Welcome to my first themed month. Every post in this month of January will be dedicated to the theme of “Series retelling.” These movies take the plot of the original series they were based on and retell them in a short condensed movie. The first entry in this theme month is Rahxephon.

Ayato Kamina and his young girlfriend have been separated by the Tokyo Jupiter Incident, which cuts off Tokyo from the outside world. Ayato is approached by a mysterious woman named Haruka who leads him to the giant winged robot Rahxephon. Now Ayato must use the Rahxephon to fight the Dolems send by the Mu, who caused the Tokyo Jupiter Incident and find a way to reunite with the love of his life, Mishima.

Since the month is about retelling the story, evaluating whether its a good or bad retelling should come first. Overall, it does a pretty good job retelling the story of Rahxephon. The mysteries don’t get as much time to drag out as they did in the TV show. Still they make sure to focus the important beats of the original story and add some very interesting scenes.

Speaking of interesting scenes, the love story between Ayato and Mishima is the main focus of the movie. Though their romance was a subplot in the original series, focusing on it really helps to showcase just who important it was to the overall plot. Also, the two of them are a cute couple and their love is very entertain to watch develop. Small spoiler but the two of them make love. Personally, I find this refreshing as not all anime couples get the option of having the aspect of an adult relationship without it become some kind of ecchi fanservice comedy or straight up hentai.

Sadly, the studio didn’t add any new mecha to the film. Would have been nice if they had added one movie exclusive robot for a new fight scene. They do make sure to include a few of the better fight scenes form the show but probably could have benefited from one just one more fight.

Overall, this is a good movie to watch. All fans who enjoyed the Rahxephon series should make it a point to watch this film. This was made at the point in time when many thought that Studio Bones doing a mecha anime was always going to be a recipe for success. Sadly, shows like Heroman and Captain Earth have made it so fans must be a little wary before diving head first into one of their shows. Still, Bones still has a pretty good track record and I become hesitatingly optimist every time I hear they are doing a giant robot series.

There we go. the first entry in the “retelling” theme month.  If you like the theme let me know and I’ll work on adding more theme months in this blog’s future.

RATING: A-