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Bounen no Xamdou
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Animation - 8.3 |
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Sound - 7.3 |
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Story - 6.3 |
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Character - 7.0 |
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Value - 6.3 |
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Enjoyment - 7.0 |
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Average - 7.0 |
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| Average |
5.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| Bounen no Xamdou regards the story of an ordinary boy bestowed with an organic weapon. A great open and strong characters are killed by a constantly frustrating story.
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| Average |
6.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Note: This review is based on Fabulous fansubs. There are a few minor translation errors, but the quality is truly 'fabulous'. Recommended.
Quote:
Those aboard the ship are not conscious of its movement. But in these moments of idleness, you begin to craft your true self.
Originally created by a dozen or so script writers, half of whom also participated in the creation of Eureka Seven and directed by Miyaji Masayuki (assistant director in Eureka Seven) Bounen no Xamdou is a show as inconsistent as you would expect from a creation of ten people with completely different opinions. It tells a tale about a boy who gets infected by some weird thing named Hiruko which makes him turn into an overpowered monster of destruction. Unfortunately, it's not as cool as it sounds since the guy loses his sanity whenever he transforms into Xamd and eventually turns into a stone... err, if someone doesn't transform him back, though it's not really clear how does Nakiami do that. Anyway, not long after the incident, that guy gets picked up by a drifting airship, which drifts around the world for no apparent reason, and you get Eureka Seven all over again. At least that's what I thought until the plot suddenly turns to be overly ambitious and starts collapsing over itself, unable to believably justify half of its happenings.
Frankly, I haven't seen a bigger waste of potential since watching GONZO's Last Exile a few years back. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if someone from GONZO actually slipped into the BONES studio and "polished" their script. The first two episodes are great, setting is interesting, characters seem likable and potential appears seamless. It gets slightly harder to watch when you realize the show copies a great lot from Eureka Seven, but it's still cool, because it also offers much of its own original stuff. However, in the second half everything starts to collapse almost as if someone else started to write script for the show, which I believe was the case. Anyway, the director with an experience of being "assistant" at best in the past certainly didn't know how to deal with things. Setting starts to collapse because nothing is justified, nor explained in it. Much stuff happens, but you don't understand any of it, and you are not even hinted and what it is. To put it simply - I was observing a group of white haired teens eat rocks, turn into monsters and wage wars against some sort of mechas, as to why they are doing that and what the hell are they even doing, I never knew. Characters don't help either as I got the feeling that they were separated from me by some invisible wall. They have personalities, I just don't know them. In the end even the great animation and beautiful background score didn't manage to raise this show above mediocrity. It had all the potential to become one of the best anime of the year, but it collapsed over itself, in the same fashion majority of GONZO's shows do.
Conclusion: Unless you are an avid fan of Eureka Seven and you want to watch something similar to it I wont recommend this show. There are hundreds of better shows around, so if you are not really bored you shouldn't watch Bounen no Xamdou. It's not bad, it's just average. It has good things, but the bad things mar them down and it leaves this anime on the very middle of mediocrity. But if you have actually liked this you might want to check Last Exile and Eureka Seven out.
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|
fnord |
2009-02-17 17:18:40 |
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Animation:
Character designs are of a typical fashion for recent Bones shows. It's not very moe-heavy, but feature similarly clear-cut facial expressions. Animation quality itself is usually very high, and has only few slouches. The animation itself is good, but primarily it is very careful; lots of attention paid to secondary movements and animated movements on the edges of the viewers field of vision.
Sound:
In my opinion, one of the best OPs and soundtracks ever; however, this is influenced by my general dislike for *generic* J-Pop. Seeing a good OP which was timed carefully to Rock thus meets a very benevolent disposition.
Story:
Xam'd tries to appeal to everyone. Not in the sense as Code Geass did (by including something from any genre you might think of) but more like a Studio Ghibli movie does. It tries to prod the viewer to be fascinated with the show, which it succeeded in at least in my own case. The setting is essentially an imaginative cross between Biopunk, Steampunk and Fantasy. While it can certainly be argued that some plot elements have been appropriated from a variety of story tropes, this is usually the case for most shows. I felt that the story was good, progressed fast and had a good ending. The survival of one of the characters was somewhat miraculous, but she isn't a primary character. Others died 'permanently', so that's cool.
Character:
It has been pointed out to me that the (main) characters were cliched and their development predictable. Upon careful deliberation, this is probably correct. I didn't perceive it as problematic, though. Some of the secondary cast are fascinating, and the focus of the show is more ... the show itself, its own presentation, and not the characters. For me, characters were completely adequate in their depth and thankfully not prone to angsting over simple issues for an eternity.
Value:
Rewatch value is high for me, as I really liked the show and will want to rewatch it. The subs are official subs by Bones, and excellent in quality; visual quality was 720p HD, which is fitting for a show of this calibre.
Enjoyment:
Maximum. For me, one of the best shows I have ever seen from a strict enjoyment perspective. What I have listed as negative aspects only really materialized after I thought about for a while; when I watched the show, it seemed perfect. I would definitely recommend this series, and I think it is an excellent example of good storytelling.
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Two anime's best sum's up Xamdou. Eureka 7 and Kiba. All parts of the review will be based back on these two anime's.
This anime slots just in between Eureka 7 and Kiba in scores too. Its a bit boring. Basically if you like Eureka 7 a lot, watch Last Exile and as far as I can say, there will not be an anime that comes close to it. Ever. Xamdou though is a bit different than Kiba and Eureka, the story goes I don't know where sometimes and when you understand it, it goes of in another direction.
This anime is a Play Station Store exclusives so either you view it on your psp or ps3. Its not coming to TV yet, I don't think it will.
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