Xam’d Episode 26 - Between a Rock and a Hard Place
So, if you’ve seen it, do you know why it took nine years?
Because understanding why they did it is key to understand the resolution of this big, big show. IMNSHO. And I don’t even know all the answers.
But for all practical purposes, episode 25 is the climax of the series, by then we already know what’s going to happen. People have made their choices. Episode 26 gave us an extended presentation. Including the OP and ED, the episode totaled over 27 minutes. Come to think of it, maybe part of the start of the episode would have gone better with episode 25, up to the point where Akiyuki stones.
This is the top of the huge dome structure when it closes. It’s the design for the eyecatch and logo. What’s funny is the sound it makes when it closes is almost the same as the eyecatch sound!
Actually, a lot of stuff in this episode appeared elsewhwere.
The climax wrapped up when Nakiami locked herself inside the summoning chamber, and supposedly she’s going to sleep for a thousand years and then come back to normal. Doing so somehow stops the crazyness with the Xam’d.
Yango will have no part of it, naturally.
Hey, is that an Akiyuki…?
The two couldn’t stop fate like that.
Of a show that is chained by a series of destined meetings and partings, Yango and Akiyuki sure met in a very random way. He just dropped out of the sky.
Inside Akiyuki’s head, we’re treated to one of his earliest memories dealing with his parents’ conflicts and his own, growing up.
… yeah, you gotta ask.
Nakiami’s trick ended up with a giant light work in the sky, and it reversed the death rain from the last episode. People are now happier and insane? I dunno. It looked like a mikan in the sky.
No sign of this man after the exchange… a little disappointing.
But we get to see just about everyone else.
I like her new hairdo.
The cannon makes an appearence, but we didn’t get a good angle on it.
She’s just like Yango. But yeah, that is all she has now. Also, very similar cut to the ED.
After the eyecatch, we fastforward to 9 years later on Sentan Island.
Yomako-sensei, lol. She is adorable.
These three don’t look a day older, nine years later.
Nazuna is totally adorable. She has a few lines in her usual poetry stuff.
And I guess this guy is in a 9-year coma? In the show proper he’s set up like Akiyuki’s parallel, and it’s a bit of a foreshadowing. Prois is still with him.
This shot was somehow my favorite in this episode. Sans the last scene I guess.
Flashback! Haru reminices. Everyone does I guess.
The last episode, after wrapping up all that has happened at the summoning chamber, feels almost like a simple sketch about a girl and her pet rock. In some ways the entire series can be rearranged as some kind of non-linear narrative about the story between the two.
It’s not a “orz” but that’d be too lol.
If you weren’t paying attention you’d think it’s Raigyo. I thought it was a great touch.
No close-up of Kobako! What a shame. She’d take after Nakiami, right?
Older Yango gives off the “I’m a badass Xam’d” vibe.
It also seems like Ishu has retired, spending time at Nakiami’s sleeping place. They didn’t say. But it’s the same stuff she always did.
Wow, he is still at it. Definitely a tough thing to ask of the boy.
Looks familiar?
I hope they actually have a real painting of that. It’s like the same shtick they did in Rahxephon. Would be awesome.
Gadget CHECK!. That spire appears in many shots this episode, and some of the closest ones in the series.
After nine years of slumber, Haru fulfills Nakiami’s requirement and turns Akiyuki back into normal. Why nine years?
I don’t really have an answer, but my own interpretation is that time is not the problem; Akiyuki gave up nine years to the Emperor for giving away his memories. Perhaps that’s a small price to pay. Can we say the same thing about Nakiami’s decision?
The feeling I got is that the ED is the real conclusion, as it symbolizes the essence of lives that existed during Nakiami’s sleep. She receives it at the end, flying through the clouds as predicted.
By the way, I think that’s almost the same BG as the last shot of Yango as he walked the ruins.
And that’s that!
I think I’m probably going to save the rest for a real Xam’d post later. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Thanks for the screenshots, I don’t think Haru looks as nice 9 years later, maybe they could have pulled it off better, but then again they weren’t aiming for fanservice.
And as the show ends, a nice fuck you to Sony Europe for not giving me the chance to actually go and buy the show in my region legally… :/
For having the very last line being “I love you too”, it was actually very effective emotionally. It gave me a similar feeling to watching the end of eureka seven; it’s as if it’s implying that the greatest achievement of the show is the relationship between the the characters. Great show… I loved it. Thanks for blogging it.
Agreed. It reminds me in a way of Avatar: The Last Airbender, where the last thing to end the series is the Aang and Katara kiss. The relationship between the two was a bigger part of the series than just saving the world, and it showed with the last scene.
The execution here was perfect. I feel bad that Haru had to wait for him for 9 years, but it looks like she was rewarded.
Could the 9 years have something to do with the time it takes an Ongoro to blossom? The Ongoro’s birth was clearly tied into Akiyuki’s return, but I don’t know if it was a catalyst or merely a corresponding event.
Wait… what were Nakiami’s requirements to turn Akiyuki back to normal? I remember her saying something but I don’t remember what episode it was in or what she said. D: I have a really bad memory.
Endings can be difficult, but I thought this was succesful. It both tied up the climax and the results afterwards, and then allowed for a snapshot into the future and what the characters are like now. It also had a good mixture of explained questions and the obligatory open-ended questions - though not too many to blow the mind.
Overall, very good ending! And it rounds off an anime that hooked me for its entire run, and probably my favourite of 2008. Bones do it again.
Whats the significance of the spire, exactly?
I don’t know what the spire is suppose to mean. It’s just in this ep a whole lot.
The ungoro … I don’t know what it is suppose to signify besides a tad bit of foreshadowing.
As to the nine years, I would guess that it’s how long it took Haru to fill the missing memory and “take Akiyuki home” as if he was a lost child. It could also very well be the age difference between 16/17/however old and how old he is in the dream.
But that’s not the important part. It’s knowing that no matter how long, it can happen.
Hinokimaru’s resemblance made me think for a fleeting moment that Raigyo was in fact his father. It would make some of the spiteful banter between Ishu and Yunbo that much more interesting (you’re my best friend but I hate you forever for sleeping with the guy you know I liked, yadda yadda) but what throws that out is how Yunbo was acting when Ragyo first returned. She was swooning, sure, but I don’t know if that’s how one would act with someone they’ve already slept with. But it is possible I guess. It’s a little difficult to tell if they’re implying something or not.
About the Ongoro, maybe that’s the essence of Akiyuki’s hiruko leaving his body? Or just not, considering they said his soul merged with the hiruko’s… Or it could be the hiruken emperor’s soul perhaps?
Maybe the 9 years were the time from the beginning of his memory up to the day he got xam’d? I don’t know, this is just speculation.
On other things, I love Raigyo’s camera, I want to get one like that (rangefinder camera)!
Did Akiyuki really come back to life from the rock nine years later? I thought that was the Hiruken emperor’s Akiyuki.
No, that’s Akiyuki. Hiruken emperor disappeared and we’re not sure where.
NEEDS MOAR 3D HANDS.
The hirken emperor is dead, since the beginning he was dead, by giving him his name what akiyuki effectively did was letting him rest in peace. the nine years that had to pass is harder to get, it could either be something significant or just a random number to let the people in the series grow and we can see how they have developed.
Just my two cents.
I loved Xam’d for the most part, but the storytelling in the final episode was such a mess. It flited around the various plot threads with no real impact; the timeskip was ineffectual in suggesting any sense of maturity or progression… the whole thing felt so unfocused and disinterested. Very strange for a series that’d been so gosh darn genuine about everything up to that point.
I do agree with your assessment of the ending credits, though. My interpretation of it changed completely after finishing the series, which is quite clever of BONES.
Hige: the “mess” you refer to is what I meant by the narrative perspective switch. They might have done a much better job of it in Rahxephon movie than they did here, but the idea is how the last episode is actually an alternative start to retell the story that we just watched. Which is why it feels like nothing is actually progressing.
They did this because people like me thought it would be cool to watch a simple, not-as-dramatic-as-you-were-looking-for story about a girl and her rock, and not so much just what’s happen to Akiyuki or Nakiami or wanting some impact. A “you get a better grip if you let go” kind of thing.
Bounen no Xamdou is great anime. Since the first time I downloaded the tease in the psn I knew that would be great. I kinda liked the end even being a littel sad. I just feel pity for Yango. He was susch a good boy but probably became a sad and rancorous guy. I was sure he was going to join the postal ship crew or something. And for Nakiami, whos by far my favorite character, that will be stucked in that place for a thousand years.
You have a cool blog. Congratulations.