Xenosaga the Animation
Source
Alternate Title: ゼノサーガ
Studio: Toei Animation
Year: 2005
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction
This series is based on a game by Squaresoft and Namco. The first game related to this is Xenogears, the story of which occurs a couple hundreds of thousand years after Xenosaga.
The story starts a couple thousand years after humans have left the Earth. Technology is now very advanced, cyborgs that have human emotions, wireless network everywhere in the universe, huge robots ( gears ), advanced weaponry, warp gates, everything. However, humans are also faced with a new enemy: the Gnosis. The Gnosis are an alien life form. Little is known about them and their intentions. The hardest part about fighting them is that most objects can't even touch them. This means that laser beams, bullets, bombs, etc go through them without doing any damage. More advanced weapons are being developed, however.
One of these weapons, named KOS-MOS, lies within the ship Woglinde. The story begins when Woglinde just discovered an ancient relic known as Zohar. Mysterious to all, Zohar was going to be transferred to the headquarters of the Federation. Shion, the head of the R&D division of an organization called Vector, encountered a little girl when she took a look at the Zohar. Mysterious to her, the girl left an impression on her as well.
While on their way back, the fleet Woglinde was in got attacked by the Gnosis. It turned out that the Gnosis' objective was the Zohar. Shion encountered a physical contact with one of the Gnosis. A physical contact with a Gnosis usually means certain death in a matter of seconds. Luckily for her, KOS-MOS awakens and came to Shion's rescue. KOS-MOS has a technology caled "The Hilbert Effect" that materialises all the Gnosis, allowing them to be attacked by normal means. Trained for combat, KOS-MOS single handedly cleared an escape path for Shion and Allen, her subordinate.
However, though the battle was concluded, the entire fleet of Woglinde was wiped out, and Zohar was lost. Shion and KOS-MOS are trapped in the middle of nowhere, while a deeper mystery awaits to be discovered.
-----
Feel :
Huge space battles against an unknown alien force, cyborgs and androids with big guns and flashy moves, a maniacal insane clone running around plotting evil deeds. Welcome to the world of Xenosaga, another anime adapted from a console Role Playing Game (RPG).
The opening of the anime is a very haunting theme which promises of a saga of epic proportions. It reminded me of the opening themes of space operas of old, along with the cinematic sequences of character portraits displaying their chracteristic emotion. Helping to spice it up are some displays of battle. Equally haunting but more melodramatic instead is the ending theme. "In this Serenity" brings sadness and hope to the forefront whenever it is played as the background music as well for certain scene. This song is amazingly quite flexible in its use.
Graphically, the 2D parts ( characters and most of the objects and backgrounds ) look good at times with its crisp lines and distinct colours. Most of the designs involve cherumbim shapes for young teens or younger while older adults adopt the standard anime hero stature. Sometimes thick lips abound... Bad animation also appears to be evident for the intermediate frames. The mechas are flat in shading and lacking of textures. Their designs also look simplistic ( the Gnosis look like Play-doh dolls ).
The 3D portions while competant, falls several notches when they try to mesh it with the 2D. Such effects definitely come off worse than intended. Alone they might look good, but paired with the 2D, both look to be worse than they are.
Storywise, the plot flows quite well at the begininng, new questions are revealed just as older ones get answered. More and more mystery revealed as the series progress... Is Shion more than she seems...? Characters that look young actually being older than they look. The typical whose side is this character on... Of course there is also the event in the past, 14 years ago, that connects major characters together...
However the story all seems rushed at the last half of the series. A lot of previous events ( let us call them events "A" ) are thrown at you to justify the reasons for certain happenings ( say "B" ). The reasons and causes for A are of course unknown but you have to accept A to allow for B to exist. So pretty much this series becomes a -*test*-('") of faith, especially with things just happening that allow a convenient "super" force to constantly come to the party's rescue. Straining the situation is the multitudes of names of unknown factions and acronyms being tossed around. I am pretty sure that for the game, these names and terms are explained with great detail ( via background information scenes, resource books, etc ) but for the series, they are just mentioned and just like what is said earlier, you just have to accept them for their motives as is, so as to allow the story some continuity.
Mechanics wise, there are some parts that demand suspension of disbelief. It seems that Shion is some sort of a super being herself. A Gnosis would take 10 times the time to 'petrify' her as it would take it to do that to another human. She can also while standing behind a sprinting KOS-MOS, outrun the latter to impose herself between KOS-MOS and the target. No one seem to question these feats. Also why do the Gnosis like to stand around as a crowd and get killed without any resistance? They seem to fight pretty well as individuals... Their deaths seem pretty 'cheap' as well, they just disappear into sparkles.
Bright spots do liven this series though. A most hilarious scene ( depends on your kind of expectations, I suppose ) would be a battle that shows off over-the-top moves found in the Xenosaga console game itself. Those moves are pretty ridiculous in execution but in the scenario here, they actually fitted well and provided great laughter.
As befitting a high fantasy science fiction space show, there is a lot of flash and bang in the other action scenes as well. Also KOS-MOS is an interesting android. Certainly she is lacking of personality but it is her programming and background that makes her interesting. Who is her real maker? What exactly is her program and objectives? Why is she so protective of Shion? What are her real capabilities? Again... KOS-MOS is hot!!!![tongue.gif](http://4.<a href="http://www.forumer.com">forumer</a>.com/html/emoticons/tongue.gif)
Unfortunately, there are too many unanswered questions left at the end of the series. Many of the questions posed above remain unanswered in whole or in parts. Those looking for detail and completeness likely will find this incomplete since the ending hints of a sequel in large bold capital letters.
I am pretty sure the game itself is more complete but for those who are uninterested in getting the console and game to play it, the anime as taken in a "just watch, no questions" light, can entertain as well despite its flaws.
--
When I found out that one of my most favorite RPG's of all time was being turned into an anime, I was estatic and sceptical of how it turned out. I have only seen the first episode, but so far it is pretty good. For the most part it closely follows the story line of the original game, but slightly changes the events to make meld together in order to make up for the absence of the player controled actions. The only thing I had a problem with was how the faces look. They did a very good job with the transition from 3-D graphics to 2-D animation for everything except for the noses. It bothered me how they they put a lot of detail into the noses of each of the characters. This only bothered me because it almost completely changed to facial appearance of some of the characters, on example is Shion. On the other hand, one of my favorite things about this is how they handled how the Gnosis appear. Another thing I like about this anime is how they were able to make it a stand alone one that those who haven't played the game would know whats going on and also made it follow the story close enough to let those who played it enjoy it also.
All in all, I recommend this anime for those who love this RPG series and for those who enjoy sci-fi anime.
Source
Alternate Title: ゼノサーガ
Studio: Toei Animation
Year: 2005
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction
This series is based on a game by Squaresoft and Namco. The first game related to this is Xenogears, the story of which occurs a couple hundreds of thousand years after Xenosaga.
The story starts a couple thousand years after humans have left the Earth. Technology is now very advanced, cyborgs that have human emotions, wireless network everywhere in the universe, huge robots ( gears ), advanced weaponry, warp gates, everything. However, humans are also faced with a new enemy: the Gnosis. The Gnosis are an alien life form. Little is known about them and their intentions. The hardest part about fighting them is that most objects can't even touch them. This means that laser beams, bullets, bombs, etc go through them without doing any damage. More advanced weapons are being developed, however.
One of these weapons, named KOS-MOS, lies within the ship Woglinde. The story begins when Woglinde just discovered an ancient relic known as Zohar. Mysterious to all, Zohar was going to be transferred to the headquarters of the Federation. Shion, the head of the R&D division of an organization called Vector, encountered a little girl when she took a look at the Zohar. Mysterious to her, the girl left an impression on her as well.
While on their way back, the fleet Woglinde was in got attacked by the Gnosis. It turned out that the Gnosis' objective was the Zohar. Shion encountered a physical contact with one of the Gnosis. A physical contact with a Gnosis usually means certain death in a matter of seconds. Luckily for her, KOS-MOS awakens and came to Shion's rescue. KOS-MOS has a technology caled "The Hilbert Effect" that materialises all the Gnosis, allowing them to be attacked by normal means. Trained for combat, KOS-MOS single handedly cleared an escape path for Shion and Allen, her subordinate.
However, though the battle was concluded, the entire fleet of Woglinde was wiped out, and Zohar was lost. Shion and KOS-MOS are trapped in the middle of nowhere, while a deeper mystery awaits to be discovered.
-----
Feel :
Huge space battles against an unknown alien force, cyborgs and androids with big guns and flashy moves, a maniacal insane clone running around plotting evil deeds. Welcome to the world of Xenosaga, another anime adapted from a console Role Playing Game (RPG).
The opening of the anime is a very haunting theme which promises of a saga of epic proportions. It reminded me of the opening themes of space operas of old, along with the cinematic sequences of character portraits displaying their chracteristic emotion. Helping to spice it up are some displays of battle. Equally haunting but more melodramatic instead is the ending theme. "In this Serenity" brings sadness and hope to the forefront whenever it is played as the background music as well for certain scene. This song is amazingly quite flexible in its use.
Graphically, the 2D parts ( characters and most of the objects and backgrounds ) look good at times with its crisp lines and distinct colours. Most of the designs involve cherumbim shapes for young teens or younger while older adults adopt the standard anime hero stature. Sometimes thick lips abound... Bad animation also appears to be evident for the intermediate frames. The mechas are flat in shading and lacking of textures. Their designs also look simplistic ( the Gnosis look like Play-doh dolls ).
The 3D portions while competant, falls several notches when they try to mesh it with the 2D. Such effects definitely come off worse than intended. Alone they might look good, but paired with the 2D, both look to be worse than they are.
Storywise, the plot flows quite well at the begininng, new questions are revealed just as older ones get answered. More and more mystery revealed as the series progress... Is Shion more than she seems...? Characters that look young actually being older than they look. The typical whose side is this character on... Of course there is also the event in the past, 14 years ago, that connects major characters together...
However the story all seems rushed at the last half of the series. A lot of previous events ( let us call them events "A" ) are thrown at you to justify the reasons for certain happenings ( say "B" ). The reasons and causes for A are of course unknown but you have to accept A to allow for B to exist. So pretty much this series becomes a -*test*-('") of faith, especially with things just happening that allow a convenient "super" force to constantly come to the party's rescue. Straining the situation is the multitudes of names of unknown factions and acronyms being tossed around. I am pretty sure that for the game, these names and terms are explained with great detail ( via background information scenes, resource books, etc ) but for the series, they are just mentioned and just like what is said earlier, you just have to accept them for their motives as is, so as to allow the story some continuity.
Mechanics wise, there are some parts that demand suspension of disbelief. It seems that Shion is some sort of a super being herself. A Gnosis would take 10 times the time to 'petrify' her as it would take it to do that to another human. She can also while standing behind a sprinting KOS-MOS, outrun the latter to impose herself between KOS-MOS and the target. No one seem to question these feats. Also why do the Gnosis like to stand around as a crowd and get killed without any resistance? They seem to fight pretty well as individuals... Their deaths seem pretty 'cheap' as well, they just disappear into sparkles.
Bright spots do liven this series though. A most hilarious scene ( depends on your kind of expectations, I suppose ) would be a battle that shows off over-the-top moves found in the Xenosaga console game itself. Those moves are pretty ridiculous in execution but in the scenario here, they actually fitted well and provided great laughter.
As befitting a high fantasy science fiction space show, there is a lot of flash and bang in the other action scenes as well. Also KOS-MOS is an interesting android. Certainly she is lacking of personality but it is her programming and background that makes her interesting. Who is her real maker? What exactly is her program and objectives? Why is she so protective of Shion? What are her real capabilities? Again... KOS-MOS is hot!!!
Unfortunately, there are too many unanswered questions left at the end of the series. Many of the questions posed above remain unanswered in whole or in parts. Those looking for detail and completeness likely will find this incomplete since the ending hints of a sequel in large bold capital letters.
I am pretty sure the game itself is more complete but for those who are uninterested in getting the console and game to play it, the anime as taken in a "just watch, no questions" light, can entertain as well despite its flaws.
--
When I found out that one of my most favorite RPG's of all time was being turned into an anime, I was estatic and sceptical of how it turned out. I have only seen the first episode, but so far it is pretty good. For the most part it closely follows the story line of the original game, but slightly changes the events to make meld together in order to make up for the absence of the player controled actions. The only thing I had a problem with was how the faces look. They did a very good job with the transition from 3-D graphics to 2-D animation for everything except for the noses. It bothered me how they they put a lot of detail into the noses of each of the characters. This only bothered me because it almost completely changed to facial appearance of some of the characters, on example is Shion. On the other hand, one of my favorite things about this is how they handled how the Gnosis appear. Another thing I like about this anime is how they were able to make it a stand alone one that those who haven't played the game would know whats going on and also made it follow the story close enough to let those who played it enjoy it also.
All in all, I recommend this anime for those who love this RPG series and for those who enjoy sci-fi anime.
![smile.gif](http://4.<a href="http://www.forumer.com">forumer</a>.com/html/emoticons/smile.gif)
, he has a shared past with Jr. though