Forum - View topicFafner -- anything to expect?
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animatum
Posts: 52 |
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Has anyone seen the mecha series Fafner? I hear it has homosexual themes and some mature content, but is this for real or is it just being overblown. Also, how is the show storywise? PLEASE NO SPOLIERS!
[EDIT: Made your thread title a little more specific to fit your inquiry. -TK] |
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Nyorai
Posts: 15 |
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Sad part is I saw the entire series and still had to rewatch a trailer to remember it. I don't feel there is anything really wrong with the series as far as content goes. Trust me for anime that series was pretty mild.
Now as far as enjoying the series? Like I said I had to rewatch a trailer to remember it. It's nothing special, but if you want to take the time to watch it I see no harm in it. I did start to get pretty bored half way through though. Too cliche for my own taste. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7995 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Yeah, there's some homosexual undertones but they're just that; undertones. The series itself wasn't bad I enjoyed it but it treads over a lot of familiar ground if you've seen Neon Genesis Evangellion or RahXephon prior to it. I can't really comment further as it's been too long since I watched it. I'd have to dust off the DVDs.
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eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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The previous posters are correct. Fafner is a retread of Eva and Rahxephon, not actually bad, but just not especially interesting. The crucial problem is that the characters are bland, cookie-cutter types; I don't remember the quality of the battles at all, so I guess they were okay, not great. I don't remember any gay themes. I usually remember shonen-ai elements, so if there was any it must have been pretty damn subtle.
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Fafner was honestly one of the most soul-crushingly boring things I've ever watched, anime or otherwise. When people say it's the basic premise of Evangelion and RahXephon with everything that made those series good stripped away, they're so not joking. Honestly, just go watch those. If you're really that terrified of watching anything with homosexuality in it, you're probably better off doing that anyway.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I only barely managed to get through the first episode of Fafner, it was that awful let me tell you. It was completely nonsensical and sported boys that looked like girls, which was mostly the result of the same boring Hirai designs. What happened to the variety we saw in Infinite Ryvius? The huge amount of terminology from Norse mythology that was randomly - yet liberally - sprinkled throughout the episode made deciphering what was going on practically impossible. And why were the two boys fighting? That was probably the most weirdest and far-out aspect of the entire episode. Add in some rather mediocre technical merits (especially considering it was made in 2004), and it is a title I want nothing more to do with.
I admit that I am a massive RahXephon fan. However, I say with all objectivity that Fafner is so vastly outmatched by it that there is absolutely no reason to watch Fafner ahead of RahXephon. And, to a lesser extent, Gasaraki. Hell, even Argento Soma was better in my opinion.
Er, you say that animatum would be better off watching Evangelion in order to avoid homosexual subtext, but episode twenty-four begs to differ . . . Still, that's only one episode compared to what is apparently an entire series in Fafner, so yeah . . . Last edited by dtm42 on Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24475 |
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Hmm, I had toyed with the idea of picking up the Fafner volumes during TRSI's recent 25 for $100 sale but end up not doing it. Sounds like I dodged a bullet. I imagine I'll probably end up watching it at some point but if it is kinda crappy there are definitely lots of things ahead of it on the list.
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Completely slipped my mind. I was basically tired, remembered both Evangelion and RahXephon had a bevy of undeniably straight characters and oversexualized female mascots, and frankly found the apparent anti-gay tone of the original post a little unsettling and wanted to address it and move on as quickly and civilly as I could before I said something beyond trying to be helpful. Then again, one could always argue that spoiler[Kaworu was simply naïve to human social standards--being an Angel and all--and was simply trying to express a nonsexual affection for Shinji the only way he knew how. But on the other hand, the Angels had clearly shown an increased understanding of how humans thought and acted as the series progressed (as evidenced by their assaults on Tokyo-3 going from simple monster-of-the-week city romps to sophisticated, direct assaults on the EVA pilots' psyches), so that argument tends not to hold much water anyway.] |
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LordPrometheus
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The OP only asked if there were gay themes in a show. It was a simple yes/no question. There was nothing "anti gay" about it. The question was stated very politely and respectfully. If a person doesn't want to be exposed to deviant sexual behavior in a television show, I think they have a perfect right to ask a polite question about it. Your response is unwarranted. |
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SalarymanJoe
 Posts: 468 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA |
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Part of it.
It could be there are legitimate homosexual themes in it; some of it may be fangirls run amok. I never got far enough to really tell.
Storyline? Awful. Bloody awful. Like others have mentioned, it's a lot like Evangelion only it tries to beat you over the head with existentialism without really say much. It just winds up being overly bland and melodramatic without allowing the viewer to develop any sort of connection with the story or characters. A personal peeve of mine is the uninspiring mechanical designs and the terrible character designs by Hirai "The Highest Paid Hack in Anime" Hisashi. Coming right off of Gundam SEED and it's notoriously bland and indiscernible character designs, Fafner features designs that were apparently too bad for SEED but just good enough for Fafner. Perhaps the worst quality of Fafner is that it is so bad that it's bad. It's not something ridiculous you can sit back and laugh at; it's not something that opens itself up to parody. It's just bad and plain un-entertaining. Maybe you'll enjoy it if you have absolutely no expectations what-so-ever but the bar would have to be incredibly low to reach that sense of enjoyment. My advice is to save some money and more importantly some time and watch something else. |
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Grouping homosexuality with "mature content" (i.e. risque, scandalous, "dangerous" things to shield the world from) and then asking with such phrasing as "is it really in there or is that overblown?" typically imply a negative connotation. When people ask if something is "really" in there in everyday speech, that tends to mean it's viewed especially negatively in their mind. "Do we really have to do this?" "Is this really necessary?" If they don't want to see it, fine. If that's just plain not their thing, then I have no problem with that. But the way it was phrased--again, grouping homosexuality with "naughty bad" things like it was right there among those vile ranks--kinda struck a personal chord (sorry, I don't like being called an aberrant monster on a daily basis and then coming home to relax to find...more of the same), and I wanted to just answer the question quickly and politely and be done with it. Then I felt the need to clarify a point I accidentally glossed over, which involved staying in that uncomfortable area of the topic a little longer than I'd have liked, but you'll pardon me for wanting to offer the most comprehensive answer I could and at least trying to set aside personal discomfort long enough to do that. By the way, to call gay people "deviants" is wholly inappropriate in and of itself. Idle romance--even among people of the same gender--is a far, far cry from actual deviant sexual acts like sadomasochism, voyeurism, and the like. Anyway, back on topic please? |
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eyeresist
Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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then don't watch the animes! 
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24475 |
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Are you suggesting homosexuality is "deviant sexual behavior?" If you are, I find your characterization highly offensive. |
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SalarymanJoe
Posts: 468 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA |
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I guess I just read it differently, and interpretation is supposed to be something like 90% of communication or something like that. When I read it, I read it that it was asking if there were real homosexual themes (regardless of the OP's opinion on it) or if it's just been senseless fangirl chatter. This is honestly the first time I've heard about homosexual themes in Fafner, as my earlier post indicated, I have no idea whether it is true or not. However, Hirai's designs, unimaginative as they are, would lend themselves to parody of such nature. And, as we've experienced in the past with titles like Gundam Wing, Yoroiden Samurai Troopers and Gensoumaden Saiyuuki, fangirl chatter and squeals have eventually rendered nothing but fodder for sweaty, hot man-sex for shitty fanfiction writers and narrow-minded teenage girls who can't see the forests for the trees. Maybe the OP is grouping homosexuality in with 'risque content' because their looking for that sort of thrill. If so, and I did recommend the OP watch something else anyway, the OP would be better off with something like Ninja Scroll. Arms getting ripped off, gratuitous sex scenes and poison-snake vaginae are much more risque than any latent homosexuality featured in an awful Millennium mecha series. But, again, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the OP is a huge homophobe.
Yeah, Fafner sucks whether or not its characters are gay. |
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One Vorlon
Posts: 34 |
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Although Fafner is certainly in the same genre of shows like Rahxephon and Neon Genesis Evangelion, it has a couple of noteworthy features that distinguish it.
First, Fafner has a distinct (non-apocalyptic) aesthetic to it. Unlike the better known series in the genre, Fafner is a very pretty series without any immediately obvious religious symbolism. Evangelion has its quasi-demonic mecha and dark post-apocalyptic setting, and Rahxephon has its gorgeous vistas and angelic mech, but Fafner has the slightly idealized look of long ago summer days. Fafner also relies less on the convention of a single, uniquely talented teen pilot - there are multiple candidates, and most of them are far better adjusted than any of the kids from Evangelion (except perhaps spoiler[Toshi]. And on an interesting note, they have far more of a "home school" feel to them. As for whether its a good series, I think it has potential (I don't have a full set of it - yet). What I've seen is . . . intriguing, but it doesn't have me rushing out to finish my set (I'm waiting for a good sale, instead). Oh, and with regards to any homosexual overtones, they're fairly subtle (and generally G-rated). Possibly the most obvious involves the overwatch system on the mecha. Basically, the Fafner mech has a second person monitoring the health of the pilot (and status of the mech) via a telepresence system. And the series occasionally depicts this as the 2nd person putting his arm around the pilot. That's it - no kissing, love letters, etc. |
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