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RahXephon, Madoka, and criticism.

My problems with RahXephon are... spoiler[well, it's a mess; not unlike how Carl described Xam'd's plot.]

spoiler[The characters are too methodical/one-note (not to mention that it has a pretty big cast for the angle it goes for)...]

spoiler[...the symbolic layering to the plotting is too ambiguous (for typical watchers of anime; not a big weakness but who knows how much it'd help interpreting the plot!)...]

spoiler[...the origins and motivations of many characters are way too disorganized and clamped together (Ikuru, Mr. D, and Helena's flashback ep only puzzled me more since, being children then, one would think they'd grow out of it)...]

spoiler[...not to mention that its ending came too fast without any real hinting (to compare with NGE, the character subplots hinted of the continuing madness that followed with each subsequent ep during the end), ]

spoiler[...and the ultimate ending felt too undeserving and too... sweet.]

spoiler[As an overall package, RahXephon is one heck of a black box to decipher gleefully. But to experience it episodically? I can't say it was really fun...]

spoiler[Not to mention that with each passing episode I felt more confused than anything else. It came off as being ultimately pretentious to me.]

You do realise that putting both series in the same thread means we have to use spoiler tags for both, since many people may have seen one or the other but perhaps not both.

I'm supposed to be coming up with writeups for the tournament, but I'll deal with this first.

How so?

spoiler[The primary and secondary characters are all fleshed out, except maybe Ayato's father. Would have liked to have seen more of him.]

spoiler[And yes, tertiary characters (including some members of TERRA) are mere one-note personalities. This is not new. This is not really a mark against the show. Some may argue that no characters should be introduced into a story if they are not important to the story in some way, but a television series only has so much time available to it. It cannot flesh out every character. And the reason the show has so many characters is not because they are needed individually but required collectively.]

spoiler[Yes, ordinarily if a show sets homework it is an indication of bad writing. But to enjoy this show you don't need to know what the symbols mean and you do not need to catch all the references. They are not critical to interpreting the plot. They do however give you a greater appreciation of the show and its themes, so when I rewatched RahXephon I enjoyed it a heck of a lot more than I already did.]

spoiler[The only thing I will concede here is that if you aren't familiar with James Churchward there is a steep learning curve, and even then the show assumes you know certain things (there is a reason why all of the Mulian cities float in midair, but the show never mentions it). However, that isn't too bad, because since RahXephon was originally televised it gave viewers entire weeks to do the research. With the DVD release viewers have as much time to figure things out as they want and need before watching the next episode. And the series explicitly states early on that Churchward's writings on the Mu were relevant.]

spoiler[So basically, the writers assumed the viewers were smart enough to search for information themselves rather than be told everything through infodumps in the show itself. I like that.]

spoiler[Bahbem wanted to watch the two worlds collide; he didn't care what the new world would look like, but he wanted to at least have a front-row seat. Hence why he had used the bodies of his own descendants to transfer his mind to, so he could live long enough to watch it.]

spoiler[The three children (now grown up) had been used as test subjects, and all three resented it (in different ways).]

spoiler[Maya was a bit ambiguous, but no overly so. She did love her son (even though Ayato was biologically her nephew), and she did clash with the higher ups regarding his training. I'm not sure exactly what she wanted out of the process, or what her views were on the reformed world, but it was obvious that her priority was to keep him safe. Hence, her distaste with how he was being put in danger all of the time]

I could go on and cover every character, but it would be better if you went back and actually studied the characters again rather than have me spell everything out for you.

spoiler[There was plenty of hinting, the plot was always about retuning the world and the show made no attempt to hide it. The ending was not rushed, it was beautifully paced. The kiss came in episode twenty-two if I recall correctly, which tied up that subplot. The actual tuning took up much of the last three episodes. Where you got the rushed part from I do not know, but it ain't true.]

Well, for me, RahXephon was a great watch that I enjoyed more and more as it went on. And then more and more the second time I watched it.

Texhnolyze was pretentious. RahXephon is an intelligent show for intelligent people.

self-references Evangelion.

spoiler[like the death in episode 19]

But if you prefer coherency and intelligence to obsessive but probably faulty genius

As for Madoka, I thought it was pretty great because:

a. it was flawlessly paced
b. it was one of the first Shinbou shows I'd seen where it felt like the writer was able to hold his own against the director
c. the art, music, fight sequences were incredibly stylish
d. the show had ambition to try for what Evangelion did in half the length, and then spoiler[rebuild everything, justifying exactly what it spent its time tearing down]