[Lynk Former]

I was just reading through the essay-ish type post I wrote in the last version of C3F about this... you remember the Evangelion | RahXephon thread.

I still agree with what I wrote in there, that these two series do compliment each other and should be watched together. With Evangelion showing the darker side of humanity while RahXephon shows the good in us all. I agree with Analog about the fact that RahXephon is a tribute to Evangelion rather than just a copy and that it very well is an alternate telling using different sources but overall telling the same story.

It's also fair to say that RahXephon did borrow a little from Gundam and also from Macross as well, it's just not as apparent but it's there. Funnily enough, some of the people who worked on RahXephon had also worked on a few Gundam and Macross series... XD

But RahXephon also has a very unique element, one that is very much my favourite part about it. The love story between Ayato and Haruka. That also needs to be recognised if there is going to be a comparison between Evangelion and RahXephon. And that is also the major element that turned RahXephon from a potentially negative series (such as Evangelion) into a positive one.

As for the way the two series was executed. There were a lot of similarities between the two in that aspect, sorry to say darky. However as stated before, the thing that made it seem different was the fact that RahXephon has that love story element. Evangelion, while it had some romance, of sorts, took a much darker and sadistic tone. Overall the way the two series were both executed were similar with the only difference being the lack of sadism in RahXephon compared to Evangelion.

And as for the music, the music in both RahXephon and Evangelion is very well done. The music for RahXephon is great but as for the comment made about Evangelion's music... The series is so extreme and the music very much reflects that. I have no idea where the idea came from that Evangelion's soundtrack is flat because it definitely IS NOT. Have you actually put on the soundtrack, turned up your stereo to max and actually listened at some of the tracks? It is FAR from flat. The fact that the music does sound older than the actual anime itself is deliberate and echoed the sounds of classic movies that more people should have watched.

But it is true that Evangelion really takes off once Asuka gets thrown into the mix XD lol. And it is very much apparent that RahXephon learnt from the mistakes that Evangelion made. This is why RahXephon has the more engaging introductory episodes than Evangelion does as it puts you in the shoes of Ayato, where you know only as much as he does and are thrown into utter chaos. It’s more of a mystery that way. Evangelion on the other hand takes a more subdued approach, rather than making the viewer feel like they are in the shoes of the main character it's more of an explanation of who this character is and why he has come to this place and what is going on initially.