Fafner

[hopeful_monster]

Anime News Network Tatsumiyajima is the central island in the middle of a small cluster of islands, in a sleepy backwater of the Japanese isles. Not much happens there, and the island's young people go to school knowing that their lives are likely to remain peaceful and undisturbed. Or so they have been taught... but the truth is different. The fate of mankind is on the line, and Tatsumiyajima is the last line of defense against a hostile and incomprehensible enemy. At the center of it all, fighting for Humanity's continued existence, is the giant robot Fafner, the dragon that guards this final treasure of mankind.

Finished Fafner and my opinion of it still in the air. Visually it was very good, and though disturbingly similar to the Gundam Seed. Plot was a recycled mish mash of many other series (Eva and Rahxephon, being the most obvious) and although it did have some interesting parts of its own it never really felt new. Part of this was due to the characters that lacked any, well, character. Of the three leads none had anything to make them stand out, (Shinji may have been a whiner but at least he was memorable for it). While some of the side characters are worthy of note most were tweaked stock characters, the two I felt were the most interesting ands original {were effectively written out by the 10th episode}. There was also a certain lack of consistency with all the characters and plot (both major and minor). Kids didn’t really act like kids, everyone’s emotions were either muted or entirely overblown, and people reactions seemed to against common sense and any logic (within or out of context of the series). The OP and ED were easily skipable, and the music during the shows were unmemorable (code for didn’t notice it when I was watching).
While enjoyable it failed to be either a fun monster mash mecha melee (try saying that 3 times fast when smashed) or a deep meaningful piece that grips you from start to end.