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Plot Synopsis

No plot synopsis or other information available for Rahxephon

Story & Characters

RahXephon: The Motion Picture Story Review
The story is actually a bit complicated, but not too hard to grasp once you get the basic comcept of it. Ayato Kamina, the main (male, age 14) character, lives in Tokyo with his (single) mother Maya Kamina (who plays a huge role). He has a girlfriend, Haruka Mishima. Their relationship seems a bit odd at times because they're both so shy to one another.
One day, when Haruka Mishima leaves to visit family outside of Tokyo, a war breaks out. As an end result, a barrier is put up around Tokyo because it is the last remaining peice of land on the world. Haruka is lost.
Another similar war breaks out years later and Ayato's having visions of some his lost girlfriend Haruka. He's visited by a "strange older women" and later led to the RahXephon. He then manages to escape Tokyo Jupiter (as it's called from the outside) with Haruka and the RahXephon.
This is only the begining of the movie. The story, in my opinion, was very well written. The movie, as you may have heard, is a reflection of the events that took place in the series. What you may not have heard, is that the movie contain close to a half an hour of new content. Such things as Ayato's younger years, Ayato's relationship with Haruka Mishima, and even what Maya thinks of Haruka are all shown in the movie, but not in the series.
As you watch, the story evolves and changes constantly. Ayato really is a mess of emotions. But when you think about it, if you were in his shoes, chances are you'd do the same thing. So the story doesn't really seem that far fetched at all.

Rating

8 (good)

Art

I'll start with backgrounds....
Some of the backgrounds used are very clean and super detailed. Others used don't look that great though, but there's a reason for that. I'll get to that shortly. The high quality backgrounds are used most often in fighting scenes and scenic scenes. And example of what I mean.... When the Dolem attacks the city, it shots a beam across a few buildings. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear you were watching an animated character rip appart some real buildings. It looks that good. Other backgrounds, like in Ayato dreams, look old and faded. Usually with high amounts of the color orange making everything look antique in a way.
Character/Mecha/Vehicle Art
BONES did a great job with the art here. Not much is really to be said other than that. There aren't any characters that look foolish and out of place. Everyone looks and acts as you would expect them to. Some of the mecha art is awesome, but some of it is also bad at times. For the mostpart though, fight scenes look clean and very well drawn. The vehicle are pretty cool RahXephon. The aircraft carrier (TERRA) and the cars in Tokyo were pretty sweet and completely unique.

Rating

7 (above average)

Sound

From an artist's view point, because I play a wide variety of instruments (including piano, guitar, ect) and can read and understand sheet music, RahXephon has an almost perfect soundtrack. It gets a bit jazzy at times, but the music couldn't be more appropriate to the scene. Such songs from the soundtrack (including "Loud Conductor", "Writes Herself", and "12 Years") just couldn't have been written better. They really give the anime some flavor and it's were many anime's (unfortunately) fall short. Maaya Sakamoto (who plays the voice of young Haruka Mishima) makes an appearance on the movie soundtrack as well as doing the opening song for the series.

Rating

9 (very good)

Presentation

The movie is fun to watch, esspecially if you're a fan of the series because it's not just a summary of the series, it's a retelling of it with many new twists and differant plot developments. The material is presented to the viewer cleanly through usage of character mood changes, scenary/color tone changes, and music changes. When something is about to happen, you're aware of it via those three aspects. The material is also presented to the veiwer without confusing the heck out of the viewer. It's all pretty much a clean-cut story from begining to end. Though, the end of the series many leave you asking a few questions, the movie's ending is much clearer and less vague.
The movie just hits the two hour mark. That's pretty long for an animated feature based on a series. Most top out at an hour and a half at best. If you don't want to blow your money on the series, I'd say start with the movie. If you like it, then consider getting into the series. Like I said earlier, the movie and series are not the same. Watching the movie first wouldn't ruin the series for you at all. In fact, it'll probably make you curious about their differances.

Rating

8 (good)

Final Verdict

8.00 (good)

Reviewed by metguard, 3y 6wk ago