[MadMax]

So I finished rewatching RahXephon with my girlfriend last night. Took us a while since she didn't have much time when we started the series, and it's been two years since I first watched it. Back then, I had a feeling that I understood most of it, at least the basic plot and some of the details. But this time I was confused (as was she) and I ended up wondering, who are the Mu really, why do they want Ayato to tune the world if he's actually their enemy, what's with that Lord Bäbhem, how come that everyone from TERRA seems to be family with the others...? I ended up reading a Wikipedia article about RahXephon which describes the prestory and some important details about the ending of the series and the movie (which I haven't seen), and I found so much stuff in this article that I didn't see or understand in the series that I'm left wondering how complex it really is and whether I need to be a genius to understand it all by myself. How was that for you when you watched RahXephon? Did you have problems getting all the plot details like me, or was it straightforward?

[Analog]

Honestly, the first time I watched RahXephon I had no intention of figuring out all the plot lines. I just watched it cold and let it flow over me. I'm going to rewatch it soon and then get into more of the finer details. I have no idea just how complex it actually is, but I can tell it gets fairly deep in places.

[darktruth]

Well there's no doubt it's a really complex story to understand but I guess if you understand the base storyline of the love relationship between Ayato and Haruka then it would be enough.

I found it sort of understandable with the overall plot of war between the Mu and the humans but when going into deep details of the Mu's history, I'm clueless about it. The episode that really caught my attention was a flashback episode of Makoto's, Itsuki's and Helen's childhood and how they were raised up, that and the subtle information given about the Dolems.

[Lynk Former]

No, RahXephon is pretty easy to understand, you just have to pay attention. It really doesn't go out of its way to try to play with your mind like Evangelion does. This is mostly because Anno has nothing to do with RahXephon lol.

Most of what you need to know is already there in the series about character relationships and whatnot, however if you want to study up on the mythology, etc that was present in RahXephon then the internet awaits you I remember back in the last version of C3F I posted up a huge list of links to different sites around the net which pretty much explained all of the real world facts that went into RahXephon. Of course the fact that I studied up on Evangelion also helped with understanding RahXephon since both share many of the same concepts even if they differ by being derived from different cultures.

But yeah, like I said. RahXephon was easy to get... Killer7 on the other hand isn't XD lol

[darktruth]

I suppose those who have seen Evangelion will probably understand most of it from the first watch but those who aren't really into an in-depth analysis of each episodes will probably fly pass those clues given as they'd be more attentive to the action than dialogue.

A few of my friends at school have seen it and all of them have said they didn't fully understand what the series was all about what with all those mysterious relationships, pasts and the overall plot story.

So in the end I guess the bottom line is that if you're the type who's really attentive then you'll understand the full concept but if you're the type who just watch the action then you probably won't have a clue what's really going on.

[Lynk Former]

Yeah, I've learnt a long time ago that it pays to be observant with animes like this lol.

[Ishita_Kanzar]

... So to truly understand RahXephon, you have to have 'dived into the deep end' by watching and understanding Neon Genesis...

Or at least, that's what you guys seem to be saying.

How about Ghost in the Shell (i'm talking about the manga)? GITS and GITS2 seemed completely and utterly WEIRD!!

[Lynk Former]

No that's not what we're saying... what was being said was that people who already have a head start with Evangelion willl be used to the concepts present within RahXephon.

[darktruth]

And people who like to think about the concepts and actually try to pay attention will probably gain a better understanding of the series rather than being spoon fed with just the action scenes.