Night Head Genesis

Night Head Genesis is a show about people with psychic powers and the origin of that energy. It start with the story of the two brothers and their own problems being accepted in society due to their psychic power, evolves into a story about fighting to save the world from a supposed cataclysm and this unveils an elaborate plot about the world, nature, the growing psychic energy and its two sides, the good and the evil.
The theory is well explained and based on common scientific knowledge with a spiritual touch, the energy of all living things, animal, plants and humans is evolving and granting ... humans powers, all the wrongdoings of humanity turn this power into negative energy causing catastrophes and ultimately the armaggedon. Of course by doing good, and accepting the powers given to humanity we can evolve together with earth into a brighter future.
The theory is basically this but while the show does a good job explaining it in the last episodes the plot is very flawed, for 20ish episodes you'll follow the story of the brothers fighting against a big corporation who doesn't care for the future of normal humans but suddenly the story ends abruptly without even explaining what happens to most characters.
The last two episodes happen an year and half later and the two brothers again use their powers to prevent another disaster, this episodes are more of a showcase of what would be like if the show didn't end so fast i guess, wasting so many episodes building a complicated plot to end it abruptly greatly damages the show overall and despite the last episodes giving some clues helping to understand the whole story behind the psychic powers the previous 24 episode plot is just unfinished and the little story on the last two would probably be the start of another season. With all said and explained I cant recommend greatly this show despite having great potential, was completely ruined. Its still enjoyable and you do understand more or less what happens at the end, the soundtrack is very good and its not a bad watch if you can bare the sudden shallow ending and not knowing what happens to most secondary characters.

Though receiving mixed reviews I found Night Head Genesis well paced and evolving. With new darker pot twists introduced with every episode.

Story: The story is slow paced and holds a dark overtone. It is the tale of two brothers cursed with psychic, telepathic and empathic which horrify there parents to the point that as children they are sent to a research facility far off in the woods with a powerful barrier keeping them confined within. The story starts when they are adults, escaping from the facility and trying to integrate back into everyday society. However the world is a dark place and they find out ... quickly there kind are still very unwelcome. As mentioned the story moves along at a slow pace but maintains an ere of suspense as new complications arise for the two brothers being it of horrid visions of murder or a prophecy of death called the Black Stream. If you enjoy slow paced psychological plot lines then you will enjoy this show.

Art: The art is fairly good though at some points when the characters are farther back in the short it seems that the animators got lazy. However the overall appeal of the characters soft and yet crisp looks makes it a treat for the eyes (when they are drawn in all there glory)

Sound: The sound track is beautiful. Quiet and creepy and beautifully melodic. Remenicent of Angel Sanctuary's sound track and perhaps a bit of Yami no Matsuei.

Character: There aren't many characters in the story as it mainly focuses on the lives of the two Kirihara brothers Naoto and Naoya as they try to integrate into society and use there evolving powers to help others when they can. Generally speaking though they are believable with strong personalities. Naoto takes the role of protective older brother who cares deeply for Naoya and although cool strong and composed is deeply afraid to lose Naoya as the two only have each other to depend on in the world. Naoya in turn deeply cares for his brother yet also is a little less cautious of the world being younger and a little less tainted. He is though kind and soft spoken less cautious and more willing to stray away from his brother.

Enjoyment: Overall I found this series to be very good. Anyone who is a fan of supernatural/psychological suspenses will surley find it interesting from the get go. Although slow moving at times the show sets the view up with suspenseful twists that late lead to fierce psychic battles.

Overall I give this a 9 as it was a refreshing take on a idea done many times prior with good story and good characters.

After reading some reviews and lacking anything else to watch, I gave this series a go. Paranormal, sci-fi, two brothers - components for a decent anime. At the end though, this is one of those series that makes you want to take a screw driver to your eyes and ears.

The sound is fantastic. It brings back memories of watching X-Files, and the people responsible for the score really hit this one on the head.

The story is about standard anime fare - two protagonists which are brothers, gifted with extraordinary abilities, are prophesied to be either the destruction of the world or the rebirth of a ... new one. However it takes a long time to drive home the plot and certain encounters drag out just for the sake of filling air-time. The animation is so-so, nothing spectacular.

The characters are extremely annoying. The brothers depend on each other a lot, but their method of displaying their dependency drove me mad. The number of times the brothers call each other by name of just simply "brother!!" are through the roof. There's only so much repetition I can take - it brings back memories of DBZ where it took Gohan 3-4 episodes just to cast one energy ball. There is a considerable amount of verbal back and forth, mostly nonsensical threats that are associated with the worst of creature-of-the-week anime series.

Unless you are extremely bored, and have absolutely nothing else to do with your time, I would give this anime series a pass. There's a lot of stuff out there to watch instead.

The setting for "Night Head Genesis" was good, and it began brilliantly, but the problem I saw in most of the episodes was that the plot didn't feel steady enough; perhaps it was meant to make the viewer ponder about what just happened, and what motivated a certain action or result, but to me it felt like they randomly grabbed things from here and there and ended with a conclusion that seemed a little odd and out there. In short, the plot wasn't as straightforward as I would have liked. "Plot holes" was what came to mind, because the flow just didn't feel consistent enough.

I ... absolutely loved the art. The characters were pretty to look at, as was the scenery. And although some of the animation (mainly the scenes with cars) stood out, it was a steady flow of beauty. Another thing that I fell totally in love with was the music! Ending themes I didn't so much care for, but the beginning theme and overall soundtrack of the episodes were amazing.

The only thing that really bugged me besides the troubles with the plot was the voice acting. Mostly it was good, but especially Naoya's "screaming" was something that kept me frowning - or cracking up, which probably wasn't what they aimed for. It just didn't sound real (it was very un-cool in a way).

There wasn't all that much character development. In the case of Naoto there was some, because he had to come to terms with the darker side of his power, but either the story failed, or I didn't see the whole transition moving flawlessly. Naoto's reactions to a lot of things, especially as a kid, kept me shaking my head, but maybe that was just his bigheaded nature, who knows.

All in all I enjoyed this series. It could be better, and I wished it would have been longer because the story in the last two episodes was the best of them all!

"Night Head Genesis" had some brilliant stuff in it, lovely relationship between two brothers, and although some of the characters and their motivation never really pulled through... this is certainly worth another watch.

This was pretty enjoyable and suspenseful.
Although the ending seemed very rushed, the anime as a whole was fun and attention-grabbing.
This Anime is very Sci-Fi but anyone would enjoy them, i think. [since I'm not really into sci-fi, but loved this anime anyhow~]

The story is about two brothers who have supernatural powers. They are taken to a facility when they are kids to be looked after and researched on due to their powers. However, the brothers run away from the facility to be free from everything and everyone but everything starts from there.
Other people with supernatural powers show up and some even try to kill ... the two brothers. The two brothers are considered the chosen ones that will have affect on the whole world.

I think alot of female Otaku like me would go (( Ohhh 2 cute guys & they're brothers too , this anime will probably have some cute moments YaaaY cant wait to watch it )) atleast thats what I thought lol , Night Head Genesis was a major disappointment for me , If I'm gonna count the cute moments between the siblings , it will be around 3 or 4 scenes , unfortunately the anime didn't concentrate alot on Naoya & Naoto's relationship , it focused more on crimes , whos causing them & having the brothers help to solve them since they have super ... natural powers , I only liked episode 21 & 22 , others were totally average , not to mention that the Art itself wasn't that good , 2 things were good about it , Its soundtrack + hearing Morikawa & Akira Ishida's voices lol its like hearing Kimimaru & Gara from Naruto ( same VA's ) also Grimmjo's VA did Mikumo's voice in the couple last episodes , overall , it's a waste of time unless you're the type that enjoys normal anime :/

Nighthead Genesis attempts to mix around sci-fi, horror and drama in its focus on brothers Naoto and Naoya, both having supernatural powers that lead them to be confined to a laboratory up until their recent escape years later as adults. At first focusing on a series of cases where the brothers meet others with paranormal powers like themselves, they eventually cross paths with an enemy corporation seeking to abuse paranormal powers for their personal gain.

On the one hand, Nighthead Genesis has its moments of effective storytelling and character depth as Naoya and Naoto encounter other espers like themselves who are outcasts due to their powers ... and the brothers find themselves forced to deal with having to use their power to take lives when confronted with the enemy corporation espers later in the series. For the most part, the series applies the esper powers of the characters for more realistic applications as there are limitations to the scale and control that characters have with their powers and can find themselves becoming exhausted or being on the brink of death after applying large-scale effects with said power. Plus, the show's efforts with horror are genuinely suspenseful at points as enemy espers exploit the mental vulnerabilities of their victims to drive people against one another and to exploit the morality of the brothers to bring them under their control.

On the other hand, the show's storytelling approach has quite a number of flaws. Night Head Genesis' pacing is slow enough to the point where it causes development in the plot to drag and the majority of antagonist characters are so shallowly evil that you could care less when they are eventually killed off, even with the show's half-assed attempt at trying to paint sympathy for a few of the villains in one of the final episodes of the series. An annoying feature of the series is Naoya's angsting during many of the show's intense moments, which will have you wishing you could punch the guy out. Also, some of the show's sci-fi elements go a bit too far within its boundaries when it explores elements such as what happens to an esper when their power evolves too much and a later case tackled by the brothers involving an earthquake hitting a town.

The visuals to Night Head Genesis are also a major issue as the series is quite low-budget for a 2006 TV anime milking esper powers for a sci-fi anime. While sporting attractive-looking character designs, the series suffers from inconsistencies at many points with properly drawing their details, makes liberal use of animation shortcuts during action scenes and features laughably bad implementation of CG animation for vehicles and special effects that clash rather badly with the regular animation of the series.

While Nighthead Genesis has its moments of effective storytelling and sci-fi lore, it still suffers greatly from plenty of missteps in its pacing, storytelling elements, characterization and visuals. It's no wonder this baby is not too fondly remembered by many who seen it back in 2006.

This anime is very original in terms of the anime that come out these days. The plot was unique, the concept was cool, it had plenty of blood to satiate my tastes, and overall it was not a terrible anime.

The only thing that irked me was how often Naoya yelled "Niisan, help me!" constantly. I even counted on one episode, and the number of times he yelled it amounted to probably 8 or so. It's ridiculous how much he relies on his older brother and how he can't fend for himself whatsoever.

There is no character development. None. Naoya is still a whiny baby by the ... end of the series and Naoto is still having to take care of him.

The powers are pretty dang cool. If you're wanting to watch an anime for a more sci-fi aspect, this makes for a great sci-fi anime. Just be aware of the fact that the characters are rather bland and the enemies are not very memorable. But the soundtrack is definitely great, as well as the action and difficult situations the characters find themselves in.

This is NOT a terrible anime. Aside from Naoya's annoying yelling, this anime is pretty good! Give it a shot if you'd like. This anime is obscure for a reason... not many people like it!

This show was fairly interesting in my opinion. It started off in a very promising manner where we're first introduced to the protagonists' powers, before the overarching plot is gradually brought into focus. All the minor subplots make sense, fit into the world, and help explain how Ark functions while also questioning its ambivalent nature and actions.

I think the major gripe people might have with the anime is that it's not exactly what you'd call straightforward. A lot of things about the world are kept intentionally hidden from the viewer, and there's always this feeling that you're one step behind with knowing what's going ... on. This holds true for the majority of episodes, and the issue stems from binging the series like I and probably everyone else did. As there was originally one week's wait between each episode, I couldn't shake the feeling that the creators intentionally left certain things shrouded in ambiguity in order for the viewers themselves to reflect over the new information acquired between episodes. That's also strengthened by the fact that there's a recap at the beginning of each one. It's not until the final few episodes are over with that things fall into place, but even then it's still not the instant gratification that modern anime would emphasise. This style in itself is not bad, but is definitely something for a viewer to be wary of.

Characters were decent with some outliers. In regards to the protagonists, the brothers hone their contrasting powers and learn more about their place in this world, though that's about it for their character development. But frankly speaking, that's already more than enough. Seeing Naoya being able to use his powers towards the end of the series without the same fear compared to earlier episodes was nice, as he was previously more or less unable to even touch anyone but Naoto. In particular I enjoyed the character of Shouko. It's rather hard to go over why without treading into spoiler territory, but her role in the story turned out to be completely different from what I originally expected when she was introduced. Possessing the tremendous power she did led me to believe that she'd use it for a certain cause, but what actually took place was very well done as it both demonstrates a particular plot point and heightens the stakes for what might become a reality. Some may say that potential is lost, but this anime is not about each individual character as it is about the world itself.

I haven't seen the original TV drama so I cannot give any comparisons in that regard. Overall however, I liked this anime, in particular its tempo, music, and artstyle. It had some flaws, but this is still a solid 7/10 for me.

Naoto and Naoya Kirihara are two brothers with incredible psychic abilities. Unfortunately for them, this results in their being taken from their parents as young children and imprisoned in a research centre located in an isolated mountain wilderness for fifteen years.

"...It is said that 70% of the human brains' capacity is left unused. It is thought that the amazing powers that humans possess are hidden within these parts. That unused 70% of the brain is also known as...Night Head."

My thoughts:
At first I wasn’t very intrigued but as I watched episode after episode I was pulled in. Throughout the anime Naoto and Naoya encounter others with ... similar abilities to them; some good, some bad. After being locked up so to speak, they are ecstatic to be free and learn that the world has changed and adapt to it. They become amateur detectives in a roundabout way, as each episode has a death they must solve that will help them move forward in their search to find out what the “Upheaval” is and when it will happen. All in all a very good anime to watch.