Mecha Talk - RahXephon Explained ft. Zeta Rise (ラーゼフォン) 

Agreed

You are rigth is very underrated

Havoc Bringer Rahxephon fits more in Z3 and V but then that's just my opinion, since there's not much details about X's plot besides the phantasy setting.

I know right? Personally I thought that was scary and messed up

Great video as always man have a good christmas :)

Happy Holidays also. I wished Rahxephon shows up in SRW again. They can just rip the BGM off MX and no one would complain.

Watch the last 2 minutes of the video to find out.

@@180223 I just finished watching the series, and it got me confused , I felt like the series didn't explain the narration really well , and the audience had to kinda guess the relation and the motivation between characters, but your video is amazing in a way that it explains everything I need to know about this series, so thanks. You should continue making this mecha anime explained series, and not only mecha, you should do the other non-mecha anime as well. You guys are really great at explaining things thoroughly.

yeah it has that kaneko style

There are already one. SRW MX

Why cant we compare them to both? The similarities to Eva are strong in immediately noticeable ways and given that most haven't seen Raideen due to its age, I think most outside of japan would have no idea of Rahxephon's original influences. I mean blue blooded antagonists, monster of the week format, some very similar character archetypes are just some examples that immediately jump out to me. I haven't seen this show in years and I'd like to rewatch it so I admit my original interpretation is dated and I can't speak to any borrowed themes, but I think its relevant to compare the two while treating as its own show.

Denton Gallagher Many of the similarities are superficial and passing at best, like how blue blood is the only thing that the villains have in common as the Angels are bizarre Lovecraftian beings while the Mulians are transdimensional humanoids remote-controlling mechs. And the stories themselves are completely different: Eva is a psychological unravelling, RahXephon is a love story. And the monster of the week format is a well-worn staple of mecha anime, so that can hardly be thrown in RahXephon's face. It's similarity to Raideen is stronger: The star mecha look completely the same with being a bird-themed idol from Mu with the same weapons that the hero fades into and with the hero's mother also being from Mu.

Define superficial in the context of an anime in which every single facet is intentional and hand crafted. Whats weird is no one is disputing the themes being different, just whether or not we should compare, but its clearly homage to a mix bag of anime the creators enjoyed, Eva being the most obvious/predominant. You even get things in the lore like the black & white moon in Eva vs the black & white egg in Rah, things in either work that have existential implications within their respective worlds, that's just as an example of how deep this runs. What I see when I look at Rahxephon is a project by anime fans, and its valid to point that out. That's what I see when I watch Evangelion, and that's what I see when I watch most genre anime, but this is a case of being too close to what you're paying homage to, and it feels alot more like "Hey guys, remember that one show we all liked in the 90s?". If they wanted to avoid comparison then they should have varied their strokes and made something that doesn't so closely resemble another anime, especially one that is considered to be rather note worthy. This is a visual medium, and in anime aesthetic defines alot of the experience and can't be dismissed. All that said it is its own show, and if anything an analysis of it using comparisons of Eva would help better contrast it's themes and bring a greater understanding. Dismissing similarities as just being superficial is throwing away a chance to dive deeper into the work and truly appreciate the creator's intentions.

Denton Gallagher I wasn’t being dismissive of anything. My statement that the similarities are superficial go without saying. It’s an assumption to think that every single similarity is intentional and claims by Eva fans trying to detect signs of reference or worse, plagiarism, can be called out as empty when the meaning behind the similarities, symbols or otherwise, is never detailed. Concepts like “teenager fights alongside government-sanctioned experts” are quite superficial and can be found in plenty of anime other than Eva and RahXephon, like Giant Robo and plenty of Gundam shows which exposes many of these claims as just concepts general to mecha anime. I’ve even heard Eva fans say ridiculous things like Reika Mishima’s yellow sundress is taken from Asuka wearing one like it when not only is it a frivolous comparison, I know for a fact the creator of RahXephon got it from the Sci-Fi short story “The Dandelion Girl” in which a man meets a girl from the future wearing a yellow sundress; Claims like these are apophenic and a disservice to RahXephon’s own uniqueness as a show. Speaking of which, The Dandelion Girl’s influence on RahXephon truly runs deep in a way that any similarity to Eva doesn’t: Like "The Dandelion Girl," RahXephon is essentially about two lovers falling in love all over again. My claim holds up when you actually analyze the two beyond superficial visuals: Eva references Kabbalah and Apocrypha while RahXephon references Ryukyuan folklore and Nahuatl mythology, Eva, appropriately uses Christian iconography for symbolism while RahXephon uses bird & egg motifs along with clocks, Eva’s world is on the verge of destruction after the Second Impact while RahXephon’s world is battlescarred but fine; even their Gainax endings are different with Eva’s involving Humanity being merged into one single being whereas RahXephon’s is simply a space-time reality warp. I’m not saying that there aren’t similarities, or that RahXephon doesn’t get anything from Eva, TERRA and the Bähbem Foundation do look like they were inspired by NERV and SEELE, for example, I’m saying that these similarities are hollow and don’t change the fact that once you see past them that RahXephon and Evangelion’s stories are completely different.

"Whats weird is no one is disputing the themes being different, just whether or not we should compare" That is me saying I don't disagree that they are different. There is space to examine similarities, and what I'm saying that the demand that people stop comparing the two is pointless and unproductive. Your freeze dry comparison misses the forest for the trees, they are obviously different shows so its pointless to ramble about all the different themes/characters/ect to prove to me that they're unique works. Its obviously NOT a rip off or a case of plagiarism, which I think you suspect me or anyone who mentions the similarities of implying. Sure, some anime fans will call it a rip off, but they're wrong as well and easy to dismiss. Can I not be a fan of both while comparing? Why should I see past similarities that are sitting right there begging to be seen? You admit that the two are visually similar at times, but don't you think there's a reason? Maybe its a shallow one like they just like the look of Eva, or maybe give them more credit and consider that maybe there's something more there. Comparison can potentially be used as a tool to tell a story, that's a genre piece's bread and butter. Like I said, if they didn't want to draw attention to the similarities, they should have painted with varied strokes. But what I thought you'd pick up on was the implication that the similarities were intentional and there for comparison is welcomed by the creators. Or not, cause really I'm just giving them the benefit of the doubt there. I only have a passing interest in the subject so don't expect me to write an essay analyzing what the creators intentions could have been, I'm just saying there's potential to explore there. And if it turns out its actually as shallow and superficial as you say, its kinda on the creators that the fandoms keep comparing the two, but even if that was so, I don't think it takes away from the show. Its just distracting to anyone with a passing knowledge of anime dude.

also discovered it when it came out to my local video store, it blew my mind, it was one of the very first Anime I ever saw, I ve seen so many since then but Rahxephon still remains one of my favourites

Huh? Evangelion is way better than this anime in almost every aspect, just finished watching it, it's good but not that good

@@wallacesousuke1433 Holy shit a dumb reply from a post made 2 years ago. lmfao

@@gwaltzilla ur welcome :)

​@@wallacesousuke1433 you clearly didn't get the point

same problem plagues Brain Powerd and Fafner. it is extremely irritating and just shows some people's inability to have an open mind and see beyond the most surface level of similarities shows may share. by their logic, we could go all the way back to Tetsujin and call every mecha after it an inferior clone

Watch the Mulian portion at 4:25 again. We never once compared RahXephon's powers to magic.

The first time watched Rahxephon was thanks to SRW MX. it was awesome!

Also really strong in MX

I may consider it.

NO

Sorry for the confusion, Maya married Shirow and is the adopted daughter of Shougo Rikudo. The picture used in the video is Rikudo attending one of Maya's school events like a proud father. As mentioned in the video, Quon is Ayato's biological mother while Maya is Ayato's adoptive mother.

so Shirow married Maya and slept with Quon and had Ayato from Quon? man I need to rewatch the anime

They didn't mention it explicitly but its more likely Quon's genetic data was mixed with that of Shirow via more atificial means.

that might be true, but the fact that Itsuki is Ayato's biological brother makes it weirder unless Itsuki is a failed attempt to make an instrumentalist for RahXephone i think this anime worth rewatching for in-depth look, your video blew my mind on some details i forgot about

Itsuki is Ayato's twin brother, and from my understanding, Ayato was just the chosen one by the Xephon. This whole thing intrigues me, actually. The foundation was genetically engineering people in order to make an instrumentalist worthy of the Xephon. They obviously realized that Quon was going to be one of them, so they used her DNA. So, what made them give Ayato to Maya to raise while they kept Itsuki at the foundation? And when did they realize that Ayato was the one?

Any Zoid, Liger or Zoids series you have in mind?

D180223 the death saurer if that cool

Me too since 2003

I think you misunderstood what we were trying to say. We did not disimiss the similarities. We clearly stated that RahXephon had surface similarities to both Raideen and Evangelion due to influences Izubuchi had from both the original Raideen and Hideaki Anno. The surface similarities with Evangelion in particular is something everyone likes to bring up when reviewing RahXephon. However, as we also stated in the video, those are ultimately just surface similarities. In the end, we felt that the themes, story and characters in RahXephon are so different from that of Evangelion to the point that it is only fair to say RahXephon is its own unique thing. Hope that clears things up.