Infinite Ryvius

Infinite RYVIUS (Japanese: 無限のリヴァイアス; Mugen no Ryvius) is a rather obscure 26-episode drama/sci-fi series produced by Sunrise Animation, the studio also responsible for other landmark shows in the space genre. It is often called a Lord of the Flies in Space crossed with The Hunt for Red October, as many of the characters, drama, plot, and theme resembles the former, while the action scenes mimicked the submarine battles of the latter. The high number of character and mecha designs in RYVIUS were the brainchild of a then-unknown Hisashi Hirai, whose success in this series led to work on sCRYed and then the coveted position of character designer for the biggest and latest two mecha series from Sunrise, Gundam SEED and it's sequel Gundam SEED Destiny.

The series is also noted for its music, a blend of western R&B/hip-hop music with J-pop vocals. This is most evident in the opening song, "Dis~", performed by bilingual Japanese-American singer Mika Arisaka, as well as the many thematic background instrumentals.

Plot

Set in the year 2225 AD, mankind has spread from Earth to inhabit nearly all the planets or nearby moons in colonies and settlements. The reason for this rapid rise in space migration is the Geduld, a sea of plasma stretching from the sun to the outer reaches of the solar system. As a result, space travel has grown and improved to the point of being commonplace. For the inhabitants of the solar system, an astronaut career isn't out of the question, and one of the schools set up to train future space voyagers is the Liebe Delta, a space station positioned somewhere in Earth's orbit.

Kouji Aiba (Japanese: Aiba Kouzi) is a sixteen-year-old boy who packed his bags and left his home on Earth for the Liebe Delta and the training to obtain his Level 3 piloting license. He journeys to the space station accompanied by his childhood friend, Aoi Housen, whom Kouji discovers to his chagrin has enrolled in the Liebe Delta's flight attendant program. Enroute to the spaceport Aoi gives Kouji the unwelcome news that his younger brother, Yuki, is also to attend the Liebe Delta and in fact the brothers will be in the same flight class together. Aoi ends with quipping that the boys's mother Mrs. Aiba had asked Aoi to look after the brothers while at school. Kouji's unhappy moodiness does not improve.

Once aboard the space station, the students and teaching staff on the Liebe Delta were like any other school, normal and concerned with their own affairs and classes. They even had a vacation period, known as the Dive Break, when the ship ventured near the Geduld for system maintainance. Out of about 1000+ students, about 500 stayed for the break. Unknowingly to all, the space station, in the middle of the routine dive considered so regular that it was entrusted to the elite Zwei cadet class, was sabotaged and the majority of the staff gassed and rendered unconscious. Free falling into the depths of the Geduld Sea, where the resulting gravity pressures would crush the station and kill all aboard, the remaining adults, all instructors, sacrificed their lives to save the majority of students on board. When their heroic actions proved unsuccessful and the Liebe Delta hung on the verge of collapsing, a mysterious ship hidden within the Liebe Delta activated itself and surfaced from the Geduld Sea. Its name was RYVIUS.

Stranded in space, with humanity's governments forsaking them, and within the ship anger, agitation and fear setting in, Kouji tries his best to maintain a semblance of order and peace in a time of crisis. But with fighting his own brother Yuki, dealing with his feelings for the beautiful Uranian aristocrat Fina S. Shinozaki, trying to avoid Aoi, and seeing the strange apparation of a girl in pink wandering the halls, will Kouji be able to help until the Ryvius reaches safety, or will he lose all that's dear to him in the process?

With an ensemble cast of nearly 500 different characters, Infinite Ryvius was an ambitious undertaking by Sunrise. Nearly all the characters have some screen time, be it cameo appearances or speaking roles, and each (with few exceptions) has his or her own personality. Ranging from the elite Zwei cadets to the piloting students to the flight attendants, nursing students, mechanical trainees and more, the crew of the Ryvius encompass a range of individual talents, quirks, and mannerisms that set each one apart. The average age of the Ryvius crew is 16, so the story, despite its space-age setting, is more of a coming-of-age tale than anything else.

Episodes Titles

(Japanese titles are shown first. Where applicable, U.S. titles are in brackets)

• Sere 1 – As It Gets Near (The Forthcoming Time)
• Sere 2 – Uninvited Care (Unnecessary Things)
• Sere 3 – Cross The Ocean (Beyond the Vast Sea)
• Sere 4 – Ring Of Ryvius
• Sere 5 – A Small Settlement (A Little Harmony)
• Sere 6 – My Moment
• Sere 7 – The Changing Times
• Sere 8 – We Didn't Know Anything
• Sere 9 – Vital Guarder
• Sere 10 – Even If It's Unbelievable (Even If You Can't Believe )
• Sere 11 – After The Festival (When the Party's Over)
• Sere 12 – Where the Future Lies (Whereabouts of the Future)
• Sere 13 – Can Only Touch Each Other (If Only to Meet)
• Sere 14 – Too Intentionally (To Be Too Conscious)
• Sere 15 – When We Set Adrift (Swept Away)
• Sere 16 – Distorted World (Deforming World)
• Sere 17 – Unrestrained Order (Free Order)
• Sere 18 – We Didn't Understand (Incomprehensible)
• Sere 19 – A Smile From You (Smiling With You)
• Sere 20 – Things You Can't Give Up
• Sere 21 – We Don't Need Tomorrow
• Sere 22 – In Order To Survive
• Sere 23 – The Torn-Off Past
• Sere 24 – Kouji Aiba
• Sere 25 – In Order To Be Me
• Sere 26 – Tomorrow

Major Characters

Kouji Aiba

Aoi Housen

Yuki Aiba

Ikumi Oze

Kozue Izumi

Cullen Lucciora

Fina S. Shinozaki

Juli Bahana

Aires Blue

Neeya

Supporting Characters

Lucson Houjou: Another person who appears older than his years, 17-year-old Lucson is the loud, blustering and generally ineffective self-proclaimed captain of the Ryvius and leader of the Zwei. In the Zwei for training for entry to the National Defense Academy, Lucson has his family honor and pride to live up to; his father and three brothers are already in the service. This pompous boy's complete lack of leadership skills is obvious to everyone, that is, except Lucson himself. After a stint as the captain of the Ryvius, Lucson was demoted to ship's janitor and Pat's caretaker. Yet despite these indignities, he still has his pride. (Seiyuu: Bin Shimada)

Pat Campbell: Although not a member of the Zwei per se, Pat is seen as such as he was brought into Juli's care. He came to the Liebe Delta to visit his father while the ship was diving. When the space station collapsed, Mr. Campbell perished attempting to save the lives of all the students aboard, and Pat went through the terrible experience of losing a parent. Handsome and with a bright future, Pat makes the best sandwiches and always wears his teddy bear backpack. The youngest child aboard the Liebe Delta at its collapse, at 8 years old Pat is also the youngest child on the Ryvius. (Seiyuu: Omi Minami)

Stein Heigar: Cool-headed and very smart, 17-year-old Heigar is a member of the Zwei, studying general information technology in preparation for entry into the National Defense Academy. His father is a civil officer in the Defense Forces. As the second-ranked student in the Zwei after Juli, Heigar acts as an assistant and lieutenant to the leader and captain of the ship, whoever he or she may be. His aloofness, combined with an ever-present poker face, has others believing he is emotionless. Cold, calculating and ambitious, Heigar somehow often has no problem persuading others to accept his decisions or grant him power. His desire for an utopian society on the Ryvius led to an increasingly harsh regime, to the point where he was willing to turn in even fellow Zwei cadets as so-called 'threats' to the order and control of the ship. (Seiyuu: Isshin Chiba)

Charlie (Good Turtleland III): Joining the Zwei at his parents' request, this chubby boy of 16 years is timid and sheepish despite his great name. He hops between the elite Zwei and the street gang Team Blue, whose members gave him the nickname 'Charlie'. He fell head over heels for Team Blue seductress Cliff Kei, not realizing until much too late that she was only leading him on. During the coup that overthrew Team Blue, Charlie could have stayed safe as a member of the Zwei. Unwilling to forsake the girl he (still) loved, Charlie went out to Cliff's defense and took the beating meant for her. This selfless act thawed out Cliff's cold heart, and she became considerably warmer to him, even choosing to stay by his side when Michelle offered her a chance at freedom. (Seiyuu: Toshiharu Sakurai)

Ginny Carabona: The second of three female Zwei cadets out of an otherwise all-male class, she is the mousy-haired, slightly square girl who also appears to be the Ryvius' communications officer. She does the announcements from the bridge whenever Kouji and Fina are absent, and is a roommate of Juli, Pat and Ran. She seems to have a flair with designing and making clothes, as she made a number of outfits for the various students on the Ryvius to wear for the ship's party, and also created Ran's cheongsam dress. Ginny was rather put out that Ran didn't want to go to the party and wear the dress, until Ran abruptly changed her mind. Ginny also started going out with fellow Zwei cadet Chic Kraat after he asked her to should they survive what turned out to be the last of the Ryvius' many battles. (Seiyuu: Omi Minami)

Ran Luckmolde: Cold and cynical, it's hard to tell who is more frigid--Heigar or Ran. This 17-year-old girl is the third and last female member of the mostly-boys Zwei class. Ran develops some kind of attraction for Pat, even though he is half her age and prefers Ginny and Juli's more open company to Ran's. This attraction becomes apparent as the series goes on despite Ran's attempts to hide it. Indeed, it was insinuated by Heigar that Ran's emotions concerning Pat bordered on shota-con. Ran punched Heigar by means of reply, and Heigar retailiated by demoting Ran from her elite Zwei status to a failing D student and had her thrown out of the bridge. (Seiyuu: Megumi Toyoguchi)

Fuu Nam Chai: A distant relative of Blue's, he is also from Saturn. At 16, Fuu is Blue's right-hand man and is in charge of executing Team Blue operations. Although very intelligent, this skilled fighter is hot-tempered and at times can be very ditzy. Along with the rest of Team Blue except for Blue himself, Fuu ended up in the Ryvius's brig when their coup was ironically overthrown in a revolt by the rest of the ship's crew. (Seiyuu: Hisao Egawa)

Cliff Kei: The seductress of Team Blue, 15-year-old Cliff is good looking and knows it. The older, taller, and red-haired Kei girl, she came with her sister Michelle to Liebe Delta for nursing training. Cliff is always in provocative outfits flirting, and she seduced information out of Charlie after beatings were found to be much less effective. When Team Blue fell from power, Charlie rushed to her aid despite her treatment of him, and after a brawl both were thrown into the same cell in the brig. Cliff warmed to Charlie during their stay together, and when Michelle offered Cliff a chance to escape with her, Cliff ended up remaining with Charlie, and the two went into hiding. (Seiyuu: Miki Nagasawa)

Michelle Kei: A year younger than her older sister, Michelle looks nothing like Cliff but has a slightly wild appeal of her own. Short, both of stature and of her green hair, Michelle laughs a great deal, and seems airheaded. However, this is a front for her more dangerous abilities, and given the chance could prove even more dangerous than Aires Blue. She is one for holding grudges, and anyone who had happened to annoy her to that point have since paid a heavy price. Like her sister, Michelle is adept at seduction, and used her skills to obtain a new wardrobe and the freedom of her fellow Team blue members from the brig. (Seiyuu: Yui Horie)

Reiko Ichikawa: This plain-faced flight attendant trainee was roommates with Aoi, Kozue, and (briefly) Fina. Timid by nature, Reiko proves to be selfish and mean in a hostile situation, when Kozue was ganged up on and attacked by several other girls for being the girlfriend of an "unlimited points user". Reiko, feeling unable to help and stunned by the fact that battles between women were even more ugly than men's, ignored Kozue's cries for help and fled. She was the last to move out of the dorm used by the four girls, the first being Fina, who in following her religious beliefs left in favour of a private officer's room, and the second being Kozue, whose injury had her hiding in another officer's room unable and unwilling to contact anyone. (Seiyuu: Megumi Toyoguchi)

Nicks Shaiprapat: A hyperactive nutcase from Deimos, a moon of Mars, 14-year-old Nicks is a Level 3 Flight Class student. He was the boy who made it a point of rubbing in Ikumi's failure to retrieve a piece of debris in the premier episode. When first exploring the Ryvius, Nicks discovered what became the Vital Guarder system and is one of its sub-pilots/operators. Nicks likes racing utility robots and slacking off, and on the Ryvius is the roommate of Kouji and Ikumi. Nicks also likes pretty girls, as evidenced when he used binoculars for up-close looks at the contestants in the Miss Ryvius beauty contest. (Seiyuu: Rikako Aikawa)

Akihiro Miyabi: A plump boy from Mars, Akihiro is meticulous and withdrawn. He and Nicks are childhood friends, and although at 16 he is older than Nicks by two years, Akihiro gets treated as a little brother by the overactive Nicks. Preferring on the whole to work in the background and do his best, Akihiro often has to keep Nicks from slacking and/or going out-and-out nuts. In addition with Nicks, Akihiro is also one of the VG's many sub-pilots and operators. He believes that Kouji is like Akihiro himself, a weak-willed person who would rather stay on the sidelines and let others do what they will. Kouji, however, proved Akihiro's assumption wrong, and Akihiro resolved to be a stronger person, a decision he told Kouji of in a letter Akihiro sent to Kouji during the last episode. (Seiyuu: Toshiharu Sakurai)

Kikki (alias Kibure): A girl in a dinosaur mascot-style costume, she is a background character on the show. She appears in passing or in crowds scenes at least once every episode, and many fans have made a point of searching for her in the episode they are viewing. Aside from this, she is a loner, and does not appear to have any real friends. Possibly the only exception to this is Cullen, whom Kibure-san accidentally clonked on the head with the headpiece of one of her other costumes when the gravity control on the ship failed. They were seen talking together in a few subsequent episodes, but this was likely just a casual acquiantance as Cullen did not appear to have anything to do with Kibure after the former became a VG pilot.

Themes and Symbols

Compared to other anime series, Infinite RYVIUS has more underlying themes and symbolisms. Even the name of the ship itself, Ryvius, is a play on several English phrases.

• Among them: "Revive Us", "Redeem Us", "Reveal Us", "Revise Us", "Ravenous", "Revolt Us", "Revert to us", "Reverie of Us", and "Reawake Us".

All the phrases can be seen as an insight into the ship's crew as a whole, and the subconscious pleas that the students harbour. Neya, picking up on these stray mental thoughts, gives voice to them and as such, exposes these ideas to the viewer.

In another view, Ryvius can be used as a representation of Earth itself. In fact, as stated by a government official, the Vaea project was designed and implemented as series of Noah's arks for the human race to escape the Geduld-encompassed solar system.

• Weapons and power: A subtle theme is about how one's action depends upon the amount of power they have.
  • For example, the reason why Blue was able to stage his coup on the Ryvius easily was due to his possession of the only firearm on the ship, as well as his gang of enforcers and usage of hostages as support.
    • Later on, Blue passed the needle gun to Kouji; as he was in hiding, Blue likely valued stealth, silence, and secrecy over firearms, the possession of which was no longer very useful to him. In turn, Kouji became the only one who was willing to confront Ikumi (who by then had gone somewhat insane).
  • Likewise, with access to the Vital Guarder, Ikumi used it to attack the ship to force its inhabitants to obey his rule.

In general, the gun and Vital Guarder represent the martial power of civilization.

• Past: Most, if not all characters, were defined by their respective pasts.
  • Ikumi fell in love with Kozue (and subsequently enforced a Nazi-like regime on the ship) because in the past, he failed to prevent his sister's suicide, and he never wanted to lose the woman that he loved ever again.
  • Fina escaped to the Ryvius because she could not handle the past. Indeed, she took to heart an extreme interpretation of her religious beliefs, stating that in order to cut off the past she had to literally cut it off. This unfortunately involved Fina murdering anyone that reminded her of the past, including her former boyfriend Michael, and her friend Sandy Aren, who was strangled and her body disposed of under cover of the celebrations of the Ryvius's party. However, as Fina found out from Kouji and Neya, the past will always linger.
  • The conflict harboured by the Aiba brothers is a strong subplot in the series, as most face-to-face meetings between Kouji and Yuki often lead to verbal and physical altercations. Yuki's unspoken resentment of his brother and Kouji's tunnel-vision tendencies merely made the situation worse. Only intervention from the boys' respective girlfriends (Cullen and Aoi) led to the feud abating, if not actually ending it for good.

Soundtracks

infinite RYVIUS Original Soundtrack 1

• VICL-60485
• Release Date: 1999/12/16

1. DIS (Club Mix version; performed by Mika Arisaka)
2. nani mo shiranakutemo (Unaware of Anything)
3. boku no setsuna (My Moment)
4. REVISE US
5. NOWHERE
6. mishiranu mono (The Unknown)
7. kokoro no sukima (Void in the Heart)
8. kuzureyuku mono (What is Decaying)
9. EASY LIVING
10. kobore ochite (Dropping Out)
11. yume o sugite mo (Even After Dreaming; Remix version; performed by Mika Arisaka)
12. communication
13. ALMOST BLUE
14. ikinobiru kanata (Beyond Survival)
15. FAINT HOPE
16. maemuki ni (In A Positive Mood)
17. COOL!
18. DIS (English version; performed by Mika Arisaka)
19. yume o sugitemo (Even After Dreaming; performed by Mika Arisaka)
20. DIS (karaoke version)
21. yume o sugitemo (karaoke version)

infinite RYVIUS Original Soundtrack 2

• VICL-60486
• Release Date: 2000/03/01

1. harakunaru sasayaki (Distancing Whisper)
2. nani mo shiranakutemo (Unaware of Anything)
3. toge (Thorn; performed by Mika Arisaka)
4. mukai aumono (Face To Face)
5. genjitsuto no haza made (Until Reality Shows Its Face)
6. kokoro no kakera (Fragments of the Heart)
7. itoshi sa no nakade (Into Beauty)
8. hayaru kokoro (Thriving Heart)
9. utsutsu narumono (Taking Revenge)
10. tawamurete (Flirting)
11. mitsumete (Watching)
12. shijirarerumono wa (Of Disbelief)
13. yume o sugitemo (Even After Dreaming)
14. mirai e no ippo (A Step Towards the Future)
15. aragaenumama
16. sasurai tsuzukete (Continued Wandering)
17. tsumugareta fuan (Spun Anxiety)
18. ketsui to koudou to (Decision and Action)
19. todoketai kokoro (Undeliverable Heart)
20. shinkirou no you ni (Like A Mirage)
21. ashita ga arukara (Because There Will Be Tomorrow)
22. yamikara no hohoemi (Smile From The Shadows)
23. shiritakatakoto (Things I Wanted to Know)
24. yume o sugimoto (Even After Dreaming; performed by Mika Arisaka)
25. todoketai kokoro (Undeliverable Heart; Reggae Phil Mix)
26. H (Mega Mix)

infinite RYVIUS Original Soundtrack 3

• VICL-60487
• Release Date: 2000/03/23

1. M.I.D. ANTHEM
2. DIS~ (Song Bird Mix; performed by Mika Arisaka)
3. BLUE WRECKAGE (performed by Noriko)
4. CODE-026
5. aoi tori no yukue (performed by Mika Arisaka)
6. menterae
7. GOING (performed by Kaori)
8. JUST (Interlude)
9. THE NEPHILIMS (performed by Bambaataa Afrika)
10. kanashiki hyouryuu (performed by DJ MA$A)
11. SEE THE LIGHT (performed by Smooth Bee)
12. tobira (performed by DJ MA$A)
13. GENERATION WAR
14. ENVIOUS
15. DIS~ (Terra Mix; performed by Mika Arisaka)

RYVIUS Manga

A companion manga was released in Japan in 2000. Created by Shinsuke Kurihashi, and released by Media Works Publishing, the manga details the voyage of the Ryvius from the character viewpoints of Aoi Housen, and to a lesser extent, her roommates Kozue Izumi and Reiko Ichikawa. This is in contrast to the anime, which had been seen through the eyes of the Aiba brothers, Ikumi Oze, and other mostly male characters. As such, the manga does not follow the anime "to the letter", but provides episodes and plotlines previously unseen.

The English-language rights to the 'Ryvius' manga were acquired by ComicsOne, and the first volume of the English version, covering the anime episodes 1–13, was released in October 2004. The second and final volume, covering the remainder of the series, is expected to be released in January 2005.

External Links

• Infinite Ryvius: The official site from Bandai.
• Future Without Limits: Infinite Ryvius: The most comprehensive English-language IR website.
• Mika Arisaka: Home page for the bilingual songstress who performed the opening and ending themes for IR.
• ComicsOne: Official page for the English-language version of the companion manga to the Ryvius anime series.