Xam’d: Lost Memories 26 (Finale)
Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, and its predawn rising was used to predict the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egypt. Back in Episode 1 Isshu said that she understands the text she reads, but will not loose any sleep over it. Indeed, she restates her position again in this episode: “It’s no good to put aside your own happiness to bear the sorrow of others.” However, this is what Jibashiri and Nakiami did in the end.
Other Xam’d Lost Memories Episodes
The episode looked wonderful. I especially enjoyed warm sunsets and good shot composition. However, I am less pleased with the writing… I didn’t expect any debriefing after the previous episode and leaving some things unanswered is fine sometimes. Rather I was disappointed that Xam’d had so much potential yet didn’t pull a proper finish. I’ll talk more about this in my review.
I still wonder about one thing… Since the terminology was so unclear and so little was explained that people’s thirst was never alleviated, how much the mode of distribution of this anime influenced the writing?
Kitsune's Thoughts 
I love the ending ^_^ Though I agree with you that there are some things still unanswered and unclear. But still, I’m so glad that Aki and Haru ended up together! (Lol I shipped them from the start and I’m glad to see them happy together in the end)
Yes, it’s nice that they are together 🙂
what do you mean by “ended up together”? Akiyuki is a stone now…
Indeed, they are together and Nakiami is with them too 🙂
I first thought that maybe the guy at the end wasn’t really Akiyuki but the emperor with Akiyuki’s name though that didn’t seem to fit at all. I then looked at the scene when he was in stone and realized that the flowers in the last screen shot is where Akiyuki was and since he’s not there then that guy has to be Akiyuki.
I also thought the ending didn’t reach the full potential of the series and that’s really a shame because this show was so well done. If they knew this wasn’t going to be aired on television, why did they stick to an episode count like it was a television series? They could have made the series 5 or 6 episodes longer and have fleshed out the world better and made the ending better.
I did like seeing where everyone was 9 years later. I am kinda bothered by how no one but the captain seems to be sad that Nakiami wouldn’t awaken for 991 more years. Do they plan on living that long?
I don’t know why they decided to limit the length of the series to 26 episodes, but it may have something to do with the budget. The show would have benefited from the some more episodes, but it seems that the writers took a different direction a few episodes ago than I wanted to see…
Yes, it was nice to see most people nine years later. Everyone is sad, but Isshu is given priority and a few nice lines because of her special relationship to Nakiami.
Thank you for your lovely photo-essays. Xam’d has been a series full of surprises and wonderful moments, and I’m glad somebody has consistently chosen to highlight some of these complexities–many of which I am still continuing to grasp (perhaps a second viewing of the entire series would be helpful).
Some thoughts/questions:
1) The North and South war: Like many others, I found the reason behind this war confusing. Am I missing something important? Is this linked with the pilgrimage/sacrifice, wherein each side covets to harness its influence/power? Perhaps it’s meant to be ambiguous because regardless of the “reason”, war itself is predicated on fear, prejudice, and power–none of which should be legitimatized in logic.
2) Lady Sannova and the pilgrimage: So lady Sannova always had the ability to close the quickening chamber (with her mother hiruko), so why did she wait so long to do it? Was she waiting for the true Tenjo and a blossomed Xamd to play their necessary roles? I’d also like other people’s input on what would have happened had none of these people interfered with the pilgrimage (the emperor would have destroyed the souls of the fanatics, and then what?)
3) Hiruko: What is the hiruko vis-a-vis Sannova’s mother hiruko? If they are “souls”, are the hiruko of Xam’ds the more evolved/awakened form? Why didn’t that little girl want Nakiami to collect her mother’s hiruko? And lastly, what role does identity play in all this? Why are Xam’ds so harshly punished when they lose it to grief?
4) Identity and love: Loving yourself and wanting to live for yourself isn’t enough. You must love and be loved, and want to live for others. That is the ultimate journey and sacrifice.
It’s a pleasure reading your blog. Thanks again, and I look forward to reading your full review of the series.
I am glad you enjoyed my photoessay 🙂 You ask good questions 🙂
1) Yes, the reason is not important, it is about the people.
2) Sannova needed a replacement and Nakiami served that role.
Then the world would be engulfed in darkness.
3) Think of Hiruko as fungi in a symbiotic relationship with flowers.
Without expression grief can leave you frozen and stoic. When you lock your feelings inside you, you lock away parts of yourself. When Xam’d loose themselves to negative feelings, they turn into (redsky?) stone. If it is in fact redsky stone, then it may represent repressed energy.
4) Yes, that is one of the main messages
I was a little dissapointed, in the beggining I thought Akiyuki and Nakiami would end up together.
It was natural for them to end up together because Spring and Autumn were friends since childhood. I do prefer Nakiami to Haru though 🙂
hi
I really loved this anime, and felt sorw for some parts of it. the musice and the script and the sotry line and every things is perfect to me . but some parts need to be explained more and mostly about Akiyuki in the last eps was stone and after nine yrs at his birthday aweaked and becom normal_how come? does any one have a clue?? and where to find xamd manga- for more details – i believe
To answer this question about Akiyuki, it might be worth listening to the dialog between Nakiami and Akiyuki in the beginning of the last episode 🙂
She said to wait there until someone he knows calls him by his name.
But unless I’m mistaken Haru never says his name the last time we see him as a stone and it seems unlikely that in all those years noone ever did before. Especially at the time when they put Rockiyuki in that spot.
Akiyuki and Haru have a special connection, and he says during the last scene that he heard her voice 🙂
Yeah, but why 9 years of special connection and hearing her voice before getting out of his rock?
If there was any explanation for him appearing when he did, I missed it. Not to mention that Haru seemed rather unfazed by Akiyuki’s reappearance.
You could say that it’s that event that’s responsible for the 9 year jump instead of 10 or 4 or whatever but if that’s the case then why is Akiyuki’s unstoning so low-key and downplayed.
I just can’t get over the feeling that either I missed something monumental or that the ending is one big WTF.
/me is confused.
The choice of time interval is somewhat arbitrary. In the end, the flower bloomed and he climbed the hill.
It seems the “unstoning” was expected.
I don’t think you missed something monumental – it just might be the case of the latter 😛
I do remember that Naki said do not lose your self or forget how you are- something like that-
but it should be more than 26.
mmm is there any anime has the same story , not chasshran plz heheh
and thanks alot
Many people mentioned that Xam’d is similar to Eureka 7.
I wish they could have explained meanings and situations more and answered more questions but in the end I guess we’re supposed to find our own ending and ideas C: Its a very good anime.
Yes, they definitely could have made things more clear.
I like the ending. I first thought the Akiyuki at the end is the Hiruken Emperor.
Hm, but that he’s really alive…I don’t like that so much <.<
But…why is there a REAL hand shown??? Isn't it an anime?
Yes, it is an anime, but why impose limits?
I can’t even put into words how perfect this anime is, honestly it’s now the number one anime in my list. The poetry in it all EXCELLENT, emotionally reviving and soulfully tantalizing! Oh god the last episode touched me so much I was on the verge of tears! I’m trying to write how I’m feeling towards this anime but I can’t even begin to describe it.
And when she cried for the first time…broke my heart
It is a good anime, but could have been even better! I keep thinking about it, coming back to some of the episodes over the years… Very few anime have such great storytelling and script.
Hmm, I wonder if i’ll receive replies, but I’ll express myself anyway:)
The anime was enjoyable, even though it’s 26 episodes and first half is (by many) considered quite boring and/or slow. But, but, but… there are so many things that made me lower my total score of this anime from 10 to 8. I’t be fair to give it a 8.5 though. and here is why:
(I watched this anime in 2 days 😡 20 episodes 1 day, 6 another. was lying in bed all day, sick as hell, with temperature, but i was sane 🙂 )
1) war, war never changes. right? So there’s war, it starts, one side eventually loses, but what was the purpose of this war? what has changed? (in the last episode) there’s a clear hint that a new war will start sooner or later. Wars, no matter how stupid they are, have reason. In anime we see bombardment most of times. rarely any territorial changes apart from the siege of Diamond tower. So The north had failed and south had won (at least we see how south clearly has upper hand), but there still will be war in the future, so it’s not occupied? under control? – What was the war fought for? Were the white haired children manipulating the north to start war so they could spread xam’d seeds or something? That’d be stupid.
2) purpose of xam’d-s. So white haired children were spreading their seeds to create xamd’s necessary for the event in final episodes, though only 1 xam’d made it to the end. (excluding kujireika). Was their purpose to fight vs emperor. save him? what if every single xam’d met the emperor that day? or at least 2-3.
3) purpose of quickening chamber and Nakiami’s sacrifice: This is the most disappointing or rather to say confusing part of this anime worth -1 poit at least. What changed after Nakiami sacrificed herself (gets locked for 1000 years; not dead), plus the Quickening Chamber closing for soooooo long, rather than for darkness to be gone? If the emperor wasn’t “defeated”, there’d be darkness and that’s it? or maybe the world would have ended as darkness would bring dramatic changes leading to countless disasters, climate change, plants dying, cold and so on. But, was the Emperor and Quickening chamber even connected??? Emperor is seen awaking after the explosion, far from where quickening chamber is.
What was the purpose of the emperor? (he himself didn’t really know?) Was he to devour souls of people in the chamber and bring darkness? and then??? There’s always a reason (should be) for doing things. Even when absorbing destroying worlds, there has to be a goal. I haven’t seen one here.
+ What really happened to emperor after Akiyuki gave him his name. Did they become “one”? But emperor was ancient (was created long before akiyuki). CONFUSED.
5) purpose of pilgrimage. Was it for everyone to die? (die to go to better world/place) but die nevertheless?
6) The happy ending because that’s how it should be.
Akiyuki turns to stone yet after 9 years he is back. HOW? We see that blue haired girl still putting flowers to her mother’s “grave” (xam’d/humanform, turned into stone). She is still stone. So she can turn back to human again? or she isn’t as special as Main Character is? 🙂 Or you want to tell me that her child didn’t wish for her to break out of the stone hard enough?
7) Too many miracles!
a) In the end we see that commander Kagisu is ALIVE, in coma for a lifetime perhaps? but alive! after a direct headshot from a very close range.
b) we see that Ishu is also alive! She detonates (clearly acknowledging it’s a suicide) the bomb. causing damage to the building + the emperor crawling out. Considering she survived the blast, someone must have arrived REALLY quickly up there to save her (though she must at this point be in a dire situation), but oh well.
What I didn’t like is that all this “spare the characters” made the anime “cheaper” to me. They could have very well saved Raigyo as well. He could have fully transformed and escaped. why not? This would have been more believable than surviving a headshot or even the explosion in the tower (considering how close she was standing near the bomb).
8) what happens next? People were waiting for the quickening chamber to open as much as if for US to be expecting Jesus christ’s second coming, yet as the time comes literally NOTHING changes. What the hell? You’re telling me people who were ready to sacrifice themselves will just say “nah, let’s go back to our normal lives”? Not to forget that their “normal lives” are ravaged by wars!
9) purpose of this anime:
What is it? There are many thing we CAN learn from it (experiences of people), but the period of time we are shown in this anime, what was the purpose of all of it???
To think about it. I’d drop total score from 8 to 7.5 :x, but in most websites you either write 8 or 7 and so on, so i’ll stop at 8. It was a good ride, watching this anime, but in my opinion it is far from being perfect.
8 – Very Good. Soundtracks certainly helped.
Oh wow, that’s a really long comment! Thank you for writing it, and sorry for a late reply!