Review for XAM'D Lost Memories Collection 2

Introduction

Here we are again, with yet another anime series cancelled part way through its Blu-ray release by Manga Entertainment. First it was Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, then it was Casshern Sins, and now it's Xam'd Lost Memories. We can cast blame and debate the reasons why until the cows come home. The bottom line is that while I had a great blast reviewing the first half of the series in high definition, the shine fades somewhat when I have to review the second half on DVD. Actually, I don't have to, as Manga Entertainment were a little optimistic when they were printing review check discs, and they did issue us reviewers Part 2 on Blu-ray as well. But what's the point in me writing about it, if no one can buy it? So this is the review of Xam'd Lost Memories Part 2 on DVD, and you can be certain that I have indeed looked at the DVDs to check out the audio quality and the image. As for actually sitting down for five hours to watch all the episodes through on DVD… If someone offers you a lift in a Ferrari, and someone else offers you a lift in a Ford Mondeo, which car are you going to sit in?
 
Sentan Island ought to be a tranquil idyll, the perfect place to grow up, but alas it's caught right in the middle of the war between the North and the South. But for Akiyuki Takehara and his friends Furuichi and Haru, that war doesn't affect them until the day that he's late for school, and has to run to catch the bus. It's the day that there is a white haired kid waiting to get on the bus, a transfer student without the armband to identify her to the security guard. It's the day that Akiyuki does her a favour, and sneaks her aboard, only for her to be revealed as a terrorist who detonates a bomb. A strange light hits his arm and a blue gem appears there, and then Akiyuki transforms into a monster. At the same time, the Northern forces attack Sentan Island, dropping ambulatory 'humanform' weapons that wreak havoc and target the monster that Akiyuki has become.
 
Meanwhile, the postal airship Zanbani has been approaching Sentan, and one of its crew, a Tessikan girl named Nakiami realises what is happening down below. She arrives in time to stop Akiyuki in his tracks, is able to control the gem in his arm and get him to revert, and she effectively shanghais him and drags him aboard the airship, as she is the only one that can help him. For Akiyuki has been fused with a Hiruko, and he is now a Xam'd. Unless he learns to live with the change that has been thrust upon him, come to terms with being Xam'd, he will turn to stone. Now a part of the crew of the Zanbani, Akiyuki with the help of Nakiami begins to adjust to his new life, in the hope of one day returning home to his family and friends on Sentan Island. But since the day of the attack, Sentan Island has changed irrevocably.


At the end of the previous instalment, a pitched mid-air battle damaged the Zanbani and forced it to land on an isolated beach, where the crew attempted to repair it. Nakiami decided it was the ideal time to return home to Tessik village, to find out what upheavals were taking place and why. Akiyuki decided to accompany her on the condition that they stop off at Sentan Island, which was on the way. But when they got there, they learned that the military's research into humanform weapons was taking a dark, and for Akiyuki a very personal direction. For Akiyuki wasn't the only one to be fused with a Hiruko in that bus attack. What transpires will drive Akiyuki and Nakiami apart in the concluding thirteen episodes, presented here by Manga Entertainment on two dual layer DVDs.


Disc 1

14. Cerulean Skies
15. Souls at Peace
16. Burning in our Wake
17. Lambs to the Altar
18. What Can You See From There?
19. Sudden Outbreak: Romance Flowers Bloom
20. Watered With Tears

Disc 2

21. Sanctuary Breached
22. Tojiro and Ryuzo
23. Hiruken Emperor Born
24. Voices From Beyond
25. Nakiami and Sannova
26. The Great Rock and the Girl

Picture

Xam'd Lost Memories gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on DVD. Coming via the authoring of Australia's Madman Entertainment, you'll find that the anime gets a native PAL transfer, smooth, clear, sharp, and taking advantage of the slightly higher resolution, albeit with a 4% PAL speedup. Xam'd is a Studio Bones production, and they threw everything including the kitchen sink into making this show, and it certainly is apparent on screen. Xam'd is a beautiful animation, of theatrical quality throughout, with great character designs, a rich and vivid world design, and vibrant and dynamic animation that makes the action sequences among the best I have seen in this medium, while the quieter, character moments also feel alive and breathing. Xam'd is also one of those creations, like The Wings of Honneamise, where the world is one parallel to our own. It means that the creators have gone to town when it comes to imagining alternate versions of everyday things like vehicles and machinery. It's one of the shows that you watch twice, once for the story, and once just to look at.


The DVD looks quite splendid to be honest, clear and sharp throughout, bringing out the best in the animation to the limits of the technology. It's only in comparison with the Blu-ray that you will notice the slightly subdued colour palette, and pausing the disc at the appropriate moments will reveal compression artefacts around fast motion, something that the Blu-ray never exhibits. It's still a top end DVD visual transfer though.

Sound

The same can't be said for the audio. Courtesy of Madman Entertainment, you get a DD 5.1 English audio track, and a DD 2.0 Stereo Japanese track, with optional subtitles and signs. As soon as you hear the drums of the Boom Boom Satellites opening theme kick in, you know you're in for a treat (although the opening theme does sound a tad ridiculous sped up by 4%). Xam'd is an action packed, vibrant and lively anime. It's a fantasy world with a whole lot of imagination to it, and the sound design reflects that. There is a great deal of directionality to the audio, and it really brings the show to life. The Japanese audio is definitely the way to go here, as the cast is top notch, and the performances live up to the standard of the animation. The same can't be said for the English dub. Although perhaps it's because I chose episode 10 to sample, which begins with a monologue from Akushiba, whose English voice actor is monotony embodied. It's a performance of someone who doesn't care. Skipping past that, I paid closer attention to the voice actors for Akiyuki, Haru and Nakiami, the main characters, and while their performances were closer to the mark, it felt very much like just another average anime dub. For me, Xam'd is like a Ghibli film in terms of production value and visual impact, it deserves a dub cast worthy of that, and this dub isn't it.


The problem is with that Japanese Stereo track, as Xam'd is an anime that actually makes full use of the 5.1 soundstage, with evocative effects sequences, strident action sequences, and subtle ambience as well. You can hear it on the Blu-ray, but on these DVDs, with plain and simple stereo, the effect is limited to what Prologic can cook up, which isn't much. It's double annoying given the disappointing English dub. The odd thing is that this is a Region 4, Madman decision to downgrade the Japanese audio. The Region 1 DVDs from Sentai have the correct DD 5.1 Japanese audio track that the show deserves.

Extras

The DVDs do offer logos for Manga Entertainment and Aniplex, and boot up to static menus, with jacket pictures for when the disc isn't spinning, and if your player is compatible.

Disc 2 offers the clean credits sequences, and there are also the broadcast textless credits sequences. We get the episodes as played on the PSN, but the series as broadcast on TV had different credit animations, and different songs from Boom Boom Satellites and Kylee (no, not that one), and different animation too. There are three here, the opening and two end sequences, and they are well worth watching. The textless closing is mixed up with the Original On Air Opening, but both are on the disc.

The Blu-rays play a translated English language credit scroll after each episode. The DVDs do not, so you'll have to go to Anime News Network or similar to find out the cast.

Conclusion

Once again this year, an anime series suffers a significant decline in its quality when it comes to its second half. So far I've been disappointed by Casshern Sins, Shikabane Hime, Nabari no Ou, and now Xam'd Lost Memories. Given that I originally 'other means-ed' Xam'd when I thought that its Sony heritage would consign it to licensing hell, you'd think that this shouldn't be news to me. But there is a difference between watching an episode a week, and watching half a season in one grand session that alters the way that you perceive a story. It's easier to take in the story in its entirety, rather than as an episodic piecemeal, but that makes its flaws stand out in stark contrast. Xam'd Lost Memories has many flaws, flaws which turn it from the exciting, promising, and engaging story that it was at the end of part 1, into a grand disappointment, utterly deflating.


Rather than go into minutiae and no doubt court the dreaded spoilers, I'll just address two aspects of the show that let me down, two aspects that illustrate just how disappointing Xam'd Lost Memories turns out to be. We're talking about the characters and the story. The characters first, as it turns out in this half, the writers really haven't given much thought into how to develop them further. That's demonstrated by splitting them up. Up until episode 14, the first in this collection, there is still some degree of interaction between them. In fact, episode 14 is in my opinion the best of Xam'd's run, culminating in an astounding plot development that throws the cat amongst the pigeons. It's what follows this development that wastes it all.


Haru's imprisoned by Kakisu, Nakiami is off on her own mission to the Tessik village, the Zanbani is stranded, its crew at a loose end, and Akiyuki has been sold into servitude. Incidentally, the events at Sentan Island have sent him into a fugue, masked and with no idea of who he is, or what his purpose is. So the next five episodes of the run we have to deal with a main character that's bereft of personality or memory. Everyone else is intent on their own situation, and there is no interaction. Worse, the show will leave a character for ages; episodes even, before returning to them to update us on their situation. The show lacks pace, energy and a direction.


But the real disappointment is in the story itself. The previous collection did a great job in setting up the framework of the story, begin painting in the world, but in this half of the show, it becomes evident that the creators were making it up as they went along. They never put the flesh onto the bones of the story. We're like outsiders looking in; trying to fathom what is going on by mere hints and clues. It's never really made clear who the factions are in this war, what is motivating them to fight. More importantly, there's never a satisfactory explanation of the role that the people of Tessik village have to play, the point of Lady Sannova and her supplicants, just who the Hiruken Emperor is. How do the Xam'd fit into all this? Oodles and oodles of fantastic stuff happens, there are great action sequences, amazing animation, but it all makes no sense. It could all have been fixed by just a little exposition. Halfway through this collection, the captain of the Zanbani, Ishu, and her friend Raigyo leave for some reason to fight against the Hiruken Emperor. Just why they do this is unclear. Who they are fighting alongside is never explained. Something as simple as explaining just who the good guys and the bad guys are would have helped.


The end result of all this is that I just don't care what happens in Xam'd Lost Memories. I don't care about a story that is as clear as mud, and I don't care about characters whose motivations are just as opaque. Stuff happens in Xam'd, brilliant, fantastic, astounding stuff, and it's all animated to a theatrical level of quality, far in excess of what the usual episodic series gets. But without the narrative hook to draw the viewer in, to get them emotionally invested in the series, it's just like a box of fireworks, all pretty lights and loud bangs, followed by a rotten egg smell. It's a shame really, as the first fourteen episodes set this up as one of the best anime series I have seen. It's just the concluding twelve that drag it down into mediocrity. But put aside all these minor quibbles about story and character, and the sheer prettiness of the anime, the awesome soundtrack (on Blu-ray anyway), help make Xam'd passingly enjoyable at least. It may be utterly hollow, unfulfilling entertainment, but it is entertaining, even at its lowest ebb.