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May 26, 2020
As far as new Mecha shows go, this series is criminally under-watched.
Lacking English subs, and being based on a relatively old franchise, not many people have seen this series in full.
As a quick disclaimer: this review is written when the series has been placed on hold due to COVID-19. It covers the first 32 episodes.
The first thing that needs to be pointed out, is that this series is not a sequel to: "Zoids Wild"
It has nothing to do with Zoids Wild except for sharing some mech designs. In canon it would be a prequel to "Wild", but even this is a stretch as many things
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are different between the two series. Wild is a much more Pokemon-esq periodic show, while Wild ZERO is a militaristic setting.
Wild ZERO has far more in common with the classic Zoids series of "Chaotic Century" than it does with "Zoids Wild". In fact, as far as the series has currently progressed, it can be considered an implicit, but distant, sequel to Chaotic Century (and hence also New Century).
Wild ZERO features the "Empire" and the "Republic", and directly references Planet Zi as wall as many technologies and terminology seen "Chaotic Century". It shares much of the staff with "Chaotic Century", including some of the original voice actors. Several characters have naming conventions that mirror names in "Chaotic Century", perhaps as an Easter Egg.
To preface the rest of this review, it needs to be stated that if you've seen "Chaotic Century", you should pick up this series. You don't have to watch "Zoids Wild" to get into it first. Much of the rest of this review will be based around at least a passing knowledge of Zoids.
If you don't know what Zoids are, then they are basically big mech animals/dinosaurs that people can fight with. Having animal designs makes them somewhat unique as far as mech shows go. In Zoids there are no humanoid mechs (the closest are the Great Ape Zoids).
So now for the actual review.
Story - the story here is fairly bog standard. Much like how Chaotic Century had the cast helping Fiona find the mysterious "Zoid Eve" mostly as a mcguffin, much of the story in Wild ZERO is the main characters helping Sally search for her grandfather and the related plot devices that come with this.
There's nothing to write home about the actual story telling as the plot itself is pretty basic. But they do a good job with pacing. The show is effectively a kids-rated action show. Don't expect it to push any envelopes with twists turns or shocking things happening. For better or worse, it's played straight.
As the series is predominantly poised to sell model kits, sometimes story events feel a bit out of place with certain new Zoids appearing unannounced just to have their time slot, effectively as an ad. But other times this works in the series favour, rather than waiting an entire series to drop "boss" Zoids, there's a surprising amount of action. Big Zoids that other series would hold off until the end of the series, are dropped in pretty early with only a relatively short introduction. This keeps the action coming at a steady pace, and turns out to be a great way of pacing the series.
Art - The artwork in this series is good. Nothing overly fantastic, but there's far less "lazy" animation than you'd expect in a long-running mech show. The CGI is vibrant and detailed, the "Wild Blast" mechanic seen in Zoids Wild is nowhere near as repetitive, and the characters are also distinctive.
Sound - If I had to take points off this series, it would be for the background music. The music is largely orchestral pieces which are fine in some scenes but can be grating in others. There's nothing "wrong" with the current soundtrack, but a lot could be added to the show by having a more vibrant and catchy set of BGM.
Character - The cast is distinctive, but also pretty bland. I actually have to give credit here. I feel like the series could have tried to rope in more viewers by having quirky characters, but they stick to their guns and keep the cast heavily grounded in reality. The trouble is, realistic characters are boring. But it's also refreshing to see writers have straight-laced characters that don't try too hard.
Enjoyment - This is something that will differ from person to person. I feel like if you watch this show out of the blue, its guaranteed to be forgettable. It's not a series I can go recommending to just anyone.
However, if you've seen (and liked) Chaotic Century, then this series is 100% for you. Chaotic Century just turned 20 years old last year, Wild ZERO is a long-awaited return to the look and feel of Zoids of old. Watching it is not just backed by nostalgia, it has a strong series with some compelling action in it. For a 6th series in the Zoids franchise, it does a lot of things right.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 31, 2010
To write a spoiler-free review of lagann-hen is difficult, especially since there is quite some variation from the show. However, I will write this review on the basis that I don't want to spoil TTGL or Lagann-hen.
First things to say would be, Lagann-hen is a must watch.
To review Lagann-hen I think I should sum up some of the premonitions I had before watching it. I had seen Gurren-hen, and although I enjoyed it, I actually didn't like it as much as the series. Gurren-hen seemed a bit rushed to cover the first part of the series, and was chopped and changed here and
...
there.
So coming into Lagann-hen, I was expecting this to be Gurren-hen for the second half of the show... Boy was I wrong.
Like Gurren-hen it does re-use a lot of images from the anime, however at most points they are in a different order, or given new narration. Large sections were redone completely.
The story is much the same as TTGL, however some minor differences persist. I won't say them in detail, lest I plague this review with spoilers, but I will say that I think the main cast is better represented in this movie. Each character is shown thinking or doing things that may have happened off screen in the TTGL anime. This sheds new light on some characters, while giving others more of a noticeable role. There was not one change I disliked about Lagann-hen. All the good bits were there, and all the bad bits were polished into good bits. Never once did the story feel rushed.
The actual ending of the show is nudged off course from the anime, but not in a way that breaks any of the continuity. It seems like every opportunity Ginax had to make the show better, they took it. Some places it seems almost unnecessary to alter the little things, but the overall effect is an amazing addition of depth to the plot.
As far as art goes, there are only improvements from the anime. The anime itself had great art, but the movie shook that up, turned it around and increased it to something that was a totally new, and increased it to a quality suitable to the big screen. Some of the movie is straight the same as the show, much of it is different. But not once did the animation look out of place. (Unlike Gurren-hen, where some of the new animations seemed a little too noticeable.)
Sound, was brilliant. If I can make a recommendation, listen to this in surround sound. It's not just the sound effects that have been given extra "omph", the entire voice acting matched perfectly, new lines flowed into old ones, narration covered some points and none of it had even the slightest flaw. I was surprised to hear the TTGL anime theme music kick in at the right place, I don't think any other piece of music could have fit there, sure enoguh, Ginax kept it for the movie. Full points here, it's been a long time since any show has had this much music that just screams, raps and wails ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH!
Character development was something I enjoyed very, VERY much. This was probably the biggest change to the show. Each character, no matter how minor, was given full attention and detail. Their roles never waned from their original, and only expanded the Dai-Gurren Dan feel. There are some surprising things that the characters go through in the moive, that is not present in the anime, it'll be obvious what I mean when you watch it. The characters are surprisingly human, if you cut them, they bleed, is one of the things the movie makes obvious. But it also shows, you cut a lion and you'll be faced with the claws. Dodge the claws and the fangs are next. The characters prove an unrelenting injection of determination and awesome, that the series did so well.
Enjoyment is next. Woah, did I ever enjoy it! Personally, this movie had me hooked. Having seen Gurren-hen, I was a bit inclined to think "skip" for the first bit and then just watch the end. But no, it had me on the edge of my seat all the way, even though I knew exactly what was going to happen! One of the things that made this movie more enjoyable, was the inclusion of a few jokes here and there. Even at the most serious of times, they put in a little one liner that really brought it down to earth. This is TTGL, after all, was the feeling I got from these kind of moments.
Overall:
Lagann-hen has to be THE crowning moment of awesome for Gainax, if not all anime. I've seen a lot of mecha shows, I've seen a lot of hot-blooded pilots, cool super attacks and climatic battles, but none scratch the level of awesome exuded by Lagann-hen. Strangely, I'm not over-exaggerating here. But I will admit, Lagann-hen doesn't stand on its own. I don't think Gurren-hen supports it well enough to just watch those two on their own. And if you didn't like the series, then re-watching the ending may not cut it for you. Even though the ending to the movie covers far more plot and detail than the series did (and it did it in less time to). My overall conclusion would be, Lagann-hen is TTGL at its best. I don't think it could be perfected by even 1% more. If you even enjoyed 1/2 episode from the latter half of TTGL, you will enjoy this movie.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 11, 2009
The first thing to mention, is that Busou Renkin uses terms like "alchemy" and "homunculus". I want to make this clear, Busou Renkin is not a full metal alchemist rip-off. (because that's what I thought it was when I read the plot summary... boy was I wrong.)
Story:
Busou Renkin's story is fairly simple "us" vs "them" goodies vs baddies. But it's the way it's executed that makes the story great. Although there are not many actual plot twists as such (there are a few good ones, though) the plot manages to keep the viewer guessing. What's going to happen? Who is the main villain? How will
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they defeat them? All these questions are asked, and depending on which episode your at, they have totally different answers. You might be able to guess where the series is going, but it'll jump in leaps and bounds. What might take another series 10 episodes to do, Busou Renkin does in 3. This is a good thing, because it means there is little filler in Busou Renkin, all the battles and every episode serves to progress the plot/characters. It's a well-lengthed series, that really ramps up at around episode 7.
Art:
One thing to say on this. It's "magnificent". The battles are great, the CGI is well used, but more prominently are the character costumes. This anime has some of (if not the most) memorable characters ever... (although, those that have seen the series, sometimes wish they were not so memorable...)
Sound:
The intro theme in particular is one of the most catchy, hot-blooded and awesome pieces of music in anime. The in-series sound effects are good, and likewise the voice acting. I couldn't fault the sound at all.
Character:
This is where the series shines. The characters are ... well. Words simply can't describe them without plunging into spoilers. Let's just say, the characters make the series. The are unique (which is a hard thing to do in modern anime) and there are enough of them for everyone to find at least 1 character to love or hate.
Enjoyment:
Busou Renkin is a thoroughly enjoyable series. I could liken it to the comedic-yet-serious nature of Trigun or Kenshin, and I say it's one of the best.
Overall:
It's not for everyone, if you want a serious, dramatic anime, your out of luck here. But if you want a good, enjoyable, action packed, but believable anime, Busou Renkin is for you. It really must be watched, and then you can come to your own conclusions. But probably the biggest stand-out feature is how unique it is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 10, 2009
SEED had the makings to be a gundam classic, instead it became the epitome of why people dislike the gundam series.
From a personal viewpoint, I am a huge gundam fan, I've seen every series, and usually enjoy them. This was not the case with SEED.
To fans of SEED, I apologise for writing a mostly negative review. To people who may be thinking about converting to the Mecha genre, or to people who have grown up watching gundam, take SEED with a grain of salt, you may want to shop around before setting your sights on this series.
Story:
The story of SEED is almost identical to
...
that of original gundam, with many recurring themes, mecha and unfortunately plot holes. The first gundam series was released in 1979, making it one of the oldest mecha shows to exits. As such, it had a rather lacklustre plot, however, it could be excused because it invented the term "real robot". SEED has no such excuse. After nearly 25 years, the plot features little improvement. The recurring theme of "Coordinators vs Naturals" is about the only plot device the series entails, and proceeds to extrapolate every aspect of this concept far beyond what would be logical or reasonable. The idea is a good premise, that I want to make clear. But the execution is what drags the series down. The series is plagued with flashbacks, and re-telling of events so many times that it looses any significant value it may have started with. Surely if the war was so important, there would be more than 1 event to flashback? Apparently not. The series uses plot devices that border on the ridiculous. Due to giving away spoilers, and there being too many to list, I'll refrain from the details (some may mark my review down because of this, I'm wiling to live with that...)
Art:
The main drive behind SEED is the artwork. Googling gundad seed will result in many high-definition shiny CGI models of the main mecha in the show. Unfortunately, this is about all the series amounts to. Most of the mecha are rendered in such a way, that still images are used to perform almost any action sequence. Most of the main mecha have around 3 different animation patters, and the 50 episodes are made up of these attacks played back on different backgrounds. Additionally, there is a substantial drop in quality between still, and live footage. When a mecha shows up for the first time, it will be rendered with a nice and brilliant shine. However, when the mecha moves, the view will be disappointed to see the shine is now gone, replaced with blobs of blue white and red. Other aspects of the artwork include many battle inconsistencies, such as firing dozens of missiles, and only showing three hitting their mark/being shot down. Other aspects of the fight include lasers coming out at 30, 40 degrees from the gun nozzle. This is a prime example of the animators using recycled frames to try and fill a battle, the gundam may be facing straight-on, but it will be firing at enemies above and to the left, without turning the gun.
Sound:
The sound, and background music in particular, is very good. I can find little fault with them in this regard. The sound effects also suit the mecha. The voice acting is a little dry, but compared to the other shortcomings of the series, I'm willing to let these aspects go, and say the sound track is very good.
Character:
This was an extremely disappointing aspect of the show. Some characters were much too unbelievable to be considered "real robot" pilots. The battles were not won through skill from the main cast, more it was won through complete lack of skill by the minor cast. Almost every mecha pilot, who is not in a gundam, has trouble keeping the robot upright. This makes some of the fights seem like dancing around totem poles, waiting for the poles to randomly fall over trying to watch you dance. Good mehca battles should be fair battles, not overly trivialised cumbersome ones. Piloting skills aside, the rest of the cast borders on annoying. If the viewer can get past the "why are 15 year-olds piloting the best mecha/battleship we own" factor, they are met with conflicting emotions, that run so deep characters can be hugging one minute, stabbing each other the next, and be hugging again in five minutes time. Most of the cast seem to poddle along like a learner driver, trying to figure which gear they need to be in, stalling when the get it wrong, restarting, then doing it all over again. It tried to make characters "real" but served to make them anything but "real".
Enjoyment:
I'm normally someone to say "enjoy it for what it is", and I can get through watching the worst of the worst that way. But SEED just featured too many flashbacks, too many recycled frames, and enough plot holes to make swiss cheese jealous. Watching this on DVD, it is clear to see what the company tried to do, they provide 4 episodes per DVD, 3 of these serve as filler, and the 4th serves to have a cliff-hanger to rope people into buying the next DVD... only to have them faced with another 3 episodes of filler. The series also managed to fail at meeting most gundam standards, with the mecha dropping many real robot traits.
Overall:
SEED serves as good homage material, showing the infamous "Zaku" to many gundam fans for the first time. But with enormous amounts of filler, the plot, battles and animation quickly become repetitive and dry. Perhaps SEED would have made a good OVA, or 8 episode series. But it was much too long, and suffered from very unbelievable situations to rope together the little plot that didn't have holes in it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Dec 10, 2009
This OVA tells the story of the very first Fire Emblem game, and features Marth (Mars in the OVA) as the main character. From Super Smash Bros. fame, Marth's game was not released outside of Japan, that was until 2008/9, where a remake was made for DS, which saw international release. This OVA, strangely, was dubbed into English before Math made his maiden appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Ironically, his name was translated as "Mars" in this release. The final thing to note, before I start fully reviewing the OVA, is that it only lasts 2 episodes. It was cancelled before any additional episodes
...
were made, as such the story only just reaches the introductory stages before the series ends.
The actual OVA is quite old, and the animation style is very indicative of the era. This aside, it is quite well done. The sound also leaves a lot to be desired, old compression technology means most copies of this OVA still in existence are distorted with VHS-encoded sound. Expect a few drops in pitch and tone while watching this OVA. Encoding aside, the sound is very noticeable, with the Fire Emblem Main Theme having an excellent rendition in the OVA.
As mentioned before, being only 2 episodes long, the story is nothing more than introduction. There is no "middle" or "end" to the OVA, only a "beginning". But the bits that are there are well done, they give a good impression of the setting, and many of the characters are given more story than they are in the game, which is a nice feature. The characters are likeable, and each have their own traits. They differ from the game slightly, as some are stronger than their in-game appearances would imply.
Overall, it's a must-see for Marth fans, since it gives a few glimpses to his role in the Fire Emblem franchise. This OVA does more in 2 episodes than most of the dialogue in his game, thanks to his game being a NES-era game (with only bare-minimum amounts of text). But aside from fans of the series(or people who just want to know a bit about fire emblem), the OVA is too short to be considered a full plot.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 2, 2009
The original, and one of the best Zoids anime. With plenty of plot, this is one of the most well-developed plots of any Zoids series, with perhaps Genesis being second. The voice acting is sometimes a bit sub-par, but the rest of the series is very enjoyable. It's fairly cartoon-ey in nature, but that adds to the quality of the series.
Mecha sizes can vary massively, the scale of Zoids is very inconsistent, but this is one of the few limitations of the series. Overall the animation is very good, especially considering this series is the first Zoids series to be produced.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 2, 2009
A fairly typical mecha show. The plot is much stronger than most of the other Zoids series, which is what makes Genesis worth watching. The removal of basically all the old Zoids may be a turn off for long time Zoids fans, but on the other hand, it's good to have a breath of new life into the series. The battles are interesting, and the animation is very good. It does use CGI-inspired graphics, but it is well polished, and the Zoids have excellent run-cycles.
One of the better mecha shows, although it does suffer from being a tad cliche and typical, a must watch
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for any Zoids fan.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 2, 2009
This might sound like a harsh thing to say, but this is one of the worst series I've ever seen. The plot is terrible, and the voice actors are outstandingly bad. The fights are poorly strung together and are terrible to look at. This series was cancelled from US airways for good reason. Although it does get better in the latter half, it's not enough to recover from the terrible first half.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Oct 2, 2009
If you want giant fighting robots, look no further. If you want plot and character development, your out of luck. I've seen many mecha shows, and by far the animation quality of this series is something to behold. With dramatic fights every episode, this series has no short supply of action. However, the plot is very lackluster at best, it makes for an excellent series to just pick up a random episode and start watching.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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