Xam’d Lost Memories ep 1
Wow.
All I can say is, wow. Words fail me in conveying the awe I feel upon watching this episode. My first taste of this new Bones series conjures up images of Miyazaki’s Nausicaa mixed with Simoun. An unfair comparison, perhaps, but just the combination to leave me giddily happy. This is the sort of anime I live for.
Bones has always been on my radar, for they do good series fantasy/sci-fi anime, and they do them with strong female characters. I confess I haven’t watched much, but I do love their original (just before leaving Sunrise) Escaflowne, and Kurau. Looks like they have another potential winner with Xam’d. I dunno what it’s about, but the first episode introduced an fine cast of intriguing characters and an imaginative world, which is good enough to hook me. On the technical side, I love the feel of the art and the character designs, which yes harken to Ghibli, but feel terribly refreshing in this action packed scenario.
My favourite so far is the motley crew of the ship in the opening, especially the captain who wins me over with her unorthodox character design and willful attitude. The strange girl who pilot their one-man craft is a close second, because hey, she’s just a reborn Nausicaa on a bigger Mehve :D Well, shades of Miyazaki aside, hints of weird technology and war tension have wet my appetite considerably.
On a another note, I find the BGM impressive and atmospheric. It’s mid-eastern and tribal in nature, especially in the “modern” setting part of the story, which only enhances the deliberate “like our world, but not quite” feel. The OP and ED are catchy, and surprisingly not out of place despite the fact that the OP is by BOOM BOOM SATELLITES, heh. Well, the OP definitely left an impression on me, since “slice of life” scenes shown contrasted so much with the “Nausicaa” portion before. Another plus to Bones for creating this sort of smart dichotomy.
At only one ep, it’s hard to say if Zam’d is bust or boom. Certainly it’s a very ambitious undertaking, judging by the complexity of the world and the large cast of characters; there’s plenty of rope with which Bones could hang themselves by. If they pull it off though, with a coherent story and sufficient attention to key characters, this could well be a strong contender for top anime of the year.
Its times like this when I am reminded to be incredibly grateful to be an anime fan. God, I love anime.
