Anime Review: Fafner

Review FafnerWritten by WarpshadowRating good

A good mecha drama is always a nice thing in my book but Fafner is a bit too turgid and manipulative to be a good mecha drama.

Tatsumiya island was a peaceful place where nothing important happened. That changed when Kazuki's friend Soushi returned from a long voyage. That incidentally was the day that golden monsters called Festum attack and the truth of the island was revealed. It was when Kazuki learn about the existence of Fafner, giant robots that were the only weapons against the Festum. So a new generation takes up the struggle for the future of humanity.

While Fafner may look like a sleek mecha show there are several things keeping this show from rising above the level of mere mediocrity. First of all this show bears a great deal of similarity to certain mecha shows of the mid nineties. More importantly Fafner is very heavy handed which ultimately cheapens the sense of tragedy which it tries to portray simply because it happens so much. When the characters of the show aren't dieing and crying they have a tendency to spout pycho babble rather than act like normal people. The bottom line is the viewers are not given the intimacy with the characters the show expects them to have. This does start to improve in the second half of the show but many may not feel that the payoff is not worth trudging through at least three volumes to get through. I would put Fafner into the category of only watch this if you feel the need to watch every mech show or angsty teenage drama on the face of the earth.