X

In the fight between the Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth, the dream seer Princess Hinoto predicts the end of humanity. A central entity, 15-year-old Kamui Shirou, is to choose whether to ally with the Dragons of Earth and destroy civilization to protect the planet or with the Dragons of Heaven to save mankind.

Following his mother's last wish, Kamui returns to Tokyo after six years of self-imposed exile. There, he attempts to steal the Sacred Sword from the temple protected by Kyougo Monou—the father of his childhood friends, Fuuma and Kotori. However, after Kamui's venture fails, a mysterious person manages to obtain the sword instead.

Believing Kamui to be the man in her prophecy, Hinoto sends the Dragons of Heaven after him to rally him to their cause. Although Kamui first rejects his destiny, the incessant attacks by the Dragons of Earth against those he holds dear push him to decide whether the lives of his friends should prevail over the fate of the Earth and finally pick a side.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shirou, Kamui Main

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Monou, Fuuma Main

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Sumeragi, Subaru Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Sakurazuka, Seishirou Supporting

Kawano, Otoya Japanese

Arisugawa, Sorata Supporting

Madono, Mitsuaki Japanese

Sumeragi, Hokuto Supporting

Yukino, Satsuki Japanese

Kishu, Arashi Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Monou, Kotori Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Kasumi, Karen Supporting

Soumi, Youko Japanese

Nekoi, Yuzuriha Supporting

Sakuma, Kumi Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Sasaki, Shirou Producer

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki Director, Script, Storyboard, Key Animation

Hamasaki, Hiroshi Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Jan 1, 2009

belsammael

Recommended

X was a pretty interesting series, which had pretty much all of the ingredients needed to make a classic, yet at the same time the ingredients sometimes don't seem to mix properly, making it miss just that last little edge.

Still, it has become one of my favorites, because it has exactly those things that appeal to me in an anime show: a good storyline with enough twists and changes, excellent animation, a great soundtracks and amusing and diverse characters.

Of course the series has CLAMP all over it, which shows mainly in the characyer design and story, both of which are on par of the average ... CLAMP series, meaning they're good. The animation in action sequences is fast-paced and intense, and the soundtrack accompanies each scene well, drawing you in even further.

As I stated in the beginning of this review, the plot is decent and there are enough twists and turns in the plotline, with the most important one taking place halfway through the series; I usually see these things coming, and while all the clues were there, spread out very obviously, I was still surprised.
What follows after that is a dive into the various main characters backgrounds and pasts (heroes and villains alike), and while that could've been drawn out a little more, it adds a bit extra..though not much.

The ending is... a bit less intense that I personally would've hoped for, but it still fits the series; still, it's a non-canon ending, and I wonder how the actual series will end now...

A nice series to watch; if you like action with a touch of fantasy in a modern setting, then X is a nice show for you to watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 4, 2008

kiriska

Mixed Feelings

This series highlights some of the wonderful reasons why you shouldn't make an anime for a manga that isn't finished.

STORY - Honestly, X has a pretty decent story, even if most of its themes are far from original. It is, essentially, another battle between humanity and the planet they live on, of man against nature. This conflict has been addressed over and over again throughout history in century-old novels and vintage films, in addition to a wide splattering of anime and manga. Mostly-unexplained supernatural powers and angel/demon parallels, both rather characteristic of CLAMP, aren't very new either, and really, even combining the two doesn't add ... a particularly intriguing angle. Nevertheless, X's story is solid. It has everything a story needs: a clear theme, a clear point, a clear hurdle, and a clear goal. And actually, the final, deepest concept may even be controversial enough to be original. So what then, went so horribly wrong?

My main issue was pacing and bad storytelling in general. Despite having tons more time to deal with themes, issues, and characters compared to the disastrous X OAV, the anime still doesn't seem able to utilize this time effectively. The first few episodes are heavy and fast-paced, tossing the audience into the crazy complex details of the conflict with little preamble. Then it cools noticeably and a lot of the macabre and shock is diminished. You kind of wonder what all the hubbub was about. The entire middle of the series seems to slow to a snail's pace. There are frustratingly long scenes depicting nothing more than a man walking down a path. We really don't need to watch Subaru walking in silence for five straight minutes and passing the same shrine multiple times. At least the Lucky Star girls were talking about something for five minutes.

Those slow episodes were attempts to delve into the individual backstories of our fourteen plus relevant characters (seven Dragons of Heaven, seven Dragons of Earth, plus supporting roles), but they fail to give much attention to these characters' connections to the overall plot and theme, making them pretty useless in the grand scheme of things, especially since many of these personal struggles are never resolved. The story used to be clear and have a point, but after trudging through a half dozen of these character-centric episodes, you stop caring. Oh, right, we were concerned about the fate of the earth right? Morals and stuff, what about that again? The last few episodes are forced to pick up speed again, but it happens in that disorganized and rushed way where nothing really makes sense; they explain very little, and the ending leaves you more confused than anything else. And being a non-canonical ending doesn't help either. Personally, I prefer the X OAV's ending, even if the rest of it sucked. Clearly, the anime isn't much better.

CHARACTER - I never did like Kamui much, even in the manga. Like many other things in the series, his backstory seemed uninspired and recycled to me. Typical cute childhood. Typical teenage sobstory. He is oversensitive, and all attempts to shape and transform his character never seem to go very far. The ruthless demeanor he tries to put on for the first few episodes doesn't last long, and he ends up seeming pretentious rather than complex. I just found him incredibly hard to sympathize with, which is never a good thing. Fuma further seemed like a cheap shot at tragedy, and after a while, he was nothing more than yaoibait. Kotori? How many other "girl from my childhood who I'm in love with"-type characters have you seen? Typical shoujo.

The rest of the cast is a little more forgiving, if still despairingly typical. Of the Dragons of Heaven, Arashi fills in the role as priestess girl. Sorata is the endearing comedic. Karen is your religious character; Seichirou, your nice guy. Nekoi filled the cute school girl role, and Subaru was crossover material because CLAMP loves crossovers. Of the Dragons of Earth, Seishirou is also crossover filler, Yuto was amusing, and Satsuki reminded me of Lain. Nataku did not interest me at all -- a clone just seemed unnecessary, but it was yet another archetype. Kusanagi, another nice guy, and Kakyo... eh. I'm indifferent. Hinoto and Kanoe are more of the same. All of these characters, more than anything else, seem to represent dozens of anime and manga archetypes, which limited my general interest in them. Their personal stories were intriguing at times, but were never explored to the depths that they were in the manga, and it was difficult to become attached. They were okay: not good, not bad.

As morals play a huge role in the series, each characters' personal views and beliefs are the most interesting part of them. Those whose views come to shift and change, those who grow to question things, and those who have complicated relationships with others are the ones that are fun to watch. Nekoi's relationship with Kusanagi. Subaru's relationship with Seishirou. Kamui's with Fuma. Seichirou's with Karen. All the crossing of relationships over enemy lines was fun -- like one giant, strange concoction of Romeo and Juliet-esque drama! Including all the sudden love! Sadly, while a few of the characters do manage to develop a little (read: Kamui), most don't. They just don't have enough time between when they're introduced, when their backstory is explained, and the end of the series. Abbreviated depth when translating characters from manga to anime is nothing new though, sadly.

ART & ANIMATION - It seems to me that there are a lot of series weak in story and character, but strong in the technical aspects. X is beautiful. One day, I'll figure out why CLAMP's style of noodley bishounen and wide-shouldered biseinen is just so damn appealing. All the characters have wonderful and memorable designs, many of which highlight their clear personalities. Kanoe and Karen are both confident women. Kakyo and Hinoto are fragile and delicate. There's a very clear connection between a character's visuals and his or her substance. Backgrounds are impressively detailed, and I'm always enthralled by animated cityscapes. Rooftops and bridges all looked great, as did all the explosions and magic, all of the blood and macabre. For an anime series, X is definitely full of eyecandy.

MUSIC - I. Love. X's soundtrack. It's what I like most about the entire series, hands down. All of the music in the series is beautiful and distinct, especially the leitmotif. There are beautiful piano themes and much wilder, energetic battle themes, including a few very chaotic mixes charged on adrenaline. A lot of the sounds are reminiscent of more traditional Japanese music as well, giving a unique sound. There are also a few tracks that remind me of Native American and perhaps even African tones, adding even more to the blend. Seriously, X's music is worth listening to even if you don't see the series. The opening and end themes are both relevant to X's themes and echo the kinds of sounds that present in the soundtrack. Good, good music all around.

VOICE ACTING - The change of cast between the anime and the OAV was disappointing in general, but the worst of it was trading Tomokazu Seki for Kenichi Suzumura as Kamui's voice. It wasn't so much that Suzumura did a bad job though, so if you haven't seen the OAV (don't), then it probably doesn't matter very much because there's no benchmark. As most of the characters fitted nicely to archetypes, most of the cast just seemed to give a generic voice. Tough guy sounded tough; cute girl sounded cute. Nothing special. Nothing to critique. Nothing to praise. I haven't seen the dub for X, but I don't imagine that it'd be much different.

OVERALL - In general, I dislike the idea of trying to make an anime out of a manga that hasn't finished, but it is possible to do so without failing utterly. Fullmetal Alchemist is probably the best example, at least up until the last few episodes. So the fact is that X could have been handled much better. Trying to explore more than fourteen characters in twenty-four episodes while still orchestrating a main plot is hard. Instead of that, I think it would have been better to compress some of the smaller storylines or to get rid of them altogether, especially the ones that never got close to any sort of resolution. The main story was about morals, priorities, and the fate of humanity and earth. They never seem to explain that very well though, and things got confusing as a result. I, personally, didn't like the ending, but I think that's more because it was poorly executed than because it was actually a bad conclusion.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 25, 2025

sailorkugisaki

Not Recommended

I'm writing this review as someone who read the manga just before watching the anime and who was hoping for the adaptation to be complementary to the original work, offering an ending to the source material which is unfinished/on hiatus. Sadly, the anime was in fact not complementary as the events of the last volume of the manga are completely ignored (volume 18 released after the anime ended), therefore changing major elements from the original story. That said, I could see Clamp going for an ending along those lines (but it could also be different), but I wouldn't consider it as replacement to the non ... existing manga ending.

I was extremely excited to watch this anime because I absolutely loved the manga (which I now consider as one of my favourites) and for some reason, I thought it would be faithful to the source material, but I should have seen it coming...it is impossible to have a great anime adaptation with 24 episodes for 18 volumes.

Firstly, the adaptation changed and censored a lot of elements from the original work, which in a way destroyed the build-up of some elements leading to interesting revelations/storytelling. From violent scenes being changed to be less violent, to some scenes and elements being completely changed/ignored, and some things completely invented...the changes are too big to be ignored. They took away some interesting plot points and twisted other ones.

Secondly, some revelations happened way too early in the anime while it takes more time in the manga. The way things were handled do not work in my opinion as they make the scenes much less impactful; the changes to some scenes take away the climax of the manga. Also, the anime is lacking the apocalyptic vibe of the manga, everything feels less daunting, it feels less like a tragedy and catastrophe. The anime feels very disconnected/scrappy, there is, in my opinion, a pacing problem.

Moreover, the relationships between the different characters feel much more powerful in the manga as compared to the adaptation. Again, a lot of things, which could be considered as details maybe, were changed, but these little things, those moments, were the things that created a special bond between the characters. It feels like everything is overlooked and nothing is very deep. Some characters' stories are barely developed as compared to the manga and those were part of the things that were interesting in the original story, those were things that added to the tragedy that this story is.

Finally, the character design feels a bit "meh" after reading the manga. Clamp's artstyle is very difficult to recreate in an anime adaptation as it is so magnificient. That said, you get used to the anime character design. Regarding the animation, I do think it was lacking some animation during the fight scenes.

All in all, it feels like they used a fast pass on the anime, changing important plot points, not developing relationships and plot points so deeply, staying on the surface of things. I mean, 24 episodes won't allow for something deeper. I would not recommend the anime to someone who wants to discover this story; I would recommend the manga even if it doesn't have an ending. Would I recommend the anime to someone who's read the manga? I am not sure, because it is frustrating to witness all the changes to this beautiful and powerful work. I think they did some interesting stuff in the last episode but once it is finished I felt like "okay" because of everything I've explained in this review.

I tried imagining how I'd feel as someone who'd watch the anime without having read the manga, and I think I would have thought that the pacing is weird, that emotional attachement to everything happening is lacking, and that there is not much climax to the episodes.

I'll end this review on a positive note: the opening and the OSTs were very very good and I absolutely loved them!

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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