Customer Reviews

Figure 17, Vol. 1: Soul Mirror

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first DVD of this series serves as an excellent introduction to an excellent story with beautiful animation.

The series starts with our introduction to the young girl Tsubasa, a troubled child who has just moved to Hokkaido from Tokyo with her father, leaving her friends behind.

While in Hokkaido, Tsubasa witnesses an alien space ship crash. Unfortunately this ship was carrying a dangerous cargo, which has escaped. The resulting encounter introduces her to DD, the alien pilot (suprisingly humanoid), and the Riverus - an intelligent, sentient alien armor - one of which merges with her and creates Hikaru.

The story does not move at a high pace, an advantage given that each episode is roughly 42 minutes long, twice the length of most shows. As well, the Sci-Fi aspect is prety minimal, serving only as a catch that allows the core of the show to exist. Hikaru becomes permanently ingrained in Tsubasa's life, and the show extrapolates on this beautifully. This isn't to say the alien aspect is left discarded. It to plays a critical role in the story, and the action sequences are second to none.

This series will run a total of 6 discs, for 13 episodes (as opposed to the Japanese release of 13 discs) and is worth each and every cent.

A friend of mine in my college's anime club described Figure 17 as "Buffy meets Ultraman", and that's not far off the mark. That being said, I found it engaging and fun, with a minimum of silliness except where absolutely necessary.

Others have detailed the content, so I won't bother. What I find most interesting is the ability to merge the two plots (SF adventure/monster fights in the vein of Ultraman and a coming-of-age story of a little girl who moves from the big city to the country). The result is a tight story, intentionally made paced slower than most anime, which makes the viewer really care about the characters.

I wasn't sure what to make of this show when I picked it up, but the back of the DVD interested me enough to give the series a try. The episodes move at a somewhat slow pace, but it's this pace that really gives you insight into the characters lives.
In this batch of episdoes, we're introduced to Tsubasa, who along with her father, has recently moved to a smaller country town from the big city. Tsubasa is shy and is having trouble making friends in her new school and her father is involved in learning a new job and has little time to spend with her.
One night Tsubasa sees a ship crash to Earth and chasing after her runaway dog, finds an alien who was thrown from the ship during the crash. She's then attacked by an alien and combines with a Ribers, an intelligent metal that enhances the abilities of the person that it combines with. It's then that the two of them become the title character of the show, Figure 17 and fight the evil alien eggs, which are called Maguar. Usually, after a battle, when the Figure disperses, the Ribers goes back to its normal container, but in this case, the Ribers becomes an exact replica of Tsubasa, which takes the name of Hikaru.
The story follows Tsubasa and Hikaru, who is now introduced as Tsubasa's twin sister, who had been living with an aunt in another city. Though there are action scenes and fights, more time is devoted to showing the way the two girls interact with one another and the other kids in school. Character development is a big part of this series and of even more interest to me than the fighting scenes.
If you're wondering about whether or not to give this series a try, I'd recommend picking up this volume and giving it a go. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I've seen this series in a fan-subtited version and am eagerly awaiting the US release. Superfically, elements of the plot would lead one to place it in science fiction/action genre.

But the core of this series is about love and relationships, both in everyday life and in extreme circumstances. In that, and in the transformations involved, it fits in a shoujo "magical girl" model.

The lead character is a shy girl living in a rural area of northern Japan, who is on one hand brought out of her shell, and on another, forced to lead a double life to prevent the spread of an alien threat to life on earth.

It's like watching two or three stories running in parallel, one very prosaic, about life on the farm and at school, another with bursts of action and danger, and a third about the characters' inner feelings.

Others reviewing this production have aptly described it as having nothing new. I agree: the plot devices are all familiar, if not exceedingly so.

That being said, I really liked this video. I don't know why, considering that any twelve-year old high on kitty litter could figure out what was going to happen next. However, the film has some kind of magic to it - something that makes you want to watch the DVD more than once. That really is the best way to describe it.

Give the DVD a try. You'll like it.

Nobody listens to 4th grader Tsubasa, especially not her father, who was recently widowed. Her father has always had a dream of becoming a baker and wants to move to the rural district of Hikkaido to learn his trade. Tsubasa doesn't want to move from Tokyo, but she is a very meek and shy girl and doesn't speak up for herself. After they move, her isolation only increases because her father is rarely at home and when he is, he is sleeping. And Tsubasa is also having trouble fitting in at school and is getting pushed around by more assertive students.
Late one night she sees a UFO crash into the forest near her home, and investigating the site, she gets caught in a fight between a humanoid alien and a creature out of her nightmares. After the humanoid is beaten, a frightened Tsubasa crouches near the seal on a Ribers, a sentient liquid metal, that can bond with a person acting as an armor and giving increased speed, and offensive powers for as long as it is activated. After the battle, it is supposed to revert back to its original form in a glass tube, but the one that fights with Tsubasa against the Maguar monster takes the physical form of Tsubasa, and dubs herself Hikaru. While she may look like Tsubasa in outward appearance, her personality is the opposite! Oh, the trouble they are in now! It's up to them to hunt down and destroy the rest of the Maguar creatures.

This is a very slow-moving and thoughful anime. It really builds the character of Tsubasa up and you get a real sense of her loneliness. I think she has the sorriest father in the world, who is inattentive and selfish. How do you leave a fourth-grader alone for most of the day and night? To become a BAKER!!?? Come on!! The character design of Tsubasa/Hikaru goes into cuteness overdrive, but that's ok because the sweetness and charm of this show really gives it a unique feel. The fact that the arrival of Hikaru ends Tsubasa's solitude is a nice thing. Figure 17 is more about friendship than alien-bashing, and all the classroom scenes bring about a deep sense of nostalgia so when you watch this be prepared for 3/4 common everyday life and 1/4 bug hunt.

Figure 17 has some sci-fi elements in it but it is not really a science fiction story. The alien-fighting and UFO-mystery scenes are actually among the least interesting in the show. Mostly this beautifully animated story is a meditation on childhood, loneliness, friendship, responsibility and many other aspects of growing up. None of this is new -- but it is rare to find it handled with such sensitivity and charm. The episodes are one hour each (I think they were broadcast once per month in Japan) and the narrative pace is slow. The viewer is encouraged to linger on and ponder the small things that make up life. An excellent show, but viewers in search of a wild-'n-crazy shoot-em-up would do better to look elsewhere.