BONES definately has a winner with RahXephon. At first, I thought RahXephon would be lame and was hesitant to download it, basically because I saw the banner on AnimeNation. When I downloaded RahXephon, I was quite surprised at what began to unfold. The entire mystique of the series is something that isn´t too common with Anime these days, and since my other Anime I was watching at the time (.hack//SIGN) wasn´t very good, I decided that I would put more of my focus on RahXephon.

The characters of RahXephon are done quite well. Although I dislike comparing all of Mecha-but-not-quite Animes to Evangelion (unless it´s Pilot Candidate, which outright sucked), Ayato is almost reminescent of Shinji. A teenager forced into becoming a hero simply because of him being the only one able to save humanity. The rest of the characters possess less-comparable but nearly the same intrique as the characters of Evangelion. Since I liked Evangelion´s characters a lot, I also enjoyed RahXephon´s.

The music of RahXephon is simply wonderful. RahXephon triumphs in music where Evangelion didn´t (aside from Thesis of A Cruel Angel). Most of the OST is downloadable off of Direct Connect, and I recommend the opening and ending theme songs, Hemisphere and Yume No Tamago (Dream of the Egg).

The plot of RahXephon is also quite original. At first it seems like a typical Eva-scenario, but then in the first episode the story completely jerks the other way, although the "MU" is still easily comparable to the Angels of Evangelion. One thing Evangelion possessed that RahXephon didn´t is the religious aspect of the story. Instead of this, RahXephon focuses more on time and music as a means of bringing about a successful storyline, which I have thoroughly enjoyed, seeing as I have never seen music used in such a way (for a mech series, or for any anime series, really).

The animation of RahXephon is probably one of the best parts of the show. The artwork is just beautiful and the only thing I can think of (the faces, atleast) that looks remotely similar are the Rurouni Kenshin - Seisouhen OVAs, and if you´ve seen those you´ll know just how wonderful this type of animation is.

If you´re looking for an Anime to download this summer then I definately recommend RahXephon. This Anime in my opinion earns a 9.3, due to it´s great music, decent Characters, and awesome Animation.