Rbastid

From what I can remember, this was the first anime series I purchased on DVD when it was newly released, based almost solely on the cool Box and DVD sleeve. Years later it still can entertain and draw out emotions as it did the first time almost Fifteen years ago.

Story - 6/10

While I do find the series to be quite engaging and interesting, and it holds a place as a favorite, I can see that really there isn’t much going on throughout the twenty four episodes. The plot of the show, a young man’s return home to fulfill a prophecy regarding the end of the world, is used as a catalyst for both the good and bad within the show. The good that comes of it are all the great characters and their interactions, while the bad are the somewhat pointless fights we’re stuck enduring in all action style anime, as well constant droning on.

First the bad, the show doesn’t necessarily know what it’s viewers want, so they just take the two most extreme formats. For one side there are the fights that happen over and over again, most which may add a little information or story to the show, but mostly serve as the filler, where it instead could have been delivered in a more entertaining way. On the other side of the spectrum is their need to spend time having a character just explain plot points over tense music, in excruciating detail, sometimes multiple times throughout the series, and yet again they could have accomplished the same thing by actually building a story instead of just telling one.

The best parts of the show are when the groups of essentially pre-paired characters, get to interact one on one with each other. From the completely wasted story of Subaru Sumeragi and Seishiro Sakurazuka, which itself deserved a second spin off that could touch on all the events between Tokyo Babylon and X (and this might have been dealt with in the Manga), the awkward romance between Yuzuriha and Shiyu Kusanagi or the even more awkward relationship between Seiichiro and Karen. Every one of those sub stories could have entertained the viewer for multiple episodes, but most of the time they had just a few clips here and there, with the time instead being used to explain some lore, which may or may not be true to real life legends, but is certainly not important enough to waste as much time as they did on it. 

It’s also within that good part that the show’s real meaning seems to come through. Like Harrison Bergeron, Ayn Rand’s Anthem or the music of Rush, X can find itself placed in works with a strong libertarian message, the idea that man has the freewill to choose their path and must deal with the consequences of those actions. Despite each character being led to believe their life was preordained, many in the series changed the course of their own history in order to protect the ones they love. 

Thankfully, despite what we’re told in those aforementioned dialogue heavy scenes, things don’t turn out the way they’re planned. The show is loaded with twists and shocks, which keeps you interested and happily awaiting the next episode.

Animation - 9/10

One of the least shocking statements in the world of anime would probably be “Madhouse and Clamp teamed up on a show, and it was amazingly animated” and even the detractors of the series seem to agree. 

The team here managed to pull together all the artistic elements important to a series, especially one such as this which relies heavily on action scenes. While all the characters are animated in the style the ladies of CLAMP are known for, they each have a uniqueness that easily sets them apart, even if you’re just catching a glimpse of their face. The backgrounds are not only detailed and beautiful, but due to the nature of the show they get a few renditions of each, such as the normal world, inside a barrier field and, at times, destroyed by a previous battle. 

Finally there are the fights themselves, never do they look as if the animators were rushed, trading off blurs for actual animation. Furthermore they appear to have stayed away from one of the biggest annoyances in anime, shoddy computerized animation, where they try to integrate animation and CGI, yet don’t ever attempt to blend the two seamlessly.

I’d say the only real downside was how they didn’t stray too far from the original Movie or Manga when it came to character design, though they did toss in some visual upgrades to each from time to time.

Sound - 9/10

For such a large cast, the English dub team knocked it out of the park when it came to the quality and diversity of those voicing our characters. Most of the V.O. artist either were, or became, the voice of well known anime characters, including Onizuka and Fuyutsuki from GTO, the titular stars Lupin and Kenshin, and even the lovably klutz Milly Thompson. While we know the voices from elsewhere, they work perfectly with their assigned character and easily separate themselves from other shows.

The real standouts in the show are Tony Oliver’s portrayal of Sorata, Lia Sargent as Arashi and Philece Sample as Yuzuriha, who all put forth great performances with some of the best emotions I can remember in voice acting, maybe even in all acting.

The show’s music is also a perfect match to it’s visual elements. Using the song Ex Dream as an opening was a great choice, especially paired with the video created for it. On the other hand, the closing song, Secret Sorrow, wasn’t too much to my liking, or the show’s overall them, as nothing within the series screams “Slow Jazz.”

The real stars here, when it comes to music, are the orchestral pieces played throughout the series. While there are many different songs played during the show, two stand out due to their quality, and repeated use. The first is Destiny, a song that has two different versions, and is played over many different types of scenes, be it action, suspense, tragedy or romance. Somehow no matter where they placed the song, it fit and added just what was needed to the scene. The second song was titled Encounter and like the previously mentioned song, it had a wide range of uses, but most notably are during chases or mysteries. These two songs, with a conservative guess, make up about seventy percent of the music in the show, and somehow it never got old sounding or annoying, the editors always managed to use them in great accompaniment to the scene, which allows them to both help drive the action, but still feel as if it’s staying in the background.

Characters - 6/10

The series set an ambitious goal for itself, having seventeen important characters to focus on, and unfortunatly they just couldn’t do justice to many of them in the timeframe given. What makes the lack of character building even more frustrating is that they often would repeat scenes from episode to episode, showing us exactly what we’ve already watched for no apparent reason. Instead it would have been nice if they used that time to add more to some of the ignored characters.

The group that makes up the Dragons of Heaven tend to be far more interesting and complex than those representing the Dragons of Earth. Their Kamui starts off as an angry young man who really wants nothing to do with this whole event, but as his youthful memories with Fuma and Kotori start to resurface, he decides he wants to protect the world and all his friends in it. After he makes that decision he does go on to become rather bland, changing from an erupting ball of rage to run of the mill nice guy.

Thankfully the rest of the team picks up Kamui’s slack. Of all the sub-characters in the series, the most time is given to Sorata and Lady Arashi. While there are a few romances that occur during the show, their’s is the most common in anime shows, a goofy young boy decides he’s in love with a pretty young girl and tries his hardest to win her over. That love also helps focus on the previously mentioned topic of “Free Will” where one of these character’s chooses to forgo their destiny in order to save the other, and in turn suffers the consequences of their actions.

Another pair that plays in the series are Karen Kasumi and Seiichiro Aoki. Both are representations of good people who’s life has put them in odd positions. Karen is a very religious woman who also happens to be a prostitute, a job which she gravitated towards due to her mother’s insistence that she was a monster that no one could ever care for. Likewise Seiichiro is a good man who has to hurt his wife and child by requesting a divorce, not because he doesn’t love them dearly, but due to his assumption that with the impending battle will come his death, and that will be far worse for his family. These two happened to meet before the end times began, while Seiichiro was researching a story, and eventually their pure hearts and tough circumstances drew them closer, to the point both found a new love in each other.

Yuzuriha, while having a story that mimics Sorata and Arashi, almost feels like she’s put in the show as fan service. A very young girl with a very short skirt, who falls in love with a much older man. Of all the characters from the Dragons of Heaven, she seems like the one who the creators didn’t plan much out for. 

Well until you look at Subaru. While he actually has the deepest story of anyone, having previously been the main character of the short series Tokyo Babylon, outside of a few pivotal moments in the series he is criminally under used. The backstory involving his sister, Seishiro Sakurazuka and himself appears to be what almost all great anime series are made of, but outside of the OVA and the clips seen here, there was little put to video when it comes to this plot line.

Those making up the Dragons of Earth really don’t do much for me. While their Kamui, originally Fuma Monou, did the reverse of Kamui Shiro, he was never as interesting in either his good or evil form. He started out as a bland goodie two shoes and turned into a bland evil being. Never did they attempt to put any thought or emotion into his character. 

That followed into a few of the other members, where Satsuki is nothing more than an antisocial jerk who plays with computers all day, Nataku is a soulless experiment and Kakyo is a narrator. All did very little for the series besides being people to kill or be killed. Things didn’t fair better for Seishiro, who like his counterpart Subaru, was almost nonexistent in the series, when his potential was that of a show’s lead character. 

Only two members of this clan were really worth the time put into them, and in one case that didn’t happen. Kusanagi Shiyu and Satsuki Yaoji both seem as if they are reluctant members of the Dragons. Although a member of the Japanese Self Defense Force, Kusanagi is very much a pacifist, and while he does believe humans should be punished for the damage they’ve done to the Earth, he doesn’t believe this is the way. Like Arashi his care for other humans, and Yuzuriha in particular, causes him to switch sides and decide that life is worth saving. Satsuki is a little more happy to fight the Dragons of Earth, but often seems as if he does it because it’s his destiny, or even a job. During his fights he tends to be very social with his rival and talks as if he would much rather they not have to fight, since they appear as if they could be friends. The idea that both these men would prefer not to take part in the end of the world, but choose different paths, make them characters who the series would have greatly benefited from if they focused on.

The only other significant characters are Fuma’s sister, Kotori, who is essentially just there as a catalyst for others, and the two sisters who act as leaders of both groups, the dream seer Princess Hinoto and her younger sister Kanoe. Kanoe is a pretty straight forward character, hoping for the end of the world and manipulating those around her in order to see that goal achieved. On the other hand Princess Hinoto has much more going on, as at times you aren’t sure what her true motives are and it helps add yet another layer to the end of the series.

So as I said earlier, while the story itself isn’t too spectacular, many of the characters are, and they had the potential to sit on top of the mountain with other anime greats, but the show’s writers ended up letting us all down.

Overall - 9/10

I think I actually lucked out by seeing this anime before the movie (which in all honesty I still haven’t seen) because it allowed me to watch the series with fresh eyes, not having a very similar piece to compare it to.

While I do find the show to be imperfect, especially with so much character growth potential just left blowing in the wind, I do really enjoy the show and wouldn’t have had an issue with it being longer, or having the series extended into how Kamui worked to fix the world and make it a better place.