Soukyuu no Fafner Episode 25 (END) - Sky - Azure
I feel this deserves a full synopsis really, which’ll go in the extended entry for spoilers, but as such I’ll just give brief thoughts on Fafner as a whole.
Soukyuu no Fafner was probably the best mecha series of last year, although admittedly it didn’t have a lot of competition. Although it wallowed in melodrama, I think that’s why I liked it - let’s face it, if you’re fighting golden glowing aliens and everything/one you know is rather rapidly going down the pan, I’d probably be screaming and whimpering a lot myself. Some of the writing was a little clunky, with all the “Are you there?” stuff, and I’m pretty sure the series was supposed to go one way and then didn’t (what happened with that whole radio thing we had “foreshadowing” for in episode 1?), although that certainly worked to the show’s advantage as we lost the dreadful Soushi monologues and so on.
Anyway, there were a lot of things to like about Fafner. The animation was generally very good throughout, with decently used CG and smooth 2D, the music was suitably overblown (and the OP and ED were angela’s usual goodness), and the characters were eventually almost all well developed enough for me to care about what happened to them (which was almost invariably something horrible). I’m definitely looking to pick Fafner up on DVD whenever it gets licensed, and I hope that, despite the general lack of enthusiasm Fafner seems to have picked up among the fansub community, my inane ramblings about it might spur more people to give it a try.
Anyway, on with the spoiler-tastic synopsis!
With Shouko, Mamoru and Michio dead, Sakura part-assimilated (but soon to be cured thanks to the knowledge Akane gave to the Solomon System) and Kouyou helping Akane fight the other Festum, the four remaining pilots - Canon, Kazuki, Kenji and Maya - set out for the North Pole, ostensibly to help the UN in their last battle against the Festum but mainly to attempt to rescue Soushi and defeat the Festum by using the Festum Core associated with Akane’s personality against them (as far as I understood it, when Akane was assimilated she was the only person who’d actually been assimilated willingly in the spirit of understanding, something which weakened the Festum as her feelings spread throughout the Mir - the Festum we see as Akane Makabe had developed its own consciousness, like Kouyou, and thus had its own concept of “existence”, the very antithesis of the Festum).
The four pilots use the “crossing” technology that Soushi used to interface with the pilots (oh, for anyone who’s reading this having not watched the rest of the series - the Festum’s target changed from just generally attacking Tatsumiya to going after the Siegfried System, which contained all the data on the Fafner pilots via Soushi - with that, they’d be able to predict any attack made on them, and basically be unstoppable) and cut swathes through the Festum forces before making it to where Akane’s core is. However, they are attacked by the Mark Nicht, which is the Nothung model the UN were working on (Yukie, the spy from all those episodes ago, was going to pilot it, but she was assimilated by the rogue core from that island back in episode 7 or whatever who then gained control of the system) - the core Festum also begins to assimilate Soushi, who starts to tell it the best strategy for defeating Kazuki and co - seperate them. The Festum do this, and all appears lost, but Soushi also teaches the Festum the meaning of pain and existence - the Fafners regroup and basically whup some major ass.
The Mir (which appears to be a giant golden pyramid) then decides to retreat, and connects to space to send its consciousness (or something) away so they can regroup - however, Kazuki and Maya work together and snipe it from afar with the power of the Mark Sein, thus stopping the Festum from regenerating (I think). They all head to escape, but the Mark Nicht comes back for one last try and grabs Kazuki, attempting to assimilate him - however, Soushi and Kouyou rescue him by reminding him that he still exists, although by this point the assimilation phenomenon (which had slowly been taking over all the pilots, but particularly Sakura and Kazuki for some reason) has restarted and thus Kazuki is vaguely Festum-y (although this can obviously be cured by Dr. Toomi now). Kazuki heads for home with the Siegfried System and Soushi inside, but Soushi’s assimilation is almost complete - he opts to become one of the Festum with proper understanding, in the hope that he, too, will be reborn like Kouyou or Akane and thus come back again.
Oh, and Tsubaki has to rejoin the Mir of Tatsumiya, and thus she assimilates into the island itself or something like that. I had no idea what the Mir was supposed to be, but it seemed all trippy and new-age and there was a Tsubaki-foetus so all’s cool.
So yeah, that was the final episode of Fafner. And what do you know, I’ve actually managed to finish another series entirely in blogging. Who’d have thunk?
January 27th, 2005 at 3:38 pm
Wahh, I loved Fafner, its one of my favorite anime. I am part of the ‘old crowd’ and I hadn’t liked an anime, I mean REALLY liked one, in a long time. Fafner restored my faith ^__^
Glad you liked it too, it seems so cult o.O
January 28th, 2005 at 2:17 am
“Dreadful Soushi monologues”…right on! :)
But yeah, I’m still curious about the whole radio thing. After finishing the series, I went back and rewatched episode 1, and some things made more sense, while others remained a mystery. I really liked the way they opened the first ep though, with one of the bombastic orchestral themes played over a line-art flashback. Pretty cool stuff:)
January 28th, 2005 at 7:12 am
There apparently IS (confirmed by newtype) an OVA of SnF coming out sometime someday. I can’t wait for it… I want to see what happens to Soushi, HE WAS MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER. :<
Also I think it’d prolly explain the whole radio thing and the background of the war and the final outcome. Lots of good material to put into an OVA and if XEBEC uses the same animation standard that it did for the last ep and first ep, you will have one stunning OVA.
Why oh why does XEBEC have to utterly cop out on Negima, though.
January 29th, 2005 at 4:50 am
yea, the radio is still a bit vague even after watching the whole series again an 2nd time. I want to say since the kids answered the Festum’s call they screwed humanity, but that’s not possible since Festums have been around longer than they have. Dunno what else…
And I’m with wao, I liked Soushi a lot too and that was a big shocker that he died at the end! BTW, I thought Soushi’s monologues were kind of cool and fitted the scenes they were used in…
With the OVA, I’m hoping it’ll be set a few years in the future where the “main” cast of kids are like in their mid-20s with the war being settled. Odds are we’ll see some type of festum and human co-existence thing that everyone on the island has been trying to accomplish. And just when things start to settle down, good old Soushi makes it back to the island and through him we’ll get the re-cap of everyone’s lives and such. I think it could work out well that way :D
January 29th, 2005 at 10:44 am
The OVA was rumored that Soushi is to return and he and Kazuki will be reunited (well, Kazuki said “forever” didn’t he?). Not sure about how long it’s going to be since the last episode, though. I wonder how he’s gonna look. :/
*drool at the thought of the shonen-ai scenes*
February 4th, 2005 at 6:05 am
Actually, I’ve heard Soushi’s return (and the OVA) will take place about one year after the end of the series, so Kazuki won’t have to wait too long (yay!!).
And about the radio– there’s a really excellent, half-hour-long original drama track on the first OST, “Nowhere,” which reveals a bit more about the radio plot. Basically, Soushi explains, Tatsumiya Island was not only hidden from the UN, but from the Festum as well. But because the children inadvertantly picked up the Festums’ “Anata wa soko ni imasu ka?” transmission and *answered* it, the Festums found them and have, I guess, been observing them. For some reason, they’ve decided to attack (maybe because they started training Kuramae how to pilot a Fafner?).
And about the last ep… I’m really glad you gave Fafner this lovely series review (I really agree–it’s clunky in the beginning, but the second half *really* fleshes out those characters!). But about the last ep– you gave a great synopsis of the fight-the-Festums plot, but what about the love triangle? Thinking back on the series in light of the shockingly shounen-ai-embracing ending (at least in the dialogue), I think it is official that Soushi has been in love with Kazuki throughout the series, and, especially in the latter half, he and Maya have been having a sort of tug-of-war with Kazuki. Who do you think finally won? If you just look at what they say, it seems very obviously Soushi since Kazuki vows to wait for him “forever.” But what about that last smile at Maya? It seems to me that the script/story ppl favor Soushi and the animators favor Maya… hmm. @_@ I hope and pray that Kazuki will decisively choose Soushi in the OVA… or at the very least, NOT decisively choose Maya… ;__;
May 15th, 2005 at 3:18 am
sports book
I think this is a serious issue, have you considered. Sports betting for some fun.
August 26th, 2005 at 6:26 pm
Weee, I just finished the last episode today! ^^ I loved it from ep 1 and I’m quite obsessed with it now. Just please, Soushi COME BACK! And someone, will you please just finish Maya off already? I truly don’t like her. I liked Kenji and Sakura. Though Tsubaki was cool as well ^^ BUT my favourites will always be Soushi and Kazuki - and whatever people go on about a pairing between Maya and Kazuki - no way. The only possible pairing is OF COURSE Soushi/Kazuki ^^ Ta!
August 26th, 2005 at 6:28 pm
Oh, and the idea of Soushi/Maya is just so ridicolous as well. ^^
September 7th, 2005 at 1:08 am
Thanks for reviewing this series. I just finished watching the last episode. What good stuff. I wasn’t too sure what was going on the whole time, but the emotions were conveyed well and I think I cried a couple times while watching. Has anyone read Enders Game? The festum reminded me a bit of the buggers that Ender was fighting. The buggers were supposed to be evil aliens and Ender was in charge of killing them all (he was a child too). If you read the later sequels to the book, you learn that the buggers weren’t really evil, but just trying to find out about mankind or something like that. There was just a bunch of miscommunication.
I want to make a few comments about the whole Soushi and Kazuki thing. I definitely sensed a relationship that goes beyond normal. But I really don’t think it was anything shouen-ai ish. There’s no doubt that Maya will never feel the same things that Soushi and Kazuki feel, but Maya is like Kazuki’s support. She doesn’t play a main role for him, but rather supports him. Also, if there was any “love” triangle (these kids are too young to actually love!), I’d say Soushi liked Maya a little but that he suppressed the feeling before it ever became anything. He cared enough about her to not want her to fight. Tsubaki-chan even said he was being “prejudiced.” I see Kazuki and Soushi’s relationship as being comrades in war, the kind that you might see in Saving Private Ryan or some war movie where the men have really strong relationships with each other, but not because they’re gay. It’s because they understand each other. They share the same ideals, pain, and joy, etc etc.
Anyway, this series is awesome, and it is finally licensed. Let’s hope many more people find out about it.
Btw, for those that watched Gundam Seed, did Toomi remind you a bit of Mirallia? It wasn’t just that they had similar hairstyles, but they had the same positive attitude and strong-will. They both make very good characters. They don’t fit the stereotype of a wishy-washy heroine that cries all the time. They actually do something about it when they want to. I hope to see more characters like that in future mecha animes.
Peace~
June 17th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
for the radio thingy at the 1st episode, i assume it’s how it was began. transmitted radio received at japan and some kids respon to the question “anata soko ni iruka” thus assimilated themself to the festum. so the catasthropy begun.
November 29th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I think there are cases where one must recognize a relationship when it is blatantly being shoved in your face. There are times when the boy/girl relationship isn’t a factor, at least not a romantic one, and that’s perfectly fine.
Nevermind the drama CDs and every other strong hint at their relationship, just look at it from the most basic of angles instead. Soushi has basically had a life of responsibility since a very young age, a life of dedicating himself to the island and to his sister. Even so, Kazuki has always been the only truly important person to him. From a young age, he wanted to forever stay with Kazuki and share everything with him (by becoming one with him). To Kazuki, Soushi was obviously someone he shared a strong bond with, to the point that it devastated him to have hurt Soushi without understanding why. Throughout the series, those two strive to understand each other. No one else really matters except if they’re offering advice or support, such as Maya. But even though, Soushi and Kazuki’s interactions with her, and their feelings about her, are nowhere near as intense as their feelings towards each other. They may worry about her as they would for a sister, but neither one is ever thinking of her in their situations of crisis. Whenever they are angry, sad, lonely, melancholic, or desperate, they think of each other only.
Maya starts out knowing her place. She knows the one always on Kazuki’s mind is Soushi, not her, no matter how many people try to set them up together. She is also the one who pushes them towards each other, pushes them to understand each other. It’s a bit sad that by the end, she’s reduced to blushing whenever Kazuki so much as looks at her.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I forgot to say this too: Kazuki and Soushi’s relationship, while romantic in nature, is not a physical one, at least not as of yet. Their relationship is based on conversation and mutual understanding. They both like each other because they are kind and understand each other implicitly.