Iria: Zeiram The Animation

Iria: Zeiram the Animation is a bizarre case indeed. On the face of it it seems as though this is just another 90s sci-fi action OVA, and in many ways it is, but upon closer inspection it manages to set itself apart in a variety of interesting and bizarre ways. For example, this anime is actually a prequel to the live action film Zeiram from 1991. When considering this weird production trajectory, backed up by an utterly unique art style and fun campy premise, it's clear that this anime is more than just a throwaway OVA. Beginning with the story, it's fairly simple, and heavily ... reminiscent of the Alien franchise. Two so-called 'hunters' and an apprentice are sent up to a ship in crisis to evacuate the crew and retrieve the cargo, only to find a horrible, seemingly invincible humanoid monster with grotesque biological abilities has escaped, which then begins to wreak havoc across the system. It runs into some problems later with character motivations, but it's not that big of a deal here. Despite being a touch predictable and perhaps heavy-handed with its Alien influences, it manages to execute its formula well and remain a cool early 90s romp throughout. It really feels like something meant for popping in the VHS player, then cracking open a few beers and ordering a couple pizzas with your friends. Like, it's not necessarily good, but it is a fun time, especially under the right circumstances. Moving on to the art, it is this anime's strongest aspect. The general art direction is incredibly strong, with a real vision for a unique and fantastic world distinct all its own. It has this engaging blend of the futuristic and the traditional, combined with a style which draws heavily from Indic cultures, like India, Sri Lanka, and more broadly Southeast Asia. The backgrounds are also consistently impressive, and seem to be where most of the budget went. Overall, it reminds me more of an 80s anime than a 90s anime, due in part to some of the stylistic choices they make throughout. Unfortunately, while the characters themselves have good designs and are well-animated in combat scenes, they feel somewhat cheap in comparison to the rest of the show, and suffer from what I term the 'dreaded mask', where the character's facial expressions seem stiff and unemotional at moments where they absolutely should not be. Other than that though, the art is what really sets this anime apart. The sound is good, meeting all standards of quality for the time, and supported by an energetic and almost trippy synth track that sounds straight out of the 80s. The characters fit their setting rather well, even if they're not very deep. Among the cast, my favorites are Fujikuro and Komimasa, because in comparison to everybody else, they feel somehow the most believable. Fujikuro has this rough exterior which evolves over the course of the show to the point he really grows as a person, and as a result has actual layers to his character, whereas Komimasa acts in a fashion which befits a street urchin with a sense of honor, and his moments of dialogue almost feel like they come from a different anime altogether- he is a more believable depiction of what he is than his friend Kei, for example. Overall, Iria: Zeiram the Animation is a fun 90s action romp with which you can just turn your brain off and enjoy- so long as you can ignore its flaws.

I'll be honest from the get go, this anime is not a 10, it's not a 9, it's probably around a mid 8.5 from a fair objective standpoint. However, I'm inflating my review after looking at some of the other reviews. Mainly because there is an unfortunate portion of modern anime viewers that see old school animation, and that's all she wrote folks, that's all it takes to make it average... Except Iria Zeiram is a badass anime, with beautiful hand crafted art, and a strong female lead that isn't drenched with fan service, characters like this are why I fell in love with anime ... all those years ago.

Anywho, I'll (try to) keep the rest of my review fairly short. The art for me is the standout, along with some really refreshing character design/writing. The art is classic late 80s to 90s hand drawn goodness, if you're in a nostalgic scifi mood look no further, especially if you've seen the usual recommendations. Character design is awesome, modern anime is a little uh, sexist? I hesitate to use the word, but really it's refreshing to see an anime without fan service, while still being mature make no mistake. Weird how you can make a strong sexy female character without their boobs flopping about, go figure.

Having listed the strengths, the weaknesses are undoubtedly the story and sound. Story is really nothing to salivate over. Depending on your exposure level to anime/manga/books/cinema, then a fair rating would fall somewhere between an 8 to 6. If you're experienced, it's a 6, otherwise it could range up to an 8 if you aren't familiar (bored) with common anime tropes. Sound is to me the weakest part, it's by no means bad but there's nary a banger to me found here IMO, but lovers of 80s sound design might really dig this.

Overall this one really took me by surprise, the MAL reviews made me hesitate. Reviews be damned though, this is a keeper anime, and when you've been around the anime block as long as me that's rare. Granted some of this might have to do with my disillusionment for modern anime, it's getting old seeing awesome stories/characters ruined by horndogs beating the fan service cash cow like there's no tomorrow.

Iria Zeiram is an anime prequel to the movie of the same name. It focuses on rookie bounty hunter Iria who works with her brother Gren who is a more experienced professional bounty hunter. Together, they hunt down and capture criminals for money. After Gren was killed, Iria finds herself working on her own taking on various different bounty hunting jobs. She can be very naïve and reckless and her actions cause a lot of harm. Iria skills as a bounty hunter improves as the story progresses.



Episodes are told through an overarching narrative where it connects to a much bigger plot in the ... later episodes. The plot is also very inconsistent in its storytelling as well as Iria can be on the governments bad side on one episode but in the next they would team up together like nothing much has happened. The government controls the bounty hunters and seems to be manipulating them for some nefarious purpose. The plot was generally faithful to some aspects of the film. It’s a prequel so you do not need to watch the film to understand the plot as it does its own thing for the most part.



Iria is the typical rookie type protagonist and is a tomboy and her notable thing about her appearance is the beads she wears and that is normally reserved for males in the world of Iria Zeiram. The beads represent her level of skill in bounty hunting and because of her wearing beads she is the eccentric. There is plenty of comedy and entertaining moments in the show.



The musical score was generally good and I also found the voice acting good but the dialogue was cheesy. The characters and plot concept wise were not the most original and they are not really complex either. The sci fi atmosphere does feel trippy and bizarre and the art design for characters, world and sci fi related scenery such as the aliens and bio weapons are generally good. The animation is sort of fuzzy looking and has not aged well. There was no CGI in the anime and it was entirely hand drawn animation.



The action is decent but nothing really special with the space fights being pretty good. It can be high stakes at certain parts of the episodes from fighting unknown aliens and mysterious bio weapons. The story can be predictable at times and you already know what the end result. The storytelling is secondary to the action.



The pacing of the story is generally fast with no filler or padding. There are plot discrepancies between the movie and the anime. Many things are left unexplained or glossed over but this is probably because of the short length of the anime version. It is not fully clear how Iria’s brother survived or where there any explanations for his absence.



It’s a decent watch if you can overlook the cheesy dialogue and inconsistent story telling.