Fafner of the Azure Sky: Right of Left (Anime OVA) Review.

 Fafner ROL header

Watching this after the main series it's based on, with the acknowledgement it's a prequel is a thing I rarely do as a little bit emotionally, I always feel a little sad knowing how preordained things are going to be. I know that's purely a me thing but it still affects things.

 

To begin with, while this is a prequel to the series Dead Aggressor, this piece could have been something that as a standalone or introductory piece, it could have been better paced. I'm not sure if I'd have afforded more time to it and for me, maybe it's I wanted more details if this was the first piece of fiction from this series I'd experienced, understanding though it is more for those who've enjoyed the majority of the thing. That said; the new elements, such as the new robotic Fafner's introduced in this series, or some of the characters that are not the central few feel that limited time and the lack of fleshing out they could enjoy from a long piece.

 

Its strength is in characterizing those central characters and their empathetic and pained desire to not suffer under the situation they've been thrust into so cruelly. It is empathetic; though the use of a dog for the main lead, suffering as they are with anemia, does feel intensely bordering on emotive or emotionally manipulative, with threats to the dog's life hovering at points in the fiction. I still felt for it but I will admit, perhaps it was in the place I was in watching this, it felt more heavy handed then affecting. It could just be where I'm at though.

 

The art is good and animation good to look at, though intense camera cuts and jarring motion can be a bit intense to look to and not exactly in a positive manner. It did feel like someone testing camera techniques that was more for the sake of emphasizing them. There's a good scene involving this that revolves around a weather vine and the central femme lead Yumi not far in but beyond this, it is not exactly positive.

 

I don't have much to say on Right of Life. I don't dislike it and respect part of what its trying to say. But it remains a part of that tragic style of fiction where it fills a role some prequels too, of a tragic framing device that doesn't do much bar leaving me tired or despondent. And I've never really been a fan of those.

 

IImage sourced from MAHQ 

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