Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor

I will agree with one of my club members regarding this anime. It is underrated as a series. I've watch this anime 1 year ago but I'll do my best to write the review about it. Story: The story has a nice flow. Like all mecha series, it got fantastic mechas with specialized specification for each mechas, skills training and conflict between characters, powerful enemies and realiable reason(s) for fighting. Not to mention 'best friend theme' where we can find alot in other anime is also included.The start of this anime which shows peaceful school days for main characters, Kazuki and his friend make a nice twistwhen the secret of the island and the reason the island is the last line of defense is exposed. As we goes more into the episodes, more secret/mystery will be reveal. I guess that was attracted me the most. The anticipation of 'what's more' and hard to guess 'what next'. Art and Sound: I have no comment on the arts and sound due to my limited knowledge. But I would say, the arts and sound is good, really helping in making you enjoying the stories. Character: All the characters are well made. The relations between the characters are well explained and there's nice development of characters along the series. What interested me the most is, how fair development of characters is given to all cast, not only focusing on the main characters. You will also noticed the variation of attitudes and issues between the casts is brought up in the series. Overall , I enjoy the series. It's one of the series where I can't put down until I finished it. And I would love to have a rewatch of this anime *if only my sis will return it to me rite nw*. The only reason the anime didn't get a full 10 from me is due to ending which left me a little unsatisfied/sad. But it's the matter of opinion. But really, it's only the last part that I'll leave it to your opinon, the rest of the anime is great!!.

The beginning of Fafner was quite confusing as it went straight to the action. Going straight into the action is often never a good idea since it’ll leave the viewers confused. Now if this were only the first episode and the second episode takes place a few months earlier then it would work. Gungrave, Berserk, and the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya used this technique. Haruhi used it quite effectively as it made more viewers come back for the 2nd episode to figure out what was going on. I guess my biggest problem is the fact that the action was relentlessfor around 9 episodes and they tried to create drama in that time frame. This is simply not possible with out proper character development/knowing the characters. For example, a certain character dies and they make it quite a big event and extremely dramatic. However, this character was only a step above some random faceless character. If this series were 50 episodes then I can under stand the pacing but it was only 25 episodes. It’s as if the creators realized that Fafner wasn’t popular enough to make into 50 episodes and cut their losses. Around half way through the series, Fafner starts to slow down. Here things got better as there was proper character building and story progression. Now when drama hits it can actually affect the viewer. Sadly this happened way too late in a 25 episode series as there was quite a bit of potential in the Fafner universe. Thankfully, Fafner does save itself by creating a satisfying conclusion, albeit a bit rushed. I also felt that Fafner could have improved its ending by providing some kind of epilogue. Music was one of Fafner’s better qualities, especially the OP/ED. Also, the character designs were the same as Gundam SEED so it quite hard not to make comparisons. However, in terms of animation quality Fafner compares quite favorably. So while the beginning went straight to the action and was a bit confusing it was nevertheless pretty. If you’re a mecha fan then its almost worth watching just for the action scenes. As far as I recall Fafner doesn’t use repeated animation sequences, one of my pet peeves. Fafner is a fairly entertaining mecha anime, especially for mecha fans. It features good animation and very good music. However, Fafner didn’t provide anything exceptional and doesn’t rise above the pack of mecha anime. In addition, it was severally hurt by inappropriate pacing for a 25 episode series. It is quite sad to see so much wasted potential. Finally a proper epilogue would have greatly benefited the series.

Sokyuu no Fafner is an anime of the good old Evangelion school; a postapocalyptic setting where mankind faces annihalation at the hands of a mystic supernatural species, a band of mentally depraved kids as this world's saviours, and a plot with what is, at times, fairly cryptical content. Whether or not it does it well is hard to say however; it has its strengts but also its distinct weaknesses. The series start off quite calmly on your average tropical Japanese island, where a group of kids are attending school as if life was nothing unusual. However, soon a Festum (the series' supernatural/extraterrestrial race) attacks the island,and it is not long before it is revealed that the island is in fact a moving fortress, and the last remnants of a Japan annihalated in the human-Festum war. Also, these kids, with Makabe Kazuki as the lead acre, are revealed to be the only characters capable of piloting a series of robots known as the Fafner - and thus mankind's main hope for survival. From here the plot accelerates, slowly, but steadily. It tends to stumble at points, and it, like many mecha series of its kind, has all these weird concepts and technologies, many of which are hardly, if even, explained. A pill you have to learn to swallow, I guess. The pacing is generally good, though, taking time to relax and develop the characters inbetween the more action-filled sequences. Unfortunately, it suffers from the "frequently not making sense" syndrome, and from time to time characters say absolutely nonsensical things, or explain concepts in such a manner; I can only assume this is an attmept to be deep and mysterious gone slightly awry. Its charcaters are a mixed bunch; your average cast of mentally depraved teenagers; most of them having troubles with depressing pasts, extreme self-confidence issues or other such negatively laden emotions and experiences. They're handled respectably, for the most part, and some of their stories are quite fresh and almost touching. Some, however, fall short of the stereotype treshold both in concept and execution, while others are victims of the "repetitive gag" syndrome, and one or two at least are victims of "not making sense" syndrome. As a whole however, both the characters' conflicts and the plot made me want to keep watching, made me wonder how it would end up in the end. Was I satisfied? Yes, and no. There's no top marks, but it certainly wasn't bad. The series' soundtrack is very often absent, or quiet - which can be efficacious at times, but at other times I feel it works against it purpose. When there is music, it's generally good; a few outstanding tracks and a lot of generic ones; especially towards the end of the series there are a few very good themes that are used. The opening and ending themes are performed by angela, a band whose msuic I love more and more by the minute. Their vocalist has an amazing voice, making the themes are a true pleasure to listen to! Voice acting is generally solid, with a few outliers in both directions - as with the rest of the show, it is generalyl not mad, but not outstanding either. Animation-wise, the series tend to be, at times, quite iffy, especially when it comes to character designs and facial reactions. The mecha are animated well and the battles are entertaining to watch. The colouring is a bit bland, but is remedied by good work in the lighting and shading departments. Thematically it touches upon many subjects that its genre brethren touches upon. Death, and existence. Individuality, and life. The Festum have a habit of asking the seemingly insignificant question "are you there?" - a question with a more metaphysical implication than one would think at first. Can you truly be said to live, to be here, if you have no reason for living? If life holds no intrinsical value for you? Summarized, I'd say that Fafner is a solid series. It's nothing outstanding, nothing extremely great, and there are mecha series of its kind that are better - but it was enjoyable. The series finale was good. The soundtrack was as dramatic as it needed to be. It had its distinct detracting elements, but nothing you can't swallow and see past, resulting in a fairly enjoyable experience.

Important: Forgive my english please. As a french person it's not always very easy for me. It's been awhile since I didn't not rewatch this serie and I should do so. This anime is one of my favorite anime of all time for now and I doubt that one day it will dropped from my top ten. I'm doing this review by trying to covince the more people to watch this awesome serie. Story: Incredible!! It was so well built that when I watch it I was like: EH!!It could happen one day in a not so far future. There's no cliché except for the first episodewhen Kazuki became the pilot of the Fafner Mark Elf because, currently, is the only one who can do this. Wait... this isn't even a cliché... it's an anime law come to think of it. At the beginning, you may look at this and say: well... it's like kira yamato. He will fight to protect his friends. Fortunately, this is not what will happen, since all of Kazuki's friends will fight one day. People sometime made comparison between Fafner and Evangelion. Yeah... maybe sometime... but I like Faner more than Evangelion (the anime of Evagelion is a little bit disappointing, but the manga is really good). Also some people complain that the show is slow and the battles are boring. Do not forget, there's a lot of character development in that show and I disagree for the battles, there's no stock animation like *cough*Seed Destiny*cough* and they are very thrilling. And the final, just completely amazing and outstanding!! So for the story: 10/10 (just awesome). Art: Again, you have Hisashi Hirai doing a lot of characters that we might have seen in his others series. For example: Kazuki is a mix of Shinn Asuka and Athrun Zala in my opinion (not in personnality fortunately). My point is, if you like Hisashi's design like me, you're gonna fall in love with the characters. The mecha are also really special. Like Code Geass, there are really different from the other shows you might have seen. By the way they look, they seem to have no "face". A head but no face. You know what... there a really cool and I can't understand people saying they look like EVA. They are really different. Art: 9/10 Sound: This is one of the best soundtrack I ever heard. The choice of instruments are excellent. It fits perfectly with the action and the calm moments. Also, I'm a big fan of Angela's opening and I will say that it's probably my favorite opening of all show that I watched until now. Sound: 9/10 Character: This is where Fafner gets, in my opinion, 12/10. The characters are very enjoyable and interresting, but they put also some "cliché" in their personality. Do you need to care about this cliché, NO!! By the way it's handle, there's no problem with the characters personnality, because there just to lovable. You have your main character who is really calm and happy with is life at the beginning, but want to end all the terror once he gets into the fight. You have the girl who seem not worthy enough to pilot a mecha, but at the end, is one of the best pilot they could get. You have the guy who hate to fight and doesn't want to be involved. The guy who is scare about the battle, the guy who doesn't give a crap about the pilot, but cares about the Fafner, the little girl who is sick and can't do anything, the girl who wants to become a pilot to avenge her father's death and the guy who wants to fight with a giant robot. But all of them will change during this serie (some of them will die during the show) and this is what is really the best about this anime. Character: 12/10 (I don't care if the limite is ten). Enjoyment: In 2 episodes, I became impossible to stop. I watched the serie in 3 days and was really amaze by this show that handle the story and the characters like no one does. Enjoyment: 10/10 Overall: I won't say it's the best show of all time, since I didn't watch necessarily a lot of anime, but I know how to determine what is a really good show. Watch it, you won't be deceived!! Overall: 10/10 OUTSTANDING!!!!!!

Merchandise

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