NKO 3.0
About This Site
Nirai Kanai Online is dedicated to anything and everything about the animated series RahXephon, a 26 episode series animated by the Bones animation studio, and directed by Yutaka Izubuchi. It's a giant robot series by genre, but the story goes a lot deeper than that. At the very core of RahXephon lies a complex web of character relationships and plenty of turns and twists to keep most interested. The story also features a strong romance and some solid drama to go along with it. Running at 22 minutes per episode, nothing is spared. RahXephon is an engrossing series from start to finish. At the very end of the show however, there are a few turn of events that have raised questions for many fans. This site is therefore dedicated at addressing these questions and (hopefully) help you get a clearer picture of the ending, as well as the story as a whole. This is a fansite, not an official site of the series by any means, so anything expressed in this site doesn't reflect the opinions of anybody else but the webmaster's (Daniel Rivera, Jr.) and maybe one or two other people.
Consider this RahXephon fansite (once all the updates are up) to be your one stop for any information you might need regarding this series. Here I include a hefty Story F.A.Q. section focused mostly on the last events of the series, I also include a download section for wallpapers, forum icons, or regular image galleries. Of course a fansite wouldn't be complete without the anime's character's biographies and DVD, Soundtracks, and Artbook impressions. It's quite a bit of work for just one person, so updates will be a bit slow, but they'll all be up in due time.
Why RahXephon?
RahXephon's my all time favorite animated series, I just loved it on my first time through, and loved it even more with each consequetive repeated viewing. Before the the fifth DVD was out, I had already seen the first four DVDs three times! Needless to say that by then I had already declared it as my #1 favorite anime series.
Why do I like it so much? I guess the best way to say it is that I simply fell in love with the characters. RahXephon has rich characterization, and I actually felt a connection with each of the characters in this series. But perhaps the biggest reason why I love it so much is because I was very into the romance of the story. I'm already a sucker for a good romance, but RahXephon provided an interesting twist to the romance with the time problem in the anime. If you've seen it, you'd know what I'm talking about. Haruka Shitow really shined through as a magnificent female lead, and I guess because I loved her character, I loved the show even more. And it has a great ending!
Ok... so, what is "Nirai Kanai?"
Nirai-Kanai is the fictional island on the pacific where most of the anime takes place. The name itself is kind of a pun to the island in Utopia of the same name. Nirai-Kanai is actually two islands in one, the natural island is Nirai and the experimental concrete (city) island is Kanai. Together they're bound by a bridge, hence the two islands are referred as one --Nirai-Kanai. The literary translation of the name is said to be "On Earth as it is in Heaven."
RahXephon? That's a strange name, does it mean anything?
Nah, not really. It's actually a word that the director made up. However, on volume three of the manga, the director points out how he derived the name of RahXephon:
"Readers ask me [the origin of the name RahXephon] sometimes. There's no real origin, but I tell them it's the sound of an unknown god. Rah represents the sun god, X represents the unknown, and phon represents sound (the same as 'phone')."
--Yutaka Izubuchi
Interesting, no? Especially when the whole anime revolves around music and mystery, I think it's a good name for the show and the giant robot.
Anyways, please enjoy my RahXephon fansite. If you came here looking for answers for the ending, I hope you found what you were looking for. If not, then please E-Mail me your questions. Also, please don't forget to sign the GuestBook, I look foward to feedback, it's what keeps me going. =)
Who are you?
My name is Daniel Rivera, Jr. and I'm 24 years old. Though I've been an avid anime fan for a few years I still consider myself a rather casual fan, since after all I started the hobby when Toonami was airing Dragon Ball Z and Tenchi Muyo! (the two series that got me into anime). So I've been a fan for about 6 or 7 years. For the most part I enjoy my anime dubbed (always have and probably always will) and my favorite anime are usually anything aimed at males, though I do tend to prefer the shounen giant-robot titles. I enjoy a good romance more than anything else, so if an anime has a solid romantic story and it has an atmosphere that can appeal to a more mature crowd, you can be sure I'm going to love it. RahXephon is a great example of this because it breaks the age barrier, there's something for everybody in this series. You can either relate to the 17 year old angsty boy or the 29 year young woman in love. It's all good! :)
I'm also an avid online person. Most of my time is spent in front of my computer either browsing through online forums or working on a web-design project. You can find me posting on the IGN Boards and the AnimeOnDVD forums the most often. My username is DanielJr.