RahXephon

[Dave]

RahXephon sure borrows a lot from Evangelion, but it's certainly great in it's own right. It's my opinion that anyone who likes eva should give RahXehpon a look too.

[The Eva Monkey]

I will definitely second that. Though I haven't seen the entire series, I will say that its interesting to see it as an imitative work, just like Eva. The one thing I didn't like about RahXephon is that the characters are just too bland. They aren't that distinct or attractive. At least from what I have seen.

I think its unfair to label it as an Eva rip-off, when Eva itself is an imitative work.

If you'd like a more expansive thought on this, I suggest the following:

http://www.evamonkey.com/writings_shea3.php
http://www.evamonkey.com/writings_shea4.php
http://www.evamonkey.com/writings_shea9.php

[Dave]

It most certainly is NOT a rip-off. RahXephon itself is a love story, Evangelion is a delve into the psyches of its characters. And trust me, the characters are anything but bland. *Spoiler ahead* The love story between Ayato and Haruko is amazing and really adds depth to both characters. Each character in the show has his or her own reasons for doing what they do, even the minor ones.

[Quiddity]

RahXephon sure borrows a lot from Evangelion, but it's certainly great in it's own right. It's my opinion that anyone who likes eva should give RahXehpon a look too.

RahXephon doesn't really borrow that much from Eva (although there are certainly a few homages in there), they are so similar because
1. They are shows from the same genre (monster of the week style mecha show)
2. Both are heavily influenced by old Tomino shows. Both are heavily influenced by Ideon, Eva's also heavily influenced by Gundam and Rah from Raideen

That they are so alike it testement to how many cliches of the genre/medium that Eva used. EvaMonkey posted links to a few of my essays, they go over things in better detail (although I don't specifically talk about RahXephon in any of them).

Regarding the show itself, I too think its very good, probably the best anime of 2002. Its better than Eva in some aspects(use of time), while Eva is better in others(resolutions, overall storyline). One who likes Eva should most certainly enjoy RahXephon.

[Karma Burn]

I definate agree that Rah-Xephon is amazing in it's own right but it borrows a lot from Eva. Sometimes they borrow unneeded things.

Like...
- In Eva "Code Blue" means it's an Angel, in Rah-Xephon "Blue Blood" is how one is idenitified as a Mulian.
- In Eva the Evas are considered "living" machines. In Rah-Xephon the Xephon itself and the Vermillions are "living" machines.
- Terminal Dogma is a pyramid. Narai-Kanai is also a pyramid.
- Shinji is absorbed into an Angel and has a dream hullcinegenic dream state. Ayato is absorbed into a Dolem and has is put into a strange hullcinegenic dream state.

[Quiddity]

I definate agree that Rah-Xephon is amazing in it's own right but it borrows a lot from Eva. Sometimes they borrow unneeded things.

Like...
- In Eva "Code Blue" means it's an Angel, in Rah-Xephon "Blue Blood" is how one is idenitified as a Mulian.
- In Eva the Evas are considered "living" machines. In Rah-Xephon the Xephon itself and the Vermillions are "living" machines.
- Terminal Dogma is a pyramid. Narai-Kanai is also a pyramid.
- Shinji is absorbed into an Angel and has a dream hullcinegenic dream state. Ayato is absorbed into a Dolem and has is put into a strange hullcinegenic dream state.

RahXephon obviously contains its own homages to Eva, just like it has homages to Brave Raideen and other shows. But the main storyline, the monster of the week style fights against elaborate monsters, the mysterious undertones, the far from perfect main character, the older female mentor, etc... are all cliches that existed far before Eva. Just as Eva purposely had homages to some of the greats of the genre (the final line of the series referring to Ideon for example) RahXephon has its own tributes to Eva. I'd say that certainly doesn't put it in the category of a ripoff, or 'borrows a lot' though. What you list are minor, and in most cases, insignificant details.

[EVA-01X]

I didn't want to see for the reason that I thought that it was an NGE rip off, helllllllllloooooooooooo christmas gift :twisted:

[Asuka Loves Toji]

id have to say that i myself was worried about this before seeing but after i sprung 58 bux for the HK dvds a year ago, i was very pleased with this anime. i mean sure there are some simalarities, but you know what? whatever, the story line is completely diffrent, though i do have a few parallels but its nothing big to gripe about, but it also gets boring at points as does eva, so for those of you looking for a quick fix i reccomend downloading the RahXephon movie. its proboly one of the best things if you need a quick summery of the series from episode one to the finish. it does leav out a couple story arcs but like i said it sticks to the main story line.

[Quiddity]

id have to say that i myself was worried about this before seeing but after i sprung 58 bux for the HK dvds a year ago, i was very pleased with this anime. i mean sure there are some simalarities, but you know what? whatever, the story line is completely diffrent, though i do have a few parallels but its nothing big to gripe about, but it also gets boring at points as does eva, so for those of you looking for a quick fix i reccomend downloading the RahXephon movie. its proboly one of the best things if you need a quick summery of the series from episode one to the finish. it does leav out a couple story arcs but like i said it sticks to the main story line.

No need, the official DVD from ADV is coming out soon, this month infact if I remember correctly. Having not seen it yet, thats one thing I'm really looking forward to.

[Asuka Loves Toji]

id have to say that i myself was worried about this before seeing but after i sprung 58 bux for the HK dvds a year ago, i was very pleased with this anime. i mean sure there are some simalarities, but you know what? whatever, the story line is completely diffrent, though i do have a few parallels but its nothing big to gripe about, but it also gets boring at points as does eva, so for those of you looking for a quick fix i reccomend downloading the RahXephon movie. its proboly one of the best things if you need a quick summery of the series from episode one to the finish. it does leav out a couple story arcs but like i said it sticks to the main story line.

No need, the official DVD from ADV is coming out soon, this month infact if I remember correctly. Having not seen it yet, thats one thing I'm really looking forward to.

yeah its pretty awesome, it answers a lot of the unanswered stuff, it doesnt really create more mysteries like eva did. oh btw would you agree that they should have ended the series on episode 25 and had incorperated episode 26 into a movie or somthing?

[Quiddity]

id have to say that i myself was worried about this before seeing but after i sprung 58 bux for the HK dvds a year ago, i was very pleased with this anime. i mean sure there are some simalarities, but you know what? whatever, the story line is completely diffrent, though i do have a few parallels but its nothing big to gripe about, but it also gets boring at points as does eva, so for those of you looking for a quick fix i reccomend downloading the RahXephon movie. its proboly one of the best things if you need a quick summery of the series from episode one to the finish. it does leav out a couple story arcs but like i said it sticks to the main story line.

No need, the official DVD from ADV is coming out soon, this month infact if I remember correctly. Having not seen it yet, thats one thing I'm really looking forward to.

yeah its pretty awesome, it answers a lot of the unanswered stuff, it doesnt really create more mysteries like eva did. oh btw would you agree that they should have ended the series on episode 25 and had incorperated episode 26 into a movie or somthing?

Actually I'd say Eva's movie was about as close to perfection as you could get, it didn't go and create more mysteries, far from it, it answered all the big questions that the TV series failed to. There was certainly some ambiguity to it, like whether the TV series and it occur concurrently, and the final scene, but overall it did exactly what should be expected from an ending.

Regarding RahXephon, I was perfectly happy with how they handled it in terms of ending it with episode 26. One thing I really like about anime is that unlike American TV there's an actual ending. No stretching things over seasons for years with no ending, things are resolved by the final episode, that's that. I certainly had some issues with the quality of the ending (killing off too much of the cast rather than resolving them properly), but am perfectly happy with the decision to end it with ep 26.

[Dave]

I absolutely loved the ending to RahXephon. And the little secret after the credits, man it is SO obvious when you watch the show the second time and yet I still didn't catch it the first time around. All the major characters were resolved nicely in my opinion, espicially Ayato and Haruka. I don't really see any problem to the ending. Which characters do you feel weren't fully resolved Quiddity?

[Quiddity]

I absolutely loved the ending to RahXephon. And the little secret after the credits, man it is SO obvious when you watch the show the second time and yet I still didn't catch it the first time around. All the major characters were resolved nicely in my opinion, espicially Ayato and Haruka. I don't really see any problem to the ending. Which characters do you feel weren't fully resolved Quiddity?

Itsuki, and Elvy (killing off her friends was good development for her, the problem was she died right afterwards so all the effect was lost!). Killing off Haruka was rather unnecessary too I thought.

[Dave]

Well it's not like she really died... she just went to a sort of limbo.

[Asuka Loves Toji]

the only problem i had with the ending was that it didnt leave anything really signifigant for the movie (i was fine with it b4 i knew a movie was comming out) if they had ended the series on episode 25 and then integrated the ending with the movie it woulda made for one kick ass movie. i mean yeah the ending was good, but imagine what they coulda done more if they had more time and less restrictions? and the ending of ep 25 wouldve made everyone go see the movie. just my opinion though

[Dave]

They might not have planned to make a movie after the series ended. Your right though, a movie like that would of been kick ass. From what I've heard RahXephon: The Motion Picture is basically just a condensed retelling of the series with a few new tidbits of info thrown in.

[Asuka Loves Toji]

yeah pretty much, its still worth watching though

[utero2001]

RahXephon sure borrows a lot from Evangelion, but it's certainly great in it's own right

I disagree

RahXephon was very poor in my opinion. It stole as much as it could and did'nt even come close. Only positive for me was the end credit music.

RahXephon seemed to offer a lot when I started watching the first few episodes, but it did'nt have good deep and interesting characters, or much of an intriging plotline.

the mecha design was original though, the floating bad guys were impressive.

I think what got on my nerves was that it was trying to be too serious, and its hard to get it right.

glad some people like it though

[Dave]

I don't get how someone who likes Eva can not like RahXephon... I guess it's really true what they say: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

[utero2001]

I don't get how someone who likes Eva can not like RahXephon... I guess it's really true what they say: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

ones a masterpiece, the other is a poorer rip off :?