ID-0

ID-0 is one of those “Netflix anime” that are completely forgettable since it doesn't stand out in any field or particular way, not even in the superfitial level.

Production values are decent, the music and sounds are generic but fitting, and Japan is still far away from being Pixar, but at least in terms of CGI animation is not the latest “Berserk”, “Kingdom”, or “Apeggio of the Blue Steel”, the motions don't look as robotic, and proportions are consistent, but once again, it doesn't stand out either.

And what can I say about the writing and directing?

The plot is the usual stand alone missions in space with ... one or two obstacles here and there, if you want well planned and executed missions in space, you have “Planetes”, if you want cool stand alone missions (also with space as a recurring scenario) you have “Cowboy Bebop”, and if you want to see an entertaining as fuck anime with a loli and a robot, you have “Brigadoon”, this anime feels as dry as the first plotless space anime from the 70's, its formula has been executed in better ways throught history yet this anime learned nothing.

Pacing is horrible. Fast paced in events and stand alone missions, slow as fuck when it comes to develop the really important aspects of the story, and even to introduce the characters, the first half feels episodic and unimportant, while the second half is completely rushed to the point they don't even explain how exactly the heroes won at the end. The slow pacing helped to make the series feel boring, the rushed events helped to make the series feel unimportant and uninspiring.

Characters are one dimensional, all of them. The protagonist is only defined for being timid and smart, although this is only stated and the series never give you a real reason to believe she's smart, while most characters are useless background decorations that contribute nothing, there is one loli besides the protagonist that is there just to cry, and the others have roles like piloting the ship but nothing more than that. The dialogue is plain awful, which helped to make the characterization even worse, plain simple and with no personality, you will constantly hear cliché lines like “My equipment is far superior than yours!”, “It's time to make things well!”. Boring and uninspired.

The trope of amnesia is used as a cheap plot device, if one dimentinal characters and terrible pacing wasn't enough to make you feel complete boredom, the amnesia bullshit is the cherry on the top of the cake, it's not a theme about identity or belonging like in “Kaiba”, is just a plot device so the plot cannot be resolved quickly and easily, and so the writers can skip the work to give a real characterization and background to the male protagonist. The series is only 12 episodes yet this plot feels like it drags for too long.

The word to describe this work is “uninspired”, I find little to nothing worth saving in this anime.

Story: 3 - Generic and unfocused
Art: 6 - Generic and cutsy
Sound: 7 - It's fine
Characters: 2 - Dreadful with moeblob archetypes
Enjoyment: 3 - None, but I have seen worse things
Overall: 3/10

Let's be honest, sometimes we avoid some series after seeing the other users score, but ID-0 has been underrated by some reviewers, social networks, etc. The anime started with a 6.23 and ended with a 6.85, in the last episodes, ID-0 developed a good narrative.

The story follows a group of "excavators" that seeks a mineral called Orichlat. During this search, humanity has developed I-Machines that moves the consciousness of a person into a robot, in other words, the human becomes a machine. Some members of these excavators have decided to move their memory into the machine forever. One of that persons is Ido, ... a machine without any memories. During their adventures, Ido finds some information that could tell him his origin.

The story involves all the crew of the excavators and others persons that are taken by them, the pacing of the story is good. However, some unexplained plot holes could destroy the narrative.

About the characters, some of them could be generic, and we could expect weird behavior, but in general, they keep the audience entertained until the end.

The animation has some CGI mix, for some persons could be annoying but has some remarkable scenes. The music is good. The OP song reached the Oricon Jpop ranking.

In general, this anime has:
- A conspiration
- Unexpected story twist
- Good music
- Science Fiction
- Vessels and spacecraft :D
- A creature in the body of a robot (really)
- Main characters that aren't too generic

If you have some time, you should watch the first episodes and give this anime a try.

The story progresses in a meaningful way, with just enough surprises to keep you interested. As in the best of stories we learn quickly that a number of characters are not who you might think that they are. As is so typical in many Japanese stories, characters are not black and white but shades of gray. Also appealing was the writing. Every time I thought I knew where the story was "finally" going, it didn't. It's hard to surprise me nowadays, so this was a major plus.
The is one of the very rare anime where ... I immediately watched the first episode a second time. Some lines, and even facial expressions have added meaning when you see them again after having watched the entire episode.
The voice actors did an excellent job of matching their sounds to the character's personalities.
My only feeling of slight disappointment was that the OP and ED songs left me wanting something more, especially the ED sung in somewhat broken English...sigh....
Nice micro story add-on after the closing credits that left me wanting to see more. (Which is very rare for me. I've been watching anime for over 30 years and not much manages to hook me like this series has.)
Much appreciated is a "what happened to them" segment after the final closing credits.
After watching the entire series my initial impression remains. This is one of the best of its type that I've seen in a decade.

This was a great hidden gem, a series that I almost missed, but happened to catch on a list of shows that wasn't on crunchyroll, and I'm so glad I did, I hope more people find out about this series, wonderful animation and everything that makes me think back to the anime I loved in the 80's and 90's.

Story: A strange story but well done one, about humanity that has discovered a way to travel FTL using this powerful ore and can't say much more, but it just worked for me. There are still some questions, but nothing that bothers me.

Art: ... A nice blend of CGI and other styles, nothing stood out as bad, and it was heavily effective in many places and situations.

Sound: A great sound track, nice sound effects, it is the kind of stuff I want from a good anime, the ending song is my favorite this season, and not even sure why, I love the words, but the voice isn't the kind that would normally be my favorite.

Characters: Everyone is unique and different, and over time we learn tho they are, and more about them. I grew to care for them all, and fell in love.

Overall and enjoyment: This is by far my favorite anime this season, and there has been some good ones, but something about this just struck all the right cords, I highly recomend it if you've managed to miss it.

(Kind of) Disclaimer: Less of a review, more like first impressions... and me trying to convince people to give this a chance, I wouldn't have written this if I didn't see the current 6.15 rating. This review will be VERY general; so general you'll start the anime and not have any idea what to expect from the story ^^'

I honestly think this series is quite a nice surprise. I usually wouldn't check this out just because of how it looks but I just happened to be checking out the beginning of all the shows this season since I have the time. It gave me ... the same kinda vibe as Moretsu Pirates but in my opinion, does it better.

Maybe anime in general has gotten better at CGI or I've gotten used to it over time but it's really not that bad. (I did also watch Kemono Friends to be fair.) I noticed the slightly robotic motions, yes, but I was never explicitly put off by it either. It was quite appropriate during the mecha (I-machine) sections anyway.

There's quite the range with the voice actors. They know what they're doing. Maya is very... anime-y, which is to be expected, voices like her's tend to annoy me at the beginning as I'm getting used to them so nothing new there.

At the moment, ID-0 is shaping up to be promising. It's still in the stages of being half-episodic, half-storyline-oriented. But they've alluded to a lot of mysteries to the character backgrounds so hopefully, there'll be more character development. The immediate setting has also been introduced briefly and it seems that that'll get expanded more as the series progresses as well. It's got mystery, action and characters which seem like they will shape up to be likable.

I've gone on too long already. I hope people don't get too put off by the CGI and the seemingly simplistic premise.

Reading back on this, it's so general I could probably apply most of this to Kemono Friends as well xD

I'm a bit surprised this anime has been either ignored or less than appreciated. Character development has been fairly solid and the story is intriguing. Multi-layered themes coupled with original ideas and world-building are strong here. Characters (most) are likeable and exhibit heart. While the art is uneven at times, and CG not always coherent, certainly a lot of effort has been put forth.

Sci-fi is not easy to do and does not appeal to the majority of viewers. That said...

Tropes are typically played, but this is anime after all. Better than anything the West can do. Voice acting is fine and up to par. What ... caught me was the variation of protagonists. Yup. Plural. Depth of story. The lines are drawn, in true Japanese fashion, obscurely between political/military and economic entities, while piracy is relegated to a mysterious other realm.
I won't go into Japan's maritime history here. A really huge battleship plays an endearing role subliminally in many space anime, good or bad. Anime fans know that story and love it and all it's iterations.

What is right, what is wrong. Moving along, each character plays a complex role whether they want to or not. Allegiance is based upon survival and heart. Bushido.

All in all, I really can't understand the low ratings of this anime. I look forward to each episode. There are metaphors regarding mining that are lost on many viewers and possibly piracy in general is not openly accepted thematically. Fine. I guess the Caribbean is open water and space without Depp is wrong. Haha.

I could see this opening up toward a stellar realm, or sadly wrapping hurriedly to a finale. If the writers follow the concept of a person evolving recall through concerted interaction, this can be a winner. The shift from mecha to meeting spaces can be jarring and a bit confusing at first, but the idea of virtual space and displaced personalities is kinda cool.

Interestingly, this series reminds me of Bodacious Space Pirates. While ignoring the obvious similarities, one can see the camaraderie. Building trust within a confined environment as time passes and challenges build. I like this show. Compared to other offerings this spring...this is a show for story-minded watchers. Check it out.

This review is after watching the first six episodes. Initially I did not plan to watch the show due to ts low ratings on this website, but I had already watched all the "good rated" shows this season and couldn't find any other, so I thought of giving it a try.

Story: There is a lot of story progression already in the first six episodes and none of the episodes dawdle on one concept too long. Also, nothing looks forced as new concepts are introduced to the viewers. In short, the story is fast paced and takes you for the ride.

Art: CG or whatnot, ... the art is incredibly good. Although you can see the CG effects in Kado too, I have heard of complaints in this anime only. Opposed to Kado, you don't notice the CG affects as much due to wonderful work by the CG director and also due to ROBOTS (no spoiler as promised)

Sound: Sound is so-so but as mystery elements are introduced (shh...no spoilers! no spoilers I say!), the track variation is introduced and it produces some magical effects in the brain.

Character: The story has focused on currently two major characters (or three I should say) and the story also revolves around them. Since these are only six episodes and if you consider the time it took to build up the plot in episode 1, they have done a good job in five episodes. I love the characters and their interaction and how each of them are handling their circumstances. Still characters have predictable actions on how they would react except one. They have been molded into those personifications. If the show breaks through these lines (which is very difficult as story progresses), I would say this can become a great show.

Enjoyment: This can't be explained! If you view objectively, my ratings haven't been that good except the story part but due to this being carrying the most weight in my judgement, if a show gets this right, it can become a fantastic show. Till now, it has been able to hit all the right spots in my enjoyment circuitry and I consider it 9!

So, that's my review. As before, I don't want others to watch only for better ratings. It was my honest review for a good show. Considering that even a show with no plot development can get better ratings than this, it seriously doesn't deserve a rating this low! I suppose rating between 7 and 8 would be a good one for this. For the benefit of the doubt, I have given it 8!

Look, I'm not going to lie, I'm not an anime super fan. I can't tell you how this compares to all the great animes out there that I have never and probably will never see. Whatever anime I get is through Netflix, so pardon me if I'm not fully apprised of what is "supposed" to be good anime.

With that being said, I LOVED this show! I felt it was great. Very clever plot, witty dialog, and surprisingly philosophical. It was smart without trying too hard, and had a smooth mix of funny and serious. I definitely want more, and even though season 1 wrapped ... up the story nicely, I'd be 100% in on a second season, and beyond.

I love Science-Fiction, I read almost all Philip K.Dick's Books, I really like Asimov's Sci-Fi, Silverberg, and even the Books of Jules Verne.

And I like too Science-Fiction anime like Ghost In The Shell (and every Mamoru Oshii's Movie), and even the Adventure type SCi-Fi by Leiji Matsumoto (Star Blazers, Capitan Harlock).

Well, this anime directed by Goro Taniguchi who already did a great space opera with Planetes, has a unique idea that contains a lot of references to titles like Capitan Harlock or science fiction recent movies like Neill Blomkamp Humandroid. The Adventure, the Robots theme, here not controlled by A.I., and this is the best ... idea and the most important theme of the entire plot. But there is also something else. There is something beyond.

I loved the animation, the graphic style, even the "kawai" type characters, that make this anime right even for kids! Try it and Enjoy this great show!

This is a somewhat underrated series. It certainly is not a masterpiece, but I found myself liking the characters, and I felt like it was a fairly satisfying watch that even did a few things I've never seen in a Mecha anime before.

In particular I like the two main characters. Their development throughout the series is heartwarming to watch, and ultimately they have to make some hard choices.

I will admit that it's been quite a while since I watched this series, but I still remember it fondly even a few years later. If you're looking for some light mecha to ... fill up a weekend netflix binge, you could do a lot worse than ID-0.

Warning possible Spoilers

Considering I had just watched Knight's and Magic before going into this, I didn't have a good feeling about ID-0, luckily it wasn't that bad and still had some good points, but it still had some bad points too.

Story (6/10)

ID-0's story, mainly concentrates on Ido, who is trying to find out who he really is, since he has no memory from before he became an I-machine, luckily he has a rag tag crew to help him out.
The story starts off a little slow, it takes time to introduce the characters, but it starts shifting into gear once you reach episode 4 or 5 ... when Ido finally finds a clue to his past.
However, when the story started to get more serious, it just wasn't getting to me, even when a bunch of random planets made out of orichalt came to destroy Earth and humanity, I still wasn't moved.
I think it was mostly to do with the pacing, because I felt like the story moved too quickly and it could've been like Cowboy Bebop where it has 20+ episodes instead of the usual 12 episodes, which could've offered us more development for the characters and I think a few needed that development.
Also the ending was pretty lackluster too, it felt really rushed as you see the good guys win and then you suddenly see an aftermath montage, followed by the crew heading to another asteroid to mine it, the ending just didn't feel right at all to me.
That being said the story wasn't a complete mess, the journey Ido and the others had to take was an interesting one and was probably the main reason why I didn't drop the show, because I kept wondering if Ido would actually find out who he really is and the outcome was pretty surprising....well sorta.

Characters (7/10)

The characters were definitely the best part of the show, even though a few could've benefited from having some develop time, the others who did get more concentration managed to keep the show rolling for me.
Ido is the prime MC of the show, Ido is a mysterious fellow and seeing him trying to figure out who he really is was pretty interesting, despite looking like someone who would be cold and detached from the rest of the group, he is actually very concerned for the other crew members and is willing to sacrifice a part or two for them.
Maya Mikuri is the female MC, she is rescued by the other characters after an excavation goes wrong and has to unwillingly join them, even though she was a smart character and a big help for the others, she kinda annoyed me a few times in some of the arguments she had with the others and the fact her constant worrying didn't help either.
Alice is another female character that the crew picks up along the way, despite being a main character, she really doesn't serve much purpose other than being a story device to keep things rolling, because all she does is either laugh or cry, which made her character seem more of a nuisance to me really.
Clair Honjou is the pilot and the daughter of the ships captain, she is yet again another character who doesn't offer that much to the show, other than her piloting expertise she's pretty much just there, most likely so that Maya didn't feel like the only human character in the crew.
Rick Ayer, Grayman, Karla and Fa-loser are the main crew members of the ship and only have their I-machine bodies, Grayman is the captain of the ship, yet his human form looked kinda similar to Dutch from Black Lagoon, just without the glasses, he seemed like a character that wasn't easy to get along with, since most of the time he either got into arguments with Maya or just made ridiculous ideas so their could run away, so there didn't seem much to like his character overall.
Karla is another female character who is kinda in the same predicament as Ido, except she's only trying to find her body, which is being held captive, she is alright for a character as she is used for information gathering and sometimes making the odd joke here and there making her character surprising sometimes.
Rick was probably my favourite character from the show, his joker personality made him seem like an asshole, but his personality and jokes were definitely one of the best parts of the show, especially considering when he is trying to flirt with one of the characters, which doesn't go very well, often had me smiling or giving a good chuckle from time to time.
Fa-Loser is actually an animal that used to be experimented on before becoming an I-machine, however this dude is just there to make stupid noises and biting Rick.
Amanza Volchkova is part of the military and after having a run in with the crew, she had to end up joining them because she had no choice, for a character she was actually pretty good, despite being pretty cold hearted, her character grew slowly over time as she got to know the other crew members better, especially Rick who kept hounding her with his affection.

Art (6/10)

CGI has always been a little difficult for me to handle, although there are some anime's that have managed to pull it off, this one however is sorta mixed for me really, because the I-machines fitted this aspect very well and looked great too, however seeing the human characters in this format just didn't look right and to be honest this may sound wrong, it made me feel like I was watching RWBY at some points the characters felt that off.
The design of the ships, planets and scenery was done pretty good too, although the CGI for the asteroids looked pretty damn bad.

Sound (5/10)

The op, ed and soundtrack I didn't specifically like, it just didn't match what was going on, well sorta, the soundtrack did have a few good moments here and there, but the thing that impressed me the most sometimes is when some parts of the crews ship didn't make a sound when something was activating I thought it was a good attention to detail, since there isn't any sound in space, until you hear a missile go off or something, which just ruins the moment.

Enjoyment (6/10)

Overall (6/10)

Overall this was another mecha series that you either hate or like and for me it was a mixture of both, you can try it out for yourself, just don't expect something amazing to happen while watching it.

I watched ID-0. Here are my thoughts:

ID-0 is about a naive astrogeologist girl and a group of space bandits, some of whom are minds trapped inside robot bodies, who engage in illegal space mining. Things go wrong during one of their illicit excavations and the plot spirals from there. All the characters have unique personalities and I enjoyed the chemistry of this motley crew working together.

This show is actual genuine science fiction and frequently invokes intriguing sci-fi concepts such as digital consciousness, robotics and cloning. The story is interesting and engaging; it incorporates mystery elements well and does a good job of 'peeling back the ... onion' as the plot progresses. As a whole, ID-0 is quite creative and unique; it feels like a hobby project moreso than a commercial anime.

ID-0 also seems to have a budget as low as a hobby project. All of the character animation is CGI, but it doesn't look completely awful and I didn't find the faces to be uncanny or unsettling in ways I've experienced with CGI animation in the past. A lot of the celestial landscapes are cool and the show looks best when it is depicting spaceships, planets and things of that nature. Although they are infrequent, the action scenes in this, especially the space battles, are actually quite entertaining; the CGI looks nice and dynamic. There are also lots of awesome spaceships, and the celestial environment is a nice backdrop. I couldn't help but laugh at the space motorbikes with the decorative-flames paintjobs – they fit the mood of the anime well. In some ways, ID-0 is metal as fuck but also doesn't take itself too seriously; it's a really fun ride overall.

The soundtrack is somewhat unconventional but fits the atmosphere of the show. The OP/ED songs are endearingly cheesy. I liked the voice acting for Grayman and Rick.


My overall rating: 7/10
ID-0 is an endearing passion project with a unique intriguing story, fun likeable cast, and lots of cool creative sci-fi stuff mainly relating to space, robotics, consciousness, physics and the like. If you can overlook its janky visuals, ID-0 is a great sci-fi show.

If you're a fan of actual science fiction (i.e. not space romcoms) then you would likely appreciate this show. I enjoyed it way more than I expected.

The overall plot in this is pretty amazing, with enough twists and surprises throughout to feel very satisfying, but there are a few inconsistencies and flaws in the details. This prevents me from scoring it the full 10 points but I have to say it still came really close and is worth seeing.

The pacing is great, with every episode clearly focused on and adding to the main story, the twists keeping you hooked and wanting for more. Once you start it, you'll probably want to binge it in one sitting. It is the furthest thing from an episodic stand alone missions in space show that ... you can get in and out of at leisure, in case you happen to expect that for some reason.

Sci-Fi and tech singularity fans will be delighted. Dumb action and giant-ninja-robot fans will find something for themselves too, but may end up disappointed if they fail to get the bigger picture.

This is a rather simple (by my standards, that means requires a reasonable amount of intelligence to understand) show that explores further on the ideas introduced in Ghost in the Shell.

Compare to Ghost in the Shell ID-0 is exploring the world where boundaries between biological and technological are blurred. This one is particularly focused on shells, or i-machines as the called them in this show. Some characters there still have physical bodies, some have lost them, others possibly never had them to begin with. None of them however think too deep about any of that. They just live with it like it is nothing special ... and just pursue their hobbies and passions like normal people.

It is a world where artificial body concept was completely normalized and society explores untapped possibilities that this tech could bring, such as mining orichalcum across the universe. i-machines do not replicate human body to be human like. Instead they are bigger than human body and allow users to do more and better compare to a normal human body. They are customizable to individual teste too. You can use different models as well, switch between them at will. This does open a lot of possibilities.

On its own story has somewhat interesting premise, but not that much more. World of this show somewhat curious but rather hollow. Conclusion is somewhat anticlimactic and underwhelming.

Because of these flaws I gave it 6 instead of 7. But I can still recommend it to watch. It is better than many other shows.

I double recommend it to people who enjoyed GitS and SEL. That is about post-transformation world, kind of.