History Anime / FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor

In January 2017 ''yet'' another sequel, ''The Beyond'' (taking place after ''Exodus'') [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DsyhX0LBo was announced]]. It is a 12 episode anime, though somewhat unique in that rather than airing weekly, the series instead airs 3 episodes all at once in theaters. The first part aired on May 21, 2019. The second and third quarters were respectively aired on November 21, 2019, and November 13, 2020. The last 3 episodes aired on November 5, 2021. On a somber note, this ended up being Creator/{{Xebec}}'s final work before IG Port shuttered it in May 2019.

** Turns out in a CD Drama that it was actually [[spoiler:Soushi]] to really drive the point home that HeroicSacrifices are '''not''' an option. Since pilots don't exactly grow on trees, this is actually justified. A somewhat dick move, but justified.

A one episode SpinOff, ''Behind the Line'' premiered on January 20, 2023.

A one episode SpinOff, ''Behind the Line'' was announced on December 27, 2021.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: This has produced a rather impressive LoveDodecahedron. Out of all the characters in the show, the only ones to have entered a relationship [[spoiler: and survived]] are [[spoiler: Kenji and Sakura]].
* AlternateContinuity: The novel. It is a retelling of the first six episodes but with some drastic changes to both story, character interactions/relationships and even lore. For example, Soushi and Toomi don't get along at all, Soushi's overall personality is fleshed out, Kazuki is with Kuramae upon her death, Koyo is known as [[spoiler: "the friend killer" for killing almost all assimilated pilots]] and the overall number of pilots is increased by at least a dozen. And that's only a few of the changes. Ubukata himself calls the book and first season two sides of the same coin.

** It is taken to an extreme in ''Right of Left'' [[spoiler: in which [[EverybodyDiesEnding every pilot does indeed die]]. ]]
** And in TheMovie, [[spoiler: this is surprisingly subverted. Nobody dies at all, and even more surprisingly, Soushi comes back and Sakura recovers enough to pilot a Fafner again. One could even say Kouyo came back in a way, or at the very least his Fafner did with him as the core.]]
** This trope is in full swing for ''Exodus''.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Shouko. [[spoiler: She goes ''berserk'' before her HeroicSacrifice.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Idun, especially after he gets the Mark Nicht.]]
* BishonenLine: The Master-type Festum normally take human form. [[spoiler:BigBad Idun is a blonde, spiky-haired young man; Mjolnia takes the appearance of Kazuki's MissingMom Akane, and Kouyo eventually becomes one that would presumably look like him.]]
* BitterSweetEnding: The series, arguably. [[spoiler:While we are told that those who are assimilated may one day return we do not quite get to see that happening.]]
** Also, after the final battle, Kazuki [[spoiler: is left blind]].
** The movie, as well. [[spoiler: Soushi and Kazuki are finally reunited and Kazuki is no longer blind, but the assimilation phenomenon is still affecting him to the point where he doesn't have long to live.]]
** For Exodus [[spoiler: the show ends on the most bittersweet note in the franchise, Soushi is [[KilledOffForReal Killed Off For Real]] this time, Tatsumiya island is submerged with Orihime and Kiyome sacrificing themselves to do so, Seri being put into a [[DeepSleep Deep Sleep]], Yumiko and Emery were [[DeadAllAlong Dead All Along]] and fade away right in front of Miwa, and all the Perseus members of the Neo UN are dead. However despite all that there is more hope than ever before for festum and humans to coexist with Miwa being able to communicate with them, as well as all the azazel types being killed off, Soushi may be dead but a 2nd Soushi is born and raised by Kazuki, and one day they will be able to return to the submerged Tatsumiya island.]]
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Festum aren't evil. They're just a hive mind species that don't understand the concept of individuality and thus they think something is broken about us and they're trying to fix us so that we exist "correctly". The problem is they don't realize the assimilation process is something humans don't survive, because they don't understand the concept of death either. The conflict is so dangerous because they're ''very'' concerned about our well-being and thus very determined to "help" us. Subverted with [[spoiler:the Festum named Idun, who '''is''' evil and wants to destroy us, but only because he learned the concepts of hatred and destruction from assimilating us.]]
* BookEnds: Exodus begins with Soushi talking about how "by the time you listen to this, I will no longer be in this world." [[spoiler: halfway through the penultimate episode of Exodus, just before the Fourth Azure Sky Plan, he records the message.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Pretty much everyone but especially [[spoiler: Shouko and Kouyo, arguably Soushi as well]].

* ColdSniper: [[spoiler: When Maya gets in a Fafner, she gets very quiet, very focused, and very, ''very'' good at killing.]]

** [[spoiler: Orihime, Tsubaki's self-proclaimed "daughter", who is the new core of the island. She's less nice than Tsubaki was, and it's implied she's ''extremely'' pissed off that the inhabitants of the island used her to get more power.]]

** Additionally, death is apparently always ''final'' even if it's ''delayed''. [[spoiler: Yumiko is indeed dead and disappears when Miwa accepts this at the end. Same with Emery.]]
* DesignerBabies: [[spoiler: It is eventually revealed that all the children were conceived through artificial means, and probably all had their genome tuned for the express purpose of piloting Fafners. Part of the reason why the adults are so focused on still giving them a family and a sense of peace and normalcy is so they can deal with this burden and have something to fight for.]]

* DownerEnding: %%The {{OVA}}. The TV series has more of a BittersweetEnding.
** ''Exodus'' does this as well, [[spoiler:with Emery disappearing into Ashoka, Miwa finally accepting her mother's death, and Seri entering a kind of suspended animation along with Altair and Alvis. Orihime also reincarnates, along with Soushi. Really, the only good thing to come out of it is the rebellion of a few elements of the Neo U.N. and the fact that Altair isn't currently hostile to humanity.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Variant of this. [[spoiler: It was only after Kouyo's parents attempted to take him off life support that Fumihiko threw them off the island, denouncing them as unworthy parents because of this. This coming from a man who threw Shouko to the winds to kill a Festum only a few episodes before.]]
** Kinda dubious since [[spoiler: Shouko wasn't likely to die from piloting a Fafner, and only did die because she didn't wait the two minutes until backup arrived.]]

* EvolvingCredits: The second ending of Exodus. While the first time it appears there's only Kazuki and Soushi, sporting [[BadassLongcoat BadassLongcoats]], by the next episode, following his return, [[spoiler: Kouyo]] is with them. Of course, he gets a coat too.

** And in episode 8 [[spoiler: Misao]] joins the BadassLongcoat crew, fitting right in with the other three.

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Soushi has a scar on his left eye. Which is actually plot relevant [[spoiler: when they were both children his best friend Kazuki had to claw at said eye to keep Soushi from being assimilated by the Festum. As a result there is a lot of bad blood between the two since Soushi cannot pilot Fafner due to the injury and Kazuki is in a state of self denial mixed with guilt over the whole issue.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Goes into full swing once [[spoiler: Sakura burns out and Mamoru's body is crushed. It especially effects Mamoru's father who can't find the strength to make any more manga, to say ''nothing'' about Kenji.]]

** Subverted when [[spoiler:Michio detaches a portion of the island and plans to self-destruct to destroy the Mark Nicht. He ejects and you think he's going to escape,]] only to have it double-subverted [[spoiler: when the Mark Nicht catches his cockpit and smashes it against his Fafner just as it explodes.]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Interestingly, played in reverse. The more the Festum come in contact with humans, the more they become like us and create a sense of self and become individuals. The "monster" section comes from the fact that now that some of the Festum can think for themselves, they've gone from BlueAndOrangeMorality aliens to having a faction that is outright malevolent and destructive towards humanity, going so far as to strongarm less violent Festum into fighting on their side against humans. So in essence it's a form of HumansAreBastards when the ones looking at us end up adopting only our negative traits.

* HiveMind: The Festum. [[spoiler: A single unit which absorbed Akane Makabe develops a distinct personality and rebels near the end of the series, bringing a host of information.]]

* HumongousMecha: The Fafner, naturally.

* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: The N.U.N.'s last resort when they are losing a battle against Festum is to nuke the entire battlefield, human soldiers and civilians included. That way, even if the Festum manage to survive the explosion, at least there's nobody left for them to assimilate.

* EverybodyDiesEnding: One of the possible futures [[spoiler: Canon visited]] was this and ''Exodus'' is gearing up to make it true.

** Similarly, Shouko's name means to fly in the sky, Sakura's references the cherry blossoms, and Mamorou's means protecting everyone. [[spoiler: Shouko dies after her Fafner has soared into the air, Sakura mentally crashes as the blossoms fall around her, and Mamorou dies protecting everyone.]]
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Kazuki's Mark Sein.
** [[spoiler: After Sakura mentally crashes, Canon uses a modified version of her Mark Drei.]]

* MissingMom: Makabe Akane, Kazuki's mom [[spoiler: was integrated into the Festum hive mind]], Minashiro Saya, Soushi's mom, [[spoiler: sacrificed herself to stabilize the core]], Nishio Akira and Rina's parents [[spoiler: were assimilated by Zero Fafner]], Mikado Reo's mother [[spoiler: died before the start of the series]].

** Averted in ''Exodus'' where Nicht's pilot is [[spoiler: Soushi]] who is very much a good guy, if much more aggressive and violent than his counterpart.

* NoPeriodsPeriod: Subverted in a discreet way and made plot relevant. [[spoiler: Yumiko alludes to the fact that her period is late, which turns out to be very important as she is carrying the first child to be naturally conceived on the island for the last 30 years.]]

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Mizoguchi adopts an (even more) easygoing persona when investigating [[spoiler: Yukie's treachery.]]

* {{Otaku}}: Mamoru is something of a mecha/manga otaku. When in a Fafner, he is '''GOUBAIN!!!'''. [[spoiler: When he dies, Hiroto lets his [[HotBlooded legacy]] live on. And in Exodus, Mimika gains the Goubain moniker.]]

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Mainly Canon and Michio.

* RedOniBlueOni: Kazuki has three such relationships in the series. With Soushi, he is the Red Oni. With Kouyo and later Kenji, however, he's the Blue Oni.
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: While Mamoru dies in the story, his Fafner, repeatedly stated to be quite potent, is left unused afterwards. However, in TheMovie, Hiroto (the kid he gave the Gobain mask to) ends up piloting it, even going so far as to constantly wear the mask as well.]]
* RescueArc: Kazuki and co. go on one in the end of the series to save [[spoiler: Soushi, who was abducted by Festum.]]

* SequelHook: At the end of ''Exodus'' Tatsumiyajima [[spoiler: is sunk together with Altair and a frozen Seri, the refugees of Tatsumiyajima move to Watatsumijima with the intention of raising and returning to their island once they are ready to deal with Altair and Kazuki raises a reborn Soushi.]] With these unresolved plot lines it wouldn't make sense for them to ''not'' make another season.
** Confirmed. At Soushi's 2016 birthday event a sequel by the name of ''The Beyond'' was announced, complete with promotional art of [[spoiler: grown up Reborn!Soushi.]]

* SolemnEndingTheme: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDe6gk99u84 Separation]] by Music/{{angela}} is the ending theme. Doubly so when the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-d1PaVvIKw piano version]] plays after a character death.

** Turns out in a CD Drama that it was actually [[spoiler: Soushi]] to really drive the point home that HeroicSacrifices are '''not''' an option. Since pilots don't exactly grow on trees, this is actually justified. A somewhat dick move, but justified.

** There is also another form called Crossing, which works through and connects the pilots with the Siegfried System. This again has a couple of drawbacks. For one, the System cannot work without an operator (namely Soushi) to run it, Soushi will feel any and all pain the pilots do (sometimes even ''after'' the fight) and communication is only possible between operator and pilot, not between the pilots themselves. In the finale, [[spoiler: with Soushi and thus the operator gone]], the system is modified to allow all pilots to cross with each other. This ''again'' has its drawbacks, in that they all feel each other's pain and if one dies the entire system crashes.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Played straight, but surprising considering [[CosmicHorrorStory the nature of the plot]] most of the characters are in good mental health and have only minor mental problems, if any at all. Kazuki's the only one that has it bad here, as he and his mental well being are shown to be very dependent on Soushi. When Soushi is [[spoiler: presumably killed by Festum]] he turns into a full blown DeathSeeker until it's revealed [[spoiler: that Soushi is alive]]. A therapist might have been good for him then.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: No, Shouko, don't go into the light!]]

** This is deconstructed. [[spoiler: Maya was already a top-level pilot whose data was flubbed by her mom and sister so she wouldn't have to fight. For that, Maya's mother and sister get into a ''lot'' of hot water.]]

** The eighth episode of ''Exodus'' Second Season takes this even further. It starts very light hearted with Kazuki's birthday and everyone being happy for the first time in a while and concludes [[spoiler: with most of the refugees dying of cold and starvation or assimilation in case of pilots because the blockers ran out, the human army and Crawler showing up out of nowhere, Mitsuhiro shooting Ai under the influence of assimilation, Walter pulling an HeroicSacrifice to save Akira, Kazuki losing an arm, and Soushi starting to get assimilated again.]] Fan reactions boiled down to "What the fuck just happened!"
** ''Exodus'' [=S2E9=] is this in its pure form. It begins with [[spoiler: Kurusu, his Mir and the Eurus-type Festum reappearing, but ends with Jonathan's mind being erased, Maya captured by the Neo U.N., Jonathan becomeing a Festum not unlike Idun etc.]]

A theatrical film, ''Heaven And Earth'', premiered on December 25, 2010 and a second season was confirmed under the name ''[[ColonCancer Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor: Exodus]]'' taking place two years after ''Heaven and Earth''. Its first half aired in [[Winter2015Anime January of 2015]], with the second half airing in [[Fall2015Anime October of 2015]].

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Variant of this. [[spoiler: It was only after Kouyo's parents attempted to take him off life support that Fumihiko threw them off the island, denouncing them as unworthy parents because of this. This coming from a man who threw IllGirl Shouko to the winds to kill a Festum only a few episodes before.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Despite all the talk of her data saying she has physical defects to the point where IllGirl Shouko is a better pilot candidate than her, Maya is shown to be extremely physically fit, going rock climbing at one point. [[spoiler:Because her data was tampered with to keep her from piloting and she's actually one of the best pilot candidates out of all the kids.]]

* IllGirl: Shouko is a classical example of this. She suffers from a disease that keeps her from attending school regularly and is often seen in bed.

* CastFromLifespan: The more you pilot a Fafner, the closer you get to being assimilated. Kazuki takes this trope UpToEleven and he isn't stopping.

* KillThemAll: One of the possible futures [[spoiler: Canon visited]] was this and ''Exodus'' is gearing up to make it true.

''Fafner'' is a 26-episode long {{anime}} about a lone island, Tatsumiyajima, in a world where aliens called Festum have invaded and subsequently wrecked much of the human population. Major cities and/or countries are gone (naturally, Japan is included), but Tatsumiyajima is left alone... that is, until the Festum come back once more. There're no worries, however; the show's gigantic machines, the Fafners, are more than adequate to kick some golden butt.

** It is taken to an extreme in ''Right of Left'' [[spoiler: in which [[KillEmAll every pilot does indeed die]] ]]

* ChildSoldiers: The entire concept of children being the ones to fight a war against a superior enemy because of a technical limitation no one can work around with a very high chance of death is this. And it gets addressed quite often too.
* ClothingDamage: Deconstructed, as many things in Fafner. Kazuki, Sakura, Kenji and Mamoru all at some point pilot Fafner without the synergetic suits. The linking process destroys their clothing at the arms, waist and legs. Also, the whole thing is very painful.

A one episode SpinOff, ''Behind the Line'' was announced on December 27th.

* AdultFear: The entire concept of children being the ones to fight a war against a superior enemy because of a technical limitation no one can work around with a very high chance of death is this. And it gets addressed quite often too.

In January 2017 ''yet'' another sequel, ''The Beyond'' (taking place after ''Exodus'') [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DsyhX0LBo was announced]]. It is a 12 episode anime, though somewhat unique in that rather than airing weekly, the series instead airs 3 episodes all at once in theaters. The first part aired on May 21, 2019. The second and third quarters were respectively aired on November 21, 2019, and November 13, 2020. The last 3 episodes aired on November 5, 2021. On a somber note, this ended up being Creator/{{Xebec}}'s final work before Production I.G shuttered it in May 2019.

In January 2017 ''yet'' another sequel, ''The Beyond'' (taking place after ''Exodus'') [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DsyhX0LBo was announced]]. It is a 12 episode anime, though somewhat unique in that rather than airing weekly, the series instead airs 3 episodes all at once in theaters. The first part aired in May 21 2019. The second and third quarters were subsequently aired on November 21 2019 and November 13 2020, respectively. The last 3 episodes aired on November 5 2021.

In January 2017 ''yet'' another sequel, ''The Beyond'' (taking place after ''Exodus'') [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DsyhX0LBo was announced]]. It is a 12 episode anime, though somewhat unique in that rather than airing weekly, the series instead airs 3 episodes all at once in theaters. The first part aired in May 21 2019. The second and third quarters were subsequently aired on November 21 2019 and November 13 2020, respectively. The last 3 episodes are set to air on November 6 2021.

In January 2017 ''yet'' another sequel, ''The Beyond'' (taking place after ''Exodus'') [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DsyhX0LBo was announced]]. It is a 12 episode anime, and first played in theaters starting 2019.

* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: when they aren't piloting giant robots and fighting shiny alien, our heroes and heroines are really really good kids enjoying their normal school life.

[[quoteright:316:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fafner_5615.JPG]]
[-[[caption-width-right:316:No, this is [[OnlySixFaces not]] the cast of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny''.]]-]

Fafner is a 26-episode long anime about a lone island, Tatsumiyajima, in a world where aliens called Festum have invaded and subsequently wrecked much of the human population. Major cities and/or countries are gone (naturally, Japan is included), but Tatsumiyajima is left alone... that is, until the Festum come back once more. There're no worries, however; the show's gigantic machines, the Fafners, are more than adequate to kick some golden butt.

!!Some tropes found in this work:

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: The drama created by the show's LoveDodecahedron is balanced out by most characters taking this attitude. No less than ''three'' girls ([[spoiler:Shouko, Maya, and Canon]]) have felt some form of this trope towards Kazuki, and every member of the Kazuki/Maya/Soushi PowerTrio can be said to feel some form of this towards the other two (though which feelings are romantic and which are platonic is a matter of personal interpretation).

* DeathIsCheap: Surprisingly for such a TearJerker anime, but [[spoiler:when the Mir core decides to go all-out, death seems to mean nothing to them. Seri was pretty convincingly killed in episode 7 of ''Exodus'', but is [[BackFromTheDead up and running]] right in the next one. Then Yumiko gets crushed by a building in episode 8, with just [[{{Gorn}} her hand sticking out from the rubble]] and Miwa desperately trying to reach for it… and then she's right in the next scene like this never happened.]]

* DownerEnding: The {{OVA}}. The TV series has more of a BittersweetEnding.

A [[Characters/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor character sheet]] has been started.

* AlienInvasion

* {{Animation Bump}}: While the first series has average quality, the animation got an upgrade in ''Right of Left'' prequel, but it gets ''really'' good in ''Heaven and Earth'' and ''Exodus''.

* DoubleAgent

* FridgeBrilliance: The room that holds [[spoiler:Vagrant's core being named Prometheus' Cave may seem strange, as Prometheus was "humanity's greatest benefactor" and the Festum are most definitely ''not'' that, but then you realise that in the official timeline [[http://starchild.fm/anime/fafner-exodus/special/ a theory was put forward that]] the Seto Inland Sea Mir spurred Humanity's evolution onwards. As a creator of Humanity as it currently is, that would make the Seto Inland Sea Mir, and by extension Vagrant, equivalent to Prometheus.]]

** ''Exodus'' S2E9 is this in its pure form. It begins with [[spoiler: Kurusu, his Mir and the Eurus-type Festum reappearing, but ends with Jonathan's mind being erased, Maya captured by the Neo U.N., Jonathan becomeing a Festum not unlike Idun etc.]]