Soukyuu no Fafner 1 & 2
Time for XEBEC's newest offering Soukyuu no Fafner ~Dead Aggressor. 2 episodes were aired together this time so I'm putting them in one entry.
Opening "Shangri-La" by angela: Many of you probably remember angela from Stellvia. I don't quite like this song as much as "Asu e no Brilliant Road", but it's still good. Geez... everybody's doing the CG water these days, aren't they?
Ending "separation" by angela: More CG water. Song's okay :)
Been a while since I've watched a mecha show (kinda skipped over Kenran). But anyways..
Our setting is the isolated island paradise of Tatsumiya Island. It's very peaceful and everything is normal until one day when this very powerful (using some kinda anti-matter attack or something, it seems) silicon-based lifeform called a Festum attacks the island. It asks a question: "Anata wa soko ni imasu ka?" (Are you there?).. but you can't answer or else it means the end of humanity, apparently... A defensive system called Alvis, that was hidden in the island unknown to most, activates and people run to shelter and planes are dispatched, but they don't stand a chance. So the only thing left to call on is.. you guessed it, our big mech called Fafner. A kid named Soushi calls on Kizuki to come help him protect the island by piloting the Fafner. So they go and board the Fafner and they're off.. I have to say it looks like it must hurt to pilot one... Kizuki seems to know how to use Fafner already somehow...
Now to episode 2... Kizuki and Soushi work together to finally get rid of the Festum (though it blows up a small portion of the island as it's destroyed). Japan was destroyed 29 years ago by the Festum, and Ryuuguujima is pretty much all that's left of it. Now that the war has finally come to them, Soushi and Kizuki need to work together to pilot Fafner and protect the island, so they begin training.
And that's really about it so far. Haven't learned much of anything about the other characters or much more about the Festum (what's with that question it asks?). I'm somewhat interested so I'll keep watching and see how things go. Fafner hot enough for you, David? ;)
Ho ho ho! You can guess what I'll be writing about from now on! Thanks for the heads-up! :)
It's so like Rahxephon... :P but with a more simple plot :-/ I didn't like it, though the animation and music was good I would want to watch not so cliché anime about mechas.
I just finished the first 2 episodes. I liked what I saw although I'm very disturbed by the character designs... I was vaguely reminded (a lot) of Evangelion when watching these two episodes but I think it still looks promising.
Some grouses though... why are the two leads so "female"-like?
But frankly, besides Kurau and Fafner, the other spring animes are really... I'm already looking forward to 岩窟王 (gankutsuou) in Fall... =p
It's pretty much a large scale rip-off operation (just like Gundam Seed?).
Go take a look at Gundam Seed, or Ryvius, or SCryEd, they all have the same character designer. Actually, Soushi is an almost exact lookalike of Cagalli Yula Attha, a FEMALE character from Gundam Seed, and Kazuki is a twin of (male) Aslan (Athrun) Sala of same series.
Only this time the charas look like they're a bit more tanned -- no wonder when you're living on an island.
And the little girl with the black hair looks like a chibi version of Arashi from X.
Oh, and Fafner: Take away the wings, and you have a Pro-Ing from Pilot Candidate (or Candidate for Goddess, or Megami Kouhai)
The animation was done by Xebec.