X

"X" ventures into territory familiar to viewers of the 1996 Japanese anime production, X: THE MOVIE, a feature adaptation of the long-running manga (comic book) series, "X/1999," produced by the all-female manga collective known as Clamp. While X: THE MOVIE offered a highly sped-up condensation of the incident-packed manga and closed everything off with a jarringly tragic finale, the 24-episode 2001 TV series goes back to the manga and offers a more faithful new adaptation, allowing viewers to gradually meet each of the many characters and get to know who and what they are long before the action takes off.

Like so much of anime, the story is about highly advanced evolutionary young people fighting over the future of the earth. Here, the main characters are split into two camps, the "Dragons" of Heaven struggling to save the earth and its human population, and the "Angels" of Earth seeking to kill off all "polluting" elements, including people, so that the earth can be born anew. At the center of the conflict is the young, handsome Kamui, who has returned to Tokyo to fulfill his destiny as leader of the Dragons of Heaven, although the Angels of Earth seek to recruit him to their camp. (All the main characters are impossibly good-looking.) Meanwhile, all the characters go about living their everyday lives, including enrollment in school for the younger ones, a key element missing from the movie.

The animation is fluid and the design quite spectacular, with an evocative, dramatic music score provided by Naoki Sato. The background details of Tokyo's streets, buildings and skyline are all meticulously rendered. One scene noteworthy for its exquisite recreation of a Tokyo landmark features Lady Arashi, one of the Dragons of Heaven, leaving the secret chamber of the ancient (but young-looking) Princess Hinoto, situated underneath the Diet (the building where Japan's Parliament meets), slowly taking a secret elevator up to the main floor, and walking through the great halls of this massive edifice and down the sprawling front steps, with the camera following the whole time and the music swelling. I have often been critical in my anime reviews of the new technique of 2-D digital animation as it is applied to anime, but I must confess that the results here are as satisfying to me as if they'd been done the old hand-drawn method.

The series' chief director is Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who is best known for such titles as WICKED CITY (1987), MIDNIGHT EYE GOKU (1989), NINJA SCROLL (1993) and VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST (2000). He wisely sticks to the style of the manga and the overall design scheme of X: THE MOVIE, which was directed by the equally notable Rin Taro, and avoids the sex-and-violence excesses and "noir"-like nightmarish visual schemes of his earlier works. Even so, it's cleanly executed and powerfully told, with enough visual imagination to impress even the most hardened anime purist and a strong enough story and interesting characters to engage even the newest anime convert. The Pioneer DVD offers both Japanese and English language tracks. The English dubbing is surprisingly good.

Two months ago, I'd have told you that I despised anime, because two months ago I was under the heavily mistaken impression that all anime was "Dragonball Z" and "DigiMon". Having recently viewed all 24 episodes of "X", I was clearly mistaken. This was the first series I have ever seen about which I have had nothing serious to criticize.

Once one gets past the absolutely godawful, mood-killing, schmalzy theme songs at the beginning and end of each episode, one discovers immensely complex characters and plot lines. Our hero is 16-year-old Shirou Kamui, your very untypical high school sophomore. He's quiet, bitter, has no family left, and he doesn't know or particularly care that he's supposed to decide the fate of the world. This is beginning to sound cheesy, but surprisingly enough, it's not. Basically, we have two opposing sides - the Seven Seals, who are fighting to preserve the world and contain everyone from a hyper 14-year-old to a devout Christian woman who happens to be a prostitute, and the Seven Angels, the "bad guys" who really aren't that bad - they may be fighting for the destruction of Planet Earth, but they're likable and very human. Kamui comes in because he's the only one of this group who gets to choose which side he wants to be on. And it only really begins to matter when he realizes that his two best friends are going to be affected by this.

Kamui (and everyone else) are your standard shoujo posterboys - gentle, selfless, and (as Arisugawa Sorata, one of the primary players in this apocalyptic game comments) ridiculously attractive. But at the same time, they are characters anyone can relate too. The animation is gorgeous, and the non-theme music is actually pretty good. The series also features a trench-coat-clad young medium named Sumeragi Subaru, who seems not to have a personality. He is, in reality, one of the most complex characters ever created. For more on him, read the Tokyo Babylon manga.

If you're skeptical, that's understandable - I was. Now, I'm giving this fascinating series 10/10.

At first "X" may look like about the fight between two opposing force, the Dragon of Heaven (Ten no Ryu) and the Dragon of Earth (Chi no Ryu) to prevent or cause the destruction of mankind. However, upon close inspection, it's actually more about the fate of those individuals who are unwillingly chosen by 'fate' to represent each side of the opposing forces.

The series is dark and depressing but all in all presents excellent character development and plot that stands above and beyond the movie version of the same name. A knowledge of "Tokyo Babylon" prior to watching this is helpful in understand some of the characters in here but is not extremely necessary.

X/1999 was my first great love in the world of anime,and my favorite of at least 6 years running, and I felt terribly that people attacked the movie. In light of what director Rintaro had to work with at the time, I thought the movie was wonderful. It followed the surreal beauty of X and carried over its darker themes. While the characters could not be fully explored in the span of an average movie, it was masterfully completed.

The director still retained the theme of fate and the protagonists' war against destiny. I believe the ending of the movie was much more effective than the television series, really. I also loved the fact that X Japan did themes for both the TV series and the movie. I love everything about X/1999, and while the movie was a rapid story, it has an endearing quality to it, for example the intense colors. That brought more focus to characters. In short, X/1999 is a story, no matter how quickly told, in which the characters are developed to the point of forming a kind of bond with those who view or read it. You want to cheer on many of them, or simply beat some of them senseless.

It likely sounds like a full out rant, but then I believe a story is in its purest form only in the original shape it took. A movie will never capture the charm of the novel that spawned it, and neither series nor movie can replace how characters develop in a manga series. It leaves parts of characters or story to the mind of the reader, and that is why manga will remain unique. What the TV series and movie are should be able to stand alone and speak for themselves, and they did an effective and beautiful job telling the story. But what has CLAMP ever created that wasn't lovely?

The world is in trouble. Through the course of fated destinies, a handful of trained warriors have been called to either protect humanity or to cleans the Earth, bringing about a rebirth to the land. Ironically, a double-edged sword – or twin sword, "X" is an epic adventure that builds characters that an audience can follow, a plot that is emotional, and animation that is so grandiose, that it would make Disney shed a tear. Alas, that isn't to say this series is without faults, but the central key moments are so developed, that one cannot help but jump from one episode to the next, eager to see what befalls our heroes and villains. This was my first full-length animated series (outside of "Serial: Lain") that I have experienced, and while it wasn't as powerful as my prior viewings, it was enough to keep my interest going in this genre. "X" is a series of powerful battles, engrossing story arcs, impressive sounds, and unexpected turns – so developed that even the amateur anime watcher will be captivated by this world. "X" requires dedication, it requires time, and it requires strength to remember who is interconnected with whom, but in the end, it pays off rewardingly.

Upon watching this series, one could easily jump to the finale to see the epic conclusion, but what makes "X" more than just your typical Saturday-morning cartoon epic is the characters that we literally get to understand (and at times fall for) within the twenty-four breathtaking episodes. The evil of Fuma, the depression of Subaru, and the love that Satsuki feels are just a few of the emotions that we are privy to throughout this series. Also within the twenty-four episodes, we see moments of fantasy, destruction, betrayal, love, death, and desire. What pulled me in from the opening episode of this series is the curvy path the director as well as the creators took me on. We aren't introduced to the heroine right away, we are mislead, shadowed throughout, and while small truths are revealed in each individual episode, "X" continues to leave question upon question unanswered, forcing us to look forward to the upcoming episode. Couple this with the outstanding, crisp animation, and "X" seems refreshing in the tub of overplayed and over-recycled American animation. There were certain scenes that just stood out in your mind (especially the final battle), backgrounds that were breathtaking, and battles that made you ask, "How did they do that?" The adult themes and blood-filled battles (unheard of in American animation), bring a sense of realism to this story that is not suitable for young children, but as an adult, I would rather kids watch this instead of what is currently programmed.

Alas, as mentioned earlier, "X" isn't perfect. It isn't a series that I could immediately reboot, but could suggest to friends. There is quite a bit of development towards a twin-sword in this series, and it likened me to what was impressive as well as disappointing in this series. As previously stated, each episode takes us closer to the truth; sometimes it was the pacing that draws us back. Twenty-four episodes are quite a bit to watch, and in the center episodes, as we develop further relationships and characters, there seems to be a lull in the momentum that was initially set. While battles do not seem to be in short supply, it is the introduction to characters that are impressive, but seem to be left behind as larger stories unfold. With some, they come and go quickly, almost as if our creators didn't really have a full plot for them to follow. This may be my only complaint about this series…one can only repeat the fact that the characters were bold, impressive, and invigorating, but their roles within the world of "X" were not as exciting as I wanted them to be. This was a story about technology, humanity, and nature, and, alas, these three elements were not explored as well as they could. My other small complaint is the lack of real-world complications. While our character's emotions were honest and believable, the battles seemed staged merely due to the barriers they were able to use to not cause damage to the surrounding city. No humans actually were privy to this battle, and I think that could have been explored further. We seemed to focus only on our main characters, and only within their flashbacks, did we see any other involvement with the real world. I wished to see who the people supported, and who they would rally behind in such an epic battle. The ending does mention that the public never would know about their future, but it seemed cheap to me.

Overall, this was a great series despite the picky critic flaws. I would recommend this series to anyone interested in an epic that involves a substantial storyline, amazing characters, and intense battle sequences. This would be a favorite to anyone who enjoys the "Final Fantasy" films or games.

Grade: *** out of *****