OK, so to christen this new venue, here is a double dose.
During the middle of the summer anime season, usually filled with tide me over titles to hold over the masses until the fall season kicks off, a new show by Bones took me by surprise and has become a glimmer of hope in the lagging TV anime offerings. This new show is titled Bounen no Xamdou or Xam'd: Lost Memories. The series is a cross between the book 1984 and Last Exile with hints of Naussica, Cowboy Bebop and Guyver.
It follows the slacker high school student, Akiyuki, as life on his peaceful island town is shattered. First, by a suicide bomber who is responsible for giving him the power of the mysterious Xam'd, second, by a renewed war between the southern and northern continents. The Xam'd is a symbiotic creature that takes over Akiyuki's body and turns him into a mutant justice seeking MMA fighter. During his rampage against the attacking enemy creatures a mysterious red haired girl, who just so happens to be working on a postal ship, drops in and suppresses the Xam'd. Akiyuki finds himself the girls unwitting hostage aboard the flying mail truck and has to put up with its rag-tag colorful crew all while learning to suppress the demon inside of him.
There is a lot going on in this anime and a lot of stuff that has yet to be explained, which hopefully will as I am already into episode 6. The cast of characters is large and the world is well fleshed out, now it's just a matter of the background and the progression of the current story arcs. Unfortunately, to some degree, this feels like another 26 episode tidy story, likely along the lines of The Third. Which isn't a bad thing, that series didn't really get into the real story until the half way point but it was still a really fun show to watch. So far Xam'd is a nice change of pace from the recent crop of anime, sure it's not original, nothing really is any more, but it's fun to watch. The characters are well designed, I have heard people reference Overman King Gainer, which Bones had a minor role in. Either way the characters are cool, the art is neat and the bioweapons are interesting as well as the whole backdrop of this entire series. There is a lot of political and social commentary and it only looks like it's going to get more vocal. There is also a slight resemblance to Pumpkin Scissors, with the rouge band of capable individuals being caught up in something much larger than them but being powerless to stop their own personal interaction with altering the fate of their world for the better. There is sure to be loads of people doing things because they think it is the right thing to do but are not necessarily correct or good. Additionally the opening theme is provided by Boom Boom Satellites, who have been enjoying a growing fanbase in the past few years due to their increased musical contributions to anime.
From what I have found it seems American PS3 owners can purchase episodes of this anime on the PS network...but I have yet to confirm this or even find out if it's subtitled if true.
During the middle of the summer anime season, usually filled with tide me over titles to hold over the masses until the fall season kicks off, a new show by Bones took me by surprise and has become a glimmer of hope in the lagging TV anime offerings. This new show is titled Bounen no Xamdou or Xam'd: Lost Memories. The series is a cross between the book 1984 and Last Exile with hints of Naussica, Cowboy Bebop and Guyver.
It follows the slacker high school student, Akiyuki, as life on his peaceful island town is shattered. First, by a suicide bomber who is responsible for giving him the power of the mysterious Xam'd, second, by a renewed war between the southern and northern continents. The Xam'd is a symbiotic creature that takes over Akiyuki's body and turns him into a mutant justice seeking MMA fighter. During his rampage against the attacking enemy creatures a mysterious red haired girl, who just so happens to be working on a postal ship, drops in and suppresses the Xam'd. Akiyuki finds himself the girls unwitting hostage aboard the flying mail truck and has to put up with its rag-tag colorful crew all while learning to suppress the demon inside of him.
There is a lot going on in this anime and a lot of stuff that has yet to be explained, which hopefully will as I am already into episode 6. The cast of characters is large and the world is well fleshed out, now it's just a matter of the background and the progression of the current story arcs. Unfortunately, to some degree, this feels like another 26 episode tidy story, likely along the lines of The Third. Which isn't a bad thing, that series didn't really get into the real story until the half way point but it was still a really fun show to watch. So far Xam'd is a nice change of pace from the recent crop of anime, sure it's not original, nothing really is any more, but it's fun to watch. The characters are well designed, I have heard people reference Overman King Gainer, which Bones had a minor role in. Either way the characters are cool, the art is neat and the bioweapons are interesting as well as the whole backdrop of this entire series. There is a lot of political and social commentary and it only looks like it's going to get more vocal. There is also a slight resemblance to Pumpkin Scissors, with the rouge band of capable individuals being caught up in something much larger than them but being powerless to stop their own personal interaction with altering the fate of their world for the better. There is sure to be loads of people doing things because they think it is the right thing to do but are not necessarily correct or good. Additionally the opening theme is provided by Boom Boom Satellites, who have been enjoying a growing fanbase in the past few years due to their increased musical contributions to anime.
From what I have found it seems American PS3 owners can purchase episodes of this anime on the PS network...but I have yet to confirm this or even find out if it's subtitled if true.
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