RAH XEPHON (MANGA VOLUME 1)
June 19th 2009 23:05
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: Chuang Yi Publishing Pte Ltd
Story by: BONES Yutaka Izubuchi
Art by: Takeaki Momose
Translation: Iizuka Harumi
Cover Design: We Swee Pheng
Layout/Lettering: We Swee Pheng
Cost: AU$12.95
On the surface you would be forgiven if you thought that this particular manga was your usual run of the mill mecha style manga with all the usual carnage and high tech wizardry that one would expect within the pages of such a manga. And granted there is no doubt that Rah Xephon fits that bill to a tee, in fact one could almost say it’s a bit like an Earth based Mobile Suit Gundam, almost, or Fafner of the Azure or Macross Zero there are definitely common elements of those in this story. Certainly it follows some of the accepted conventions, the young male hero, giant robots, world threatening conflict, having ones world turned upside down by circumstances beyond ones control; all of these aspects are fairly standard concepts in this particular genre. But Rah Xephon wants to give it just that little bit of a twist to the whole affair, it seems to want to take the genre in a different direction to which it has been taken before – boldly going where no mecha manga has gone before…
Naturally with a lot of manga the drama begins in Japan, in the beating heart of its capital city Tokyo. The year is 2015 and the action opens with our unassuming hero catching a few zees at his high school on a summer’s day. As he dozes he is thinking about how as a kid his mother used to read to him the Wizard of Oz, the book that spawned the film that allegedly if you watch it with the sound turned off and listen to a particular Pink Floyd album, Dark Side of the Moon if memory serves me correctly, the whole thing takes on a completely different meaning. So I’ve heard but as I’m no fan of either work I cannot confirm the veracity of such claims. Still one thing I can say is that it seems that the novel, Wizard of Oz is something of an influence within this particular manga, having had an impact on both the primary protagonist and his childhood female friend.
Eventually though our hero Ayato Kamina, wakes up both literally and figuratively. Arriving home with his childhood friend Reika Mishima he finds that his mother is still at work and that the two of them are to make do by themselves until she gets back. Few people know that the two live together and although Ayato thinks of Reika as a little sister she has other ideas. It seems that there is a substantial bond between these two although how that bond will turn out over time is something that is not revealed, other than to say that Ayato is extremely protective of Reika, to the point where he is willing to risk his life for her. Of course as he wonders what the pair of them are going to have for dinner whilst Reika has racier thoughts on her mind after coming out the shower the whole world literally collapses on the two of them.
Romance and dinner are literally cast upon the winds with an explosion which has occurred as the result of an aircraft being shot to pieces and then the sudden appearance of several men in black who intend on kidnapping Ayato and killing Reika. Things look very bleak indeed, enter the Tin Man, the first of many Wizard of Oz references. Strangely though the Tin Man is certainly no guy, instead it’s a rather cool looking woman in street gear and mirror shades with a very mean kick and badass attitude. She pulls no punches when dealing with the men in black, and it is swiftly revealed that they are not quite human, having blue blood. Tin Man otherwise known as Haruka Shitou takes the pair away from their home and towards the Xephon Shrine that lies the heart of Tokyo and in doing so forever ends the life that both of them have been living up till now. In this regards she is almost like the psychopomp of the classical underworld, guiding the souls of the deceased from the living world into the afterlife and it’s an apt metaphor, as both Ayato and Reika are lead into a new world.
All of this seems to have something to do with the Xephon Shrine itself and an enigmatic organisation known as Mu which is dedicated to an as yet undefined agenda. It seems that at some point in the past, around the year 2001, the city of Tokyo was covered by a sphere that completely isolated the city of the shogun from not only the rest of Japan but the rest of the world. Naturally with its political and bureaucratic centre taken out of the picture things rapidly deteriorated in the rest of the nation, the region that was encompassed by this enigmatic sphere became known as Tokyo Jupiter as the sphere from the outside resembled the planet Jupiter in its colour and appearance. A U.S lead UN task force attempted to storm the sphere and find out what the heck was going on; it was soundly defeated in what would later become known as the First Mu War.
Strangely for those inside the sphere time seems to be moving at a slower pace than time outside, those in Tokyo Jupiter are under the impression that it is the year 2015, whilst in reality outside the sphere it is in fact 2033, eighteen years later on down the track. After the defeat of UN forces an organisation called Terra was formed to try and investigate what on earth (pun intended) was occurring within the sphere and Tokyo itself, their efforts eventually yielded a means by which they could infiltrate agents to gather data and intelligence. Haruka Shitou was one of these agents. It seems that Mu was behind things and that their efforts were focused on the Xephon shrine and something called Xephon’s Egg.
So who or what is Rah Xephon, well apparently he is what is contained within Xephon’s Egg and he seems to be a combination of god, mecha and something else. Its abilities seem to be focused on time space manipulation and for some reason Ayato is the only one who can awaken him. Precisely what the origins of this rather unusual looking mecha are is something that Terra does not know and nor do their enemies Mu have any concrete idea either. What is interesting is that it seems Rah Xephon responds on some level to the moods of its ‘pilot’ so the connection is one that reaches to a very deep level. Image wise I had the impression that the two mecha Rah Xephon and Dorem look like something from a Mayan temple designed by Pablo Picasso or the individuals who did the work on the various Easter Island stone faces.
This was one interesting manga to read, like Banner of the Stars there was perhaps a lot to try and take in even with the action that was occurring and then with the various Wizard of Oz references it made me wonder if that particular work had any significant impact on both the writer and artist. There’s apparently an anime version of this tale and according to the epilogue at the end of this volume there is some differences in plot between the two, which is unusual as anime based on manga usually tend to be similar to the original source. Still this seems to have been a deliberate move on the creators’ part – to let the manga go in its own direction. If you’re looking for some interesting reading then get your hands on a copy of this manga, especially if you’re a big fan of mecha stories with hidden agendas and mysterious almost semi mystical elements amidst the mix.
Story by: BONES Yutaka Izubuchi
Art by: Takeaki Momose
Translation: Iizuka Harumi
Cover Design: We Swee Pheng
Layout/Lettering: We Swee Pheng
Cost: AU$12.95
On the surface you would be forgiven if you thought that this particular manga was your usual run of the mill mecha style manga with all the usual carnage and high tech wizardry that one would expect within the pages of such a manga. And granted there is no doubt that Rah Xephon fits that bill to a tee, in fact one could almost say it’s a bit like an Earth based Mobile Suit Gundam, almost, or Fafner of the Azure or Macross Zero there are definitely common elements of those in this story. Certainly it follows some of the accepted conventions, the young male hero, giant robots, world threatening conflict, having ones world turned upside down by circumstances beyond ones control; all of these aspects are fairly standard concepts in this particular genre. But Rah Xephon wants to give it just that little bit of a twist to the whole affair, it seems to want to take the genre in a different direction to which it has been taken before – boldly going where no mecha manga has gone before…
Romance and dinner are literally cast upon the winds with an explosion which has occurred as the result of an aircraft being shot to pieces and then the sudden appearance of several men in black who intend on kidnapping Ayato and killing Reika. Things look very bleak indeed, enter the Tin Man, the first of many Wizard of Oz references. Strangely though the Tin Man is certainly no guy, instead it’s a rather cool looking woman in street gear and mirror shades with a very mean kick and badass attitude. She pulls no punches when dealing with the men in black, and it is swiftly revealed that they are not quite human, having blue blood. Tin Man otherwise known as Haruka Shitou takes the pair away from their home and towards the Xephon Shrine that lies the heart of Tokyo and in doing so forever ends the life that both of them have been living up till now. In this regards she is almost like the psychopomp of the classical underworld, guiding the souls of the deceased from the living world into the afterlife and it’s an apt metaphor, as both Ayato and Reika are lead into a new world.
All of this seems to have something to do with the Xephon Shrine itself and an enigmatic organisation known as Mu which is dedicated to an as yet undefined agenda. It seems that at some point in the past, around the year 2001, the city of Tokyo was covered by a sphere that completely isolated the city of the shogun from not only the rest of Japan but the rest of the world. Naturally with its political and bureaucratic centre taken out of the picture things rapidly deteriorated in the rest of the nation, the region that was encompassed by this enigmatic sphere became known as Tokyo Jupiter as the sphere from the outside resembled the planet Jupiter in its colour and appearance. A U.S lead UN task force attempted to storm the sphere and find out what the heck was going on; it was soundly defeated in what would later become known as the First Mu War.
Strangely for those inside the sphere time seems to be moving at a slower pace than time outside, those in Tokyo Jupiter are under the impression that it is the year 2015, whilst in reality outside the sphere it is in fact 2033, eighteen years later on down the track. After the defeat of UN forces an organisation called Terra was formed to try and investigate what on earth (pun intended) was occurring within the sphere and Tokyo itself, their efforts eventually yielded a means by which they could infiltrate agents to gather data and intelligence. Haruka Shitou was one of these agents. It seems that Mu was behind things and that their efforts were focused on the Xephon shrine and something called Xephon’s Egg.
So who or what is Rah Xephon, well apparently he is what is contained within Xephon’s Egg and he seems to be a combination of god, mecha and something else. Its abilities seem to be focused on time space manipulation and for some reason Ayato is the only one who can awaken him. Precisely what the origins of this rather unusual looking mecha are is something that Terra does not know and nor do their enemies Mu have any concrete idea either. What is interesting is that it seems Rah Xephon responds on some level to the moods of its ‘pilot’ so the connection is one that reaches to a very deep level. Image wise I had the impression that the two mecha Rah Xephon and Dorem look like something from a Mayan temple designed by Pablo Picasso or the individuals who did the work on the various Easter Island stone faces.
This was one interesting manga to read, like Banner of the Stars there was perhaps a lot to try and take in even with the action that was occurring and then with the various Wizard of Oz references it made me wonder if that particular work had any significant impact on both the writer and artist. There’s apparently an anime version of this tale and according to the epilogue at the end of this volume there is some differences in plot between the two, which is unusual as anime based on manga usually tend to be similar to the original source. Still this seems to have been a deliberate move on the creators’ part – to let the manga go in its own direction. If you’re looking for some interesting reading then get your hands on a copy of this manga, especially if you’re a big fan of mecha stories with hidden agendas and mysterious almost semi mystical elements amidst the mix.
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