Mugen no Ryvius

Title:Mugen no Ryvius
Infinite Ryvius
無限のリヴァイアス (Japanese)
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - SUNRISE
CHIBA Isshin
HIKAMI Kyoko
HORIE Yui
HOSHI Souichiro
KUWASHIMA Houko
SEKI Tomokazu
TANGE Sakura
In the future an event happens that rips space open. Inside the 9 planets of Sol a field called the Gedalt appears. Originally a space oddity, it was a field of intense gravity that would destroy any ship that went into it. But now it is growing. It started at Earth and now reaches as far as Pluto.(Like a road) Kouji Aiba and his brother Yuuki are aboard the Liebe Delta, a school for space pilots and their support teams (Maintenance, Housekeeping, Navigation, Security, Artillery). But the school gets attacked. A terrorist group boards the Liebe Delta and kills all the staff. Then they reprogram the station to plunge into the Gedalt, killing all the students. Yuuki and his friend Ikumi are trying to escape when they see a young girl apparently trying to commit suicide. They save her. As they escape Yuuki sees another young girl who is standing there talking to herself. She appears to be reading his thoughts.

With what is probably the largest cast ever (Mai Hime and Negima! come close) we follow Kouji and Yuuki as they try to survive as they pilot the Ryvius (A shuttle in the school) and spend the next 3 months trying to get home. Of course they have to deal with riots, lazy people, space insantity, and too practical administrators before the job is done.

From the same team who brought you Scryed and Gundam Seed. This has been described as being ↗Lord of the Flies set in space.

26 TV Episodes.
Animation by Bandai Visual & Sunrise.

1:51min Infinite Ryvius OPENING (English ver) - YouTube Video
1:30min English Language Trailer - ANN (high res) Video
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 9 7 8 9 8 Ggultra2764 [series:548#1552]
As Forbin describes in his review, Infinite Ryvius can definitely be described as "Lord of the Flies set in space."

With perhaps the largest cast I've seen yet in an anime, Ryvius features a diverse range of characters with different personalities and beliefs that are put to the test when they are forced to create their own civilization without the guidance of adults while trying to get help. As time goes on, the students aboard the Ryvius start breaking down mentally and emotionally as different factions on the ship gain control, fights break out both with enemies and friends, and some even turn to murder when everything around them doesn't go their way. Without adult guidance, all the teens on this ship have to give up the naivette and innocence of childhood in order to get through their current ordeal. There are so many characters to account for with storylines to this series that one may have to rewatch this series once or twice to see what they missed.

Kouji Aiba was a believable protagonist for this series. He did not really excel in one area like his younger brother Yuki or even the members of the Zwei. But, he tries keeping a level head throughout all the faction changes that take place on the Ryvius and through the changing mentalities of those whom he had considered friends. But like all the other youth aboard the Ryvius, Kouji has to realize his own inner flaws, such as his reluctance to stand up to those of higher authority.

The art and animation for Ryvius is standard for what you could find in a late 1990s anime series. The music proved to be quite upbeat in most places to flow with the mood in current situations throughout the series and I liked the vocal performance of the ending song. The only musical aspect of Ryvius I did have a problem was the use of hip-hop music during the eyecatches of the series and the first episode which I felt didn't flow well with the mood of the series.

Infinite Ryvius makes for a solid anime drama to watch full of plenty of fleshed-out characters whose very personal beliefs are put to the test in a "Lord of the Flies" space opera situation.

Last updated Saturday, March 15 2008. Created Saturday, March 15 2008.
Rent Forbin [series:548#1573]
Drama : High!
Comedy : Low
Action : Med/High
SciFi : High
Ecchi : None

This is Lord of the Flies set in space.

You see that picture up there. The 30 odd people? They ALL have at least a supporting role. I was too confused trying to keep all of them together that I lost some of the meaning of the anime. Kouji (The middle) is such a WUSS that I am surprised he wasn't killed in the first 30 seconds. He is so annoying that I just wanted to fast forward all his spots.

Too many cast members to follow and about 15 separate plots going on.

At least the ending made some sense, sorta. I still don't know why the captain looked at the girl and thought it was his son.

Last updated Friday, March 24 2006. Created Friday, March 24 2006.
Buy 9 8 8 9 7 Kari [series:548#798]
From the collaborative efforts of Mobile Suit Gundam creator Hajime Yadate/Yatate, and the character designer of shows such as s-CRY-ed, Gundam SEED, and Gundam SEED Destiny, Hisashi Hirai, comes yet another anime series concerning battles in space, Infinite Ryvius. Infinite Ryvius is the story of 487 basically being forsaken on a ship called the Ryvius, and the chaos that ensues on board the ship, due to the students being trapped aboard it for so long.



The students on board the Ryvius are repeatedly forced into battles, and their constant fighting begins to wear down the ship's main crew. In addition to that, the ship gets taken over by rebels. Fights break out on the ship, revolts, and some people get attacked. A few characters even go a little crazy, but I'm sure that's what would happen if a large group of people were confined together in one place, for a really long period of time, and put under the recurrent pressure of fighting to survive.



The problem I have with Mugen no Ryvius is the same one I have with Wolf's Rain, which is I don't like the main character, who in this case is the character Kouji Aiba. Kouji constantly gets beaten up, not only by his tougher younger brother Yuki, but by various other characters as well. He was always complaining, and hardly ever stood up for himself, and I can't stand characters that are written like that. Characters like Yuki Aiba, Ikumi Oze, and Airs Blue are far more tolerable. This show also has a lot of love triangles, but I wasn't bothered by them, and I actually liked the ending to this series.



The soundtrack to Infinite Ryvius is pretty good. It has some nice instrumental tracks, as well as the ending song Yume o Sugitemo, by Mica Arisaka.



The Japanese voice cast is Tomokazu Seki as Ikumi Oze, Tange Sakura as Kozue Izumi, Chiba Isshin as Stein Heigar, Yui Horie as Michelle Cay, and Hisao Egawa as Fu Namuchai. I think Ryvius has a really good English dub done by The Ocean Group; the main characters are certainly portrayed well. Bill Switzer is fantastic as Ikumi Oze, as is Kirby Morrow as Yuki Aiba, Brad Swaile as Kouji Aiba, Kelly Sheridan as Juli Bahana, Andrew Francis as Airs Blue, Maggie Blue O'Hara as Cullen, and Chiara Zanni as Faina. Whatever language you choose to watch Infinite Ryvius in, it has a great ensemble of actors.



Infinte Ryvius can be purchased for $15.00 - $25.00 per DVD, but it's a show that's worth the money, if you can tolerate characters like Kouji Aiba.


Forbin was right when describing this as, "Lord of the Flies in space."

Last updated Wednesday, January 17 2007. Created Monday, April 04 2005.
Rent 8 8 7 7 7 Anonymous #1084 [series:548#1084]
I've seen the first disc so far, five episodes. I liked this, don't get me wrong. It's just a big ensemble cast to keep track of. Lots and lots of characters here, and the story has more to do with their interactions in the face of danger than anything else. If you go for a somewhat soap-opera-esque plot in a sci-fi setting, you'll have some fun. Oh, you have to like stories where most of the characters are kids, too. There's also some mecha elements to it - some people love mecha, I'm a bit on the fence about it, but willing to continue watching to see where it goes.
Check out the extras for a little giggle - they throw in some stuff that was on the web site for the series, little SD animations made for download.

Last updated Sunday, November 30 2003. Created Sunday, November 30 2003.
Buy 8 8 6 8 9 9 Pillspopper [series:548#615]
Maybe I'm just a sucker for drama, I really like this series. The pace of the story is just about right, and the music is wonderful.
Some might say this series is very similar to Crest of the Stars or Senkai no Senki I & II, however, I wouldn't quite agree with that. First off, there are more characters in Mugen no Ryvius and also, the story is more unpredictable.
There are 26 episodes to Mugen no Ryvius, decent artwork and good sound track. Oh, the art work somehow reminds me of S.cry.ed....

Last updated Tuesday, April 01 2003. Created Tuesday, April 01 2003.

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