and Mishima are talking, she asks him if it's war, and he confirms that it is. Except, as far as they're aware, spoiler[Tokyo is all that remains of the world. So who else is there for them to go to war against, or is it a civil war? In that case, you'd expect that there'd been other instances before this, and not just all of a sudden]. I did always enjoy how sound is used in the series. Sound and music both can affect people in different ways, and to utilize how they can do that as a plot point was very smart. It reminds me a bit of Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series, in which the magic is based on colors, and the different emotions they can bring about. LOL, after the first episode, my roommate tried to figure out a rough idea of what's going on. I told her not even to bother at this point. The first (what was it, 2-3, I think?) episodes are much different from the rest of the series. The amount of spoiler[mind control] going on in this series, especially at the beginning, is pretty amazing. It reminds me a bit of spoiler[Blood-C], which I just recently watched. The level of spoiler[charade] to keep spoiler[Ayato in the dark] is pretty significant, especially when you consider that it's not only spoiler[Ayato], but spoiler[everyone who isn't in the know]. Hey, wait, where did she get her second earring back from? Holy crap, forgot that spoiler[Tokyo Jupiter] is in 2015! OMG, just realized that the subs are using proper name order, and that it's not backwards like with most subs! It's been so long since I've seen subs that put the names correctly!. At episode 5, and I'd forgotten how slow this section goes. Of note, however, is Quon's tattoo. If you've watched Ouran, Renge sports this tattoo in the episode where they're at the pool (not the beach episode, the private pool one), although hers is on the wrong side. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that this series was the first place I ever saw Pocky or Ramune. And then once I actually tried some, well... no going back from that! Oh man, watching the scene where he first tries Ramune... it brings back such memories of my own first bottle of Ramune. Okay, DEFINITELY did not notice the cat spoiler[pulling her shirt down] the first time I saw this. Well, that's the end of disc 1, so it's time to take a bit of a break. Or at least wait for my roommate to go get the mail and come back. |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Episodes 6-9
Finally, at episode 6, the plot starts moving. Another thing I like about RahXephon, is that everyone gets character development. For so many shows, especially ones with an overall cast this size, there's a handful of characters who get development, with the rest being background players. While yes, our main cast (Ayato, Haruka, Megumi, Quon) obviously gets the most development, and secondary characters (Itsuki, Souichi, the uncle, the commander) are expected to get development, even characters like Kim get an episode in the spotlight. Sure, in the overall scheme of things, it's not much, but when most series would extend the full amount of her development to "She's good friends with Megumi, spoiler[her parents were killed in one of the first attacks, so she wants revenge]," RahXephon goes further, showing full flashbacks, and more fully how she's been affected by what happened, and, even more, to her accepting of it. I love how episode 8 manages to be a spoiler[beach] episode, a spoiler[Christmas] episode, a spoiler[relationships-based] episode, AND a spoiler["can you save the enemy"] episode, all at the same time. Though the first one did feel a bit contrived. At the same time, it gives us more info into what's going on, if you look deeply enough. We learn that spoiler[it's not just the Mulians who can control the Dolems (directly, at least)] and that spoiler[artifacts such as the crystal can take normal humans over and let them serve as host to a Mulian/Dolem]. Episode 9, for some reason, gives us spoiler[another beach episode], but, as with spoiler[the last episode], this one has a lot of story to it. If I hadn't seen the show before, it would have made no sense, to me, though. However, since I have, I can recognize that spoiler["Reika" is the spirit of RahXephon], spoiler["Ollin" doesn't refer specifically to Ayato, but to the pilot of RahXephon], and that spoiler[Quon can now pilot [a] RahXephon]. And that's not even counting our hints at spoiler[more sinister things going on with mysterious glasses man], and the hints that between this episode and the last can get you to start guessing as to spoiler[exactly who those gloves had been a gift for originally]. Well, that's the end of Disc 2, which gives us a good head start in actually getting this thing finished when both my roommate and I are available (we work different shifts, and I really want to get through this with her). We'll start on Disc 3 after the official start of the marathon. Before I post this, though, anyone know what's with the break-up of discs in the Complete Collection spindle-pack? According to the packaging, Disc 1 should be 1-4, Disc 2 should be 5-8, 3 should be 9-12, 4: 13-16, 5: 17-20, 6: 21-23, 7: 24-26, and 8 the movie. But my Disc 1 had 1-5, and Disc 2 had 6-9. Checking Disc 3, It's just 10-12, which gets us back on track, but that's really weird. |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Episodes 10-15
I don't know why, but humor caused by misunderstandings has always been one of my favorites, and the start of episode 9 is a perfect example. Even more, is it's my favorite kind of misunderstanding: one worded so specifically that while it can mean one thing, most people are going to take it a completely different way. And Souichi is wonderful at it in this scene. I vaguely remember him being one of, if not the, favorite character for me in this series, and this is a great example why. And, after a touching episode, episode 10 throws us right back into the mind screw. This episode is just so messed up. I saw on Wikipedia that a reviewer had referred to it as Evangelion meets Twin Peaks, and that's completely accurate. I don't think there's really anything else that can be said about it. This isn't the only show that's done it, but why is it that whenever someone spoiler[is on life vitals monitoring equipment], it rarely spoiler[sends out an alert when it's disabled/taken off]? It does seem to be more of a problem with animation than live action, but still... OHAI DER, NOT SUBTLE AT ALL SEXUAL IMAGERY! I mean, really, could they have tried any harder to be subtle? Sheesh... Something else I appreciate about this series, is the lack of spoiler[romantic tension between Ayato and Quon]. Sure, there's a definite spoiler[connection between them], but it's spoiler[not romantic], which is something most other shows would do. Amusing background scenes always amuse me, and the scene in 13 with the cat was no different. Especially since spoiler[the cat ended up on the commander's lap]. The more we get into the mysteries, the less I'm remembering. Which is nice, since some things are popping out to me much more obviously (such as spoiler[Itsuki's possessiveness of Haruka around Ayato]), but others I'm completely confused on (such as spoiler[what the heck was up with Quon]) and I'm able to relearn as the show goes on. And now we're into the spoiler[wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey] section of the story, along with spoiler[Ayato's breakdown and questioning of his place and role]. I get that this is a bit of a standard for mecha series to go through, but at least RahXephon does it in a bit more realistic of style than a lot of others. Really disliked 15. For one, it felt out of place after how episode 14 ended. For another... well, I didn't really like spoiler[any of the 3 characters], so seeing flashbacks for spoiler[them] didn't have any interest for me. Over halfway through the series, and there's a few things that I remember happening, that I thought happened much earlier. They must be coming up soon, because I don't remember them being near the end, but I don't remember now. I'll have to watch more tomorrow. |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Episode 16
And here is the episode that should have followed episode 14. Knowing the ending, I caught the hints spoiler[dropped by Shirow] that spoiler[he's Ayato's father]. Wait, was Rikudo playing Shogi against the cat? I'm finding it kind of hard to believe that there's only 10 episodes left, since it seems like there's so much more to go at this point. I remember certain events that happen, and in a certain order, but it just seems like they'd be rushed to get through everything in time. |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Episodes 17-19
And we're onto the second set within my complete collection (oddly enough, we're back to disc numbering problems. According to the box, Disc 5 should be 17-20, and it's only 17-19. So one of the other discs will have an extra episode). There's so much stuff going on in episode 17 that I don't even know where to begin. There's parts that I think are just mind screw, and others that I'm not quite sure. Compared with Evangelion, Ayato, as a whole, is much more balanced than Shinji. Yet I think that Ayato actually goes through more than Shinji, especially when you take this arc into account. The fact that Ayato manages to retain any sort of sanity is incredible, especially when you consider that Shinji started out about the same as Ayato, went through less, and how he came out. Many Super Robot shows have connections between the mecha and their pilots. And, in some, the mecha has some level of sentience. RahXephon takes it one step further, between spoiler[Ixtli] and spoiler[RahXephon's independent actions in this episode]. One thing that bugs me, is that the spoiler[blue blood] really doesn't spoiler[behave like real blood]. And we have more complexity in relationships coming in. I swear, this show has a more complex relationship tree than even Tenchi Muyo!. So, trying to figure out what happened to the stain on her shirt... So much of this series has been shown to us from Ayato's perspective, that it's really nice to see this episode from spoiler[Asahina's]. Oh man, this episode is horrible to watch. He spoiler[thinks he's protecting her], but he's spoiler[really killing her without knowing]. Granted, he spoiler[has no way of knowing until it's too late], but that just makes it all the worse. spoiler[Break the Cutie] doesn't even begin to describe this show, and this is a horrible spot to leave off, but it's the end of the disc, and getting to be bedtime for me. (Also, the missing episode 20 is on Disc 6, along with 21-23, putting us back on track) |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Episodes 20-26
So, have I mentioned how much spoiler[mind screw] is in this? Well, there is. And, of course, here comes spoiler[Ayato's "friend," who we already know isn't on his side]. I'm not quite sure what's going on with spoiler[Ixtli] in these episodes. I'm assuming it's spoiler[similar to what she did before he escaped Tokyo Jupiter the first time], but I honestly don't remember. So, there was a bombshell. spoiler[Itsuki is Ayato's brother. Of sorts]. And now spoiler[Megumi learns the big secret]. The spoiler[frantic piano playing] and spoiler[Ayato's frantic painting] really does well to illustrate spoiler[everything that's going on all at once]. Oh, and, of course, in case you missed it, spoiler[we now return you to your regularly scheduled mind screw]. At least it ended up with spoiler[White Snake getting his comeuppance]. So, we had spoiler[a bunch of bad stuff happen] and spoiler[a bunch of strange stuff happen], and now we're spoiler[getting ready for the final battle]. Saying that this makes more sense than Evangelion isn't necessarily saying a whole lot. Because more than "nothing at all" isn't necessarily a lot. I do get the ending, somewhat. But that doesn't mean that it necessarily makes sense. Looking forward to seeing if the movie makes sense. |
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louis6578
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The movie doesn't help. It's basically to this what the Escaflowne movie was to that.
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AKS-Jack
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^You were left cheering for the character to slit their wrists?
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zawa113
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I actually wanted to watch RahXephon again, and I did so (a while back), and it definitely makes more sense the second time around. That's mostly because spoiler[Quon and Reika] are talking plot spoilers and just about everything they say is plot spoilers, but you can only really get most of them on a second run-through, when you know said spoilers. And the ending definitely made more sense the second time around as a result. It's probably also why I enjoyed the series more the second time than I did the first (and I had already enjoyed it the first time). The fact that the ending spoiler[is a world reset was the entire goal of the plot, but only if you really knew wtf Quon was talking about.]
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Movie
So, watching the movie. Some parts make a little more sense (like the opening). Others seem a bit rushed. And then there's the spoiler[sex scene]. Not sure why that was really there. And it really makes little sense that spoiler[the very next scene has him asking Megumi if she has a boyfriend]. I did like, though, that he was actually TOLD spoiler[that she was Mishima Haruka]. I do like the ending better than the TV series. And I do actually feel that things make more sense, but you have to have watched the TV series first to learn everything. Watching that last scene, however, I feel that it's very obvious that spoiler[Seiji Mizushima, director of the Gundam 00 movie] watched this. |
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