Get in the Other Simulwatch - RahXephon! [ep26-22/05]

[ActionFaust]

Been absent from discussion for a while but having watched the final episode I'm pretty mixed on the whole thing. Certainly had its good moments (episode 19 for example) and I really liked the mystery the series presented. This mystery kept me interested in this world they were presenting and I really had no idea how this would end. Then again it's this vagueness that I think could've been improved on particularly regarding the Bahbem plot. Honestly while those revelations were pretty neat it just didn't have much impact.

While I've been mixed on Haruka for most of this series the last few episodes and epilogue actually make sense of her character and puts new context on future rewatches. Really like when series can be watched with new context.

Still prefer Megumi though. She deserved better..

So overall it was a pretty interesting watch. Not overly wowed by the story (though that may change on a rewatch) but it certainly had it's moments. The production however was strong on all fronts as expected by Bones. Unique mecha designs, nice animation and great sound design. Fittingly enough for a series with music as one of its main themes, Ichiko Hashimoto's soundtrack and Yoko Kanno's opening were fantastic as well.

So yeah it was fun watching the discussion here. Will definitely give it a rewatch at some point considering how it ended.

 

[Luna]

Just chiming in a little bit. Have been silently following this thread once in a while (didn't want to rewatch it myself yet though, since I'm still waiting on the French BD set. And probably better I wasn't there to accidentially spoil anything, this show does indeed look very different on a rewatch.).

Then again it's this vagueness that I think could've been improved on particularly regarding the Bahbem plot. Honestly while those revelations were pretty neat it just didn't have much impact.

They probably noticed that themselves, because the movie goes more into detail about this and the whole Maya-stuff. The Movie is a completely AU take on the events, so the explanations probably don't apply completely 1:1, but you get a better inkling of what the heck that was supposed to be. (Mind you, it's still just mostly dialogue telling rather than showing, but I recall having a bit of an aha moment when I first watched that.)

Ayato and Haruka also has focus in there and the movie also moves into a completely different ending. Admittedly most of it is still recap-style reuse of TV footage, but some of the new movie scenes are imo easily the most beautiful segments of the whole franchise.