INFINITE RYVIUS:
This is a heavily character driven drama that just happens to take place in
a sci-fi setting. It gives new meaning to the phrase “space opera.” It’s
about a group of young astronauts-in-training that get stuck on a mysterious
ship (the titular Ryvius) after a really bad “accident” (i.e. sabotage) on
the space station where they were living. What ensues from there is, as
others have said before me, much like Lord of the Flies in space, as the
teenagers all try to deal with their own internal conflicts, politics and
emotionally charged relationships while simultaneously trying to find a way
to safety and fend off the attacks of a mysterious faction who seem to be
after the ship. It’s got teen angst, melodrama, covincing sounding
pseudo-science (that somehow comes off as less pretentious than Star Trek),
big spaceships, government cover-ups, secrets, …oh, yeah, and mecha. Giant
robots that fight in space. But that’s really a secondary element… Isn’t
anime grand?
This series ends up being quite enjoyable. As stated before, it’s mostly
character driven. The plot that’s there, while intriguing, is really just a
crucible in which to forge all the charcter interaction, which ends up being
very believable and subtly portrayed. It examines immature behavior in a
mature way. It’s all the angsty drama you’d expect from a bunch of high
school kids, only it’s ratcheted up to incredible levels by the extreme
circumstances in which the extensive cast find themselves. And it ends up
being really engaging to see all the new developments in chara relations
built up and built up to the inevitable bursting point against the backdrop
of a fairly interesting sci-fi conspiracy plot. So the story, pacing and
character development are good, and that’s really all this series is about.
The visuals are not breathtaking, but neither are they bad. It’s about 8
years old now so it benefits from a little computer help on the technical
side. The mechanical designs are a little peculiar, but still good. They
definitely went for a hard sci-fi feel in that area. Character design was on
the plain side, but fit with the story and did a good job of visually differentiating the huge cast of characters, which is important.
The music feels a little dated. They went with a very house/funk mix which
probably seemed hip and trendy at the time, but ends up being kind of
“blah..” Not real strong sound production but it’s not as necessary as it
would be for an epic action or adventure story. It didn’t distract from the
show.
One other thing I’d note is the subtitling was a little weak. There were a
lot of places where there was a lot being said but the subs flashed by to
fast and I and to rewind and/or pause. A minor quibble, and not intrinsic to
the original production.
Recommended veiwing for fans of character driven stories, sci-fi and/or
dramas.
-Timothy W. Leard
