Fractale

Title: Fractale Genre: Adventure Rating: 8.5/10

Summary: 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.

Review: Wow, wow, wow! For once a series has answered my prayers and made a movie as long as a series. Wait, Fractale was always planned as a series? But what about the good animation, soundtrack, story, and characters? Everything about Fractale was high quality.

The animation resembles that of many famous movies such as Howl’s Moving Castle. Of course there were some minor differences, for example the back drop characters weren’t as finely detailed. The backgrounds were well done and looked amazing. I especially loved the Fractale world. The Fractale world consisted of strange building structures and colorful characters. Showing the split between those who could see Fractale and those who couldn’t was also quite a shocker. Large cities consisting of seemingly thousands of people vanishing in an instant once the Fractale system goes down. These untouchable characters fill the streets and seem to have a sense of self hang on by a thread as the satellites start to fall. Entire populations wipe out and people are left stranded with little hope of survival after becoming to reliant on the all mighty system of Fractale. The imagination it took to create such a beautiful world is hard to believe. The expressions drawn on everyone’s faces seemed so real. It was as though I could feel their happiness through their smiles, or sorry through their tears.

The story is what really gripped me and brought me to truly enjoy the series. The thought of a system that controls the minds of millions and a rebellious force that wanted to break free was empowering. The anime flips you back and forth between who are the saviors and who are the killers. They did a great job leaving it up to the audience on which style of living is better. Even now I’m torn between the freedom and self-sustaining life of the rebels and the luxurious life provided by Fractale. The anime was a true science fiction because it brought the idea of a future that completely possible. It even raises a few  questions of our modern society. I felt as though it brings into question what we plan to do with technology or what has technology already done to us? Even today you can see how technology has made our lives easier. Things like instant meals that can be placed in a microwave for 2 minutes, or instantly brewed coffee that we pour into our mugs each morning are all luxuries we tend to forget about. Is it possible that these minor technological advances are making our society lazy? Or is it simply allowing us to focus our attention on bigger and better thing? More importantly, has society become a slave to technology? Fractale did a great job depicting a life where we are utterly and completely lost without our systems and regulations. The series gave the idea that technology and religion are not so different. Some may feel that technology is an attack on religion, but Fractale shows that technology is a religion. That underlying message or depiction was good enough to get me watching. The moments of slow story development had strong character development. Characters like Phryne and Nessa were complex and lovable. Nessa in particular was one of my favorite characters of the Winter season. It was something about her childhood innocence and her hatred of hate that always made me smile. It was as though her smile took to a better place of no worries. Phryne wasn’t as fun loving, but her interesting background story caught my attention. Nearly all of the characters were shown in a  light and dark perspective. Giving the image of imperfection shows a very relatable society.

The soundtrack for Fractale was well done. The opening was fast paced and interesting. I’m not entirely sure if I like it or not. It kind of gave the feeling of computerization (though I know it wasn’t) which can be considered futuristic, very fitting for Fractale. The ending on the other hand was slow and peaceful. It is one of those songs you would fall asleep to like a lullaby. During the series a song commonly came up, the prayer to Fractale. This song was quite well written and I probably would want to hear a  full version at some point (if it exists). The ambient noises added an effect that made it seem like you were standing there with everyone.

Final statements: Fractale can be summed up as a movie spread out into a series. If you have read any of my movie reviews you could probably tell this was a blessing to me. The art and story tags Fractale as a high priority watch in my book. This is a great show to watch if you are a science fiction fan like myself. Plus Nessa is just plain awesome.