Category: Bonen no Xamdou

Short Synopsis: Nakiami arrives at Tessik, Haru starts moving again, Akiyuki still really doesn’t do anything, his mother discovers her ex-husband’s little secret and Kagisu is one big bastard.
Highlights: Still surprisingly quiet, and still surprisingly engaging.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
I must say that with the current arc, Bonen no Xamdou has really set itself apart from all other anime. Sure, this isn’t the first time where a middle arc takes a step back in favour of a quiet atmosphere, dedicated to fleshing out the side stories, but I can’t recall having such an arc so well done as this one. This arc not only gets the chance to flesh out a number of the side-plots and set up for the finale, but it also pushes the story more forward and especially it never stops developing the characters.

I also now understand what the title of this series means. When Akiyuki first showed up with that mask, I really didn’t suspect that the creators actually had the guts to just put him into a vegetable state for more than three episodes, and who knows when he’s going to recover? The “Lost Memories”-part of the title seems to suggest that his lost memories will form a central theme and focus in the series, so the chance might be that it’s going to take until episode 26 for that to happen.

If this series is ultimately about Akiyuki’s lost memories, then we can also predict a bit what will happen to Furuichi. He’s been continuously portrayed as Akiyuki’s rival, or antagonist, and both of their “senses” disappeared around the same time, suggesting that they’re meant to show the same process through different roads. Incidentally, both of them threw away their faces, they just did it in different ways. We’re going to have to wait a bit to see what this actually means, but the eye-ball is definitely a huge clue, especially since it started talking and eating in this episode. My suspicion is that this eye-ball is Akiyuki’s Hiruko, who’s managing to free himself from his arm. This episode revealed that those strange wobbly thingies are actually the Hiruko who are unbound to a human being, and who knows: perhaps there are more forms of these creatures?

Also, Haru seems to be coming into action again in the next episode! That sudden laugh of her seems to suggest that she hasn’t just grown stronger, but still, like everything in this series I really doubt that that hysterical laugh was what it looked like. She really does have guts, though, and I wonder what she’s going to do after escaping: saving her sister, searching for Akiyuki or doing something completely different?

Short Synopsis: Nakiami and Yango continue to travel together.
Highlights: Even when building up, this show delivers.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Ah, my suspicions came true with the arrival of the second half. This series is getting really good now, even in episodes like this one where hardly anything happens apart from building up. It’s especially a delight when the crew of the Zanbani shows up again: for the past episodes these guys have been the epitomes of doing nothing, and yet those short scenes between them have a huge power to them.

The majority of the episode talked about one of the white haired kids that the military managed to secure in the previous episode and the relationship between Yungo and Nakiami. Regarding the former, he shed a lot of light into what these people can do, they even can communicate through large distances. They also seem to be picky about the ones they want to turn into the Xam’d: the guy never even bothered giving his powers to the military guys, and yet he seems strangely interested in Haru (through the tips of Nazuma).

About the latter, there were some things that struck me above the bond that these two develop. Their journey made it clear that there’s a lot more stuff going on than just the main storylines of this series. It’s been a typical episode to bring a bit of life to the world that the series is set in, something you really don’t see often. More often with travel series, I notice that the life purpose of the unimportant side characters seems to be waiting for the travelling main character to arrive and solve his/her problems. But instead, the people that Nakiami and Yungo met had definitely their own problems, and just happened to meet the two. Especially the two kids, who Yungo talked to for a bit were very natural-sounding. Another series where I’ve noticed this effect was Porfy no Nagai Tabi, during its shortest arcs.

Artistically, this was also a beautiful episode. This really is a series that needs to be watched in HD.

Short Synopsis: Nakiami meets a young Tessik Xam’d boy.
Highlights: Solid aftermath.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
Okay, so it had it coming that this episode would just be a mere aftermath after the huge events of the previous episode, but it still was a very solid and good episode. Akiyuki seems to be taken in by slave traders, Haru gets locked up for her behavior in the previous episode, so that just leaves Nakiami for this episode, as she meets a Xam’d boy who managed to live on his own after being implanted by a Hiruko. He and Furuichi show that you don’t necessarily need someone qualified to survive as a Xam’d, although it definitely helps.

The most important part of this episode was the point where Nakiami used her Kajak to buy off the trouble that the boy (who is called Yango, by the way), and I was surprised at the ease at which she just gave it up. Although I guess that it’d indeed stand out too much in the Northern lands. I’m interested in what the young boy can offer for the rest of the story.

Apart from this, the episode also provided small developments on several subplots, most importantly the strange eye-ball that’s been hanging around Akiyuki for a reason that’ll probably become clear in a number of episodes. I couldn’t quite understand what the conversation between the white-haired people were talking about (I ended up watching this episode raw), but I guess that they’re able to feel whether their comrades have died or not, and they must have gotten pretty surprised to find out that the one who infected Akiyuki and Furuichi is still kept alive. It also seems that those strange mask-caped people are their comrades. Does that also mean that the ones who attacked the Zanbani a bunch of episodes ago are their comrades as well?

Short Synopsis: Furuichi freaks out once he sees Akiyuki again.
Highlights: Furuichi, obviously.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Finally Bonen no Xamdou is back! And what a way to return with such an episode; it’s here wehre Furuichi’s development finally comes together, and I really loved the way this episode unfolded itself.

Furuichi losing control was one thing, but what especially made an impression on me was how he behaved afterwards. I originally thought that the guy would simply die, but he till managed to survive the whole ordeal and got taken in by the forces of Sentan Island. After that, he escaped, and went back to the old couple that took care of him, in a perfectly calm mood. I don’t think the guy committed a real suicide, and that his real soul seems to be somewhere else. This is indeed the point in the series to suggest that there’s something deeper than just what the first half of the series would have us expect.

This episode also successfully eliminated my fears at Akiyuki ending up at a harem, because the episode ends with him, away from both Nakiami and Haru, when it seems that he now has amnesia and has been captured by what I guess are a bunch of circus-performers. I have no idea why the creators decided to schedule a hiatus right after the previous episode, instead of this one, which seems to be far more appropriate.

Furuichi’s animation was also wonderful, there was so much attention to detail, and I’m glad that the Xam’d fight with their bare fists. This turns the fights into much more than just throwing a bunch of flashy beams at each other. This series also really makes telling sound so easy: just progress everything naturally and don’t rely lazily on clichés, and yet it feels so much more creatively written than most other series.

Short Synopsis: Akiyuki and Nakiami return to Sentan Island.
Highlights: Akiyuki’s parents.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Ah, so it seems that the creators are planning to enter the second half of the series with some development between Haru, Furuichi and Akiyuki, instead of going for an action-packed midway-climax. Makes sense. The next episode should either have the military intervene right before the three of them can make up, or they have enough time to say a proper goodbye to each other.

I must admit that I’m a bit disappointed that Furuichi returned back to the rival he was, but then again, there still is half a series left. There are a lot of things that can still happen, and it pretty much depends on the next episode of what the creators have in mind.

Still, the best moments in this episode were definitely from Akiyuki’s parents, who finally got to see their son again. They’re really so un-typical for such a series: most of the time, the father is gone and some sort of famous guy (acting as a rather cheap plot-device to explain why the lead character has better powers than other people) and the mother acts as a brave housewife. It doesn’t happen often when both the father and mother are left behind, and both parties will live their own life. Especially that scene between Akiyuki and his father was awesome: it never tried to be overdramatic, and instead it decided to go with subtle drama. Nice effect.

Short Synopsis: The pieces start moving for the second half of this series.
Highlights: Furuichi’s development.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Okay, so this was probably the last time I make use of the 10-01 raw providers. Their quality is horrible-raws level, but the worst is that their resolution is way too stretched in terms of height. It’s like having a 4:3 resolution with a 16:9 video. Thankfully this episode made up for it. It’s a typical intermezzo, but at the same time it really pushes the plot forward for the second half of this series.

Big development #1: Nakiami and Akiyuki leave the Zanbani, for Tessik Village. Benikawa turns out to have had an affair with the guy who controls the strange Xam’d tower, and she seems to be hiding much more about her past. “Writer of the Crimson Revolution”? Nakiami’s goodbye was really touching, and at the same time this has left a lot of potential for that second half, because Benikawa is just too important for the story for the Zanbani-crew to just become secondary characters.

Big development #2: Furuichi seems to be infected by an imperfect Xam’d, or something similar. It probably was awakened due to the way he kept pushing himself over the limits, but whatever he was, it made him see what kind of an idiot he’s been. I should have known that the creators knew exactly that he was being an asshole. They’d of course never let him be just a simple rival to stand in Akiyuki’s path, and so he successfully removed one of the few problems I had with this show.

Short Synopsis: The Zanbani is attacked by a number of humanforms.
Highlights: Only 11 episodes and the cast is already developing.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
I must say, I’m very impressed with this episode. The cast is already connecting to a level that takes most series at least five episodes longer. This episode was really meant to develop the cast of the Zanbani, to push them to their limits and use time that the previous episodes spent on fleshing them out, with some awesome results. I think that from now on, we can expect this series to really get fired off, and I’m really curious whether the creators are able to get the best out of this series’ potential.

This episode confirms what I’ve been suspecting: the Zanbani isn’t just a regular postal ship with a bunch of strange members on it. It makes perfect sense: why else would a postal ship carry guns and a Hiruko-priest? It’s the same as Eureka7, where the main characters pretend to be a bunch of trendy people on surfing mecha, while they’re in fact an underground rebellion. The question now remains: who is Benikawa, and why is she carrying out her mission with a bunch of children on board? It seems to suggest that she has a lot of personal issues in whatever she seems to be trying to do, if she really wants her friends and loved ones to accompany her.

I really loved the situations the creators put the characters in in this episode, every single character was awesome in this episode, and especially Benikawa got a lot of depth, as she started yelling at Yunbo because her motherly worries annoyed her. It’s also typical for her gun to suddenly stop working after two shots. She never striked me as the type to take good care of her guns, so it’s natural for them to get clogged up once in a while. Nakiami also completely lost it, after seeing so many killed Humanforms. We still don’t know exactly why she takes them so personal, but my guess is that she once lost a loved one, who became a humanform.

Kisel-jii also shined as he tried to perform maintenance on the ship (a role often neglected, but at the same time very important). Meanwhile Akiyuki and Raigyo played a surprisingly small role in this episode, and this episode mainly showed Akiyuki was he continues to grow and learn to control his powers. There’s also a strange chemistry between Ahm and Hinokimaru, as in a strange father-and-son relationship while they’re actually not related.

What I loved about this episode was the creator’s amazing ability to make every character count. Most of the time in anime, you see the focus falling on one or two characters, and the other characters could just as well merge into one big character, without much of a difference. In Bonen no Xamdou each character has his or her individuality. There were no two characters who did the same. It may be a pet peeves, but I love it when a series manages to accomplish this. I can really see Bonen no Xamdou turning into my favourite series, once all spring and summer-series finish airing. It all depends on what path Porfy no Nagai Tabi decides to choose, and whether or not some amazing short series pops up in the upcoming fall-season.

Short Synopsis: Raigyo gives Akiyuki a few “tips” on being Xam’d, and Haru tries to close off her past.
Highlights: Haru’s new haircut looks awesome. Nakiami’s… doesn’t. ^^;
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Often in anime, a change of haircut means that the person in question is about to enter a new stage of his or her life, and emerges as a different person. This was very much emphasized on this episode in Haru’s case: she continues to be held behind by her past, and in this episode, she attempts to close her memories off for the time being, and not being influenced by them.

The rest of this episode was a bit of background on Raigyo, showing how he became a Xamdou. It was very interesting to see the different cast members at that time. The girl wasn’t there, the boy was only just born, and Nakiami looked really young. Still, I’m surprised at how long she’s already been at the Zanbani: it’s been more than five years already.

This clearly was a building up episode. My prediction is that the next episode will start the introduction of what’s supposed to be the midway climax of this series. I’m interested at what the creators can do, and especially how Haru’s going to tie in everything. The girl definitely is my favourite character in this series at this point, and I’m really looking forward to see her growth.

Short Synopsis: Raigyo gets his proper introduction.
Highlights: Haru.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
A quiet episode this time, which was just meant to give Raigyo’s character some time to catch up in terms of background and fleshing out. Nothing much happened, even for a Xam’d-episode, As it turns out, Raigyo had been travelling the world for two years of his own free will, and in the meantime he brought back a bunch of souvenirs. The crewmembers on the ship apart from perhaps the captain are thrilled to see him back, so of course Akiyuki starts to suffer from an inferiority complex when he’s around. Fairly standard, although I guess that this was a valuable chance for Akiyuki to realize that he’s not special, and that there are more people of his kind.

In any case, I don’t think that I would have suspected this after just the first episode, but Haru’s really turning into my favourite character from this series. She doesn’t take anything for granted, and because of Akiyuki, she continues to doubt her superiors, and yet at the same time she doesn’t run around and throws tantrums to anyone who wants to listen.

Benikawa came with an interesting twist this episode: she actually plans to attack the Northern Government. That was quite a surprise to me, as she’s been behaving like a pacifist for the majority of the series. Well, it does make sense now, why the Zanbani has assault weapons, and why the members are so skilled with fire weapons. Benikawa’s pacifism turns out to be her habit of not getting involved in pointless fights that’ll only put the crew in needless damage.

I do have to say, though, that the website of Bonen no Xamdou sucks. When I want to look up something as simple as the name of one of the characters, it makes me wait more than a minute before the site has fully loaded. That’s way too long, for such a tiny bit of information.

Short Synopsis: Akiyuki finally gets the chance to meet Haru.
Highlights: So that’s who that mysterious guy in the OP was.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Excellent episode, among the best of the series so far. Although I spotted some strange coincidences in this series for the first time (like how did Akiyuki know exactly where Haru would be?), but these were small enough to be ignored. Especially since that scene of Akiyuki and Haru’s re-encounter resulted in some great character-development, now that it turns out that Furuichi became to hate Akiyuki for letting the white-haired girl blow up the bus, along with his classmates. It’s quite sad that he never allowed Akiyuki to properly talk to Haru in this way, but at least this way, Haru will have nobody to rely on. I predict some great growth from her.

The creators do need to pay attention to not let Akiyuki’s and Furuichi’s rivalry become overly cheesy, though. I’ve often seen such an attempt at drama fail, where childhood friends come to hate each other (Dragonaut, anyone?). Sure, I can understand how two close people can grow apart from each other, but for the rival to become one of the top officials of the evil empire (or something similar), it gets a bit hard to believe. One example where the childhood rivalry did work was Area 88, where the rival basically ruined the lead character’s life out of jealousy.

In any case, I loved this episode not just because of that, but everything that went on around it, from the crew of the Zanbani who was worried about Akiyuki and Nakiami, to the father and daughter that Akiyuki met in the previous episode to those strange people from the northern lands, who helped the southern government. I personally love a series with a huge amount of characters, where each of these characters has his or her own agenda and issues, and Bonen no Xamdou is also doing really well in that area.

Also, is it me, or did the background art in this series look better than ever in this episode? I’m also glad to see that the guy with the camera from the OP finally appeared. It’s obvious that it’s been a long time since he shaved, but I’m surprised that he was Raigyo, the Xam’d that Nakiami saved before Akiyuki.