lortoffi SuperbI've recently viewed this series for the third time (the 1st was in 2003 and the 2nd in 2007) and incredibly I've yet seen new particulars that I've missed the previous times. I consider it a sign of a worthy production.The story is complex but not obscure and, in contrast to Neon Genesis Evangelion, everything reaches a natural explanation toward the end of the series. And where NGE takes a lot of references from the Qabbalah and the Jewish tradition, RahXephon takes its from Aztec and Mayan lore.Sometimes it takes time to check the crossed links in the anime, and sometimes require a little of work to understand what is apparently a missing point. For example is easy to grasp that Watari Shirou is the father of Ayato, a little more tricky it's to understand how Kisaragi Quon is the real mother of Ayato and his twin brother ItsukiThe characters are well developed, with deep and complex interaction between them. The main character, Ayato, is well characterized and doesn't provoke the impulse to slap him continuously (as Shinji Hikari does)Premising that I've seen the original Japanese anime and not the American dubbed one, I can state that the audio is simply outstanding. Starting from the ouverture of "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg" by Wagner the series is full of music, the recurring theme from "Polovetskie plyaski" by Borodin, up to the compositions by Hashimoto Ichiko, like the delicious "Katun no Sadame", make it tasty to listen. And the music pervades everything in the show, dolem (DO-RE-MI?) are named with music terms (like Allegretto, Fortissimo, Falsetto), the last purpose of the RahXephon system is "to tune the world" etc...Everything is cured even the name of the characters, e.g. "Kamina" means "the name of the god", "Ayato" is written as "the design of the man", "Watari Shirou" could be translated as "requests truth the samurai's son" There are also numerous references to other works in primis "L'oiseau bleu" by Maeterlinck (also Michiru, the dead daughter of Kunugi Jin could be a transliteration of Mytyl), but also references from Japanese folk tradition like "Urashima Taro". It's like a game to find them all.I consider it a masterpiece and I recommend to view it.

djad13 What can i say guys: like you all said, its one of a nice plot, nice animation, nice movements, little is bad on the whole thing. Storyline is great too, tears in my eyes, and still i cant shake the love in this one...OK, there are similarities with NGE, and these are A LOT! check wickepedia for a list of some. OK, i like Japanese anime for the depth of the characters, and the psychology of the whole thing. They bring a new meaning to the word DEEP! But with NGE, i had to go to 100 sites and to find 100 different interpretations to reach to the conclusion of what happened at the end of the series and EOE. the end of the season was nice, but didn't make much sense to me, plus it was sooooooooooo psychologically messed up, i couldn't get it out of my mind for the next 4-5 weeks! MENTAL. Of course had to watch it another 1-2 times, where you understand a bit more.now with this one, it flows much better. Still deep in love, drama, action, etc, but in a more understandable way. And not that the ending is too easy to understand the first time, the way that it rolls out, but it was great! I still cant get the love on this out of my head. tear-bringer all the way, and nice action to cover your mental health :) there's been so much mecha out there, you definitely don't know where to start from. One of the best is this one! you wont regret it, even if you watched the NGE. Plus this i wouldn't exactly call it a mecha, more like a love story with mecha in it...great stuff if you're into it.have fun

etg1701 The main problem with RahXephon is that it tries too hard to duplicate the success of Neon Genesis Evangelion, ending up rather derivative and turgid in the process. It has it all: the teenager with the knack for mecha piloting and whining, the cute but enigmatic "waif prophetess", the mysterious mecha that isn't really a mecha, the strange invaders named according to the show's theme, the ancient conspiracy, the world cataclysm, and, of course, the Looming Apocalypse™.Another issue is the rather incoherent and contrived feel that comes from trying to combine a musical (specifically operatic) motif with Mayan mythology. The writers did not seem particularly knowledgeable about music, however, and the most conspicuous example of the musical element is the fact that many of the angels, er, dolem look like giant stone Valkyries, suitably stylized to look Mayan, who use song as a weapon. Another is the rather silly naming scheme for the dolems, which seems to involve picking random terms out of a book on music.Despite these rather glaring issues, RahXephon did have some nice aspects, such as the music, unsurprisingly, and some plot twists involving the origins of Ayato and so forth. Although hardly a great series, it's not too bad if you can't find much else to watch.

TheAnimeWatcher What makes a great anime show over a good anime show? Or even a bad one for that matter...It's about blending elements and getting them to work together successfully. In Rahxephon the elements of deep emotions, Mecha, music, science, religion, relationships, family and even unlined racism are added and fundamentally, blended beautifully to make one of the most amazing anime series ever.First off, this show is visually a feast for the eye. With crisp, clear animation, which despite not being the greatest in an anime show (in terms of attention for detail), is very effective, bright and colourful to the eye. Some of the battle sequences, such as the original Tokyo Jupiter invasion involving Elvy Hadhiyat and Allegretto in a dogfight is excellently choreographed being executed with style and artistry. All the characters in Rahxephon are beautifully designed also. From the quite ordinary boy, Ayato Kamina to the reserved, Quon Kisaragi. The purely macabre Helena Bahbem to the interestingly 'wise old' figure of Seiya Rikudoh. All are wonderfully written and share great layers of depth and scope. With the best instances in the show being that of Dr.Itsuki Kisaragi and Makoto Isshiki. You sense a lot of history with these characters and in the case of Makoto, a real sense of hidden malevolence, making them so compelling to the viewer. It is something that most Anime just can't produce despite there best intentions. The key being, managing to create believable characters in a fictional world. Another area in which this series really excels is the music.(With it being a huge theme throughout) The Mu, the protagonists of the piece, are creatures of music and tone and for this the creators decided, as is the way in these apocalyptic dramatisations, that Classical should be the music of choice. Whilst this adds a real strength to the emotion of the show overall, striking the right notes, this does raise a curious connection. That of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which decided to use classical producing and existing classical tracks in the day to day lives of their characters. This connection with Evangelion is seen in other areas as well, including scenarios and set pieces. Eg. The Rahxephon having to kill a D-1 in orbit from the ground or a D-1 that takes the opponent into negative space through a black hole type phenomenon, enveloping the Mecha and it's pilot. But looking no further than the main lead can really see where these 2 champions of Anime differ. Ayato Kamina and Shinji Ikari. One thing that really made this show work was the amazing realism involved in Ayato. He does really seem to be a young man coming to terms with the world around him and acting accordingly. Whilst at the end of Evangelion, fans and critics alike were becoming a little less than enamoured with Shinji as a character, not to mention the voice actors! Shinji fell into depression and became almost excruciating towards the end. This series is a wonderful piece of emotional anime with classic design work and classic characters. Excelling in every department, including the area Evangelion failed on. A fitting and compelling ending. Both in the series and the movie endings.(Again following Evangelion with a movie alternative ending) It's not a rip off of Evangelion, but another piece of work with similarities, that stands on it's own, in it's own right. People debate, which of them is better, saying you can only like one or the other. This is wrong in my opinion, with both being Genius (in a word) and excelling in different areas. But I can only see the comparison as a pure compliment to Rahxephon. That after it's ran it's course the show is constantly being compared to one of the greatest anime series ever.Rahxephon comes highly recommended and for some parts of the series, it is the best Anime around. It very rarely gets better than this. 9/10