The year is AD 2225. Kouji Aiba and Aoi Housen are serving
as astronauts in-training in Liebe Delta which is located on
the edge of the Geduld Sea. When saboteurs with unknown
intents suddenly strike during a routine dive procedure, the
space station plummets into the Geduld, a plasma field that
links all the planets like a nervous system and crushes any
ship that strays too far into it. With all the adults
onboard killed, the young astronauts will have to survive
this long journey home in midst of the growing tension
amongst each other. Meanwhile the organizers of the sabotage
look on and prepare to attack once more.
So I watched Infinite Ryvius over the course of 17 months, which should instantly go to show you just how slow and grueling this was for me to watch at times. As a disclaimer, I may be somewhat harsh on this show at times, but in reality, it did have certain redeeming qualities and ends up falling on the better side of average in my opinion. I certainly can't say that Infinite Ryvius was anything close to a masterpiece, but on the same token, I can't call it straight garbage either as it most definitely had its fair share of interesting points On a technical level, Infinite Ryvius really shows its age. Visually, its not great, either aesthetically or on an animation level. The aspect ratio being stuck at 4:3 isn't fun, but understandable, given that it's over two decades old. Even down to aesthetics, the show lacks a lot of soul or trademark style. It's a lot of bland grays, browns, and blues, which really makes the show rather dull to look at. I think that's actually what sort of made me like Neeya so much as the show went on, because she actually stood out somewhat. On an animation front, the show does little else to bolster its case. The animation tends to look jagged and uninspired. I could put those faults on it being old, if certain other shows, such as Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion didn't have such solid animation despite being _older_ than Ryvius. On the musical front, Ryvius finds more ways to stand out. I actually really liked the stylistic choices made in the music. The soulful hip-hop/ R&B mashup was incredibly unique and really added a stylistic flair that the show was lacking in the visual department. Even if the opening and ending songs were rather lackluster and there were some poor song choices for moments on the screen, such as vocal warbling playing as some important and dramatic scene is taking place, the music was definitely a highlight of Ryvius. As an aside, I watched this dubbed and it was terrible, I don't know why I subjected myself to that and I'm a dub over sub when I can get it kind of a guy. __Favorite Character:__ Airs Blue ~~~img(https://pm1.narvii.com/6177/90c785c9ea5b82887179dc577481e094b6c2c563_hq.jpg)~~~ Blue really takes the cake as the best character of Ryvius for me for a multitude of reasons. First off, he looks like he just escaped Naruto to get onto the Ryvius and secondly, because he's one of the few characters in the show who isn't afraid to take charge and act, even though for purely selfish reasons. It's really a testament to the solid writing of the show that he's one of the few characters who doesn't really grow in an extremely meaningful way. He does grow, but more emotionally than anything, which is the fun part of his arc. Watching him grow from a gang leader who just wants to seize control and run the ship his way. Interestingly enough, everyone in the show hated his points system, but everyone who took over the ship ended up keeping it around, which was an interesting thing to note as everyone but Juli and Kouji seemed to hate Blue. This is where I can talk about the good part of Ryvius. The political movements of the leadership on the Ryvius. It starts out that the 'elite' students of the Ryvius, the Zwei, become default leaders and prove their incompetence as a unit, leading the way for Blue to seize power by force and implement a dictatorship. Eventually that would get overthrown, putting Juli in charge after a vote. She proves that she's too much of a doormat for the job and is herself pushed out of leadership. Lastly, Ikumi takes over and rules with his martial law. The most interesting part of it all is that none of these styles of leadership are at all effective or even shown in a good light at all. They're all shown as having their obvious flaws and limited benefits as the children struggle to survive, work together, and keep morale high. This is the most interesting aspect of Ryvius and when paired with the vast character pool and all their different ideals and whims, it creates a complex web of relationships and loyalties that really push the show to a high level in the writing department. As far as things that drag the show down, it has to be the pacing. There's so many times where the story is progressing at a breakneck speed, only to slow to the slowest of crawls. And this happens multiple times, which really makes you feel jerked back and forth between small character moments and intriguing plot movements. I would also say that a lot of the terminology and many of the sci-fi concepts really went over my head a lot of the time, since I was really trying to mostly figure out what was happening in the story and keeping all of that straight, all on top of keeping characters and their connections straight. It just got a bit confusing at times. Essentially, if I had to boil Ryvius down, I'd say that while, yes, it's good, I'd put a huge disclaimer that it really shows its age on top of many weird little kinks that could be deal breakers to most viewers. It's not an easy watch, that's for sure, but if you're looking for something niche and character driven, especially with a unique look at mob culture and political movement, this is your show. And so with all of that said, I give it a cautious recommendation.
In my search for hidden gems, I eventually stumbled upon
Mugen no Ryvius. Despite watching anime for over a decade, I
have to admit I had never heard of this series before. The
synopsis hinted the story would follow a large cast of
unique characters, so I went in with the hopes that the show
would do something interesting, such as introducing
multi-layered storytelling with multiple factions
interacting with each other in compelling ways. Did I get
what I hoped for? I can’t answer that question with anything
but a big, resounding ‘yes’. Honestly, I have a hard time
understanding why I’ve never heard of this series before,
and why it’s not more popular. Granted, the story is a bit
of a niche taste, but I’d still expect to hear _some_ people
talk about it.
# __STORYTELLING: 8/10__ Mugen no Ryvius is a series about a
large group of teens who are forced to pilot a battle
spaceship, without the presence of any adults on board.
Meanwhile, the big bad government constantly attacks them
while they’re on a journey because the kids are in
possession of a secret superweapon. If this sounds familiar
to you in any way, it’s because that’s literally the plot of
the original _MS Gundam 0079_. Now I won’t hate on a series
for taking an old concept, as long as they turn it into
something new and superior. And Mugen no Ryvius succeeds at
that - although I would’ve certainly welcomed a well written
Char clone. (Just kidding ;) ). While I love _MS Gundam
0079_, one of the things I missed in that series was a focus
on group dynamics: here’s a space ship piloted almost
entirely by civilian children, and we’re supposed to assume
everything goes smoothly? I was very happy to see Mugen no
Ryvius addressing this concept in great detail. While
there’s a constant outside threat of people attacking the
spaceship, it’s not the main focus. For a good part of the
series, we focus on the internal struggles that happen while
the kids try to run a society within the ship. In addition,
it’s fascinating to see how this series treats resources.
There’s a limited amount of ammo on your battleship,
-there’s only so much storage space- and if you use it
carelessly you’ll run out! Also, there’s a single gun
available on the entire ship, and owning the gun gives you a
clear edge over your competitors and enemies. Aside from the
realistic depiction of resource management, the series has a
more realistic, hard-science take on the mecha genre. The
mecha in Mugen no Ryvius works more like a puppet (i.e. the
pilot is not inside the mecha) and moves super slow, because
of technical limitations such as the amount of G-force it
takes to even move such a big contraption. This means that
there are no flashy action scenes, so if that’s what you’re
looking for, you’ll have to look elsewhere. This series was
compelling to me because of other reasons. What did bug me
with the story, however, was the finale. Nothing went sour,
but at the same time, it felt like the final showdown
between the kids and the ‘end boss’ was rather
anti-climactic. Also, the solution to the conflict felt a
bit like it came out of nowhere, and I would’ve liked for it
to be built up more gradually.
#__CHARACTERS: 9/10__ Where Mugen no Ryvius shines brightest
is with its characters. It’s a big cast, with at least a
dozen secondary characters and a dozen more tertiary
characters, all with unique designs and personalities. The
characterization in this series is well done: rather than
characters being blank slates decorated with lists of
traits, each character has a different mindset and worldview
that informs how they interact with the world. This makes
their personality and traits feel more coherent and natural.
In addition, what this show does amazingly well is
demonstrating each character’s skill set. Some characters
are smart, other characters are great communicators, and
others yet have a natural charisma that makes them cut out
to be a leader. In this series, there are several points
where characters who are competent in one field fail
completely once they’re forced into a role that’s unnatural
to them. Characters are constantly confronted with moral
dilemmas that feel real, where there’s no such thing as an
obvious ‘right call’. And whatever these characters decide
to do, they’ll end up facing the consequences. In this
series, everyone -including the protagonist- will make
dubious decisions and mistakes. Mugen no Ryvius is full of
political intrigue, and it’s like watching a country in a
microcosm. Characters who are in control of the ship have
leverage and use it to secure privileges, even though by
doing so they will garner dissent from the other kids. Even
when it’s clear that this inequality is the root reason why
a previous leader got overthrown, the elite kids are
unwilling to give up their privileges. Sounds familiar?
Sounds familiar. Before I move on to the reason why I didn’t
rate the characters a 10 out of 10, I’ll give a quick
shoutout to the fact that this series contains subtle and
respectful LGBTQ+ representation. Mugen no Ryvius just
casually acknowledges that LGBTQ+ people exist, without
obsessing over it or joking about it. It’s like a
transgender girl and a gay guy are just people, who’dda
thunk? Anyway, the negative bit: the villains. There’s this
‘main antagonist’ who gives captain Ahab vibes and
constantly refers to some incident in his past that’s never
really explored, and the only thing that sets him apart
design-wise from his generic-looking mooks is that he has a
beard. We get very little screentime of him, and as a
result, he doesn’t get fleshed out enough for me to care
about his story. There’s also an enemy ship commanded
exclusively by remarkably competent old women, which I
really appreciated as a concept but wished to have seen more
of. Given all that, I don’t think the villains played a big
role in the series and there was enough juicy conflict among
the children themselves. So, this flaw did not impact my
enjoyment of the series much.
#__VISUALS: 8/10__ Let me start by saying that I *Love* the
character designs. They are quite versatile and nice.
There’s a lot of fun little visual gags throughout the
series, which help liven up the depressing gray background
of the spaceship from time to time. However, this series
often gets quite serious, so the clinical interior of the
spaceship fits the mood quite well. The muted colors give
away that this series came out in the 1990s to early 2000s,
where a more moody gray palette was the norm. It fits the
series’ constant sense of impending doom, though, so I’m not
complaining. There are, however, some weird directing
choices here and there -such as the decision to not show a
certain comet getting destroyed when this was very relevant
information- and I can’t say the show had otherwise
outstanding directing or sakuga. Nevertheless, it has decent
visuals that get the job done.
#__SOUND: 8/10__ The series has a memorable opening theme
and a touching ending theme song. The choice of hip-hop
style music for the mid-roll is also a unique touch. The OST
is a varied mix of nice quality trip-hop, jazz, synth, and
orchestra music. It’s not the most amazing OST I’ve heard,
but it’s pretty good! As for voice acting, I watch the
Japanese audio version, and I have to say the voices are on
point. All the female characters have realistic sounding
voices and every character’s voice is unique and fits their
personality. Although the series has some dramatic moments,
the voices don’t sound strained or theatrical. I approve!
#__HISTORIC VALUE: 2/5__ I’ve never heard of this series
before, but after doing some research I’ve learned that of
the people who have seen this show, many ended up loving it.
Outside of Anime, the story is reminiscent of _Lord of the
Flies_, and it sometimes did feel like I was watching a
novel adaptation. I sadly can’t think of any series that
might’ve been directly inspired by Mugen no Ryvius, so
whether it left a big historic impact is (unfortunately)
doubtful. Nevertheless, this show managed to innovate upon
the concept of _MS Gundam_ instead of becoming the
thousandth uninspired copy. For that, it definitely deserves
some praise.
#__THE VERDICT, A.K.A TL;DR:__ If someone asked me to name a
‘hidden gem’ in anime, then Mugen no Ryvius would certainly
be one of my answers. Don’t let the mecha in the
promo-material fool you: this series is low on action and
battle scenes, so if that’s what you’re searching for, this
show is not for you. If instead, you enjoy watching a mature
psychological story with realistic political intrigue and
character dynamics, then this might become your next
favorite series.