Xam'd Lost Memories ep.01

July 18, 2008 | 21 Comments

OP Theme: 「SHUT UP AND EXPLODE」by BOOM BOOM SATELLITES
Download: AVI version (72.1MB, correct ratio/no black-bars) | PSP version (16.3MB)

Otherwise known as Bounen no Xamdou, this series is an absolute delight in this otherwise dry summer anime season. I'd have paid the $2.99 for SD version or $3.99 for HD version, if only I can actually access the US movie store on PS3. See Sony, this is why you keep getting screwed by other companies. Stop doing this stupid zone restriction. I appreciate that you allow everyone to access any PSN game store. But ideally, it'd also be nice if I can access any PSN movie store as well. Otherwise, then please provide similar contents across PSN stores in different countries. I have enough credits on my European, Japanese, and US PSN account so if you want money, then let me see the show in HD. Anyway, at a first glance, this show looks like a combination of Rahxephon, Eureka 7, Nausicaa, Escaflowne and Last Exile. It's a pretty exciting series that deserves to be the highlight of Bones' 20th Anniversary.

Episode 01: Xam'd at the Dawn of War

An old woman is seen fishing out some kind of green marble out of a pot and giving said marble to an albino-haired young girl who gulps the marble like a pro. Up in an airship, a girl drops some kind of nuts into a green solution tube containing a ring. The ring within the tube causes the nuts to crack open, revealing the substance within. As both events unfold, another woman in the same airship can be heard reading a passage from a book. "You sit proudly in this cave like the Queen of Egypt. As a service to you, I shall never know rest. As a prove of my devotion, I have stolen this ostentatious offering. I'll also show you things your dark blue eyes haven't seen, smiles similar to that of a lake in a sun, blossoming like a lotus. As you sit upon your great throne that's inscribed with a lion's head, your skin is bathed in ebony light. At times I'll raise a lamp and take my place at your feet. This pendant releases the light of Sirius, which your eyes will never behold. One who does not live for my sake, the young people of this country, will conceive this fire within...."

When the woman puts down the book and looks through the window using her telescope, she's shocked to see that there are a bunch of freaky-looking airship approaching. She immediately contacts the pilot, requesting location and asking the pilot to check the identity of the upcoming ships. The pilot informs her that those are 20 government ships. Meanwhile, the same girl who was conducting experiments with the nuts are preparing herself by awaking a colleague while changing her clothes. The pilot uses the speaker to tell the other ships that they intend on doing inspection on international air activity but they don't get any response. The woman who was reading a book tells him that Northern Government camouflage ships ignore Postal Law. Since they don't want to get caught in aerial bombing, they intend to dock somewhere. She then orders the crew to send "Nakiami" first, referring to the girl seen earlier. Nakiami herself is seen preparing to fly in a small jetplane that will guide the main ship to their destination. Their landing target: Sentan Island.

Within the Sentan Island, a boy called Takehara Akiyuki is complaning because his mother didn't wake him up and now he's late for school. After brushing his teeth, he tries to sneak out of the house because he doesn't want to have to deliver his father's lunch box. However, because his bike tire is busted, he gets caught by his mother and has to deliver the lunch box anyway. A conversation between the two reveals that Akiyuki's parents are having separation and now live in separate houses. While Akiyuki is rushing in to deliver lunch to his father's house, his two classmates are teaching Kendou to a bunch of small children. He eventually arrives at the shipwrecked-like house belonging to his father and awakens the lazy "Gorilla" by pinching on his nose. At the same time, his classmates are now lining up to enter the school bus which is guarded by a soldier. The female classmate, Nishimura Haru, makes a bet with the male classmate whether or not Akiyuki will be late. She bets that he'll make it in time otherwise she'll have to buy food for the male classmate.

Akiyuki eventually makes it in time to the bus stop. When he's lining up, however, he notices that there's an albino-haired girl standing in front of him. She looks terrified as the patrol ship up in the air gets closer. Feeling sorry for her, he decides to distract the soldier by not wearing his armband (which indicates that he's a student from his school). While he does this, he drops his armband so that the girl can use it. Akiyuki gets away with getting into the bus because he's already wearing the school uniform and the girl gets away with it because she now has the armband. Inside the bus, Akiyuki's classmates wonders who the girl could be but Akiyuki simply thinks that she's just a refugee. They, however, teases him for looking for love in all the wrong places. As the bus heads to its destination, there's an annoucement saying that Free Zone Fighters are now crossing the 29th line. Civilian aircraft are not permitted within 13 lengths until 2PM. The bus announcer also tells the students that the Free Zone's Defense Line is protecting its citizens.

Inside the Defense Department, the crew tells the commander that an unidentified crafts are approaching 29th line from Southeastern Yudei Sea. The commander suggests that they send inquiry ships to be safe. The commander wonders if there'll be an invasion but he thinks that can't be right since the Island is not a Free Zone colony but a mere vassal state. However, his crew confirm that the ships are the new models from the Northern Government. Meanwhile, the bus announcer keeps explaining how due to the severity of war casualties, from now on they must preserve the peace of this island with their own hands. The bus eventually arrives at its destination. However, not long after Akiyuki and his friends left the bus, the Albino girl pulls out some kind of a knife and stabs the bag that she's been carrying. The result is an explosive that destroys the bus and kills several students. From the explosion, a yellow sphere comes out and its rays brushes against Akiyuki's right hand.

All of a sudden, there's a large crater-like wound on his arm that extends itself down into his right hand. While checking for Haru, who's okay but in complete shock, Akiyuki notices that the girl that he helped earlier are still inside the bus, bleeding a strange bright green goo. Upon entering the bus, Akiyuki notices that the crater on his right hand has now turned into a round blue crystal which disappears into his hand. When he gets closer to the girl, she apologizes for involving him in this. She tells Akiyuki that her name is Nazuna and he'll be okay along with 'their' lost memory, Xam'd. She then touches his face, producing a small red stone in Akiyuki's forehead. A mask then appears out of nowhere and covers Akiyuki's face. When Akiyuki's hand touches the mask, white liquid covers the rest of his body. Eventually Akiyuki is fully transformed into some kind of bio-mechanical creature. When a soldier shoots Akiyuki out of fear, Haru can hear his voice saying that he wants to live. Up in the sky, a bunch of airships drops something into the air.

What's Good

Story - The little bit of hints that have been shown so far look interesting even though it's a bit similar to other series where the main character gets his/her power. I just hope the story maintains the intrigue that it presents in the first episode.

Pacing - For an episode that is meant to introduce the characters to the audience, the first episode was well-paced. It was nice and slow at the start and accelerate quickly as it approaches the end.

Characters/character development - I like Akayuki and all the supporting casts so far, which is rather unusual. The twist where Akayuki's kind nature ends up causing death and destruction around him was prett good. It reminds you that sometimes doing good deed for others does not pay off well.

Opening Theme - It's highly energetic and fits the mood of the show. I like the song as well, although since I don't follow the music scene that much, I have no idea if the band is really US band or a Japanese band.

Character Design - I love the character design. It's hard to find character design that I like these days since the majority of character designers used for popular series seem to have chosen that androgynous look that the cast of Gundam 00 or Code Geass adopt. Finally, a bunch of male characters who actually look like males. I was a bit iffy on the nose of the albino-hair characters but thankfully the main characters don't seem to be given this trait. It makes me wonder if there are two character designers working on the series. One does the design for the normal humans and the others for the albino race.

The Bio-mechanical suit design - It was freaky to see Akiyuki tranforming into this creature but it's hard to deny that it's a sexy-looking monster. The design reminds me of the Mass-Production EVA from The End of Evangelion. It looks kind of vicious up close.

What's not so good

Ending Theme - It's not exactly the kind of song that I like to listen, unfortunately. Having said that, the refrain part of the song is pretty okay.

The Airship design - The airship that is shown in this episode looks kind of silly but I hope the rest of the design are far better than this.

Impression

This is a very impressive first episode from the animation to the acting or character design. Akiyuki is a very likable protagonist who is kind to others and somehow manages to stay happy despite his parents' separation. It's obvious that his female classmate, Haru, has a crush on him so I wonder how this will work once he gets to know the other female character, the Nausicaa look-alike, Nakiami. Interestingly enough, Akiyuki's other classmate (I think his name is Furuichi Teruoka) seem to like Haru so there should be some interesting romantic quadrangle on play here. As for the other story, it seems there is some kind of a war between the Northern and the Southern government and Sentan Island simply gets stuck in between. I assume Akiyuki will use his newfound power to defend the Island later on in the story. What I want to know is if the power is transferable to any humans who are exposed to that ray. Also, is there a connection between Akiyuki and the Xam'd civilization or was Nazuna simply referring to herself and her kind when she said "Our lost memories". How about the rogue airship that tries to land on Sentan island to avoid the war? Are they from the South, the North, or independent group of people?

EDTheme: 「Vacancy」by Kylee
Download: AVI version (51.9MB, correct ratio/no black-bars) | PSP version (12.3MB)

Poll: If you encounter a situation similar to Akayakuki, would you have helped the girl? Bear in mind that she could be a terrorist who'd endanger the lives of you and others around you.

© memento 2003