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Forum - View topicANNCast - RahXephon
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4442 |
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RahXephon is probably at the top of my list of things that I watched within my first few years as an anime that I would like to revisit. I remember not particularly caring for it, but I think that I hadn't seen enough variety of anime to appreciate it as I probably would today. It also didn't help that I watched Eva right around the same time, so I was inclined to favor one over the other. Considering what Zac said about his reaction changing with time, I'm probably going to make some time to go back and watch this show.
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5431 Location: Iscandar |
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Congratulations on your web comic. I will check it out.
Regarding ANNCast, I would be cool if you only did 2 episodes per month as long as one episode is a discussion of one anime show, and the other was a longer (100-120 minutes long), regular ANNCast episode. Regarding RahXephon. I have been aware of it for several years, but I have not watched it mainly because I have a weird aversion towards it because people keep saying how similar it is to Evangelion. And to me Eva is a very special anime that I frown upon someone trying to imitate it. To further complicate things, it looks like the DVD's are OOP. As a collector it is important to be able to buy physical copies of stuff I really like. I am certainly interested in at least checking out RahXephon, but I might do it if/when it is reissued on disc or is at least available on legal streams. |
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Angel'sArcanum
 Posts: 303 Location: Toronto, Ontario |
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I understand the appeal of Evangelion's incongruous nature and the psychology you have to piece together, but hearing you guys elaborate on how RahXephon's conflicts are all about circumstance is bringing back memories of the show and I think why it still registers with me.
I don't think the circumstantial nature is exactly a flaw in this case, but just a different outlook. Zac put it quite eloquently with how RahXephon is meticulously constructed and makes for a nice look at the "ideal" and something to strive towards, creating a more concrete image and subsequent argument to form for what it thinks is right where Eva is more of a character study and picking apart the inner workings and anxieties of these fractured characters. I think RahXephon has a rich mythos and lots of detail, even extraneous to a degree, and it's nice in itself, but it also acknowledges the arbitrary window dressing of it all - all the complications that take away from earnest, straightforward love. Politics, war, personal ambition, etc all robbing and blinding people from loving connections through all these new sort of "foreign" concepts and constructs we aren't born with unlike the need for intimacy. I could see for some it could get redundant the way it is painted across in various ways - spatial, character antagonism, etc, but its grandeur and simplicity in equal measure is what makes (or at least made it beautiful for me. Been 3 years since my last revisit, although I still remember loving it on that rewatch as I did it for an English project in my senior year of high school.) I like Eva a lot too, but one thing that nicked it for me on a rewatch despite a wiser outlook on it upon my most recent revisit is that it doesn't quite make clear whether there are big formative events in the series that cause huge character shifts, gradual bits happening from episode to episode, or a combination of both. In that sense the character development/regression doesn't feel quite as concretely rooted in its characters as it could be, but it is still a fantastic series. I may have brushed on that aforementioned bit before, but for my own refreshment and elaborating on the comparisons between the two series, I wanted to reiterate it for myself. Pretty good podcast though. Also, the thing with copying or homage reminds me on how I feel about Hitchcock vs De Palma, Vertigo and Rear Window are the only 2 Hitchcock films I've seen, and I respect them, but their effects and storytelling come off as a bit archaic in some ways while some techniques were quite invited, but it paved the way for (in my opinion) De Palma to refine them for something more contemporary, complex and aesthetically pleasing. Many argue De Palma to be a blatant thief almost, but hey, great artists steal and all that, and Body Double was Vertigo and Rear Window made into a real masterpiece in my book. |
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The Coffee God
 Posts: 412 |
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Both the TV and Movie are still available on The Anime Network. http://www.theanimenetwork.com/Watch-Anime/RahXephon http://www.theanimenetwork.com/Watch-Anime/RahXephon-The-Motion-Picture |
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jroa
Posts: 537 |
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Good listen. For the record, Yoko Kanno did compose the OP theme sung by Maaya Sakamoto, but the actual BGM was in fact composed by Ichiko Hashimoto after all. She also performed the ED, true, but Hashimoto is still the person credited as the main composer for the music in Rahxephon.
From the ANN encyclopedia:
Tellingly, Ichiko Hashimoto's name is right there on all three OST covers. Also, Yoko Kanno is not even mentioned in the albums that do not include the OP itself (which would be OST 1). http://vgmdb.net/album/22024 http://vgmdb.net/album/19675 http://vgmdb.net/album/19676 Other sources: http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/flyingdog/tv/rahxephon/top.html http://www.najanaja.net/desco_ichiko.html I believe this is also confirmed on ADV's DVD releases for the series. In short, Yoko Kanno is a wonderful composer and I do love her work, but in this case she wasn't actually the main composer. Last edited by jroa on Fri May 06, 2016 4:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5431 Location: Iscandar |
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@The Coffee God
Thanks for the heads up. I just searched the show on Hulu but should have tried the Anime Network too. |
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Lynx Amali
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The only thing I'd really call Eva-like regarding Rah is the movie (its pretty blatant and outright stated in one of the interviews around the time of the movie's release iirc) but the TV series itself is heavily inspired by mythology. They still have similarities though, just not to the extent of THAT site likes to think.
spoiler[Asahina's death] is probably one of my favorite sequences in anime as a whole, even though they don't get much depth as that's done over like a couple episodes. The only thing I dislike about it is that it's unavoidable in MX and that means I have to ball every time I decide to replay MX. On the OST: To be fair, Decisive Battle (assuming that's the one everyone was referring to) is a fantastic theme so it getting duped doesn't bother me. I mean, Fafner did it and its really good there too (albeit they do change it up a bit.). |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Thank you for another cavalcade of insights! And for answering my Eureka Seven question! I was quite excited to hear what you would say about Rahxephon, given that a) I have actually seen it before, for once, and b) our judgements seldom converge.
To my great surprise, I found myself emphatically agreeing with many of the points made, most chiefly the charges that Rahxephon is too anodyne and fastidious in its design principles, that in its perfection it is bereft of the "scribbles, chaos and violent adolescence" of Evangelion, and that how by being so meticulous, vis-à-vis Eva's half-written, open-ended and very human quality, its lack of flaws ultimately work against it in a direct comparison. I was less taken by the visual and aural designs that so engrossed Zac. Indeed I found the Golems' mythically-inflected appearance to be out of place and unthreatening, and the music to be mostly inadequate despite its great thematic importance. On the subject of characters, Jacob's charge that Ayato's demons hail only from his circumstances, rather than his psyche, trenchantly conveyed what renders his character to be of lesser enduring interest than Shinji. His absence of a requisite inner blemish may have lead to RahXephon being so emotionally distant and inhibitive to the engendering of of affections, something everyone noted. Of course, the exception to such a distantness was the character death in episode 19, which I agree was the emotional pinnacle of what RahXephon's creatively outsourced production brought forth. Thus I also accept that, had we cared for who perished, such a creative sequence would have been so greatly enhanced. So congratulations chaps. I have finally found a critical matter over which to concur with you. In truth, Rahxephon was never a personal favourite of mine, but it is, if I recall, beloved by dtm42. Much I do look forward to reading his reactions to the podcast. Congratulations on the new comic strip, by the way! Fairies have never quite captivated me, but a healthy barrage of anime references and spirited jabs at community tropes will soon convert me to favour whatever their business may be. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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Rah Xephon is one of the rare instances where the Abridged movie experience is a better watch than the complete series.
The 2 cour format meant that there would be meandering across the story trying to expand military heads and give them eccentric backstories which by the end of the series didn't amount to much. The Movie focusses on Haruka's character POV save for specific moments, by cutting out side stories the audience gets a focused narrative that is simply a romantic story of love stolen away by over the top sci fi circumstance. I used to run the Movie as background noise for quiet a while and probably soon enough I will rewatch it again. |
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jroa
Posts: 537 |
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I suppose it depends on what each viewer prefers in terms off romantic stories. The TV show didn't give their relationship the same amount of focus, but the outcome is generally straightforward and relatively simple to accept. The movie's resolution was based more on symbolism and there is a degree of abstraction due to Ayato's ultimate fate, all things considered, despite the fact Haruka's emotional journey received greater attention. |
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Parsifal24
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It may be "heresy" to some and while I identify with Shinji from EVA more than Ayato I like it better think it's the better-constructed series and has the more truly mature take on the suffering and pain of the characters. I think in many ways it is the superior series from the cohesiveness of the plot (I know EVA had budget issues and Anno's deteriorating mental state did not help). The actual maturation of Ayato Shinji kind of stays the same throughout the TV series except for the esoteric happy ending.
Ayato has to grow change and make hard decisions decide what he values (In short Shinji has no agency so to speak) while Haruka works as her own character while also seeing why she values and spoiler[loves Ayato]. I could go into greater detail on why I think it is the greater series from the better score, cleaner color pallet so and so forth but this would be a book then. Also, the movie is a just fine distillation of the series even if the ending is a little confusing and the Manga is complete trash better left in the dustbin of history. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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That's the thing about Eva. You can point to many shows as to having individual points that are superior, or seem to gel together better, etc. But the broken parts of Eva come together to form a greater whole. The fact I can still to to a convention and get into a fresh Eva debate while RahXephon dwells in the sea of esoteric eva-wannabes would be fair evidence.
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lemurs
Posts: 103 |
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I don't think that's controversial at all. Although I think the similarities between the two shows are overstated (with RahXephon being more of a Raideen clone than anything else), RahXephon is the better planned show. And unlike Evangelion, it has at least one satisfying ending. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11396 |
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Could you please, please figure out a better audio set-up for Jacob? He sounds like Alphonse Elric recorded in a colander. If I turn up the volume to hear him, whenever anyone talks over him (which happens a lot), I get blasted out, and whatever he's trying to say is too. It doesn't help that his natural speaking pace is like he's trying to get everything said before the house burns down, but that wouldn't matter as much if his audio channel wasn't so muddy. I'm about ready to give up on these, because it's just exhausting to listen to -- it's the audio equivalent of squinting at the screen trying to read 6 pt type for an hour or more. But I like the ANNcasts, so I hope you can figure out a way to fix this.
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Arkthelad
Posts: 108 |
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I never understood how people were so accepting of the romantic relationship in RahXephon. It's a bizarre writing choice on so many levels. People make fun of the romance plot in the Star Wars prequels but at least in that it's not played completely straight. Anakin has this ten year long pining based on memories similar to Haruka, but the difference is this matches his characterisation. He's portrayed as being socially abnormal and emotionally immature. Haruka by all accounts is socially well adjusted and mature. The age difference between Ayato and Haruka makes this even worse. Thinking about it, this scenario is actually far less believable than the SW one.
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