Rating: 
Summary: Amazing.
Review: "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."Since I'm not particularly good at reviews, I'll make this easy on you and I, and just divide it into two categories. Episodes:
The first five episodes of the 26-ep series are on the first (of seven) DVD. The animation is crisp, bright, sharp, clean, colorful, vibrant, and all those other adjectives that people use to describe great animation. The character designs are also very nice, as are the mecha (I especially love the Allegretto). On to the storyline: even though these are only the first episodes, they aren't afraid to get into the mysteries right away. It already seems like the plot is revving up to something, and we're only 5 episodes in. I hope the feeling crescendos (no pun intended) all the way through the series. The English dubbing was handled very well, too. Megumi and Haruka's voices sound kinda... odd when they yell or have very high-pitched lines, though. Otherwise, a very solid dub. The Japanese cast is very, very nice too. Music is above average as well. "Hemisphere" and "Yume no Tamago," the opening and ending themes, respectively, both fit the show well, and so does the vast majority of the background music. Extras:
The extras on the disc are sparse, but good. Other than Cowboy Bebop, this is the only series that I've appreciated the clean openings-closings for. The Japanese trailer was very cool too. The liner notes were very nice as well. The character sketches, info bites and interviews were a nice touch, and the first and last pages of the notes looked very cool with the different type of paper. Since I bought the Special Edition DVD, I also got a nice box for the series, and a T-Shirt. The box is... well, a box. The art on it is very nice, though. The shirt is pretty cool, too. It's just your basic white XL T-Shirt, with the artwork from the DVD cover on it, only RahXephon is in black and white instead of color. My one gripe is that the way the image is printed, it doesn't seem like it will stand up to too many washings before it starts to "crack". So wear it sparingly. All in all, a great first DVD for what is shaping up to be a great series. I can't wait until May.
Rating:
Summary: A truly profound experience (Spoiler Free)
Review: (This will be spoiler free, and as a result, brief. I don't want to give away a thing!) I recently finished watching this series and I have to say that it has been one of the best viewing experiences of my life. The animation is fluid, smooth, and breathtaking. Strategic placement of various backdrops and images enhance the story, whether by foreshadowing an event to come, or connecting an event from the past. You can tell from the titles themselves that RahXephon has a very strong musical undertone, and in fact is an integral part of the story. The result is music that is haunting, stirring...memorable. Above all else the characters are what makes or breaks a story - and these made it many times over. The diversity of characters ensures that you can relate and empathize with at least one, if not more. They are simple, complex, mysterious, or a little bit of each - tied together with the perfect voices, making these characters come to life. You find yourself laughing with them, crying in sorrow, in rage, in joy. You no longer see 'characters', but real souls going through myriad experiences and taking you along for the ride. After finishing this story I find myself feeling as if I had lost a close friend, since I will never again be able to discover this world and these people for the 'first time'. I'm sure all of you have gone through a similar experience, and realized how profound it was, and how much you wanted to share it with your family and friends, anyone who would listen. RahXephon has been such an experience for me, and it is one I will not soon forget.
Rating:
Summary: A truly profound experience (Spoiler Free)
Review: (This will be spoiler free, and as a result, brief. I don't want to give away a thing!) I recently finished watching this series and I have to say that it has been one of the best viewing experiences of my life. The animation is fluid, smooth, and breathtaking. Strategic placement of various backdrops and images enhance the story, whether by foreshadowing an event to come, or connecting an event from the past. You can tell from the titles themselves that RahXephon has a very strong musical undertone, and in fact is an integral part of the story. The result is music that is haunting, stirring...memorable. Above all else the characters are what makes or breaks a story - and these made it many times over. The diversity of characters ensures that you can relate and empathize with at least one, if not more. They are simple, complex, mysterious, or a little bit of each - tied together with the perfect voices, making these characters come to life. You find yourself laughing with them, crying in sorrow, in rage, in joy. You no longer see 'characters', but real souls going through myriad experiences and taking you along for the ride. After finishing this story I find myself feeling as if I had lost a close friend, since I will never again be able to discover this world and these people for the 'first time'. I'm sure all of you have gone through a similar experience, and realized how profound it was, and how much you wanted to share it with your family and friends, anyone who would listen. RahXephon has been such an experience for me, and it is one I will not soon forget.
Rating: 
Summary: An Intriguing Anime Series
Review: * At the beginning of RAHXEPHON, an anime series consisting of 26
half-hour episodes on 7 DVDs, we meet Ayato Kamina, a high-school
student in a near-future Tokyo. At the outset of the story, it seems
that Earth was invaded by some alien power that destroyed all but a
fraction of a percent of the planet's population, but Tokyo survived
intact, and Ayato is pursuing his dream of becoming a painter,
encouraged by his cool and aloof single mother, Maya Kamina. Then Tokyo is attacked by "Invaders", and Ayato meets two women: a
mysterious, elegant, cryptic girl of his age named Reika Mishima, and
an older woman named Haruka Shitow, who defends him from sinister men
in black and tells him: "Come with me if you want to know the truth." Ayato does and he will learn the truth, though it won't be by any
straightforward path. He will learn about the Earth Federation and
its war with the Mu, humans with blue blood who control powerful war
engines known as "Dolem"; TERRA, a military research organization
associated with the Earth Federation; and the secretive Bahbem
Foundation. He will unravel these mysteries as the pilot of an
ultra-powerful Dolem, the "RahXephon", stepping through a whirlwind of
events to an apocalyptic finale. * After working my way through RAHXEPHON, there are two general things
that can be said about it. On one hand, RAHXEPHON travels in the path
of earlier mecha-oriented anime series such as MACROSS, GUNDAM, and
EVANGELION, with such familiar elements and characters as mysterious
secret organizations, sneering villains, stone-faced military
commanders, cute girls in unrealistically sexy military uniforms,
cocky fighter pilots, and thunderous battles between mecha. On the other hand, RAHXEPHON takes such series to a higher level of
production quality. Its animation work is clean and stylish, its
soundtrack work is outstanding, its characters are fascinating and
engaging, and its scriptwork is particularly clever and well thought
out. It presents layers on layers of puzzles for the viewer whose
solutions are slowly revealed, with characters who are not always what
they seem and may not even realize it themselves, with the true story
not becoming apparent until the final episode. I would not claim that everyone is going to like RAHXEPHON. As
mentioned, it has major resemblances not merely to EVANGELION but to
other mecha anime series, though I felt RAHXEPHON had its own story to
tell. The artwork, though stylish, is still not in a league with
cinema-quality animation. In addition, although trailers for the
series show it as an action-adventure story, RAXEPHON seems more like
a dark melodramatic romance, even including a classic cinematic "I'll
always come back to you!" scene. There will be viewers who will be
put off by the passion, the melodrama, the mysticism, and who may find
RAHXEPHON's atmospheric ambience and the idea of sorting through every
bit of dialogue for clues as to what is going on tiresome or
frustrating. I say all this because I do not want to overpraise RAHXEPHON. I'm
just strongly inclined to. I haven't had this much fun with a story
since BABYLON 5, though on one hand BABYLON 5 had more space to put
together an elaborate story, while on the other hand BABYLON 5 didn't
really match the stylishness of RAHXEPHON. As far the melodrama went,
once I realized where RAHXEPHON was going I shrugged and bought it, in
just the same way I buy that action stories usually have a high body
count (though, incidentally, RAHXEPHON is by *no* means nonviolent).
I particularly liked the soundwork, which featured a melodically
sophisticated cyber-music intro theme, an atmospheric end theme, and
much pleasant incidental music in between; even the Japanese dialogue
and sound effects had a musical feel to them. Extras in the series are somewhat limited. There are cast interviews
of varying levels of interest on each disk, as well as little
slide-shows of production sketches, which are pleasant to watch
because they are accompanied by an extended version of the intro
music. A nice little pamphlet with production pictures, some clues,
and comments by staff is included with each DVD, but I would strongly
recommend NOT reading the pamphlets until you've gone through the
series ... particularly in the later DVDs, they give away too much of
the story. * I was getting fed up with anime for a while, and then in quick
succession I ran into RAHXEPHON and SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN, which
suggested to me that anime has a lot more space left to explore.
However, after going through two such dark works I'm definitely
looking for some light humor for the moment.
Rating:
Summary: Definantely Worth the Money
Review: Being a big fan of the mecha anime genre, I have always found great pleasure in watching titles of this genre that have stories that WOW! and surprise the common viewer. Only two titles have done this, Neon Genesis Evangelion and now RahXephon. I don't think it will come as a shock to many people when they find that this anime all but achieves Eva's greatness. If you have seen it, you may even notice the influence that Evangelion has had on the story for RahXephon. Influence, yes. Clone, not a chance folks. One thing that the cretor of RahXephon takes into account is nailing the viewer head on with vast confusion. You will see many things happening that will leave the common viewer saying "Huh?", this plays off of Evangelion's "hold off and try to understand it yourself" tactic. I think this style plays great with anime where there are hidden theories and stories inside of it. RahXephon has started out great and I hope it maintains this great start. Yet I tend to wonder what meaning may be hidden in this "new reality".
Rating:
Summary: Incredible music, animation, and repeat-value
Review: Everyone who is attempting to compare this to Eva is missing the point. I've watched Eva, repeatedly. Hell, I own all of Eva on DVD. I've watched RahXephon repeatedly as well, and am in the process of buying the R1 DVDs as they come out. I'm sorry but, while there are some similarities between the two series (OMG MECHA), RahXephon has incredible character development, artwork, music, and depth. Eva, well, whiny Shinji, an awful dub of Auska, "I WILL NOT RUN AWAY"^3, a terrible ending to the OVA, and two movies that served as a giant "I hate you" to the fans. Forget that. I'll take my opera that is RahXephon anyday. The music in this series is MINDBLOWINGLY good. The animation is GORGEOUS, although not exactly GITS SAC or Macross Plus. The story is incredible, and is one of the few animes that I have watched that has repeat value. Every time you see this series again, you will understand the plot in a whole new light and really enjoy it. I'm sorry Eva fanboys. Give it up. I know there's been a lot of knock-offs, but realize that this series doesn't build on mecha with obnoxious Christian symbolism. It totally redefines the mecha genre with an entirely new standard of quality.
Rating:
Summary: A great series although confusing at times.
Review: First off this show is really nothing like NGE, in my opinion it is alot like Brain Powered (look it up for a description). This is a series that never lets you know what is going on or what the plot is and by the end its still not too clear. The fact that the characters are interesting and there are lots of battles and the curiosity to know whats going on when not much about the plot is revealed kept me watching. I read this series was by the creator of Gasaraki witch turned me off a little since that series sucked so bad, but this was really entertaining to watch.
Rating:
Summary: A great series although confusing at times.
Review: First off this show is really nothing like NGE, in my opinion it is alot like Brain Powered (look it up for a description). This is a series that never lets you know what is going on or what the plot is and by the end its still not too clear. The fact that the characters are interesting and there are lots of battles and the curiosity to know whats going on when not much about the plot is revealed kept me watching. I read this series was by the creator of Gasaraki witch turned me off a little since that series sucked so bad, but this was really entertaining to watch.
Rating: 
Summary: Beyond my expectations, yet lacking on origionality
Review: Having already watched much of the wildly acclaimed anime available in the US such as Evangelion, TekkamonBlade, Cowboy Bepop, etc., I was not expecting to be so intrigued by this series. Rahxephon is a fairly new and mainstream animation which is supposedly, as my friend had mentioned before I bought into the series, an almost direct clone of Evangelion. The story in Rahxephon is deep. Since I detest spoilers, I will only state that the plot is based on music and revolves around giant mecha combat, aliens, and the adolescent psyce. The animation is crisp and up to date. The battle scenes are beautifuly detailed and choreographed and the characters draw you with heavy dialogue and wonderful voice acting. Even the "ultimate resolution" at the end of the series was faboulously done and not as parodoxical as some Animes which I have seen. The only area in which this anime fails is that it is preceded by Evangelion. If you strip away the element of music, one of the things that makes this animation truly exceptional, this anime looks EXACTLY like evangelion; the characters, mecha, and emotions are, if not directly duplicated, extremely similar. This unorigionality left me dissatisified with the animation as a whole. It felt like I was watching an alternate version of Evangelion and because of this, the emotions and actions of the characters did not have any impact on me. HOWEVER, if you have not viewed Evangelion, I beseech you to buy this series and revel in it. The packaging and the DVDs themselves, are excellent. This anime should not be viewed by children for it is stark and violent and uterly devoid of "fuzzy" comedy relief.
Rating:
Summary: Great start to the series!
Review: I am really hooked by this well animated and ploted anime. I look forward to future volumes. The way in which music is used is inventive and original. The mecha designs are fabulous and the characters are not typical of this sort of anime. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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