Soukyuu no Fafner - Right of Left
Okay, my summary of this one-off OVA, a prequel to the Soukyuu no Fafner TV series of 2004, will have to go in an extended entry - it assumes you’ve watched the TV series beforehand, and I don’t want to spoil anyone who’s not yet seen the whole thing (for example, those buying the DVDs) for anything that happens.
In some ways I’m a little surprised that Fafner got an OVA; it was crying out for one (I wasn’t expecting a prequel, but a sequel would be lovely!), but I really didn’t think it was particularly popular. I guess it really must have done a lot better in Japan than it did in the West on the digisub circuit, as Right of Left is really top-notch stuff; you would never believe this was the same Xebec that produced Negima, Erementar Gerad and Mar this year. Production values are top-notch (the background art! Oh my GOD the background art!) and the writing is excellent (as much as I understood of it) - as usual for Fafner, it’s total melodrama and incredibly depressing, but very enjoyable all the same. I’m a little surprised at how well done this is, given that the Fafner TV series seems quite a long time ago given the fast-paced world of anime; I’d forgotten just how effective it could be. I don’t really have any complaints about Right of Left at all, except that I still want to see that sequel OVA get made some day! They even got some nice homages in to the original series; specifically a good old Soushi hair flip. Ah, the good old days of Soushi blow-drying his hair, Soushi being nervous when Kazuki looks round his room, Soushi being horribly prissy all the time… And even though we get narration throughout this episode, we thankfully have no return to the whole “umbrella of smiles” debacle of the first few episodes of Fafner, bless its heart.
So, a vague synopsis. There’s quite a lot of exact details I don’t think I got, and I don’t plan on going through the episode again to check; apologies for any inaccuracies, but at 50 minutes it’s a bit long for me to sit through with the dictionary, plus I’d be miserable at the end of it again and I don’t feel like doing that to myself too much! I’ve missed out a lot of character moments, which is where Fafner shines really; even in such a short space of time the writing manages to build up some convincing relationships and emotions here, which is pretty good going really!
Tatsumiya Island, about a year or so before the events of the TV series. The class above Kazuki and co. graduates from junior high, and Ryo Masaoka, the class president (who has some kind of heart defect), gives a speech urging them on to better things. He’s good friends with Karin Kuramae (remember the first episode of the TV series?), a bespectacled girl, and particularly Yumi Ikoma, his vice-president, whose father is extremely sick (and also secretly heading the Fafner project at Alvis). When Yumi arrives home from spending a day at the beach with Ryo, she discovers her father dying in the garden telling her that she needs to get some information to Alvis; after his funeral, she discovers all about Alvis and is enlisted to become a Fafner pilot - it turns out Ryo was already in the program, as was Karin and Soushi (several of the TV series cast make cameos throughout the episode in a rather nice way). Yumi is not best pleased by this, and is rather hostile to Ryo for a while; meanwhile, he’s angsting over what to do with his pet dog, which he almost puts down before getting Karin to take care of it.
Ryo and Yumi are partnered up in the Crossing system (this is before Siegfried is really up and running)
and take on the Festum (which are unfortunately frequently CG rendered this time round, I loved how they were done in the TV series, although it improves towards the end of the episode) together; they grow closer together again as tension mounts over Plan L (for Left), which Yumi’s father instigated for attacking the Festum and is unpopular for its seeming prematurity and the usual problems that cropped up in the TV series, namely the assimilation phenomenon (which I thought the adults weren’t particularly aware of when it happened to Kouyou?) and the use of teenagers; Ryo sticks up for Yumi, however, earning her respect again.
As Soushi is forced into using the Siegfried System rather than fighting, one by one the pilots are killed off or part-assimilated until only Ryo, Yumi and Karin are left. Then Plan L comes into action; to blow up the island where the Festum are gathering and move out. The plan is executed, but not without disaster; Yumi’s Titan unit is damaged severely in the battle. While Karin is about to be sent out in Fafner Mark Zwei with the Siegfried System activated to help rescue them, she is called off by Commander Minashiro until she and Soushi make him change his mind; however, they are too late, as Yumi and Ryo (who has stayed with her) sink to the bottom of the ocean as their allotted 15 minutes are almost up. Ryo and Yumi confess their love to each other at last before Yumi is totally assimilated, and Ryo activates the Fenrir system as a Festum approaches after recording one final message to Alvis.
Four months later, and the wreckage of Ryo’s Titan is recovered from the depths of the sea, where his dog discovers the recording. In it, he prays that the people of Alvis will listen to him, and tells them that they are the ones who can ensure that life will continue. Finally, Soushi leaves the island to explore beyond what the Solomon Project can show him, leaving Karin behind with a promise that they will fight together some day.
PS - I never answered it in the comments on the last episode of Fafner TV, but with regards to the love triangle - Maya and Kazuki 4 EVA OTL!!!!1111. I’m a het fanboy, and while Kazuki and Soushi slash is incredibly obvious and hilarious, it’s just the usual fangirl baiting; I think they’re just best friends, whereas Maya and Kazuki would probably actually work well in a relationship together. But that’s just me, and I’m trying to distract myself from how horribly depressing Right of Left was; since you know Yumi and Ryo will die from the very start because they’re not in Fafner (and Karin is pretty much a goner anyway!) it’s all horribly inevitable and gloomy. Bah.
December 31st, 2005 at 5:35 pm
Not reading the conent since I’m one of those watching the DVD release, but from what I remember Fafner was pretty well received with the fan market in Japan - in a lot of the end-of-year magazine polls it was only second to the likes of FMA and SEED Destiny - Animage (the only one I have to hand at the moment) had it as 3rd most popular show (admittedly with only a thrid of the votes as FMA at No 2), and a lot of the individual episodes made the top 100 episode list.
Oh, and Negima actually looked pretty good once the Fafner staff took over the animation duties on it, though its a shame they didn’t fix all of the odd colour pallette choices whilst they were at it.
December 31st, 2005 at 9:40 pm
This is like the saddest mecha anime i’ve seen by far. I gotten so close to crying that i just couldnt hold back anymore. ;_;
I would recommend this to any typical mecha/sci-fi fans. In my opinion, I think Fafner ownz eva all the way.
January 1st, 2006 at 2:04 am
I think Fafner was just popular among the otaku crowd, but certainly nowhere near Eva…I don’t know about RahXephon.
It’d never reach the popularity ofSEED and FMA, seeing that it was a late-night show…
Frankly speaking I hated the first half. But after the other writer took over it actually became quite good. A bit ironic that IMO the episode with one of the best animation was 24, which was actually done by Bones…
Good to see that this episode is done well. I’m convinced to go see it now.
January 2nd, 2006 at 12:17 am
Soushi/Kazuki is one of the very, *very* few BL couples I’d defend to the death as “OMG CANON!!!!11!”, even though normally I wouldn’t be at all opposed to a pairing like Kazuki/Maya. Anyway, since, this is RoL, let’s get off that subject.
Really, I loved the OAV. So much that I almost wanted it to be a series. Ryo and Yumi just clicked in the way I wish Kazuki/Maya had, and knowing they would die and then watching them at the bottom of the ocean just killed me. Then the tape at the end rubbed salt in the wound. But Fafner is all about the depressing, so I shouldn’t be too shocked.
And I’m glad this came out, because it reminded me how much I loved the original series and that I need to buy the DVDs for it.
January 2nd, 2006 at 12:57 am
As far as Fafner het couples go, I actually prefer Kazuki/Canon to Kazuki/Maya… but I might be alone in that. A small part of me likes Soushi/Maya better, too, if only because it’s so very wrong. But whether or not it’s viewed romantically, the Soushi/Kazuki bond is a core aspect of the series. If there’s a sequel (and there should be!), I’d rather the writers focus on that bond, general friendship with the other characters, and the island’s sense of community and family than on specific, overtly romantic pairings. Kenji/Sakura aside, of course.
As for Right of Left, it was excellent. I was surprised and relieved at how much they packed into 50 minutes–I had been wondering how they would deal with two completely new characters, but it worked out really well. I loved both Ryo and Yumi (and Ryo/Yumi–at least there’s one pairing we can all agree on!).
The art and animation impressed me, especially when contrasted with that of the TV series. Hisashi Hirai’s character designs look like utter crap when they’re executed poorly–which happened fairly often in the TV series, unfortunately–but when they’re done well, they look just amazing. Not much to say about the music; it was as effective as that of the series. CD Japan lists a Right of Left soundtrack as coming out in March, although I have to wonder how much of it is genuinely new material.
Talk about a sad ending. It epitomized that nice mixture of tragedy and hope that made Fafner so appealing for me. The tape scene and the ending scenes with Ryo’s dog were what got to me the most. On an unrelated note, I also appreciated the way they worked in some good lines for the TV series pilots. It was thoughtful of them to give Shouko something to say, and I liked how the one Kazuki-Soushi-angst scene was very brief but said volumes. Anyway, good stuff.
January 5th, 2006 at 3:08 am
Good Review. I enjoyed the raws so much I’m rewatching the TV series. It came back to after the comments here that the series changed quite a bit half way thru. The original scrpt writer had the series floundering.
I didn’t understand the “umbrella of smiles”reference though.
Hope its subbed soon.
January 9th, 2006 at 2:05 am
Just to clear up a few things. The whole Left project was to create an artificial island as bait to attract the Festum away from the real one. Everyone pretty much believed that the whole project was a death trap and that whoever went was never going to come back. Which is another reason why Yumi’s father had to get the last bit of info to Alvis because he added an escape sub for the survivors to get out when the month was up. They use an escape sub because they believed that the Festums couldn’t go underwater, which they later found out was not true. So, to keep the Festum from following the sub to the real island, Ryo and Yumi stayed behind. The extra fafner wasn’t sent out, or rather stopped, in fear of attracting the Festum’s attention about the real island. Well, it worked somewhat since it took the Festum another year or so to find the real island. Also, it was mentioned that the Festum are silicon-based lifeform, which I found was a nice touch, since it has been scientifically conjectured that there may very well be silicon based lifeforms out there, unlike the carbon based lifeforms we are. This OVA basically went and filled in quite a few unanswered questions from the original TV series. You start to realize why Soushi is the way he is and why everyone were the way they are.
It really is some of the best character writing in anime that you will see. Its just hands down that good.
January 9th, 2006 at 6:16 am
This is gunna sound stupid but …how do you get the fafner Right of Left OVA? It sounds really cool just..cant find it anywhere…
January 13th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
rol–> is just a pretty short prequel of fafner.
and I think, Xebec has done a reallie good job on this serie..
A 50 minutes movie with full of tragic moments
reallie worth to watch.
*two thumbs up for u’r great review*
January 29th, 2006 at 5:49 am
It’s great that Xebec didn’t exploit the popularity of the Fafner series by expanding this OVA to a 30 episode TV series or something..
Anyways this is by far one of the best OVA i have ever seen… I enjoyed every second of the 50mins OVA… The story is so well written and everything made a lot of sense… It’s really really sad to see that the plan L was not immediately recognized by the teenagers in the island (of course those who know the existence of Alvis would know people sacrifice their lives for ‘temmporary’ peace)… This is quite realistic/depressing because most people in real life do take peace for granted..
February 7th, 2006 at 2:32 am
Keep in mind, regarding the Soushi and Kazuki relationship, that in the newest drama CD, “GONE/ARRIVE”, Kazuki has said something, to his father, along the lines of “You understand how I feel, don’t you? Isn’t this what you felt when you lost mom? But you didn’t have the power to crush them like you wanted to! But I DO! So let me go!!” And keep in mind this was between episodes 23 and 24, before Kazuki knew Soushi was alive. This means that Kazuki himself equates his relationship with Soushi to that which his mom and dad shared. Even without that though, everything that Kazuki did in the TV series related to Soushi. He left the island because he badly wanted to understand Soushi, and he also wanted to be understood by him, and when with the Human Army, Soushi was the one he thought about.
Cynthia
February 9th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
OMG! so..it means that you all watched it already?!!! O_O please tell me where i might be able to find it! ..not bittorent please! mine caught a bug!!!! T_T
February 12th, 2006 at 7:51 am
oh man…..where can i find this????
i dont know where to look
March 7th, 2006 at 2:56 am
for people who doesn’t know where to find this prequel, go to www.youtube.com and type in fafner and scroll down. Enjoy! It was sooo sad, I cried at the end when Yumi and Ryo died. His dog died too, I cried too, just to let you know. I don’t like the part where Yumi got her haircut, I think it’s ugly, no offence though. I think I heard there’s a sequel coming up, after the fafner series. Soushi is gonna return!! Yippee! I don’t know if you guys get it or not, but in the first episode of fafner, it sorta shows how the festum found them. so it’s like this:
Kazuki got this cool radio or watever, so he wannaa try it out. So he invited Soushi to do it with him. THen when he heard the ” are you there?” voice one of the glass piece broke off and damaged Soushi’s eye. Then Kazuki wants to try it again, he turn the radio up loud, and the rest of the kids, like sakura, maya, shouko etc. came. Kazuki was like,” should we answer it?” and the kids agreed so they answered.
This is what I basically thinks.
I don’t get why you people likes Kazuki/soushi, but I think Ryo/Yumi and Kazuki/Maya, and Kenji/Sakura is the best couple.
FAFNER ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 10th, 2006 at 2:20 am
Cool review! I mean, I’ve finally found a Fafner blog, Lolz. I’ve been looking around for a forum for a long time, finally given up and made my own. If you guys are interested, please visit us at
http://s14.invisionfree.com/Arcadian_Project/
Fafner fans are more than welcome! I wish I had more time to talk about this OVA & the TV Series.
Before I take off again:
RYO x YUMI ROCKS!!!!!!
April 16th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
I can’t agree with you on much here ^^ I didn’t like it at ALL. It’s depressing, but that’s all… and what’s up with a PREQUEL? I was like “wtf?” o_O And what’s with Soushi and Kazuki acting all hostile?
My friend was like “oh well, perhaps cus Soushi wants to fight with his friends, but can’t cus of his eye?” Me, being the ohsobright one; “but that’s not KAZUKI’s fault!!” *silence* “right… it WAS his fault”… XP anyway, SouKaz rules, cus it’s so obvious. I didn’t like Soushi in this OVA… and I didn’t like the other characters.
And btw.. doesn’t Kazuki and others wonder sometimes? How come a bunch of their friends just suddenly moved away never to contact them again? -_-
Speaking of, only reason I coped with Karin was cus I knew she’d be offed in the series XD don’t like her much.
June 9th, 2006 at 6:01 am
WHAT?! How could the OVA be set as a prequel of the series? I thought for sure they’ll be making a continuation of the tv. Ah, I really hope this OAV isn’t the only OAV they will releasing. I really want to see a reunion between Soushi & Kazuki. I cried myself so much after watching the last episode. It was so touching. I definitely think that this series needs some sort of closure between these 2 main characters. This series needs to a happy ending for god’s sake! Though the last episode is pretty interesting, it’s still sad as hell. A happy reunion between Soushi & Kazuki is definitely needed to quench my fangirlism, lol! ^^
November 19th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
When I heard of a prequel to the series, I thought, how could a prequel be interesting? Well, RIGHT OF LEFT was more interesting that I thought… I loved the music (which tends to be my favorite part of any series… if I like it, that is…). The insert song and the ending song are awesome!!! Okay, I will hold back before I start doing a musical analisis…
I was surprised about how the new characters fit well with the ones from the series. I liked how depressing it was, because it was done in such a good way… I loved the breif moment of tension between Soushi and Kazuki… and how Ryo and Yumi die after confessing their love for one another… how cute…
February 18th, 2007 at 9:06 am
this is to respond to what u said about the incredible slash between soushi/kazuki being the usual fangirl baiting. There are a lot of anime out there that have BL subtext in them and ur right, that is for fangirl baiting.However, this anime’s main focus was soushi and kazuki(they are the main characters) and their relationship with each other. In the end of the anime soushi tells tsubaki that kazuki is more important to him than her. Also in the drama cd’s kazuki compares his relationship with soushi to his mom/dad. And the whole series shows kazuki doing everything for soushi and ignoring maya. Whenever he talks to her it is definitely not romantic. Also soushi gets jealous any time maya talks to kazuki or is with him. And then the end vows they made to each other. So why would u think that kazuki/maya is there when kazuki/soushi hints are five times as much as kazumaya(kazumaya are maybe 2 and kazusou about 15+ lol). The only reason u would say that is becasue u dont want to see b/b and thats fine, u r a het fanboy afterall, u have a right to think whatever^-^. Still this series and kazusou relationship is definitely not for fangirl baiting. Their relationship is as canon as it can be and the creators threw everything but the kitchen sink at us . Also notice the interaction between ryou and yumi in “right or left” and then notice the interaction between kazuki and soushi in the tv series. Ask yourself, which couple has more suggestive scenes between them?? ryou only said i love u to yumi but soushi and kazuki said a lot more things to each other, ofcourse those were ambiguous as the creators can’t do anymore, but how anyone can miss what they have unless u hate m/m is beyond me.
And listen to the drama cd’s because it clarifies everything; how kazuki only has eyes for soushi and viceversa, and also how soushi has NO ROMANTIC INTEREST in maya!! that always cracks me up when someone thinks that. Hmm maybe u didnt see ep 17.
February 20th, 2007 at 8:40 am
hi i found a fanlisting for soukazu so please everyone who loves this pairing join!!^-^
http://crystal.senbonzakura.org/soukazu/