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.
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oOoOoOo
Infinite Ryvius is essentially "Lord of the Flies" on a spaceship, although with students old enough to be in high school (surprise, surprise). Once the students are stranded without their teachers, in various hostile situations, the anime becomes a microcosm for the problem of governance. We have the authoritarians, we have the democrats, and everyone in-between. Most striking for me, about this series, was the slow descent from happy-go-lucky "let's try our best at being space heroes" to chaos, mob-rule, and abuse of power. Having gone to teachers college, I'd hazard that many students would do well to watch this anime,just to gain an understanding of the different political systems that countries choose to adopt (often for reasons mirrored in this series).
For me, what made the characters interesting wasn't so much their innate personalities, but the way they handled the situations around them. Ultimately that is what defines the cast in this series. After all, many people find their true colours emerge in life-or-death situations, and I took a strange pleasure in seeing everyone change, stay the same, or reveal their true selves as everything began to crumble. While some of you might think about boys running amok doing all sorts of bad things, the instance that disturbed me the most involved perpetrators from my own gender. There are no groups in this anime that can easily be seen as victims or oppressors... everyone loses their grip a bit. We are all human, and there are no monsters to blame everything on.
The production, though nothing earth-shaking, adequately supports the story and characters, such that I never felt myself cringing due to quality issues. Certainly we're not taking about a Miyazaki film here, but we spend so much time listening to dialogue that it never grated on me.
Infinite Ryvius is a look at the politics of a confused society under threat. Any student of history or politics would do well to watch this title. For those non-politically inclined, you might find yourselves drawn in by the character drama, thinking a lot about the world you live in, and that's always a good thing, hmm? What would you do in the same situation? I think I'd probably cry, but then, that's why I watch anime instead of actually piloting space ships. ^_~
Polaris
I've seen a lot of overrated and over-hyped animes here, but this has to be one of the few who's underrated, and one that should really be in the Top10 of Top100. Strange but this anime seems to be the only one that all the people who rated it liked and respect it, even the ones that gave it an average 7 think this is a really good anime, but just gets dragged down by animation and the really depressive story, in their opinion, i happen to like the animation and the story. Animation: This anime has one visible flaw but the good points more than make upfor it. The only flaw i can see, and the one that drove people off from this anime even before they gave it a chance is the animation that looks like it came out of the early-mid 90's. Sure the fighting scenes don't look so spectacular and there are no majors CG effects, but the animation is still capable of inflicting a few WOOWWs and i find the space battles more intriguing from the logic and realism point of view a lot better than in Gundam, and if you'll watch the show you'll know what i mean.
The character design is that semi-realistic mid 90's Evangelion like style, no pink or blue hair, just the realistic colors you'll find in humans, Aeris Blue doesn't count since he has dyed hair. So overall i love the way they are drawn.
Sound:
The sound is great, with nice music beats, even dough i didn't enjoy the OP theme to much, but i can't think of giving it a lower grade than 10 when it comes to voice acting. It has the best voice acting i ever came across, with voices so diverse and acting so realistic in all sorts of situation, from happiness, to anger, cry or desperation.
Story:
The plot is good and filled with nice and unpredictable twists and similar to the classic "Lord of the flies" but placed in a sf ground, so it's all about how a few hundred teenagers without adults to watch over them fight to survive. And belive me, the outside enemy isn't their own enemy, they are their worst enemy and as time passes things become more and more violent and desperate and the mood darker and darker.
So overall the story focuses on the human nature, on how people act in desperate situation and how these situations change their personalities, the fight for survival and acts of alliances, violence, backstabbing, emotions of all kinds from love, friendship to fear, hate, jealousy and self conservation. All put in an overall realistic and very detailed manner and very dark and dramatic that just keeps you wanting more. And this anime has a real ending, and i don't mean the short, forced conclusion, no, a hole episode in which you can see the aftermath of "no spoilers" the story, unlike most of the japanese animes.
Character:
The character development has to be the crown jewel of this anime, it has the best, most extensive and unexpected character development I ever seen. All the characters are taken care of, some are important from day one others that you'll never consider get a big importance after a while. I should warn you that there are about 26 characters that appear in every episode and have a real development, and that you might not like any of them in the end, but almost all change and at the end you'll never recognize them and you'll probably say "i never thought that he'll end up this way". Maybe you'll love some characters at first and then come to dislike then and the other way around.
Value and enjoyment:
This is one of the best, if not the best animes i've seen, and if you don't mind the animation you'll find a masterpiece of a story development, voice acting and character development...these are the three areas in which this anime could be the best of the best animes.
If you are a SF/psychology fan and you prefer story and character quality over animation quality then this is the BEST choice for you, but if you are a shallow person who just enjoys explosions and cool mechas and pantie shots then you better thing twice.
It is such a brilliant anime and yet so few people know of it, and why you ask? ... Well i guess this world is composed of shallow pantie shot, mega-exposion loverz since this show is so unknown and shows like DearS, Naruto or other top100 animes are soo famous.
mahoganycow
The artistic presentation is definitely not the selling point of Infinite Ryvius. I'll state one of my major complaints with the show right off the bat: It is permeated by numerous elements that feel tenuously connected to the setting and the plot, and while the character designs aren't the worst offenders, they're a good visual representation of the problem. I can get behind the generic-but-acceptable “everyday kid” look of some cast members, and the spiffy flight uniforms worn by the group of elite pilots look halfway believable, but that's about as far as these designs could take me. It's hard to feel any sort ofgrounded connection to a series that frequently features a girl who inexplicably wears a dinosaur costume on a training spaceship, an antagonistic boy who looks like an outcast from Naruto, or...well, whatever you want to call that pink nightmare ensemble that Neeya is wearing. You get used to the fantastic and the over-the-top in anime, but even by those standards, there are parts of this show's aesthetic repertoire that can only be described as absurdly out of place.
It's also worth mentioning that in addition to the design choices, the follow-through on the art and animation in Ryvius is lackluster at best. Stiff, jerky movements abound, and the character art, which is rough to start with, suffers noticeable degradation in quality at many points. The cinematography during some of the space battles is so poor that I genuinely don't think I would have been able to tell what was happening if not for the narration offered by the characters. Still-frames, poor transitions, reused footage—any technique that could shave a dollar off the cost of animation is used, and used frequently. On a more positive note, the space backgrounds aren't half bad, and the mecha and ship designs are pretty impressive in comparison to everything else.
I swear that I'm not trying to beat this show up based only on its technical side, but frankly, whoever thought that this musical score was a good idea deserves to be beaten up, figuratively and literally. To elaborate on that a little, I'll say that the soundtrack is unique—it's a mix of jazzy contemporary, soft atmospheric noise, and grandiose orchestra, all underscored by a distinct flair of hip-hop influence. That sounds strange on paper, and in this particular case, it isn't any better in practice. I've been impressed by hip-hop and electronic soundtracks in the past, but most of the music in Ryvius consists of simplistic beats that sound tinny and uninspired. One track features a man (who I can only assume was hard-up for cash at the time) repeatedly rapping the word “Ryvius.” I wish I could say I was kidding. It is one of the worst pieces of music that I have ever heard. The score has its high points, but they're few and far between; in general, it actively detracts from the show. Good integration is theoretically possible even with a sub-par soundtrack, but the music in Ryvius fails to jive with what's happening at any given point in time. Upbeat tracks play while people are panicking and dying, not just once, but with unerring frequency. Sometimes the music will start, barely manage to reach a point where it's noticeable, play for five or ten seconds, and then stop abruptly to match an awkward scene transition. My impression of the sound in Infinite Ryvius matches my impression of many other things in Infinite Ryvius: It's tacked-on and it feels unnatural.
The series hurries to introduce disaster; it takes all of two episodes to get to the “kids trapped on ship trying to stay alive” premise. The beginning is rushed, clearly, but it works; it breeds tension and arouses curiosity about how the situation will play out. It introduces the large cast, briefly but sufficiently, and tosses them all into the fray. But just as it gets to the point where the pot should start boiling, the series freezes. It has no idea what to do, and perversely, it brings some of its less convincing sci-fi elements to bear in a series of dreadfully uneventful mecha battles which mostly consist of the characters shouting inarticulate technobabble at one another. There's precious little indication that these battles have anything to do with the plot as a whole, and indeed, once the story is complete it becomes glaringly obvious that they serve almost no purpose other than to kill time. Isn't that an oddity; at the points where they occur, these fights lack the context to be suspenseful or engaging, but in retrospect, that context makes them seem silly and unnecessary. Nor do they appear to affect the characters in any way. You would think that these constant reminders of how tiny and mortal they are would drive the kids mad, but it seems like most of the character conflict pushing the story would have occurred with or without eight episodes worth of borderline junk.
Speaking of those characters, it's on their behalf that I can finally give the show some much-needed credit. The cast is huge, and individually they aren't the most complex bunch, but the show manages to juggle a pretty involving web of relationships that ends up bearing some rewards. There is a gritty and understated wit to the way the characters interact that I found myself appreciating more than anything else in the show—they mock each other gently, threaten each other softly, and on the rare occasions where they help each other, they do so with great humanity and sincerity. There is no clear-cut good or evil present in the series; everyone is an antagonist to someone, whether they know it or not. Some of them hate each other, but at the same time they recognize the need for one another. The ship's pilots don't like the thugs and the thugs don't like the pilots, but neither can exist without the other; they know it and it shows in the way they act, which is both clever and true to how a society really functions.
Ryvius also manages to generate a fair amount of effective drama by taking character archetypes and forcing them to react to adversity. The pushy, aggressive, prideful brother? Make him get overpowered by a stronger boy and turned into an unwilling underling, then see how he handles it. The peacemaking, kind-hearted girl who just wants everybody to get along? Make her the target of merciless violence, and see if she can still cling to her optimism. It isn't the most inspired or original formula, but it's played well enough here—even in the very early episodes, the series is careful to drop some subtle hints that everyone might not be who they initially appear to be, and some equally subtle hints that some of the cast are undergoing transformations, for better or for worse. Sometimes those transformations are a bit over-the-top, but I'll forgive that, because in general I found myself having just enough emotional investment in the characters to not want to see them break under pressure. In some of its human elements, at least, the series soundly struck the right note.
To get back to the story for a moment, I talked about the show's beginning and middle, but not about its last third or so, which is the most satisfying part. It's not perfect. It's a plot that definitely requires a stretch on the part of the viewer to appreciate. But the fact that the series actually manages to snap out of its lengthy funk and make something of a story that initially appears to be a complete mess is commendable. Not only do some of the science fiction aspects come full circle, but the show actually manages to draw a meaningful parallel between the unseen antagonists and the children they're targeting, which is a surprising and welcome turn of events. The last third of Ryvius makes all the difference in the world. It manages to pull the series out of the quagmire of mediocrity that the middle nearly drowned it in and breathe some life into it. There still isn't any excuse for the painful ineptitude I mentioned earlier, but that the writers actually managed to pull themselves together for the home stretch is nothing to sneeze at.
To pin down just what ails Infinite Ryvius: It's ambitious to a fault. There are way too many scarcely explained, grandiose sci-fi concepts placed alongside the comparatively grounded character interactions, and for the most part they end up feeling misplaced. Things like the Geduld, the destructive natural phenomenon that suddenly appeared in outer space, or the Sphixes, the beings which are associated with controlling the giant robots. Or the giant robots themselves, for that matter. Some of them do actually end up working, and when that happens they couple quite well with the show's human half. I can see what the series is going for, certainly, but if I had to pick a number, I'd say that it's sixty percent of the way there; not every thread is tied off, not every connection is firm. Its world just isn't made whole on the level that you'd expect a sweeping sci-fi to operate on. But I do think this show earns the privilege of at least some recognition, mostly on the basis of its characters and the way it manages to steer itself into a graceful ending. It does just enough right for me to give it the benefit of the doubt, and a cautious recommendation.
Monkey_D_Luffy
Story: The story of Infinite Ryvius is developed well. The plot is fairly basic, a bunch of kids attending a space academy are involved in an accident and get stranded on a space vessel with no adults. However, they do a good job though at developing the story by showing all the ordeals and troubles that the kids go up against and more importantly how they affect each character's state of mind individually. A lot of drama and emotions are involved, there's a good fill of action, and even a nice touch of romance is brought into the mix. So overall, it's a pretty entertaining storyto follow. There's just a couple of things that might confuse you in the series as the story unfolds since a lot of it isn't explained thoroughly, but that just means you have to pay attention a bit more.
Art:
Obviously, due to Infinite Ryvius's air date, the art isn't exactly top notch. One thing I'd like to point out that I guess falls under the art category too though is that I was a little displeased with the mecha design, the mecha itself just looked kinda blah, unlike most mecha series where you have a really badass looking robot. That's one of my few complaints on the series. Other than that, I can't really complain too much about the animation due to its time.
Sound:
I found the music fairly impressive. The OP and ED, especially the OP, had a really nice vibe and feel to them that complimented the show well. The background music was pretty good and would always intensify the situation, but luckily you do get that in most series. Same goes for the sound effects. I liked how at the middle of the episode, where it shows the title of the show and where I guess commercials would usually be, they made these cool music mixes, kinda reminding me of Samurai Champloo.
Character:
If only the characters designs were a tad better and more special, this would've gotten a 10. The cast of characters is vast, and each is highlighted somewhere throughout the series pretty well. They all encounter a variety of obstacles, and they display and give insight to so many contrasting emotions as the characters develope greatly. Obviously, some are focused on more than others, but to paint the brilliant picture that was painted with so many characters and in just 26 simple episodes, Infinite Ryvius is pretty remarkable in that aspect. All of the characters have a very 'real' feel too, if that makes any sense.
Enjoyment:
The enjoyment level of this series I would think probably varies from person to person, and what expectations you have going into it. I went into it simply with the desire to watch a decent space drama since I haven't seen much of the genre, and I got what I wanted, in fact I'm now looking into more similar series. But if you're going into this series thinking you're gonna get some awesome mecha action like Gundam, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. There is action involved, but it is certainly not the main focus. With that said, I feel Infinite Ryvius is a very enjoyable watch because of a lot of the stuff I have already mentioned. The bombardment of emotions, the series of unfortunate events that these kids have to deal with with practically no break, the betrayals, the violence between people, the desperate desire for survival, the new forming love relations, as well as the severing relations, and so on.
spazzchicken
I think I decided to watch this show based on finding several reviews that praised Infinite Ryvius. I thought -- I love scifi and psychological deterioration. Too bad Infinite Ryvius can't pull it off. First, the basics. The art is standard 90's fair. The music is an interesting, if somewhat incongruous, choice. Neither really make or break the show. The plot of IR is also interesting, but it never really pays off. For 20-some episodes, I waited for something really thrilling to happen. There was very little that was thrilling, despite regular space battles and general in-fighting. The few good moments were only as good asthose of any other decent but not great anime. That is to say, the best parts of IR's plot still felt mediocre. Big build-ups didn't pay off, story lines died off or were wrapped too suddenly, long expositions were used to explain plot threads, and the end of the series was beyond frustrating and contrived.
By and far, the worst part of IR was the cast of characters. Many fell into stereotypical roles that never advanced beyond getting 'meaningful' back stories. For example, the loner-rebel type that spends most of their time doing nothing other than fighting or sulking. Characters that promised to be interesting usually lost that spark very quickly. Strong female characters were usually turned into love interests and forgotten. There were one or two characters that I enjoyed, but they were still one-dimensional. The main character is a wishy-washy sort that evolves slowly and is generally unpleasant. Personally? I hated most of the characters from beginning to end, and kept hoping for a much different ending for them than what they got.
I will finish by saying that there are better animes to get your psychological or scifi fix from. Unless you really enjoy mediocre space anime, Infinite Ryvius probably won't excite you.
Oolong
I had high hopes for this anime, but at the end I did not feel as if I watched a show about how kids survive without adults or government, I felt as if I watched 26 episodes of cliche anime teenager romance. If you like that sort of thing, this show will be fine, but it does not deliver on the high praise of politics and Lord of the Flies-likeness that persuaded me to watch it. The sphinx (sort of like the persona of the ship) reminded me of Boogiepop Phantom, which only served to make me think of how much better a show that wasin comparison.
To get into details:
There are about 3 or 4 episodes which consist purely of flashbacks, all very close together at the end of the series.
There are only really 2 factions consisting of about 5-8 characters each, and they don't really differ too much in how they think. They just sort of vie a tiny bit for control. You might say there's a third group, but they get so quickly assimilated into the other 2 factions (which also assimilate) that it doesn't really matter. The political depth of this show goes about as far as 'group in control abuses power a bit and lies' vs 'main character thinks that's pretty lame and so does another, but it's too lame to really rally any support for himself.' The 500 or so other students play little to no role except to be worker bees and faceless mobs.
The characters are all pretty unlikable babies. There never feels like anyone I want to cheer for. They either complain, or don't get things done, or do something really dumb that makes no sense.
The show's premise of being about kids in space governing themselves doesn't really even start until 12 episodes in. Most of the episodes before that are really boring 'hey, lets play house on the space ship.' You could call that build up for character changes later in the show, but the changes are all pretty abrupt, and the build up doesn't seem to have added anything to them, so I just think it's bad pacing.
TBH there's anime far, far worse that this, and it certainly goes beyond the dime a dozen anime, so I can give it some points for not being a total carbon copy... but it still wasn't good. Pass on it if kids' romances don't interest you.
CynixSera
I wish I could've liked this, really, I tried so hard to like this. The premise was kinda interesting and characters seeming had a story to them... But after 25 episodes of spiraling further and further into a pile of horse sh*t, the last episode did absolutely nothing in terms of conclusion. I've not much to say except don't bother with this. Not a single resolution you want to be made, is made. There is no fulfillment. Seriously. (As for specifics, spoilers below) ...Spoiler Warning... The main character wasn't particularly bad. In all honesty there's a lot worse out there - take Future Diary's protagonist for example.So why in the ever-loving frICK does every single character have a problem with him? And noone really seems too bothered by the fact that his little brother keeps beating him up?? He even got shot by what was supposed to be his 'best friend' and I don't recall him ever apologizing after the fact either. This was just frustrating as hell to watch. MC never gets a chance to fight back because all the people around him are deluded and yet MC is criticized for always going along with everyone. What was he supposed to do? Take charge? Revolt? Then he'd probably get blamed regardless. Most likely by the same little brother who gets offended whenever MC breathes. Oh, and great conflict resolution on that relationship, because I definitely was glad that the tension I was most curious about got resolved OFF SCREEN. What's the point of all that set-up if nothing is ever actually addressed?
Final thing to complain about. So... final episode. If you watch 25 episodes of bad things getting worse, then you would expect some kind of resolution, right? Maybe we see how people dealt with the trauma of the event, how the public reacted, trials maybe, the children's families, ANY progress in that crappy romance? Nope. Instead, it's a timeskip and the brothers are apparently fine now for whatever reason and MC gets back on that ship. The very same one they were held hostage on, assaulted, attacked, harassed and manipulated on. I'm seriously baffled as to how they can act like everything is fine after all that was done. But I guess I shouldn't have had such high expectations going into this.
As a last takeaway: DO NOT watch this series if you don't like injustice, easily affected by negative situations or, if you don't want to suffer. It's not worth it.
TLDR; MC gets treated terribly for no reason and no conflict resolution. No satisfying conclusion whatsoever.
acceleratum
The show features several space combat scenes altho the focus of the story is around the struggle of young students trying to grasp their future. The inexperience brings many problems, controlling the almost 500 ppl aboard the ship and maintaining it operational proves to be a difficult task, crime panic and chaos rampage in this ship who lost all touch with society and most of the time we'll see the evolvement of human nature in a free chaotic environment, they atemps to create a society with order and justice but power struggles erupt and diferent personalities clash into social and emotional battles. Its quiteinteresting to observe how a group of ppl who are now faced with an uncertain future and a society without rules respond, several interesting characters grab the attention and the weak balance creates an instability where everything is uncertain and can change swiftly into a whole new situation. Focusing on human natures the environment is well created and extremely interesting to watch how it develops and ultimately ends. Mistery envolves all this as they uncover the capabilites of the unique spaceship and the strange girl that wanders around, learning more about the geduld and the universe on the main plot, features a bit of political struggle as the space authorities keep attacking them instead of rescuing the frightened children and behind all this lies big secrets that involve the fate of humanity.
With two main plots, being the misterious spaceship at the center of one and the human struggle inside the other, the show appeals to several diferent tastes, even if several combat action scenes are included it wont appeal to younger audiences as the main focus is based around complex emotions, humans and society.
The animation is quite old and doesnt stand out, even during the battles are quite dull, the music rarely stands out mostly just filling the background or annoyingly misplaced like the hip hop during the intermissions wich only serves to break the mood, a joyfyull track in the middle of a sad tragic scene isnt really my appeal, on a couple of ocasions it fits decently but most of the time you wont even notice any music. Altho technically aged its enough to feed the content into the viewer and thats the reason of this review, I enjoyed the character development deeply even if sometimes the main character can sometimes be extremely annoying with his swinging emotions and seems to never learn anything it eventually works out, doing a great job to keep the expectation of whats going to happen next and dramatically emotional is enough to make it a good show. Its a shame it wasnt made with better graphics and soundtrack or it could turn into a great classic but its still good enough considering the old age and I recommend it.
Favorite aspects: emotional depth and story development.
What I dislike: Outdated graphics and soundtrack.
Caimthehero
It's been said before but this is essentially Lord of the Flies meets space. If you're looking for a powerful plot or characters to empathize or even connect with I'd suggest you look elsewhere. This is a story not really meant to entertain but understand the nature of the human condition. That objective gives birth to the best and worst part about Ryvius, and ultimately the core focus, the characters. Now let me say first that the character interaction with each other is fantastic and how they handle the realistic situations is, again grounded in realism. The dialogue can be a little hammy at timebut what show isn't? Nothing really comes out of left field with an author saving throw or hidden powers that appear right when the main characters need them most (outside of the first few episodes but I'll let that slide). It does lack a certain quality that is hard to frame: heart. The tension just isn't there and that leads to my main complaint, none of the characters are remotely likable or charismatic.
In my opinion a show must have at least one main character that you can empathize with or charms you into rooting for him/her. None of the characters on Ryvius do that for me. Kouji is a wimp. Yuuki is a pent up ball of aggression that is tried to be portrayed as cool but is really shallow, tempermental, and violent. Neeya is a pointless character added for reasons unknown. Ikumi is self righteous and weird, Izumi needs Ikumi, Fina needs Kouji and is crazy, Aoi needs Kouji and is a peace monger, Juli needs Blue and is boring. Then the last hope for the show Blue doesn't get enough attention to keep him relevant and possibly save the show.
People rate this show high because it's like literary fiction and tries to demonstrate understanding of people. I don't rate this show highly because in my opinion the foremost goal of any story is to entertain, which was not a priority in this show.
TheVistrian
Infinite Ryvius is an absolute masterpiece. It is easily one of the best anime ever made. It is the most underrated anime I have ever watched. It is quite insulting and saddening to see so many people consider such a Goliath of Creativity to be anything close to Mid. The Ryvius is practically the Dingdongmenship itself. A True Vibrational Titan. I recognize that this show has a lot of things that are going to appeal to me specifically, As it is a 90’s Futuristic Psychological Mecha show. Yet even acknowledging all of this, I am still so confused why it is rated so low. InfiniteRyvius Isn't just really good, it's nearly perfect. But it is not perfect, and we will be starting with the negatives. Firstly, there are many big questions that are not answered during the show. Infinite Ryvius Has a lot of mystery going on throughout the story, and it doesn't reveal much directly when it comes to Why these things are happening. You get little hints throughout the show and at the end of the show it leaves you with those little hints and never says it directly. At many times there would be references made to seemingly crucial events that happened in the past, and shows you little bits and flashes of what happened, but never actually directly shows it or tells you what occurred. This is also coupled with How there is a fair amount of recap, so it is not as if they didn't have time to answer these questions. The show is filled with a lot of high quality powerful moments that are very densely packed together, so this recap is Justified to a certain point, but there is just a little too much of it especially towards the end of the show. If Infinite Ryvius was to be considered a perfect show it would have spent the time it spent recapping towards the end answering some of these crucial questions. Of course it is best to leave some things unanswered, but I feel that not all of these questions are best left unanswered, as the events of the story do not make sense to be occurring without an explanation, and it would have only been satisfying to get an explanation.
One other thing that I wouldn't consider to be a true flaw, but could be confusing to many Watchers, is that Infinite Ryvius Has a lot of characters. The first time I was watching The first part of the show there were a couple scenes with the same character I did not realize were the same character. The show gives its characters realistic designs which means not all of the important characters have Super memorable character design. I think that this show needs to have this many characters to properly tell its story, and I wouldn't necessarily even prefer if these characters had more Distinctive Designs, But in order to fully appreciate the show you have to pay a little bit of attention to who is who. (Technically I also noticed an error or two.)
But other than these, the show is generally flawless. The Vibes are essentially unrivaled. It is where the show shines, yet it is a little hard to explain the concept of this vibe. It is basically a mix of everything, I am already a big fan of the general art style and feel of anime from this time period. It was interesting seeing the extreme contrast between the wholesome everyday moments and unprecedented traumatic events that happened to these fictional characters. Towards the beginning you can really feel the tension growing, and it is clear that as the show progresses things are going to fall apart more and more, the journey from order to chaos. The way that this show makes that transition was very satisfying to experience. It was also fascinating to see the constant struggle between competence/ability and Power, As the ones who knew how to keep them alive, were not always fit to lead, and the ones that may be more fit to lead, did not always have the skills to keep them alive. All of these primitive feelings and emotions that exist within all humans, now without guidance or restraint are all exposed, many aspects of who these characters are are brought to the surface, While others are forced to no longer exist. The extreme feelings of not being able to do anything, when something must be done. The extreme feelings of having to trust in the ones who betrayed you in order to survive. The concepts of understanding/accepting the past, learning from it, or leaving it behind. The context the story exists Within is just so fascinating, it always left me Very interested in learning What would happen next.
This show makes Incredible commentary on society and human nature, the context of the show is better to make commentary of this nature then similar Concepts such as Lord of the Flies, and it is completely unique from that, as this context has many More people, enough so a small isolated Society actually forms, as well as they have many more resources, yet not an infinite amount, as well as they have technological assistance. What happens in the show is just like what happens in our reality, although because of the age of the characters, many of the layers of deception in which we hide these negative aspects are blatantly brought out into the open. It is an incredibly fascinating situation of being completely free from everything they used to feel outside, yet now subject to an even more extreme tyranny from within. I found essentially all of the characters to be incredibly relatable or realistic, and the points in which it wasn't it was just So it could do something interesting. All of the characters are all forced to work together in order to survive, and there's this constant struggle between wanting one's own comfort, yet needing to survive in order to achieve this.
The soundtrack is incredible and perfectly compliments the show, it Seamlessly switches between magnificent orchestral compositions and classical Hip Hop Grooves that match and enhance the environment. It is the only anime that I have watched where after finishing the show I went to go listen to the original soundtrack, And I was even more impressed once I listened to that on its own. The show has three soundtracks, The third one is seemingly just whoever was in charge making their own album, but I was pretty offended when they started calling it M. i. D.
Kool depictions of futuristic Technologies. The concept that connects all the planets is amazing, it makes the story feel connected, as well as enhancing the visuals especially of the action, Allowing this interesting mix of spaceship and sea ship like Moments of visual splendor.
The action in the show is also incredible, it is space Mecha action like I have never seen before. Each one of these altercations Has amazing animation, is each incredibly interesting and unique, and during the show scales up in a seamless Ark. It employs this unique concept of solids, so during the fights there is a whole group of them that is Frantically decrypting ciphers and coding out each action at the robot is taking, and seeing his whole group of individuals furiously typing Made the command room scenes of the fights feel very active and engaging. It also perfectly mixes these fight scenes along with the interpersonal dramas that are arising on the ship. And the place where this show truly shines is in The moments in between the characters on the ship.
During the later episodes of the series, I found myself after watching each episode I would have to take a break to process what I had just witnessed. I was blown away by each consecutive section of the story That was revealed. It does a great job of breaking down the unique psychological situation that the story has provided, and naturally integrating it so that these analyses are a necessary part of How the story is told. The character that they used to do this was also genius.
Although it was one of my criticisms, I believe that the mystery of this story is one of the best parts of it. For me when stories have extreme elements of Mystery Like this it makes it more enjoyable and inspires me to want to watch even more.
I can fully acknowledge that There may be additional flaws that I am completely looking past because of how much this show does Perfectly. I believe that this is a legendary anime, one of the greatest of all time. Extraordinarily underrated. If you are a fan of Space, Mecha, or psychological anime, I would consider this to be a must watch. A True 10.
waterfalls
First of all, it's not really Lord of the Flies in space. I didn't like that, but I did like this. This is by the director for Code Geass and Planetes. It's more like Planetes than Geass. Animation is mediocre. If you want to watch something for the animation, I suggest Tekkon Kinkreet or 5cm/second instead. I do not suggest watching this for action either. There is little comedy here. Actually, maybe this is a spoiler, but if you're feeling cheerful about something that happened, it's probably so you can be sucker-punched in five seconds. What Infinite Ryvius does have is lots of drama, lots of characters, lots oftalking, lots of plot, and lots of serious. If that's what you like, you will probably like this. I rated it a 10. It's good.
PoeticJustice
The past is something that we can never avoid. It is a phantom that holds all are best and worst memories, dangling them over our heads while cackling menacingly. Some will do anything to recapture the feelings of long ago, the innocence of childhood, the warm of a loving relationship. While others seek to discard the past, seeking to rid themselves of the stench horror that has been imprinted on those memories. Everyone on the Ryvius has something they want to forget, and the ship itself is a conduit that brings all memories barreling toward the forefront of their minds, cannibalizing them or reforming thementirely.
Infinite Ryvius is a fairly unknown anime. It aired during the 90s during the post-Evangelion era where studios sought to capitalize off that brand of psychological anime. Studio Sunrise’s answer to that craving was Infinite Ryvius, which is Lord of the Flies meets Evangelion. Now, I do not wish to minimize the uniqueness of the Ryvius as it is more than just a rip off of those ideas. I referenced those two pieces of fiction to give you a general idea of what the show is like. Now let dig in.
Infinite Ryvius takes place in the year 2225 AD, a time where humanity has colonized all parts of the solar system. Kouji Aiba is a 16-year-old boy who moves onto the Ryvius along with his brother and many other children to train to become a space ship pilot. During one of the training sessions, the Ryvius is attacked by an unknown group, leaving all the instructors dead and only the Zwei Unit, the elite cadet class of the students, to take command. What ensues is a battle for control, endurance, and identity until the students can steer themselves to safety.
At the core of Infinite Ryvius lies a single question, how long can you survive without losing who you are? Ryvius has its cast undergo a variety of different obstacles and circumstances. Each event causes a shift in the zeitgeist of the ship. Every encounter causes a change in the morale of the cast. Every battle is gripping. At certain points, the tension becomes palpable. There are moments where things devolve into anarchy and people are losing all hope. Their desperation, hopelessness, and anger can be felt through the screen.
You are introduced to the daily lives of those on the ship. The pacing is just right, not too slow and not too fast. Although, the beginning of the show does start off rather slow. The subplots slowly develop but never really hit a satisfying conclusion, although they do add more to the character of the main cast. The ending encapsulates all the shows themes in a surprisingly resonant manner and gives you closure.
One of the themes that I felt Ryvius tackle spectacularly was the loss of innocence. Due to the death of all adults on the ship, children are forced to take command and are put in several life and death situations. Each student who is put into a position of power changes drastically and is forced to make many difficult decisions. These decisions come with sometimes crippling consequences on the psyche of these characters. I felt as though this added a layer of complexity to the cast and really stood out as one of the high points of the show.
The music is very hip hop inspired. The type of soundtrack suits the rebellious nature of the cast since hip hop is very rebellious in its nature. The more powerful tracks I felt, were the more pieces that had captured a specific emotion, like despair or the feeling of lazing around and doing nothing. The sound direction wasn’t particularly incredible but it suited its purpose. I felt that the inclusion of some of the vocal tracks with some scenes was not particularly well done and actually took away from the gravitas of those scenes.
With a cast of over at least 15 recurring main characters and background characters, one would assume that it would be hard to give significant depth to most of them. Surprisingly, a lot of them are well rounded. They are given a breadth of personality and we are able to see them from a wide variety of different angles. Even the background characters go through a variety of different changes. My problem with characters though is how they handle the backstories of the main cast. We never actually get to see memories of their past so we only get a hazy idea of their upbringing. One of the main themes of the show is the role the past plays on the characters themselves but I felt as though actually seeing what they went through would allow the viewer to establish an emotional connection to the characters. Another issue potentially is the likability of the characters. I didn’t mind it, but some may find the characters to be off-putting. A lot of them have very overbearing and hostile personalities and some are downright wimpy. If you have a hard time stomaching characters that are openly flawed, you may not like them.
Infinite Ryvius is definitely one of the more interesting shows I have seen in a while. Its premise and its execution were refreshing in a medium that seems to be scared to take risks. The ride aboard the Infinite Ryvius did have its bumps, but it was a journey worth seeing to the end. Check it out.
c1455
If you didn't like the story of "Lord of the Flies" there is a good chance you won't like this show. Its about a bunch of kids that get stranded and are attempting to survive until help arrives. The major difference is that it is set in space. Which is awesome because space is cool. The plot is pretty interesting though some people might criticize it for not having enough explanation of the reasons behind the kids being stranded, but this show is mostly character based. It maintains a fairly realistic(for anime) vibe and probably isn't for those that prefer more lighthearted shows. The art isn'tanything special and the designs all look like they're from the 90s. This isn't all that surprising because the series was first released in 1999. The backgrounds are pretty cool and the rest of the art has aged pretty well even after 15 years. The animation isn't so horrible it ruins the show but it isn't something you would be fascinated by. The art might turn some people off before they even start watching the show.
The sound used in this show is pretty good. The op song has aged well there is this techno rap style where they repeat Ryvius a couple times at the interval halfway through an episode that helps the viewer to distance themselves from the drama that is actually going on in the show. Some people might say that its out of place but if it had been something operatic or super dramatic it would have ruined the tone by making it seem too melodramatic, which was not the point of the show and would have lumped this show in with everything else of its genre. The sound suits the show spot on. I watched the dub and the voice actors definitely managed to voice the emotions of their characters really well. It may come across as a little exaggerated at times but nothing that should make you think that you could do better.
The characters are what make this show great. There are too many to go over any main characters so I won't but most characters change as the show goes on. A character you liked or hated at one point will probably have your opinion of them flip flop at some point. Every character has believable motives for what they do. Viewer insert Kouji Aiba isn't your standard protagonist. He is whiny but he also never ends up powering up to become the big hero, instead watching as the power players make their moves on the chessboard. The only exception I have to these rules is the crazy bitch. You'll probably figure out who that is if you watch long enough.
I really enjoyed this show and would recommend it to fans of stuff like "Lord of the Flies" and "Game of Thrones" mixed with science fiction. Infinite Ryvius uses a greater than average amount of subtlety and implies things younger viewers probably wouldn't catch that you would need to pay attention to understand. It also has its own made up diction that helps to immerse to immerse the viewer the show even if they don't understand what the characters are saying all the time. Infinite Ryvius is targeted towards a certain type of watcher but for those specific viewers the show is above average.
Animaniac2020
Infinite Ryvius (IR) is NOT "Lord of the Flies" in space - which is frankly the lure that got me to start watching the show. It is a confusing collision of multiple genres concepts and tropes that only gels into an engaging character drama in the final three episodes. That's a long wait! In short Infinite Ryvius has a B+ concept executed in a C- fashion. The only reason I watched every episode is because I am a writer and want to understand why this high concept story fails to make the grade. That said, if you LOVE in-depth character studies and are willing toslog through a lot of superfluous and confusing plot complications, then Infinite Ryvius might be for you. But please know this going into it: no matter how many episodes you watch, you will never understand why these kids are abandoned in space, who, or even how many, factions are after them, what the Geduld phenomenon is (apart from a plot complication), what the life forms within it are, what the Sphix is or how they relate to each other. And that lovely lady in pink? Your guess is as good as mine.
IR's biggest weaknesses are as follows: boring execution, inexplicable delays and poorly explained character motivations.
BOREDOM FACTOR
Imagine if before every space battle in Star Wars, Luke and Han had to spend hours typing up computer programs (known as solids), running thousands of simulations and remaining behind in safety as robotic "Garders" went out to do the pre-programmed fighting for them. Pretty boring, right? Probably 20% of all screen time in IR is taken up by kids behind keyboards typing. This is all they do during the slow moving battles, just type and yell at each other, as if the technology to pull a single trigger to fire a shot has not yet been developed. This is done in an attempt to make space battles more realistic but instead they become insufferably boring.
This is a real tragedy because it undermines the otherwise creative action sequences. When the Ryvius ship does battle with other space crafts, the gravitational weapons and tactics used are quite unique. Imagine an enemy firing thousands of magnetic mines at your spaceship making it impossible to shoot down each one. But with a gravitational weapon you can warp space ahead of the ship to create a gravitational well where all the mines fall harmlessly into a singularity. In another episode, an enemy traps the Ryvius in a gravitational field and attempts to crush it into oblivion. The method of escape devised by the crew would have been exciting were it not for all the typing and real-time computer programming involved. (I'm getting bored just writing that.)
ENDLESS DELAYS & CONFUSION
Nothing builds suspense better than a slow reveal - where the mystery unravels like a blooming flower. But when this is done poorly it can be quite insufferable and undermine confidence in the storytelling. This is most evident with Neya, the mysterious girl in pink known as the Sphix, who wanders the ship repeating sentence fragments uttered by the crew. People see her walk through walls, then show no further curiosity as to who she is. I'm up to Episode 23 so far and she is still barely acknowledged despite her great and magical importance. The purpose for this is because the creators of the show are not yet ready to tell the audience her secret - but they have long since worn out their welcome. I still do not know her purpose and with only 3 episodes left, I don't care anymore. [I finished the show and her existence is NEVER explained nor did she play a significant role in the outcome.]
For all 26 episodes, the Ryvius is never able to successfully send a single message or distress call to a colony, moon or planet - EVER - despite countless attempts. Turning mundane issues like communication into an unexplained impossibility is a plot device designed to force the kids to stay on the ship, but to use such an elementary problem to keep the story going is lazy, boring and repetitive. Were the kids on the Ryvius able to send out a single radio transmission, much of the conflict in the show would cease to exist. Again, I am on Episode 23 and I still do not know who the various factions are and why they are trying to stop or capture the Ryvius. What makes this even worse is that the kids on the ship would be more than willing to give it up in exchange for getting to return home - making the conflict of the show manufactured and based on misunderstanding - not a real threat.
If you have seen a preview or trailer from the show, it appears as if it takes place in some strange star system with a bizarre gaseous nebula stretching endlessly. We are actually in our own solar system and the gaseous nebula is known as the Geduld phenomenon. This is a deeply confusing concept that is never fully explained. If I understand it correctly, a strange neutrino burst from the sun caused this thick layer of miasma that spans the entire solar system. Within it are strange new life forms which, unbeknownst to most, have been harnessed into a special class of ships called Vaia, of which the Ryvius is one. Apparently, these life forms manifest physically as the soul of the ship, called a Sphix. Huh? On top of that, despite being a gas, the Geduld is a place of unimaginable gravitational pressure that can destroy a ship. This is a very complex, confusing set up with little rewarding payoff. Solar phenomena do not create life forms. Gaseous nebulae do not create astonishing gravity. And if the Geduld is a disk of dangerous gas, then why not just fly above it instead of forever dwelling within it?
CHARACTERS
The only parts of the show done well are the interactions between the characters and factions on board the ship (with the sad exception of the main characters - brothers KOUJI and YUKI). Early on, the adults and supervisors are killed leaving only 500 kids on board. The most well trained youth are the ZWEI BRIDGE CREW who do their best to save the ship. However, there is a crew of hooligans led by AIRS BLUE who gets his hands on a gun and inserts himself at the top of the hierarchy. This leads to some interesting dynamics between those who are most equipped and trained to lead (the Zewi) and those who covet authority and control (Blue's Gang). As their power dynamics shift, the effects ripple down through the ship's passengers. This is where the meat of the character drama resides. Some kids prefer less freedom in exchange for more security while others resent being told what to do for any reason and just want to lounge around to await rescue. Over time, "social classes" emerge, with those who are the most productive being rewarded the most ration points. As the differences between factions increase, we see resentment between the classes that start to form. Bridge Crew get unlimited ration points while everyone else has to work for their food.
There is a fascinating exploration of gender dynamics in the story, especially among women/girls. Some may erroneously consider it sexist but when the laws of the jungle descend on a group of people, the artificial gender constructs we foster and tolerate give way to reality. Many of the female characters are strong like Juli, a Zwei Member, who has a stint as captain, as well as Aoi and Cullen who do their jobs diligently. These girls are respected by their peers and earn their keep with their intelligence and maturity. But many of the girls, including those in Blue's Gang rely solely on their sexuality and feminine wiles to get their way, trading up from one gullible boy to the next all in the hopes of attaining the greatest power and influence they can. When the Blue Gang falls out of favor after being revealed to be opportunistic traitors, they are thrown in prison and there are implications the girls are sexually assaulted in their cells.
The most vivid example of this gender dynamic is between the most attractive Blue Gang member, Criff, and the meekest beta-male from the Zwei Bridge Crew, "Charlie" Turtleland III. Charlie is picked on, beaten and humiliated by Blue and his male friends, immediately followed by sarcastic sexual attention from Criff, making him the most malleable and gullible boy aboard the ship. After Criff gets everything she wants out of Charlie she dumps him, leaving him heartbroken. But when the Blue Gang is overthrown and imprisoned, placing Criff at risk, Charlie returns to defend her. When she is finally released from the brig, Criff decides to stay with Charlie because he is the only one who ever stood by her. Although this is an unhealthy, manipulative, co-dependent relationship that may turn the stomachs of many viewers, it is as real as it gets and very well executed. Later on, Criff finally comes into her own (briefly) when her nursing skills are put to use saving an injured Kouji.
The dynamic of girls getting what they want via sexual manipulation contrasts with boys who use force and violence to get what they want. After a few months in space, it is no longer safe for girls to walk the halls alone. Gangs of boys harass girls and weaker boys, desperately trying to get more food, prestige and luxuries. It gets so bad that martial law is declared and one of the more manipulative characters separates the kids by ability, keeping less useful passengers locked away behind bulkheads.
Sadly, the most unsatisfying and confusing character interactions are between the three main characters, brothers Kouji and Yuki as well as best friend Ikumi. The rivalry between the two brothers never truly makes sense. When it is revealed halfway through the show that they both care for the same girl, Aoi, I was shocked. There is no indication either brother truly loves her and their fights have nothing to do with her. The two fight over anything, everything and at the drop of a hat. Kouji is most often portrayed as having a "wait-and-see" - "get-all-opinions-first-then-reach-a-consensus" type of personality while Yuki is more of a take-charge, "act-first-think-later" kind of guy. Although these are very different personalities that might inevitably clash, the fights don't seem to be about this. They just start yelling at each other the moment they're in the same room.
With regards to Ikumi, he starts off as Kouji's best friend but the relationship goes off the rails later on. Ikumi ends up shooting Kouji and installing himself as supreme leader of the ship (all while brother Yuki watches on). Ikumi vows to punish even the slightest infraction, threatening to destroy any part of the ship where lawless behavior occurs, regardless of how slight. Even more disturbing, his motivations are later explained as overcompensation to make up for "losing his sister". I put that in quotes because Ikumi did nothing that ended up costing her life...Ikumi was sexually attracted to his own sister, forcing her to leave him. So Ikumi projects this loss onto one manipulative girl on the ship and does anything and everything to keep her safe, including killing, incarcerating and abandoning people he deems unfit.
Episode 26 ends up being a coda episode that takes place six months later. With the kids finally rescued, the government realizes that the ship is dormant without the kids on board and needs them back on board. Most of the main characters (inexplicably) agree to another tour of duty and they ship out as if nothing had happened. Apparently a clumsy way to ask for a Second Season that was never made.
kekfrosting
Infinite Ryvius is often described as "Lord of the Flies IN SPACE" by its small but dedicated fanbase, but this is probably just a ploy to get more people to watch it. The two share concepts on the surface, but that's about it. Story: 8/10 Ryvius is a (mostly) hard sci-fi anime, blending political drama and commentary on systems of government with a "lost at sea" atmosphere. The sci-fi side of the plot is done quite well, but the show truly shines in the close-to-home story inside the Ryvius. The characters' situation inside is told masterfully and accurately captures the desperation, revolutions, and reconciliations within the shipand within societies.
Art: 7/10
Darker shades and colors abound in Infinite Ryvius, fitting the mood of the show perfectly. One complaint I had at the beginning was how obviously "influenced" some character designs were by Neon Genesis Evangelion (looking at you, Aiba Kouji). Luckily though, the similarities end there, as Ryvius is a totally different show. Additionally, the ships and space battle sequences look quite nice.
Sound: 9/10
Some anime have soundtracks that are just plain legendary. Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Samurai Champloo, etc. These shows were good already, but their phenomenal soundtracks made them what they were. Infinite Ryvius is no different. Combining hip-hop beats and lyrics with one woman wails and repeated arc notes, Ryvius creates for itself an near-perfect atmosphere in music. Particular favorites include "Nowhere" and "Dis" (both the Japanese and English versions).
Character: 9/10
Character development can make or break a series. A story like this one wouldn't or couldn't go anywhere without solid development for its characters, and rest assured Ryvius delivers. Instead of the smaller central cast most anime opt for, Ryvius consists of a very large cast, mostly of high school age students who can be classified into different cliques or ideologies. There's the Zwei (students who serve as the political elite), the Delinquents (anarchists/abusers of socialist ideals), and the common students (everyone else). Nearly every character, even those in the background with only a few lines, goes through some sort of development that ultimately brings the cast to life. It was a lofty goal the creators set for themselves, but they just about achieved it perfectly.
Enjoyment: 9/10
Can you tell this is one of my favorite series yet? Infinite Ryvius is recommended to and will probably be enjoyed greatly by fans of similar shows such as Cowboy Bebop or Neon Genesis Evangelion. This is one of those series that appears to start off slow, but my enjoyment grew exponentially with each episode. I found myself unable to leave the computer, engulfed in the story and characters more and more as the series progressed. Even after I'd finished it, I was still hooked and even wrote a review for it!
Overall: 9/10
Go watch Infinite Ryvius, you won't regret it.
darkcheesepuff
Story: 8/10 This show was an excellent test of my patience. It not only told a very well thought out and eventful story, but it taught many lessons along the way. I give the story an 8/10 because of it's good pacing over the 26 episode span (wasn't rushed at any points and didn't pull a goku and spend 4 episodes on one scene). It was very well paced and I appreciate that in an anime. The story itself is indeed reminiscent of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, but I wouldn't say it derives that much from it. It manages to tell its ownvery diverse tale with a set of very diverse characters very well. I personally think the story was very well done.
Art: 8/10
The art was decent for the time (1999). I personally don't find the "classic anime" aesthetic all that distracting but some may. Even so, the character models matched the characters very well once you got a feel of the characters. The galactic backgrounds are very well drawn/painted. The show's overall look almost evoked an odd kind of nostalgic vibe in my opinion.
Sound: 8/10
I will admit the voice acting threw me off slightly (perhaps because Kouji's voice actor voices Light Yagami from DN) But in all seriousness the voice acting threw me for the first couple of episodes but once I got into the characters more it sort of clicked. The music on the other hand is in my opinion great. It's similar to some of the music in Cowboy Bebop, but a few songs reminded me of Nujabes' work on Samurai Champloo (which was great to hear here because I absolutely love Nujabes' music.)
(I'd also like to note that if you watch the show and find yourself enjoying the vocoder voice samples and such look up "Roger and Zapp".)
But anyway the overall music of the show has a sort of 80s-esque funky hip-hop vibe that goes well with the show, but if you don't like boom bap or jazz you may not like the music. The theme song is good. It took until about halfway through the show before I warmed up to it but It grew on me for sure.
Character: 9/10
Now for the characters, which are in my opinion, the most vital part of the entire show. Without believable characters, this show wouldve fallen way flat, and when I first started viewing it, as I stated in the beginning of this review, it showed as a test of my patience. My patience mainly was tested with the two brothers of the series. We open up the show with a clear and strong conflict between Kujou and Yukki Aiba, two brothers who are about to embark on life on the Liebe Delta, a training ship for teens that seek to go into a space-related career of some kind, be it astronaut or flight attendant. I held a strong grudge with both Kouji (due to his submissiveness/passiveness) and Yukki (due to his aggressiveness and general "bad boy" attitude), but as the show progresses, I came to realize and see more and the show was transforming from a mecha space opera to a coming-of-age space opera. I was also slightly annoyed with the character of Aoi Housen, who is both Kouji and Yukki's childhood friend. She seemed to want to be unbaised when it came to the conflict between the two brothers, and that irked me for a while. But again, this show really is more than what it seems and it may not show it immediately, but every main character (and several side characters) are very dynamic and are anything but cliches or stock characters.
Enjoyment: 9/10
The first few episodes were trying, but around the 4th or 5th episode, I got into it more and by the end it became a great anime that I am proud to say I may come back to.
Overall: 9/10
This show is not for everyone. There is a lot of angst (forgot to mention that above) but that goes with the terrain as we're dealing with a ship full of hundreds of teenagers. I mean cmon...
If you like stories with complex and sometimes frustrating characters you will enjoy this anime. If you enjoy a good space opera you will certainly enjoy this anime. If you like psychological animes that bring up thought-provoking questions and raise many societal and political points, this anime is for you.
Thanks for reading. :D
Tyrannicswine117
Warning possible Spoilers I'm a guy from time to time who does enjoy a good Space or Mecha series and this had something going for it, but that didn't happen till pretty much the final episodes. The story concentrates on the teenagers of the Liebe Delta, but when saboteurs end up destroying the station the survivors head to a ship called the Ryvius and must endure a long journey of fighting against the Saboteurs and themselves. Now the first half the story was pretty dull mainly because nothing interesting happened apart from a few battles and stuff that happened between the crew and I was literally thinking aboutdropping this until it reached the second half where suddenly the story improved as the battles became more severe and the crew of the Ryvius were becoming more and more insane which made a lot of crazy things happen and by the final 5 episodes I was like where was this thrilling feeling before because those final episodes were pretty damn hectic as the situation for Ryvius crew was deteriorating quickly so the story started out slow and I mean really slow, but if you keep at it you'll get your reward.
Now the characters were either boring, annoying or even stupid at times to start off with and my views of the MC Kouji would go up and down because sometimes he would make stupid or rash decisions although his brother didn't help out either who just seemed like a major asshole, but by the second half Kouji was becoming a much better character and by the end I was pretty much on his side seeing as he was one of the few characters left who hadn't gone insane, there is a lot of characters to take note of and it can be tiring at times so very few of them by the end will stick in the your mind. There actually was one character who gave me a mysterious interest and that was Neeya who is the sentient that is alive within the Ryvius and it was interesting seeing her adapt to the situation and how her feelings changed throughout the show since she could see and feel everything on the ship which in turn gave her a reason to fight.
I will admit at times this anime did look very good, the way the Ryvius looked was very detailed and pretty badass, the mecha that was within the Ryvius wasn't too bad either though I have seen better. The space battles were actually points during the show where you can get excited because these battles had some strategy to them so they didn't feel random.
Another aspect that this anime does very well is the Psychological aspect and seeing how the crew of the Ryvius change was incredibly interesting, people that started out as very good friends almost turned into a full out massacre because some people even attempted to kill each other despite the situation that was going so when this starts happening you do feel scared for the characters because you never if something really bad will happen to them or not, there is a bit of Romance in the show too and funny enough it's full of love triangles, but add this is in with the crews conditions on the Ryvius and you have a pretty good sub-plot right here.
Infinite Ryvius isn't a great anime far from it and you'll probably drop it very quickly, but if you stick around you'll actually find some enjoyment from especially during the second half, but that's up to you.
zettai-jin-stray
An ambitious, perilous space opera full of emotional and unstable teenagers. The oft repeated “Lord of the Flies in space” is apt. Infinite Ryvius takes place in the distant future where man has colonized space, it follows a group of about six hundred youths who board a large space vessel by the name of Ryvius to be trained in becoming cadets, technicians, and various other starship positions. Things go awry, and the ship is stranded with its communications disabled. It's up to the inexperienced trainees on the vessel to make the journey back to Earth while conducting politics, forming a makeshift society with its own economics,and trying to maintain governance and order, but really ends up chronicling a prolonged procession of failings and social collapse. On the largest scale of the conflict, the young commanders of the Ryvius use their one mecha to defend themselves from the military campaign of an Earth government's bureau's conspiracy to have the Ryvius eliminated. A lot of the anime’s space battles serve to spur internal conflict in the Ryvius, aside from this reason these fights take up a lot for the anime are only so necessary. Inside the ship, political strife and power struggle emerges between the head operators of the Ryvius with the relatively technically inept masses on the ship, this paired with the increasing resource scarcity over the few months of the Ryvius’ stranding leads to unrest and violence. On the private level, character drama plays out between friends, lovers, and enemies, rivals, etc. and on the internal level characters face introspection toward maturity, social role, and inadequacy. Considering the juvenile subjects, there's much deliberate naivety to the dialogue and actions. Dramatic points are often focused on emotional outbursts, lashing out at others, tearfully breaking down in fear, or wallowing in a pathetic state. This is all expected given their ages and the perilous situation, but it nonetheless is a dramatic style that perhaps achieves a mean of Uchuu Senkan Yamato and 90’s Shounen manga.
Ryvius, being a Sunrise anime of the late 90’s, is done mostly in cel with lots of digitization. The animation is kept reserved and economical, story and content are a tad stretched thin for 26 episodes as there’s notable recap but with thoughtful integration. However, it is wrong to say Ryvius isn’t intensive as often episodes directly follow each other, the cast is large and some important characters are absent for whole stretches of the anime, and the last episode creatively calls back to the first. As for setting, rarely is Earth shown in the anime outside the first episode, most of the anime is set on the Ryvius which has a dull metallic grey and black look to it. Locations on the Ryvius like the deck, barracks, and dining hall are realized well in terms of fidelity and spacing but aren’t terribly memorable.
Ryvius is the precise sort of original, ambitious, and relatively dark type of anime to be expected from Studio Sunrise during creative boom of TV anime following Evangelion. It’s of interest as an anime detailing a long and slow social collapse and political emergence as well as the new 90’s approach to space operas but is not stunningly iconic in images, design, or character.
Jaxstrix
Without wasting time the show is worth watching all the way through if you're in the mood for sci-fi from the point of view of emotional teenagers trying to survive. You will however have to put up with some spotty animation quality, and over the top teen angst and melodrama. Watch it subbed if possible as the dub is annoying to listen to. The show feels like an amalgamation of Evangelion's psychological character flaws, Gundam's general environmental design, and the over the top but somehow still endearing character interactions of InuYasha. Others have said that the story is very similar to the novel Lord of The Flieswhich is true. The characters are older than those in that book so naturally there are romantic relationships between characters, however there is a general lack of anything overtly sexual.
You will be wondering how the kids will get out of their battle, how the conspiracies in the background will progress, how the crew's moral will be effected, and be getting a bit frustrated at how ineffectual the characters are at communicating, organizing, and dealing with their emotions. There is a real human point of view the show comes from. You get to see how the kids organize and live their lives.
I appreciate how people getting beaten or killed might be glossed over in a lot of shows but this one has it's characters react in very serious and realistic ways. If your friend gets attacked she's might want to isolate herself and she might not be able to stop herself from screaming the honest opinions she has of people at them no matter how painful they might be.
For everything the show does right it does have some very annoying flaws.
The voice acting is mostly acceptable, however during certain scenes the cadence or tone of what you hear doesn't match what you see. For example at one point a character gets injured and the animation on screen is very minimal but the voice actor is portraying the character as though they where heaving with every breath.
There is one character that always says "Never give me orders!" and it's so painfully over the top and basic as to feel embarrassing every time. I also hate the voice they chose for the woman in pink. It's as though they told her to sound like a robot, so she did, but not at all convincingly. Watch it subbed.
The show generally looks interesting, and sometimes quite pretty, but the animation between characters is too frequently awful. If you pay attention whenever a character gets pushed down you'll see the frames per second drop, the angle of momentum to be off, and for the angle of impact to often be physically impossible.
If the premise is interesting to you, and you get get over the rough spots, it can be a rather enjoyable show.
