FIF#240-Fafner

For the people on Tatsumiyajima, life is pretty ordinary…at least at first glance.  When a massive Golden Creature suddenly attacks without warning, reality crumbles and the truth is revealed.  Humanity is at war with monsters just like this and they’re running out of time to save themselves.  But Tatsumuyajima is more than it seems.  It is a fortress that has been preparing for the day of an attack like this and it is ready with the only weapon capable of facing this enemy on its own terms: The Fafner.  The ultimate battle for the fate of Humanity has begun.

 
When I first saw a posting for Fafner on a friends page, I thought “wait, is there a Gundam SEED spin off I’ve never heard of?” No, fact is one of Fafner’s instant details is that is has character designs from Hisashi Hirai, who worked on Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny.  But apparently this is another under the radar Anime title that is a secret gem waiting to be discovered.  Sure enough, Fafner (or Fafner in the Azure as it’s longer title goes) does seem to have a rather healthy franchise with multiple shows and movie continuations.  So, how does the first episode of the first series get the ball rolling and is it worth investing more time into?
 
The thing that caught me about Fafner’s premiere were its two distinctive halves.  The first half of the first episode is very, very slow and mostly made up of scenery shots of the island the series looks to be mostly set on.  Yes you do get some interactions between the characters but its mostly decent music with panning shots of different locales.  When the second half kicks in, hoo boy does it kick in.  Lots of destruction, panic, some rather grizzly deaths and just pure chaos as an unidentified creature launches an attack.  It does make things more exciting but at the same time it’s also a bit too…familiar.
 
If it’s one hill Fafner might have a tough time climbing it’s not because of it’s Gundam SEED looking cast (more on this in a second) it’s because it has a very not to different opener to Neon Genesis Evangelion or another show that came out just before Fafner, Rahxephon.  Both feature a colossal giant attacking a city and a secret organizations attempts to stop it.  I lean more towards Rahxephon here in that the attacker looks like a naked Golden Statue and the actions taking place on an island fortress much like TERRA’s HQ.  To be honest, it makes me feel a bit less about watching more of Fafner and more wanting to go watch Rahxephon again cause its been a good minute since I’ve watched it.  And yes, the character designs.  I cant look at any of the cast and not thing of Gundam SEED and their counterparts.  Like whoever the main character is, he looks like the Athrun and Shinn mixed together, so much so I just thought to call him that all throughout my watch.  Hey, the character designs of SEED are pretty popular and I’m sure that’s a reason why Hirai’s talents were requested for this project.
 
Ehhhh, I have my doubts but Fafner comes highly recommended from a fellow big mecha fan and they insist is does get better beyond its generic and familiar beginnings.  I suppose based on that I should press on a bit more with Fafner and see if it really is more than the sum of its apparent Eva, Rahxephon and SEED components.