Series Review: Xam'd Lost Memories (7/10)

Instant Summary: Boy turns into a white-orange alien with insane powers in an accident.

It's a pity that Xam'd didn't get the exposure it deserves. For all the quality and ideas they've put into the show, being an ONA for the PS3 didn't sound like a very good marketing strategy.

There's a lot of stuff brilliant about Xam'd. I simply love character-driven adventure stories like this, but they come few and far between nowadays. They always seem to present a vast new world with endless possibilities and adventures, and Xam'd did manage to create that illusion well. For the first half of the show, at least. It's just depressing to see how rarely stuff like these get made properly anymore.

Despite the huge number of characters in the show, it's also nice to see that they gave all of them at least some exposure or even development, which made them easier to relate and very likable. While of course characters like Haru certainly grabbed more screentime (than she deserves) due to their role in the story, it's good to see interesting supporting characters like Ishu or Kujireika get the spotlight every now and then. Nakiami, despite her monotonous personality, has definitely become one of my most memorable characters of all time.

But despite the great premises and atmosphere it has managed to create, I really can't ignore how much the story managed to drag down the overall impression of the title. I'm not sure whether to call it confusing, or simply lazy.

So, what exactly are the Xam'd? There's a whole ton of concepts the story had to introduce, but they kept jumping onto the next before I can fully understand one. Towards the end, it feels like they keep bringing in new ideas simply to turn up the heat, because I have no idea how all the new ideas relate to anything in the past 10+ episodes. Maybe the writers were just trying to their best to confuse me enough to not figure out how insensible everything were. Judging from the comments online, I'm not the only one feeling like this.

And maybe it's just me, but the story kept going in a different direction I want to be, and it's pretty unsatisfying. Why did everyone change their look? Their new look suck! Their "new personality" that comes pre-packaged with their look sucked even harder! Why did Nakiami deserve such an unjustifiable ending? And why is the ending so mellow? I thought these guys made Eureka Seven! Hell, this is practically Eureka Seven's spiritual successor!

I find hard to believe that this is what the writers wanted for Xam'd, because it could have been so much better, with the choices they had. It could have been so much more. Damn.

Plot/Concept: Great!
Story Style: !@#$%
Audio/Visual: Excellent!
Value: 7