Fafner in the Azure/Souykuu no Fafner

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Is anyone reading the new manga? I have the first volume but have yet to check it out.

I love Fafner but it sure knows how to break my heart. Every. Single. Time.

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>>3072884
I haven't. This is the manga is the manga that follows the original LN and has some of the pre-Ubukata backstory?

Beyond's set-up is sad as shit. At first it seems great that Kazuki and Soushi are unkillable, but it means Kazuki is left taking care of a kid whose existence is a constant reminder of his dead best friend, and Soushi is stuck with everyone's weird expectations based on his predecessor. If Soushi tells Kazuki to stop projecting on him, it will hit me harder than a lot of the actual deaths in this show.

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>>3072895
I'll have to check. All I know is that it's currently being published and looks much better than the old manga.

One of the saddest things I ever saw was Left of Right. It made me care for everyone, I even liked the straight romance and then it all goes to hell. Of course it was to be expected but that didn't make it any easier. Truly depressing stuff.

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>>3072904
Right of Left is a masterpiece. It gives me hope that Beyond will be fantastic even if a movie/OVA rather than another television series.

Unrelated, but Japan keeps churning out this crack ship even after the Beyond announcement.

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>>3072917
I agree, Right of Left is tremendously well done. That it managed to make me connect and feel for the character in such a short running time shows as much. Beautiful soundtrack, well animated to boot. That only made it even sadder, though. The dog...the dog was the final bit of misery that broke me.
Finding artwork of Ryou is bloody hard, though.

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>>3072924
There's a little bit on Pixiv, but most of it has Yumi (as it should).

Fafner's casting (at least, after the original series) is an interesting time capsule of popular or up-and-coming VAs. Ryo got Miyano just before Death Note and Ouran, Misao got Ryouhei Kimura right before he took off, Sui got OnoKen and Nobunaga Shimazaki.

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>>3072925
One of the things that Fafner did right is to make the female characters interesting. Mecha in particular has a hard time with girls, they are either entirely useless and/or insane.

And here is the cover of the new manga. I think it's supposed to incorporate the novel, the anime series and retells the story with added information.

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>>3072927
That's unfair to the handful of fantastic girls in mecha anime. But Fafner's girls /are/ fucking fantastic. Canon has one of the best time-travel stories in sci-fi, Maya keeps the pure homos safe from the evils of human-on-human conflict while grappling with ends-justify-the-means decisions, and Sakura deals with the reality of not being as tough as you thought you were and needing to rely on other people.

>dem exposed hipbones

Thank you, Fafner. It's a shame that the Exodus-era suits have less exposed skin.

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>>3072931
Great girls in Mecha do exist but as you say they are a handful.
I even liked Shouko. Normally the 'ill little girl' motif is very annoying and anime knows how to make it even moreso but she went so over the line of duty, and it was handled so well, that to this day I feel sad when I watch her sacrifice episode.

Also Yumi. That scene where she cuts her hair was just intense.

I like to think Soushi is ogling Kazuki every time he changed into those very, very tight suits.And while the Exocus suits are indeed a bit less revealing, we got to see Soushi in one. I'd be dying to see that since the very first season when they teased us with it on the ED. And speaking of said ED, the song is absolutely amazing.

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>>3072938
Soushi probably oogled Kazuki the entire time he was operating the Siegfried System.

Not to mention that they were in a state of continuous crossing for two years between DA and H&E.

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>>3072998
On that note, this screenshot is worth remembering.

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>>3073019
There's just no way Kazuki went two years without jerking off, in spite of/because of Soushi existing as a semi-perceptible presence in his head.

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>>3073022
LOL at Soushi not wanting that creepy critter from Sidonia as a pet. Cannot blame him either.

Yeah, I bet having Soushi literally on his mind made for some very interesting moments.

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>>3073023
Soushi has enough human-alien-hybrid antics without adding Smug to the mix.

(Did Sidonia and Exodus's runs overlap, or are the crossovers just a "haha, human-alien hybrids on a super-ship" thing?)

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>>3073024
They didn't quite overlap but close. The first season of Exodus aired during the winter season and Sidonia's second season aired the following season, spring.
But even without that, the 'human-alien' thing was probably enough for spur crossovers. Except Sidonia's is godawful and should be killed with fire. I bet Kazuki would befriend it, though.

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>>3073027
Befriend it, and then send it to the friendzone with Shoko, Canon, Maya, and Ayyyshwarma.

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>>307303
Of course, that's what happens to members of the Kazuki harem, you get friendzoned before you know it and you stay there no matter what.
But I bet Soushi would find a way of getting rid of this critter. It'd try to get all cutesy with him ony to get blown into oblivion with Nicht.

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>>3073033
Nicht is perfect for Gauna-killing, too; all it has to do is Worm Sphere the True Body.

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>>3073037
You're right, Nich would be perfect for the job. Soushi is also very used to mind-rape, the Gauna wouldn't stand much of a chance against him.

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>>3073039
Sidonia plus Fafner SRW when.

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>>3073042
Kazuki and Shinn are such a great combo.

I bet Kazuki would have a very hard time in any Gundam universe. Since fighting against humans upsets the crew from Tatsumiya island so much.

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>>3073050
Shinn bullying Kazuki is the best, though if we're talking purely about looks, Shinn looks more like Ryou.

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>>3073054

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>>3073055

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>>3073056

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>>3073057

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>>3073058

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>>3073059

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>>3073060

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>>3073061

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>>3073062

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>>3073064

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>>3073065

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>>3073066

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>>3073067

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>>3073068

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>>3073069

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>>3073070
So remember, kids, Kazuki has a slightly wider bang opening than Shinn.

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>>3073072
I love that comic so much, it always makes me smile. Shinn going 'SOUSHI!!!' is hilarious and it never fails to amuse me how Soushi could see through the switch while Athrun was fooled so easily.
So that's information Athrun must never forget.

And yes, it was a good thing it wasn't Shinn who ended up riding a Fafner. Because that would have a very bad.

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>>3073075
Is that's what's happening? I don't speak a lick of moon, I just kept it because it's cute.

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>>3073076
Do you want me to translate? Some of the font is very tiny but I can try.
Here is the gist of it, at any rate: Shinn has the bright idea of switching places with Kazuki since it seems others get them mixed up all the time. So they change clothes at Shinn's insistence.
Shinn then forces poor Kazuki to impersonate him. When Kazuki refuses, Shinn decides to impersonate Kazuki and starts hollering 'Soushi!!' much to Kazuki's embarassment.
Just as Kazuki is trying out Shinn's trademark bravado and being all, "I'm Shinn Asuka!!" Athrun walks in, buys the act, drags poor Kazuki and sticks him in Shinn's Gundam.
Feeling rather guilty, Shinn decides to take a nap on Soushi's bed.
Soushi then appears, realizes the truth which leads Shinn to telling him that Athrun wasn't as perceptive. They realize they could end very badly and dash away, complete with Shinn going "Ka.ZU.KIIIII".
The rest is self-explanatory, Kazuki crashes the Gundam and Athrun scolds him and Shinn once he finds out what happened. Yes, Athrun needs be told because he would not get it otherwise.
It ends with Soushi and Luna telling them that it was good that it was Kazuki who got stuck in a Gundam as opposed to Shinn in a Fafner. Shinn seems to think that wouldn't happen because Athrun is more perceptive than that.

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>>3073082
You're an angel for just the summary -- you've got me hunting for UX translations now.

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>>3073085
I wish there was more of it as it's absolutely hilarious.
Homely Kazuki is adorable.

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>>3073092
Fumihiko's lack of domestic skills turned Kazuki into the perfect wife. Or perfect single mom. Soushi Jr. is lucky.

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>>3073100
Shinji went through something similar and their mothers could be twins, really. Fortunately for Kazuki, Fumihiko is no Gendo.

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>>3073101
Fumihiko would have kicked Gendo off Tatsumiya like Kouyou's shit parents.

That's one of Fafner's charm points: all the adults feel like shit that they have to rely on their kids to protect their home, and work so hard to create a home worth protecting. Reo and Mimika's parents reacting when Fumihiko shared the piloting assignments, and then trying to be supportive of their kids in their own ways, was Exodus's first tearjerker.

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>>3073102
I agree completely, the way the grownups try their best for their children is one of the things that makes Fafner shine. Their lives are hell but the adults will do things like that festival where the kids can remember their dead friends and celebrate.
I also loved that father who drew mecha manga for Mamoru.

I like to describe Fafner to those who don't know it as 'Eva with characters that are not messed up'. It's of course much more than that but it makes for a good introduction.

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>>3073103
The trouble with explaining Fafner is that its emotional core (and its enduring appeal) comes from the story quietly going on in the background:

>Hivemind aliens come to Earth and start trying to absorb people. Humans try to communicate to hivemind aliens that humans aren't interested in being part of a hivemind. They do this by slowly teaching aliens about the nature of human existence (birth, life, death) and human feelings (love, happiness, hate, suffering, loss, etc.). The aliens tend to learn through human experience, so the story is an exploration of the good and bad aspects of human existence, the difficulties of interpersonal communication and working through negative emotions, why people choose to exist despite life being hard, and things that are worth living for. Because the story is ultimately about teaching aliens that human life is worth living, the series is suffused with comfort, love, and hope even when the going is rough.

But the story in the foreground, and the story that takes up the first part of season one, is:

>Humans fight trippy aliens with giant robots (to buy time to finish explaining all that other stuff).

The foreground story sounds like an Eva ripoff; but it’s the background that keeps Fafner's small but dedicated fanbase coming back for more.

That and the homos in cut-out spanky suits.

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>>3073114
I'd say that the first episodes of Fafner suffer from severe Eva-ripoff syndrome. It does develop its own identity but it takes some time.

Without a doubt, some of the things that make Fafner great is exactly how it deviates from Eva but if you want people who would otherwise ignore it to check it out, taking Eva as a starting point is effective. At least that has been my experience. But I can see it backfiring too.

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>>3073116
I can't remember if I've ever successfully convinced anyone to watch Fafner...

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>>3073117
It can be an uphill battle, at times. Usually people already love Fafner or assume it's another gaudy mecha series of the less stellar kind. So they'd rather watch whatever Gundam is airing at the time.
The fact that SEED Destiny left such a sour taste on people's mouths probably did not do Fafner any favors, at least in the West, given that they share the same character design.

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>>3073118
Hiraiface and Dead Aggressor's mid-00s art.

I wish Dead Aggressor was popular enough to get a remaster.

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>>3073119
Same. Especially the final battle, imagine that with the same production values of Exodus. I'd gladly buy the remastered version if it came out even though I already have the original on DVD.

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>>3073122
The Geneon DVDs? That's a blast from the past.

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>>3073124
Oh yes, the Geneon DVDs. And getting them past costums was hell on Earth. I live in Western Europe and my country has virtually no licensed anime, at all. So I order everything from the States or the UK. In this case, it had to be the States and for some oddball reason, the costums office decided to charge me heftily just to discharge the DVDs.
Fortunately these days this no longer happens but back then it did.

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>>3073125
Did anyone license Exodus, aside from Crunchyroll's simulcast?

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>>3073127
I actually do not know. Odds are I'll just order it from Japan either way. Lower shipping fees and less likely to get stuck in bloody costums.

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>>3073131
Looks like it was just Crunchyroll.

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>>3073140
Seems so. Fafner was never terribly popular as it is.

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>>3073144
>never terribly popular
>84 posts and this thread is just the two of us

Oh well. Here, have a partial summary of SRW UX. http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997837-super-robot-taisen-ux/65937552

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>>3073155
Wouldn't it be cool if someone made an anime out of this?

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Fafner-centric doujin event:
http://www.youyou.co.jp/only/azul/index.html