RahXephon

Full Title: RahXephon
Genres: Action, Drama, Mystery, Mecha, Psychological, Romance, Science Fiction
Episodes: 26
Uploaded By: Mavrik
My Age Rating: PG-13 (Mild Language, Violence, Adult Situations)

Ayato Kamina is your average (who isn't these days anyway?) Japanese boy living in Tokyo in a sort of apocalyptic future where major countries have disappeared and war has diminished much of the world's population. He has a quiet and uneventful life with a caring, if perpetually absent mother and his faithful best friends. Uneventful, that is, until the day his city is nearly destroyed by an air raid. In the chaos, he gets separated from his friends and meets up with a mysterious girl from his class who leads him to a most bizarre weapon. A weapon that immediately bonds with him. Suddenly the world is no longer as it appears, and he finds himself being separated from his beloved city by another girl, one from a forgotten past.

This anime is fantastic to say the least. I am not exactly what you'd call a mecha fan, in fact I usually dislike them, but the story this anime puts together is tight and addictive whether you enjoy giant man-shaped robots or not. The ending can be a bit confusing, no it doesn't go Evangelion, but it definitely requires the viewer to pay attention to some confusing dialog in previous episodes in order to figure out exactly what transpired. This anime is definitely not for lazy viewing as it requires some thought. It's also not very cheery; when the characters start to die, they fall fast. The plot is fairly quick, and the action is brutal. There is also a thick psychological layer to this show the depth of which I found rather surprising.

Production-wise this series is very well done. No 3-D effects. It's hand-drawn every detail, and everything looks great. No flaws in the voice acting section, and the musical score is inventive and fresh. The opening is clean, and the credits are thought-provoking to say the least. All the characters are believable and interesting with no real cookie-cutter types anywhere. I would recommend this anime to anyone who enjoys rich, deep plots, for this is something this series definitely excels at. It's pretty much a must see...

My Rating: 8.9/10 (Excellent)