Short Synopsis: Our lead character unknowingly gets involved in a large war between two countries.
Highlights: Very solid storytelling and animation.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Ah, why not, I’m going to blog this. This episode was just too good to ignore. I don’t have a PS3, so I have no idea how the new episodes will come out, but I’m going to be covering the new episodes as soon as I find a non-out-of-synch version of them. I’m going to drop blogging Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~ Natsu no Sora (though obviously I have no intention to stop watching that one).
In any case, the first thing that this series reminded me of is “Eureka7 meets Overman King Gainer”. It’s quite an interesting combination between the dark mood of the former and the bright and light mood of the latter. This was a typical example of a first episode, meant to kick off the series with a fast-paced start. Lots of things happen at the same time, and it’ll probably take a few more episodes until things start making sense.
Of course, a young male who suddenly becomes the most powerful warrior through sheer luck (at least that’s what it pretty much looks like) is a very overused plot-device, but what interests me the most in this series is the world it created. I’m a big fan of series that create their own cultures and customs, and one of the great things of anime in general in my opinion is all the different cultures and settings that they explore.
I found this show to be somewhat of a combination between Nausicaa,Eureka 7 and even Last exile but anyway it is one of the promising shows of the summer so glad you will blog it
Good to see you’re blogging this.
Oh, and in regards to sound problems, these can apparently be resolved by players such as Media Player Classic.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t112/N-Denizen/AudioShift.jpg
Though hopefully by next week somebody will be ripping these in good quality.
Anyways, I had to say this was a spectacular episode, and it’s interesting to see how many people comment on this anime as a fusion of Nausicaa, Eureka Seven, Last Exile, etc.
I have to say, it’s quite interesting that they didn’t put much action in this first episode and instead focused on characterisation, but the result was me really really wanting to see the next episode, which sounds like a good introduction to me.
This show could easily be amazing.
Did u find a non-out-of-synch version of ep 1? Can u tell me where did u find it? Cos I found only a .mp4 version, out of synch (233mb).thanks
Demoniod is where you can find the resynced version be sure to type in it’s english title, Xam’d: lost memories though not bonen no xamdou.
Found it, thanks. But the video is the same, I hoped it was a better one (at least not deinterlaced)…
If you don’t mind the low quality, then you can check out the version on Veoh.
Hmn, I don’t think its very fair to label series as combinations of previously-established animes. Sure, you can infer their influences, but perhaps Xam’d will grow beyond them (based on the second episode preview, I’m beginning to think its definite).
In any case, I have yet to see BONES degrade themselves in the story/plot department in any of their works(except for maybe Ouran, but that’s a different topic alltogether), though not everyone is always happy with the directions they take….
This is me inferring 🙂
Eureka Seven – Pretty apparent in the character designs (it’s Bones, after all), especially the red-haired female lead (right down to Eureka’s hair clips, though I hope she’s not the ice princess Eureka was initially). The male lead seems to scream Renton too, but so far he’s shown to be not quite as annoying by comparison. The not-quite-human nature of the silver-haired children can be assumed to be genetic experiments (judging by the lead character’s father’s profession as a scientist and the green goop being shown in test tubes), much like the Coralians from ES. The emphasis on aerial themes and/or combat is pretty close too.
Studio Ghibli – The hang gliders and slightly retro style of all the aircraft pretty resembles Nausicaa (and Last Exile). The red-haired female lead even seems to have smaller variations of San’s facial tattooes from Princess Mononoke, heh. Again, the aerial themes.
Last Exile – Yup, you guessed it, more flying machines and aerial themes. The silver haired children remind me of Deo and Delphine (their actions certainly seem alien and creepy), and Last Exile also had militaristic nations going at it against each other.
If ES was any indication, Xam’s story will start off somewhat slow but the payoff will be well worth the wait. So far, I’m liking how they don’t really explain anything and just throw the viewer into the mix (unlike Renton’s beginning voiceover in ES) and starting the first ep with a bang (literally; seemed a bit like a terrorist bus bombing at first).
I also noticed that more recent anime series have been showcasing or at least hinting at kids whose parents have broken marriages (divorce, separation, etc.) instead of the cliche of a happy mom and dad, complete orphan, or one parent being dead (if you follow the Disney law of cartoons, if the lead character is male, it’s the mom who’s alive and if the lead character is female, it’s the dad who’s alive). I remember Noein addressing this and a couple other shows too (like Ghost Hound). Guess anime creators have noticed the trend of non-traditional families and acknowledge that more than half of marriages today end in divorce.
But a promising first ep to be sure, and the OP and ED music/animation are certainly very catchy.
-Now here is the information i have
26 episodes total starting in September(in Japan, not sure about US)
And airing on PSN(download from PS3)exclusively
Also, something else I have to comment on –
I love the variety of noses in this show! Noses seem to be a very default and unimportant thing in most anime, but Xamdo makes them prominent and varied. It’s a great touch.
pretty awesome, starts out kinda slow paced but it gets real great nea rthe end with all the transofrming, though i never felt once uninterested during this episode ^^ cannot wait for next one
Oh wow. I don’t have anything nearly as intelligent to say as a lot of people do.
However, got to love the OP-was awesome in the trailer alone, got the full version when I first saw the rapidshare link. I’ve already listened to it a bit too much.
In other news, although I’m satisfied for now as the OST turned up, the Kaiba raw’s late again. The site still said it aired on the 17th from what I saw. Ah, well. Maybe we’ll get it tomorrow, or when it repeats on the 21st.
FUCK YEAH nice plot, animation, style, opening and more combined in a formula: E7 x Last Exile x Nausicaa + Ben 10 lol, here`s the op with the mp3 for downloading:
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=9BtvGLUpXHg
Enjoy it, nuff said.
“a young male who suddenly becomes the most powerful warrior through sheer luck (at least that’s what it pretty much looks like) is a very overused plot-device”
Wholeheartedly agree – I’d thought that Bones would produce a more, err, captivating and stylish entrance for this… biological mecha. Apparently not.
And why do we have to have the don’t-care-but-I-really-do-care-deep-inside attitude male protagonist, the Asuka-wannabe female, and the Rei-wannabe (a real albino, OMG!) female again…?
oh come on, Helen, Akiyuki is nothing like Asuka. You can’t relate every anime to Evangelion.
He’s a likeable protagonist at least, which nowadays seems to be original in itself.
I never knew that it was only for the PS3!
The first episode was very good, hopefully the following episodes will be as good it not better.
The first thing that I thought when seeing this episode was, “Damn this is good,” it must be a bones production. But thought, “no way, their doing two other productions at the same time” –
20 faces & Soul Eater.
Checked on AnDB, and sounding like a little school girl was justified.
I just watch episode one one min ago, it was friggin instering and great!! I think because eureka seven is my TOP FAVORITE ANIME EVER and I LOVE THE MECHA DEGSINS AND CHARACTER DRAWINGS SYTLE in eureka seven, bonen no xamdou just like eureka seven, definaty that it’s my second favorite. It was soooo great, i was hoping to watch whole series and will it’s on dvd? or not? I hope so because i have alomst all eureka seven dvds. watching it made me missed eureka seven
you should definitely blog this! this is a very good show ^^ =)