X the Series Volume 1   Starring (voice): Junichi Suwabe, Kenichi Suzumura, Houko Kuwashima and Kumi Sakuma MVM RRP: £15.99 MVD2280 Certificate: 15 Available 05 October 2009

1999 and it is the end of days, the final run up to the apocalypse where the conflict between the dragons of heaven and hell reaches its fulfilment in the form of Kamui Shirō, who is believed to hold the key to the fate of the world. After an absence of several years Kamui returns to Tokyo where superhumans are gathering to take their sides in the final fight to protect the ones he loves...

X [One] (2001) is an anime adapted from a CLAMP manga which was finally cancelled due to the level of violence. CLAMP is known mainly for producing stories for girls, and this was somewhat of a departure for the team and a not wholly successful one. In their attempt to appeal to both a male and a female audience both the manga and the show seemed to be a bit unsure about its identity. The show was directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri from a screenplay by Yuki Enatsu. In total the show ran for twenty-four episodes and as well as the original manga there was a one-off drama produced.

The story is suitably apocalyptic for a male audience, but the characters are all animated to appeal to females, with all the males being wide eyed, good looking and more than a tad androgynous. The general set up of the story is fine, except for the way it throws you in without anytime to discover either what is going on or the relationships between the various protagonists. To be honest, although the show held my attention, there were periods where I patently had no idea what was going on.

The general gist is that Kamui is a powerful psychic destined to determine the fate of the world. With the end coming he returns home, unaware that one of the friends he believes he is protecting is destined to fight him to the death. That all seems pretty straightforward but the story also contains the Dragons of the Earth and the Dragons of Heaven, which allows the show to explore the more religious and esoteric aspects of the story.

Volume One contains four episodes - A Reunion; A Nightmare; A Pledge; and A Sacrifice - but as well as those the disc also sports episode 0: An Omen, which was created especially to clarify the background to the plot. As you can tell it doesn’t really work in that regard. Extras for the disc consisted of a single trailer for episode 0 and a couple of trailers for other shows. Things pick up for the audio as there is an English 5.1 track to match the original Japanese 2.0 track with subtitles.

So, it’s not a great start to the show, with its identity crisis and muddled plot, but that’s not to say it didn’t hold my interest.

6

Charles Packer