I don't want to harp too much on this, since it can likely be chalked up to lack of funding or a time crunch, poor management, etc., factors that lie outside of the artists control. But it just feels like there's no effort. There are hundreds of scenes where people just talk to one another, with nothing done to spruce it up. Just people, with about six frames between them, just talking. Some of the fights are entertaining, but the thing about the Festum- the alien enemies of the show- is that they all attack by flashing a purple light that makes the same blackish-purple CG circle appear on things, before erasing them... quite literally, as if someone just took an eraser to the picture they were looking at.
So, one thing that makes the story suffer at the start is the confusing first battle. See, there are a couple important characters who get killed in the first episode- who I did not know immediately had died because their deaths were not properly animated. In fact, I don't even know their names, even though one of them was a main character's father. So, as the story starts with quite a few people being killed, you strap in for the melodrama and get ready for characters to start getting offed. The best way for this story to work is with a lot of character development, using the looming alien threat as a backdrop for personal conflicts.
Not quite. This story has three main characters, Kazuki Matabe, Soshi Minashiro, and Maya Tomi. The supporting cast is rather large, almost to a fault. Kazuki is the leading character, and his arc consists of him trying to figure out ways to understand the people around him, more specifically Soshi, his best friend, whose eye he cut out when they were children. Soshi has alien powers for reasons mostly left unexplained, which scared Kazuki as a child, and the story of them becoming friends again is probably the most compelling one in the whole show. Maya's story is also good, as she overcomes her fear of fighting and 'changing' or losing her sense of self, to become a hero and savior of her friends.
Those friends- the other Fafner pilots- unfortunately take up more screen-time and have objectively worse arcs than the mains.Let's start with Shoko- she's an invalid whose only clearly defined traits are: she's sick, and drumroll please she's in love with Kazuki! One-sided-ly! So, when the show focuses on her for a couple episodes, you immediately think she's going to die. She does, and here is where I think the show best establishes its major theme: it's alright to fear change and loss, but these things are necessary for survival.
Despite that being the only theme I could notice in the whole show, Mamoru's arc, rushed in towards the end of the show's run, seems to contradict everyone else's arc. Koyo and Sakura both refuse to change, and both suffer greatly as a result, tortured from the assimilation phenomenon which slowly kills the pilots as they operate Fafners. Mamoru, however, gives up his Goubain personality, expresses both verbally and in his actions a desire to protect his friends and to change, and just when he's become stronger and more self-actualized- he dies. This guy undergoes more development than 95% of the supporting cast, and his reward is death? Oh, are we going to play the nihilism card, Tow Ubukata, you f***ing hack?
Speaking of terrible writing, let's talk about what this show calls 'world-building' and 'story'. I should honestly add about 20 more quotation marks to each side of those words. Very little is of the 'science' of the technology the characters utilize is actually explained, which would be fine if it had any discernible rules. How can the Festum read minds? Why can they predict some attacks but not others? Why do the Fafners block the mind reading, and why has the technology not been implemented so their island can never be found? How did the humans develop a drug to implant the 'Festum factor' that allows them to be Fafner pilots? How did the Festum sterilize the Japanese? Why? And if that wasn't enough questions, let's look at some story elements that raise questions.
Shoko's grave gets defiled because she self destructs her Fafner. Why are there no consequences to this? How are there Neo U.N. spies on the island? Why do they not initiate a coup? Why does Dr. Bertrand not forcibly take over the island? Exactly how many Festum are there, and why do they not reinforce the North Pole more efficiently if it is the 'backbone' of their operations? Who is Tsubaki? Why do she and her older brother have alien powers? How do they 'teach' the Festum things? Why don't all assimilated humans teach them things? Wouldn't the 'war' end after they assimilated, like, one human?
The dialogue is terrible, which I think is a crime because there is way too much of it. Despite being a visual medium, so much of the show is devoted to just talking, which usually falls into one of two categories when it isn't main characters talking. The first is boring crap, fluff that seems to only exist to draw out screen time, such as romances and mini-arcs that are forgettable and add no value to the plot. The second are opaque, overly complicated messes of exposition and pseudo-science that just make absolutely no sense. For all I know, some of those questions I listed earlier may have been answered, but I could not tell you because this story feels like it was written to be as complex as possible, which is ironic when you consider the fact that most of the main characters spend their time trying to understand one another better.
So to sum up the story and characters together: Most of them are pointless. It all feels like wasted potential. There are so many scenes where I was supposed to feel happy or sad, but I didn't because the story just fails to make me feel attached to most of the characters or their fate.
One thing that did make me feel emotion consistently, however was the score. The music in this show is god-tier. Even while the writing fails to make you feel anything, the music will do the trick. Even the kicking opening and mellow closer are packed with more emotion than the actual show. As I stated in the short review of this show, what kept me invested was the score, and it's what kept me coming back other than the fact that I spent $20 on the BD.
To conclude, the only way I can recommend this anime is if you just have nothing else to watch. Trust me, you'll think of something better to do while you're watching this, like going to the DMV or filing your taxes. That's right, dealing with the f***ing bureaucratic nightmares presented by the American government is more enjoyable than watching this dumpster fire.
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