Zegapain

Average high school student Kyou Sogoru is an avid swimmer living in beautiful Maihama City. He spends his days hanging out with friends, swimming, and playing video games. However, his normal life turns upside down when a beautiful and mysterious girl named Shizuno Misaki approaches him with a strange request—jump into their school's pool together.

This fateful leap transports Kyou into a war-torn world where humans pilot impressive humanoid robots known as Zegas to fight against malicious aliens known as Gards-Orm. To spearhead this endeavor, humans have formed Cerebrum, a rebel organization working to prevent the Gards-Orm from eradicating humankind.

As Kyou participates in combat operations, meets his fellow Zega pilots, and witnesses countless deaths, he begins to question the true nature of this world as well as his own life.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kaminagi, Ryouko Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Sogoru, Kyou Main

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Misaki, Shizuno Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Minato Supporting

Inoue, Marina Japanese

Mao, Lu Sheng Supporting

Park, Romi Japanese

Abyss Supporting

Katou, Masayuki Japanese

Avenir, Chris Supporting

Yanaka, Hiroshi Japanese

Tomigai, Kei Supporting

Watanabe, Akeno Japanese

Kaminagi, Kouji Supporting

Ootsuda, Hiromi Japanese

Isola Supporting

Murai, Kazusa Japanese

Imanishi, Takashi Producer

Beniya, Yoshikazu Producer

Yamakawa, Norio Producer

Shimoda, Masami Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 12, 2008

slpless

Recommended

I’ll admit I was quite biased when I heard that Sunrise was going to make yet another mecha anime. One day I said “why not?” and watched the first episode afterwards I knew this was something quite different than your usual mecha fare. One of the major things that struck me was the OP (disguised as the ED in the first ep), “Kimi e Mukau Hikari” sung by Akino Arai. This was not a fast paced song with intense mecha action in the background. Instead the OP featured a slow, beautifully sung ballad predominantly featuring the characters of the series, not ... the giant robots. This really sets the tone for the entire series.

Many people say that the beginning of Zegapain starts off very slow and doesn’t really start till a few episodes in. However, for me I was quite intrigued by the many subtle hints found in the first few eps. What is Shizuno’s relationship with Kyo? What was the deal with that scene? What is really going on? The story effectively builds upon itself and builds several layers of complexity. Each episode flowed quite well with each other, thus making many cliffhangers. Although, if I had to complain about the pacing it does somewhat falter a little in the midteens. In addition, the story features several classic philosophical ideal from Descartes to Berkeley (?). However, unlike other anime titles Zegapain doesn’t bog the viewer down with its ideas.

Animation-wise there really isn’t anything to complain about, it seems Sunrise put a decent about of money into producing this anime. CG for the fight scenes at least in the beginning was kind of weak however, they managed to fix that mid series.

In terms of sound, I really like the OST and it really accents many of scenes while not being too forward and in your face. However, it’s the OP and EDs which really stick out for me and are constantly appearing in my playlist.

In general there is an overarching sense of sadness throughout the series and quite a bit of drama. However, not so much as to make the viewer go numb. Do not watch Zegapain for the action, watch it for the story and characters. While the action scenes are nicely done there are far better shows out there if that’s what you are looking for.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 22, 2020

Shadow777Star

Mixed Feelings

Wow is the beginning of this show terrible. I considered dropping this show so many times for the first ten episodes. The only thing that kept me going was all of the great reviews about this show. After sticking it out, it did get significantly better.

At first it appears to be just a dumb mecha/high school anime, but it dives into deep questions of reality and perception. The concept is honestly pretty cool after you get into it.

I gave this anime a six mostly because of the concepts and ideas. The deployment of them was so-so. This mixed with the slow beginning almost ... made me give this show a five. The action is also pretty lame. I wouldn't say not to watch it, but I would never give it as a recommendation. I don't ever plan on watching it again.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 21, 2019

Gonomon

Not Recommended

Zegapain, namely how do you waste a grand potential the anime.

It's one of those shows that you will not be really liking, but watch until the end wishing that it will get better and you will see something that will make you amazed. Well in this case you will be only mildly amazed since even if story is really good the way its told just sucks.

Story: 3/10
In a Science fiction show/anime/novel/etc. i really value if the things can really happen in the world and if they have any value over fantasy because if they do not it wont be a science fiction for me its ... genre will be fantasy for me and i don't really like fantasy since i m into more realistic stuff. Well i am glad to say this anime is really realistic in terms of its scientific things. And the main point i watch this anime was because it was full of realistic imagination. Even though imagination is really good realization of the story is just really bad. It moves really slowly in the moments you don't want to see but it moves really fast on the ones that you want to see. Also later episodes has a feel of really odd rush on them, like you see fights and stuff a lot but they really skipped the main story elements for last few episodes.
So overall even if the idea is perfect, realization lacks a lot.

Art: 4/10
Really, there is nothing catchy about it. Battle scenes are mostly CGI and i mean i don't know if its a bad thing or not but don't expect to see really good animation here. But also don't expect to see really bad one either.

Characters: 2/10
Well i really hated characters and their relationships most of the time. It was not realistic at all. I only enjoyed to watch Arque's story and stuff but other characters were just like teenagers from a disney drama.

Enjoyment: 5/10
Even it was bad and slow in the scenes i want to be fast and vice versa, it still made me watch itself so it is good in this regard.

Sound: 6/10
Sound department is alright imo, there were nothing bad and i liked opening and ending musics a little at the first time i listened to them.

Overall: 4/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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'Zegapain' TV Anime Sequel Announced

The official website of the Zegapain anime series announced the production of a sequel to the television anime, Olta Moda-hen, on Thursday, revealing a teaser visual...read more

Aug 30, 2023 9:36 PM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (28 comments)

Summary Movie of 'Zegapain' TV Anime Announced

Animation studio Sunrise has announced at AnimeJapan 2016 that its 2006 mecha anime series Zegapain will be re-edited into a movie titled Zegapain ADP. The movie wil...read more

Mar 26, 2016 10:13 PM by arsonal | Discuss (22 comments)

	Poll: Zegapain Episode 25 Discussion ShanaFlame - May 28, 2009	5 replies	by scrapegoat »» Oct 20, 1:02 PM
	Poll: Zegapain Episode 1 Discussion Grandy - Jan 4, 2009	11 replies	by NoviSun »» Nov 26, 2023 6:25 PM
	Poll: Zegapain Episode 2 Discussion Grandy - Jan 4, 2009	8 replies	by Soap »» Jan 10, 2023 4:44 PM
	Poll: Zegapain Episode 26 Discussion ShanaFlame - May 28, 2009	40 replies	by Coolzweg2 »» May 27, 2022 1:02 PM
	Poll: Zegapain Episode 20 Discussion ShanaFlame - May 28, 2009	4 replies	by Coolzweg2 »» May 26, 2022 12:05 PM