Ranked #1036

Zegapain

I’ll admit I was quite biased when I heard that Sunrise was going to make yet another mecha anime. One day I said “why not?” and watched the first episode afterwards I knew this was something quite different than your usual mecha fare. One of the major things that struck me was the OP (disguised as the ED in the first ep), “Kimi e Mukau Hikari” sung by Akino Arai. This was not a fast paced song with intense mecha action in the background. Instead the OP featured a slow, beautifully sung ballad predominantly featuring the characters of the series, not the giant robots. This really sets the tone for the entire series.

Many people say that the beginning of Zegapain starts off very slow and doesn’t really start till a few episodes in. However, for me I was quite intrigued by the many subtle hints found in the first few eps. What is Shizuno’s relationship with Kyo? What was the deal with that scene? What is really going on? The story effectively builds upon itself and builds several layers of complexity. Each episode flowed quite well with each other, thus making many cliffhangers. Although, if I had to complain about the pacing it does somewhat falter a little in the midteens. In addition, the story features several classic philosophical ideal from Descartes to Berkeley (?). However, unlike other anime titles Zegapain doesn’t bog the viewer down with its ideas.

Animation-wise there really isn’t anything to complain about, it seems Sunrise put a decent about of money into producing this anime. CG for the fight scenes at least in the beginning was kind of weak however, they managed to fix that mid series.

In terms of sound, I really like the OST and it really accents many of scenes while not being too forward and in your face. However, it’s the OP and EDs which really stick out for me and are constantly appearing in my playlist.

In general there is an overarching sense of sadness throughout the series and quite a bit of drama. However, not so much as to make the viewer go numb. Do not watch Zegapain for the action, watch it for the story and characters. While the action scenes are nicely done there are far better shows out there if that’s what you are looking for.
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Zegapain is one of those animes that lets you, the viewer decide what you think is truth. That kind of story basis is throughout quite alot of the episodes. It follows the main character Kyo throughout his appectance/denial of the evidence that reality to him isn't atall what its made out to be. This along with clues that the writers threw in made this a very interesting anime to watch.
Personally I found the main background story very compelling series and a slight urgency to see the next episode. There was a big drama side to zegain more of following kyo and his decissions and how he devlops as a person.
They have provided alot of cliff hangers in the series which could be described as moments where you think "did that really just happen?" , "wth is going to happen next!!".

As for the action in the series, you wont be disapointed the action is very gripping and well co-ordinated. The final parts of the anime is where the action excels tho. As you would expect of anime meca anime you would expect big overpowered meca with different battle abilties, it forfils these qualities in the fullest. As all good anime's do they throw in a couple of rivals that shows up later that are as equally skilled.

The animation is main CG work however they do incorprate the drawings to CG very well, The mec & ship designs looked orginal rather than a certain well known meca anime that every man and their dog seem to rip off.

Sound: The OST music throughout the series was perfect well suited to the situations given. The opening and ending themes were very good also.

Overall i can say i really enjoyed zega it did exactley what it set out to do tell a story while looking good doing it! I was impressed throughout and recommend to anyone. + there is a 360 game of zega id like to play :)
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