Anime and manga
It’s been nearly a month since I’ve posted here but if there’s one thing that can shake me out of my apathy it’s the finale of Xam’d: Lost Memories. Although I expect to do a review of the series later, for now I’m just writing about the ending. It goes without saying that this post contains massive spoilers.
Continue reading ‘Xam’d 25 and 26 – Making Sense? Of the Ending’
I really love Xam’d. I can count on it every week to entertain me with engrossing storytelling, complex characters I really care about and beautiful visuals. It even robs me of any desire to nitpick about things.
After the excitement of last week this was a slow paced, somewhat melancholy episode. Even the music felt sadder and the colors earthier and more subdued.
Well after almost a month’s hiatus in which the Japanese audience got caught up, Xam’d is finally back and back with a vengeance. A delicious two episodes indeed.
I was going to write a post about how episode 13 was temporarily pulled from the PSN and Xam’d won’t be back until Japan can catch up but then Omonomono did it for me.
In the meantime this gives me a chance to write about something I’ve been thinking about – the pacing. When reading other blogger’s entries on Xam’d I tend to see many of the episodes described as “build up” and I’d say that’s pretty accurate. If most of the narrative has been a steady build up, like climbing a mountain, then we’ve only reached a couple of peaks or pay off episodes. One such episode was episode 8, when after leading up to it so much Haru and Akiyuki finally met. Yet for the most part Xam’d has spent more time developing the characters or the world rather than having a contained build up, conflict and resolution in each episode.
So what does that mean? It’s not that the storytelling is unusual, it’s just that with Xam’d I have even less of an idea where it’s all heading than normal. With most series even if I can’t predict what will happen I still know the general direction it will take. For instance In Eureka Seven I knew that Renton’s story would be about him growing up or after the first arc of Kaiji I knew he’d go through hell in an attempt to gamble his way to the top. But where is Xam’d heading? I really don’t know. Akiyuki’s declaration to live alongside others is a pretty vague character motivation and could take him in nearly any direction.
I suppose if I view Xam’d as a character drama then this doesn’t really matter because it’s the character interactions that are driving the story. With that in mind I’m just going to sit back, relax, and let the story take me where it will. I’ve yet to be bored or underwhelmed by an episode of Xam’d so even if it’s unconventional whatever they’re doing is working just fine for me. Though I’m very curious to hear what the rest of you watching think so far.
This post is really, really late. I was going to make up a legitimate excuse as to why I didn’t have time to post about 11 last week but truth be told I was too lazy too busy watching Eureka Seven and getting into internet fist fights over the ending of a certain other show. Just for the record, I’ve concluded that if he is alive he’s not the cart driver nor is he hiding in the hay or the bag. He’s in the horse (disclaimer: I didn’t draw this page so don’t report me to PETA or complain because your boss or mom doesn’t understand how awesome Jojo’s is).
Okay, enough about that. This post is about Xam’d. Really.
The way this episode is put together is pretty interesting. It’s entitled “Moving On” but what it really focuses on are memories. Akushiba remembers the day Raigyo became a Xam’d, Haru remembers how her sister got hurt, Akiyuki’s father prays for his dead comrades on Armistice Day and Raigyo asks the crew for a photo, thereby creating and preserving another memory. Yet the characters also look towards the future. Haru’s decision to break away from her past is the most obvious example but I can think of at least one other – Akiyuki getting his first Xam’d lesson from Raigyo so that he will be able to control his body.
Because of this juxtaposition between past and present, the episode itself felt like a transition between what we’ve already seen and what we’re going to see next. Which is to say, it’s been good so far and it’s just gonna keep getting better.
It took a whole 9 episodes but finally the real protagonist has been introduced. Turns out Akiyuki, Haru and Nakiami are just minor characters because the show is actually about Raigyo. Raigyo and his Xam’d abilities. Raigyo and his camera. Raigyo and the tragic demise of his beard.
Or maybe not. However this episode was almost entirely about Raigyo’s return after two years abroad and how enamored the crew is with him… except for Akiyuki who is understandably peeved at being left out. Who wouldn’t be a little threatened by somebody who waltzes in bearing gifts and is treated like a returning hero?
Wow, what a good episode. The two major plot lines finally converged, if only for a brief moment.
Xam’d is not a particularly easy show to understand. Right from the get go we’ve been dropped into a world chock full of bizarre creatures, warring factions and a ton of terminology which is only explained little by little. It’s a lot like being handed puzzle pieces one by one and having to put them together without seeing the picture on the box first.
It’s to Xam’d’s credit that I don’t find this to be a frustrating experience. If anything, every episode I am more intrigued to figure out what’s going on. I had this same feeling watching Dennou Coil which had even more mysteries and series specific jargon. Although my one complaint about Dennou Coil is that when it did explain things it did it in big, dialogue-heavy chunks that gave out too much information all at once. This could very well happen in Xam’d but for now the scriptwriters have generally conformed to the basic “show don’t tell” rule. I appreciate that they think we’re smart enough to figure out what’s going on without having to be spoon-fed.
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