Rahxephon - Vol. 1 - Episodes 1-5
2003
Set in the year 2015, just after Earth's civilizations have been all but wiped out, RAHXEPHON finds a high school student named Ayato Kamina struggling to escape the rubble after an attack on his city left him trapped. Finally freeing himself from the debris, Ayato meets a girl named Reika Mishima who takes him to a secret .. Read more
| Starring | Chris Patton, Hiro Shimono, Monica Rial, Aya Hisakawa |
|---|---|
| Director | Yutaka Izubuchi |
| Genres | Animated, Anime, Sci-Fi/Fantasy |
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Rahxephon - Vol. 1 - Episodes 1-5
Set in the year 2015, just after Earth's civilizations have been all but wiped out, RAHXEPHON finds a high school student named Ayato Kamina struggling to escape the rubble after an attack on his city left him trapped. Finally freeing himself from the debris, Ayato meets a girl named Reika Mishima who takes him to a secret sanctuary that houses the war's civilian survivors. There, a humanoid mechanical weapon emerges from a black egg when he arrives bearing the same marking as one Ayato has on his body. It becomes apparent that Ayato is the only one who can pilot the weapon, and he soon realizes that he might be the only person able to defend the world from more destruction.
| Starring | Chris Patton, Hiro Shimono, Monica Rial, Aya Hisakawa, Kira Vincent-Davis, Houko Kuwashima, Mandy Clark, Maaya Sakamoto, Ayako Kawasumi, Hilary Haag, John Swasey, Ichiko Hashimoto, Agnès Manoury, Lauren Goodnight, Illich Guardiola |
|---|---|
| Director | Yutaka Izubuchi |
| Studio | ADV FILMS |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 5 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Animated, Anime, Sci-Fi/Fantasy |
| Language | DVD: Japanese |
| Dubbed | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 22 Sep 2003 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
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Most helpful member's review
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13 out of 14 people found this review helpful
Simply Superb - A Breath Of Fresh Air.
Comparable to an operatic version of The Matrix, RahXephon is a perfectly animated science fantasy centring on the awakening of a young boy's identity from his deceived perception of the world.
Set in the near future, Tokyo has been isolated from the rest of the world by a bubble following what citizens term 'World War 3', which reportedly destroyed the rest of the world. 17 year old Kamina Ayato begins to discover there is a lot more to the truth behind this than the government are telling the occupants of 'Tokyo Jupiter'. What are the strange giant machines floating in the sky? Why can't anyone else see them? Why do government agents follow him and why is their blood blue?
The plot slows in places to allow greater character exploration as deeper relationships are developed. I found the level of interaction between characters very satisfying and convincing enough to utterly draw me into the emotional sweep of the story.
Besides depth of character realisation, there is a terrific sci-fi theme of imaginative ideas on the scale of a Philip K Dick novel. Certainly a level above typical giant robot anime, the ideas are used properly, to further explore story aspects, expanding on real life issues as superior sci-fi should.
I would recommend viewing in Japanese with English subtitles, though, as although the American dubbing is less cringeworthy than most, some of the name mis-pronounciations can get quite irritating ('Heyyyy, Ayadoooh, how's it goiiin'?' in a teenaged Californian accent).
RahXephon is categorised as High Density Animation, which means if you watch it on a large screen the picture quality won't suffer. Although ADV's standards of picture quality and DVD programming are consistently high, this is one of the best of their releases - perhaps one of the few that deserves their professional attention to detail and clarity of images.
I've watched a lot of anime and have grown quite sick of shoddy, Pokemon style junk. I can promise you that this is different. Comparing RahXephon to typical Manga would be like comparing Al Pacino to George Lazenby. You simply shouldn't do it. It would be a sin. -
Most recent members' review
View all -
13 out of 14 people found this review helpful
Simply Superb - A Breath Of Fresh Air.
Comparable to an operatic version of The Matrix, RahXephon is a perfectly animated science fantasy centring on the awakening of a young boy's identity from his deceived perception of the world.
Set in the near future, Tokyo has been isolated from the rest of the world by a bubble following what citizens term 'World War 3', which reportedly destroyed the rest of the world. 17 year old Kamina Ayato begins to discover there is a lot more to the truth behind this than the government are telling the occupants of 'Tokyo Jupiter'. What are the strange giant machines floating in the sky? Why can't anyone else see them? Why do government agents follow him and why is their blood blue?
The plot slows in places to allow greater character exploration as deeper relationships are developed. I found the level of interaction between characters very satisfying and convincing enough to utterly draw me into the emotional sweep of the story.
Besides depth of character realisation, there is a terrific sci-fi theme of imaginative ideas on the scale of a Philip K Dick novel. Certainly a level above typical giant robot anime, the ideas are used properly, to further explore story aspects, expanding on real life issues as superior sci-fi should.
I would recommend viewing in Japanese with English subtitles, though, as although the American dubbing is less cringeworthy than most, some of the name mis-pronounciations can get quite irritating ('Heyyyy, Ayadoooh, how's it goiiin'?' in a teenaged Californian accent).
RahXephon is categorised as High Density Animation, which means if you watch it on a large screen the picture quality won't suffer. Although ADV's standards of picture quality and DVD programming are consistently high, this is one of the best of their releases - perhaps one of the few that deserves their professional attention to detail and clarity of images.
I've watched a lot of anime and have grown quite sick of shoddy, Pokemon style junk. I can promise you that this is different. Comparing RahXephon to typical Manga would be like comparing Al Pacino to George Lazenby. You simply shouldn't do it. It would be a sin. -
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Set in the year 2015, just after Earth's civilizations have been all but wiped out, RAHXEPHON finds a high school student named Ayato Kamina struggling to escape the rubble after an attack on his ... -