Fractale
フラクタルThe story takes place on an island, where a "Fractale System" is beginning to collapse. One day, Clain finds an injured girl called Phryne under a cliff. She disappears leaving a pendant. Clain sets out for a journey with the girl-shaped avatar Nessa to look for Phryne and discovers the secret of the Fractale System.
Reviews
trath - 2016-02-04 01:03:20
Fractale is a wonderful anime with beautiful animation. A story that isnt for all but instantly got me hooked. The war on fractale was well plotted out and the characters had very diverse personalities that made them very lovable.
gconroy - 2013-07-16 09:56:55
'Bout a couple days ago, I watched Tron: Legacy. I knew it wasn't gonna be as thought provoking or as interesting as the first Tron; but I did know that it was going to be a competent tribute that only cements how interesting the theory of Tron is.Fractale is that, but with nothing to homage for... except maybe the better series that came before.Thank You, noitaminA. For reassuring us that classics like Future Boy Conan and Nadia do still hold up after all these years.I was worried for a moment...Don't know if that's what they "wanted" it to be first off, though.What, with the adventurous landscapes, and the deliberate sci-fi motifs; maybe A1-Pictures wanted to cut and paste Miyazaki's spirit into modern day problems.True enough, many people are incessantly trying to plug themselves into the network, have “something else” do the work for them, whilst having fun in the process. A wake-up call in is order, yes, but with an alarm clock like Fractale, it's noise isn't loud and shocking enough to shake us outta our networks.Really, it's a snooze; you can just push the button and it's gone.That's Fractale's biggest problem; it doesn't have the punch to make people interested in what it has to say, and with its direction being as aimless and laughable as its characters, you might as well, watch a sci-fi that at least has a matching spirit that goes with the magnitude of its theme.Clain doesn't seem to like integrating himself into the Fractale System, the program that "takes care of 'everything". Sure, he likes his 21st century hardware, but that could be because he can control them. He doesn't need them.So it's another day of musing for him when Nausicaa Mk. 2, Phyrne rides her glider and woos him with her signature charm.Team Rocket Mk. 436 takes pursuit and further proves how lame and incompetent anime characters can be.But that's not all! For those who thought Kannagi was the purest anime character in all the lands, hadn't met Nessa yet.Thankfully, unlike Kannagi, Nessa doesn't claim she can make the world a better place because she's as cute as a button.The only saving grace of this show... is this?No.... way, noitaminA! I can't hold it in anymore, but "Why Did You Let This On Your Timeslot?" just has to come out.If only for that first episode, there as hope that calmness and unabashed cuteness would save the world in a logical way.But, the first third of the show proves that it just wants to let its characters have fun... while offering us several "Boo hoo" moments.I'm all for shock value, but the question that pops into my head isn't "Oh, why did this have to happen to 'random character'?"It's "Why couldn't they have made up their minds with the approach?" Then I remind myself that they cut and pasted the show; they didn't properly connect the crap together to make it seem in character.But does the show get better? Well, closure is guaranteed, and happiness does wait at the ending, but, like most science fiction stories, it focuses on the story and abandons the theme.That's the only thing they didn't cut and paste. Stupid!Still, copying and pasting art works!The designs of the flying machines greatly resemble a Dr. Seuss+Range Murata look.They move nice too; lots of angles and action are handsomely paid, also without letting it become too invasive.Character designs are typical; have one face be a template for the rest with some slight alterations.This being another cute and fluffy series from A1-Pictures, they try their best to not have any middle-aged, senior-aged people take too much time of the spotlight.Also typical, is the shoddy character animation; detail rendering is noticeable(look at their hair movement!), legs become stilts from a distance, yadda yadda...The CGI in the series deserves the most kudos, but Gonzo's done better; check out or rewatch the above-mentioned Last Exile, or pick up IG's Stand Alone Complex.The music of the show wasn't bad, but it had zero captivating power. Two words: Too. Quiet.From what I could listen too, there seemed to be a rather nice orchestra, complete with that uplifting sensation that plays when all comes to plan.But, was that it? Because I've heard that before, and with better taste and better variety.Taku Iwasaki's Now and Then, Here and There soundtrack was the guy's debut and has more of a legacy than whoever whipped this score together.The maximum kudos of the show goes to the psychedelic OP and the genuinely soothing END.If the show was ANYTHING like those songs, then Kaiba's guard would be up. Rest easy, Kaiba...The characters are a hoot, and definitely not in a good way.It's funny to see how Clain, the straight man, become a violence sponge for anyone who wants to vent or complain.And I thought Renton from Eureka Seven had it rough; at least he gains some open respect from his crew, Clain doesn't even get that in these 11 episodes!Phyrne would make REAL feminine characters like Usagi Tsukino, Balsa, and... Nausicaa declare war on her breed of bipolar, flashy, and one note excuses called woman.Straight man Clain's attraction to her is as predictable as the rising sun, but for some reason his reasonable self can't seem to wonder why he likes her so much... Yaaaaawwwn.Nessa, thankfully, keeps in check with her character, and the creators do her a great service by not milking any fanservice from her or dumbing her down(more) to the level of a typical loli.She's perpetually spirited, states when exceptions occur, doesn't behave differently to the shows convenience, is the most rounded character by good standards.Being TOO sugary however is also off-putting, so she could be just plain unlikable.Side characters include a bland band of freedom fighters, Lost Millennium, who wish to return life to how it was before the Fractale System.A noble goal, but also risky, chaotic, and foolhardy one.Clain even asks them upfront "What do we do when the system is gone?" They might as well have answered "Uh... I dunno but we'll find out together!"I don't wanna sound like a broken record but "Typical".The villains count less than 30 minutes of airtime, and exist to be the baddies; no real attempt to humanize them occurs. This problem happened with Zegapain, but at least they symbolized a philosophical point that you thought about.Here, you'll just glance at your watch and wait until they're killed; it's that poor.So what's left? Is it fun?Actually, yes, it is. With all of these droll elements being dressed up to look intelligent and driven, it, at least, pulls of the pacing that matches it.Quite impressive actually, how fast things fly by.Not engrossing, let alone memorable, but there's much more boring stuff to watch.Altogether, you'd have to ask "Why?"Why did Funimation license this? Why didn't Yutaka Yamamoto decide to change his approach?And, most importantly, why, on God's green earth, did noitaminA create this?It's a piss poor series not because it's bad or terrible, it's because it treated the potential here badly and terribly.Think of what noitaminA represents: A way to get panderless and fillerless trash out, and keep thoughtful inspiration in.House of Five Leaves has that. Tatami Galaxy has that. Not Fractale.It's one of the tastiest wastes of time you'll have, but if you notice love handles accumulating on your sides... well, it's your fault for thinking M&M peanuts was still has healthy as ordinary peanuts!Letter Grading Time(LGT)Story: C+Art: B+Sound: B-Animation: B-Character: C-Enjoyment: C+Overall: C+ It's attempt for being a modern day sci-fi deserves credit alone; has all the motifs and signs necessary to support such an endeavor. Actually has closure. Is more fun than its quality demands.Looks beautiful and sports some very atmospheric and breathtaking scenery and design. OP and, more so, END songs are hopeful.- Spells everything out in a way that'd anger kindergarten students; abandons it's theme to wrap up story, characters have humorously poor behaviors that contradict previous actions(except Nessa). Quiet score and animation issues add up to a series that's noitaminA in name only.
smith.ludwig - 2013-05-22 09:19:55
*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, for his 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. ShitFractale 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!