Kakugo no Susume

Apocalypse Zero is an anime that lives up to its name. Zero merits, zero reasons to watch it, zero out of ten.

The rating system thing doesn't allow me to assign zeroes and I don't like numerical rating in general because I don't believe that a complex opinion such as a review can be properly simplified with math. However, I will talk about numbers and reviews here. Numerical ratings of anime are approximately earned with merits. Everything the show does to advance its entertainment purpose raises its number. That is why my real overall rating for Apocalypse Zero is zero. This show literally goes nowhere. I ... gained nothing but despair in watching this, and I would have better spent my time looking at a blank monitor, which would have earned the same score (so shouldn't the rating really be -1/10?)

Apocalypse Zero is an anime without a purpose. Every show ever made, no matter how poorly, should at least have a purpose, a direction that the show explores into. Some way of entertaining its viewers. Make them laugh, cry, scare them, tell a story, give them suspense, have them relax, something cathartic so that people want to watch. The only purpose that I can even guess at for Apocalypse Zero is to make the viewer close his or her media player.

I will be able to give more insight into the show if I cover everything that the show is deficient in. First, Apocalypse Zero is without reason. There is some kind of plot, involving two siblings and the premise that the world has ended and people have to survive. The lack of elaboration about why or how the world has ended intends to add some mystery into the show. The biggest mystery, however, is how they managed to get the likes of Yamadera Kouichi (Spike Spiegel) and Ogata Megumi (Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion) to star in this show. This already shallow plot is poorly developed because of paper-thin characters that do not possess a shred of believability. It's hard to care about plot or themes or things dying when you literally do not give a scrap about anybody that appears in the show. Apocalypse Zero is also without mercy. Have you noticed that when you watch really good anime, the episodes feel like they are 5 minutes long? Apocalypse Zero is the longest hour of my life. I swear, dentist appointments just breeze right by compared to watching this anime, which manages to start absolutely putrid and somehow become astronomically worse. Why? Because most importantly, Apocalypse Zero is an anime without shame. Pointless gore for the sake or pointless gore. Ugly, eye-killing vulgar nudity for the sake of, what I suspect, making the viewer suicidal. It becomes quite evident after the first episode, and mindblowingly obvious by the end, that Apocalypse Zero's directing lacks discipline in any form. Elfen Lied was gory but it contributes to the anime. You can even say the same for things like Dokuro-chan (it adds to the silliness and humor, I guess). Apocalypse Zero screams terrible choices when it comes to design, directing, storyboards, plot, pacing, and art. This anime is far beyond terrible. This anime is insulting.

Let me take a brief tangent and talk about an anime called Mars of Destruction, the lowest ranked anime on MAL. I appreciate it much more now. It's fun to watch. It's fun to point out the cliches and mediocrity. It's funny to laugh at the near comical miscues in directing. Clowns are funny because they act silly. They splash pies on themselves and fall off unicycles, a la Mars of Destruction. Clowns are not fun when they attack you with a sledge hammer and try to rape you, a la Apocalypse Zero. Mars of Destruction is the lowest ranked anime on MAL because it doesn't do anything right. In comparison, Apocalypse Zero not only doesn't do anything right, it seems to go out of its way to make sure everything it does has to be so overboard, so nonsensically inane, that one would suspect making terrible anime is a competitive art. You know what? Apocalypse Zero wins.

Apocalypse Zero is a completely insane, surreal and over the top Kamen Rider-esque OVA based on a manga by Takayuki Yamaguchi, the artist of hyper-violent yet wonderfully drawn Chanbara manga Shigurui: Death Frenzy. It is also one of the most absurdly loathed pieces of Japanese animation of all time, especially among English-speaking anime fans - there is something about this OVA that has a very special effect on anime reviewers and manages to send them on indignant nerd rage frenzies like no other work. To most viewers, it is to anime what The room is to cinema, or more accurately, what the pixely rape simulator ... Custer's Revenge is to video games - a work that is not only devoid of any talent, skill or effort but also, in the eyes of many people, a disgusting and irredeemably vile story that anyone with a hint of taste and common sense should deride and vilify to no end.

Just HOW bad could this OVA's content be if a viewerbase normally accustomed to shameless, gratuitous sexuality and strange fetishism being passed off as thought-provoking means of storytelling, very young children being sexualized and even such tropes as *justified rape* is left completely repulsed by it? I'm... not entirely sure, but I'll try my best to figure it out.

This post-apocalyptic tale focuses on two young martial artist siblings: the calm and determined Kakugo and the feminine, elegant and frankly crazy Harara. They inherit two all-powerful armors containing the souls of the many, many people who have given their lives for their creation. Although the armors were initially intended to be weapons of mass destruction designed for World War 2, they were passed down to the two brothers by their father slash mentor as a means of taking out evil, grotesque mutants and defending the innocent. Harara, being generally batshit insane, eventually grows up to become a psychotic rebellious misanthrope and comes to the conclusion that erasing humanity from existence and preventing it from harming our pure, beautiful Mother Earth any further would be a far better course of action. After going through a seemingly random body and gender change that is only explained in the manga, Harara hijacks one of the suits of armor before their training is complete, takes out his/her father and has a quick one-on-one fight with Kakugo, which the latter instantly loses in a very odd and disturbing way that no normal human could ever survive. But naturally he does, and it's up to him to defend innocent bystanders from crazy monsters and his insane transgendered sibling while also dealing with the standard day-to-day anime high school life (yeah, they all live in a hyper-violent post apocalyptic world... but why should that get in the way of education?).

OVA-wise, that's... pretty much all there is to the backstory. While the manga contains many lengthy flashbacks to explain the history of the armors and further solidify the characters as being crazily awesome, the anime simply uses the main premise to deliver plentiful amounts of crazy violence, sexual humor, mindless surrealism and pure, unadulterated badassitude. The entire two-episode OVA is simply a series of silly high school segments, followed by a scene of the Monster of the Now preying on the innocent in excessively violent ways (an infamous scene involves a massive, fat dominatrix mutant squeezing a young girl to death with very graphic results, taking her boyfriend back to her place and quite literally KISSING HIS FACE OFF), only to eventually have to face the righteous ass-kicking of our obscenely powerful hero in increasingly strange, hilarious, and dare I say it *freaking awesome* one-on-one battles.

I'll try my besy to not spoil the rest, but please note that this is not a show for the faint of heart - if you can't deal with gallons of graphic cartoon gore, this OVA is not for you. Even then, if your inner 13 year old who still laughs at immature sexual humor is long-dead, this OVA is not for you. If you think a pointless scene of a 10 year old female character taking a leak all over the floor or masturbating in the shower counts as valid character development and yet find the idea of a monster attempting to take out the main character using an attack named "Double Tit Bomb" inherently insulting to your intelligence as an anime connoisseur, this OVA is not for you. If you view anime as a refined artistic medium and the mature, thought provoking equivalent to Western cartoons (which are nothing but insipid children's entertainment in comparison) your pretentiousness and sheer nerdiness have reached critical levels to the point where you will surely never feel the touch of a lover's hand (and also, this OVA is not for you).

Another unfairly bashed aspect of this OVA lies in its visuals. While it's pretty far from being a mind-blowing sakuga anime, there is really nothing bad about the way it looks and moves. Harara's monsters have a hideous, grotesque look to them... but that's kind of the point. Similarly, the human characters have a very charming, well-stylized and cartoony look. They might seem ugly to some people, but technically there is absolutely nothing wrong with the way they're all drawn and I honestly think they are far more expressive than most anime characters out there. One particular visual aspect that I can't help but love is Kakugo's Zero Armor, which has a very stylish and cool design to it. If I ever broke down and started paying for useless pieces of plastic, I wouldn't mind owning a figure of this thing at all; in fact, it almost makes sense that Kakugo has a strange, bordeline fetishistic obsession with it. Almost.

Most of the music is pretty standard action anime stuff, but it certainly gets the job done. At times the epic heroic music clashes hilariously with the crazy psycho-violence and sheer absurdity of the fight scenes presented, and that simply adds to the ridiculous over the top nature of it all. Another interesting note is that the ED was sung by Hironobu Kageyama, also known as the guy behind the Dragon Ball Z opening and a ton of equally hot-blooded, heroic-sounding theme songs. It's really about as fun and catchy as you'd imagine, and my only beef with it is that IT WASN'T USED DURING THE SHOW ITSELF AT ANY POINT. If you have a great theme song on your hands, shouldn't you use it at least once during a particularly cool scene? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

So with all that out of the way the only remaining issue would be, "do I think that this is a good OVA?" ...well, in all honesty, I would say without a hint of irony or self distance that it truly deserves to be labeled as such. Not a GREAT OVA, no - this brand of over the top vulgarity can certainly be done in a better, cleverer way - Dead Leaves this ain't. But for what it is, it's a perfectly fine waste of 60 minutes. Anyone who can get past the initial shock factor caused by the over-the-top blood and guts portrayed should instantly realize that this is, at its core, a very silly and ridiculous OVA. What many people seem to miss, for some reason that I can't quite comprehend, is that IT WAS CLEARLY MEANT TO BE VIEWED THIS WAY. If you're not messed up enough to find this stuff equal parts cool and hilarious, then this OVA was clearly not designed for you... but that's not really a reason to claim that it's an irredeemable pile of trash with no positive qualities to it, or even watch it to begin with. After all, a simple Google search should instantly warn you about the graphic content, and I doubt many people watched this expecting a family-friendly experience without a single cock joke or drop of blood. Similarly, people who found it hilarious and fun in a "so bad it's good" kind of way should realize that it was created with ridiculous over-the-top camp in mind to begin with. If it made you laugh and you had fun watching it, mission fucking accomplished. Above all else anime is meant to be fun, and to its admittedly niche audience, Apocalypse Zero delivers this in spades.

Apocalypse Zero is one of, if not THE most over-hated anime title in history. This little OVA containing a piece of a much bigger manga story has been hammered and spat-on by countless “oh-so-smart-and-civilized” types. Usually I can ignore differences in opinion, even if its from all-round ass-hats, but this series is one I cannot just look over because frainkly it doesn’t deserve such negative vitriol, especially when you take into consideration the stupefying criticisms. Oh yeah, and even though this is a post-apocalyptic Fist of the North Star-esque series, many seem to be outraged that it is gory. Yes, you heard me, with ... that kind of mindset I might as well rent a kung-fu movie and bitch about there being too much corny fighting.

This is a post-apocalyptic action-oriented work influenced by Fist of the North Star with mecha elements in the vein of The Guyver. While it certainly shows no desire to hide these said influences, the series manages to have its own distinct style and atmosphere. The overall story is about two siblings, who mastered an incredible martial arts style, that eventually turns them against each other in that one succumbs to evil desires with their new-found power while the other strives to use it the right way. While the plot certainly is extraordinarily simple, it works just fine when you take into consideration that stories involving all-out fighting themes don’t necessarily require complex plots. These sorts of shows just need to be a pleasurable experience to watch.

The world this takes place in really draws you in with its cloudy skylines and interesting use of colors. It is also allot more interesting and varied than your typical apocalyptic world, since you’d generally expect the planet to be made up of desert, so you can expect some imagination put to test here. The main location for this show is the ruins of Tokyo. Within it, it seems that there is still a functioning school system where kids normally attend school, which if you ask me, is a fairly unique concept.

The cast of characters manage to be very intriguing. The main hero Kakugo is very similar to Kenshiro, particularly with his mature, stoic personality. My favorite would have to be the antagonist and main character’s sibling named Harara. While not the most original villain, there is something about her evil nature that is so effective overall, and her whole personality is hard to really find the word to describe, but it is highly “badass” if you know what I mean. The rest of the cast mainly consists of Kakugo’s school friends and Harara’s slew of villainous mutant freaks, all are very quirky and make the show what it is.

The content of Apocalypse Zero, such as the violence and sexual imagery is the main aspect here that has gotten people foaming at the mouth the most. Like any title of this sub-genre, it contains numerous sequences of exaggerated gore, and is generally what one would call a “splatterfest”. The vast majority of it is very entertaining (keeping in mind you’re actually a fan of this genre). A good example of it would be a scene where Harara completely annihilates a bunch of super macho men with their blood and guts splattering everywhere bringing out some great old Fist of the North Star-style fun. Sadly not all of it is great, as there is also a scene where a teenage girl is nastily squished by a giant mutant. It would have been awesome if it was just another dimwitted oversized goon with a mohawk, but I don’t think anyone, even Fist of the North Star fans would want to see some cute girl meet such a gory fate. This is one of the only things that bothered me about this series, and it is a flaw, although a rather insignificant, overlook-able one at that. The sexual aspects mainly have to do with the villainous mutants Kakugo has to open a can of whoop-ass on, and trust me they are absolutely hilarious. Not one but TWO of these four mutants use their penis as weapons!

The other most controversial aspect present is the artwork. The series features rather unusual “cartoony” character designs that many seem to abhor, but I for one think they’re marvelous. There is just something about their simplicity that strikes me has very innovative. While they’re not exactly attractive, they certainly look a whole lot nicer than numerous 70s through 80s anime titles, and that’s not even mentioning all the atrocious designs characters get in numerous American animation. If the characters of One Piece universally have very odd designs, why can’t this series do the same? The actual animation offered is splendid, in that it has a really “cult” look and style to it. It isn’t crystal-clear and modern at all, which if you ask me is a very good thing, and it is perfect for fans of the more old-school nineties look.

As for the voice acting, both the original Japanese version and the English dub are absolutely flawless. I was particularly surprised with the English version as well, as you generally expect the studios to get lazy on such an underground title, but none-the-less they are all spot-on. The background music is generally nothing amazing, but it does get the job done adequately, and there are a few catchy numbers that pop in from time to time.

Lastly, if there is one major flaw within this OVA, it is the fact that there just isn’t enough of it. These two episodes cover roughly 1/5 of the material contained in the manga, so it is hard dealing with only the beginning of the series getting animated.

All in all, Apocalypse Zero is while being absurdly strange, significantly charming in a way. I’ve watched this countless times, and I just love its quirky characters, utterly insane violence, and outrageously kooky attacks. This series certainly isn’t perfect, as I have said before the scene at the beginning with the squished schoolgirl can really leave an ugly impression and only a portion of this story is animated, but these faults can be overlooked. If your open-minded and don’t quickly dismiss things, than what you have here is a short but high quality title with definite substance. It is easily just as fun as Fist of the North Star, and in a way it is kind of like a more modern upbeat version while still retaining a cult atmosphere, so if you like this sort of thing, don’t hesitate to check it out.

This show is fucking amazing. OK, so basically, there's this guy fighting a mutant tit-bear in the Himalayas or something. His dad is some sort of kung fu master, and also he has an intersex brother or something. His brother has tits. Anyway, something happens, and he ends up with this Kamen Rider robot armor. He enlists in this post-apocalyptic Mad Max high school for some reason and randomly fights giant leather daddy gimp frogs with weaponized dildos, demon nurses with vagina teeth & tit rockets and various other abominations against god. I'm so glad I live in a universe where this show exists. Basically, ... Apocalypse Zero should be worshipped and cherished forever. Also, all the characters are weirdly cheerful and nonchalant considering people get their faces ripped off and their guts squeezed out of their mouths by giant mutants like every five seconds.

To anyone who was actually shocked, or scandalized even, when they saw for example a guy's head explode into a bloody mess in Fist of the North Star (some of you had to be born before the new millennium, right?)--Apocalypse Zero should feel like a time capsule back to that exaggerated first adolescent impression of the vaguely pornographic otherness of the most pulpy, trashy 80s japanimation (that's what it was called back then). It's so cartoonishly morbid that it finds sort of an uncanny valley-esque middle ground where the ghoulishness is strangely uncomfortable and oppressive. If this OVA was just a little more ridiculous, or just a little less, the effect would be lost; but as it is, it has all the decrepit contours and mystique of some made up show you and your friends (whose dads all worked at Nintendo or Sega, somehow) might've whispered rumors about during recess in gradeschool. When an anime captures something so fleeting and abstract about the pre-internet era, well, that's magical! Apocalypse Zero may actually contain the meaning of life.

There's this great scene where this giant fat mutant lady jealously kills some guy's girlfriend, and then she drags him back to her fat lady lair where she does indecent things to him before eating him. Anyway, later on the main character slays the fat lady, and she pukes up the bones of all her victims--as well as the still-digesting skinless body of the guy she just ate, and he's still alive! He has this "oh god I have no skin! Please kill me and end my suffering!" look on his face (his skull, anyway), and you expect the characters to put him out of his misery, right! NO! The main girl character painfully hugs the guy and goes "hang in there! You'll be okay!" It took horse tranquilizers to get me to stop laughing. As an accidental black comedy, it doesn't get much better than this.

It comes off almost like a parody of anime, but it's not! It's blissfully unaware. You'd think this would turn into a cult classic in the post-The Room world, but in a weird way anime is like the last frontier of naive schlock where hipster irony (and by extension, an unspoken sense of political correctness) cannot penetrate--that's exactly why the conditions are perfect for weird shit like this, and why it languishes in disapproval instead of being celebrated for its absurdity. For B movie appeal, it gets all my recommendation! See it!

What's amazing about the other reviews of this anime is that they all say "2 of 2 episodes seen." How my fellow reviewers managed to stay sane after watching 76 minutes of this torture, I don't know, but I feel sorry for them. Heck, I feel sorry for myself.

Apocalypse Zero is a unique show. Unlike the other shows on the Anime Wall of Shame, Apocalypse Zero's problem lies not in its story, art, sound, or characters. Sure, it has some abysmal background music, and the characters are pretty shallow, but all in all, it's a "bad" show - not an "unwatchable" ... one.

What pushes Apocalypse Zero over the edge is how god damn disgusting it is. Elfen Lied has nothing on this show. Move over, Berserk. I'd rather watch the little girl in Eiken than see a single second of Apocalypse Zero again. I don't know about the second episode, but the first episode has one monstrosity of a character - a 99% naked ugly giantess with no good aspects.

Now if this were a horror show, I could somewhat understand. But Apocalypse Zero tries to play down the disgusting sight by weaving it into the storyline, providing the audience with ample time to blow chunks and shit bricks. After a few minutes, it becomes comical. And it's just that much worse.

Here you see something straight out of Satan's worst nightmares dancing around your screen. You try to scream, but you can't say a word. Then it gets worse. Nothing can save you now. You watch in horror as this playful abomination reveals her twisted personality and all you want is to wake up. Somebody stop it. Please. You beg and plead. Wait, is this... is this what you think it is? Yes, there's no doubt. Fanservice. From this monster. I-Is that a breast she's rubbing, or is it a tumor? Oh God. Mercifully, you pass out before your eyes start to bleed. It's over.

This is worse than 2girls1cup, meatspin, or any kiddy shock site you've ever heard of. This is beyond that. This is pure torture - and that's an understatement.

Note: Under no circumstances should you watch this pathetic excuse for an anime.

Grand Totals:
Story - 1/10 (Pathetic)
Art - 1/10 (Pathetic)
Sound - 1/10 (Pathetic)
Character 1/10 (Pathetic)
Enjoyment 1/10 (Pathetic)
Overall -1/10 (Pathetic)

... Story:
There is no story. If you have seen Guyver or Hokuto no ken, then combine the plots of both of these, take out the awesomeness, and you have this show. If you haven't seen either of those shows; then I'll attempt to explain the plot in a few words. Nuclear holocaust, giant demon monsters, and school children. Yeah. It sucks.

Art:
Horrible art. Nothing looks good at all. All of the character designs suck beyond belief. All the monster that the main character fights have fucked up beyond reason attacks such as their penis transforming into a dragon or using their titties as guns. Yeah.

Sound:
It sucked too. Not worth getting into. It's just bad.

Character:
Not even the girls in this anime are hot. The characters are desgined poorly and have poor personalities. I never felt that I ever got to know any of the characters, and I also didn't care at all about any of them. All the characters are extremely bland and stock.

Enjoyment:
I loved this anime so much......................... NOT!!!!!

Overall:
It sucked. It's far worse than Mars of Destruction.

Apocalypse Zero doesn't take itself seriously and neither should you. It has the potential to be a great guilty pleasure which is loaded with blood, gore, nudity, and references to other anime/movies. Its a total joyride with plot and characters that are exactly what you expect them to be; shallow. Im surprised to find so many negative reviews of this OVA here, i find that many must simply be offended by gore, nudity, or possibly have Zero grasp of scope. (pun intended) Apocalypse Zero knows what it is, and knows what it is and never tries to be anything greater, this is what allows it ... to have old men with hydra penises and morbidly obese women sucking the skin off of a characters bones. My only complaint is that it left me hanging at the end with another "go read the manga" ending. Overall this is not a good story and its well aware of that, its simply a guilty pleasure. I cant rate this too high, on my profile ive given it a 5, (5.1 with my personal video review system) but here its higher due to this unrefined standard.

We were ROBBED, Kakubros. Of the originally planned 10 episodes, only 2 ever made it into production, a crying shame for a masterwork such as Kakugo. Heavily Inspired by the Tokus of the time, mixed with the then popular post apocalyptic setting and harsh violence, Kakugo no Susume in its original incarnation as a manga stands tall against many of its contemporaries, even today. The pure spirit it emanates is hard to describe, but if you're a high power level individual you will surely notice it. The OVA sadly did not get to live up to this standard, as it was cancelled without a real ... reason. The parts it does adapt, while still cool, are sadly too early into the manga to truly tell of the IMPACT that the manga ends up leaving later on. Interestingly, it does adapt the flashbacks that originally appeared much later into the original source material, perhaps for more immediate context. I believe what is here is still worth watching, no less because of its killer soundtrack; though now it serves more as a "could have been", and an AD for the actual manga, which you should read. Do not believe the anti-hype.

This is the biggest injustice i've seen on MAL. Somehow Genocyber has a higher score. I'll use it as a parameter: If the gore in Genocyber can give you the ick and put you away, the gore in Apocalypse Zero is tasteful, funny, and peppered in correct dosage. This OVA is the perfect blend of funny, interesting and insightful, with a brisk and breezy pace covering the first 3 volumes of the manga. I'm hooked, and I will be reading the manga to know more.

The design is lovely, both in human characters and monsters. The background setting, the story, will make you see the connections ... between then and now, historically. It's a very thoughtful piece done up with the fun colors of violence. For an OVA made in an era where the norm was to take the gore you pornographically display super seriously, making the author some sort of edgy misfit bent on violence, this is delightfully cartoonish without losing it's believability.

Apocalypse Zero is a 1994 manga by Takayuki Yamaguchi. You might recognise that name, as he’s also the creator of Shigurui (Death Frenzy), a highly acclaimed, highly violent historical action drama about two swordsman in Edo period Japan. Apocalypse was his first big break and his first work that achieved popularity. It’s interesting to observe the sheer difference in opinions on Apocalypse Zero in the West and Japan. Apocalypse (or more accurately it’s animated adaption) is widely reviled in the anime community, with those that have seen it often have little positive to say about it. In Japan, the series was acclaimed enough to be ... a nominated finalist for the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize (which is basically the manga equivalent of the oscars). Hell, most people in English speaking territories aren’t even aware Apocalypse started as a manga. In fairness, the hate is somewhat justified. The OVA adaption of Apocalypse Zero ran for just two episodes out of a planned ten before it was abruptly cancelled, so all that was really showcased of the story was the absolutely psychotic first three volumes, which is where the series gets most of its infamy from.

Let’s start from the top. Apocalypse Zero is known for its absolutely nutty imagery, but the story is equally deranged. In WW2, an imperial scientist named Shiro Hagakure became development on a project that would surely win the war for Japan. Using various human experiments, he developed the Fortified Armor Shells, pieces of combat armor that increase strength, speed and foresight into the wearer as well as protecting them to an absurd degree. As it turns out, the armors have been encased with the 3000 souls of those used in the experiments, powering the armors themselves. The war was lost however, and Shiro died a war criminal. The armors lived on though, passed down from generation to generation until they land in the hands of Kakugo Hagekure and his brother Harara. Instead of using the armors to bring about pain, misery and domination as intended, their father trains them both in the school of Zero Form Defense (also developed by Shiro), a special type of martial arts training that strengthens their bodies to extreme levels, in the hope they will use the armors and strength to protect the weak. Eventually, the world gets destroyed by a series of disasters that leave everything in ruins. Mutated monsters start springing up all over the place and living is pretty hard for the surviving populace. Kakugo vows to protect the innocent from the horrors of the new world, whereas Harara betrays his father’s teachings and intends to wipe out humanity, using an army of mutated monsters and warlords as his source. The two come into conflict with each other and… things start getting weird. Eventually Kakugo winds up in Neo Tokyo, coincidentally the same place where Harara’s castle base is, where he enrols in a school. There he makes friends, fights off monsters sent by Harara and wracks up an extremely impressive body count, all while donning the Zero armor and frequently interacting with the hive mind of POW war experiments housed within. It’s pretty kooky.

As it stands in its unfinished state, Apocalypse Zero is a mishmash of utter chaos, full of extreme gore and repulsive imagery and heavy on shock factor. Unfortunately, it never got the chance to be more than that. The original manga begins similarly, with the first several chapters being little more than increasingly bizarre and violent fights against an array of disgusting looking monsters. Around the 4th volume though, the series takes a sudden turn and begins weirdly engaging and enjoyable. The focus on shocking imagery and bizarre scenarios slowly fades away, until we’re left with an oddly gripping and rather tender plot. Granted, it’s an extremely basic good vs evil story, and the horrific designs and boatloads of gore never go away, but an actual tenable plot is established, and the once flat and one note characters have a chance to grow and develop. Kakugo is little more than a stoic killing machine in the anime, but in the pages of the manga, his character is much more than that, and his struggle to balance his duty as the wearer of the Zero armor and his love for the friends he makes becomes a massive conflict he must overcome. Horie, the series’ main girl is little more than a ray of sunshine who swoons after Kakugo in the anime, whereas in the manga, she struggles with her own self image and dependence on herself. They’re not massively complex motivations and backgrounds, but they’re still there and they’re still appreciated. But Apocalypse Zero the anime never tackles the scenes that make Apocalypse Zero the manga such an enjoyable and surprisingly good read. So what we get is a combined 90 minutes of sheer chaos with some of the most vile imagery you’ll likely ever find in an animated release. But really, that’s what makes it so fun. The anime and manga couldn’t be further apart. One balances surrealism, carnage and character into an enjoyable and supremely well drawn story. The anime revels in its own filth and is content in being appropriately foul. And that’s okay. It’s batshit insane and it knows it, barely holding together a plot amidst the background of gore, sex and death. It’s perfect ‘turn off your brain and just marvel at the chaos’ material, though you’ll probably need a barf bag or two just to get through most of it. Nowhere else can you witness a woman hickey a man’s face off and then use it as a nipple pastie. You won’t find another anime that has a decrepit old man use his own fortified spit as ammunition and then turn his penis into a sentient dragon that shoots weaponised jizz. No other anime displays mutant nurses that use their massive Z cup boobs as missiles. You will never EVER see another show that has the main character fist fight a mutant bear with six massive titties and acidic blood in the first MINUTE. It’s Kamen Rider, Fist of the North Star, Parasyte, Berserk, Riki-Oh, Urotsukidoji and Kekko Kamen all rolled into one horrifying psychotic package that crosses the line so many times; it should win an award. Good taste and decency are foreign concepts to Apocalypse Zero, and you will know true horror when you witness its putrid depths. It’s a masterpiece of unashamed, all knowing filth that just so happens to be the first part of a much larger and much more engrossing plot. Turn off your mind and behold its madness, you’ll never seen anything else like it.

Apocalypse Zero is a two part mid 1990s OVA which ticks every box that either made this era utterly brilliant or one to completely avoid depending on your preferences. It has excessive violence from the start with people exploding from the inside out, being diced into small pieces and having their faces sucked off to name but a few, it has nudity, it has hysterical localisation and over the top moves. While plenty other anime and OVAs have done this before Apocalypse Zero turns the volume up to 11 and then stands there with a smug grin on its face as the lunacy explodes on ... the screen throughout its just over an hour running time. Needless to say this is not a series for everyone or indeed probably the majority of the anime watching community but from that brief overview you should be able to say whether you want to jump on and enjoy the ride or not.

The story that holds all the excitement together is surprisingly actually a fairly decent affair: In a post-apocalyptic world there are two brothers who have been trained in a powerful martial art which uses semi biological armoured suits, one of the brothers decides to use his power to create his perfect world and the other to protect the innocent civilian population. This all sounds very similar to a much more famous series from around a decade earlier and Apocalypse Zero makes no secret of its inspirations as we are greeted by the image of a lone flower in the opening scene, a character repeatedly sings about allowing nature to come back to the planet and one of the brothers throws his defeated sibling down a crevasse in the back story.

Of course you don’t really watch something like Apocalypse Zero for a deep and engrossing story and as I mentioned in the opening paragraph where Apocalypse Zero really shines is the level that it takes the expected violence in this sort of OVA to. Make no mistake about it Apocalypse Zero is spectacularly violent even by the standards of where it draws some of its inspiration from and furthermore the manner in which it goes about its business is really something else. It throws a giant naked cannibalistic female at you in the first minute follows this up with a blue giant rocker who uses his genitalia as a microphone. The break between the two OVAs gives you a time for a breather before it comes back even harder with a sexual deviant of a nurse whose bodily fluids melt flesh and who transforms in a giant nymphomaniac with a bearded man’s face in her midriff and finally hits the home run with a geriatric old man whose genitalia transform into a dragon. You really couldn’t make this up and the sheer level of bizarreness Apocalypse Zero throws at you is what makes it really stand out either in a good way or bad way depending on what you’re after.

The art style of Apocalypse Zero is really rather pleasing bringing to life the destroyed world it takes place in very much to the same standard Fist of the North Star or Violence Jack does. The character detail on the strange range of creatures is also rather good and when something goes pop, gets sliced in half or melted the artwork keeps pace without missing a beat. The sound design is a bit of a let-down but surprisingly the dub version isn’t actually appalling and is very watchable, the Japanese voice work is top notch hardly surprising since it features some great talents in Kouichi Yamadera and Megumi Ogata as the two leads however the localisation does result in some absolutely hysterical phrases for some of the move names on display.

In short Apocalypse Zero is either a must see or something to completely avoid depending on whether or not you want to watch an utterly bonkers piece of work. Make no mistake about it Apocalypse Zero will leave you crying with laughter, doing double takes as you try and work out what it is you’re watching and just generally grinning as the madness plays out or you’ll watch the first ten minutes and turn it off thinking what a load of rubbish!

I absolutely loved this anime! I love crazy stuff like this! I watched this because one of my favourite actors Mona Marshall was voicing the villain in the English dub! Because I watched this I love Harara! She is freaking awesome! I don't care about good plots as long as it catches my attention I will watch any anime!
The music is badass and very catchy! The funniest scene was when the protagnist Kakago pimp slapped another character I was like random comedy! I know this show is not for everyone it's like wine an acquired taste but I for one loved it!

This is, likely, the most disgusting anime I have come across. It does a near perfect job of looking like it's going to stop being extremely gross, then (just when I think it's finally done) returns to exploding bodies, ripping people's faces off, spewing out mostly-digested (but still somehow living) people, and the like.

i cant stress this enough don't watch this pile of crap...unless you like bad guys that clap there balls together and shoot lighting out of there rear end...then this is the anime for you..its the one of the worse anime i have ever seen. Normally i like wired power anime but this one went hard into the dirt . the biggest part is that the fist episode lies to the viewer and make it look as if this will be alot like guyver or fist of the north star but then the second and thankfully last episode is just the pathetic attempt at anime...

Warning possible Spoilers

Despite how weird this OVA is I'm surprised by the low score it has because this was actually pretty entertaining and seems like a gem among anime itself because we'll probably never see something like this ever again.

In a world gone mad the human race must do whatever they can to survive so a boy named Kakugo is gifted with his martial art skills and a super powerful suit of armour called Zero to protect Humanity however his sister Harara wants to destroy Humanity and Kakugo is the only one who can stop her.
Despite how weird the situations are in this OVA it ... actually has a solid story, the training that Kakugo and Harara had to go through so the armour would accept them since the armour they both wear is actually alive so the training they have to go through looked really tough and would definitely kill any normal human being.
You also get to see how the human race has adapted to this dead world and even with no hope of a better future in site we still somehow survive the gruelling challenges this world offers.
It also shows the rivalry between Kakugo and Harara's different opinions on the human race's existence, Kakugo has sworn to protect the human race at any cost while Harara want's to destroy the human race so that the Monsters can rule it so seeing them go head to head on their believes was an interesting battle.

The characters aren't really the strongest part of the whole OVA, but they get the done as long as they aren't annoying as hell.
Kakugo is the MC and he is a very Stoic and Honourable person as he vows to protect Humanity from any threat and is willing to sacrifice himself for even a single human, thanks to his training he has mastered the use of the Zero suit and when he goes toe to toe with any of the monsters he certainly gives us a badass battle.
Harara is the main villainess and her objective is to save the world by destroying the human race, she is a cruel leader and kills anyone who objectifies her order's, but she is powerful too and will even use the dead corpses of her subjects just so she can defeat Kakugo.
Tsumiko is Kakugo's classmate and she also has a crush on Kakugo especially when she finds out he is the one in the Zero armour after the multiple times he saves her, she is also a very cheerful person and cares a lot for Kakugo's life whenever he's in battle.

The artstyle is actually very well done, the characters look ok, but you can see other random characters who have been affected by the destructive outcome of the world and the monster's oh the monsters look absolutely grotesque and terrifying they are probably the most terrifying things I have encountered in anime and getting caught by these abominations is definitely a fate you don't want to suffer. I also liked the design of the Zero armour it looks very different compared to other armour I've seen and definitely fits as a heroic symbol for a world as bad as this.

The action were pretty entertaining and massive, the monsters Kakugo had to fight against don't always show up in their normal form and the scope of the battle just gets bigger and bigger each time as more powerful opponents show up.

The horror aspect is done amazingly well and I mean from a gore perspective because the way people die in this OVA is a fate worse than death itself and it's always something sexual too so you know it's going to be a really disturbing and horrifying death which makes you glad this sort of world doesn't exist.

Overall I thought this was a weirdly entertaining OVA I would be interested if a TV show was developed, but considering the law's we have these days that will never happen, but at least we can enjoy the OVA so if you're looking for something extremely messed up then try this.

Bear Tits! No I am not kidding at all folks. Yep I hope you like your bears and fond memories of Yogi Bear! Elderly Seniors will forever being ruined once you see the epic glory of it all and the faithful companion that helps said 98 year old elderly fight. Breakout the popcorn because I hope you like Missy Piggy as this anime's nightmarish take it and a BDSM wearing Smurf with a dick microphone sings songs of sweet nothings that would make even Simon Cowell stand up and applaud this years winner of American Idol. Or America's Got Talent. *pick your poison: I don't ... judge. Except I'm starting to judge myself for actually watching this anime.*
Have I mentioned I"ve dragged my poor friend into watching this carnival of beauty in all of it's MAJESTIC GLORY AND PRESTIGE? Yes he'll probably have to go back to watching normal porn in order to cleanse his mind of this fine fine platter of animated smut.

This anime is truly awful, this is easily the lowest score I've ever given for an anime. This should probably be titled "cliche: the anime." The anime couldn't be fucked to come up with an original name for their "world" so they called it neo-tokyo. The villain wants to "destroy all humanity!" And the henchmen seem totally cool with this idea even though some of them are human too. Of course, the villain puts one of her henchman in line for bragging about killing 65 people by essentially saying "oh yeah, well I've killed 3,000!" And then going on to massacre everybody in the most ... absurdly gorey manner possible. Because she's literally "the best fighter in the world."

The anime also seems to feel the need to explain even the most mundane details to you. The world has essentially been completely destroyed and is post-apocalyptic, but characters still feel the need to inform the MC that "there is no law enforcement, and killing and looting is everywhere." Perhaps, to sum it up easier, the dialogue seems like it was created by a ten year old.

It almost feels like the writer was intentionally trying to create as bad of an anime as possible. If that was the intention then they did a pretty good job of it. The only reason this anime doesn't have a 2 or 1 is because I reserve those ratings for stuff that actually freaks me out. This didn't freak me out but holy shit it is dreadful. Halfway through the first episode I was already asking "is this over yet?" I was quite disappointed to find that I still had another episode to go. When you're audience is already asking "is it over yet" after 20 minutes, you really fucked up.

So yup, this is the first anime I've rated a 3. I felt that deserved an explanation of some kind.

The ancient text that can be found within the scrolls written by our lord and savior, Tre Seslar, claim that the two greatest sins that any piece of entertainment can do is to be boring or rely solely on the ancient pagan indoctrination ritual that our collective society have christened it as.....Agenda *thunderclap SFX*. A perfect case of not one but an unholy matrimony of these two abhorrent, effrontery acts of transgression can be found within a piece of media that has been deemed so foul that many have decided the idea of throwing a Cheese Tasting that held the exotic cheeses made entirely from ... butter knife scrapped pungent molds cultivated from the numerous different sections of Rasputin's long, throbbing, ripe, uncircumcised, erected and veiny...Ukraine annihilator to be a more pleasant form of entertainment or watching an episode of Trash Taste. And this atrocious rape of human decency is the one and only....High Guardian Spice.

Kakugo no Susume is Ashi Production's Requiem in D Minor. After years of slaving away their wasted youth underneath the watchful eye of their Dickensque factory overlords Goldschem- Pro Media Blasters; cranking out forgettable shit like Neglected Pablo And The Aiwha vs. Raul Ortiz and Phoenix University Graduate Doctor Chichibuyama In... The Wrongful Death Lawsuit for one penny sterling and some porridge, leaving each fifteen hour shift in a state of hollowed, existential dread from yet another day of drawing fucking whales. Until one day, after years of Media Blasters metaphorically spreading their stinky, Nikocado Avocado-tier gaping assholes against the employer abused cartooners withered faces; a bolt of creative inspirational defiance came as Hirano Toshiki sluggishly walked the cold, concrete streets of Suginami when he held up his usually shoe-affixed gaze to be graced with a holy sight. A single volume of Manga took residence through the glass protected display of the local bookstore, Kakugo No Susume.
Spending his entire year's pay, Toshiki spent the entire night in his apartment complex reading the tome of knowlege. His once stoic expression blossomed into that of child-like joy; the first time happiness was ever introduced to his frail face muscles. He looked up from the finished magnum opus that laid on his crossed legs and into the great white moon through the foggy Tokyo sky. The birth of the new Ashi Production begun...

Kakugo No Susume is a highlight from the Golden Age of exploitive OVAs of the 80s' and 90s'. An era where companies like D.A.S.T. (Angel Cop, Violence Jack, Battle Royal High School), Arms (A Kite), and Magic Bus (Kizuoibito) were more interested in going the Dario Argento Italian Horror Faces of Death Grindhouse Straight to Video route regarding animation. Where story and character take a back seat towards how many times can we grotesquely rape, maim, and torture 2D pictures in creative and disgusting ways; and Kakugo No Susume is the peak of this mindset. The villians are these large, grotesque creatures that range from a the 1996 winner in a small town's annual Mama Cass lookalike contest LARPing as Divine to the love child of a rapey Albinauric and Master Roshi who's dick resembles the Dream Demons from A Final Nightmare. Within the first episode a girl is palm crushed like the butt of a Camel Crush, where a torrent of vomit, blood, and entrails spew out of every single orifice. A boy, tied to a bed, does his best Hisashi Ouchi impression after a passionate post-sex kiss. Another scene later on features a team building excercise of the sex variety ending prematurely when Vagina Nietzsche is the group coordinator. Kakugo No Susume knows that if she's got the Tongass between her legs, prepare to only see your kids on the weekend. Even after the destruction of 80% of mankind and the collapse of society its good to know that Japan still values the importance of the public education system, the benefits of water aerobics with your coaches, William Shatner and Robert Wagner and the dangers of individuality by still somehow being able to supply school uniforms. Despite the influx of grotesque monsters that Hajime Isayama must have "took inspiration from" when designing the antagonists of your Sonic obsessed, goggle-wearing Spectrum nephew's favorite show.
The italian dub voice actress for Hiroko looks like Wall Mila Kunis

The main character Kakugo is a stoic, but very relatable character to us 6'2, tobacco-smoking, Miller Time is 8:00 AM All The Time men. The type of man who falls for the trad Christian wife who gives your school desk a good wipe before you show up and knows how to cook a good steak, Tsumiko is pure and loyal...she'll never have to feel the full force of the Ike Turner Full Throttle that took me years to hone on Blak & Blu Ave....right next to the Battered Women Shelter (no correlation; just coincidence). Many of us have felt the existential irritance of pouring our cereal before realizing we have no milk. The only time Kakugo could relate to that pain of a weaker man was when he was met with the sight of his father getting Morrow'd by his own sister, Aladdin Sane; that Queen Bitch better watch that man, Kakugo. Fear him as she fears the use of any Gillette product.

The art is atrocious; like, holy fucking shit. Usually these old-school OVAs have some pretty fantastic art, especially when it comes to the gore aspects but..holy fucking shit. The characters are constantly off-model and anatomically incorrect its not even fucking funny; its on par with that eight second clip of InuYasha on that one skit of Robot Chicken. And there's no place more apparent of this awful animation then that of the eyes. The girl in Middle School who wore the cat ears and played clarinet in band with the damaged copy of Fruits Basket Vol. 1 and who constantly checked out the How to Draw Anime guide could draw better than this. The dub for this is a master class in bad dubbing, its as if they got the voice talent from every single notoriously bad voice acted Playstation 1 game, dragged them all to Chelmno and instead of gas decided to set up a sound booth, gave them the script, and told them to work.

This isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. If you're someone who views Demon Slayer as a masterpiece you're not going to enjoy what this has to offer. Mainly because you refuse to watch anything past 2015 and isn't on Crunchyroll. But if you enjoy schlock and the exploitative anime of old and the only thing that brings any form of happiness to your jaded existence is the mutilation of smaller life forms by bigger life forms then go for it.

This is the stupidest thing ever made.

The deranged fever dream of what parents in the 90's thought anime must have been like, Apocalypse Zero is an obscenely violent, bizarrely sexual nightmare of utter absurdity that reaches a gradually increasing fevered pitch until everything about it fades into a stream of consciousness bout of nonsense.

The entire anime feels like someone took a sample combination of random cliche shonen scenes and put it into a GPT-3 Bot and then added hentai samples randomly, and then they took the script that came out of it and animated it. The plot legitimately feels so derivative to be written by ... a botnet combo of edgy 80's shonen action anime, but it was written by real people and is completely serious.

Objectively, this is a 2, maybe a 3. In terms of my personal enjoyment, it's a 10. My ranking of a 6 is based upon the objective use value of this series considering these factors. This is the definition of So Bad It's Good.

Dear God what the fuck did I just watch?? I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the penis and vagina monsters were present and got a lot of screen time. The style is fucking weird but it's at least consistent, every character looks like they were mutated from a nuclear Holocaust. The sheer ridiculousness is enough to take out a frail Victorian child. In terms of animation, plot, and violence, this is a lot. I personally am not a fan, and I'd die before watching it again, but I can appreciate it's cultural importance (to an extent lmao) and I understand why people ... like it. Idk, the animation was the main thing for me. Watch it if you dare, and if you don't, well you just saved yourself a whole lot of time