Soukyuu の Fafner

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I have just finished watching a series called Soukyuu の Fafner, also known as Dead Aggressor. Fafner tells the story of a group of young kids living on Tatsumiyajima island somewhere off the coast of Japan. The island is a peaceful place where not much happens, and the kids attend to their daily lives without a care in the world. However, this all changes when one day, the island is attack by an alien life form known as a "Festum". The truth is slowly revealed; the rest of the world is already in ruins from the alien invasion and Tatsumiyajima island is the last paradise, and also the last line of defense of mankind. For this reason, Fafners were developed on the island, and only the children of Tatsumiyajima island can pilot these giant robots to fight against the festums.

Kazuki, the main character, aka Shin Asuka's part time role

I am sure that from the above description alone, Fafner is sounding like another series of the EVA genre. That would be a correct deduction. Fafner has all the necessary elements: 1) an incomprehensible alien enemy 2) robots that can only be piloted by children 3) and most importantly, an incomprehensible story line (for most part of the series anyways).

Yes, Fafner has its fair share of dialog that would stop abruptly, or dialog that sound like riddles, keeping the viewers guessing and scratching their heads throughout-out the series. However, I am glad to say that the Fafner manages to escape the pitfall of other animes of this kind, that is, at the end of the series, there is a sense of closure; there is a coherent and comprehensible story underneath all that wishy-washy EVA-ish fluff.

The Fafner Mark Elf	Kazuki and the other main character, Soushi (yaoi territory)	A Festum attacking

All in all, Fafner is an enjoyable series. It has a nice blend of 2-D and CG animation, you never feel that the CG animation is overdone. The cast of characters all have their own very unique and well rounded personalities, that's quite a feat considering the large cast. In a series such as this it's inevitable some characters will die and those moments are really well done; you can feel the pain an anguish that the rest of the characters are going through.

My rating: 8/10