RAHXEPHON
"A SCI-FI STAPLE!"
Imagine spending 17 years of your life thinking humanity everywhere other than your home city has ceased to exist only to find out the truth much later on. Life for Ayato Kamina was anything but exciting. He was living life like any other typical high schooler would, until one day when his city, Tokyo, gets attacked by strange beings called Dolem, and he discovers all the grave lies he and his people were fed about the world.
The events after the attack lead Ayato to meet a mysterious woman named Reika Mishima, who uncovers the truth of the world beyond Tokyo and the powerful angelic robot Rahxephon. She unveils shocking facts about Tokyo, more precisely known as Tokyo Jupiter, by the rest of the world that lives under the reign of an evil civilization called the Mu and is kept isolated from the rest of humanity. Ayato comes to terms with this bitter truth and now has to take the steps needed as humanity’s fate lies in his hand.
Before hopping onto its review, let's run a mini background check on the series.
Rahxephon is the work of Yutaka Izubuchi, a mecha, sci-fi story that completes in the span of 26 episodes. The anime was animated by Bones and began airing from January to September in 2002.
In 2003, the series received a movie adaption titled RAHXEPHON: PLURALITAS CONCENTIO, directed by Tomoki Kyoda, with a renewed plot. Novels, an extra ova episode, an audio game, a video game, and illustration books were other notable things the series was spun into later on. Rahxephon was crafted with the intent of setting new standards for mecha anime, as well as bringing back aspects of mecha anime from the 1970s. Did this series prove to be a successful attempt at fulfilling its purpose? Let’s find out.
The plot and story of Rahxephon have proved to be the weakest factor of this anime for some people. It requires immense brainpower and patience to stick around throughout the length of the series. It’s not linear and will take you through several loops. Personally, for me, the anime did not seem super complicated.
The plot is weighty on the self-discovering theme and highly character-driven, explaining its slow pace and sparse action. It starts well, keeping you in the shoes of Ayato and progresses through Ayato’s journey of discovering himself, uncovering his purpose in this world, the truth behind the strange robots, and the importance of the relationship he has with people around him. Although the show is limited in sci-fi elements, it is very rich in terms of drama and romance. This does sound a little sketchy, but the story is quite deep and artistic.
If you're into simple and straightforward designs, then this anime is right up your alley. Despite being created more than a decade ago, the anime has impressively good art for its time. Although I don’t prefer colors that appear too flat, there's something about the art of RX that makes you grow into it.
It is highly evident in the anime how much time and effort was put into creating it by looking at the backgrounds. It is stunning and screams detail. Despite being dated, the animation is fluid as ever and makes action scenes super fun and engaging to watch.
This show deserves soaring points when it comes to its soundtracks. A show that served brilliantly when it came to satisfying visual aesthetics made sure that it takes the experience for the viewers to newer levels by improvising on its sound as well. It would be a crime to miss its stunning opening and ending themes.
The soundtracks played in the background fit perfectly with the scenes being shown. They also play their role brilliantly in adding more hype during action-packed scenes. The voice acting was done perfectly, especially Ayato’s voice acting was commendable. The music, however, lacked diversity and could have been made less repetitive in the show.
Ayato, Haruka, and Reika are some of the most prominent characters in this anime.
Since the anime is highly character-driven, you can say with confidence the characters in this show have a lot to offer. What I liked the most about the show was that there weren’t any irrelevant sidekicks or clichéd comedy reliefs thrown in the anime.
Every character served a meaningful purpose, a little too meaningful, I must add. Despite the personalities being refreshing and their roles being useful, you'd have to suffer through a lot of ambiguity while figuring out who even the main lead is. This is where the character design deserves a little critique other than that the personalities were kept very realistic. You wouldn't have a hard time building connections with the characters.
If you're a fan of analyzing details and can appreciate art, then RX is a must-watch. You don’t need to be a genius to watch this show; it just has that perfect amount of mystery and riddles left to us to unpuzzle. If you shed some light on the secrets in the show, you will realize that many areas in the anime remained untouched and were left to the viewers to figure out themselves, although none of it mattered in the series. The rest of the story would too absorb you even to question these remaining loopholes.
For all the Neon Genesis Evangelion fans out there, this anime is good news. There are many similarities between the two, and it’s a perfect show to watch if you're looking for something similar. If you're someone who values substance and depth, then you owe it to yourselves to give this show a chance. It is the kind of show that will need your full attention for it to be thoroughly enjoyed. If you manage to do so, you’ll surely give it the rating that I am about to, a solid 8.5/10.
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Rahxephon Official Trailer
