Zetman

"To be the man, you gotta beat the man".
- Ric Flair

Being a superhero is never easy, especially when you try to live a double life. Superheroes like Batman, Superman, and Spiderman deals with the dangers they get exposed to on a daily basis. They feel like it's their responsibility to protect the innocent and deliver that strong sense of justice. After all, justice is the judgement of truth and to uphold such a sense comes at a great responsibility, sacrifice, and lives.

Then there comes a hero at the darkest hour. He is ZET. Enter Zetman.

The story is set in the modern times with ... technology that passes our own in the real world. Such technology of course brings forth wealth, prosperity, hope, but also crime and monstrosity. Luckily for the good folks, we have heroes.

Now, to call Jin a superhero would be an overstatement. He is in fact some of us see as a dark hero of vengeance. Or maybe, we should call him a dark angel. Because of his efforts, lives are saved but not without a cost. That's the price of being a hero. Sometimes, you just can't save everyone. Yet Jin is an interesting character if we look at him carefully. He is quite the mysterious figure and for most of us, difficult to read. After witnessing the tragedies of his past, Jin swears vengeance and to never let anyone else close to him die again. Now that my friends makes him the dark hero, the dark angel, and the holder of justice in a different light.

Then, we have somewhat of the antithesis of the story, Kouge Amagi. Both academically and sports-inclined, he is also popular and has nearly everything he's ever wanted...wealth, admirers, and a family. Yet, there's one thing he seems to be missing and always wanted. That would be his dream of becoming a hero of justice, one that people admire, one that people respect, and one that helps the helpless. Unlike Jin however, Amagi's desire to become such a hero is quite on the opposite globe. (rather than for vengeance to say the least) In his mind, justice should be delivered and enemies of justice will be terminated. Bu it's a lot said easier than done.

We also have some of the other characters that lighten up the gloom and doom story a bit. The all innocent Konoha Amagi, and sister of Kouga, who has known Jin since their childhood times. The tomboy Hanako who has a curiosity in our dark hero (who also holds a dark secret) and among others. They tend to balance out the dark atmosphere and brings a little light as well as entertainment into the story.

Now for the story. I'll best honest here, it's not really well performed. There's always a risk of making an anime adaptation off of a manga but even more so in this case because the amount of material it covers. There's a lot of potential and believe me, I want to see it at its finest form. Yet what I see so far is a rushed story based off a manga of over 150 chapters. It doesn't also help with the fact that the series only runs for 13 episodes. Thirteen episodes I'd repeat again! With that unlucky number, my hopes for the overall story is a little bit down with its rushed sequences. All in honesty, it kinda feels like reading a story with chapters missing. Oh yes, there are some awesome fights and blood gore if you can take it in the stomach. However, it feels that a piece of excitement is missing. This series could become a real blockbuster made for mature audiences with its old school action and violence. Yet with only 13 episodes, I just don't see how it could out perform some of the other longer series of this Spring. Maybe our heroes can save this series from being sent into turmoil.

As for the art, the series seems to adapt a bit of old school. With the old school-like art, it certainly spawns some nostalgia in some of us who have been anime fans. But this is a R+ rated story and a reason for that. There's bodies being torn opened, blood spilled, and showing what our heroes do best: delivering justice (even if it comes at a cost).

The sound is just "meh" in my opinion. It does contain drama and conveys the dark mood of the story but not something too noticeable. I do admit that the OP song, "dots and lines" by You Hitoto feat. Mummy-D, is performed well and give us a more suburban type of feeling. With the word "Zet" being mentioned several times, the songs brings out the dark hero out of the characters.

Well, it is also not surprising that Masakazu Katsura was involved with the work of this series. He is Batman's biggest fan and we all know who he is. (at least I hope you do). As such, it is one of the possible main influences of his work. In fact, his influences can be even traced to another superheroes series that debuted last year. Maybe, Tiger & Bunny ring a bell?

Overall, I'd say that this series just fits into the "so-so" for the Spring Season. It has entertainment value especially if you're into some fan-service and hardcore action. But if you can't take the violence and sexual content, then just hit that drop button and try something else. This series blends in the idea of a hero at the darkest hour and shows the cruelty of the world. Its approach of the dark hero genre will give you a strange feeling of both justice and also cruelty once you start watching. Yet, the story is blend and too rushed so for those looking for a complex storyline, then that little glimmer of hope may be crushed faster than a Player. However, if those aren't your criteria, then this series might be worth a shot. Try coming home from school or work, and watch this on your computer or TV with a nice cup of coffee (or w/e it is that you drink) and get into the OP song (while keeping up with the rhythm) after a tiring Monday. You might smile wishing that there are more heroes like Jin and Kouga to save you from all the tiredness of work/school. Or you might feel sad that there are such enemies of justice in the Zetman world. Yet, we all know one thing.

There is a hero, a hero living in all of us.

It's a bird, it's a plane' it's ZETMAN!!! This is my very first review and I'm glad I started it like that. Since this is my first review I will try my best not to write a bunch if garbage. Zetman is an anime I have been looking forward to ever since I saw the 2012 anime lineup online. The superhero genre does not really exist in anime since the only real superhero anime out there is Astro Boy, which is considered a classic and one of the first shonen anime/manga. The superhero genre I personally think has the potential to be a great addition ... to so many things that already make anime great. It can make you forget about slice of life and psychological thrillers if it is done properly. Zetman could have put this genre on the anime map. But like this review's introduction, this anime is anything but super. Zetman's premise sounds like the perfect set up for a crimefighting show. Monsters created by humans for humans' entertainment escape from their captivity into this world and our hero has to stop them. It is a fairly simple premise with which a lot can be done with but alas the creators miss the mark with failed execution. My main beef with this series is that it should have lasted longer. 13 Episodes is enough to tell a decent story, but the producers needed more time for what they were going for. I feel that not a lot of time was spent on character development with the exception of the two main characters. Every one else is just there to fill up space or to move the story along. I wish that viewers could see Jin(our protaganist) find out about his powers and how to control them,and it is never actually stated what ZET is specifically capable of doing, that you have to figure out for yourself as the series goes on.Everyone else's motives are never really explained. Why do they do what they do?They just do do what they do. What I really liked about the series was the way Kouga (the other hero) is tested to see what his idea of justice is.This was a character that I really liked . But that was really the only REAL exciting bit I thought there was. There is a real twist at the end which I didn't see coming so props to the writers for that.The sound of the anime was alright,with the voice acting quality about the same as your average anime. The OP was alright but I got sick of it 4 epsiodes in. The ending theme was a lot better but I think it could be because of my love for slow songs.Visually the the show is not bad, I just wish that more detail was put into the blood, which reminds me that the fight scenes were enjoyable as well as it supposed to be since this is a superhero show. In a nutshell here is the pros and cons of Zetman.

Pros:
-Kouga and Jin are good lead characters
-Nice ending theme
-Enjoyable fight scenes
-Twist near the end of the show
-Visuals are not that bad

Cons
-Average voice acting
-Very little character development
-Not a very good OP
-Invisible support characters
-Boring story
-Too short to cram everything in

Zetman is something I would watch again but not for a while,it really is not that bad,but with my high anticipations for it it felt like a let down.I recommend it as a something you can watch to pass the time if you have nothing to do for the weekend.

6/10

What can I said about it? It was an anime with enormous potential and up until episode 12 that potential existed. The last two episodes though basically screwed everything up. The anime starts kinda all over the place, but until the last two episodes is nothing that cannot easily be fixed. I will not give spoilers to the ones that still want to see it but you will be disapointed by the resolution of he show. Also Kouga is just a puppet from beginning to end even though he could have grown into a great character. The Jin character also develops quite nice until the ... last episode when I guess the readers decided to do some marijuana or something because this seems to be the only explanation for what happens.