Xenosaga 1

January 12, 2005

Title: Awakening
Fansubbed by: AnimeYuki

On the starship Woglinde, Chief Uzuki befriends a child cyborg.

Soon after, the starship is heavily damaged by giant aliens . . .

. . . but a mysterious entity arrives to help.

The End.

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RATING: C

Just as noted in excellent reviews of Ten, Richard, and Fencedude, this episode provides a fairly thorough introduction to the enigmatic "KOS-MOS", a being of incredible power. However, although there's plenty of solid character development, the plethora of technical hobblespeak tends to obfuscate the plot to a ridiculous degree.

Although this title is clearly catered to fans of the game, there's a lot of appeal to newcomers to the franchise. In terms of novelty value alone, there hasn't been many recent titles that feature massive human/alien conflicts, and given the 'space opera' setting, there's plenty of opportunity to see events unfold on a massive scale. Additionally, there's already ominous smatterings of intrigue, and with the presence of a high-ranking traitor and a mysterious 2001-esque monolith, it's clear that this series isn't stifled to rote tedium.

Nevertheless, one can't help but feel disappointed at the scattered nature of this title -- between the Chief, KOS-MOS, monoliths, cyborgs and aliens, it's hard to see if there is an actual *point* to the story. Without a doubt, it's possible that future episodes will bring cohesion to the hodge-podge of ideas on the table, but all one can do is hope.

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