The world has been at peace since the establishment of the Fractale system. Sustained by the Fractale terminals implanted in their bodies, people live in isolation, free to focus on their own interests. Clain Necran spends his days collecting technological relics from the time before the Fractale's introduction. The only company he keeps is his parents' Doppels, or advanced holographic clones.
Clain soon meets Phryne—the first human girl he has ever met—and he instantly finds her fascinating. However, Phryne is being pursued by the anti-Fractale group known as The Lost Millenium, and she leaves a strange artifact in Clain's care before disappearing. Deciding that he needs to rescue Phryne and return her belongings, Clain sets out to find her. His journey takes him deep into the heart of the Fractale system, where learning the truth behind it poses more danger to him than he could possibly imagine.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
5camp
*Edit* There are spoilers in this review. I was under the impressions that spoilers required a plot that was coherent enough to spoil, but after some complaints I decided to put in this warning* Before Fractale aired, the director Yamakan declared that moe was the cancer that was killing the anime industry and that he would create a show that stepped outside that and appeal to a wider audience (not quite in those words, but that was the general gist of his ramblings). He even managed to get himself a slot in the famous Noitamina timeslot, a place dedicated to hosting anime that don’t suck, forhis upcoming personal original anime production Fractale. This is all pretty ironic to look back on, because Fractale proved to be:
1. Moe
2. Bearing a whole lot of other standard anime tropes
3. Shit
Fractale sets itself out as a sci-fi show set in a post-scarcity world where nobody interacts with each other because they can create doppels to do that for them. Therefore everyone lives in complete luxury in whatever setting with whatever types of people they choose to live with. It’s an interesting setting and one that Fractale occasionally explores but never attacks, almost as if they brought up that plot point by accident and it has nothing to do with the overlying theme of the anime. Occasionally the show will come across a character who uses the Fractale system in certain ways that seem like a fascinating exploration of that character’s psyche, but then abandons said character pretty quickly.
One of the points brought up early on by the Fractale system is that people living in it don’t experience proper human contact. The whole point of the first episode is showing the main character, Clain, and his bafflement and embarrassment with meeting a real live in the flesh human girl, who proceeds to strip in front of him. You would think this would therefore be a running theme throughout the show, but that was ignored pretty quickly. The closest it got was having another female character call Clain a pervert in about 5 times per episode. I’m guessing the show thought it was being funny by saying this? I dunno, it’s not like Clain was doing anything perverted anyway, was that the joke?
It did try to cover basic human interactions as part of the plot, but this was even more laughably tackled. Over the course of the show, Clain sees these people he has joined up with, the Lost Millennium group, who are against the Fractale system, mow down old grannies. It offered the viewer two sides of the story, the Fractale System and the Lost Millennium group that opposed it. But that one good scene was instantly devalued by ignoring it from there on in and introducing another eviler group of the Lost Millennium, making the massacre of grannies from the group Clain were with seem like a totally cool thing in comparison. This comes to a head towards the end where Clain joins in the granny genocide campaign, telling the Good Lost Millennium group that it’s OK that you kill people because you’re my friends!
That’s just the themes seem to appear more often, but other parts of the plot make far less sense. The plot finishes up on a revelation that God is not 16 years old, but actually 10 and therefore pure. What this had to do with anything I have no idea, but Fractale seemed to like telling us this in a very dramatic fashion. The Fractale System bad guys were equally baffling, also obsessed with purity for whatever reason and generally being a deranged bunch of lunatics who filled their armies with suicidal grannies. For a show that seemed to be presenting both sides of the arguments, surely you shouldn’t have the Fractale guys be such a bunch of lunatics who like licking the face of our brave heroine?
Now this could all be fine in another series. You can be silly but still have a lot of fun. First off, Fractale isn’t fun, unless 10 references to Clain being a pervert per episode is your idea of a good time. But mainly, Fractale pretends it’s deep. It’s all about Themes and Issues and is Like Totally Serious. But it brings up these points with no idea what it’s doing with them. It’s like it has taken ideas and scenes from other anime it’s seen, realised that these scenes make this anime great and stuck them into Fractale without realising why these scenes make that other anime great. You can have psychotic villains who lick their pure heroines, but not in a show where your also trying to present a balanced view of those sides of the conflict.
The reason I hate Fractale is because it offends the story-telling lover part of me. This is not something that is apparent in the early episodes. This is something that only rears its true ugly head in the later episodes where it tries to bring its plot to some sort of nonsensical conclusion. It has taken a lot of different plot points but has never considered how they tie in together. It’s thrown out scene with Deep Meaning without realising that the meaning that scene protrays has nothing to do with whatever previous scenes the show has had, or even contradicts previous plot points. I’m guessing the Fractale Production Committee meeting went something like this.
— OK guys, this anime Fractale is going to be so awesome! It will have a girl who you can only touch if you like her. That means Love is important and stuff
–And his parents will be a water cooler and a pink lampshade
–And then the rest of the team will betray him, but he was actually working for the priestess all along
–The big-breasted girl will actually be an old man
–But then it will turn out it was his dad all along
–She was talking to the Cart Driver, who turns out was actually the main character!
Yamakan: –Great Ideas! We’ll put them all in!
du5k
I'm gonna come out and say that Fractale isn't that bad... and all the hate people have for it is kinda unjustified. The problem is that the show didn't manage to become the kind of masterpiece Yamakan wanted it to be, and that failed promise put the show in a very negative light. At least he's a man of his word, and "retired for the time being". It's a pity if he actually goes away for good because I still think he's still someone with plenty of talent, and even some of that does show in the flop that is Fractale. I've said this on morethan one occasion, that I'd like to compare this series with Last Exile or Allison to Lillia, because I strongly feel that that is Yamakan's vision for Fractale. It isn't so much about the story, but it's about the fabulous combo of pre-industrial age technology meets young man's (or girl's) adventure. Series like these usually focus a lot more of the setting of the story, like the common people's way of life, community relationships, the environment, the history than most other shows do. This is probably Yamakan's take on the cincept, with a little furturistic element to it. And I really like that. Fractale shows the fun in a frugal and simple way of living, clean and honest community life, its conflict with furturistic technology, and a young man's adventure in his role and approach towards this conflict.
Whereas the show fails hard on its execution and characters. First of all, there is too little revealed about the Fractale system itself, and we the audience are left with too many questions about practically everything that is going on. That won't be a problem if the characters are interesting enough to drive the show along, but they aren't. Clain is constantly being led by the nose by everyone around him, and his actions are always a result of how the story drives him, when it should be the other way around. Phyrne and Nessa are as mysterious as the Fractale system itself, and everyone else is there just to fill up the screen time. In the ending, there's wasn't a resolution or anything. It feels like it all happened as a matter of course. I'll keep this spoiler-free, but it's a happy, but really dumb ending.
Another thing that's sorely missing from Fractale is satisfying animation, which is something I'm expecting to see from an anime using this concept. I'm totally expecting spectacular backgrounds, detailed characters or equipment, or at least smooth animating, but Fractale delivered none. I can't explain how disappointed I was.
So in all, Fractale is okay. If you understand and love the concept of animes I was talking about, you'll enjoy Fractale to a certain extent. Otherwise, it probably isn't something for you.
Plot/Concept: Great
Story Style: Miserable
Audio/Visual: Fair
Value: 6
Doughkey
This show was actually awful. I really liked the colorful and simple style of the show so I looked more into it. I read the summary and thought it could be really okay. And then I made the mistake of watching it. It is the kind of overall bad that I cannot pin point just where they went horribly wrong. It is like that time you tried making dinner and you followed a recipe pretty strictly but it tasted awful and you didn't know what you did to ruin everything. All of the characters are faceless and not worth mentioning, I can't even remember any of themusic and I was rewatching a few episodes today to reminisce the pain I suffered from enduring this god forsaken piece of crap. The story even had potential but the implementation was just wonky.
I recommend this anime to anyone looking for an ironic marathon with a friend. The two of you can laugh at how bad it is for weeks to come.
SnippetTee
Of the entire Winter Anime list, Fractale instantly caught my attention, perhaps because of all the words written on the list, “fractal” is the term that I have encountered several times. I enjoy this show because it has some in-depth meanings on how technology impacts humans and apparent socio-political implications. Also, I find it unique and refreshing in its own simple ways. In terms of character design, I find them pleasing but not really fantastic. However, you can surely recognize the character development. I particularly like Nessa, I thought she is going to be annoying doppel--data or memory that interacts like human, who will screw upon everything, but it turned out that she is lovable, and despite her age I find her more intelligent and sensible than Phryne. As for Cain, I truly enjoyed his character, I witnessed how he grows up from being immature young boy to a mature young man. Overall, at the end of the series I sensed that the characters grew into me, because even the secondary characters like Sunda and Enri are worth mentioning when you talk about Fractale.
Artwise, it has nice and friendly ambiance. However, I find the color tone and setting somewhat old-fashioned, but I guess that what makes it unique and easy to follow. The setting is supposed to be futuristic however they incorporated farms, valleys and plateaus, perhaps that's why they used that "classic" a ambiance.
On the other hand, I almost lost my enthusiasm after seeing the first episode; the show seemed to be too shallow and carefree for me—that time I wanted to see something that is extremely thought provoking and emotion driven. Little did I know, behind light ambience is where the irony hides. It is good that I did not drop it right away and stick-around until episode three, because that is where the story begins to unfold.
A quick snippet of Fractale is it tells the story of a young boy named Clain. One day, he saw a temple girl named Phryne being chased by three armed people. Eventually, Phryne managed to get away from her chasers. After seeing her wounded, Clain brought her home for treatment and also helped her to hide from those who are trailing her.
The incongruity and the bulk of the story is in the title itself; Fractale system pledges a life of pure relaxation and technology-driven lives. However, due to the overly convenient lifestyles, people do not talk to each other and do not work for a living anymore. Further, the extreme dependency in technology is turning people into less “humans”. For instance, families in Fractale System do not live together anymore, and people just spend their days stagnant.
Now, if we are going to look at the definition of fractal, it means rough, fragmented geometric shapes and reduced-size exact copy of the whole—opposite to the symmetric and smooth lifestyle that Fractale system offers. We can see that Indeed, Fractale system is the provider of the “whole package” of convenience to its citizens, however this supposedly “whole” is actually in a form of the reduced-size of the real thing. Aside from that, instead of being part of the entire picture, people continuously sprout out as isolated entities of the picture, or simply the petite-sized reset of the Fractale system.
I truly believe that the author successfully incorporated the characteristic and symbolism of fractal in the story.
*mild spoiler ahead*
The last episode is kind of rushed. I really think it's a pre-mature last episode and it's not the type of ending that I'm expecting however it didn't disappoint me. This is just purely my opinion though. Now it's up to you to find out what you think about the Fractale.
BatOtaku13
As an anime fan, I personally love finding shows that take me completely by surprise. Sure big hype shows are great too, but there’s something about finding an anime with little to no hype that turns out to be amazing that really strikes a cord with me. I wasn’t expecting much from Fractale, but what I found was what is sure to be one of the best animes of the decade and an easy contender for anime of the year. Fractale is the story of an island governed by the Fractale system, a computer super-program that is worshipped as a religion by the people.Our main character is Clain, a boy who collects what he antiques (even though they’re things like Ipods and laptops) who meets a girl named Phryne. Phryne has a mysterious connection with the Fractale system and gives Clain a doppel (essentially a holographic representative of a real person) child named Nessa. Eventually Clain and crew meet a group of so-called revolutionaries called the Lost Millenium trying to bring down the Fractale system for good. So is our story for this anime, and while it may seem simple, it is anything but.
What makes Fractale so fantastic is just how brilliantly it is written every step of the way. Clain, Nessa, and Phryne are three of the best written and believable anime characters I have seen recently who all act believably to every situation (no over-the-top anime reactions here). In addition, the cast involved with Lost Milennium are also really well defined and avoid the usual noble rebel tropes in really interesting ways. At points, the group acts more like guerilla terrorists than noble rebels. Even though they are supposed to take down the Fractale system which they claim robs people of their humanity, are they any better by resorting to extreme tactics? Though it is true that the Fractale system takes away people’s ability to be “human”, this aspect of the plot makes it much more interesting and thought provoking than it otherwise would have been.
Another striking feature about the plot is the themes the show tackles. While the more apparent themes of nature vs. technology are present, there are also hints of thematic elements dealing with the nature of organized religion. The Fractale officials act as a theocracy even though the religion they promote doesn’t actually cause violence to others. The themes of organized religion vs. free will in combination with nature vs. technology are a unique combination and the fact that it’s the people running both sides that aren’t innocent and not the ideas they represent make the conflict much more interesting to think about. This leads to a conclusion that smartly addresses this dichotomy and represents some of the most well thought out and three dimensional writing you will find for anime this season.
In addition to the fantastically written story line, the art in Fractale is in a word beautiful. It’s very similar to a Hayao Miyazaki film asthetically with bright water color visuals and great character designs. The entire show is just a joy to watch every second and really makes you appreciate how beautifully realized the entire production is. On top of this, the music is fantastic with great orchestral scores that hit all the right notes, whether it’s the more action-orientated sequences or the quiet moments where the characters enjoy each other’s company.
This show just works on every single level. The story is one of the best written animes in recent memory despite doing away with many fantasy anime tropes. This, in addition with the fantastic characterization, art, and music all come together to make one of the best animes of the year. Seriously, I cannot praise this anime enough, but I can’t because I don’t want to spoil anything for people. Simply put, Fractale is one of the best animes you will see this year and you are doing yourself and the anime community a huge disservice by not watching it.
I give Fractale, an A+.
Nadir
I like Fractale. I really do. But more I reflect on it, more I realize that Fractale isn't the greatest. What caught me was the setting. A computerized system called "Fractale" is used to catalog and maintain the whole human population. A normal boy named Clain is unsatisfied with his life. In comes Phyrne, a doppel named Nessa, a rebel group called the Lost Millennium, and the Temple knocking on his door. He's dragged into a whole world altering mess of conflicts... so why is this show so slow moving? The pacing isn't very well done. A show is supposed to raise questions in the beginningand answer them in the end. This show fails at the latter. It moves slowly, adding to the setting, and suddenly accelerates into some action the last 2 episodes, leaving you to scratch your head in confusion. "What just happened?"
The show leaves so many questions unanswered. What is the Fractale system, and how does it work? I don't mean some half assed explanation that it uses star power or anything or that it's some mystical computer system designed by aliens. I'm just asking WHAT IS IT. When the show fails to explain the main plot point, it starts getting silly. Phyrne is the key to the Fractale system, and the Temple wants her back. But why IS she the key anyway? How does the whole key thing work? Do they just plug girls into the Temple like some AA batteries in order to keep the Fractale system running?
And what exactly is the Lost Millennium's beef anyway? They're a rebel group. Sure. But what's their motives? They think the world sucks, and the audience sees the Fractale system isn't so great. But how in the world did they reach the conclusion that the world is a dystopia? People live in blissful ignorance of the Fractale's mechanizations, and are brainwashed every year. How did this group of people break out of this cycle?
I blame this lack of information and question answering squarely on the protagonist. We're not supposed to sympathize with the Temple. They're the bad guys! We're apparently not supposed to sympathize with the Lost Millennium either (even though the Granites deserve our sympathy at some points). They're the bad guys too! And we're not supposed to understand or sympathize with Phyrne because she's simply just a plot coupon at this point. So who ARE we supposed to sympathize with? Clain. Our protagonist. Unfortunately, he acts as a third wheel. The Temple's not going to divulge its secrets to him because he's an enemy, Phyrne isn't going to say anything because she doesn't want him to get involved, and LM just wants him out of their hair. And since he's our protagonist, we have to learn information through him. If he's not getting any important information, then what are we, the audience, left with? Just a sequence of meaningless action on the screen, that's what.
It's all supposed to make sense at the end. But when they throw a bunch of disjointed information, it's hard to synthesize it into something MEANINGFUL. And they expect everyone to be fine with this.
But that's just a crazy long over analysis. A show can be fun to watch and still have no "plot" to speak of. They say that the journey is as important as the destination, and it's been a fun ride. There's nothing too deep here. I say this a standard anime show, and I'm glad there's not too much navel gazing or faux philosophy on how to live your life. If you have some time to kill and the premise sounds interesting, I say go take a look and see how it pans out for you. But if you have a packed schedule, I suggest you give this one a pass for the time being.
starshinesMonet
This was a very pleasant anime. Good for Miyazaki fans and Higashi no Eden fans alike. It's a pretty "feel good" anime with a typical "let's work hard as a community for our future" attitude, that is very optimistic of Japanese storytelling; yet it also achieves the ideals of those wanting to rebel against something or fight for something we believe in. We are taken through this journey by Clain, a young boy fascinated by "antique" relics such as I-pods or cellular phones. Through his eyes we see the world of Fractale, a computer sim world (not unlike that of Summer Wars) oneis born into and whom most follow blindly (as most of the other reviews have pointed out - like a religion). It doesn't occur to anyone what this system is or how it works or whose pulling the strings, and I suppose that makes sense for most humans. When we're given a seemingly 'good thing' we are not prone to asking where it came from.
Unlike some of the reviews I read, I didn't feel as the story left me with many unanswered questions. I had a fairly clear understanding what the Fractale system was and why some of the characters were fighting for it. I DO feel there could have been more attention there though, as I was never sure why a bunch of elderly women would choose to protect this system/Phyrne. Was this just maternal instinct or was there more back story there as well?
The story behind L.M.'s resistance was more clear to me, but I still wished I could have seen when and how the village was developed more. I disagree with most of the reviews on MAL that Enri's troops and the L.M. died in vain or for no reason, I definitely saw the point. They just wanted the choice to live off the land, naturally and without having to rely on machines or a computer simulation. To them, that was a cause worth fighting over.
I wouldn't say however that the story is totally clear either though. It's fairly broken and blurred, kind of going in one direction, but not really fully committed to it either. The ethics of the series is also very questionable (see the "you kill people, but you're my friends too!" quote in the last episodes or any reference to blowing away grannies with machine guns), with no real message to back any of them up except for a half-assed attempt to bring some humanity into the plot later on ("but you have to understand -- they're EVIL grannies!").
And what is going on with these villains? They're SOOOO boring (i.e. one dimensional)! I can't really believe they would inspire so many people to follow them (not the Fractale users, but the other priestesses). It also didn't help that they could be downright insane at times (giggling to yourself about punishing a fellow priestess is creepy unless your watching hentai - then it makes a morbid kind of sense. But it would still be creepy.
I think one of the biggest hang-ups in this series for me was the editing work, which can be downright sloppy at times. This is what I attributed most of my "what just happened?" feelings too, as the storyline was pretty linear for me and I usually knew what was going to come next.
The next biggest weakness for me was Phyrne, who I like despite her ridiculous need to run off into danger every five minutes (which doesn't connect AT ALL with how we're introduced to her). She could have been an Utena, a Nadia (who is annoying, but holds her own), she *COULD* have been awesome. Instead they made her awesome for the first episode and insipid for most of the series after that. "I'll stay here and be protected like a good girl!" ...Just kidding! ... For me, that little tirade got old REAL fast, so unless you're into that kind of thing she will probably get on your nerves, despite being somehow likable. I blame the cool eye colour.
The other characters are far more interesting, particularly those in the Granites family (here's where the Miyazaki comes into play). We don't see enough of them and honestly I would have been more inclined to give a better score had there been more plot and back story given to their clan/village than the main plot, which is fine but pretty average all things considered. I mean, Tsubasa Chronicles had more going on in one episode than most of this series based on its ability to get me engaged in the episodic plots and villagers involved.
Another aspect I liked about the characters were their reactions to the situations they were placed in. Like BatOtaku13 mentioned, each reaction feels genuine to me (even Phyrne's though it gets annoying) and I appreciated that. It isn't a detail I often find in many anime and I am always pretty impressed when characters are put into high-impact or action scenes and then react with a mode of decorum.
The best part for me though was the music. I was particularly entranced by OP song "Harinezumi (ハリネズミ)" by Azuma Hitomi which I never once skipped through. It was light and energizing without being another forgettable J-Pop song. The end theme "Down By The Salley Gardens" by Azuma Hitomi was also a refreshing alternative the usual anime sound. It was more of an Irish folk dirge than a pop song and it set the mood to the rest of the anime really well. I am astounded when an anime series looks beyond the box of J-Pop for its music and only a few come to mind (Juuni Kokki, Mushishi, and Origin are my favourite examples). The temple song sounds a little like a typical j-pop song, but it still has a charming note and is nicely developed throughout the series.
War_lothar
When I began to watch fractale I was delighted because I really like adventure shows. It promised in the first chapters to be a good plot, characteres with logic personality, moral ambiguity, it had a interesant idea to develop and then it is blowing up and crumbling in small pieces. Phryne had ten personalities, the developing of the history is completely unstructured jumping months or days, recovering of a bullet shoot in a moment or the personalities changing in one chapter without reason and to finish off that final was ridiculous. The art and animation was bad. I could take many screens or a animatedgif showing it, however the backgrounds were great in some scenes so it coud pass... The music was average but it was not really touching. About the characters just terrible.
4/10 for me and if you want to be really nice may be 6/10 no more .
AnimizeEU
Well, you usually get to read something about expectations got betrayed and that there is no story behind it, or it's just a throwaway anime. Well if you think so as well, you don't need to read on just give it a bad rating and read the next review which pleases your opinion. For me, let's see... Fractale was kind of a surprise, as I had no expectations whatever as it was an anime I got my hands on by coincidence. I just thought the name was interesting nothing more or less. At first I was like: Another Matrix-like future setup? Oh well let's watch. Butin the end I got really interested in the Anime. I think a lot depends on how deep you want to read into the show, and if you want to read deeper than it actually is. As it offers quite a lot of material for doing so!
Never mind the things you don't know about, as parents everytime eat with their children and care for them... computers ain't taking over society and our ain't changing our behaviour, or priorities in life... and of course children won't ever get violated... Things like that never happen in our modern society! do they? As a matter of fact, Fractale shows us a world where socializing ain't needed no more, as Mother Goog... I mean Fractale is doing everything for our sake. But what it s real happiness, on what is it build on? There were quite a lot of questions wavering around in my mind and heart while watching that anime. And well usually I am not one to praise something without a reason.
But well, there are weak points in the story, there are overall flaws in this anime, some are small, some are bigger. But none the less, if you really just want to count them, most of the anime with top ratings right now, would score low, pretty low. But If you can try to imagine, to understand the meaning of scenes, to look behind the mirror and maybe some experience in life is needed as well, then you may come to like Fractale.
Amatrelan
Story: The first 5 episodes can be easily skipped because there is no advancement in a story. Characters don’t bother to explain anything why something why they are on one side of the group. In episode 3 there was a small progression in the story and that can be explained in one sentence. I don’t know if they wanted to create a “mystery” element in this or what but at last I can say it’s executed badly, basically, every faction tries to pull MC to their group without even bothering to explain what is better in their group than other and I think that’s the “mystery”of series.
Like why Fractale is bad? What point there is it to lose technical advancement and go back to the “natural” way? What is so bad about “doppels”? When anime starts to explain these things I already felt really bad about this series and didn’t want to watch the next episode (The only reason I watched this series was because MAL Anime Challenge, under normal situations I would stop watching this series around episode 5 because it was just so painful).
So basically half of the series is just that characters won’t explain even the smallest things about what’s going on in that world. Well, I can’t say it was all bad, there were few nice events that make it so I bothered to watch till the end.
The story was at best 5 and can’t recommend this to many people. Most of my friends (also for me) story is number 1 thing in anime and this series biggest shortcoming was story or characters.
Art:
Is the strongest part of this series. The art was really good and pleasing to watch. There was nice use in colors, not too strong or popping. Some scenes seemed to be “watered down” but 99% was well done in this series. There wasn’t anything “new” or “exceptional” in this but it was good quality (and no 3D, at last too much).
Sound:
The sound wasn’t anything special in this series. Truth to be told there wasn’t any song that I remember anymore (OP & EP excluded). The sound effects were quite good and I not even once thought “what a heck sound was that”.
Characters:
The worst or second worst thing in this series. Usually, I think the story and characters as the same. But mostly the story was bad because Characters can’t speak, they don’t explain anything. There were quite interesting characters mixed but mostly they felt bad. In the first episode I started already hate Clain, he didn’t even try to understand other people. Well, other people weren’t that much better as I explained in the story. They force their thoughts on Clain without explaining anything.
Enjoyment:
I think most can guess what here will be, well to be honest you’re right, I hate this series. But there were also some hidden nice times. But still, if I could (or even bother) it would be nice to get this time back (luckily I watched this series the same time I did other things).
Overall:
Some nice gems surrounded by boring stories. Overall this series gets 4, no worse or better. I was disappointed how bad this was, I wasn’t expecting new masterwork but even a little bit of something that would have made this better. Have to say even Gilgamesh is better than this.
vhince4005
Well, since the first episode of fractale, it caught my interest. for me this is one of the best series for this year 2011 season... a 11 episode of adventure with a calm, quiet and fresh aura. The vibes of this anime will bring you a feeling of wanting to watch the next episode again. This anime will reminds you about MIYAZAKI's works,. of course with Miyazaki's vibes. 10/10 for the story it has quite unique story, futuristic yet old. The technology they were using is too far away from us now. They even call "antique" those gadgets that were very popular in our current era. itlooks very futuristic, but if you look at the backgrounds and environment, they were lot of uncivilized lands, farms, mountains and grassland.
10/10 art
well, its not that what you've expect to 2011 anime.Its art is unique in its own way and it is one of its asset that you gives the audience the cam and good feeling when watching this.
9/10 Sound
at first, im not so attract in the ending song, but whenever i watch an episode, i've always sing the song with the ending. Then i notice that it was very good.
9/10 character
The story will be boring if Nessa is not around. Yes, a very lively 10-year old girl called Nessa is giving this series the joy and dont let us audience to be bored and drop the series.
of course the enjoyment is in your own, ive enjoy this a lot.
OVERALL of course 10/10.
ggultra2764
Oy voy, this series was unsure what to make of itself. At first glance, I thought the show was gonna try making itself into a walking homage to Ghibli titles considering the nods to Nausicaa and Laputa in the show's first episode with the opening music and Phyrne's air chase scene. Also tossed into the mix was the appearance of augmented reality with Claine's interactions with the virtual beings known as vectors. There was even a point where I thought the show was gonna degenerate into some sort of harem comedy thanks to Nessa's appearance and the antics of Enri. After a few episodes though, Icame to realize that the show was gearing itself to be an adventure title with the conflict between the Temple and Lost Millennium rebels once a darker side to the Fractale System is brought up. A number of elements of the Fractale System did offer some decent exploration of the benefits and flaws to human dependence on technology as while it offered great advances in the information and resources it could provide humans, it does bring about disconnection over interaction with people beyond a vector or computer screen as Claine comes to realize when Phyrne's appearance makes him wonder why he can't meet his parents in person. In addition, there is always the human control element to such technology where a group of individuals try to control the technology however they see fit, which occurs in the form of the Temple who use the Fractale System to brainwash anyone with doubts or questions over the lifestyle Fractale provides them.
Fractale was the best series for me to see for the Winter 2011 season for its overall visual presentation. The series sports clean and detailed scenery and character designs as there was enough gorgeous designs of the holographic cities within the Fractale System and the mundane villages that those within both Fractale and Lost Millennium lived in. Battle scenes were quite fluid as well with well-animated movement of people and airships between the Temple and Lost Millennium as the two sides engaged one another in conflict.
However, Fractale had quite a number of flaws I took notice of that killed its quality for me. What proves to be the biggest weakness of Fractale for me is a number of the typical anime cliches to be found in anime that detract from the series to be too different from other anime titles. The show occasionally makes Claine into an accidental pervert a la romantic comedies like Love Hina and Chobits, for some cheap laughs. The Temple is made to be as shallowly evil as possible. Speaking of said latter cliche, there isn't much fleshing out provided on members of the Lost Millennium faction as well and often we see members committing to not so noble causes like enslaving or killing civilians within the Fractale System. This makes it so that beyond what we learn of Claine, Nessa and Phyrne, you could care less about the war going on between the Temple and Lost Millennium thanks to how shallow both factions are. And I also found the ending of the series to be a bit of a cop-out due to the lack of foreshadowing over what is shown regarding the true nature of the Fractale System.
Fractale proved itself to be quite the mixed bag of an anime for me in this season and at times, feeling like it was a mess. While sporting the best visuals I've seen for the Winter 2011 anime season and having some interesting subjects to point out with the relationship between man and technology, the series is bogged down by its conventional anime elements and the lack of depth on the two major factions that were in conflict with one another throughout the series. Fractale proved to be one of the weaker entries I've seen come out of the Noitamina anime lineup.
Kerrick
When I began to watch the first episode I had no clue as to what I should expect from Fractale. When I started I was willing to give it a chance, and I actually became fully interested by the end of the first episode when a decent plot started to form. By the time I came to the end of the series, however, I was sorely disappointed in the lack of story. The story for Fractale started out so well but by the 3rd episode the story becomes so fragmented. It felt too much like the writers could not decide on which storypath to pursue so they just went with whatever they felt like at the time. As if they put all their ideas up on a wall, and then threw darts at it to see what ideas the darts landed on. In short for the story, many elements that should be explained are not, but we have to stumble around in confusion as to why they are important. As further insult to injury parts of the story that really are not very important are concentrated on too hard. You can pretty much toss two or three episodes worth of content into the dumpster, it serves no other purpose. On this same point you have some really interesting characters, but they are not as interesting as they should be because of poor story writing.
I will give credit to the voice actors, and the people who did the music. The actors did a great job bringing out their characters despite the poor story. The music does really set the mood fantastically too. I thought the artwork was very good as well, and it did create this very beautiful world. That is if you don't count the majority of the "Dopples". I thought someone was on drugs when they were drawing those things, they were just too goofy looking to take seriously. It was a relief to see believable, human looking dopples, but then again it's hard to be worse than water-cooler dad, and pink lampshade mom.
All in all Fractale did have the potential to be really good, but the poor story telling only serves to be a hindrance, and brings down the rest of the elements. This probably would have been better as a three, or four part OVA. For an eleven episode series it's not bad if you are not really watching anything else at the time, but you can otherwise pass on this one.
bullitbaby
Hello bullitbaby with hopefully another down to earth review Ya know, I REALLY WANTED to like this anime. But in the end It's IMPOSSIBLE for me to like due to so many mortal flaws .....except for ONE thing...the actual animation. Simply put, this animation STRONGLY RESEMBLES GHIBLI STYLE. If your a fan of Ghibli animation you should feel the similarity almost immediately. The very idea of mixing technology blimplike flying machines etc but maintaining a small town classic style county architecture is also very Ghibli if you've watched any of his stuff. Anyway, so bottom line, if you choose to watchthis anime, you'll likely enjoy the animation cleanliness, flow, style etc, ....you won't enjoy much else as the conflicts in the story build rather quickly. The improper character development shows starkly and ohhhh the endless unanswered questions......
you will notice yourself feeling more and more questions than answers, lots more, none of which will be answered sufficiently or for that matter even hinted at answering....cuz there are no answers.
Some examples:
---its revealed in the first 10 minutes the FRACTALE system is a super AI made up of 22nd century technology of basically a gazillion processor thinking machine (which Clain refers to as "old antique tech" in an offhanded remark. This super AI is to provide everyone equal resources, opportunity, food and basically a war conflict free life full of enjoyment peace harmony et al.
So why in the same first 10 min do the COPS show up at a local swap meet. COPS in a PERFECT FUTURE SOCIETY?
---also what century is it actually, I never found mention of it although 22nd century is considered old by Clains measure. Maybe it 24th or so. Who knows.
---where do the cops take offenders, jail? Are there courts? Is there laws? If so what are they in this future perfect world.
---if a gazillion processors can create DOPPELS (another name for avatars) as holograms you interact with, why not just create ones that look like the people rather something COMPLETELY ridiculous like a water cooler bubble head "dad" and a pink lampshade with giant red LIPS no less as "mom" to CLAIN.
---you also find out that FREEDOM in the perfect society means abandoning your children and living anywhere you want as long as your pink lampshade avatar can speak to your child.
---why does the family unit have to be destroyed just because your every PHYSICAL need is met. Every EMOTIONAL one is not and can't be without family.
These are just a FEW questions from episode 1 that are never answered. If you watch this, you'll think of more, trust me.
Want more questions....HEREGOESNOTHIN....
---why was phryne so QUICK, like a couple hours time to strip full frontal to Clain and then conveniently fall asleep on him in like 5 seconds flat with no top on (bless producer for not showing nipple or I woulda thot this was toned down high school DxD). Just more fanservice to hook people that need that muck I guess in episode 1.
---why is the soon to be tsundere character phryne so quick to trust Clain with precious NESSA that she risked life an limb to smuggle from the temple. Only to hand her off to him an vanish to somewhere for no known reason.
---phryne suddenly becomes a MUCH more typical tsundere by declaring to Clain that NOONE can love her EVER as she tries to abandon him again later. She remains staunchly TSUNDERE to the VERY END before in final episode warms up.
A little late folks.
---why is Clain shocked to meet a REAL girl. Don't they have dating in perfectworld or REAL girls you date and marry and procreate.
---why are there outcast lost millennium societies in PERFECTWORLD or as we discover PERFECTGLOBE all planet.
---where are the cops which we NEVER see again.
---why in episode 1 was phryne being shot at by the lost millennium group who LATER say they must CAPTURE ALIVE the KEY (which phryne is the KEY) to overthrow FRACTAL.
Pure nonsense....no worse than nonsense.
Eventually....as you ask yourself endless questions you'll ask THESE TASTEFUL QUERIES
---why must GOD be 10 to be PURE and receive Gods soul.
---Why must God be 16 to be the KEY.
---why just Gods soul of age 10 must be unified with Gods body age 16 to be a proper created KEY.
---why GOD WHY!!!...must the 16 year old KEY body between ages of 10 and 16 be DEFILED SEXUALLY (as the anime calls it, not me) while in clinical stirrups by a perverted guy named Barrot who likes the way Phyrne smells. This is cringy.
---why is Barrot evil and where did he come from.
---why is he in charge of everything even the head priestess we find out. You will NEVER know. Just another token evil character with no purpose or origin or backstory.
---why does FRACTAL need a TEMPLE OF OVERLORDS to operate perfectglobe.
---why can't 22, 23, 24th whatever CENTURY it is tech update the logs of it's citizens without them praying in the direction of the temple (like a Muslim 5 times a day). Just plain weird that one. Why mimic Muslims. No clue. Like hey writer...does my cell phone pray in the direction of the tower 5 times daily to update. My God it 22nd or higher century tech - how STUPID can this plot get!!!
---why must perfectglobe be rebooted to save itself every 200 years even tho it's perfect.
---since FRACTAL runs The entire GLOBE we find out, what would a few billion people scrambling for resources look like once the system was collapsed by Lost Millenium....yeah the APOCQLYPSE is right.
This very obvious fact doesn't stop lost millennium rebel group tho who intends to Do just that chips fall where they may all so mankind can experience true FREEDOM or ......what we call TOTAL ANARCHY, AND TRIBAL WAR GLOBEWIDE. But nevermind that bit of logic or details.
---why is there a city megaplex called XANADU that resembles modern Tokyo on steroids for the aNEON factor that only the UBER RICH can live in. Awfully stratified populous for perfectglobe don't ya think.
---why doesn't NESSA who has the soul and clearly the POWER of God use that power to save Clain whose been shot ....she NUKES electronics for like maybe 10 square miles devastating Xanadu with her power....and all she did was THINK Clain was in danger. Yet ALLLLLLL other times he's in danger.....NADA, ZILCH, NOTHING...not even to the VERY END does she exercise this GODLIKE Nuclear Explosion power. Only once. Utter silliness. Absurdity. Toxic wasteland of dumb dumbness.
Enough WHYning about WHYS.
FINAL QUESTION
-WHY are you gonna watch this...DONT. I did so you don't have to.
Thanks formreading and I hope this helps you save some anime time in your future viewing. Cheers.
xevar25
This fools people. The potential it had, yet unused. Unused to stop the cliche-ness? Well, stories need it at some point; there's a reason why it's *popular* and why it's called 'cliche.' Story (6) – Art (8) – Sound (7) – Character (6) – Enjoyment (8) – Overall (7) FRACTALE seemed so different from looking at banners – simple, looks like movie quality, but what seemed to be ‘so promising’ and ‘so epic’ was so bad, just so disappointing! Of course, I already knew that producers would eventually put a façade on almost everything they do, but hey, you just got to admit it, the banner reallydid have the attractive simplicity and the characters had life in it. Hoo~ I really did fall for it.
Story: 6/10
The first episode didn’t seem to give a really big impact. It gave me the feeling that I could just skip it off – mark it off from my mind. There wasn’t much ‘drama’ or so in the first meeting (or at least how I remember it to be; doesn’t seem memorable). [...]
Watch, watch, watch. And yeah, I didn’t have much feelings watching the show. It just passed by. It made me feel like it is only for killing time. Yes, the drama was nice, the slice-of-life was fine, the action was good, but that’s that – nothing more, nothing less. There were a lot of things that I felt that was missing, but apparently, it isn’t just me. There are a lot from different anime bloggers.
What felt to be climatic didn’t feel much at all. I could feel a bit of its tense, but none of its atmosphere. I wasn’t absorbed in the anime. To put it bluntly, it is pretty much a mediocre anime. In fact, more than half of the the important events in the anime have… well, no significance, in the end. (Were there even really important events to take note of?).
Art: 8/10
I would say it was good but it makes me pull this show down because of the story it has made. I would say that art is between outstanding and great, but there are some times where the art could be, err, well… pretty hard to understand – something that could be misinterpreted.
Sound: 7/10
Some/Most people would say it’s great (probably), but the song isn’t really to my liking especially the ending sequence. I don’t really know what would actually make me dislike the ending sequence, but I guess that’s because it isn’t as fitting to the anime as it seems to other people. The opening sequence was fine, but I actually got tired of it and thought that it is bad (or has gotten bad). Just listen to it for yourself.
Character: 6/10
All I can say is that the character development is below average, but I couldn’t say it was that bad. It’s almost been the same thing, from the first episode to the last one.
Enjoyment: 8/10
When I get disappointed, I make this-is-fine things bad, but not as how I make it out to be. But seriously, to be honest, I really did enjoy watching this show. I couldn’t say I was wasting my time, but there were some things I learned.
Overall: 7/10
[...]
I have to admit, even cliché stories are better than this – WAY BETTER – than this. . . .
But still, it’s *kind of* worth the watch.
--- --- ---
If you want to see few images, the opening and ending sequences, and some hyper linked text that you *might* need to understand this review, you can find it in my blog: http://iseedeadanime.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/fractale-so-disappointed/
Tsumayouji
I initially started watching Fractale because the artwork attracted me. It seemed to be of high quality, and the characters appeared like they'd be fun and full of depth. Well, after having watched the show, those initial assumptions were far too optimistic. Unfortunately, what starts off as an interesting and intimate story about a boy, Clain, living in an intriguing environment quickly devolves into a scatter-brained comedy, then a brutal, shallow commentary on personal freedom, and then it just kinda...peters off into this ill-thought hodge-podge of half-baked ideas that are just barely touched-upon and then completely bypassed. So, let's look at where it goes wrongin a bit more depth.
**Warning: This review may contain mild spoilers. I'll try to keep the major ones out, but just a heads up!**
~Story~
And here we have our biggest issue. In the first few episodes, we're introduced to this futuristic society not unlike The Matrix, only these people are fully aware that they are living in a fantasy world. Essentially, the idea is that people exist inside a broader Utopian internet with personal avatars, called doppels, representing them in this pseudo-reality. However, what's immediately interesting as we find with our main character, Clain, is that not everyone uses a doppel. Clain, while he also exists in this fake Utopian world, doesn't use a false image to live through. He just wanders around as himself, going about this day-to-day life. His parents and pet dog, on the other hand, use doppels to interact with him, so they aren't really there. (Why a dog has a doppel, I'm not entirely sure. In fact, I'm not certain if the dog is a complete fabrication...the series never really discusses this.) This sets up an interesting issue dealing with how humanity no longer needs to really interact, even families don't actually live together anymore. Sadly, though this theme is presented early on, it's never really explored in-depth and ends up feeling like a side-note to the story. Sure, the series toys with the notion of people being friends, and ends up shallowly exploring the value of family through the relationships among the main three characters, but it never seriously looks at why a close family is desirable. And as you continue to watch the series, you'll come to realize that's the main problem: Ideas are presented, but no actual outcomes of a given behavior are ever really explored. Clain is obviously somewhat lonely, but it doesn't seem to affect him too badly. Family seems to be important, but why? The positives and negatives are never really expressed.
In any event, Clain's life changes the day he meets Phryne, a priestess from the temple that oversees the Fractale System (the system allowing the fake Utopian internet). It's soon discovered that the temple is not what it seems, and that there are rebels fighting to destroy the Fractale System. Why? Well, the series does show and hedge at the temple brain-washing people, so that they don't ever question whether a family should live together or not, but that's about it. Yeah, brain-washing is bad, but you never get the sense of why this is really evil. The System does create a Utopia, after all.
And just why do the rebels think this is so wrong? Allegedly because it makes people dependent on the system. They can't live without it...sooo...that's total reason to gun down the old women of the temple and force other people to be free. No joke, the rebels actually shoot up old women. To be fair, the old ladies fight back and take some of the rebels down, but really, if you're trying to gain sympathy for your side, I'm not thinking filling the symbol for milk and cookies full of lead is a good way to go about it. And after the rebels do this, Clain recognizes that they are murders and doesn't necessarily like them, which is awesome and makes him not your typical anime boy...buuuut, sadly, Clain just later sorta dismisses this fact because these people become his friends. So what would have been a really interesting, deep personal dilemma (Should Clain really stand behind these people, even if they are actual terrorists?) turns into another run-of-the-mill "FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE OVERCOME ALL" anime band-aid. It also cheapens the initial scenario when another faction of the rebels turns out to be less moral and more harsh than the original party. So, really, remember this terrorists: It's okay just as long as there are bigger jerks out there. You'll seem angelic in comparison, which means you must not be all that bad.
The saddest thing is, by the end of the anime, the more evil faction, led by a character named Dias, actually seems a whole heck of a lot more logical to me. Sure, when he fist shows up, he and his group are malicious and cut-throat, but the actions they take in the end just make more sense. By that point, it's all out war, and the commands he makes are more strategic to his side winning with the fewest casualties. We're supposed to feel like he and his are still mostly evil, but that's just because they suggest killing some characters we've come to love, even though they are absolutely correct in that killing said characters would satisfactorily allow their side to reach their goals with a minimal fatality count. So I'm left feeling like the "good" side are a bunch of selfish morons, rather than that they are doing the right thing. After all, they're STILL gunning down grannies in the end, regardless, so really, at that point, shouldn't you be trying to end things to save the most people you can on your side?
I could go on and on about the story problems, so let me just conclude that the story creates many intriguing threads, but none of those threads is fully explored, explained, or evolved into anything meaningful. You get the idea behind several story concpets in that you can tell what the creators were going for, but they never actually show you what they meant to make you see. This counts for both emotional aspects of the story and logical ones. For example, we're never outright told why there are all these old ladies in the temple. We're given certain background information to infer why that's so, but they never actually tell you if that intuition is correct.
Also, I'm telling you upfront so you don't sit and wait and wait to figure this out: No, they will never tell you how the system actually came to be or how it works. Sad, considering the whole premise becomes finding the "key" that will allow the system to keep working. Well, they do find the key, but they NEVER explain why that key works or what it really does (they say why this particular key works, but not what the actual function of a key is). It's pretty frustrating, actually.
~Art~
The art is pretty fluid and nice, I feel. There are some inconsistencies, but it looks pretty good overall. There's one episode in particular featuring an area known as Xanadu that is especially well-done. Xanadu is a very rich environment, and it's apparent that great skill and time went into making the backgrounds there stand out. A lot of people have commented on how nice the backgrounds are overall. I think aside form Xanadu that they're nice, but nothing overly special or innovative. Pleasant, but nothing that makes us feel that that world is really special.
~Sound~
The opening theme from a sound perspective is nothing too special. Easy to overlook. The reason you'd watch that is for the visuals, as they actually spliced together some fun footage of actual math fractals. The ending theme rocks in that it's a poem by William Butler Yeats (LOVE Yeats). Very pretty and enjoyable to listen to, though there's nothing really to look at in the end animation. Just Nessa, one of the characters, sitting on a rock in the wind. Fits the song's sound, I suppose, but not inherently interesting to watch.
There's also another song within the show that keeps popping up. I very much like that song, which is good in that it did appear quite often. They never sing it all the way through, I don't think, but one line of it is repeated several times by various characters.
The voice acting and all else to do with sound was fine. Nessa's voice actress did a fabulous job, helping to make her character truly enjoyable. Everyone else either fit and did a fine job (though it didn't stand out as spectacular), or they were just not terrible enough to note.
~Character~
Here's another big problem. Personally, I HATED Clain. He's fine and interesting in the first few episodes, but he becomes very one-note and whiny as time progresses. It's like he was told "Your job is to be disgruntled and horribly possessive of Phryne, go." He does have an interesting quirk in that he loves "old" technology (modern tech to us is what they consider old), but that caveat ends up having absolutely no bearing on the plot, so it's kind of like, "Why do you keep reminding us constantly that he likes antiques? So what? He never uses that skill to do anything or make a point about the theme." I guess it was supposed to highlight a nostalgia for the "old" ways and show why they were more intimate and beneficial to humanity, but here again is an idea that's not really followed up on and that we're left to infer.
Phryne is a fine enough character, but the show decides to incorporate a dark trauma into her past that also has NO POINT. She never acts traumatized, not really, and the revelation of this dark event has virtually no impact on changing her character, nor those of anyone else around her. But every good lead needs some angst, right? Riiiiiiiiiiight? It also bugged the heck out of me that she kept getting called a tomboy simply because she actually GASP saves herself and doesn't care so much about taking off her clothes (not that she ever does this without good reason. There are only two times she gets fully nude and once is because she needs help cleaning a wound while the other is that she's swimming).
Nessa is sweet and charming and undeniably the main reason most people who end up liking the show do. She's fun and energetic without being too annoying, and acts fairly realistically for an overly joyful 10-year-old. However, her character does seem to only serve that convenient anime purpose of reminding us all that love is key, and we should like each other, and blah blah LOVE! blah blah.
Grandmother Granite is a very enjoyable character who serves as a point of thematic contention in that she likes Nessa (a doppel, hence a product of the "evil" temple), but she still fights on the side of the rebels. That characteristic raises some interesting points about old world ideals versus new, and the blending possible therein. Unfortunately, she leaves the series early and disappears into the background, becoming yet another instance of a potentially thought-provoking notion being shoved to the side.
Unfortunately, the three most inherently interesting characters who had HUGE potential to really make us question the morals and themes of the show are given very, very little attention. These characters are Dias, the temple's arch priestess, and a person living in Xanadu. Dias is interesting as he's the more cut-throat, but LOGICAL of the rebels and serves as a foil to Sunda, the leader of the group we're meant to end up liking. But as Dias is not very developed, they miss out on a great opportunity to actually take advantage of that foil dynamic. Oh well. Similarly, the arch priestess at the end becomes somewhat of a foil for Phryne, and actually evidently has much more depth and intriguing background, but we never get to see it. Another hugely missed opportunity. The man in Xanadu is missed chance to deepen the themes of the show as he seems to be the one strong argument for why taking people out of the Fractale System is potentially quite terrible (he is horribly physically impaired, so he can only function normally inside the system using a doppel). But this character literally vanishes from the story. We never know what happens to him or even who he really was.
Like the story of the show, the characters are half-hearted at best and ill-conceived.
~Overall~
In conclusion, this show is a pretty big disappointment. It has the pieces to something greater, but it never follows through. And it's humor is terribly contrived. For example, a character ends up cross-dressing, but the reason for why is incredibly weak and illogical, so it's just an excuse to be silly at a point in the show when it's trying to get you to take the fighting seriously. As many have noted, the constant gag of calling Clain a pervert is irritating. So I certainly can't recommend this show based on story or humor. Further, more episodes wouldn't help save it as the show can't even pin down one character or story idea well. It's just full of terrible writing all around, and that can't be fixed with quantity.
From what I can gather, there are two types of people who will like this show:
1) You are a person who doesn't care so much about plot as you do about the main relationship between the characters. Everything else can be overlooked as long as you like those characters and are happy with their ending. If you're in this camp, watch until you meet Nessa, Phryne, and Clain. If you very much like all those three, then I think you'll be fine and end up enjoying the show. If you don't like one of those three, I'm not sure liking one or both of the other two a lot is going to be enough to save the show. You may still enjoy the show for one of the three, but I don't think you'll leave it thinking it was a good overall unless you like all of them.
2) You like a good explosion of hectic fighting and mayhem at the end of your show. If you're in this camp, and you can overlook weak characters and shallow plot, then you may still like the ending. There's plenty of fighting and chaos to be had (though it's nothing as grand or overly graphic as certain other animes. It doesn't glorify in the gore and torture). Sadly for you, you'll have to watch several boring episodes to get to that end. So if you can bear to watch that far, you may still leave contented. Or you could always just skip to the end. Really, they never explain much, so if you don't care about the characters, you'd not be missing a lot.
Otherwise, I'd say pass this one up. There are many other wonderful animes out there that tread similar themes. The difference being that those other animes fully explore said themes and do them, and their characters, justice.
Devinitas
The saviour of Anime, as its creator Yamakan proudly announced this show! Now, is the score you're seeing one worthy of a saviour? Not really. That's because the show didn't do as well as everyone waiting for Anime to be saved had hoped. But why? At first glance, the show seems nice enough. It is very nice to look at with aesthetically pleasing character designs as well as pretty fluid animation, though a bit stifled in its character expressiveness. The setting also sets expectations; A world into the far future where most people only see the world by way of Avatars capable of moving and interacting withthe real world as there have basically been permanent W-LAN spots everywhere for centuries now.
Have people lost their touch with nature? Is that permanent connection really leading to a more human experience overall? Is this even the real life anymore?
There are a lot of good questions this setting brings up naturally and that invite themselves to be explored by this show.
And at least in the beginning, some of these themes do get touched upon. From the detached relationship the MC has to his parents to the superficial way him and his supposed friends interact. His hobbies that basically boil down to understanding his surroundings. One of the last people (at least to his knowledge) to value moving their own body to do and see things. So it makes sense that he gets real gung-ho about anything entering his life that might help him satisfy his need for an adventure.
But why is he so invested in that idea of really living? All of his dailogue and monologue in the beginning appears self-important and doesn't cut to the heart of the matter. He bashes his parents for living like that, but even with them providing a good opponent to voice his position against, he simply doesn't.
The plot really kicks of by introducing the most annoying avatar of all into the world; A girl not even salvageable by the voice performance of Hana Kana. She acts like a 6-year old and is obnoxious as all hell, despite Yamakan claiming to bring an end to the oveabundance of Moe in Anime - as fitting for the man who created the Hare Hare Yukai as well as the Motte-ke Sailor Fuku dance.
Joining said girl is Team Rocket Light, a bunch of silly buffoons trying the old moustache-trick when only Team Rocket is allowed to get away with that.
And to top things off, the show decides that the overall tone these characters unfittingly provide in this setting aren't quite serious enough and starts bringing out its guns. Quite literally.
The plot derails completely as well, making you wonder; What really was going on in Yamakans head writing this?
Tone shifts are fine, and even vital for most shows in and of themselves, but this feels more like Yamakan scrapped a lot of ideas and just made shit up as he went along.
Story and setting fall completely apart as the show goes along, leading up to one clusterfuck of an ending, a nonsensical plot twist and an ending with unintentionally horrifying implications.
It had potential, sure, but it fell apart quickly. Parts of the show evoke the idea that they were just meant to look smart, when in reality, they were completely incomprehensible.
Honestly, I'd have dropped it if it weren't for my weird connection to it as well as its infamy and a morbid curiosity about just how badly things are gonna fall apart.
Picking apart every single area it fails in might provide a worthwhile experience for some, but ultimately, while I think it was worth it for me at least, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Kumajii
I found Fractale by sifting through random animes and picking one to watch, and I am really glad I found it. To be honest, I'm surprised that I hadn't heard of it before. It is very well made. The production almost feels like watching an anime film, but in 11 episodes. It is one of the few animes thus far where I never had to push myself to keep watching. The animation of the show is really beautiful. It's bright, fluid and colourful. It is a nice contrast to many other animes with similar themes (false utopian future). The sounds and music are really nice too.I don't want to draw too many comparisons, but when I started the show I got some of that Miyazaki magic feeling! There is something whimsical about Fractale. I watched the English dub, and I believe the dub is very high quality.
The characters of the show were fun and likeable to me, making me want to keep watching and learn more about them. There are also some intriguing concepts in the show, a must for any fiction taking place in an advanced future. The only part of the show I can't give a 10/10 rating is the story. It did the thing that many ambitious stories do where it raises many questions and starts loose ends without wrapping up quite enough of them. But I personally didn't find that detracted from the show for me. Some shows are totally enjoyable even if you don't understand them entirely in the end.
Overall, I really enjoyed this anime and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a bright, fun anime that also feels ambitious and wondrous.
helur
Fractale was a nice watch. Although yet another technology vs. nature theme as the two sides struggle against the Big Brother system that forces everyone to become dependent on it. The show gives off a movie feel somehow, as we are introduced to this big engulfing world. Yet as we progress the show gains a lot of violent and serious moments that feel almost out of character considering what we saw the first few episodes. Fractale has a weird mix of childlike humor, tsunderes, lolies, yet a serious side with death and sorrow. At the start our (not dense at least) shounen lead meets the tomboyPhyrne, and eventually the childish Nessa. He is caught between the struggle of Lost Millennium and Fractale whom both want to get their hands on Phyrne. Unfortunately there are many episodes that don't pertain to the plot, one a pointless slice of ship life, and another a background on the relationship with a parent. Already a 11 episodes long, these feel like waste of screen time lowering the actual story to 9 episodes.
The animation is pretty, and this translates into the ship battles. The effects look very good, although there isn't any fighting done by the main cast themselves. The first few episodes focus on the lighthearted Nessa who speaks like a 5 year old, so it is surprising when things get more mature later on in the show.
The main antagonist is a creepy man from the temple who is guaranteed to disgust you to some extent at his actions. Of the lost millennium tribes we only meet two of the groups- one a large family that rely on the support of the people, and the group that forcefully removes people from the fractale system. The characters have a good background, but the female leads are all given typical characteristics. In something where romance should be taken seriously we have tsunderes, lolis, and embarassing shounen leads. Thankfully this is kept to a minimum, but it is still noticeable.
With a tolerance for the sidetracks, Fractale is a very fun watch. Personally, I found the mixed bag of genres and ideas enjoyable, and the moral struggle isn't 'that' bad either. The story provides a few twists towards the end that allows you to forgive and forget the lackluster ending typical of adaptions.
