K reviews anime: Xam'd Lost Memories

When a young boy Akiyuki, on a peaceful island becomes the victim of a terrorist attack, he transforms into Xam'd, a powerful bio-mecha capable of extreme power. Now he must discover the depth of his power and the role he plays in a world where metal and rock meet flesh, desire, and destiny.

Xam'd Lost Memories borrows heavily from other anime productions and as a result is a lot of things; it is an epic story than spans continents  combining elements of a steam punk and science fiction nature in a tribal, south American-middle eastern, civil war influenced setting. The ideas and ideals behind these foundations converge to craft the world of Xam'd.

The animation style from Studio Bones presents Xam'd's characters as very distinct and homely, similar to something from a Studio Ghibli film and this includes elements from their works such as the anime films Whispers of the Heart, right through to Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Regardless of the influence the lore is fleshed out as the series progresses.

The stirring musical score in Xam'd Lost Memories helps to enunciate the tense ambiance of a civil war and helps to convey the gravity of the conflict, events and accompanies the overwhelming pace of Akiyuki's situation. The score and pacing begins to settle once the scene is set.

For reasons out of Akiyuki's control he ends up serving on a postal airship that has its own agenda and consists of a rag-tag crew. As Akiyuki travels further away from his home town Zanbani he also leaves behind his complicated relationship with his estranged parents and the friendship he has with two classmates Haru and Furuichi, who both grow and change in his absence though not necessarily for the better. All of these characters, including Akiyuki struggle with the past and this theme is given precedence and the series is often very melancholic as a result.

Nakiami is a mysterious woman onboard the postal airship and brings to mind the protagonist in Ghibli's film Nausicaa; with her character design and jet vehicle she flies sharing a striking resemblance.

What works in Xam'd lost memories are the rest of the colorful and humorous characters onboard the air ship. Reminiscent of another anime Cowboy Bebop, there is a family dynamic present and this works well. In particularly how they treat the new comer Akiyuki is often quite humorous.

There is a lot of conflict both on and off the airship and this resonates well on screen; there is a plethora of lore and characters to get through and the first half of the series does so in an entertaining and dynamic manner. Things pick up mid-way when the enemy reveals itself and Akiyuki must confront his past relationships. There is some poignancy in how this is approached and this carries on through the majority of the dialogue in the series, which is deep and meaningful.

What does not work in Xam'd Lost Memories is its reliance on ground already trod. Already mentioned is the exhaustive works of Ghibli and other references but the series also takes a few pages from Neon Genesis Evangelion; the characters, motivations, mecha-like Xamd's, the structure and the dour seriousness that Evangelion occasionally utilized are all evident in Xam'd Lost Memories, particularly the dourness which is unfortunately overstated. There are only a few characters that bring some comic relief but for the most part Xam'd Lost Memories is a humorless vacuum consisting of overly serious and arduous dialogue.

The most frustrating problem however is the total change of pacing of the series in part 2. While the title is given greater significance and there is resolution, the introduction of a slew of new characters in addition to an uneven pace and the total change of locations is jarring. By this point Xam'd Lost Memories is a different beast from its initial conception. Adding to the confusion, many of the characters suffer from a complete about-face; their attitudes and motivations are altered significantly to move the story along, but this was a little hard to accept and it feels like the series has bitten off more than it can chew.

Xam'd Lost Memories contains an incredibly intricate plot and for the purpose of this review there will be no spoilers. It is first and foremost genre fare and the series struggles to differentiate itself as anything more than a safe and by-the-numbers anime series which is further exacerbated by the stylish conventions borrowed from other anime. It is a quality production that overstays its welcome with the second half letting it down considerably.

 

The DVD and Bluray contain both original Japanese and English (US) options. I advise to skip the dub, it is atrocious.

The extra features include original opening and ending themes without text and two alternate opening and endings and they are all good and catchy.

In terms of the transfer, the series looks great on both DVD and Bluray with an obvious enhancement of sharpness and clarity coming from the Bluray release.