Description
Paradigm City. A City of Amnesia. Forty years ago everyone lost their memory, but humanity continues to survive. They’ve learned to operate machinery, produce electricity, and go on living each day at a time. Still ther’s something missing in a town with no past, no history of what has come before. Roger Smith is a Negotiator, hired to negotiate disputes between parties. And Roger enjoys a reputation of being the best at his job. But he has an ace up his sleeve, a rather big ace! He contrls the Megadeus called the Big O, a wondrous piece of technology from befeore the age of Amnesia. Occasionally, fragments of memories appear, and with them often comes trouble. The Big O comes in handy for subduing such dangers, but do… More >>
The Big O: Anime Legends Complete Collection
I saw an episode on cartoon network and was so hooked that I had the box set at my house within a week. I really wanted to enjoy this show. I was hoping for an anime of Cowboy Bebop proportions.
I was attracted to the show by it’s good elements: Great film noir feel, great music (while Roger was investigating), interesting characters, and a great concept: a city that has no clue what happened 40 years ago.
However, I could only watch 75% of the episodes until I finally decided to call it quits. Here’s why:
-While the music is great while Roger is investigating, once the big fight scene happens, they consistently play the same weird music that sounds like it came from a marching band.
-There’s no diversity between episodes; every episode follows the same format: Investigate something peculiar, find out a bad robot is involved, fight the bad robot. That’s it.
-The writing isn’t anything great. I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the lines that were said.
I really wanted to like this anime, but I knew something was wrong when I was falling asleep during the episodes.
To sum it up, the show is a great idea and has some great style and cinematography, but it just fails in it’s execution. Rating: 2 / 5
Ok, here’s the deal with this series: The dialogue and the situations are supposed to be reminiscent of the old action serials from the early 1900’s.
Just like the movie “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”, a lot of the writing is intentionally cheesey, which throws off a lot of critics who go in thinking they’re going to get a bunch of typical Japanese anime BS where the characters go through bouts of nonsensical, mis-translated, faux-sophisticated speeches that only seem to make sense to people who have watched soooooo much anime that bland, repetitious concepts seem insightful and witty. Rating: 4 / 5
This is an awesome anime. You can see how the Japanese cartoon production skill in terms of Batman’s setting, characters’ design. The stories from all the episodes are attractive. You can enjoy while investigating-like emotion in watching this anime. For myself, I could not get away from between the episodes. I sticked on the chair until I had finished all of them. The mystery of the city and people is extremely fasinating. Rating: 5 / 5
The Season that started it all. Season 1 would be a classic to any fan of anime. Though the animation will remind of Batman The Animated Series which is true because it was filmed at the same studio.
Act 1 Roger The Negotiator-The story begins a ex-cop turn Paradigm-City’s top Negotiator Roger Smith (Voice by Steve Blum) takes a simple kidnapping case which goes wrong. By saving R. Dorothy Wayneright (Voice by Lia Seargeant) Roger Smith encounters a criminal name Jason Beck who kidnap Dorothy for ransom from her grand father Timothy Wayneright. Though this is a beginning to the series the best part will come in every ep.
Act 2 Dorothy, Dorothy- Dorothy is kidnap once again for Beck to get the money from the bank. Will Roger will save her once again?
Act 3 Electric City which brings a new character into the Big-O play who will require the Negotiator to travel to foreign city outside of Paradigm-City to bring back the power for Paradigm only to encounter a shocking surprise.
Act 4 Underground Terror- One of the more suspenseful episodes of season 1 worth watching for its deep mystery plus revealing a new villain who goes by the name Schwarvald.
Act 5 Bring Back My Ghost- A wraith is killing few of Paradigm’s top military police. Plus a very rich mother hires Roger Smith to search for her lost son who died a year ago during a riot on what seems to be the George Washington Bridge.
Act 6 A Legacy Of Ameadues- Fed up with Dorothy’s bad piano theme “Run Down” (From the sound score) Roger along with Dorothy goes visit a old friend of Roger an android name Instro. Whats more to meet the eye is another scientist have something more in plan for Instro to fulfill his late father wish.
Act 7 The Call From The Past- Roger and Angel team up in this ep to uncover hidden mystery of memories lying in the sea that lies south of Paradigm-City. What they encounter is more they can handle.
Act 8- Missing Cat- One of the few ep we see Dorothy Wayneright having human emotions which can be clearly seen in this heart felt ep of a lost kitten which Dorothy finds which turns out to be a actual human boy turn cat. A evil scientist plan of requiring money from Paradigm officials which Roger will denied any negotiation on this job.
Act 9- Beck Comes Back- Beck returns in this one after being freed from prison with the help of his goons with a new yellow megaduce. Once again Roger is called in for a kidnapping case which a rich man who son is kidnap for ransom.
Act 10 Winter Night Phantom- A ep involving the military top cop Dan Dastun who having visions of a movie he seen about a winter night phamton. While a terrorist is reeking havoc on Paradigm’s high officials it’s up to Dastun to uncover the mystery about the mysterious woman.
Act 11 Heaven’s Day- This is a Christmas ep of Big-O which some will look weird about a giant megaduce taking on a giant Christmas tree. A enstrange d scientist threatens to destroy the city with a little surprise.
Act 12- Enemy Is Another Big!- The title says it all Roger Smith and the Big-O meets a return villain along with a BIG surprise. One of the best eps of season 1.
Act 13- R.D.- After winning the battle against another BIG Roger Smith is on a case of a killer who is killing those who have memories of 40 year’s ago. Roger will discover the mystery’s of what happen 40 year’s ago only to discover he is next on the list of being killed. Though very intense ep but worth watching which lead to season 2. Rating: 5 / 5
BIG O was a unique show, with a good concept. Having everyone in the worlds memories erased and no one knows what happened, but everyone has clued inside of their minds. It reminds me a little of the movie DARK CITY. It had a nice twist on the Giant Robot anime, instead focusing on the characters and story. The story was great, you couldn’t stop watching. All the twists and turns along the way in search of the what happened forty years ago. The story and characters were the best part of the show. The music was great, the animation was pretty good, and the action was good. The ending was great, but I still have no idea what really was going on. That’s why I wish Cartoon Network had agreed to a season 3. I guess it just wasn’t popular in both Japan and the USA.
Overall I think BIG O is under appreciated by most anime fans. Everyone should check out this series Rating: 5 / 5