Zoids Wild Zero

In the 21st century planet Earth was rendered inhospitable to life, and people mass-migrated to Planet Zi, the natural home of metallic life forms known as Zoids.

Many years later, Zi faces its end. Its inhabitants partake the journey to migrate back to Earth.

Attempting to regenerate the Earth to make it hospitable, the migrants come up with a "Zi-Forming" scheme.

However, the plan fails and Earth is left in its state of turmoil. Overrun by Zoids and blanked by unstable weather phenomena, the migrants are faced with a difficult life. The Empire and Republic settlements attempt to uncover Zoids buried within the Earth to bolster their respective armies.

The story picks up following second-generation Earth citizens: Leo Conrad and Buzz Cunningham, who have a chance encounter with a girl Sally Land as she flees the clutches of the Empire.

(Source: Zoids Wiki)

Aysel, Jo Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Cunningham, Buzz Main

Yasumura, Makoto Japanese

Land, Sally Main

Senda, Hazuki Japanese

Conrad, Leo Main

Nogami, Shou Japanese

Melville, Hannah Supporting

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Fiona Supporting

Koga, Aoi Japanese

Spiegel Supporting

Takahashi, Hiroki Japanese

Linette, Jean Elisi Supporting

Ohmoto, Makiko Japanese

Ramon, Jake Supporting

Okitsu, Kazuyuki Japanese

Gate, Electra Supporting

Park, Romi Japanese

Masuda, Katsuhito Producer

Yamada, Yuriko Producer

Furuichi, Naohiko Producer

Kato, Takao Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

May 26, 2020

sylvanelite

Recommended

Preliminary (32/50 eps)

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 ... 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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