Forum - View topicNEWS: Fafner the Beyond Anime's Episodes 7-9 Scheduled to Screen This Year
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LightningCount
 Posts: 229 |
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I wonder if this will ever show up overseas, streaming or otherwise. (Right of Left never got any such release, and the highly impressive Exodus was relegated to streaming only.) Fafner's evolved into such a great franchise for fans of sci-fi and/or mecha, yet it apparently doesn't have any cachet outside of Japan. The barrier to entry can admittedly be a bit high, but it's worth sticking with it. Basically, it's Macross meets RahXephon/Evangelion, with a dash of Gundam for good measure. (It's a little more RahXephon than EVA, though.)
Maybe the character designs being so much like Gundam SEED is one of its big problems, but I've learned to ignore that, and I actually think that's been part of its success in Japan. The strange thing about The Beyond is it strikes me that it's being handled more as an OVA series like, say, Gundam 0083, than a TV season. Exodus' visuals were well above standard TV fare, so I'm not surprised they'd go this route and likely double down on the visual quality. Here's hoping it pans out and irons out some of Exodus' rushed, somewhat lackluster ending. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2540 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Right of Left actually did have a short-lived English streaming option over at Daisuki, but was only available for a little over a year before Daisuki died.
Fafner's main thing was that it came out during a time when Hisashi Hirai was getting some backlash from fans, likely mostly outside of Japan, as many felt he was getting overexposed & his "same face" character designs were getting old & tired. After all, he did character designs for Infinite Ryvius, s-CRY-ed, Gundam Seed, Fafner, Gundam Seed Destiny (which debuted while Fafner was still airing!), Gin-Iro no Olynssis, Heroic Age, & Linebarrels of Iron, all within an entire decade. Also, it's similarities to Evangelion, as minor as they really were, just made many instantly dismiss it as an "Eva clone", which is a shame since it more than had its own identity, even early on, let alone as it continued through that initial series. I'd love to own more than just Season 1 & the movie on home video, but I just highly doubt Fafner will ever be given another chance on home video here, since it apparently bombed twice now. The most we'll likely get is Fafner The Beyond via streaming on Crunchyroll, but only once the entire thing has shown in theaters in Japan. |
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Jefcat
Posts: 104 Location: Palm Desert |
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I was wondering when episodes 7-9 were going to be announced. Fafner is a GREAT series and I hope Fafner the Beyond eventually gets streamed here in the US. Exodus was a first rate show and Fafner has expanded way beyond RahXephon and it’s worth more attention.
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Gezzas
 Posts: 12 |
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Can you guys tell me what is good about Fafner? Honest
When I watched original series 5 or so years ago I remember it being kind of meh. It was not bad but it had nothing that stick out as exceptional. As far as I know it was a consensus on it. That's why it is puzzling to my that this franchise is still alive. Regularly getting new installments and finally getting Yamato treatment (movie OVAs). |
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LightningCount
Posts: 229 |
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I can understand where you're coming from, I think. In summary, for me, the original TV series is kind of a primer. It's solid, but not spectacular. The Heaven and Earth movie and most especially its sequel Exodus TV series is when this franchise really took off (though the Right of Left OVA prequel seems strong as well from what I know of it.). Altogether, the franchise just has "scope" you don't see in a lot of scifi anime these days, while also being very personal in how it handles its characters and the tragic challenge they face of trying to defend those they love against the reality that it will likely cost them their humanity (physically and mentally) and possibly their identity (through alien assimilation). The way the franchise deals with the nebulous concept of an "enemy" through shifting human and alien allegiances and thought patterns, and the underlying concept of identity/consciousness as exemplified through the call of the Festum--"Are you there?"--provide a lot of fascinating wrinkles. As does the political drama of an island fortress that wants to remain apart from the world's conflicts, yet is hopelessly intertwined with changing circumstances internally and externally. And while the character designs I have mixed feelings about, the mechanical designs, set designs, Festum designs, etc. are all creative and top-notch. The action also becomes really spectacular after the original season. Music is powerful, too. The biggest weakness of the franchise, in my opinion, is how it has trouble closing out its seasons. It plays things in such a way that tries to force an arbitrary ending whether or not the story is ready for it. That means closing off some threads in a rush, seemingly in case the anime isn't allowed to continue with another project. Without spoilers, I thought the Exodus season had several threads that could have used more breathing room in its last quarter. Meanwhile, the first half of Exodus is some of the best anime I've seen in the last ten years. One of the things that might prevent Fafner from better success is that it plays itself straight, by and large. It's a serious, heavy drama that's pretty dark. Maybe someone else here can explain why they like it better. I haven't watched any of it in a few years now, so the finer details of its convoluted story and themes aren't as clear in my mind as they once were. But I know without a doubt that, collectively, it was some of the best stuff I've seen in a long time. As a total aside, I wanted to point out that the enemy in Fafner has some things in common with the enemy in Battle Fairy Yukikaze (which has novels that predate Fafner). And the Festum's attack powers were also mirrored later on in the anime Eureka Seven, it seems like. |
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Chiyosuke
 Posts: 367 |
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Wait... Xebeczwei? I though they did away with the Xebec name and renamed the studio IGzwei when IG sold off most of the studio to Sunrise.
Random but the split went something to the effect of: Xebec co-founder Yukinoa Shimoji seemingly left the studio at some point with one of the other co-founders, Nobuyoshi Habara taking the mantle until the sale. Shimoji is currently the head of studioMOTHER, a Voyager outfit that's taking over the Yamato production. Habara is a corporate director at Xebec's successor Sunrise Beyond. Anything that was left was transferred to Signal.MD (as evidenced by former Xebec producer Takatoshi Chino now acting as corporate director of MD). IG retained all of Xebec's IPs and it's Zwei subsidiary, renaming it IGzwei. Again, random as hell but... |
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Cardcaptor Takato
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Jefcat
Posts: 104 Location: Palm Desert |
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First, the animation is gorgeous. So is the music.
But I also really love the characters - they seem very real, flesh and blood to me. And the stories have a tragic depth that is pretty great. And the shift over time - till some of the assimilated people are our heroes and some of the pure humans are truly despicable. That’s quite interesting to me. Indeed the first half of Exodus was OUTSTANDING. Some of the best Sci Fi anime I’ve seen. |
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Gezzas
Posts: 12 |
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Thanks for the response. From your description it sounds like the show I'd like but for some reason I didn't get that when I watched original series back in the day. I also tried watching Yukikaze didn't like it either. I remember it being slow and meandering. It is possible that I in fact don't have patience for that kind of show. However I might be willing to try other installments of Fafner. |
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Jefcat
Posts: 104 Location: Palm Desert |
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Part of the issue, too, is that there’s a lot in Fafner’s story that carries over from one series to another. Heaven and Earth (an enjoyable movie) relies a lot on knowing what happened in the first series. If you’ve not watched the earlier series, H&E won’t make sense. To watch Exodus, it’s pretty essential to have watched the original series and H&E. The Beyond will not make sense if you’ve not seen tall the earlier installments.
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LightningCount
Posts: 229 |
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Cardcaptor Takato:
A lot of the characters have pretty sober attitudes, given the shattered state of their world that they have to come to grips with. It takes a while to get acquainted with them, too. What's interesting about a series that goes on this long is you get to see them change in their roles and attitudes and how they relate to one another. That's part of why the franchise gets better with time, in my opinion. I don't know that I'd say they ever become "favorite" anime characters, but they serve the story well. You care for, respect, and empathize with them, and want to see how things turn out for them. There are some characters I really like, though, especially in the Exodus season. Without spoiling things, they're characters you would never think would be allied with the series' heroes given what occurred in past entries. Right now, Crunchyroll has the Exodus season, and Hulu and Funimation have the Heaven and Earth movie that comes before it. Funimation also has the original TV series that precedes the movie. Nobody has the Right of Left (prequel to first TV "Dead Aggressor" season) or brand-new The Beyond. Gezzas: Thanks for keeping an open mind. I'm not promising it will be everyone's cup of tea. As a fan of Gundam and Macross (via Robotech) who also loved RahXephon (more so than EVA overall), Fafner was something that had everything in place for me to love it. It has the bombast and alien conflict of Macross, with the politics of Gundam, and the ethereal weirdness and strong focus on naturalistic human interaction and caring that RahXephon had. It just needed to get its execution right. Like I said, the Heaven and Earth movie jazzed me up, and then Exodus, especially its first half, I was like, "Wow. This is what I always felt this franchise could be. They've done it!" I'm pretty upset that Exodus didn't get a dub, honestly... One other reason I like the series, and this may sound silly, is how it mixes in conventional aircraft and weaponry, or at least things like it, every now and then alongside the mecha. Makes the world feel more three-dimensional in its tech. I mean, you even get some on-foot action from time to time. Here's an official Funimation-sanctioned clip from the Heaven and Earth movie that's fairly spoiler free to give you an idea of where the action and animation goes, and it gets even better than this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2_NKqXgCwo In general, with the way I feel like they forced an ending on Exodus, I'm curious how The Beyond season will flow. Like, it feels like they'd have to get the engines of the series up and running again, and I'm not sure what that'll look like. I'm hoping it continues the positive trend this franchise has had of each installment being better than the last. As for Yukikaze, it and Fafner are both slow burns to a good extent, yeah. Not all the time, but it's in the mix. It's because they're both very psychological, I'd say. Yukikaze was even more sober/somber than Fafner--a lot more. It was basically in the realm of Patlabor 2: The Movie or the original Ghost in the Shell movie. Yukikaze is probably less liked than Fafner, I'd say, but I like Yukikaze a lot. Took a few viewings for me to really get it and get into it, but I'm a fan now. (I even read the two officially translated books they based the anime on, and they were in some ways better than the anime. I wish the third and final book would get an official English release, but I imagine the first two didn't sell well.) Anyway, a steady dose of these more serious things would be too much, but every now and then they really put some nice extra gravitas into the mix of anime and draw you in to a living, breathing world that feels like you could touch it. Lord Geo: Kicking myself for missing the limited streaming of Right of Left. Seen clips and read up on it, and it seems great. Sort of the Gundam 0080 of Fafner. |
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