Tuesday, November 1, 2016

X Part 1 Episodes 1-5


The year is 1999.  The place is Tokyo, Japan.  At long last, the prophesied battle has come.  At the close of the millennium, two sides will clash for the fate of the Earth.  The Dragons of Heaven will fight to ensure humanity continues living.  The Dragons of Earth will seek to wipe away Humanity and start the Earth anew.  As the chosen warriors from both sides come together, one key piece eludes both.  His name is Kamui and whichever side he stands with could very well be the victors of this war.  Kamui seems unwilling to participate in the oncoming storm.  But he’s about to be swept into it, whether he wants to be or not.

Ah the 90’s.  It was an interesting time for Anime tropes: the bad boys were the good guys, cherry blossoms fortold bloody battles to come, and the end of the world was on everyones mind.  X, from CLAMP, the beloved group behind Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicle and Cardcaptor Sakura, capitalized on these tropes and then some, including lots and lots of Angel wings, in their apocalypse now style Manga.  The X TV series…came out in 2001.  So yeah, it’s not a 90’s series but the decade is felt heavily in these intro episodes.  Is it a solid adaptation…or at least better than the movie (which did come out in the 90’s).  Well it’s not a perfect, it’s pretty shaky.  But there’s plenty of room to grow and improve.

First off, our main protagonist, the dreamy Kamui…is annoying as all know how.  He broods, is antisocial, doesn’t want anything to do with destiny…you know like your average 90’s Anime protagonist.  There isn’t much to like about him, even though this becomes easier as time goes on.  I’ll admit, I don’t know how id react if I knew I was going to be the savoir or destroyer of mankind depending on one, crucial decision.  Right now though, I’m not sure if the world is better off with Kamui leading the charge.  It’s probably better than him trying to destroy the world. 

Still, as hard as it is to believe, it’s a hard sell for both sides.  The Dragons of Heaven (so far) are hit and miss.  The only ones I really like are Sorata and Arashi.  Arashi is a beautiful, sword wielding school girl maiden (the girl of my dreams) and Sorata spouts exposition…like any ordinary person would, but he’s so damn likeable it’s almost enough to forgive him…almost.  I also kind of like Aoki, but I’ll explain more on that in a sec.  But Hinoto and her unofficial batch of groupies are where the sell becomes hard.  It’s hard to trust a Dream Seer who wont give you the full details of your destiny and trust you’ll make the right call.  Her call is desperate enough to drive anyone away.  Not that her “sister” Kanoe is any better with her Dragons of Earth sell.  Sure she’s got a seductive voice and a killer bod, but she just screams “bad girl”.  So trusting her is a bit of a stretch.  We didn’t see too much of the Dragons of Earth right off the bat.  They did make more of an impression though.  Satsuki looks promising with her Ghost in the Shell style link up to the gigantic supercomputer known as Beast…looks painful though.  But seeing some technology getting included in a supernatural throwdown is always promising. 

I’ll talk about the DoE’s Yutoh along with Aoki cause both feed into a similar point.  While some characters like Hinoto, Kanoe and Satsuki don’t produce a good spin on either side of this war, Aoki and Yuto do for a different reason.  They both look like incredibly nice guys, and average joes with normal jobs.  It’s almost impossible to hate characters with such honesty of upbeat feels.  And they definitely aren’t as grating as Yuzuriha, who is probably too excited to be a part of this battle even with a spirit dog who can become a sword.  The fact that normal individuals (to the naked eye anyway) are involved makes this a literal secret war being waged.  On top of that, the DoH can produce barriers that allow battles to be fought on different plains of existence so normal damage wont affect city areas unless they are killed.  That is an awesome concept, though seeing how dangerous these battles can be, it’s probably best the DoH stay alive as best as possible.  Bring on the action though.  With Yoshiyaki Kawajiri (aka the director of NINJA SCROLL) at the helm, I’m expecting great things.  While the action is minimal, we do get some sword slashing fun with Arashi and a great duel between Sorata and Yuto.

There’s a lot jam packed into these first few episodes and that’s both a good and bad thing.  On the one hand, I’m glad they’re taking time to introduce all of the characters slowly rather than all at once.  On the other, things plod along slowly sometimes and I wonder if some characters will get short changed in the long run, the longer it takes for us to get to them.  So far, only Sorata is getting any real development next to Kamui.  We’ve got seven players on both sides of the battle, plus Kamui’s childhood friends Fuma and Kotori, to get to in 24 episodes.  I think it’s time the series expanded to everyone else soon now that the important stuff is on the table: End of the world, Kamui’s the chosen one, etc.  Hopefully this cautious, but potentially double edge sword, style of storytelling doesn’t come back to bite X down the line.

Wow, I had a lot to say about this one, huh.  Guess that’s a good thing.  And we’ve got plenty of mystery left going into the next set.  Which side will Kamui choose?  Why his Hinoto seeing visions of TWO Kamui’s duking it out?  Who are the rest of the Dragons of Earth?  WHY THE F*** DID THE HOLY SWORD BURST OUT OF FUMA AND KOTORI’S MOM DURING SURGERY???!!!  Ahem, sorry but yeah that’s an intense imagery there.  X has begun.  And I hope you’re as settled in as I am.  See ya next week.

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