Fafner: Heaven and Earth Blu-ray Review
Some lingering questions are answered, others, not so much.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, October 31, 2012
Is
Fafner a franchise built almost solely upon arcane terminology? Maybe not, but you'd be hard pressed to
make a case otherwise if you came uninitiated into either
Fafner: Complete Series (the original television anime series) or this later
feature film. Both the television show and
Fafner: Heaven and Earth are among the
talkiest anime
ever, and a lot of that talk deals with the sort of techno-babble that is supposed to give a franchise like this some
semblance of "scientific" verisimilitude, but which just as often sounds like a bunch of gibberish being spouted by a
bunch of talking heads. Adding to this questionable verbosity is the fact that
Fafner, as discussed in the review
of the television series, culls a lot of its terminology from
Der Ring des Nibelungen, as if that instantly gave the
enterprise some sort of cultural cachet. Anyone coming to
Fafner: Heaven and Earth without a solid foundation
in the television show is going to be at least momentarily confused, and maybe even more than that, as this film rushes
headlong into furthering some story elements left dangling at the series' conclusion while never really offering much
context or back story for newcomers to find an entrée into the often laboriously tortured dialogue and anachronistic use
of terms like Nibelungen, Fafner and Valhalla. The funny thing is, though,
Fafner: Heaven and Earth is probably
overall a more satisfying experience than the series was. It has a certain emotional depth that the series often lacked,
and it also attempts (not always successfully) to make some cogent comments about human nature and the seemingly
eternal need for conflict, even when conflict is avoidable. But
Fafner: Heaven and Earth also suffers from the
pretentiousness that hobbled the series, and even
mecha lovers may not find enough in this outing to warrant
sitting through the endless "high tech" discussions, even if they have enjoyed the
Fafner anime series.
For all of
Fafner's faults, the series had the courage not to play it safe in its closing story arc, casting aside main
characters in an almost
Lost-esque gleeful frenzy, to the point where some viewers may have been put off by
suddenly having some of their supposed main focal points meet their untimely demise.
Fafner: Heaven on
Earth
rather smartly plays upon that very point by anchoring the film around supposedly gone forever Soushi, who is pined
after
almost romantically by the film's main character Kazuki. Soushi's rather unexpected connection to the Festum (as the
evil
attacking aliens are called in this franchise) provided one of the nice twists to the series, and it's something that
Fafner: Heaven and Earth utilizes to good effect, especially as Kazuki believes that Soushi may be "out there"
somewhere, attempting to return. Meanwhile, the apparent peace (or at least lack of war) that has been
enjoyed by the island paradise that is
Fafner's setting is soon set asunder as the film opens, only this time the
Festum may have evolved and genetically altered themselves to
allow them to better penetrate the island's battery of defenses.
The Kazuki – Soushi bromance is thrown for a loop when an odd craft shows up carrying a young boy in a weird red gel
like substance, a young boy Kazuki initially mistakes for Soushi. When this stranger (ultimately identified as Kurusu)
awakens, he seems to have some sort
of telepathic ability to contact the Festum, telling them to back off for a while, which of course raises the suspicions not
only of Kazuki, but of the ruling elite on the island as well. What plays out turns out to be a situation where, kind of like
Soushi in the
Fafner series, people aren't exactly what you might think they are, and motivations are often
shaded with a nuance not always a regular feature of
mecha anime.
Fafner: Heaven and Earth is at times a frustrating experience. The film often feels like a bunch of set pieces—
all battle based, of course—strung together with both effective elements (Kazuki's quest to figure out what happened
to Soushi, and his developing relationship with the strange boy) and just flat out interminable sequences where the
supposed scientific talk goes on and on (and on). The film would have been a much better outing had it jettisoned a lot
of this techno-babble, most of which is incomprehensible anyway, and simply focused on the human element, which is
where ironically enough
Fafner: Heaven and Earth really finds its authentic voice and has something decent to
say.
The film, like the series, attempts to spread the story around at least partially to other supporting characters, but here
the film finds less consistent success if only because the main Kazuki story arc is by far the most interesting and
emotionally satisfying one. The film wisely turns to Kazuki for its denouement, and as silly as it may sound, there's a
certain profoundly real feeling to the climax of the film, when at least some of Kazuki's questioning finds some answers.
Getting to that point, though, is often a pretty laborious affair, and my hunch is that even longtime
Fafner fans
may ultimately feel it wasn't worth the time and trouble.
Fafner: Heaven and Earth Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation
I'm seriously conflicted about
Fafner: Heaven and Earth for the simple reason that on a fundamental level this
feature film is better crafted and certainly more compelling than the original series, which often seemed like a none too
successful knockoff of other, better
mecha franchises (even if
Fafner predated at least some of them). But
there is simply so much useless verbiage in this film that it's hard to be very enthusiastic about it. The best element here is
no doubt the Kazuki – Kurusu – Soushi storyline, which actually manages to work up some unexpected emotional heft by
the film's climax and denouement. But a lot of the other supporting stories are left sadly underdeveloped and when every
few minutes we get scientists launching into another round of "tech-speak", it can almost make someone wish the Festum
would attack, if only to put everyone out of their misery. Rabid
Fafner fans will probably want to check this
out, if only to find out about Soushi, but others may want to explore other
mecha franchises first.
