Cosmo Warrior Zero

A very uneven series, "Cosmo Warrior Zero" feels like the script needed to go through a couple more drafts and the animation is nothing special. However, an excellent English dub saves it from the trash heap.

STORY

"Cosmo Warrior Zero" feels disjointed and rushed, like they were trying to cram 26 episodes into 13. The plot jumps around and takes hard turns out of nowhere. I was watching the big battle that takes up the final 4 or so episodes and was left thinking "wait, how did we get here?" The set-up is vague as well. For a series that makes such a big deal about Humans ... and Machine Men learning to live together in peace it spends next to no time actually setting up what the pre-conditions of their interactions were to begin with. We're told that the Humans and Machine Men recently fought a war, it went poorly for the Humans, and they had to sign an unfavorable peace treaty to make it stop. Yet we still see large numbers of Machine Men serving in the Independent Earth Fleet as low-ranking sailors and even being discriminated against by Humans. But at other times the series acts like the Machine Men have some kind of power over the Humans and the Earth only has limited autonomy so what exactly is going on? This series skimped on the world-building and rushed through its story and it shows.

ART

The animation is about what you'd expect from a 20 year old series. Nothing great like "Cowboy Bebop" or "Hidamari No Ki", but not terrible either. Matsumoto Leiji's instantly recognizable art style is the high point here. Your opinion of the art will be greatly influenced by your opinion of his distinct character designs.

SOUND

The English dub of "Cosmo Warrior Zero" is top-heavy. The lead actors include some legendary A-listers such as Crispin Freeman, Steve Blum, and Karen Strassman, and even a cameo appearance by Wendee Lee. But farther down the list it can get a little iffy and some of the supporting cast are merely passable for a 20 year old dub. But Freeman (Zero) and Blum (Harlock) discussing honor and duty over a glass of whiskey has got to be a contender for "The Manliest Conversation Ever Recorded". The music is more middle of the road. The OP is a classical piece with violins and flutes that's forgettable, and the ED is an earworm for all the wrong reasons. It tries to be somber and emotional, but ends up being nonsensical because it's being sung in English by a Japanese singer. Maybe it sounded OK in Japan, but native English speakers are going to want to skip it.

CHARACTER

Any series that has Emeraldas as a recurring character can't be all bad. The cast suffers from the jumbled plot since it rushes them through their character arcs if it even resolves them at all. They're serviceable enough to get you through a short space opera at least, so it's not all terrible. Also, there is Emeraldas- the Sorceress of Space. She is a badass and this show is amazing for having her (but that's the fanboy talking).

ENJOYMENT

You know those 'Yakuza' video games that SEGA puts out? They have this very unique tone, going back and forth between melodrama, mafia movie shootouts, wacky side-stories, and silly little mini-games whenever they feel like it. If you're on-board with that the games are amazing, but they're a harder sell for people who just can't get into the vibe. The Leijiverse is like that as well. It's a universe where one of the most iconic spaceships looks like an old pirate galleon hanging from a zeppelin, but the characters take themselves dead serious. It's a unique experience that some people crave and others might find strange or silly.

OVERALL

A pretty mediocre entry for the Leijiverse, but good for one watch if you're into this sort of thing.

Cosmo Warrior Zero is a series that sets big expectations right from the start. After a brutal war with the machine men, Captain Warrius Zero is sent back into space with the task of bringing down the legendary space pirate Captain Harlock to justice. With that short synopsis in mind, it sounds like an interesting adventure in the cosmos right? Unfortunately, Cosmo Warrior Zero falls flat in all the wrong places.

Story:
Starting with the story, this feels like a much longer anime that was chopped into smaller pieces. There simply isn't enough time to resolve all the plot threads and character arcs within 13 episodes. Furthermore, ... the plot is a jumbled mess, taking turns and spins at the worst of times. The set-up is sloppy as well, humanity has just lost a war against the machine men. Zero loses his own family to this war! Which only makes one question why exactly he's so gung ho about humans and machine men coexisting. Right away he seems to see the machine men as complete equals, there doesn't seem to be an ounce of contemplation on if humans and machine men should work together. The only way to explain this is that the machine men on his ship are "the good ones." Also this show is barley about Zero chasing Harlock, and is more just a collection of small stories of the Karyu's crew on some misadventures. It would have been interesting to see Zero and Harlock duking it out in a series of skirmishes in the stars, while the mysterious machine men plot to overtake the galaxy in the background. Simple enough of a plot (and would have worked better for the run time) but not even close to what we get. [spoilers ahead:] In the last three or so episodes, the Karyu, and a small combined fleet of pirate ships are defending the planet Technologica from the Hellcastle (a giant super bad space fortress, it's rather unimpressive) One of the main villains Zeth Vorder is absolutely dead set on destroying Zero and the Karyu. Why exactly? I'm not sure myself, Zero has basically done nothing the entire series and should be seen as more of a sore under the machine mans thumb than it's greatest threat. The only reason I can come up with is because he's supposed to be a super important and cool character, and the Karyu is supposed to be the best ship in the galaxy but neither make the cut. This show also suffers from having bad jokes wedged into serious moments, which break the already paper thin tension one might experience. Some episodes even feel out of order, with episodes 8 and 9 being the most confusing out of them all.
Art:
The art is pretty standard, with that distinct Leiji character art style. The characters certainly are interesting in design, Zero just looks cool, Harlock, Emeraldas, and others all have interesting designs but it's not enough to save this show. Sometimes the show stretches what animation means and just has a slide show of some pictures, or moves a picture across the screen in a clunky manner. At times it feels more like a moving comic book or visual novel than an anime.
Music, Sound:
Music is alright, sometimes the soundtrack is totally out of place and has an upbeat song at a dramatic moment, or no sound at all. The Opening is middle of the road at best, and feels more like it belongs to a fantasy title than a space opera. I watched the subtitled version, but the dub is alright.
Enjoyment Factor:
There really isn't much here in terms of "cool factor" to save this show. The space battles are underwhelming to say the least. Action is mediocre at best, and it's extremely difficult to care about these characters when you know next to nothing about them. I personally found myself constantly checking my phone and browsing online for better anime.

Cosmo Warrior Zero had a lot of potential to be a good anime with an extremely simple premise. However it fell short by a mile, and is a sour disappointment.