Mugen no Ryvius

Infinite Ryvius is essentially "Lord of the Flies" on a spaceship, although with students old enough to be in high school (surprise, surprise). Once the students are stranded without their teachers, in various hostile situations, the anime becomes a microcosm for the problem of governance. We have the authoritarians, we have the democrats, and everyone in-between. Most striking for me, about this series, was the slow descent from happy-go-lucky "let's try our best at being space heroes" to chaos, mob-rule, and abuse of power. Having gone to teachers college, I'd hazard that many students would do well to watch this anime, ... just to gain an understanding of the different political systems that countries choose to adopt (often for reasons mirrored in this series).

For me, what made the characters interesting wasn't so much their innate personalities, but the way they handled the situations around them. Ultimately that is what defines the cast in this series. After all, many people find their true colours emerge in life-or-death situations, and I took a strange pleasure in seeing everyone change, stay the same, or reveal their true selves as everything began to crumble. While some of you might think about boys running amok doing all sorts of bad things, the instance that disturbed me the most involved perpetrators from my own gender. There are no groups in this anime that can easily be seen as victims or oppressors... everyone loses their grip a bit. We are all human, and there are no monsters to blame everything on.

The production, though nothing earth-shaking, adequately supports the story and characters, such that I never felt myself cringing due to quality issues. Certainly we're not taking about a Miyazaki film here, but we spend so much time listening to dialogue that it never grated on me.

Infinite Ryvius is a look at the politics of a confused society under threat. Any student of history or politics would do well to watch this title. For those non-politically inclined, you might find yourselves drawn in by the character drama, thinking a lot about the world you live in, and that's always a good thing, hmm? What would you do in the same situation? I think I'd probably cry, but then, that's why I watch anime instead of actually piloting space ships. ^_~

I've seen a lot of overrated and over-hyped animes here, but this has to be one of the few who's underrated, and one that should really be in the Top10 of Top100.

Strange but this anime seems to be the only one that all the people who rated it liked and respect it, even the ones that gave it an average 7 think this is a really good anime, but just gets dragged down by animation and the really depressive story, in their opinion, i happen to like the animation and the story.

Animation:
This anime has one visible flaw but the good points more than make up ... for it. The only flaw i can see, and the one that drove people off from this anime even before they gave it a chance is the animation that looks like it came out of the early-mid 90's. Sure the fighting scenes don't look so spectacular and there are no majors CG effects, but the animation is still capable of inflicting a few WOOWWs and i find the space battles more intriguing from the logic and realism point of view a lot better than in Gundam, and if you'll watch the show you'll know what i mean.

The character design is that semi-realistic mid 90's Evangelion like style, no pink or blue hair, just the realistic colors you'll find in humans, Aeris Blue doesn't count since he has dyed hair. So overall i love the way they are drawn.

Sound:
The sound is great, with nice music beats, even dough i didn't enjoy the OP theme to much, but i can't think of giving it a lower grade than 10 when it comes to voice acting. It has the best voice acting i ever came across, with voices so diverse and acting so realistic in all sorts of situation, from happiness, to anger, cry or desperation.

Story:
The plot is good and filled with nice and unpredictable twists and similar to the classic "Lord of the flies" but placed in a sf ground, so it's all about how a few hundred teenagers without adults to watch over them fight to survive. And belive me, the outside enemy isn't their own enemy, they are their worst enemy and as time passes things become more and more violent and desperate and the mood darker and darker.

So overall the story focuses on the human nature, on how people act in desperate situation and how these situations change their personalities, the fight for survival and acts of alliances, violence, backstabbing, emotions of all kinds from love, friendship to fear, hate, jealousy and self conservation. All put in an overall realistic and very detailed manner and very dark and dramatic that just keeps you wanting more. And this anime has a real ending, and i don't mean the short, forced conclusion, no, a hole episode in which you can see the aftermath of "no spoilers" the story, unlike most of the japanese animes.

Character:
The character development has to be the crown jewel of this anime, it has the best, most extensive and unexpected character development I ever seen. All the characters are taken care of, some are important from day one others that you'll never consider get a big importance after a while. I should warn you that there are about 26 characters that appear in every episode and have a real development, and that you might not like any of them in the end, but almost all change and at the end you'll never recognize them and you'll probably say "i never thought that he'll end up this way". Maybe you'll love some characters at first and then come to dislike then and the other way around.

Value and enjoyment:
This is one of the best, if not the best animes i've seen, and if you don't mind the animation you'll find a masterpiece of a story development, voice acting and character development...these are the three areas in which this anime could be the best of the best animes.

If you are a SF/psychology fan and you prefer story and character quality over animation quality then this is the BEST choice for you, but if you are a shallow person who just enjoys explosions and cool mechas and pantie shots then you better thing twice.

It is such a brilliant anime and yet so few people know of it, and why you ask? ... Well i guess this world is composed of shallow pantie shot, mega-exposion loverz since this show is so unknown and shows like DearS, Naruto or other top100 animes are soo famous.

Story:
The story of Infinite Ryvius is developed well. The plot is fairly basic, a bunch of kids attending a space academy are involved in an accident and get stranded on a space vessel with no adults. However, they do a good job though at developing the story by showing all the ordeals and troubles that the kids go up against and more importantly how they affect each character's state of mind individually. A lot of drama and emotions are involved, there's a good fill of action, and even a nice touch of romance is brought into the mix. So overall, it's a pretty entertaining story ... to follow. There's just a couple of things that might confuse you in the series as the story unfolds since a lot of it isn't explained thoroughly, but that just means you have to pay attention a bit more.

Art:
Obviously, due to Infinite Ryvius's air date, the art isn't exactly top notch. One thing I'd like to point out that I guess falls under the art category too though is that I was a little displeased with the mecha design, the mecha itself just looked kinda blah, unlike most mecha series where you have a really badass looking robot. That's one of my few complaints on the series. Other than that, I can't really complain too much about the animation due to its time.

Sound:
I found the music fairly impressive. The OP and ED, especially the OP, had a really nice vibe and feel to them that complimented the show well. The background music was pretty good and would always intensify the situation, but luckily you do get that in most series. Same goes for the sound effects. I liked how at the middle of the episode, where it shows the title of the show and where I guess commercials would usually be, they made these cool music mixes, kinda reminding me of Samurai Champloo.

Character:
If only the characters designs were a tad better and more special, this would've gotten a 10. The cast of characters is vast, and each is highlighted somewhere throughout the series pretty well. They all encounter a variety of obstacles, and they display and give insight to so many contrasting emotions as the characters develope greatly. Obviously, some are focused on more than others, but to paint the brilliant picture that was painted with so many characters and in just 26 simple episodes, Infinite Ryvius is pretty remarkable in that aspect. All of the characters have a very 'real' feel too, if that makes any sense.

Enjoyment:
The enjoyment level of this series I would think probably varies from person to person, and what expectations you have going into it. I went into it simply with the desire to watch a decent space drama since I haven't seen much of the genre, and I got what I wanted, in fact I'm now looking into more similar series. But if you're going into this series thinking you're gonna get some awesome mecha action like Gundam, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. There is action involved, but it is certainly not the main focus. With that said, I feel Infinite Ryvius is a very enjoyable watch because of a lot of the stuff I have already mentioned. The bombardment of emotions, the series of unfortunate events that these kids have to deal with with practically no break, the betrayals, the violence between people, the desperate desire for survival, the new forming love relations, as well as the severing relations, and so on.

The show features several space combat scenes altho the focus of the story is around the struggle of young students trying to grasp their future. The inexperience brings many problems, controlling the almost 500 ppl aboard the ship and maintaining it operational proves to be a difficult task, crime panic and chaos rampage in this ship who lost all touch with society and most of the time we'll see the evolvement of human nature in a free chaotic environment, they atemps to create a society with order and justice but power struggles erupt and diferent personalities clash into social and emotional battles. Its quite ... interesting to observe how a group of ppl who are now faced with an uncertain future and a society without rules respond, several interesting characters grab the attention and the weak balance creates an instability where everything is uncertain and can change swiftly into a whole new situation. Focusing on human natures the environment is well created and extremely interesting to watch how it develops and ultimately ends. Mistery envolves all this as they uncover the capabilites of the unique spaceship and the strange girl that wanders around, learning more about the geduld and the universe on the main plot, features a bit of political struggle as the space authorities keep attacking them instead of rescuing the frightened children and behind all this lies big secrets that involve the fate of humanity.
With two main plots, being the misterious spaceship at the center of one and the human struggle inside the other, the show appeals to several diferent tastes, even if several combat action scenes are included it wont appeal to younger audiences as the main focus is based around complex emotions, humans and society.

The animation is quite old and doesnt stand out, even during the battles are quite dull, the music rarely stands out mostly just filling the background or annoyingly misplaced like the hip hop during the intermissions wich only serves to break the mood, a joyfyull track in the middle of a sad tragic scene isnt really my appeal, on a couple of ocasions it fits decently but most of the time you wont even notice any music. Altho technically aged its enough to feed the content into the viewer and thats the reason of this review, I enjoyed the character development deeply even if sometimes the main character can sometimes be extremely annoying with his swinging emotions and seems to never learn anything it eventually works out, doing a great job to keep the expectation of whats going to happen next and dramatically emotional is enough to make it a good show. Its a shame it wasnt made with better graphics and soundtrack or it could turn into a great classic but its still good enough considering the old age and I recommend it.

Favorite aspects: emotional depth and story development.
What I dislike: Outdated graphics and soundtrack.

Infinite Ryvius is an absolute masterpiece. It is easily one of the best anime ever made. It is the most underrated anime I have ever watched. It is quite insulting and saddening to see so many people consider such a Goliath of Creativity to be anything close to Mid. The Ryvius is practically the Dingdongmenship itself. A True Vibrational Titan. I recognize that this show has a lot of things that are going to appeal to me specifically, As it is a 90’s Futuristic Psychological Mecha show. Yet even acknowledging all of this, I am still so confused why it is rated so low.

Infinite ... Ryvius Isn't just really good, it's nearly perfect. But it is not perfect, and we will be starting with the negatives. Firstly, there are many big questions that are not answered during the show. Infinite Ryvius Has a lot of mystery going on throughout the story, and it doesn't reveal much directly when it comes to Why these things are happening. You get little hints throughout the show and at the end of the show it leaves you with those little hints and never says it directly. At many times there would be references made to seemingly crucial events that happened in the past, and shows you little bits and flashes of what happened, but never actually directly shows it or tells you what occurred. This is also coupled with How there is a fair amount of recap, so it is not as if they didn't have time to answer these questions. The show is filled with a lot of high quality powerful moments that are very densely packed together, so this recap is Justified to a certain point, but there is just a little too much of it especially towards the end of the show. If Infinite Ryvius was to be considered a perfect show it would have spent the time it spent recapping towards the end answering some of these crucial questions. Of course it is best to leave some things unanswered, but I feel that not all of these questions are best left unanswered, as the events of the story do not make sense to be occurring without an explanation, and it would have only been satisfying to get an explanation.
One other thing that I wouldn't consider to be a true flaw, but could be confusing to many Watchers, is that Infinite Ryvius Has a lot of characters. The first time I was watching The first part of the show there were a couple scenes with the same character I did not realize were the same character. The show gives its characters realistic designs which means not all of the important characters have Super memorable character design. I think that this show needs to have this many characters to properly tell its story, and I wouldn't necessarily even prefer if these characters had more Distinctive Designs, But in order to fully appreciate the show you have to pay a little bit of attention to who is who. (Technically I also noticed an error or two.)

But other than these, the show is generally flawless. The Vibes are essentially unrivaled. It is where the show shines, yet it is a little hard to explain the concept of this vibe. It is basically a mix of everything, I am already a big fan of the general art style and feel of anime from this time period. It was interesting seeing the extreme contrast between the wholesome everyday moments and unprecedented traumatic events that happened to these fictional characters. Towards the beginning you can really feel the tension growing, and it is clear that as the show progresses things are going to fall apart more and more, the journey from order to chaos. The way that this show makes that transition was very satisfying to experience. It was also fascinating to see the constant struggle between competence/ability and Power, As the ones who knew how to keep them alive, were not always fit to lead, and the ones that may be more fit to lead, did not always have the skills to keep them alive. All of these primitive feelings and emotions that exist within all humans, now without guidance or restraint are all exposed, many aspects of who these characters are are brought to the surface, While others are forced to no longer exist. The extreme feelings of not being able to do anything, when something must be done. The extreme feelings of having to trust in the ones who betrayed you in order to survive. The concepts of understanding/accepting the past, learning from it, or leaving it behind. The context the story exists Within is just so fascinating, it always left me Very interested in learning What would happen next.
This show makes Incredible commentary on society and human nature, the context of the show is better to make commentary of this nature then similar Concepts such as Lord of the Flies, and it is completely unique from that, as this context has many More people, enough so a small isolated Society actually forms, as well as they have many more resources, yet not an infinite amount, as well as they have technological assistance. What happens in the show is just like what happens in our reality, although because of the age of the characters, many of the layers of deception in which we hide these negative aspects are blatantly brought out into the open. It is an incredibly fascinating situation of being completely free from everything they used to feel outside, yet now subject to an even more extreme tyranny from within. I found essentially all of the characters to be incredibly relatable or realistic, and the points in which it wasn't it was just So it could do something interesting. All of the characters are all forced to work together in order to survive, and there's this constant struggle between wanting one's own comfort, yet needing to survive in order to achieve this.
The soundtrack is incredible and perfectly compliments the show, it Seamlessly switches between magnificent orchestral compositions and classical Hip Hop Grooves that match and enhance the environment. It is the only anime that I have watched where after finishing the show I went to go listen to the original soundtrack, And I was even more impressed once I listened to that on its own. The show has three soundtracks, The third one is seemingly just whoever was in charge making their own album, but I was pretty offended when they started calling it M. i. D.
Kool depictions of futuristic Technologies. The concept that connects all the planets is amazing, it makes the story feel connected, as well as enhancing the visuals especially of the action, Allowing this interesting mix of spaceship and sea ship like Moments of visual splendor.
The action in the show is also incredible, it is space Mecha action like I have never seen before. Each one of these altercations Has amazing animation, is each incredibly interesting and unique, and during the show scales up in a seamless Ark. It employs this unique concept of solids, so during the fights there is a whole group of them that is Frantically decrypting ciphers and coding out each action at the robot is taking, and seeing his whole group of individuals furiously typing Made the command room scenes of the fights feel very active and engaging. It also perfectly mixes these fight scenes along with the interpersonal dramas that are arising on the ship. And the place where this show truly shines is in The moments in between the characters on the ship.
During the later episodes of the series, I found myself after watching each episode I would have to take a break to process what I had just witnessed. I was blown away by each consecutive section of the story That was revealed. It does a great job of breaking down the unique psychological situation that the story has provided, and naturally integrating it so that these analyses are a necessary part of How the story is told. The character that they used to do this was also genius.
Although it was one of my criticisms, I believe that the mystery of this story is one of the best parts of it. For me when stories have extreme elements of Mystery Like this it makes it more enjoyable and inspires me to want to watch even more.

I can fully acknowledge that There may be additional flaws that I am completely looking past because of how much this show does Perfectly. I believe that this is a legendary anime, one of the greatest of all time. Extraordinarily underrated. If you are a fan of Space, Mecha, or psychological anime, I would consider this to be a must watch. A True 10.

First of all, it's not really Lord of the Flies in space. I didn't like that, but I did like this.

This is by the director for Code Geass and Planetes. It's more like Planetes than Geass.

Animation is mediocre. If you want to watch something for the animation, I suggest Tekkon Kinkreet or 5cm/second instead. I do not suggest watching this for action either.

There is little comedy here. Actually, maybe this is a spoiler, but if you're feeling cheerful about something that happened, it's probably so you can be sucker-punched in five seconds.

What Infinite Ryvius does have is lots of drama, lots of characters, lots of ... talking, lots of plot, and lots of serious. If that's what you like, you will probably like this. I rated it a 10. It's good.

The past is something that we can never avoid. It is a phantom that holds all are best and worst memories, dangling them over our heads while cackling menacingly. Some will do anything to recapture the feelings of long ago, the innocence of childhood, the warm of a loving relationship. While others seek to discard the past, seeking to rid themselves of the stench horror that has been imprinted on those memories. Everyone on the Ryvius has something they want to forget, and the ship itself is a conduit that brings all memories barreling toward the forefront of their minds, cannibalizing them or reforming them ... entirely.

Infinite Ryvius is a fairly unknown anime. It aired during the 90s during the post-Evangelion era where studios sought to capitalize off that brand of psychological anime. Studio Sunrise’s answer to that craving was Infinite Ryvius, which is Lord of the Flies meets Evangelion. Now, I do not wish to minimize the uniqueness of the Ryvius as it is more than just a rip off of those ideas. I referenced those two pieces of fiction to give you a general idea of what the show is like. Now let dig in.

Infinite Ryvius takes place in the year 2225 AD, a time where humanity has colonized all parts of the solar system. Kouji Aiba is a 16-year-old boy who moves onto the Ryvius along with his brother and many other children to train to become a space ship pilot. During one of the training sessions, the Ryvius is attacked by an unknown group, leaving all the instructors dead and only the Zwei Unit, the elite cadet class of the students, to take command. What ensues is a battle for control, endurance, and identity until the students can steer themselves to safety.

At the core of Infinite Ryvius lies a single question, how long can you survive without losing who you are? Ryvius has its cast undergo a variety of different obstacles and circumstances. Each event causes a shift in the zeitgeist of the ship. Every encounter causes a change in the morale of the cast. Every battle is gripping. At certain points, the tension becomes palpable. There are moments where things devolve into anarchy and people are losing all hope. Their desperation, hopelessness, and anger can be felt through the screen.

You are introduced to the daily lives of those on the ship. The pacing is just right, not too slow and not too fast. Although, the beginning of the show does start off rather slow. The subplots slowly develop but never really hit a satisfying conclusion, although they do add more to the character of the main cast. The ending encapsulates all the shows themes in a surprisingly resonant manner and gives you closure.

One of the themes that I felt Ryvius tackle spectacularly was the loss of innocence. Due to the death of all adults on the ship, children are forced to take command and are put in several life and death situations. Each student who is put into a position of power changes drastically and is forced to make many difficult decisions. These decisions come with sometimes crippling consequences on the psyche of these characters. I felt as though this added a layer of complexity to the cast and really stood out as one of the high points of the show.

The music is very hip hop inspired. The type of soundtrack suits the rebellious nature of the cast since hip hop is very rebellious in its nature. The more powerful tracks I felt, were the more pieces that had captured a specific emotion, like despair or the feeling of lazing around and doing nothing. The sound direction wasn’t particularly incredible but it suited its purpose. I felt that the inclusion of some of the vocal tracks with some scenes was not particularly well done and actually took away from the gravitas of those scenes.

With a cast of over at least 15 recurring main characters and background characters, one would assume that it would be hard to give significant depth to most of them. Surprisingly, a lot of them are well rounded. They are given a breadth of personality and we are able to see them from a wide variety of different angles. Even the background characters go through a variety of different changes. My problem with characters though is how they handle the backstories of the main cast. We never actually get to see memories of their past so we only get a hazy idea of their upbringing. One of the main themes of the show is the role the past plays on the characters themselves but I felt as though actually seeing what they went through would allow the viewer to establish an emotional connection to the characters. Another issue potentially is the likability of the characters. I didn’t mind it, but some may find the characters to be off-putting. A lot of them have very overbearing and hostile personalities and some are downright wimpy. If you have a hard time stomaching characters that are openly flawed, you may not like them.

Infinite Ryvius is definitely one of the more interesting shows I have seen in a while. Its premise and its execution were refreshing in a medium that seems to be scared to take risks. The ride aboard the Infinite Ryvius did have its bumps, but it was a journey worth seeing to the end. Check it out.

If you didn't like the story of "Lord of the Flies" there is a good chance you won't like this show. Its about a bunch of kids that get stranded and are attempting to survive until help arrives. The major difference is that it is set in space. Which is awesome because space is cool. The plot is pretty interesting though some people might criticize it for not having enough explanation of the reasons behind the kids being stranded, but this show is mostly character based. It maintains a fairly realistic(for anime) vibe and probably isn't for those that prefer more lighthearted shows.

The art isn't ... anything special and the designs all look like they're from the 90s. This isn't all that surprising because the series was first released in 1999. The backgrounds are pretty cool and the rest of the art has aged pretty well even after 15 years. The animation isn't so horrible it ruins the show but it isn't something you would be fascinated by. The art might turn some people off before they even start watching the show.

The sound used in this show is pretty good. The op song has aged well there is this techno rap style where they repeat Ryvius a couple times at the interval halfway through an episode that helps the viewer to distance themselves from the drama that is actually going on in the show. Some people might say that its out of place but if it had been something operatic or super dramatic it would have ruined the tone by making it seem too melodramatic, which was not the point of the show and would have lumped this show in with everything else of its genre. The sound suits the show spot on. I watched the dub and the voice actors definitely managed to voice the emotions of their characters really well. It may come across as a little exaggerated at times but nothing that should make you think that you could do better.

The characters are what make this show great. There are too many to go over any main characters so I won't but most characters change as the show goes on. A character you liked or hated at one point will probably have your opinion of them flip flop at some point. Every character has believable motives for what they do. Viewer insert Kouji Aiba isn't your standard protagonist. He is whiny but he also never ends up powering up to become the big hero, instead watching as the power players make their moves on the chessboard. The only exception I have to these rules is the crazy bitch. You'll probably figure out who that is if you watch long enough.

I really enjoyed this show and would recommend it to fans of stuff like "Lord of the Flies" and "Game of Thrones" mixed with science fiction. Infinite Ryvius uses a greater than average amount of subtlety and implies things younger viewers probably wouldn't catch that you would need to pay attention to understand. It also has its own made up diction that helps to immerse to immerse the viewer the show even if they don't understand what the characters are saying all the time. Infinite Ryvius is targeted towards a certain type of watcher but for those specific viewers the show is above average.

Infinite Ryvius is often described as "Lord of the Flies IN SPACE" by its small but dedicated fanbase, but this is probably just a ploy to get more people to watch it. The two share concepts on the surface, but that's about it.

Story: 8/10

Ryvius is a (mostly) hard sci-fi anime, blending political drama and commentary on systems of government with a "lost at sea" atmosphere. The sci-fi side of the plot is done quite well, but the show truly shines in the close-to-home story inside the Ryvius. The characters' situation inside is told masterfully and accurately captures the desperation, revolutions, and reconciliations within the ship ... and within societies.

Art: 7/10

Darker shades and colors abound in Infinite Ryvius, fitting the mood of the show perfectly. One complaint I had at the beginning was how obviously "influenced" some character designs were by Neon Genesis Evangelion (looking at you, Aiba Kouji). Luckily though, the similarities end there, as Ryvius is a totally different show. Additionally, the ships and space battle sequences look quite nice.

Sound: 9/10

Some anime have soundtracks that are just plain legendary. Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Samurai Champloo, etc. These shows were good already, but their phenomenal soundtracks made them what they were. Infinite Ryvius is no different. Combining hip-hop beats and lyrics with one woman wails and repeated arc notes, Ryvius creates for itself an near-perfect atmosphere in music. Particular favorites include "Nowhere" and "Dis" (both the Japanese and English versions).

Character: 9/10

Character development can make or break a series. A story like this one wouldn't or couldn't go anywhere without solid development for its characters, and rest assured Ryvius delivers. Instead of the smaller central cast most anime opt for, Ryvius consists of a very large cast, mostly of high school age students who can be classified into different cliques or ideologies. There's the Zwei (students who serve as the political elite), the Delinquents (anarchists/abusers of socialist ideals), and the common students (everyone else). Nearly every character, even those in the background with only a few lines, goes through some sort of development that ultimately brings the cast to life. It was a lofty goal the creators set for themselves, but they just about achieved it perfectly.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Can you tell this is one of my favorite series yet? Infinite Ryvius is recommended to and will probably be enjoyed greatly by fans of similar shows such as Cowboy Bebop or Neon Genesis Evangelion. This is one of those series that appears to start off slow, but my enjoyment grew exponentially with each episode. I found myself unable to leave the computer, engulfed in the story and characters more and more as the series progressed. Even after I'd finished it, I was still hooked and even wrote a review for it!

Overall: 9/10

Go watch Infinite Ryvius, you won't regret it.

Story: 8/10
This show was an excellent test of my patience. It not only told a very well thought out and eventful story, but it taught many lessons along the way. I give the story an 8/10 because of it's good pacing over the 26 episode span (wasn't rushed at any points and didn't pull a goku and spend 4 episodes on one scene). It was very well paced and I appreciate that in an anime. The story itself is indeed reminiscent of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, but I wouldn't say it derives that much from it. It manages to tell its own ... very diverse tale with a set of very diverse characters very well. I personally think the story was very well done.

Art: 8/10
The art was decent for the time (1999). I personally don't find the "classic anime" aesthetic all that distracting but some may. Even so, the character models matched the characters very well once you got a feel of the characters. The galactic backgrounds are very well drawn/painted. The show's overall look almost evoked an odd kind of nostalgic vibe in my opinion.

Sound: 8/10
I will admit the voice acting threw me off slightly (perhaps because Kouji's voice actor voices Light Yagami from DN) But in all seriousness the voice acting threw me for the first couple of episodes but once I got into the characters more it sort of clicked. The music on the other hand is in my opinion great. It's similar to some of the music in Cowboy Bebop, but a few songs reminded me of Nujabes' work on Samurai Champloo (which was great to hear here because I absolutely love Nujabes' music.)
(I'd also like to note that if you watch the show and find yourself enjoying the vocoder voice samples and such look up "Roger and Zapp".)
But anyway the overall music of the show has a sort of 80s-esque funky hip-hop vibe that goes well with the show, but if you don't like boom bap or jazz you may not like the music. The theme song is good. It took until about halfway through the show before I warmed up to it but It grew on me for sure.

Character: 9/10
Now for the characters, which are in my opinion, the most vital part of the entire show. Without believable characters, this show wouldve fallen way flat, and when I first started viewing it, as I stated in the beginning of this review, it showed as a test of my patience. My patience mainly was tested with the two brothers of the series. We open up the show with a clear and strong conflict between Kujou and Yukki Aiba, two brothers who are about to embark on life on the Liebe Delta, a training ship for teens that seek to go into a space-related career of some kind, be it astronaut or flight attendant. I held a strong grudge with both Kouji (due to his submissiveness/passiveness) and Yukki (due to his aggressiveness and general "bad boy" attitude), but as the show progresses, I came to realize and see more and the show was transforming from a mecha space opera to a coming-of-age space opera. I was also slightly annoyed with the character of Aoi Housen, who is both Kouji and Yukki's childhood friend. She seemed to want to be unbaised when it came to the conflict between the two brothers, and that irked me for a while. But again, this show really is more than what it seems and it may not show it immediately, but every main character (and several side characters) are very dynamic and are anything but cliches or stock characters.

Enjoyment: 9/10
The first few episodes were trying, but around the 4th or 5th episode, I got into it more and by the end it became a great anime that I am proud to say I may come back to.

Overall: 9/10
This show is not for everyone. There is a lot of angst (forgot to mention that above) but that goes with the terrain as we're dealing with a ship full of hundreds of teenagers. I mean cmon...
If you like stories with complex and sometimes frustrating characters you will enjoy this anime. If you enjoy a good space opera you will certainly enjoy this anime. If you like psychological animes that bring up thought-provoking questions and raise many societal and political points, this anime is for you.
Thanks for reading. :D

Ryvius is a twisty, depressing space drama. Imagine Lord of the Flies in space with the slow, tense combat of The Hunt for Red October. Much like some of Sunrise's other works, they spend too much time building up to the climax to really resolve it, much less fully explain what was really going on. Nearly every episode has some sort of plot twist (and they all seem to have cliffhangers...) and many of the characters make you want to alternatively reach in and wring their necks and hug them. The big weakness to me is the music, as it's a bastardization of the ... JPop we know and love with R&B. The result is far from unpalatable, but takes some getting used to. In short, Infinite Ryvius is a fantastic show that has a few flaws that don't really detract significantly from the enjoyment.

Without wasting time the show is worth watching all the way through if you're in the mood for sci-fi from the point of view of emotional teenagers trying to survive. You will however have to put up with some spotty animation quality, and over the top teen angst and melodrama. Watch it subbed if possible as the dub is annoying to listen to.

The show feels like an amalgamation of Evangelion's psychological character flaws, Gundam's general environmental design, and the over the top but somehow still endearing character interactions of InuYasha.

Others have said that the story is very similar to the novel Lord of The Flies ... which is true. The characters are older than those in that book so naturally there are romantic relationships between characters, however there is a general lack of anything overtly sexual.

You will be wondering how the kids will get out of their battle, how the conspiracies in the background will progress, how the crew's moral will be effected, and be getting a bit frustrated at how ineffectual the characters are at communicating, organizing, and dealing with their emotions. There is a real human point of view the show comes from. You get to see how the kids organize and live their lives.

I appreciate how people getting beaten or killed might be glossed over in a lot of shows but this one has it's characters react in very serious and realistic ways. If your friend gets attacked she's might want to isolate herself and she might not be able to stop herself from screaming the honest opinions she has of people at them no matter how painful they might be.

For everything the show does right it does have some very annoying flaws.

The voice acting is mostly acceptable, however during certain scenes the cadence or tone of what you hear doesn't match what you see. For example at one point a character gets injured and the animation on screen is very minimal but the voice actor is portraying the character as though they where heaving with every breath.

There is one character that always says "Never give me orders!" and it's so painfully over the top and basic as to feel embarrassing every time. I also hate the voice they chose for the woman in pink. It's as though they told her to sound like a robot, so she did, but not at all convincingly. Watch it subbed.

The show generally looks interesting, and sometimes quite pretty, but the animation between characters is too frequently awful. If you pay attention whenever a character gets pushed down you'll see the frames per second drop, the angle of momentum to be off, and for the angle of impact to often be physically impossible.

If the premise is interesting to you, and you get get over the rough spots, it can be a rather enjoyable show.

I feel like agreeing with the review that is currently at the top in comparing this show to 'The Lord of The Flies'. That's the sort of plot you should expect, and that's the sort of uneasiness you should feel when you get into watching this show.

I watched infinite Ryvius at a very leisurely pace. I think I finished it over the course of a year in fact. I watched some four episodes at the beginning of the year and then just forgot about it in the midst of other shows and life in general, until I had the time to pick it up ... again and proceed with it. When I did get to watching it like this I couldn't quite put it down, it's a really engaging show.

There is a healthy dollop of realistic science fiction that controls a lot of the show mechanics. Simple maneuvers of a humanoid machine require lot's of programming, no sounds in space, the classics. I like that sort of feel to the show, it makes situations that much more tense. And thankfully the young main cast isn't completely appalling or annoying, over the course of the time of watching this show you will fall in tune with most of the characters, and while you may forget their names you definitely won't forget the characters themselves.

A great dynamic cast, and a great science fiction tale to be told. It gave me a definate wistful feeling after finishing it, so it classifies as one of the greats. No, personally I don't consider it quite a masterpiece, but it's a very welcome watch for sci-fi, and definitely one of the greatest science fiction anime out there.

For the casual observer who isn't sure you'd watch this show: I can only suggest 'watch it until things first get bad'. However, the pacing is slow so there is no helping that.

I would normally wait to finish a series before writing a review, but as of episode 8, I'm Mostly really enjoying this one.

Teens training for various jobs pertaining to space travel on a space station orbiting some kind of gravity well, find themselves suddenly without any instructors or adults to supervise them, as they try to establish some kind of order amidst a string of internal and external threats to their lives.

I'm not an art snob, as long as it's not bad CGI the art is rarely a problem for me in an anime. I am, however, extremely picky when it comes to music. I ... absolutely HATE the hip hop they put in this show. I wouldn't care if it fit the theme somehow, but there's nothing even remotely "urban" about this anime. It's a bunch of Japanese space cadets trying to survive being thrown into situations they never expected. In space. Not on the streets. The music is very out of place and jarringly so, at least for me.

That aside, my only other complaint is the strangely garbed weird chick that appears in times of tension and mumbles to herself what people are feeling. I am Assuming she's some kind of not very bright sentient AI for the ship they're on, but they haven't given a hint in 8 episodes about her and it's getting a bit old. She just appears, babbles, ship does something, she disappears.

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Up until this point, my review was of the first 8 episodes. I have now finished the show.

Well, the show seems to fall apart towards the end, but at the same time, the crew of the Ryvius is also falling apart so I suppose it works. It seems like the Sphix tend to drive people crazy, so that would explain the warping of personalities over time and the emotional overreactions.

Unfortunately, I stopped caring about Any of the characters a while back. None of them are very relatable or sympathetic by the end of the show. The two brothers in particular annoy me to no end. One is a wimp, the other is completely irrational and angry 98% of the time, throwing a tantrum whenever he sees his brother.

The final episode was just kinda lame. The final shot, a tad confusing. I won't spoil it but the idea that they'd still be using all of the same ships 1000+ years in the future seems a bit... ridiculous.

It's not a bad show though, while it didn't end up being quite what I had hoped, I don't regret watching it and wouldn't dissuade others from doing so.

Readers who grew up watching Toonami and Adult Swim in the early 2000's are probably familiar with the fact that the anime mega-studio Sunrise put out a bunch of hit series in the mid-to-late 90's (Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, The Big O, and Cowboy Bebop to name a few). However, if there's one Sunrise series that didn't make it to TV outside of Japan (technically this excludes Escaflowne) that's definitely worth checking out it would probably be Infinite Ryvius (pronounced like: "Revi(se) Us").

Infinite Ryvius is a space opera that feels like a twist on Gundam but with a bit of The Lord of the Flies ... thrown in. The twist is that everything is reversed. Rather than centering the show's perspective on the pilots of the titular mech, this show follows the daily lives of the survivors, all children, living on the titular ship as they defend themselves from attacking ships while searching for safe harbor. It's main character, a far cry from a hero, is just some kid trying to keep it together while things fall apart around him. Even the Hobbesian themes of The Lord of the Flies are turned upside-down as the kids attempt to establish and re-establish law and order on the ship, often with horrifying results (really, IR is more of a political satire than Hobbesian fable).

The main characters of this show are a pretty "unlikeable" bunch: there's the MC who basically never does anything and almost might as well have stayed home, his brother a mega-edgelord who'd compel even Hiiro Yui to slap the shit out of him, the would-be hero who's obsessed with boinking his sister, and a bunch of girl characters who... just kinda really suck but in different ways I guess? Anime fans who are prone to complain about "unlikeable" characters or who can't deal with the cruel situations they create might want to steer clear of this one but as "unlikeable" as they may be the drama that plays out between them really held my interest and had me saying "just one more episode" again and again. I also enjoy the show's wacky minor characters who break up the melodrama like the girl who keeps misplacing parts of her lizard costume or the boy who has to abandon his clothes when his shower is interrupted by an evacuation order. The characters in this show would probably be awful in any other show, but IR does really well with them, I'll even admit that I genuinely have a soft spot for most of them.

In a lot of ways this is a show that probably would've never made to TV in the US, its very much a show for the true anime fans who can appreciate the way it plays with genre and character tropes. As for me, I definitely think Ryvius is worthy of being included amongst Sunrise's better known late-90's hits, a period where the mega studio's ambitions and creativity ran wild, and more than any other anime, it helped pave the way for future Sunrise productions like Gundam SeeD, s-CRY-ed, Planates, and Code Geass through its contributing staff members. As a score, a 9/10 might be slightly high, but I really enjoyed this series (OSTs really good too) and hope other people check it out.