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TV Review

The Big O – Season One – TV Review

There are not too many animes that translate well to American audiences, even less that can snag people who despise anime. The Big O season one has potential to be the anime that can sway people, with its Batman like feel and pretty easy to follow storyline. Although it does offer something for those who are hardcore anime viewers.

The Big O’s main theme throughout the first season centers around memories, and whether or not our memories shape us into who we are, and if it is absolutely necessary for us to have them. Obviously this theme is a little odd, but considering that the story is set in the city of amnesia, Paradigm City, it is pretty obvious that memories play a pretty key role. Roger Smith is a negotiator in this city, and he is the protagonist of the show. He is a man who pilots the Mega Deuce Big O, a giant robot that protects the city. He also lives in a large mansion with a butler named Norman and an android named R. Dorthy Wainwright. Above I mentioned that The Big O shares a lot in common with Batman, the reason being, is because the people at Sunrise who created The Big O worked on the Batman animated series, so when they started this project they took a few things from their previous job with them. This makes the series a lot more American friendly than most animes from Japan. Even though Roger Smith doesn’t where a costume, he has many cool gadgets and also abhors guns, a lot like Batman. Also Roger Smith looks a lot like Bruce Wayne, but in an anime style. The story follows Roger Smith, but it also centers around his friend at the Military Police, Daustin, who shares a close relationship with Roger. Even though this relationship is similar to that of Batman and the Commissioner, Daustin does play a very large role in the series, although not at first, possibly a much larger role than the commissioner had in Batman’s adventures. While most series have to have a clear cut villain, The Big O does not really have one in the first season. Instead Dorthy and Roger investigate various cases and slowly begin to unravel some secrets of Paradigm City.

Of course the story of The Big O is filled with combat between Big O and various other giant robots. The design of the cockpit and the controls of the Mega Deuce are fascinating, as they are very old and appear almost as if they originated during a time before computers. Which fits right in with the story, as no one knows where these robots came from. Anyone who watches the show, will recognize the familiar line displayed on the cockpit’s screen when Roger enters Big O, Cast In The Name Of God, Ye Not Guilty. While some may find the fights between Big O and his enemies to be rather simplistic, considering that initially only Big O’s punching ability is shown, it is a slightly different way of doing fights. Instead of changing the way the main character fights, they keep putting robots against him that have unique abilities, that way it remains fresh. While Big O’s fights are cool to watch, Roger also has his moments of combat or espionage which help break up the battles and add some depth to the show’s action.

Big O has its positives, its one negative is the theme song, while some may not mind the repetitive nature of it, others may find it rather dumb and an odd choice for such a serious show. Yet the rest of the sound design is pretty decent, and certainly is not too repetitive. Time for a rating, if you are looking for an anime that is sort of easy to grasp if you are not into anime, this is definitely a cool or cool+ even. For those who are pretty die hard anime fans, this probably won’t be that big of a deal for you, but it certainly at least deserves a cool-. If you absolutely despise mech animes and are not a big fan of Batman, then this show is definitely not for you. One thing to note about the actual DVDs is that for some reason I could not find an actual season DVD, and instead had to buy them in volumes, this first season is pretty much contained in volume one, season one runs from episode one to episode thirteen, so it should not be too hard to track it down.

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About The Author

Genuwine Jon Hammer

The self proclaimed "Genuwine" Jon Hammer, currently a student studying at Digipen Institute of Technology to be a programmer. I am a huge pop culture nerd, so movies, music, tv, podcasts, and games are all important to me, in fact if I often post about such topics on my twitter.

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Article Information

  • Posted: Monday, June 22nd, 2009
  • Author: Genuwine Jon Hammer
  • Filed Under: Review, TV
Tags: , , ,

Comments

One Response to “The Big O – Season One – TV Review”
  1. Scott Harrison Scott Harrison says:

    I really like this series and it is on my list of Cartoons to buy once I have money.

    June 23, 2009 at 9:32 am

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