Review - Infinite Ryvius

I decided to do my first review on something I had a fresh watch of... in fact, I watched the whole series twice... in 5 days (FYI, very hard).

In general, I'm still debating how much I should tell about an anime in my reviews. I enjoy knowing nothing about an anime when I go into it, lol. But I know must people reading don't just wanna spend 7 hours watching a series to find out it wasn't something they liked. (Personally, I have enjoyed almost every series I have watched.)


So anyways, I'll give a plot rundown, then go into some specific aspects of the show.

Infinite Ryvius is the story of about 500 teenagers who get stuck on a spaceship... in space. Most of the adults are killed by a mysterious group. This causes the research ship (and training facility on-board) to plunge into a dangerous part of space known as the Gedult. The last of the Adults sacrifice their lives to save the students on board.

But that's only the first 2 episodes. From then on its changes in leaders to individual relationship problems. You wonder who will lead, and if they will make the right choices. You also follow many different individual characters as they try to figure out their place aboard the ship, along with their relationships with the other characters. Angry brothers, a dangerous past, selfish motives, choices of the past or future... all cause turmoil in the characters' lives. And you never find a character you agree with the whole time. everyone is so realistically portrayed.

Of course, there is some relief from the stress. There's the occasional comedy relief, and reoccurring characters such as Radan (Pillow Boy, who has nothing on but a pillow) and the girl always in the Dinosaur costume.

Prepare to have your emotions tweaked with and feel a strange sense of closeness to the characters. Because it is so realistic, it brings you into it. You feel the emotions of each character as the show goes on.

Now form the plot and characters, here's some other info.
=Sub vs Dub - I watched this anime in English (the main character has Lan from Megaman's voice). I did see about 5 min of it in Jap on YouTube. It's abotu the same, in my opinion. So whichever one you watch first, you are gonna prefer that one from then on (that's how it works, lol).

=Content - Okay, this is a pretty decent anime. Biggest problem is probably language, and even that's not too bad. It's got some Hells and some D*mns, and a few Bas****s. Nothing sexual. Not too violent (the only thing being the silhouette of a girl choking another girl). There's an outline of a girl in the theme song (explained at the end of the series) who appears naked, though has no features. The only other thing, is a small but plot significant mentioning of incest. My sister watched this show. It's fine. I would give it PG 13 because of language. (Oh, and I later remembered, there's 2 bits of fan service, where you get a quick view of a girl's panties... but it's not that bad. PANTSU!)

=Sound - Great soundtrack. I downloaded it right after I finished the show. Awesome opening, good ending. There are 2 main soundtracks, plus a remix album (called Soundtrack 3 for some reason, though the remixes aren't in the show). A lot of the tracks are quieter orchestrational pieces. But on contrast, there's a theme of Hip-Hop to the show. About 6 tracks have nice hip-hop beats.

=Specials - There are some bonus weird episodes on my DVD set (from Anime Legends). Some are weird storys of randomness and humor, and others are just general info from peopel like the voice actors. Weird.

=Adaptions - I recently purchased the Infinite Ryvius manga. It's two volumes, and not available to download online. It was 7.50 from rightstuf.com. It's the same story, but from the viepoint of Aoi (the main female character). Sadly, the content level is higher, as they had to put some TMI (too much information) in there... sigh... Still interesting.

Category: Emotional
Length: 26 Episodes - # Specials (Weird Bonuses on the DVD)
Japanese Title: Mugen No Ryvius
Year: 1999
Studio: Sunrise
Opening Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlg_uOqn0y4
Ending Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s4fB0rs9fc
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Ryvius
AnimeNewsNetwork: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=411
Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=718557665&v=feed&story_fbid=42036792665#/pages/Infinite-Ryvius/40769664354?ref=s

Download (Jap/EngSub): http://anime.thehylia.com/downloads/series/infinite-ryvius
OST (Soundtrack): http://anime.thehylia.com/downloads/series/infinite-ryvius
Stream (Jap/engSub): http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=791CCC46217C8994
Purchase on DVD ($21): http://kcdvd.com/InfiniteRyvius.html

In summary, I would recommend this anime to almost anyone. It's not on my top sharing list, which would include FMA, FLCL, Trigun and Scrapped Princess, but after you have seen a few, or even if you haven't, this one is worth your time.

Categories?!?!?!

Okay! For a while I had said "There is twos of the kinds of anime!" Just like the way that statement was written, so is it's actual content: Silly.

I currently have decided on five kinds. Maybe I'll find more as I watch more, but the main point is the dominant trait and general effect the anime has on you. They fit distinctly in these categories. So lets begin.

=Plot
"OMG! Didn't see that coming!" This is pretty basic. You know some things, you want to know some others. You are glad that you found out some things you didn't even know you didn't know, lol. You pretty much are on an adventure with the character(s) to figure out What, Why, and other little questions. (If you like M Night Shyamalan movies, you'd probably be into this.)
-Fullmetal Alchemist - A series full of twists, where you at first merely want to know what's going to happen. But that is quickly de-prioritized when you get into story that dives deeper into conspiracy and the history of civilizations.
-Scrapped Princess - Starting off on another seemingly plain Medieval adventure, things quickly stop adding up, and you realize that your automatic assumptions of this adventure have been misconceived! It's already far beyond that!

=Emotional
"OH! Poor guy, what's he gonna do?" An interesting category I realized recently. A story that attempts to pull you in by giving you tons of the feelings of the characters. Sometimes just one, or stacking it upon you through multiple. These series can make you physically sick if you let yourself feel the full effect. Yet, you'll enjoy it all. Whether its happy or sad, its amazing to feel their emotions. You'll sit and ponder for a while afterwards too, and listen to the Soundtrack for something that revives the joys of the series.
-Eflen Lied - A story with characters in seemingly impossible to solve situations full of violent hatred and strange love, leaving you twisting and turning because of the worry of any outcome possible! Death brings good and bad, but so does life...
-Infinite Ryvius - You are thrust along with 500 teenagers into a bad situation: stranded in space. You feel everything from dozens of characters love and relational problems, to the problems of groups... to the group of 500 as a whole. Feeling every side of every argument, there's realistically no one to fully stand by for the whole show. The small bits of humor only makes it more realistic and gripping, and the drama only gets deeper.

=Comedy
"LOL! That was pretty ironic how that happened!" Pretty common! This element, like the others, exists in all at least a LITTLE bit. You laugh at jokes that make sense, and the sad/funny Irony the characters encounter. Also, this is most commonly paired with Romance anime.
-Ah! My Goddess - An amusing story of the guy who happens to be stuck with a beautiful goddess for life. Humor ensues from ignorance, jealousy, and downright crazy characters, and yet it brings wonderful joy to watch.
-Ranma ½ - Very old school. A great story of a the boy Ranma and his father who are cursed. When they fall in cold water, they become a girl and a Panda, and only hot water changes them back! The humor begins when Ranma's father betroths him to a girl... who doesn't know about his curse!

=Random
"WUT? That really makes no sense!" Some may argue this falls under comedy. And it is funny, but it is usually very distinct when an anime is trying for Sensible or Senseless humor. Still ironic, but in a slapstick style, as opposed to a realistic irony that a character suffers. Sometimes not intended to even be humorous.
-Bobobo Bobobobo - Random? Purely! This is about as random as I've seen or heard of. Tons of crazy zainy humor with a plot for nothing more as something to keep things moving. Crazy good, crazy funny, crazy craizee!
-FLCL (Furi Kuri, Fooly Cooly) - A strange story involving bizarre characters with a weird adventure! You not quite sure if anything matters, and assume it doesn't. However, it does! Sit and force yourself to stand the random, and by the end you'll be satisfied!

=Aesthetic
"AH! How appealing to my eyes and ears!" The thing is, I have never seen an anime series that is Aesthetic. However, almost every movie I've seen that isn't part of a series, has fallen under this Category! You watch and are amazed at he artwork, the battles, the adventure. Oh, and the music, too! Always with a plot, but a dominance of visual appeal.
-Howl's Moving Castle - A great adventure of magical magnitudes with... a mobile castle. Funny characters, amazing battles, interesting story. It really appeals to the mind so well!
-Steamboy - One of the least Aesthetic Anime movies I've seen. But it's still under that category. It's about a boy who's father and grandfather have developed a small orb which can power insane amounts of things through steam! With amazing gadgetry and great industrial age appeal, Steamboy also provide a significant amount of adventure, and an accurate look into many kinds of crazy people ;)

All anime I know of is dominated by one of those themes. They usually have ALL elements, but its great to know specifically what you're dealing with.

Oh, but a lot of people want to hear about:
=Romance
"OOO! They finally got together..." The problem is, I've never seen/heard of an anime Dominated by this category, and EVERY single one has had this in it. Most anime that seems dominated by this, is usually dominated at least a little more... by comedy. So I don't count it as one of the main 5. Common interest, love triangles, uncomfortable situations; it all sets up for the addition to the main plot.

That's it! I'll usually describe an anime with these a lot, so its best to know them. It will also help you find which anime you like better! These are nothing more than my experience, but as my Anime List shows, I do have a lot of that (and it grows nearly every day). I also hope to rate some Manga also!

Konbanwa!

Konbanwa tomodachi!

That's "Good Evening Good Friends!" in Japanese. No, I don't speak more than 10 Japanese words. I'm not bad with pronunciation, though.

But that's not the point! I'm here to start a blog!!! I was thinking about using my home page (http://jacfalcon0.googlepages.com) as a place to review anime. However, after my friend Cory recommended a blog, AND MyAnimeList.net already had the option, I decided to start one.

No! Anime isn't my favorite thing in the world or something like that! But I have gotten tired of:
1. Telling my friends which anime they would like.
2. Telling my friends they would like anime.
3. Telling my friends they were silly for being so bias against anime.
4. Telling my friends to not eat nachos!!!
Plus I like to complete things and not drop them, so my reviews are going to be pretty complete.

Here's my main profile here on MyAnimeList. Be sure to check out my top 5 anime, top 10 characters, etc.
http://myanimelist.net/profile/jacfalcon

And here's my complete list of anime. You should pay attention to what I'm currently watching and what I've completed. On Hold means I've started it but something is keeping me from being able to watch it (like I don't have the episodes available). I NEVER drop an anime, so you can ignore the Dropped section. And the Plan to Watch is huge, so only check it out if you want.
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/jacfalcon

So, I'm gonna write about individual series, and sometimes update a post. And I'll probably write lots about "Anime Theory" in general, since I like stuff like that, lol.

I also, long ago, worked on a project I called "Finding God in Fullmetal Alchemist". It was a bunch of great Biblical analogies I found in the series. I wrote down some of it somewhere, I'll try uploading that sometime.

I'm also hoping to write a small post here about my religions views in general as applied to anime, such as nudity and stuff. You can comment any disagreements, of course!

Register for this site! It's easy, and then you can fill any anime or manga you have enjoyed, even if its just a movie or an episode of Pokemon! I'd love to know what you have watched!

Well, I think that's about it. If you read this article, please comment below. I'll know you didn't read it all if you don't :P

Ari Gato!
-Shea