Night Head Genesis is a sci-fi drama that deals with two brothers, Naoya and Naoto, who posses psychic abilities, or 'powers' as they are called in the series. When they were still children, the brothers were sent off to a special research facility by their parents.
Naoto, the older brother, does everything to protect his younger, fragile brother, Naoya. Naoto's power is that of telekinesis, he can move stuff with his mind, mostly in violent ways. He has a rage issue and cares about no one but his brother. He thoroughly hates his parents for abandoning and sending them to the research facility. Naoya is 6 years younger than his nii-san and possesses empathy. He can sense other people emotions by being near them and can read their minds through physical contact. His power has severely affected his own personality, making him timid and fearful of everyone else. He hides in his brother's shadow and is lost with out him at his side to protect and guide him. In cases with accidental physical contact, Naoya can become so overwhelmed with the other persons mind that he will go into a mild coma until he can sort out the memories and emotions.
The story deals with them escaping from the facility after 15 years of containment. They head out into the world that is afraid of the abilities they possess. Once out in the world they become embroiled in a plot to change humanity. An evil organization is working behind the scenes of the world to change it to fit their vision. The brothers have to find out who is involved, why they are doing it and what their own roles in this "Upheaval" are. The also have to become adults and experience life outside of their protected community (even if they were held there against their personal will).
The story is interesting, if nothing new…it is a bit like the story from X. It doesn't start to take form until the sixth episode, which is why it took me so long to really get into the series. I watched the first four pretty much right away, when they came out and was a bit disinterested. It seemed like it was just going to be the anime version of Medium…and I lost all drive to keep going, but I figured I would give it a couple more episodes just to make sure. When I finally got around to it I ended up watching it all..
Now I figure this is a spoiler of sorts, but the main story really ends with episode 22. Episodes 23-24 are sort of conclusion episodes. The minor arc at the end seems interesting, but considering they only gave it the episodes there is not much to it, and in fact I don't even understand why they did it.
The art is not that special, the character designs are plain and simplistic. Apparently the series is adapted from a live action drama from the early 90's…I might have to look into that and see what I can find.
All in all the series is decent, there's a lot of "Naoto, Nii-san, Naoto, Nii-san" going on and tends to get a bit annoying, but the story is interesting and I like how most of the major conflicts are handled with as little violence as possible…makes for a nice change of pace. If you are interested in dark moody dramas dealing with superhuman powers and the negative aspects to them this is a good series for you. Just beware of Naoya’s annoyingness.
UPDATE: The series has been licensed and released in North America by Media Blasters, which I am a bit surprised still exists.
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