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NEWS: Sentai Filmworks Licenses RahXephon Anime With BD Release in July


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Transformers03



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 41
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 2:46 am Reply with quote
RahXephon is one of those animes that is such a blur to me, even though it was that long ago since I watched it. If I can remember full episodes of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh from childhood, then I should have a better remembrance of things I watched in the last decade. I know I watched it, and I remember certain scenes and episodes really well. But I have absolutely zero recollection of Quon, who I didn't even know was in this show until I looked up old promos. Which was weird because she was kind of the Rei of that series.

Speaking of Evangelion, RahXephon was such a blatant imitation of Eva that it kind of made it feel more derivative and pretentious in comparison. Whereas I felt Eva was genuinely deep and the story came from a real place, RahXephon felt like it needed to be confusing just because Eva was confusing. I even remember watching an episode of RahXephon as a young kid, and erroneously believed it was Eva this whole time until I watched both series.

On that note though, I'm actually really excited for this Blu-ray release. Despite what I wrote above, the show was actually pretty good, and I really did like the animation style.
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Marzan



Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 514
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 2:48 am Reply with quote
YES! Finally! I know I’m j a tiny minority but I loved Rahxephon. I’m so happy it’s finally getting a proper BD release.
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kae kurono



Joined: 24 Mar 2011
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 4:14 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Speaking of Evangelion, RahXephon was such a blatant imitation of Eva that it kind of made it feel more derivative and pretentious in comparison.


For the millionth time rah is not a rip-off of eva.
Rah is inspired by megazone 23 (1985) & brave raideen (1975)

"According to RahXephon director Yutaka Izubuchi, the similarity of designs and powers of the title robots and the basic plots of RahXephon and Raideen are intentional." animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2006/anime-expo/11

And on that note Eva is a little derivative of space runaway ideon (1980)
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Levonr



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 807
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 4:54 am Reply with quote
kae kurono wrote:
Quote:
Speaking of Evangelion, RahXephon was such a blatant imitation of Eva that it kind of made it feel more derivative and pretentious in comparison.


For the millionth time rah is not a rip-off of eva.
Rah is inspired by megazone 23 (1985) & brave raideen (1975)


I hear the novel The Dandelion Girl(1961) was a big influence.

RahXephon creator Yutaka Izubuchi is friends with Anno and has worked with him. He created the new SEELE logo for the Evangelion movies and helped a little with mech designs in the very early production of Evangelion, although not credited.



While I think there's homages to Evangelion & other mecha anime in RahXephon I think calling it a ripoff is a bit much.
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 744
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 5:09 am Reply with quote
I would hope people wouldn't even have the "DAE rahxephon rip off eva?" conversation for once, but thank you so much to the person above me for pointing out that Izubuchi outright works with Anno all the time, something that every one of those past conversations have ignored in order to make the eva similarities seem more scandalous or inexplicable or whatever.

Another thing Izubuchi did for the Rebuilds was do costume design for 3.33 that is a callback to the pilot suits in RahXephon. There's an EvaGeeks thread that notes this similarity, but then spends three pages arguing over whether RahX is good and everyone there is completely unable to just look at the movie's credits to figure out why the similarity exists. They conclude the thread by deciding it's a mystery.

Anyway this getting a bluray release is awesome.
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H. Guderian



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 1255
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 5:58 am Reply with quote
I think the comparison remains apt. The old shows inspired new shows which becomes somewhat circular. Once Real Robots came into the scene in the 1980s, a Super Robot like Reideen was no longer popular. Once the Real/Super genres blended the tenor and tone of all non-children Mecha shows changed. Yuusha shows gone on as they always had.

This'd be easier to see if we were still contemporary.

What happened to the Magical Girl genre after Madoka? Outside the ones for kids they became darker and violent. The atmosphere and delivery of Rah Xephon followed suit. Its why I picked up each DVD as they rolled out way back when. I even have that first Newtype USA issue from Anime Boston with a Rah Xephon cover. Park Plaza peeps, was that then? I still have the shirt that came out of the box set!!!

I think the only error we all make is to say "Rip off". Eva was an industry game changer, so anything less would feel like a cheap imitation. Rah Xephon suffers from merely being one of the more notable works following the Eva flood.

So yeah, I think the level of the conversation should be elevated to what Arale Kurashiki is talking about. Its fun to watch creators make stuff and play off each other and move in the flow of the industry. Nowadays people like to talk about Trigger. If Trigger sucked (they're great of course) someone would call them a rip off studio aping a style.

Remember when Sora no woto came out just after the K-ON! craze? "omg same character style omg"

I've been in the fandom too long. I just find all information and data to be amusing. Though I admit, I put Rah Xephon near on my shelf to Eva. For my categories they're more similar than not. If they're both good/great shows I think the comparisons are flattering, rather than negative.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
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PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 6:32 am Reply with quote
How does RahXephon look in HD? I'm aware that certain early Digipaint shows have suffered when being upscaled. I've got it on DVD and it looks nice there.

In regards to Eva, while it certainly is inspired by other titles, and Eva itself is. there is that late 90s early 00s dark mood it has, that I'm sure came about because of Eva. Titles like; The SoulTaker, Boogiepop Phantom, Texhnolyze and Serial Experiments Lain. While all being their own thing, still have that feel of Eva, especially later episodes.
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H. Guderian



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 1255
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 7:43 am Reply with quote
Other times this happened, SPT Layzner going up against Votoms and Zeta/ZZ Gundam.

I recall when I saw Fafner I was like "If Rah Xephon is an Eva rip off, then Fafner is a Rah Xephon ripoff." Though back in the day I never watched too deep into that series. Just the impression from the early episodes. Now that I think about it I never finished Layzner either. Maybe my younger self let the 'rip-off' impression slow me down more than i would nowadays.

More thoughts Edit:
"Aldnoah Zero" felt like a super cheap Bargain Bin "Code Geass".
Is Macross not a successor to Gundam's Real Robots? If ideon was by another creator, we'd be calling that a knockoff. Thankfully Macross was super good and unique.

Once Sailor Moon turned Mahou Shoujo into fighters, it took awhile but now Precure is an annual thing. Though that left everyone else taking refuge in Magical idol shows for kids...which is sorta reminding me of Creamy Mami?

I love going down holes like this!
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Zhou-BR



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 1419
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 8:20 am Reply with quote
Took Sentai long enough to do this. I fact, it took so long I ended up importing the JP BD-box years ago. It includes English subs for the TV series and movie, but not for the extras and the OVA, so I envy you guys who waited for the US BD release.

MarshalBanana wrote:
How does RahXephon look in HD? I'm aware that certain early Digipaint shows have suffered when being upscaled. I've got it on DVD and it looks nice there.


Honestly, the TV series HD remaster looks a bit smeary and overfiltered, but the movie looks much better because they actually recomposed every shot from the TV series in HD so that they'd look good on a big screen.
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LightningCount



Joined: 04 Mar 2018
Posts: 228
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 8:32 am Reply with quote
RahXephon is one of the best anime I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot. The first time I watched it in 2002, it would enthrall me at some points and frustrate me at others, and then the ending blew my mind. This is a series that is close to impossible to "grasp" in one viewing. The second and subsequent times I've been inspired to watch it, I realized all the little things it does, and it's amazing. It has such a naturalistic vibe to it in how it crafts its world and characters, and there are layers upon layers of details to its world. It really takes you away to another place that feels real and lived-in. The design work is gorgeous and meticulous and I found the emotions of the character stories much more balanced and nuanced than in EVA. Yes, it's convoluted, and it has its weak points within the complications/implications to some of those convolutions, but that sense of mystery becomes one of its charms. This isn't a fast-paced series; it's more of a meditative experience with flashes of brilliant action. That's what threw me off in the first viewing. It will sometimes ask you to just sit with the characters and/or hang out with them, to experience their world in its day-to-day reality.

I think there are similarities with EVA, but I wouldn't call it a ripoff, and I would say that it's a better series than EVA overall. It's more consistent in tone and gives a more rounded look at humanity. I feel like the first two Rebuild films of EVA had more of a RahXephon tone. They rarely make anime like this anymore. This is one of BONES' best.

The movie version is really not very good, though, in my opinion. It strips away and alters too much of what made the series good. The new opening prequel minutes of the film version are great (and spoilery)...but they should have been included in the series as flashbacks. That they are used to set up an alternate telling of the story that is substantially different is a disappointment.

As far as Fafner, it does pull from RahXephon, but it really is its own thing and is far more expansive of a world than either EVA or RahXephon. Fafner is sort of like if RahXephon and Macross and Gundam fused. 2015's Fafner Exodus, in particular, is one of the best anime of the last 20 years, in my opinion.

For the record, Hades Project Zeorymer is also a series that EVA has similarities with that predates EVA.

By pigeonholing RahXephon as an EVA clone, it does a disservice to the quality of this series. There are some really talented episode directors on RahXephon, too, like Gundam 0080's Fumihiko Takayama, and without saying too much, it definitely shows. The biggest regret I have about RahXephon is it didn't have maybe one more episode of runtime to fit in the movie flashback and expand on the epic climax of episode 24. But the series crams in so much, there really wasn't much time to do more.

Of note, I would think this new version fixes the smearing of the credits ADV did in the original during the opening minutes to paste in English credits over the cold-opening animation of episode 1.

Really glad this series is getting a rerelease. I don't expect it to have too much of an impact these days, but it's one of those landmark series that kept my interest in anime going. I love this one.

EDIT: If you're new, and think you might be interested at all, don't read any summaries. This series is best going in blind. I didn't know anything about it when I first saw it, and that made a huge difference, since there are so many twists, especially early on. I got to experience the disorienting weirdness with the characters.

Zhou-BR wrote:
Honestly, the TV series HD remaster looks a bit smeary and overfiltered, but the movie looks much better because they actually recomposed every shot from the TV series in HD so that they'd look good on a big screen.


I was just ready to ask about this. Thanks.
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aquaofthewater



Joined: 29 Oct 2008
Posts: 28
Location: USA
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 8:55 am Reply with quote
FINALLYYYYYY
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whiskeyii



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 2242
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 9:35 am Reply with quote
I should give RahXephon another go; I stumbled on it by pure chance through its opening while hunting for more songs by Maaya Sakamoto, but I remember it feeling too convoluted for its own good (this coming from someone who enjoyed Wolf’s Rain). But I wasn’t really into surreal anime back then, so I suspect I’d be a lot more open to the story nowadays.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 9:39 am Reply with quote
Here's hoping that with fresh eyes for a new generation that RahXephon won't just be dismissed as "an Eva clone" (mostly because it's not at all true, angsty teens piloting robots in Japan is hardly an Eva original idea, RahXephon's similarities to Eva are superficial at best).

Also, after watching the series through to see the ending, it nagged at the back of my mind so I watched it again a few months later, and I actually liked it even more the second time around, that's pretty rare for me (I usually like it the same on another go or less, but rarely more)

I am curious about seeing perhaps some comparison screenshots between the Japanese BD and DVD sets? Early digipaint was weird and tends to not always have the best results, after all.
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Kraz



Joined: 28 Aug 2016
Posts: 23
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 9:55 am Reply with quote
So glad to see so many RahXephon fans Very Happy

A bluray has been released in France last year (from Dybex), but I don't have it yet and I wasn't able to find good screenshots...
(And their DVD+Bluray pack DON'T include the movie and OAV Evil or Very Mad even if there is a nice booklet and little artbook)

I'm curious to know if publishers like Dybex, Sentain Filmworks, do their own upscaling or re-use the one from the JP bluray.

Update, found some comparison screens between the Dybex Bluray and a DVD version, I guess your US release will be similar:
https://www.anisearch.de/news/reviews/31747,rahxephon-review-blu-ray-von-nipponart
In the middle of the article you have bluray screenshots, just under them there are 3 comparison screenshots if you click on "#1 #2 #3" (from the British DVD from ADV Films)

Translated in english:
The Blu-ray that Nipponart publishes in collaboration with the Belgian publisher Dybex is based on the same version . As a result, you can clearly see the age of the anime - nevertheless, the Blu-ray scores points in comparison to the old (and surprisingly good) DVDs of the series with a slightly higher sharpness and occasionally reveals additional details.


Last edited by Kraz on Sun May 02, 2021 10:24 am; edited 1 time in total
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18135
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 10:06 am Reply with quote
I own all of RahXephon (including the movie) on the original DVD releases but don't think I've rewatched any of it since the movie came out in the States. That's mostly because I always felt that the series was going out of its way to obfuscate things, and that irritated me. I also was not a fan of Quon.

I remember the Eva vs. RahXephon debates getting quite heady back in the day, including supporters of the latter claiming it was refined masterpiece to Eva's rough draft. (I was an Eva supporter, so obviously I didn't agree with that.) I found RahXephon to be more heavily derivative of Eva than a true rip-off and laughed at incessant claims that RahXephon was doing something entirely different. Never felt that RahXephon packed the underlying messages that Eva did, either. The one part of the series which still sticks with me today is its tragic episode 19, and that's partly because there were, coincidentally, a handful of other series which came out in the early-to-mid 2000s which I also felt peaked at episode 19, and I always found that odd.

Hmmm, maybe I'll give this one another chance over the summer.
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