Review - Fractale

Blogs look good on resumes, right? So let's try to keep this one going.
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I like watching dubbed anime. I don't speak Japanese. I don't like reading subtitles while watching things. I am a bit of an audiophile, but I place more emphasis on unspoiled visuals than original actors. While this argument doesn't apply as strongly to anime, with its frequent use of the slow-pan-over-a-static-image technique, information is still lost in the time it takes to read subtitles. The director did not intend for a subtitled show. So I'd rather watch a dub.

Whenever I'm in the hankering for a new anime then, I check out FUNimation's youtube page, since they have a tendancy to post full series, and dubbed if they're old enough. Fractale was the trailer playing at the top of the page, and it looked cool, so I went for it.
I was immediately drawn to the series because Caitlin Glass is a main character. I didn't even realize she came back from Spain, so I was quite excited.

That was the most exciting thing about the series. It plays like a mecha-less Eureka Seven. A young boy lives in a futuristic world controlled by religious dictators. Or dictators that use religion as a cover for their dictation. I'm not sure. Anyway, boy lives in dystopia. Most people don't interact with other people, but use their "doppels", weird virtual doppelgangers instead. Clain does not. He is also obsessed with "vintage" technology, like computers and flashdrives and projectors. One day, this girl on a flying machine appears, being chased by some (comic) bad guys. Clain hides her in his house and takes care of her for a night. Her name is Phryne - she comes off as very cheerful and whimsical. Then she vanishes, leaving behind a doppel of a little girl named Nessa. But this doppel is solid at times. Clain and Nessa eventually decide to look for Phryne, find the "bad guys", who turn out to be a justifiable rebel group, and they call get caught up in an uprising against the Fractale System and the corrupt religious leaders.

Fractale presents a pretty standard anime dystopia, a standard protangonist, an ill-characterized standard love interest for the protagonist with some interesting scenery and cute character designs. The sci-fi setting is the most impressive part of the series - while the overbearing government is not unique, the technological-driven social crisis certainly is. The idea of doppels performing communication and eliminating human interaction is not so far-fetched. It provokes discussion about our present day technological concerns. But then Phyrne comes back and it has a bunch of one-off episodes that sort of relate to the plot but just slow things down, especially in an 11-episode series.

The different plot lines come together awkwardly and unwillingly. There are a few stereotypical dramatic moments, but none of them last long enough to effect anything, which is a shame in a series so lacking in decent structure. The ending is forced, confusing, and unsatisfying. It is disturbing, and not in any ways that relate to the previously established doppel-human-interaction-and-independence problems. It's disturbing for the sake of being disturbing.

All the positives of this series are just average and can't possibly outweigh the negatives.

Rating: C
+lanscapes, solid animation, cute character designs
-pacing, Clain is annoying, confusing plot, needlessly creepy ending, inconsistent character design