Xenosaga: The Animation

Xenosaga: The Animation (Japanese: ゼノサーガ THE ANIMATION, Hepburn: Zenosāga: Za Animēshon) is a science fiction mecha anime produced by Toei Animation. The 12-episode series ran from January to March 2005 on TV Asahi, while it was licensed for release on DVD overseas first by A.D. Vision and later by Funimation Entertainment. The anime is based on the narrative of Xenosaga Episode I, a role-playing game for the PlayStation 2 developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco. Set 5000 years in the future, it tells of the adventures of scientist Shion Uzuki and the battle android KOS-MOS as they fight the threat of the alien Gnosis.

Plot
The story of Xenosaga: The Animation is based on the narrative of Xenosaga Episode I, a game developed for the PlayStation 2 by Monolith Soft and Namco. Set in a science fiction reality thousands of years in the future, humanity lives in multiple planets forming the Galaxy Federation after being forced to abandon Earth following a disaster tied to a mystical artifact called the Zohar; Earth has since become known as Lost Jerusalem. Humanity has come under attack from a hostile alien race called the Gnosis, which is immune to normal weapons. The narrative follows Shion Uzuki, a scientist working for Vector Industries, and the anti-Gnosis battle android KOS-MOS. The two are driven from their ship the Woglinde by a Gnosis attack triggered after the Woglinde picked up the Zohar. The anime roughly follows the plot of Episode I, although some events are altered or condensed.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Great voice acting for Japanese and English dubs.
 * 2) Anime was produced by Toei Animation.
 * 3) Based on the hit video game!
 * 4) On episodes 2, 9, and 12, KOS-MOS's fighting with the Gnosis bots was epic!
 * 5) Awesome soundtrack, as well as the intro and ending songs!
 * 6) It has different elements from the video game.
 * 7) Jr. and Albedo's Mecha fight was awesome to watch, while Jr. was rescuing MOMO.
 * 8) Albedo's laugh from episode 10 was enjoyable to hear.
 * 9) The final episode has the good ending!

Bad Qualites

 * 1) The series was short and only has 12 episodes, even though season 2 for the show was originally planned, but later got cancelled.
 * 2) Shion Uzuki's English voice actor, Stephanie Wittels, was low to high in later episodes, despite the fact she's not (a little bit) good. For KOS-MOS's Japanese voice actor, Mariko Suzuki (who also voiced her in the "Xenosaga Trilogy" video game series), was sometimes annoying and get people's nerves, despite being sound like a robot.
 * 3) Lots of voice actors from the first Xenosaga game, who didn't reprised their roles in the anime with English dub because there's no explanation for being replaced by the new voice actors, even though Japanese voice actors did reprised their roles in Japan.
 * 4) The anime didn't make it on G4 TV channel from North America, since it was licensed for release on DVD.