It’s been 4000 years since Humanity abandoned Planet
Earth, thanks to an encounter with a massive monolith, the Zohar. Their expansion into deep space is now
threatened by other dimensional beings known as the Gnosis. Desperate for a
miracle, all eyes fall upon Shion Uzuki, a beautiful scientist who is
spearheading a special project that might turn the balance in Humanities
struggle. But KOS-MOS is as
unpredictable and dangerous as the enemies she is programmed to defeat. Now she has been activated and Humanity has
discovered the Zohar once more. The
battle for the fate of the Human Race just got a lot more interesting.
I first stumbled across the title Xenosaga back in late
2001/early 2002 via an article in Gamepro.
While I didn’t play them often when I was younger, I was always
fascinated with larger than life JRPG thanks to Final Fantasy.
But naturally, Xenosaga had one key element
front and center in the Gamepro article: super hot girls with big guns poised
to fight Aliens for control of an ancient universe changing artifact.
Xenosaga was poised to be the next big JRPG
series coming off the heals of the .hack series as a six part gaming epic.
However, while reception was positive, sales were incredibly low and the six
part saga was cut in half, with Xenosaga Episode III coming out on PS2 in
2006.
Given its clear Anime influences,
as there usually are in JRPGs, Xenosaga was ripe for the Anime treatment and in
2005 we got this adaptation of the first game in the series, Xenosaga Episode
I.
Well, having rediscovered this series
on YouTube, I’ve decided to give it a shot.
Is Xenosaga an underrated game changing scifi saga that was way ahead of
its time?
Or was it too ambitious with
its storytelling that it collapsed under its own weight.
Well there’s only one Anime of one game but I
wont jump to conclusions.
Let’s get to
the premiere.
It’s hard not to look at Xenosagas opening and animation
and not get very bad deju vu vibes of Pilot Candidate, another scifi mecha
Anime that looked so promising but quickly devolved into an unfocused
mess.
The music is one of the major
stand out features of Xenosaga: The Animation, especially the opening and
ending themes.
The chanting choir feels
appropriate for the epic scope the title is aiming for and if we’re comparing the
massive monolith that is the Zohar to the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey,
then it deserves its own choir of creepy voices.
Animation wise, this is a mid 2000’s Anime,
which means digipaint and 3D effects blended together to mixed results.
The Gnosis look creepy enough and I like that
unless you have super rare tech on you, you have to be very lucky to kill one
when it phases into reality.
The CG Ship
animations early on looked ok but the Elsa is a fantastic ship that’s also part
of arguably the best action sequence of the opening: a chase through
hyperspace.
As for the characters…well
like I said, mixed is the best way to describe them.
Shion looks particularly good, with a very
cute design that makes people underestimate her capabilities.
But KOS-MOS…yeah her face and eyes bother
me.
I get that theyre trying to adhere
as close to the games character designs as possible but this is an instance
where the translation to Anime didn’t work in favor of Xenosaga’s signature bad
ass battle bot.
She just looks creepy.
Xenosaga is well known for its complex plot and immense
world building, to the point where you can kind of see why it might have been
cancelled after three games.
On the
surface, the premise seems simple enough: Humanity is in a fight for survival
against the Gnosis and only Shion and KOS-MOS have a chance of stopping them
along with figuring out the secrets of the Zohar.
But then you get a ton of factions and jargin
thrown your way that it’s hard to keep track of at times.
There’s Shions group, Vector, who are
basically the equivalent of Blade Runners Tyrell Coroporation, building
humanoid androids called Realians as well as KOS-MOS.
You have the Utic group whose goal is unknown
other than they want the original prototype Realian aka Momo.
Plus you have some kid named Gaignin and his
massive battleship filled with super hot women who’s also interested in Momo
(also his crew calls him Little Master…cant tell if he’s living the dream or
overcompensating really).
While
everything is tied back to the Zohar or Momo, you don’t get to know much about
these groups or their endgames beyond theyre there, most are shrouded in
mystery and our super cute scientist lead and her sexy battle bot are stuck in
the middle of all of it.
Speaking of cute female leads, I like Shion and KOS-MOS
(despite the iffy design of the latter).
As I said, Shions attractive outfit and design hides a strong girl who
is hurting from past trauma and has yet to settle it within her.
That trauma is tied directly to KOS-MOS, who
gets to show off her impressive combat capabilities as well as a surprising
amount of wit and sass when dealing with the crew of the Elsa.
These two make a promising pair but sometimes
find themselves lost in the shuffle of the ever expanding cast of
characters.
There’s Allen, Shion’s
whipped yes man who’s clearly in love with his boss; Luis, a no nonsense
soldier who isn’t a fan of Realians; Ziggy, a combat cyborg who is the
protector of Momo, the OG 100 Series Realian; the crew of the Elsa, who seem
like a pretty chill group deserving of their own spinoff…except for the white
haired Chaos, just what the heck is his role in any of this?
And that’s just a few of the names.
Plus there’s the aforementioned secret cabal
factions with their own hidden agendas, including Shion’s group at Vector.
While we get to know a little bit about some
characters origins like Momo, everyone else just appears and is just kind of
there without much explanation.
Again,
why the hell is Chaos on the Elsa?
Is he
meant to play a larger role or is he just a poser?
I’m not lying when I said the attractive character
designs got me interested in Xenosaga in the first place and clearly it’s not
just me.
The animation team knows the
Shion and KOS-MOS are both 10/10’s and aren’t missing a chance to show off
every angle.
There’s fanservice and then
there’s just bad timing.
Example,
letting the camera linger on KOS-MOS floating in space looking like a longer
haired Rei Ayanami from Evangelion with a little less clothing,
fanservice.
The camera panning down to
show Shion’s butt during a dramatic exchange between her and Luis over the
nature of Realians, not the right time.
And then there’s “Little Masters” harem of ladies on board the
Durandal.
That’s not just fan service,
that’s just straight up self insertion fan fiction cause let’s face it, we’ve
all had that kind of dream at some point (personally though Shion is the far
superior beauty to anyone else in this show).
Seeing as how this Anime only covers the first game in
the series (and how much of that remains to be seen, I guess I should do some
extra research as I watch), I’m wondering how many of the many posed questions
and mysteries will be addressed throughout.
What the heck is the Zohar and how is it tied to Humanity getting the
heck out of dodge and abandoning Earth 4000 years ago?
What’s so special about the 100 Series
Realians like Momo and that one girl who protected Shion during the Gnosis
attack and why does it make them a point of interest for the insanely terrible
Albedo and the U-TIC group?
What’s
KOS-MOS’s hidden directives from Vector that even Shion knows nothing
about?
Why is Gaignin Jr so interested
in protecting Momo…ok that one I can probably chalk up to he has a crush on her
and is trying to impress her with his ship and gathering of lovely ladies.
And seriously WHAT THE F IS CHAOS JUST DOING STANDING
AROUND AND PRETENDING LIKE HE’S IMPORTANT???
I don’t know why that last one bothers me so much but for real dude, do
something rather than just act like your bigger and better than everyone for no
reason.
Even if this is just a 12 episode series, I already feel
like I’ve taken on a massive undertaking trying with this one.
Xenosaga: The Animation has an ok start but I
get the feeling that you might have to be more familiar with the game to
understand what’s going on.
I’m looking
forward to further development for Shion and KOS-MOS if the show can get a
better handle of the enormous cast that just keeps getting bigger and bigger
throughout the first four episodes.
And
despite her face just looking…so weird, KOS-MOS is still a super hot android in
a hot outfit who carries twin triple barrel gatling guns as her primary weapon
of choice for dealing with anything…so there’s that.
Check back Monday for our next chapter of
Xenosaga: The Animation right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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