| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
As many people have already said, this anime is produced by the same people who brought you Eureka 7. Keep that in mind if you plan on watching this anime.
First off, check out the OP. Holy jebus it's sweet. Catches you instantly, and gets you all excited for what looks (judging from the animation quality) an awesome show. In some respects, this is a let down. While the animation is superb, the soundtrack is hauntingly good, and the characters are generally quite fleshed out (just enough info for you to find them interesting)... the story is near random. This anime seems confused as to
what it's trying to say. On the one hand, we are basically following Akiyuki on his journey becoming a Xam'd, which is done quite well in terms of painting a comprehensive picture of the trials he endures.
Then it falls apart. The world as it is presented is split into two warring hemispheres, with some kinda naturalist "Tessik" tribe caught in the middle. No justification is ever given for this war, and for some unknown reason the Tessik are ostracized by everybody. As the series progresses, I was torn. In some regards, it's amazing: The characters are brought to life fully. You understand their hopes and dreams, and why they may be sabotaging their own attempts to reach them. In other regards, it's confusing and disappointing: Things keep happening to Akiyuki with no background reason, and the whole concept of a Xam'd is some kind of forbidden topic. Also, side stories seem to be the order of the day. A LOT of episodes are devoted to Nakiami's side trips, where she always seems to be preventing some poor sap from being engulfed by the Xam'd in him. (They also never explain the nature of a Xam'd... that's for you to decide. And good luck figuring out what the deal is with Human-form weapons...)
Conclusions? Well, it was a fun series to watch, but you'll get MUCH more out of it if you focus on a character driven storyboard. Pay attention to character interactions over actual plot, and you'll be much more satisfied. Otherwise you'll end up like me, wishing the creators had decided to actually make the 50 odd episodes that would have barely been sufficient to explain the story they threw at you, instead of cramming way to many (admittedly interesting) ideas into a mere 26 eps. Bottom line: If you found Eureka 7 too slow, but liked the ideas... you'll have a good time with Xam'd: Lost Memories. But you'll still wind up with a couple wtf moments and an abrupt ending. read more
