X [tv]
Entry updated 14 February 2022. Tagged: TV.
Japanese animated tv series (2001-2002; vt X/1999). Madhouse. Based on the Manga by CLAMP. Directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Written by Yuki Enatsu. Voice cast includes Aya Hisakawa, Motoko Kumai, Houko Kuwashima, Mitsuaki Madono, Mamiko Noto, Junichi Suwabe and Kenichi Suzumura. 24 24-minute episode plus one OVA. Colour.
Tokyo, 1999: a final confrontation is imminent between two groups of Psi Powered humans: the seven Seals, Dragons of Heaven and the seven Angels, Dragons of Earth. Victory depends on the choice of angsty, brooding teen Kamui Shiro (Suzumura), who will wield a divine sword fatally born from a woman's body. Dreamseer (see Precognition) Princess Hinoto (Hisakawa) declares that if Kamui chooses to lead the Seals, it means the present world will continue, entrusted to the humanity who have Polluted and damaged it; if he chooses to lead the Angels, the Earth will be reborn without humanity (see End of the World). Kamui decides for the Dragons of Heaven, as that will mean the survival of his childhood friends Fūma Monou (Suwabe) and his younger sister Kotori Monou (Noto). Fūma's personality immediately shifts; he declares himself a second Kamui, his Twin Star – and takes the position unchosen, leading the Dragons of Earth: he crucifies then impales his sister with Kamui's sword.
Though the story is built round familiar Anime Fantasy tropes, there are sf elements: the Dragons of Earth use advanced Technology, in particular Satsuki Yatōji (Kuwashima), an Angel who can physically interface with Computers (see Cyberpunk), spending most of her time immersed inside The Beast, a kind of monstrous AI womb. It enables her to both hack and physically manipulate machinery (the Dragons of Heaven are more into rural spirituality, but their storage of Kamui's sword utilizes technology). Satsuki hacks into a pharmaceutical company's experiment, discovering Nataku (Kumai), a psi-powered Clone combined from the DNA (see Genetic Engineering) of the company President's dead son and granddaughter; becoming an Angel, Nataku steals a second version of Kamui's sword, to be wielded by Fūma. In the finale, with the other Seals and Angels dead or impotent, Fūma and Kamui battle to decide whether the Dragons of Earth or Heaven will win ... and Kamui has recently learnt that Princess Hinoto – now dead by her own hand – hid that her vision saw victory for the Kamui that chose the Dragons of Earth (in this scenario, his Twin Star, Fūma). That future is declared to be "absolute and unchangeable" ... needless to say, it is not, as Kamui sacrifices his life to restore Fūma to his original self.
Though we are intended to side with the more likable Dragons of Heaven, the Dragons of Earth are not all unsympathetic and the Dragons of Heaven are not perfect: one of their Seals, Sorata Arisugawa (Madono), was taken away from his weeping mother as a young child – which, despite his cheerful exterior, clearly traumatized him. The number of episodes allows us to see the many characters' back-stories, with mixed results: some are emotionally engaging, some not, meaning the series occasionally drags, particularly during the third quarter. Some characters are overly fond of exposition, whilst the ending is a little anti-climactic. Nonetheless, taken as a whole, this is a strong, noteworthy series that dwells on determinism, destiny, relationships, sacrifice and bounding across rooftops; it is also nicely animated.
The series was influenced by Go Nagai's Devilman (1972-1973) manga (see Devilman Crybaby) and also uses frequent Religious symbolism. There had been an earlier Anime film, X (1996; vt X/1999; vt X: The Movie): though this is not without interest, the television series is generally considered the better work. Both had to devise their own ending, as the original manga was still ongoing and indeed has never been completed. Published between 1992-2003 in Monthly Asuka, a shōjo manga (ie. targeting teenaged girls), X was considered especially violent (the anime has much less gore), receiving complaints from the beginning, with publication suspended following the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 (because the story also had destruction by earthquake) and again in 1997, following a moral panic over the effect of violent media on the young. Complaints continued; in 2003, CLAMP (the all-woman manga collective) decided to put the series on hiatus, which now seems permanent. [SP]
links
previous versions of this entry