Movie: Fafner: Rebirth builds on what took place before with the premise from the initial volume being: "The story takes place in the future on an island paradise known as Tatsumiya Island. Life pretty much seems to be like any other island community, with kids going to school, parents working in their shops, and little exchange between the mainlands that are hundreds of miles away. The lead character is Kazuki, a high school kid that is no stranger to a fight and generally seems slightly withdrawn. When Soshi returned from an extended trip to Tokyo, all heck started breaking loose with announcements made for the residents to go to a series of what appear to be bomb shelters. Kazuki is taken to a small military base and soon finds himself piloting a large, powerful humanoid shaped robot called Fafner with the assistance of Soshi due to a series of inter-related circumstances involving an attack on the island by a golden robot called Festum. Festum is routing all the other defenses and after a brief bit of exposition, we find out that several of the students have the right genetic code to pilot the Fafner but Kazuki is most suited. He stumbles through the fight as several initially important characters bite the big one and we find out the history of the island, with few bits of interesting facts about the devastation of Earth in recent years (that the youth of the island had no idea about)."

It's been about a year since I saw the show but I picked up pretty quickly considering the often generic nature of the series. The back cover summed it up nicely here with: "Control over Alvis takes center stage as Fumihiko, Commander Barnes and Mizoguchi play a strategic high stakes game of nuclear engagement. Just as the Neo UN begins to withdraw from the island Commander Barnes asserts his authority over all of his subordinates and launches a nuclear missile towards the island. Later, Maya's piloting capability is brought to light and she is embroiled in a political web of deceit. In such a critical time, the lines between good and bad are blurred when one of their own is labeled a Festum and slated for destruction. Will they abide by the law or will the pilots mutiny for the sake of friendship?"

Essentially, there are three groups to the movie; the residents of a small island in the Pacific hidden away from the rest of the world under the guidance of a group called Alvis, the rest of the remaining world under the leadership (or lack thereof) of the Neo UN, and an alien force called the Festum. The Festum started attacking Earth thirty years ago, starting with a genetic attack that prevented mankind from reproducing naturally, forcing the use of gestation chambers to have children. They routinely attack cities and very little is left of the world's defenses by this time. Borrowing elements from a number of series (it looks like the Gundam Seed series and has a lot of the same themes as Neon Genesis Evangelion). The Festum have begun concentrating their attacks on Alvis and the Neo UN has grown really envious of the advanced equipment the islanders have developed, making them attack the island as well in an attempt to help advance their own forces in fighting the enemy off. Like Gundam Seed, the plot details hinge on the nuances of the character interaction rather than specific battle outcomes and reviews such as this are often forced into spoilers whereas a boxed set (coming in January of 2007) review would be much easier to write and easier to provide you with the generalities of the show (to make up your mind about buying or renting it).

The episodes this time were 17) Device (Survival), 18) Memory (Father), 19) Sight (Maya), and 20) Light (Lantern). The inevitable strategic withdrawal of the Neo UN from the island during the Festum attack on the Core causes them to decide it makes more sense to destroy the technology than let it fall into enemy hands. This prepares them mentally to launch a nuclear attack on the families of the island for the "better good" of mankind. Thankfully, they disagree with this idea and work to stop it and the Festum with all available resources. Still, Kazuki is left with the feeling that all is not right with his world as he reaches into his past to figure out the context of what is going on around him, causing some trouble for the Alvis. The emergence of Maya on the right side of the conflict after nearly killing them during a battle marks a step towards the ending as her skills come in mighty handy. The emergence of Tsubaki from her womb-like cocoon also adds another dimension as she seeks to reconcile the various forces in the little time she has to do so. This was where the series continued the path towards the various enemies working things out even as the attacks stepped up a notch. I thought the volume was worth a rating of Recommended thanks in large part to the way the newer characters took over in the philosophical leanings of the show's writing, making it more complex than ever.

Picture: Fafner: Rebirth was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was produced in for Japanese television. I saw no flaws in the picture with the colors looking great, the backgrounds being well handled, the overall detail being solid, and the levels of grain and/or noise barely noticeable. The anime style itself was a combination of the newer CGI and more traditional work now seeing widespread use throughout shows although the CGI was limited to some parts of the island, the shore fortifications, and the like. In all, it looked great which is no surprise considering that the show was just released in Japan.

Sound: The audio was presented with the usual choice of 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese with English subtitles (the original track of course) or an English language dub. To be fair to both, I liked each of them for various reasons; the original flowed slightly better but the dub was as solid as I'd expect from a new Geneon release. The music and sound effects seemed to be the same this time and there were few flaws in terms of the vocals or miscast actors. There was some decent separation and dynamic range to listen to this time, particularly if you use headphones although they aren't necessary to hear the quality of the audio.

Extras: The only extras this time were some trailers, the paper insert and a true double sided DVD cover.

Final Thoughts: Fafner: Rebirth was another solid set of episodes in the Fafner series for me. The change in the dynamic of the characters, the elements opening up the bigger picture aspects into the light, and the overall quality of the writing seemed to gel more readily. The show wasn't reduced to a fight a new alien style of episodic mess that so many other, almost identical shows have proven to be (again, using standards like Neon Genesis Evangelion as their far better guide) so I admit that it got better. In that sense, I wish I had seen the rest of the series when it came out but Fafner: Rebirth, seemed to mark the point where the various factions engaged in battle could work something out, however unlikely this seemed at first.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.