Xam'd Lost Memories ep.02

July 28, 2008 | 13 Comments

This show is hot. It's been a while since I have a desire to purchase anime on disc and the last series I purchased on disc were Honey and Clover and Suzumiya Haruhi. However, I think I'll at least get the first few episodes of this show on Blu-ray. I just think the combination of the character design, story, and animation are top notch here. It's probably a personal taste but I like this one better than Code Geass's first few episodes mostly because it feels more adventurous than political. It helps that the opening gives me a Cowboy Bebop kind of feel but the thing that impresses me the most about the series is its character design. Character design is my main reason for watching anime. I know it's not a really good criteria to judge an anime but I have the tendency to dislike series that doesn't have good character design. On the other hand, it doesn't take much to make me interested in an anime than a set of well-design characters. It can't be helped since I'm a graphic designer and looking at pretty graphics is something that I love to do.

Continuing from the previous episode, the air shuttle in the sky can be seen releasing organic-shaped objects onto the area. Meanwhile, Akiyuki's Xam'd form turns out to have an ability to regenerate its body. While the soldier who shot him was distracted by the organic-shaped objects, Akiyuki stands up, surprising the guy in the process. Before the soldier can shoot Akiyuki again, however, Haru quickly do a roundhouse kick on the guy, knocking him unconscious. At the same time, the organic-shaped object starts to move and from within it, comes out a monster similar in texture to Akiyuki's Xam'd body. The monster unleashes some kind of laser which destroys the surrounding buildings. The creature then aims its sight at the bus where Akiyuki, Haru, and the others are located. Despite the presence of another laser explosion, Haru somehow makes it alive. She then runs after Akiyuki, who is now climbing onto the monster's body. The monster, however, manages to throw Akiyuki off its body, sending the guy into a shallow river.

The monster then sends its laser attack but Akiyuki blocks it with his hand, which has turned into some kind of a shield. Akiyuki then runs quickly towards the monster and punches its nose. Unlike normal weapon, however, the monster can't seem to recover from this particular injury. Their fight continues into a tunnel where Haru manages to catch up. She begs Akiyuki to run away but instead almost falls into the river when an explosion destroys the pipe where she stands on. Before she can hit the ground, however, Akiyuki manages to catch her with his oversized Xam'd hand. At the same time, Nakiami spots Akiyuki's Xam'd form from her plane so she decides to descend nearby. While she does this, Akiyuki decides to charge head-on against the monster with blade in hand. Haru is horrified to see this but has no choice but to tag along as Akiyuki slices the monster's body with his knife-like instrument. Akiyuki then continues to pummel the monster's body until it starts turning pulp-like. All of a sudden, red rocks like substance start appearing on the monster's body.

Before Akiyuki can pummel the monster further, Nakiami has descended from her plane and put a stop to it by stabbing Akiyuki's hand with some kind of a pole. She wants to know why a completed Xam'd doing in a place like this. Nakiami also points out that the rock infection has now spread into Akiyuki's Xam'd form as well so if he'd like to live, he should follow her. After hearing Akiyuki saying that he'd like to live, Nakiami releases the pressure on the stick, causing the rocks to evaporate from Akiyuki's body. The pressure release also causes his Xam'd body to return to a normal human body size. Nakiami then moves to Haru, tellilng her that she'll give the soul that she saved to her so she orders her not to cry. By snapping her finger, Nakiami causes Haru to pass out. Nakiami then releases the pole that she used to stab Akiyuki's hand, effectively transforming him back into human. She then takes Akiyuki's body with her into the plane. When Haru regains her consciousness, she was found by her school friend and both Akiyuki and Nakiami have disappeared.

At the same time, Ishu, the ship captain to which Nakiami belongs to, becomes impatient because Nakiami hasn't come back yet. Her henchman, Akushiba suggests that they look for her but she points out that if he disappears no one will bother to look for him. Ishu becomes even more irritated when two kids called Hinokimaru and Kobako want to bring a rabbit-like pet (which turns out to be a pig in this universe) into the plane. Hinokimaru eventually snaps and tells the captain that if they can't have this, Nakiami can't bring whatever she's carrying on now (referring to Akiyuki). Despite being pissed off with her, it's obvious that Ishu is relieved to see Nakiami back safely so the ship flies away from the port. Inside a room in the ship, Nakiami pokes on the area which contains the blue diamond to force it to come to the fore. When the diamond appears, she pours some kind of solution over it, causing Akiyuki to spasm in pain. She then gets another pole-like device and jams it into the diamond, causing further pain on the poor Akiyuki.

His arms immediately starts convulsing but Nakiami manages to release the cork on the pole so that a bunch of ribbon-like devices wraps themselves on Akiyuki's Xam'd hand. Outside the room, Akushiba is waiting nervously in case something bad happens. When he hears noise coming from the room, he charges in but much to his surprise, nothing is going on. Nakiami tells him that "Hiruko" is now sleeping so its a good idea not to make a noise. As for Akiyuki, since he's come this far, Nakiami believes that he won't turn into rocks now. When Akushiba steps outside, his leg is chomped at by the pig that the kids brought into the ship. They insist that he doesn't call it 'pig' but by its name, Roppa. The kids also want to know if Akiyuki is nicer than someone called "Raigyou" so Akushiba suggests that he might be to the point that he'll also change Hinokimaru's diapers. Akushiba also calls Roppa, "Small Pig" again so Hinokimaru punches Akushiba's nuts before fleeing from the area. Meanwhile inside the room, Nakiami sighs about how no one ever celebrate Xamdou's birthday.

Back in the city, the news reported that the last humanoid weapon self-destructed around 16.30. They suspect the targets might have been the military complex and ship yards. Around 2886 people are either dead or injured. Despite this, there's been no statement from the northern government. They also suspect that this could be a work of the refugee group called "Deracine". Meanwhile, Haru laments her inability to protect Akiyuki despite her promise to Akiyuki's mother. Speaking of Akiyuki's mother, she is now at her husband's practice, telling him that Akiyuki hasn't come home. She finds it hard to believe that he didn't know about this until she told him. She finally had it when her husband choose to treat his patient instead of looking for their son. At the same time, a person inside the humanoid weapon seen earlier is seen praying, hoping that what he's about to do will bring him closer to the true Hiruko. The man the consumes a green pill and explode the bag he has on him. The situation is quickly reported to a man who looks like a Captain called Kakisu.

Kakisu descends into a secret lab to meet Dr.Kanba, who shows him a large monster covered in red rocks. Kanba calls it "Xam'd", the name of Tessik's God. Much is unknown about this so both Kakisu and Kanba intend to find out more, making it their mission. Upon hearing this, Kanda assumes ethat Kakisu is the new 'sacrificial lamb', the one who understands the funding and life costs that could occur should this research ends in failure. In other words, Kanda believes that Kakisu is the one who'll take the blame if something wrong happens. He also suggests that Kakisu goes to Sentan Island. Since he came from there, Kanda believes that Kakisu's arrival will be similar to ray of light. He wants Kakisu to show the citizens of Sentan Island the power of Xam'd. In response, Kakisu tells Kanba that getting promotion doesn't make him a God to which Kanda disagrees. Before Kanba leaves, he tells Kakisu that he finally understands what 'she' feels. He claims that a mother and her child disappears when Xam'd was born. Because of this, he thinks Xam'd looks like a mother protecting her child.

Impression:

There's something impressing yet amusing about how Akiyuki's Xam'd form moves. When the monster threw Akiyuki into the shallow river and Akiyuki bounces off in the river, I thought the whole thing looks like a swan dance. However, when he later on charging against the monster, the Xam'd form moves like a chicken who's running away from the screen. Despite this, the animation for this episode is just outstanding and has that movie-like quality to it. What worries me a little bit is the story, which is a bit hard to understand at the moment and is filled with jargons that are a bit hard to understand. Even some of the things that the character do kind of hard to decipher. For example, I'm not really sure if Nakiami jamming the pole into Akiyuki's hand is the reason why Akiyuki's hand starts getting infected by the red rocks or if it actually stops the spreading of the rocks. At the moment, I'm going to assume it's the later but I can't help but wonder if she was coercing Akiyuki to come with her or turn into rocks. Another thing that is hard to digest is the relationship between Nakiami, Xam'd, the white-haired people seen in the first episode, and the ship she boards into.

Having said that, it's hard not to be impressed by the grand scale of the story. It's like BONES somehow came up with a story that looks like a combination of Nausicaa, Cowboy Bebop, and Evangelion. The reference about Xam'd is like a mother protecting its child was a bit too close to that series. Even the pose of the dead Xam'd in the secret labs looks like the pose of Evangelion Unit 00 when it's being restrained in the NERV dock. I also like some of the dilemma that is presented in this episode. It must be hard being a doctor when your own son is missing but you have a patient you must take care of. I can understand why Akiyuki's mother is frustrated because on the one hand, it looks like Akiyuki's father cares more about his patient than his own son. As far as love interest goes, I'm surprised to see Nakiami having little interest in Akiyuki, dismissing him just as another male. At the moment Haru seems to be the main female character of the series. I also think that her other male classmate can potentially be a rival for Akiyuki. The guy seems to like Haru but Haru clearly likes Akiyuki.

© memento 2003