Ani-Mania
AniMania: X – Complete Series
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For some reason, the future always seems to be a few decades away. 1984 was published in 1949. Terminator, which appropriately enough was released in 1984, set 1997 as the date for the apocalyptic “Judgement Day.” It seems strange now, after the turn of the Millennium (which happened rather uneventfully, with little more than an endless repeat of an old Prince song to mark its passing) to look back on things like Mad Max, Y2K, or the still older imaginings of such retro science fiction classics as Fahrenheit 451 or Soylent Green, but for decades, sci-fi imagineers alternated between the chills of gloom and doom and utopian fever.
Anime and manga embraced these themes with series like Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Vampire Hunter D. X 1999 represents CLAMP’s foray into the dark future. Perhaps better known for their recent hit sister series, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and XXXHolic, the all female manga supergroup are no strangers to science fiction either, having produced the darkly futuristic Chobits, but X represented an even darker take on what that future might hold.
The manga began its run in 1992, with a feature film coming in 1996. Titled simply, “X”, it shared the same pitfalls as the NGE films, End of Evangelion, and Death and Rebirth in that it was artistically beautiful, but so woefully compressed that it had little chance of catching on with anyone who wasn’t already a diehard fan of the series. Unfortunately, unlike the Evangelion movies, which had the benefit of being made AFTER the TV show, X the movie came first, so unless you had read the manga and bought the Cliff Notes, the effect was more like viewing an entire museum of fine art on fast forward, without much hope of piecing together a coherent story. The OVA made things worse, and by the time the world first got to see the expanded anime re-telling, it was 2001, and the apocalypse was already two years behind schedule!
After being caught for a time in the same limbo that mired so many titles after the sinking of Geneon, X’s TV version has been picked up by American distributor Funimation, who released it as a box set on June 15th. Titled X — The Complete Series, it sports the anime’s 24 episode run, plus the aforementioned OVA.
The plot for X revolves around a young man, Kamui, who upon his return to Tokyo is sought out by two groups of mystical warriors, the Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth. The Dragons of Heaven (aka the good guys, to the extent we can apply such labels), are out to save the earth, and prevent the apocalypse. The Dragons of Earth, in spite of their name, are out to destroy it. Kamui must choose between these two sides, but unlike NGE’s wavering anti hero, Shinji, Kamui has tons of attitude, and plans of his own.
With each side having seven Dragons respectively, for a combined total of fourteen, plus side characters, plus Kamui, the cast is huge, and much of the early episodes deal with introductions, at first general, then more specific. This makes X a grand dame of a series, who moves along at her own pace, and hurries for no one, though with plenty of action scenes, the show could hardly be considered boring. The plot is measured, and in an age where many shows seem to be made up entirely of parody and homage, X spends the time to build its world, its characters, and their story. This is a high point of the genre.
In many ways, X is a product of its time. It’s difficult to watch and not be reminded that this was anime state of the art in the 1990’s, in the days of what I personally have dubbed “the Blockbuster canon”, when it was possible to watch almost everything most other anime fans were likely to have seen by renting it from your local Blockbuster Video — on VHS (unless of course you had the cash to spring for a laser disc player, in which case you might also have had the dough to spend on other rare toys of the era, such as the SNK Neo Geo). For older fans, this is in no way a bad thing. CLAMP’s shoujo art style was as beautiful then as it is now (and just as thin and noodley), and in X, it is wonderfully translated into animation. I’d dare to say that the quality of the animation on X surpasses that of Tsubasa and XXXHolic (and that’s a lot from me, seeing as ‘Holic is one of my favorites). The characters and settings are exquisite and the attention to detail is simply amazing — even mundane things like the folding door of a phone booth, or the hot water machine used to brew a cup of tea are wonderfully rendered.
This kind of sophistication is rarely met with today in a tv series, where the demands of production and economics generally dictate that things be drawn simpler and cheaper. Still, the art looks like a product of its time, and that could prove to be a double edged sword with younger fans, some of whom may be turned off by its dated, though beautiful appearance. Personally, I’m hoping they’ll see things in a different light, and view this as a chance to discover a classic. Time — and sales — will tell.
The new release preserves the original voice cast, with Steve Cannon as the voice of Kamui. Apparently his involvement with the end of the world didn’t get in the way of his career; you may recognize Cannon as the voice of Bleach’s Hitsugaya, or Kadaj from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, where he was credited as Steve Staley. Fuuma, Kamui’s friend and one of the Dragons of Heaven, is voiced by none other than Crispin Freeman. Freeman is prolific, with credits for major roles such as Alucard in Hellsing, Alex Rowe in Last Exile, and Kyon, the sarcastic narrator of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Given the importance of Kyon’s ability to convince Haruhi not to destroy the universe, his time hanging out with Kamui must have been well spent.
While Freeman certainly has plenty of major leads to his credit, he has also done some wonderful supporting roles, such as the quirky Straight Cougar from S-CRY-ED, or Big O’s insane Alan Gabriel, where he got to harry another X cast member, Lia Sargent, who was the voice of Big O’s surly android heroine, R. Dorothy Wainwright. In X, she plays the no less charming Hidden Shrine Maiden, Arashi Kishuu (which means she has been both an android and a miko, and is, therefore, perfect.) Other notable (android) roles include the Cyberdoll May in Handmaid May, and some human appearances as Miyabi, Aoi’s keeper in Ai Yori Aoshi, and Milly in Trigun.
The list of notables could go on, but to mention just a few more, Sorata, Arashi’s self-proclaimed love interest (he didn’t bother to ask her feelings on the matter) is voiced by Rafael Antonio Oliver, who’s had an extensive voice acting career with roles such as Lancer in Fate/stay night and Hibiki in Vandread, but also has equally impressive writing and directing credits with titles like Eureka Seven, Gankutsuo, Gurren Lagann, and Mahoromatic. Kotori, Fuuma’s kid sister and Kamui’s childhood sweetheart, is voiced by Michelle Ruff, the same talent behind Ai Yori Aoshi’s title character, Aoi, Rukia from Bleach, and Chobits’ Chi. Ruff also appears in Haruhi, as the voice of otherworldly alien, Yuki Nagato.
The score and ambient music for X is, well, X-cellent. The opening, “eX dream”, by Myuji, is vintage j-rock: an eclectic mix of edgy guitar and soft vocals, and a few random lines of English thrown in for good measure. The more soothing sounds of Kohei Koizumi’s “Secret Sorrow” close things out. The packaging is four discs in two cases, reversible covers, and a cardboard sleeve which sports some especially handsome box art and gold foil lettering. As thin packs go, this one is very nice.
Overall, X – The Complete Series is a great title. It shows its age, and it will be up to fans to decide if that gives it a fine patina, or makes it simply old. If you like anime from this period (which personally I do), this is a real treat. If you’re a more recent fan of anime who likes serious plot lines and wants to sample something of an earlier vintage, X is a great place to start.
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