First of all, The image from the School Rumble review was actually the cover for the Second Season. Oops, but there are no spoilers in it so we’re fine.
Let’s Do Another Review… To Japanese Death Metal! Haha inside joke, XD Anyway let’s see the Anime of Review behind Door #1!
Yup, it’s The Big O, or as I refer to it Big O. I’ve watched this anime several time through on Adult Swim and I’m finally getting around to downloading for my own personal enjoyment. Oh yeah, Stephen J. Blum voices the main character. That being said I shouldn’t have to say anything else, but I will for those 6 people who don’t know who he is.
Plot:
Forty years prior to the events of the series, disaster struck. The world was turned into a vast desert wasteland and the survivors were left without memories. The story takes place in Paradigm City, a corporate police state run by the Paradigm Corporation. The town is recognized for its geodesic domes, giant structures that house the richer citizens and segregate the poor.
The Big O deals with the nature of memories. A memory is a record stored in the brain of an organism, but in Paradigm City memories can mean much more. “Memories” embody the lost knowledge of its residents, and can take the form of records from before the Event, forgotten artifacts from the previous era or manifest themselves as recollection, hallucinations and recurring dreams.
The first half of the series is episodic. Each Act revolves around different citizens of Paradigm dealing with the resurgence of lost Memories and how they manage to go on living without knowledge of what did or did not happen. The final episodes introduce elements that come into play during season two like the existence of people outside of Paradigm City, the nature of the Cataclysm that destroyed the world and the “Power of God wielded by the hand of man.”
The second season takes an arc-based approach. Instead of self-contained stories like in season one, season two features a continuous storyline. The second season makes Alex Rosewater, CEO of the Paradigm Corporation, a direct antagonist to The Negotiator and introduces The Union, agents of a foreign power working within Paradigm. The series ends with the awakening of other “Big” megadeus and the revealation that the universe is a simulated reality created by advanced virtual reality technology. The series ends with a climactic battle where the universe is systematically deleted and reset.
Long? Yes, but the plot is very well thought out and goes along nicely. It may confuse some people, but if you watch the whole thing from start to end, it make sense. Oh yeah, Stephen J. Blum voices Roger Smith.
Animation Style:
Batman. The animation looks a lot like Batman. Having said that, it goes along nicely with the plot. It gives you that feeling that batman did. You never really know what’s coming up and when you think you do, it does something unexpected. Not to mention, considering this is an anime, there appears to be little japanese influence if any. Everything is completely different from any anime I’ve every seen save for a couple. Oh, Stephen J. Blum does something…
SPECIAL RATING TIME!
Special RATING!!!! YAY!!!!
Batman + Stephen J. Blum + Giant Robots (BattleMech basically)= Win… So much win.
This anime is unique in almost everyway, not to mention I don’t even know how they got Blum to do the lead character.
10 Stephen J. Blum controlling a giant robot to save us out of 10. Do you doubt me? I wouldn’t.
NEW STUFF!
From now till whenever, I’m gonna post my favorite characters from the anime I’m reviewing. Pending on how many characters there are, I might do different ones, like funniest, best looking…. etc. You get the idea.
Anyway, my favorite from Big O (beside Big O) is Norman, Roger Smith’s Butler. Why you ask? Tell me he doesn’t remind you of Alfred from Batman. After you tell me he does, I dare you to tell me you didn’t like him while keeping a straight face. Not possible.
Overall:
You see, when I was young, about 11 or 12, I found a Mechwarrior Novel and really enjoyed it. I mean Humans controlling giant robots to fight for them. I never found another one and forgot about them until I saw this anime. Not to mention that this anime is just so different I was amazed. I loved this anime. I’ve seen it few times though and just can’t get enough of it. It’s like one of my favorite games. Sure I beat the game 5 times, but there’s always something new in it that I never noticed on a previous play-through. This is easily on my Top 5 Best Animes Ever.
Next time we’ll review something that can get philosophical if you think about enough, funny, and down right mushy.
Until then, I’m your Resident Otaku saying Kiwotsukete.
No comments:
Post a Comment