Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor

This is by all means an spiritual succesor of evangelion not only on themes but many elements presents on this series resemble on more or less degree to the aformentioned though still is his own thing as a whole.

With more than 20 years on his back since aired soukyu no fafner is a anime of mechas, drama and sci-fi that touches a lot of existencial themes with a pacing that is falling to the side of being slow (at least that is what most poeple are gonna feel watching it although wasnt a problem to me) accompained of LOT of drama, it takes his time ... developing the characters and their respective struggles but still manage to allow the action to happen more than enough.

Like i said it puts a lot of enfasis on the characters and all the background story revolving about the world which is one of the reason why the begining might feel it like its drag down if you are not used to this kind of pacing and anime of this nature, is very dark, gloomy and oppresive the atmosphere after just the firts episodes, the way how portray the situations and show to the spectator how desperly situation humanity is facing are very good executed, of course that i feel the drama by itseflt also helps a lot when so many dialogs and conversations take place along the series with heavy-tone themes.

Around the second half of the series is where things puts on motion and things start to move faster, most of the story happen on this island-fortress and even if the plot overall is not overly complicated it can result kinda confusing or you might not undertand everything, having to rewatch some moments on certain episodes because has this terminology and somekind of intricate way to narrate some lore of the plot which is not bad at all but also some dialogs like when this scientific (Akane Makabe) talks the shit starts to get serious XD with all this theories and logic explanations.

The only criticism would be one on the early moments of the series with Shouko Hazama which the event wasnt a problem but i feel was handle kinda mehh and the weight although had a huge impact on the rest of the cast also was delivered in a questionable way.

I cant not mention the ost of this series which is GOLD, all the tracks are lit with many cclasical pieces that are beautiful and melancolics and others are so epic it just makes all the experience so much better and the op and end also are freaking good with our dear angela for the vocals that when you reach the last episodes hits you really hard when starts to sound that ending.

Animation wise was okay not bad neither really good, on design i really like how the characters looked having the vibe of that era (early 2000).

Its a shame that most poeple dont know about this anime even after all this years, i hope that those interested on this kind of genere give it a try having on mind all the aformentioned because is a good series to say the least and deserves much more recognition.
Also there is a precuel and secuel to this series that i havent seen yet but glad to know that the story doesnt ends here.

The beginning of Fafner was quite confusing as it went straight to the action. Going straight into the action is often never a good idea since it’ll leave the viewers confused. Now if this were only the first episode and the second episode takes place a few months earlier then it would work. Gungrave, Berserk, and the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya used this technique. Haruhi used it quite effectively as it made more viewers come back for the 2nd episode to figure out what was going on. I guess my biggest problem is the fact that the action was relentless ... for around 9 episodes and they tried to create drama in that time frame. This is simply not possible with out proper character development/knowing the characters. For example, a certain character dies and they make it quite a big event and extremely dramatic. However, this character was only a step above some random faceless character. If this series were 50 episodes then I can under stand the pacing but it was only 25 episodes. It’s as if the creators realized that Fafner wasn’t popular enough to make into 50 episodes and cut their losses.

Around half way through the series, Fafner starts to slow down. Here things got better as there was proper character building and story progression. Now when drama hits it can actually affect the viewer. Sadly this happened way too late in a 25 episode series as there was quite a bit of potential in the Fafner universe. Thankfully, Fafner does save itself by creating a satisfying conclusion, albeit a bit rushed. I also felt that Fafner could have improved its ending by providing some kind of epilogue.

Music was one of Fafner’s better qualities, especially the OP/ED. Also, the character designs were the same as Gundam SEED so it quite hard not to make comparisons. However, in terms of animation quality Fafner compares quite favorably. So while the beginning went straight to the action and was a bit confusing it was nevertheless pretty. If you’re a mecha fan then its almost worth watching just for the action scenes. As far as I recall Fafner doesn’t use repeated animation sequences, one of my pet peeves.

Fafner is a fairly entertaining mecha anime, especially for mecha fans. It features good animation and very good music. However, Fafner didn’t provide anything exceptional and doesn’t rise above the pack of mecha anime. In addition, it was severally hurt by inappropriate pacing for a 25 episode series. It is quite sad to see so much wasted potential. Finally a proper epilogue would have greatly benefited the series.

Fafner tries to be a good show but it is such an average typical mecha filled with forced, cheesy, and fake dramatical moments that despite it retaining some entertainment value and possessing a good mystery draw to uncover, this show is hard to watch. The drama is filled with cheesy lines and other additions such as forced tears and little to no sufficient character development to ensure viewers would feel anything during these emotional or dramatic scenes. During fights pilots often scream like maniacs and it can carry on a bit too long when they do. Only a few characters have any ... development or capacity to draw viewers in enough for form a connection. Most enemy characters have no sense of connection or development that result in enemies a bit too flat. The flow of the story draws little to no distinction who the enemies are and yet the islanders end up feeling like abused victims though they never appear to blame any of the enemies or have the will to resist or retaliate once they are face to face. Nothing really stands out as unique so about the series from other mecha or other anime.

Positives:

*Untapped potential to be a much better anime
*A theme of resolution other than violence
*Though few, there are some likable and somewhat developed characters
*Imaginative look at an apocalypse futuristic setting in an alternate world
*Humans with unique gifted qualities perfect for facing the crisis

Negatives:

*Most characters totally lack any development or connection to viewers
*Dramatic and emotional moments are cheesy, fake, and forced
*Lousy non universal views of morals and ethics though done in a confusing conflicting way.
*No sense of consequences for bad decisions such as betrayal
*Poor story logic (mostly to do with poor emotional scenes, betrayals and behaviors of those betrayed, and non sensical lines that do not line up with previous dialogue, actions, or results.