Xam'd: Lost Memories, Collection 1 Blu-ray Review
The best television anime Miyazaki never made.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, June 3, 2011
At what point does sincere imitation tip over into outright plagiarism? It's sometimes a fine line, as scores of hip-hop artists have found out when they've been sued by artists whose original work they've sampled, evidently at least occasionally without the requisite permission. The world of anime is similarly full of stylistic, content and character similarities that often make one project blend into another. Usually rising above this fray has been the iconic achievements of Studio Ghibli, specifically the beautiful, lyrical and often haunting work of Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki's work is
so distinctive, odd even, that outright copying would seem to be a fool's errand. But anyone who has seen even one or two Miyazaki efforts is most likely going to have a certain sense of déjà vu as they make their way through the admittedly spectacularly beautiful
Xam'd, an interesting if flawed anime that bears the distinction of being the first anime premiered on the PlayStation network in 2008. A little
Nausicaä there, a smattering of
Howl's Moving Castle there, a dash of
Ponyo,
Princess Mononoke and
Spirited Away sprinkled in just for good measure, and
Xam'd may not exactly win points for originality, but it is undoubtedly one of the most visually arresting animes in recent memory (at least within the confines of the Miyazaki style), if its plot is often too complex and especially unexplained for its own good.
Xam'd: Lost Memories (pronounced Zammed, a contraction of the original Japanese
Zamned of the Lost Memory) was an interesting co-production of Bones, Aniplex and Sony Computer Entertaiment. None of these entities is evidently officially on record about Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli being a major inspiration, but the look and feel of the series is inarguably redolent of Ghibli fare. The basic plot of
Xam'd: Lost Memories also harkens back to several Ghibli features. In
Xam'd, a peaceful haven known as Sentan Island is the only place not affected by a devastating war between two factions known as the Northern Government and the Southern Continent Free Zone. The island is home to Akiyuki, a decent if somewhat emotionally roiled teen boy trying to cope with his everyday life in the wake of his parents' separation. On the way to school one day, his bus is the target of an evident terrorist strike, and Akiyuki is implanted with a weird energy, as well as items which look like gemstones, which immediately morph him into a huge cross between a giant white bird and a sort of
mecha looking creature. A symbiotic relationship has begun, and that symbiosis goes by the name Xam'd. Xam'd is soon offered a life or death option from a mysterious girl named Nakiami, one of a species of purple cheeked people who seem to have an inner knowledge about the workings of the Xam'd creatures. Nakiami spirits Akiyuki away to her flying postal ship, the Zanbani, where she mentors him and helps him begin to understand what has happened to him.
The rest of the first half of
Xam'd: Lost Memories then plays out in a series of linked and simultaneously developing plot strands. We have the basic focal point of Akiyuki and his "inner being" of Xam'd, and how the two are going to coexist, mingling with the life of Nakiami and the other disparate crew members of the Zanbani. We also have Akiyuki's former friends and family left behind on Sentan Island. These include his parents, his father, a Doctor who is soon caught up in a secret government program, and his distraught mother who wants to know what's happening to her son. Akiyuki's friends include Haru, a girl who reveals she has romantic feelings for Akiyuki, and who stays in touch with him on the Zanbani through a series of handwritten letters. Rounding out the friend category is Furuichi, another high school male who harbors feelings for Haru and isn't exactly pleased to see any sort of relationship between Akiyuki and Haru develop.
In fact one of the problems with
Xam'd: Lost Memories is that it has
so many characters. The list above barely scratches the surface, especially with regard to the many characters on board the Zanbani. While the series is to be commended for being rather ambitiously novelistic, the issue is that many of these characters become a jumble simply because we're more or less thrown into the midst of their various stories with little to no context being provided. While some of these stories slowly become clear by the mid-point of the series, where this first Blu-ray volume ends, it takes some patience to start to understand exactly what's going on with regard to several of the plotlines. In fact that very slowness may in and of itself put off some potential viewers, as
Xam'd: Lost Memories, while marketed as a
mecha series, really relies less on action and technology than it does on the slowly developing interrelationships between all of these characters. (It's kind of interesting to note that in traditional
mecha stories, humans inhabit the technology, but in the case of
Xam'd, it's a human who is hosting some sort of alien technology or creature).
On the other hand, that selfsame slowness turns out to be one of the distinctive characteristics of the series and gives
Xam'd: Lost Memories a surreal, dreamlike quality that, when combined with the outstanding visuals, makes the show a really unique viewing experience. This is one of the most exquisitely crafted animes in recent memory, at least within the confines of series television. With a filmic look and epic sweep, it may not have the immediate charm and visceral impact of a lot of Miyazaki's best work, but it has its own peculiar allure, especially if you just breathe with it and let it develop at its own pace. As the series reaches its midpoint, there are a number of intriguing questions that have been raised, and while it's too soon to say whether they'll all be definitively answered, it does appear that there is method to the show's madness, as several character back stories are at least partially illuminated and we slowly begin to understand a bit more about Akiyuki and his Xam'd alter ego.
Bones and Aniplex both obviously have major pedigrees and the influence of both is on display here. Sony Computer Entertainment is the new kid on the block, at least relatively speaking and within the context of a production like this, and it is perhaps their involvement, made ostensibly to help show off the capabilities of high definition streaming and Blu-ray, that helped to give
Xam'd: Lost Memories such a distinctive visual look. Visuals can only take you so far, however, and the second half of the
Xam'd release will finally reveal if the several loose strands of the labyrnthine plot will weave together to support the impressive appearance of the series.
Xam'd: Lost Memories, Collection 1 Blu-ray, Video Quality
Xam'd: Lost Memories debuts on Blu-ray with a sparkling VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is one of the most elegant looking anime series in recent memory, with brilliantly sharp line detail, a wonderfully varied palette, and a slew of interesting character designs. On both the human and "alien" (for wont of a better word) side of things,
Xam'd presents a really compelling design aesthetic and this series exhibits none of the dashed off quality that hampers so many anime series that have to churn out a bunch of episodes in quick succession. The postal ship design is a nice combination of techno and retro, and the humanform villains are certainly as imaginative as anything in the Miyazaki canon. While Nakiami owes more than a little to Nausicaä, the rest of the characters, while on the whole just as redolent of Miyazaki's work, exhibit a bit more ingenuity and innovation, and Xam'd in particular is a nice, if weird, combination of
mecha and birdlike creature that is very distinctive. This Blu-ray presentation offers it all with abundant clarity and sharpness, making this easily one of the best looking anime Blu-rays of the past year.
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