Fafner Vol-1: Arcadian Project (2004)
Animation Production: Xebec
Released by: Geneon Entertainment
Running Time: 100 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Having never heard of Fafner before I did some research before watching the first DVD and sure enough it turns out that there is quite a following behind this series. After checking out seen episodes one through four I have to agree with a lot of the feedback I read online this past week, this show rocks and it rocks hard! Now, Fafner isn’t perfect by any means nor did it strike me as particularly original, but everything about it comes together rather well and in a way that makes it feel unique, despite its less than original individual components.

So with that let’s get right into it and see what Fafner is all about!

Story

"Their Paradise was a Deception...The youth of Tatsumiya Island believed that they had ordinary lives ... until the advent of the Festum, extraterrestrial intelligent life forms intent on assimilating all humans. Abruptly, their once peaceful island transforms into a high-tech military fortress to counter-attack the hostile aliens. Their shock intensifies when they learn that only they can pilot the Fafner, a class of humanoid-type robots that represent the final and only weapon against the Festums and their divine powers.
" -- DVD Box

Review

The first volume in Geneon’s release of Fafner features episodes one through four in the series, which include:

Episode 1: Beginning (Paradise)
Welcome to Tatsumiya island, a tropical paradise removed from the rest of the world. Here, a small population of people lives in peace, going about their daily lives in the most carefree environment you can imagine. Among the residents of this tropical isle are several young people who are about to be in for the shock of the of their lives as they discover that their perfect, peaceful world is in fact nothing more than a very realistic mirage…

The island where they’ve lived their entire lives is in fact a top secret technology/military base that holds the most advanced technology in the world, the only weapons and personnel that will be able to stand up to the Festum, a mysterious extraterrestrial race that seems intent on assimilating humans.

When Tatsumiya island comes under attack the pilot for the Fafner robot becomes one of the alien invader’s first casualties. Now, only Kazuki, a young resident of the island with no idea on what’s happening or what was hidden deep in the underground of his home may be its only hope. Will he be able to pilot the giant Fafner robot weapon?

Episode 2: Life (Confession)
Thanks to the daring actions & sacrifices of the Alvis forces as well as Kazuki’s first valiant effort onboard the Fafner robot the giant alien creature known only as Festum has been neutralized, but now that the cloak has been pulled all the young people in the island who weren’t in the know previous to the battle wonder what this is all about and why such a great secret was being kept from them. In addition, everyone must now deal with the results of the fight and the friends and family members they lost. Paradise will never be the same again…

Episode 3: Truth (Labyrinth)
The Neo U.N is intent on finding Tatsumiya island, but thanks to the Alvis’ advanced technology it has successfully avoided detection so far. How long can they keep this up though?...

Having had such a close call earlier a decision is made to recruit other pilots for the Fafner robot as a way to ensure that the island and its technologies can be safely guarded against the Festum invaders and any other opponents that they may be forced to face in battle.

Episode 4: Departure (Escape)
With the Festum aware of the island’s location a bold decision is taken, Tatsumiya must sail to a new geographic position to avoid further attacks. However, when the aliens strike during the operation it forces our heroes to reveal their position to the Neo U.N. What will happen now that our heroes have been discovered…?

Now, my initial impression after seeing episode one of Fafner was that the program’s producers were looking at recreating the success of Evangelion (the ultra secret organization that lies below the Earth’s surface, the alien invader designs, etc), while using character designs from Gundam Seed (Hisashi Hirai did the designs for both shows, hence the striking similarities) and the odd ball mecha designs stylings of shows like SPT Layzner. Initially this made me less than impressed with the whole thing, but once episode two gets going the pieces fall into place and the whole picture comes together in a way that surpasses initial expectations.

With these four episodes being introductory ones the story benefits greatly from playing up the mysteries behind the nature of aliens, their intentions and the Alvis organization. There is obviously a lot for us to explore here and for the writers to play with, but they do a really nice job with the pacing of each chapter so that we get just enough information to keep us interested, but not so much so that there won’t be anything for us to look for later on. The character development also benefits from a well balanced approach that makes it easy to begin meeting the cast and learning what these people are all about and why they are taking part in this conflict and what their role might become later on.

The concept of a secret organization fighting against an unbelievably powerful alien threat clandestinely, using secret advanced technologies unlike any the world has ever seen is one that at best is unoriginal and has been used and re-used for many years, although in recent times it has been more popularized/standardized by shows like Evangelion. That being said the unique spin/feel given to it by the Fafner creative staff is quite interesting and makes it feel almost like a fresh new approach. It does need to play out over several episodes, but once it does there’s no stopping Fafner, the series will capture you and when the disc ends in episode four, you’ll want to travel to Geneon’s DVD mastering offices just to get a glimpse of the next set of episodes. I guarantee it!

The cast also looks like an interesting bunch that will be fun to get to know. The lead character here, Kazuki, who has the highest ratio of genetic compatibility with the Fafner robot (that being the reason he is chosen to pilot it after its original pilot is killed), seems to be a driven young man who will do what is right rather than follow orders that conflict with his own personal moral code, as exemplified by his rescue of the Neo U.N. personnel in episode four, despite the heavy costs attached to this actions. He is surrounded by a group of youths who complement his personal well and will do whatever it take to help him since to a degree they share his fate as pilots for Alvis’ advanced machines. In addition the support staff at Alvis is surprisingly likeable and look to be integral members of the story, with some even being fleshed out to a degree this early into the series.

When it came to the mecha though, I wasn’t as crazy about Fafner. The show’s mechanical designers went for a more realistic than normal approach to everything that in some instances works wonderfully, but in others just makes for eyesores that nearly kill the giant robot action. My biggest gripe by far is Fafner itself, because quite frankly it just doesn’t look good and even in terms of functionality I don’t see how this could the most advanced weapon we can have against alien invaders. Now, I know exactly what it is that they were trying to do here, but it’s just that I’ve seen it done so much better in other series like Dancouga, Patlabor and even Gundam. Not a crucial point given today’s different standards and expectations for mecha designs in anime, but having grown up with the heroic and streamline designs of the 70’s and 80’s this one was far too removed from the norm for my taste.

In terms of production values Xebec delivers another amazing piece of work with this anime. The animation is crisp, smooth and visually rich to a degree that is right up there with the best contemporary anime releases. The hand drawn piece of the equation is supported by very tightly integrated CGI rendered effects that add to the realism and complexity of the drawings (especially the mecha sequences) and background art.

The soundtrack featured in these episodes was rather good, with the opening and closing themes being particularly good. The BGM featured in the actions scenes also came as a nice surprise with its dramatic military stylings although it did suffer from not having any stand out pieces. The voice acting was superb and made the characters come to life brilliantly.

On the DVD front this is a basic release with a small number of extras contained in the disc. These include clean copie of the opening & ending themes as well as previews for other Geneon anime releases. There is also a small insert inside the box with more info on the release dates for the rest of the series and soundtrack on one side and a mini poster on the other. The video and audio transfers for this one were perfectly carried out with no noticeable issues. Subtitles were easy to read and well timed.

Final Thoughts

All in all this is one amazing series that we need to keep an eye on, despite some of its less than original ideas. Since this set of episodes only marks the beginning of the journey I don’t doubt for one second that Fafner will only get better as it moves forward with the story in future episodes.

This one gets our highest recommendations.

Jeffrey Couto