Title: Xam’d – Lost Memories Collection 01
Alternative Title: Bōnen no Zamudo
Published By: Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand), Sentai Filmworks (United States and Canada)
Based on: Original Title
Audio: English and Japanese Dubs
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 16:9
Runtime: 325 Minutes
Cost: $AUD 59.95
Classification: This titled has been classified as M (15+ Mature) for Animated Violence.
My Blurb: A rather unique series that takes the slice of life, military and robotic genres and utilizes them to make a rather unique storyline following two countries, a bunch of insane opponents and a main character who can transform into a high-spec’ed weapon.
Special Thanks: Special thanks goes to Madman Entertainment for providing me with a review copy of this title.
I remember when I first mentioned to some friends on facebook that I had acquired this title, and the first comment that one of my friends posted about the cover was “Looks like a giant penis…”. However thankfully this friend of mine, was completely wrong and instead it turned out to be one of the least sexualized animes I have watched lately, focusing on the stories of several groups of people, who have suddenly become involved with or lost contact with the protagonist of the series, Akiyuki. I am not often one to enjoy a series that involves mecha, intense gunplay or weaponary, however this series had enough to keep me interested for the 13 episodes in this set, but also eagerly awaiting the next 13 episodes which is being released in March (or this month if I am still typing this review past 11:59PM on the 28th of December). Anyway, the pros and cons of this set can be read in my review of Xam’d: Lost Memories, published by Madman Entertainment in Australia.
STONE COLD MECHA ACTION!
When a young boy on a peaceful island becomes the victim of a terrorist attack, he transforms into Xam’d, a powerful mecha capable of extreme power. Now he must discover the depth of his power and the role he plays in a world where metal and rock meet flesh, desire, and destiny.
The first episode is usually the determining factor on if I will continue to watch a series through, give it a second chance or just drop it…. and the first half of the episode was rather bland and gave the impression that the series was going to be about some kid who can magically transform into a mecha and do generic combat action, whilst living a normal school life, despite being in a heavily militarized zone. This series did not seem promising at all until the second half, where the school bus Akiyuki and his friends were on exploded, after he let an immigrant from the North on the bus using his identification tag. The series suddenly got a lot more interesting, with him suddenly losing control of his new ability to transform and becoming a mecha weapon. “Finally, a series where the protagonist had absolutely no control of his powers!” I thought, remembering that few series that have done this before have had the same intensity as this episode. After he is rescued, he takes a job upon a delivery ship and so begins his day of training and work.
The series, whilst having a linear plot, does involve multiple plots depending on the characters involved, which can for the most part be split into four groups. The first group is the members of the Zanbani, which is the postal ship that Akiyuki works on, the second group involves Akiyuki’s friends Haru and Furuichi and their experiences in “searching” for him, the third group is a lesser character group and involves Akiyuki’s parents who are trying to both find their son and deal with their own guilt about what happened and the fourth group is exclusively to Akiyuki himself, who is attempting to both control and utilize his power whilst learning about what Xam’d really are.
The storyline does not remain on a serious or cheerful note for long periods of time, and instead alternate during every interval or episode. The world is being ravaged by war between the South and North regions, therefore it is not a very pretty tale in terms of it, with some focus on orphans from the North, the characters tragic background and tales of others who have lost control to the Xam’d, who generally turn to crystal after being overexposed or attacked. The reliance of the military is also involved, including strange people who blow up public areas to spread the infection of Xam’d, the lack of regard of both sides for one another and the willingness to turn against friends are also key elements observed. The character development I would say is slow for most characters, with the history of Xam’d and many of the characters in the series such as Nakiami only being lightly touched on, which I suppose will be revealed to us in the next episode set, however the character development for the more minor characters as well as Akiyuki is solid.
The environmental design involved in this series is of a good standard, with land areas being moderately populated with people, cars, boats etc and giving the impression of a bustling city when warranted instead of an isolated city. They do not usually utilize a plain background when in this environment, and the actual landscape is littered with buildings, greenery and even during the battle scenes, quality is not compromised. The animation quality is also good, and during battles, the environment will be utilized well to give it an overall realistic feel, so concrete will fall off buildings, smoke will realistically come out of a building et cetera. Environment designs on airships and the like are less detailed however still suitable for the “sky” environment. Character design also have a variety of facial structures and appearances and they do not resort to any sort of chibi-style or over the top artwork to get the characters emotion across. The character clothing details are also of a good standard, however they do at times, to appear over simplistic and would benefit at times with a bit more variety.
Opening Theme: Shut Up and Explode by BOOM BOOM SATELLITES
Lets see…..Fast paced track suitable to the genre of this series – CHECK! Original Animation that does not appear in the series – CHECK! Some suitable lyrics to the series – CHECK! Overall, this is an opening sequence that I really enjoyed alongside a enjoyable song that was well suited to the series, with a sort of mechanical feel to it.
Ending Theme: Vacancy by Kylee
Alas, after the rather good opening sequence, I wasn’t expecting much from the ending, and like many endings before it, it has fallen short of what I would like. I will give it credit through, the song is average and the animation is pretty good, however it was not something I would watch every time in appeared, unlike the opening.
By itself, the music in the series is not something I would listen to, however when paired with the animation and mood of the sequence, they work very well. Through utilizing a number of instrumental tracks and styles of music, they were all effective in adding to the move and intensity of the plot being unfolded. That being said, the music was unnoticed by me until I purposefully decided to listen to it, quite often due to the voice acting or sound effects overpowering it most of the time.
Voice acting was overall of an excellent standard, and I opted not to compare to the Japanese dub as I could imagine that a number of voices could differ between the two languages. Blake Shepard, Luci Christian and Monica Rial, all of whose names do not really stand out to me much all did brilliant jobs at voice acting Akiyuki, Nakiami and Haru well, especially Blake Shepard who I would like to see voice more male characters in series now. Akushiba, voiced by Adam Van Wagoner was my favorite minor character in terms of voice acting and has the serious tone to him, however also does well at the carefree expression without sounding too fake. The Nekomata which travels along with the crew also has a cuteish sound, like when you squeeze a rubber duck, made me go “Awwww!” the first time I heard it. Overall through, no complaints in terms of voice acting.
In terms of extra content, there is nothing that would be deemed “special”, however the bonus content was more then enough for this DVD set. The bonus content included on the disc include:
- Clean Opening and Ending Sequences – A staple in most anime sets.
- Original On-Air Opening and Ending Sequences – I haven’t really seen this done much in the last few years, the last case I remember being with a series called Chrono Crusade, where they have different opening and closing sequences in both/or animation and music, and in this case, both the music and animation are different, and actually better then the sequences on the disc.
- Trailers for the Eureka Seven Movie, Full Metal Alchemist Collection 1, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Vol 1, Gurren Lagann Movie Collection and the Trigun Remastered Collection. Personally nothing I am really interested in watching, but interest would vary with your own anime preferences.
Personally, I thought this would be an average series in my opinion, but it came out as something unique and interesting to me and has opened my mind up to an entire genre which before now, I have shunned and ignored as the prospect of military violence did not appeal to me. This series, whilst not being a full military series, creatively linked supernatural powers, mecha, military and a futuristic life aspects into one very well done series. I look forward to Part 2 and I hope I will be able to review it for all of you!
Final Score
Storyline: B+
Character Development: B
Design: B
Opening/Ending Themes: B
Music: C+
Voice Acting: A
Extras: C
Personal Opinion: B+
Overall Score: B
