Xam’d Lost Memories is a 26 episode sci-fi action anime that was released over Sony on the PSN network. The series is an original creation by design studio Bones and ‘aired’ from fall of 2008 until winter of 2009.
In an alternate world there are two great nations in ever changing states of conflict, the Northern Government and the Southern Continent Free Zone. A small free zone island known as Sentan is caught in the middle of the currently brewing conflict after a mysterious white haired girl blows up a school bus leading to an invasion by Northern Government bio-weapons. In the bus explosion a high school student named Akiyuki is injured by a foreign object included in the bomb known as a Hiruko, the Hiruko embeds it’s self within his body. The Hiruko are symbiotic creatures cherished by a cult like sect in the Northern Government who wish to bring about world change by creating more Hiruko/human symbiotes known as Xam’d. As the bio-weapons rain on Sentan Island, Akiyuki transforms, against his will, into the Xam’d, a powerful mutant creature, and fights the invading weapons.
This is probably the most original and engrossing anime since Ergo Proxy and the more I watched the more I enjoyed it. The series reminded me of a cross between Nausicaa and Last Exile. The animation is middle of the road compared to today’s standards. The character designs are cartoonish and simple as opposed to realistic. The animation is nice though and does well with the story which is funny, dramatic and lonely at the same time. A large theme with many of the characters is solitude. The story is large and complex with much of the background left to hints and whispers. You never get a sense of the whole picture and some of the details are never truly explained, especially in regards to the bio-weapons and the wars. You are thrown into the mix right away in the first episode and things are slowly explained as the series progresses, so at first many things are confusing. There are many characters, some of which are barely explained, but each is easily identified so there is little confusion about who is who. It would have been nice to know more about the history of the world.
What might be interesting would be a movie or a short OAV set that tells about events from the previous war that are hinted at and touched upon in the series by Akiyuki’s father and others his age. There is much more potential in this world to expand and create spin-off’s. A nice side story dealing with a band of freedom fighters that show up near the end of the series would be entertaining as well. Whether that would be a good idea is up to debate, but it is unlikely there will ever be more of the series.
My biggest complaint with the series is some of the unnecessary and rote sappiness as the climax unfolds. Love can only carry you so far, but to have that be a catalyst in the build up to the end seemed to be a bit cheap and lazy. Considering the quality of the rest of the series up until that point, but it is what it is, it still ends up finishing strong.
In an alternate world there are two great nations in ever changing states of conflict, the Northern Government and the Southern Continent Free Zone. A small free zone island known as Sentan is caught in the middle of the currently brewing conflict after a mysterious white haired girl blows up a school bus leading to an invasion by Northern Government bio-weapons. In the bus explosion a high school student named Akiyuki is injured by a foreign object included in the bomb known as a Hiruko, the Hiruko embeds it’s self within his body. The Hiruko are symbiotic creatures cherished by a cult like sect in the Northern Government who wish to bring about world change by creating more Hiruko/human symbiotes known as Xam’d. As the bio-weapons rain on Sentan Island, Akiyuki transforms, against his will, into the Xam’d, a powerful mutant creature, and fights the invading weapons.
An independent postal ship gets caught up in the action and one of it’s crew, a member of a disgraced Northern Continent tribe, named Nakiami, sense’s the Xam’d in the city, she rushes to stop him from going berserk. Nakiami’s people, the Tessikan, are experienced in the ways of the Xam’d and know how to control them. She quickly subdues Akiyuki and brings him aboard the postal ship leaving the military to continue defending the city. Akiyuki is now captive on the ship as Nakiami works to prevent him from being consumed by the Hiruko and turning to stone. He must find himself and what the Xam’d inside him seeks, trying to become one with the Hiruko in order to survive it.
While Akiyuki is traveling the world, his home is under constant threat by the Northern Continent. The Southern Continent Free Zone military has moved to using the island as a staging ground for its renewed fight against the North. Akiyuki’s friends end up joining the military out of a sense of duty and become entangled with a secret experiment to create Xam’d for military use on the island. As the war progresses and everything is thrown into chaos Akiyuki and the rest of the crew of the postal ship find themselves in danger from both sides. He must find his own path and discover the truth behind the Xam’d.
This is probably the most original and engrossing anime since Ergo Proxy and the more I watched the more I enjoyed it. The series reminded me of a cross between Nausicaa and Last Exile. The animation is middle of the road compared to today’s standards. The character designs are cartoonish and simple as opposed to realistic. The animation is nice though and does well with the story which is funny, dramatic and lonely at the same time. A large theme with many of the characters is solitude. The story is large and complex with much of the background left to hints and whispers. You never get a sense of the whole picture and some of the details are never truly explained, especially in regards to the bio-weapons and the wars. You are thrown into the mix right away in the first episode and things are slowly explained as the series progresses, so at first many things are confusing. There are many characters, some of which are barely explained, but each is easily identified so there is little confusion about who is who. It would have been nice to know more about the history of the world.
What might be interesting would be a movie or a short OAV set that tells about events from the previous war that are hinted at and touched upon in the series by Akiyuki’s father and others his age. There is much more potential in this world to expand and create spin-off’s. A nice side story dealing with a band of freedom fighters that show up near the end of the series would be entertaining as well. Whether that would be a good idea is up to debate, but it is unlikely there will ever be more of the series.
My biggest complaint with the series is some of the unnecessary and rote sappiness as the climax unfolds. Love can only carry you so far, but to have that be a catalyst in the build up to the end seemed to be a bit cheap and lazy. Considering the quality of the rest of the series up until that point, but it is what it is, it still ends up finishing strong.
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