Official Anime Discussion

Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

Might as well post up a review of Big O, gonna keep it as spoiler-free as possible

Spoiler:
Big O is basically a sci-fi noir/mecha anime from 1999. It has 2 seasons, both of which contain 13 episodes. It was originally supposed to only have 13 episodes, but due to positive reception of the English dub of it that premiered on Toonami (a popular action-animation programming block of Cartoon Network's) back in 2001, a second season was co-produced by Cartoon Network, Sunrise and Bandai Visual. It premiered in 2003.

The events of the series takes place in Paradigm City, which is controlled by the Paradigm Corporation. A lot of the city is domed; the rich live inside the domes while the poor live outside them. 40 years before the events of the main series, an unknown disaster named "The Event" struck the world that left its only survivors, the citizens of Paradigm City, all without their memories. Despite this, for the most part, the citizens of Paradigm move on and go on about their daily lives without worrying about their memories.

Memories and the nature of them are a major recurring theme of the series, considering the fact that pretty much every citizen of Paradigm lost their memories prior to the Event. Memories in the series are usually either records prior to the Event, forgotten artifacts that existed before the Event, recurring dreams and hallucations. The series often deals with how the people of Paradigm cope with their loss of memories, and what happens when certain individuals actually regain their memories.

The only things are believed to be left of the previous civilization are megadeuses, basically giant robots that only a few people know how to use. One of those people is the main character of the series, Roger Smith. Roger is a Negotiator, basically a person who is tasked with finding resolutions to the many dilemmas of Paradigm City. Often during the series, people regain their memories and use this newfound knowledge in ways that threaten the existence of Paradigm (usually the threats are other megadeuses). Roger then has to fight back and save Paradigm using his personal megadeus, named the Big O. The other main recurring characters are R. Dorothy Wayneright, a female android, Norman Burg, Roger's personal butler and caretaker of the Big O, Dan Dastun, the chief of Paradigm City's Military Police, and Angel, a woman with a mysterious identity.

The mecha elements of the anime come from the various giant robot fights, while some examples of the noir elements of the series are Roger's detective-style work as a Negotiator, the wry and witty sense of humor often present in the dialogue of the series, Roger's voice-over narration of the plot and really, just Roger Smith's character in general.


Overall Score: 8.5/10

I'd say this is a really good anime mostly because I feel it's not only unique and entertaining, but also thought-provoking. There are a number of moments in the series that I think will make you stop and think if you really pay attention. It isn't just all action, I assure you. It's influenced by a number of different works (such as Batman) and has a number of references to other series, as well, so with that said, you would probably think that the show is unoriginal and that it has no sense of identity because of that at first. But in a way, this helps it stand out from most anime. It has its own distinct tone and atmosphere. I wouldn't go into this thinking that, "Oh, this is gonna be just like Batman with giant robots". It's hard to explain this without spoilers, just trust me on this one. It has more to offer than just that, IMHO.

It has a great cast of main characters that are all interesting to watch. I personally like Roger and Dorothy the best. I like Roger for his calm, cynical and analytical personality and the fact that he seems to know what to do in virtually any situation. As for Dorothy, I think a lot of the funniest moments of the series come from her, especially some of her interactions with Roger and Norman. This is also one of the best English dubs I've ever had the pleasure of seeing; the voice acting is superb, especially Steve Blum's VA work as Roger Smith. The show isn't without humor, you'll see that from Roger's and Dorothy's conversations as I said earlier. I thought the animation was pretty good and consistent, but not as good as the second season's. The robot fights, while admittedly they feel out of place at first compared to the rest of the series, are entertaining, as well. They grow on you as the series go on. You might think that the robot battles are going to be the most interesting parts of the series, but really, that isn't the case at all. Not to me, at least.

Perhaps what I like most about the series is the recurring theme of memories and the way the plots of the episodes (labeled "Acts" in the series) are set up. I've already explained the former, I really like how memories are handled and talked about in the series. There are people that are apathetic towards regaining their memories, and there are some who actively seek out the lost memories of the city. You'll not only see how the citizens in general act towards memories and the idea of regaining them, but you'll also see that with the main characters. As for the latter, basically, the first season is episodic. Each of the Acts are self-contained stories that follow a "villain of the week" formula, where a new antagonist is introduced in the Act and subsequently dealt with in some way in that same Act. Personally, I loved this because I thought it fit the whole detective show aspect of the show perfectly, and it made me look forward to what was going to be the next conflict.

However, despite all this, there are a couple of problems that I had with it. The ending to season 1 is one of them. It's pretty confusing and unsatisfying; I personally guarantee that you'll have to find an explanation for it on the internet as soon as you finish watching it because it leaves you with more questions than answers. The second season as a whole is the other one. The animation quality of this season is better than the first's and while there were a few interesting revelations in this seasons, I felt that it wasn't as good as the first season for a few reasons. For one, the episodic style of the first season gets replaced with a more conventional, continuous storyline. I wasn't a fan of that because, like I said, I thought that the self-contained stories of the previous season suited the series more. Maybe I wouldn't mind it as much if it weren't for the ending of it, the other main reason why I wasn't crazy about the second season. If you thought season 1's ending was confusing, wait until you see season 2's. It's even more of a mindrape than the first season's, which sort of pisses me off considering I was actually kinda hoping for a more satisfying ending this time. If they ever made another season, then the endings of both seasons kind of give me plenty of reason to worry about an even more confusing ending. With all that said, these are pretty much the only flaws I can think of for an otherwise great anime.

So yeah, there's my thoughts of it
 
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Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

been watching fist of the north star lately along with air gear and outlaw star and boy do i wonder why would some random thugs try to mess with someone who can make you explode from a simple tap on the forehead
 
Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

Fist of the North Star from what little I've seen of it reminds me of Mad Max for some reason
 
Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

because it's post apocalyptic for one

whats really odd is that Rei reminds me of smoke
 
Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

Huh, it does look like Smoke.

Well Metal due to your lovely description I'll try Big O again
 
Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

What's Claymore about? I was thinking about giving that Anime a try tonight, but I wanna know your thoughts before I watch it.

Claymore is based in a world where People fight YOMA(demons) using yoma powers themselves. At first they used men, but if you use more yoma when it's not necessary, you become an awakened being 100% uncontrollable lust for death/blood/eating humans ect ect. And really hard to kill. ANd knowing how greedy men are for being power thirsty. They ultimate changed to women only, because they were alot less likely to become awakened beings.

Ok, these people fighting the demons are called Claymores. They get hired to come to towns and kill the demons. If they get in a bad situation they can use yoma powers to sort of level up to fight harder ones. The more they go though the closer they get to awakening and thus needing to be killed before awakening. So the best claymores are the ones that don't use their power as much.

The story is focused around Claire and her revenge against Yoma, and a SPECIFIC awakened being for killing the one person she loved as a child.

And that itty bitty history of the show was IMO the best part of the whole anime.

TERESA!!!! <3
 
Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

Critical don't put me in the same category as that, THING

I'll stick to anime thank you
 
Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

Anybody here ever watch an anime called Black Lagoon?

I'm thinking about watching it but I don't even know what it's like
 
Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

Anybody here ever watch an anime called Black Lagoon?

I'm thinking about watching it but I don't even know what it's like

Vulgar, action packed, amazing cast and a good story line. Does that answer anything?

Critical you mysterious man D:
 
Re: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Animes!?

You know which archetype I can't stand for some reason? The "Let's play!" type of people who involve playing with killing. I don't know it just irks me for some reason
 
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