Paradigm City is a place without a past. 40 years ago, something happened that wiped the memories of everyone in it. Unfortunately, the people of Paradigm City were very busy before then, making Megadueses (giant robots) and monsters. People who were born after the memory wipe are gaining/recovering memories of the past and using them to build newer threats. With the help of The Big O (a faithful giant robot), his butler Norman and the android Dorothy, Roger Smith keeps Paradigm City safe. As problems mount and more memories surface, Roger's past and Paradigm's future begin to become suspect...
The Big O is a decidedly Western-ish series which has a lot to offer fans of many genres. It has a distinctively noir setting with a crime drama sort of structure infused with plenty of psychological aspects... and of course the obligatory giant robot fight in every episode. What's not to love? __Writing:__ For the most part, The Big O's story is nothing to really write home about. Episodes, for the most part, are pretty self-contained, with maybe one or two small plot details revealed or expanded upon per episode and not much of an overarching storyline until everything wraps together (sort of) in the end of it all. It's a writing style characteristic of Western young adult animation, and since that was the intention of the creators, one must applaud them. Even better is the characterization present in this series--granted, while the incidental characters are nobody shmucks, all of the recurring characters are very unique, and I don't think there's one of them without at least some likable aspect to them, from the suave negotiator to the lovably dry android, the conflicted cop or the most dedicated goddamn butler in Paradigm... even the villains are full of charm. The characters, for the most part, feel very "real." What really, really hurts the writing of this show is the ending. It's a deus ex machina if ever there was one--a "we wrote ourselves into a corner and had to pull this out of our asses" for the ages. Is it the single worst ending in the history of anime? ...well, I don't know if I would personally go that far, but there are many who would argue that point. The bottom line is, while the series is wonderfully engaging on the ride there, the tail end crashes and burns in an open-ended mess guaranteed to leave the viewer unsatisfied and without closure. __Art:__ The art is perhaps another weak point of the series. Along with the writing, the art was meant to feel Western by design... and this has been accomplished. That said, it means the production values have suffered a bit and the characters are significantly less detailed and more cartoony due to this style choice. Which, granted, is what it is--a style choice. Nothing to hold against the series, if not for the leap in quality between main characters and bit characters in the show. The stand-ins and background characters look very... well, cut-out. Fortunately, the artists took their time on the main characters, and the robot/machine designs, along with the general setting of Paradigm City, are a sight to behold. __Sound:__ There are not very many tracks on the score for this series, so be prepared to hear the same music used over and over again. Fortunately, it's all pretty classy and engaging, and I have no problem hearing it repeated. I'm quite fond of the soundtrack--but if you're not, it'll probably get grating. The English dub boasts an all-star cast in the VA community, with such names as Steven Blum, Wendee Lee, Michael McConnohie, and Crispin Freeman, among others, and is directed beautifully, bringing the characters to life vividly and enthusiastically. I haven't spent as much time with the Japanese dub, myself, but seems to hold up just as well with strong dialogue and characterization. The show really is a very fun ride up until the end. Enjoy it while it lasts, and hopefully the final crash won't kill you. I can recommend this to any fans of Western animation with an interest in or tolerance for the super robot genre... and especially anyone who wants to see Batman busting heads in one.
•CONTÉM SPOILERS! img1000(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/798291340495945752/869744824218185728/photoCollageMaker_20210727_180910239.jpg) A primeira temporada nos trás histórias bastantes simples, mas o trabalho geral é direcionado para histórias maiores que são exploradas com muito mais detalhes na segunda temporada. Como dito anteriormente, a série é muito parecida com o filme noir dos anos 40 - com Roger desempenhando o papel do personagem tipo detetive particular e o misterioso anjo como a femme fetale. Outra comparação que pode ser observada é o Batman (exceto trocar o herói fantasiado por um robô gigante) - Paradigm City com uma aparência semelhante a Gotham City, Roger sendo auxiliado por seu fiel mordomo. O próprio Roger poderia ser considerado como uma espécie de híbrido Bruce Wayne / James Bond. Ele também tem alguns trapaceiros em sua galeria - de Beck - um trapaceiro que recuperou algumas memórias - Schwarzwald - um ex-repórter enfaixado empenhado em trazer à verdade sobre o cataclismo que aconteceu a 40 anos atrás em Paradigm, Alex Rosewater, o principal antagonista da série e filho do Gordon Rosewater. Segunda temporada: o maior enigma de todos os tempos na Indústria de Anime, os episódios vão ficando cade vez mais darks e a atmosfera do anime da um charme a mais a trama , explorando o passado de Paradigm City e o que fez com que todos perdessem suas memórias. Embora a animação certamente tenha um orçamento maior (é simplesmente uma qualidade maravilhosa), o impulso para uma narrativa mais focada é na verdade a única queda real da série. A trama se torna incrivelmente difícil de entender e o resultado final é uma conclusão que faz Neon Genesis Evangelion parecer compreensível. • Plots Os plots de The Big O são incríveis e mindfuc**, mas se você prestar bastante atenção, você irá conseguir entender a história ou não rs . Eu fiquei louco de tanto plot que vinha em uma sequência curta de tempo. (Abaixo alguns plots) • Big Vênus Big Venus aparece brevemente em " O show deve continuar" depois que Angel percebe seu papel na cidade de Paradigm e se transforma no megadeus. O design de Venus é quase idêntico ao Big O, com exceção de um rosto redesenhado, embora semelhante, com um sorriso rictus, e um par de asas que é mostrado em um flashback do evento. Quando aparece nos dias atuais, aparece com cores invertidas e suas asas são removidas. Big Venus tem o poder de alterar as memórias das pessoas e a própria realidade e é responsável por apagar as memórias de todos os cidadãos da Paradigm há 40 anos. Teria feito isso de novo, mas Roger enfrenta Big Venus dessa vez, que começa a apagar tudo simplesmente passando por ele até restarem apenas os 2 Bigs. Roger usa suas habilidades como negociador para convencer Angel a deixar as pessoas manterem suas memórias, quando Big Venus se aproxima lentamente. Big O e Big Venus então entram e passam um pelo outro, e Roger é capaz de enfrentar Angel como Diretor. Big Venus pode ser a versão de comando dos modelos Big, como é visto supervisionando a fúria dos megadeus do tipo Big em flashbacks do Evento. O nome "Vênus" faz alusão à "estrela da manhã" e ao anjo caído da mitologia cristã, Lúcifer. "Vênus" também se refere ao nome romano de Afrodite, a mais feminina e bonita das deusas gregas antigas. • União (Union) A União é um grupo de forasteiros, que se acredita serem sobreviventes dos últimos remanescentes da civilização, fora da cidade de Paradigm, que foram destruídos pelo evento. Embora suas localizações exatas de origem sejam desconhecidas, muitas parecem ser da cultura européia; alguns parecem familiarizados com o idioma francês, que é um idioma morto para os moradores de Paradigm. Assim como os moradores da própria cidade, os membros da União aparentemente também perderam suas memórias após o Evento, sugerindo que a amnésia em massa pode ter sido um fenômeno mundial. Os membros da União freqüentemente se infiltram na cidade de Paradigm, posando como cidadãos regulares, em quase todas as classes sociais e carreiras. Em alguns casos, eles se tornam tão integrados que têm amigos e até formam famílias, todos desconhecendo suas verdadeiras identidades ou objetivos. Desta forma, a União criou várias células adormecidas secretas. Angel é de fato um membro da União, embora Roger consiga discernir bem cedo que ela não é realmente uma nativa da cidade de Paradigm. A missão da União é buscar memórias perdidas que eles acreditam que possam residir na cidade de Paradigm. Eles também desejam se vingar da Paradigm Corporation e da própria cidade por acreditarem que foram responsáveis pelo Evento, 40 anos antes, que destruiu o mundo. Eles alcançam seus objetivos principalmente por meio de subterfúgios e sabotagem. Mais tarde, eles recorrem a atentados terroristas depois que Alex Rosewater ordena sua prisão. Embora eles aparentemente tenham o controle de um contingente de Megadeus que encontraram nas terras áridas, além de uma impressionante força aérea; algo que a Paradigm carece severamente; eles estão numericamente e materialmente em grande desvantagem em comparação com a cidade. No final da série, a verdadeira natureza da União e seu status como estrangeiros é questionada. São fornecidas indicações de que o grupo pode ter sido criado e manipulado pela Paradigm Corporation o tempo todo. Embora os próprios membros da União acreditem que são realmente de fora da cidade de Paradigm, é sugerido, mas não comprovado, que eles são realmente clones produzidos como um experimento fracassado dentro da cidade e depois expulsos, e para quem eles pensam que estão trabalhando não existir. Há também indicações de que as memórias dos agentes da União de terem crescido em uma terra estrangeira podem ser falsas e que toda a sua infância pode ter sido falsificada. É ainda sugerido, embora não comprovado, que eles são realmente clones criados para recuperar as memórias perdidas. Quando o experimento falhou, eles foram exilados. (Angel, Vera Ronstadt e Gordon Rosewater) Angel é informada por sua "mãe", Vera Ronstadt, membro do alto escalão da União, que todos são "tomates", clones de Gordon dos senadores fundadores da cidade, que supostamente possuem suas memórias. Mais tarde, Gordon diz a Roger e Angel que eles não estão entre seus tomates, embora pareça que seu "filho", Alex Rosewater, esteja. Se essa interpretação for verdadeira, sugere que não há literalmente nada além dos terrenos baldios que cercam a cidade de Paradigm. • O Final Sobre o final.. Sim, A Angel era um robô / Megadeus, para começar. Quando seu operador morreu, ela se tornou humana (!), Essencialmente se tornando uma semelhança física de seu operador, mas sem nenhuma lembrança. Devido à sua capacidade de reorganizar grande parte de sua própria matéria, massa e tamanho, ela era a "chave" para alterar a realidade. Havia evidências, no entanto, de que o mundo em que o programa se passava não passava de um holograma com defeito - rodando em um ciclo interminável - muito tempo depois que a humanidade morreu na Terra. Roger Smith, o negociador, recusou-se a acreditar nisso e se fundiu com Angel na esperança de oferecer um modo de vida melhor - se não fosse a Paradigm City e o "mundo", pelo menos para si, Angel e R. Dorothy ... O final é subjetivo, deliberadamente. Do ponto de vista otimista, o mundo e a humanidade são salvos, assim como Roger, Dorothy e Angel, devido à capacidade de Angel de reorganizar a matéria. Dado o número de fragmentos de Angel (em sua forma Megadeus) que caíram na Terra e ainda estavam em órbita, bem como o Princípio de Conservação de Energia, um realista poderia argumentar que Roger era bem-intencionado, mas iludido. Se o "mundo" fosse realmente um holograma, Roger teria apenas reiniciado o programa principal; uma Cidade Paradigm "melhor" etc. apareceria, mas seria uma ilusão tanto quanto a anterior, apesar de Roger ou qualquer um dos outros ser capaz de expressar emoções "reais", como o amor. img1000(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/798291340495945752/869743364952711168/photoCollageMaker_20210727_214659788.jpg) O Paizão contratou um Roger de uma outra linha do tempo para tentar negociar com o ser que administrava esse "mundo" e essa pessoa seria a própria Angel. • Extra img1000(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/798291340495945752/869749935984226304/yv7xi0.jpg) O robô Big O em si é excelente, e seu design tornou-se bastante icônico ao longo dos anos. Desde sua cabeça humanóide e choque de cinza escuro / preto e laranja brilhante até seu armamento em cadeia e braços volumosos, o megadeus se destaca completamente do resto dos robôs presentes no show (bem, além de Big Duo e Big Fau, o megadeus de O homólogos). Isso não quer dizer que os outros robôs oponentes sejam esquecíveis, porque estão cheios de charme retrô de ficção científica. As batalhas de Big O não se limitam apenas aos robôs, como também batalham contra uma boa quantidade de monstros. Os monstros e as peças de teatro, e até as próprias sequências, homenageiam outro gênero de filme - desta vez filmes japoneses de kaiju (monstros), como as séries Godzilla e Gamera '. • Tema de Abertura/Opening O tema de abertura (intitulado "Big O") será instantaneamente reconhecível para a maioria das pessoas, pois é uma homenagem direta (praticamente uma capa) de "Flash" de Queen, embora com letras diferentes. A partitura real da série também é uma variedade de estilos e homenagens musicais, que complementam muito bem os elementos filme noir e kaiju de The Big O. • Trilha Sonora Isso aqui é uma obra-prima, sem dúvidas umas das melhores coisas que já ouvi! https://youtu.be/96ouCiqGCNE Para resumir, The Big O é uma excelente série que se baseia em uma variedade de estilos e gêneros diferentes para criar uma história única de ficção científica, mas fica muito envolvida em si mesma e fica um pouco aquém do obstáculo final. Até então, porém, é quase impecável: animação de alto nível, ótimos designs de personagens, narrativa e personagens envolventes e uma maravilhosa trilha sonora.
Paradigm City is a community lost in time. Forty years ago, the entire population suffered an abrupt case of amnesia... Nobody who was alive at the time remembers what happened before then, and those born since have nothing to go off of other than various clues that they’ve picked up through media and pop culture artifacts. With no real context to help them decide what’s fiction and what’s not, hard information has been scarce, and memories themselves have become a valuable commodity. As humanity usually does, though, the people moved on, never questioning why high society is kept under domes, or why they’ve been cut off from the supposedly desecrated outside world. Humanity has strived and thrived even under these conditions, but there were always going to be problems, and for some problems, you need a negotiator. Enter Roger Smith, a debonair playboy with a silver tongue for dealing with crises and a giant robot in reserve should things get out of hand. What he doesn’t know is that with the help of a sarcastic android and a network of underground connections, he’s destined to be the unlikely hero who unravels the mystery of Paradigm city once and for all. The Big O was produced by Sunrise, one of the most prolific and successful studios in anime history. They’re made up of over a dozen sub-studios, and as such, they’ve been churning out countless anime since the seventies, at a rate of about 3-7 titles per year on average. I don’t know whether you can call it genuine talent, good luck or just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks with an absurdly high success rate, but Sunrise has been behind several big-name anime series. Not only are they the primary home of the Gundam franchise, but they also brought Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, Escaflowne, Outlaw Star, Gin-Tama, Inuyasha and even Love Live into the world. Their DNA is tied pretty strongly to the realm of shonen action and mecha anime, especially with all the classic genre fare they produced in the seventies, but they’ve proven over five decades of work that they have the ability to knock any genre you throw at them out of the park. That’s not to say they haven’t made any stinkers, but they also bought and killed Studio Xebec, so the odd dud here and there can be excused. It’s easy to look at anime like this one, which was produced just before the dawn of the year 2000, and call it out for looking a little cheap(especially with its archaic aspect ratio), but that context is important. As far as I can tell, Big O is entirely hand-drawn, and it faced a lot of the technical limits of that specific era. There isn’t a whole lot of detail in the background through most of the series, but rather than letting the environment feel barren, director and storyboard artist Kazuyoshi Katayama made sure that what little detail we DID get would be just striking and memorable enough to grab our attention away from their surroundings, keeping our eyes occupied while not really leaving enough of an impression to feel jarring. The next time you’re watching episode 1, and you see the close-up of the open briefcase, take a good look at how uniquely each stack of dollars is drawn, bent and faded in different ways that you just wouldn’t get if you were using CGI to fill in the case more efficiently. You’re not technically supposed to notice something as subtle as that, it’s just supposed to impress you on a subconscious level. The same thing goes for the animation, which can appear stiff and lifeless in some shots, but it’s never too egregious, and the effect never lasts very long. There’s usually something moving on screen, whether it’s the subject of the shot, whiskey in a glass or even just a puff of smoke or wisp of fog, and while that should be more noticeable than the subtle details are, the over-all style and aesthetic of this series do it a world of good. The hand-drawn cells act as the perfect canvas for a film noir design scheme, using pitch perfect lighting effects and the exact blend of dull and bright colors that either stand out or blend into the dark shadows whenever needed. It’s hard to complain about a lack of movement when every shot just looks so damn beautiful. I’ve complained before about anime using weird camera angles, but in those cases, an anime would use fast shots and unpredictable framing to distract the viewer from long stretches of dialogue. Big O, on the other hand, uses its errant shots the way film noir should, using dutch angles to convey tension, distant perspectives to imply a conversation might not be as private as it appears, etc. The only place the visual quality really drops in a noticeable way is with the giant robot fights, but those are also the moments when the series picks up the pace with fast movement and quick shots, so you probably won’t notice unless you’re as anal about that kind of thing as I am. The design is also really unique, at least to the anime medium. The best way I can describe the character palette is like, a slightly grittier and grainier Leiji Matsumoto. To be fair, that’s not a completely accurate comparison, so here’s a better one: This looks like Batman the Animated Series, and there’s a reason for that... Sunrise Studio #6, who produced Big O, also did some animation work for Batman, and while I can’t find a direct link between the two, it’s clear to see that there was some inspiration taken from that particular early 90’s classic. The music for Big O has a heavy leaning towards jazz, dominated by the piano and saxophone and ranging from smooth to sleazy to melancholic and pensive, again, only really slipping into the heart pounding orchestrations you’d expect from a shonen action series(with a slight electronic edge) when Roger slips into his iconic mecha. Even so, it's not married to that divide, and it can surprise you with a perfectly chosen orchestral arrangement during certain fights. For the English dub, there’s no shortage of seasoned and highly respected talent attached to this title, but the best decision that was made in the entire process of creating this show was casting Steve Blum as the main character. Maybe this is blasphemous, I don’t know, but I’ve kind of started to think of him as the Tim Curry of the anime world... A voice and delivery everyone loves, a range that deceptively potent, and more often than not he winds up being the best possible candidate for most of the characters he winds up voicing. He speaks for himself, but I’d also be lying if I didn’t recommend this dub on the strength of Lia Sargent, who pulled double duty as both the voice director and as Roger’s sidekick Dorothy. It’s no small task playing a robot in a way that’s both convincing and engaging, but she gives Blum a run for his money. Dub highly recommended, obviously. I feel like, to at least some degree, we’re all story-tellers at heart. There’s little that’s more appealing than the idea of having an entire universe in your hands, one whose narrative you exclusively control, and it starts when we’re old enough to know what stories are. If you had Star Wars, Transformer and GI Joe figures as a kid, I can guarantee that at some point, you had Jedi knights swinging their light-sabers alongside their gun-toting soldier allies to stop Megatron. It was your story, anything goes, and you had no reason not to throw everything you liked into it, even if you were just entertaining yourself on a rainy afternoon. When you’re an adult, this sort of thing is called The Rule of Cool... Anything you like can be a part of a story you’re writing, because it’s your story... But depending what you’re planning to do with that story, you may find yourself dealing with rules BEYOND just what’s cool. Sure, if you’re just writing a fanfiction, those rules don’t exist, but what if you’re creating a legitimate piece of commercial media? Well, obviously, you can’t include licensed material without permission, that’s a given. But what’s a bit harder to grasp is that no matter how many elements you add to the story, be they genre beats or actual licensed content, you have to put in extra effort to make it all fit together. There are elements that clash unless you figure out a way to combine them properly. There are elements you have to add early, because they can be unintentionally destructive if they come in without warning. A good example is Samurai Flemenco, a show about people dressing up as superheroes in a real life setting... Until the monsters just randomly become real in one episode, after which even the most die hard fans say it went off the rails. Bleach had a few really cool elements blended together for a good long while, but some of it’s worst moments came when they tried adding vampires to the mix. RWBY spent it’s first two volumes throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick, and some of it really backfired when they started to take their story and plot seriously three volumes in. But then you have Kingdom Hearts, a franchise that merged two distinctly different franchises, Disney and Final Fantasy, so well that it feels incomplete without both parties being present. You can tell from first glance that Big O was assembled from bits and pieces taken from several other titles. The ones that spring immediately to mind are Batman and Cowboy Bebop, but you can probably find a ton of others if you look hard enough. It’s the story of Bruce Wayne, but with no childhood trauma or incentive to keep his identity a secret, having traded his cape and cowl for a giant mecha. He still has Alfred, but he’s replaced his long chain of child sidekicks with a sassy android lady, dealing with complex 1920’s style mysteries that always end in over-the-top spectacles. A show like this has every possible excuse to not work, and yet it all comes together with near-perfect symmetry. Mecha fights in a film noir setting shouldn’t work, but the giant robots in this show... They’re called Megaduces, by the way, which only gets funnier when you realize the main one was named after a euphemism for an orgasm... Look archaic and makeshift enough to fit the time period. There’s elements to the Big O’s design in particular that feel more practical than flashy, like the design process was bogged by physics issues they had to compensate for, and while giant mecha will never technically feel realistic, these ones feel believable enough for the series. The fact that the plot of each episode could only technically be described as a mystery, when the structure of each one paints it more as a question that’ll be answered(and MAYBE with some foreshadowing) just in time for a giant mecha brawl, that should damage it’s credibility as a film noir mystery, but some of the reveals in these episodes are unpredictable and emotionally effective, but even if they weren’t, the over-all mystery over how the world got to be the way it is is more than strong enough to make up for this, and nearly every episode feeds into that mystery in some way. As a result, no episode ever feels pointless or forgettable. I’m not going to pretend like you have to homogenize different elements into a story to make them work, especially not after making such a fuss over how clashing tones worked in Kotoura-san’s favor, but it IS a legitimate method... Everything Big O does makes sense in the universe it created, coming together in an irresistibly anachronistic 1920’s style sci-fi atmosphere, and it all works as a backdrop for the true heart of the story. As awesome as giant robots fighting each other may be, I’ve never personally been a fan of that sort of thing.. I don’t hate it, it just doesn’t do much for me... So if that were the highlight of the title, I don’t think I’d enjoy it half as much as I do. Yeah, the mecha element is there, it is strong, and I can see it making any mecha fanboy go rock hard, but the real heart of The Big O lies in it’s two main characters, Roger and Dorothy. They’re not a romantic couple or anything, which is kind of a relief, but they have outstanding chemistry with each other as an odd pair of friends and colleagues. They’re both from an archetype that could get boring on it’s own... Someone like Dorothy could come off as boring and stiff, while Roger’s smug denial of emotion in favor of cold logic could make him extremely punchable... But they challenge each other at every turn, exposing their softer aspects and sanding off some of their rougher edges. They have some of the most charming dialogue you’ll ever hear, the kind of banter most screen writers WISH they could create without having it sound forced. These are the kind of characters who could save a bad anime, but thankfully, the series is so damn cool that there’s really nothing to save. I guess it’s fair to say this isn’t the deepest or most meaningful anime of all time... It plays around with the themes of memory and identity, but not in such a way that you’d ever find yourself pondering it after the credits... But not every anime needs to have depth. Not every anime needs to be an emotional rollercoaster, or a rabbit hole of introspective ideas. Rather, Big O boasts a powerful atmosphere, whip-smart dialogue and a sense of pacing that should have no problem keeping your attention. And while we're at it, you don't need adult content to feel mature, either. Big O features almost no fanservice, there's no foul language in the dub, and while it has a decent body count, the violence is never too graphic. It strikes the same mood as any number of atmospheric detective dramas you might have watched with your parents as a kid, letting you feel grown up because they never pandered or talked down to you, yet also remaining relatively PG so you wouldn't get kicked out of the room. In short, Big O is just really fucking cool. If you needed proof that an anime could succeed just on execution alone, look no further than this. The Big O was originally available from Bandai before going out of print, but has since been rescued and rereleased by Sentai Filmworks. This includes the second season, which... Well, we’ll talk about that in a minute. The manga is not available stateside. Much like Cowboy Bebop before it, The Big O didn’t do so great in it’s original Japanese release, and wasn’t able to truly find it’s audience until it came to the west. I’m not sure there’s a solid explanation why, but I mean, you can't prove Steve Blum DIDN'T save them both. It was originally intended to have a 26 episode run, but was forced to cut itself off at 13 due to it’s poor performance. Seeing how popular it was in their Toonami line-up, Cartoon Network actually commissioned a second season, which... I'll talk about in my next review. Thank God Anilist split them into two separate titles so I can actually do that. On it’s own, the first season of The Big O might not be the deepest anime ever made, but it’s certainly one of the coolest. I give The Big O(1999) an 8/10.
~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Big-O-Banner.png)~~~ In the 90's there aired a now legendary TV show called *Batman: The Animated Series*. With its combination of film noir and art deco visual styles, it basically defined what Batman would look and sound like for decades to come. I bring this up because working on said legendary show was a little known studio you might have heard of by the name of Sunrise. They, with Kazuyoshi Katayama as Director and Chiaki Konaka of *Serial Experiments Lain* and *Texhnolyze* fame as Series Composition, would go on to create the cult classic mecha anime we are here to talk about today: *The Big O*. What would happen if you gave Bruce Wayne a giant robot? Or if Robin was a female android with a skill for witticisms? All animated by the studio known for their giant robots and written by a man with a penchant for... The weird. Lets dive in and find out. **Be warned, this review covers both seasons of *The Big O* and contains minor unmarked spoilers for both. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents**. ~~~webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/67141e75f2240a7b6e4247eb879e7399.mp4)~~~ #~~~__Visuals__~~~ Lets begin with the series production. *Big O's* is interesting, in that it sits right on the interstice of two different eras of animation. Season one, created in 1999, was created in the final years of cel animation. That means more detailed, but also more limited, animation as well as less color saturation. Meanwhile season two, created in 2003, was done digitally. This loses some of the character or individuality of each frame but is also a cheaper and more efficient animation pipeline. That said, because of *Big O's* use of thick lines, heavy blacks and simple colors, all due to its Noir and Art Deco inspirations, it manages to avoid many of the worst pitfalls of this switch. You'll definitely notice the change, but its end up being largely positive, bringing a great deal more movement and expression to the characters while losing little in the way of visual style. However for all that the animation changes, the style and quality of the direction remains consistent between the two seasons. Kazuyoshi Katayama and his team go to great lengths to establish Paradigm City, the primary setting of *Big O*, as a character unto itself, much like its inspiration Gotham City which is, in turn, inspired by New York City. Through a great number of wide establishing shots, you'll get a feel for the city and come to recognize a number of locations and domes just by their color palette or the design of the architecture. This isn't to say *Big O* is perfect, it often operates on *Game of Thrones* time where characters can travel between two locations, ostensibly on the opposite sides of the city, very quickly. Still, this doesn't hurt much as time is rarely an important factor. Now this far in you might be wondering about the robots and how they fare, I mentioned this is a mecha anime after all. Well I'm pleased to report *Big O* does quite well! There's a *weight* to *Big O's* mechs. They tend to move slowly and with purpose, each step shaking the ground beneath them, really driving home that these are indeed 10 story tall slabs of steel. Even when one flies, and they rarely do, their turns are wide and they are more akin to a 737 than a Jet. This is also reflected in the environment around them, which is routinely destroyed in their conflicts. When they get hit, they stumble. When they fall, things break. They feel, look and move as if they are part of this world, never feeling out of place. The worst thing I can say is that some fights can be rather dull, a consequence of the Monster-Of-The-Week format. Overall I would say *The Big O* looks solid. In fact it reminds me of *Batman: The Animated Series* in ways other than the obvious. It's not the most animated of shows, instead making use of its strong art style and direction to keep you visually engaged. Detailed backgrounds and beautiful vistas. The kind of things that make you feel Gotham/Paradigm City is a real place. But when it does decide it wants to move, it goes all out. Buildings break, explosions flare and you can feel the impact of giant fists meeting steel faces. If mecha action is what you're looking for, *Big O* certainly delivers. It even has a giant "Piss off" laser at one point, and who doesn't love those? ~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/The-Big-O-14.3.jpg)~~~ #~~~__Narrative__~~~ With that, lets talk about what *Big O* is actually *doing* with all of those giant robots and beautiful backgrounds. *Big O* takes place in the Paradigm City, where all of the residents have lost the memories after an event 40 years ago. Occasionally however, memories may re-awaken, and they may be something as innocuous as who your family was to the knowledge of how to build a giant robot. This is where Roger, our protagonist and the Negotiator of Paradigm City, comes in to solve problems and protect the citizens of this last bastion of humanity. *Big O's* general structure is that of a classic monster-of-the-week, where each episode sees Roger solving a new problem that inevitably escalates into fight where he has to bust out eponymous "Big O", the giant robot for which the show was named. As you would expect, this means that the quality of each episode varies greatly, at least early on. Some will be beautiful one-off explorations of an android learning what it means to carry on a legacy, or of a twisted madman with memories of terrible atrocities seeking to repeat them once more. Others won't feel like they fit at all however, either being irrelevant to the larger story of the city or simply being forgettable and poorly done. The latter are a rarity luckily, most of *Big O's* episodic stories trend towards being at least "good". But you will run into at least one episode that feels out of place. On top of that, while the weekly robot fights are decently varied in design and abilities, there are a few that felt more like afterthoughts in an episode that otherwise didn't need a weekly giant robot fight. The real strength of the series however is in how these weekly monster fights eventually coalesce into a larger singular story. One about self-determinism, memories, and what exactly defines you as *you*. Characters return, the memories each discovered become relevant again as the main villain hunts for one in particular, and the history of Paradigm City comes to the forefront. Admittedly, it does get rather meta by the end. And while that shouldn't come as a surprise with Chiaki Konaka in the writers chair, it may turn some people off. Personally it took me a while before I came to like it. But like it I do, because one way or another *Big O* certainly earns its ending. It doesn't come from out of nowhere, instead building on ideas and plot points introduced as early as episode one. What I'm trying to say is, *Big O* was always about that stuff if you know where to look for it. It just eased you into it is all. All in all I would say that *Big O's* narrative makes comes together for a strong and meaningful, if out there, ending. It's slow in some places, clearly wanted more time in others, but I enjoyed it for most of its run. For all that it's a monster-of-the-week giant robot show, characters reappear with alarming frequency, both heroes and villains, and many of them get multiple episodes focused specifically on them. Meanwhile our heroes, Roger and Dorothy, get more and more proactive as the story continues, giving us this feeling of progress even when doing something totally unrelated. Most important of all though, more than anything else I've said: *Big O* has an actual ending. No cliffhanger, no "See you next season" and it never comes, a real honest to God ending. You may not like it, it may not be your thing, but its there. And that's good. ~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/The-Big-O-23.7.jpg)~~~ #~~~__Characters__~~~ Speaking of characters, lets talk about them! *Big O's* core cast consists of Roger, our leading man, Dorothy, his android side kick and live-in maid, Norman, his butler/Alfred replacement, and Angel, the Femme Fatale love interest, not to mention a rogues gallery of repeating villains. For the most part, this core cast is solid. Roger and Dorothy get most of the attention by far, their relationship being central to many episodes. Watching them grow from mere acquaintances, as Roger figures out what he wants from life and Dorothy what it means to be human, was fantastic. Easily a highlight of the show. Angel gets similar attention, though instead of progressing and improving I'd say she has more of a... decline so to speak, which is still engaging to watch. The only core member who doesn't get some sort of arc is Norman, who is really just *there* for most of *Big O's* run time. Of the aforementioned villains, *Big O* has a number of them. Most only appear once or twice in one-off episodes, but of the repeats there are three really worth talking about: Beck, Schwarzwald and Alex Rosewater. Beck is easily the funnest villain in the roster, with some of the most charismatic lines and wackiest plans. He doesn't have lot of narrative weight, mostly representing the "petty crime" side of things, but he's always a joy on screen. Meanwhile Schwarzwald and Rosewater are *Big O's* more "serious" villains, being based on The Joker and Lex Luthor respectively. They both challenge Roger in different ways, whether it be his understanding of the world and his place in it or by causing him to doubt his own autonomy. As for side characters, this is where *Big O* starts to slip a bit. Most of these are one-off, existing for whatever story that episode wants to tell. As such, they tend to be less "Characters" and more "caricatures". They are stand-ins for larger ideas, whether that be the poor, the religious, or the well-meaning but flawed scientist. About the only side character really worth talking about is Dastun, the police chief and a former friend of Rogers. Dastun gets a fair amount of focus, even a few episodes about him. Overall though, he's the only "major" character who I felt didn't get a proper "end" to his story. This is a shame because early on his relationship with Roger, both their past working together as well as his inability to meaningfully contribute to these giant robot fights, is very compelling! By the end though, he fails to do much. To sum it up, *Big O* has a pretty well rounded cast of decent size, with interesting characters among both the heroes *and* the villains. Some, such as Rosewater, take time before they become interesting while others, such as Dorothy (My wife) and Schwarzwald (Not my wife), remain at the top of their game the whole way through. Luckily, between the weekly episodic monsters and the larger overarching story there's enough to go around and none of them every truly feel *pointless*. Even Norman's existence, for all that he's static and doesn't really do anything, matters in how he affects *other* characters. And that's enough for him to at least feel necessary, if not very interesting. And I think that's the best way to describe *Big O's* cast. The ones that matter, lead and are good, while that ones that don't, support and aren't. Sounds obvious, but that's more than most anime can claim. ~~~youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96ouCiqGCNE)~~~ #~~~__OST__~~~ This brings me to the music. Ah the music. Composed by Toshihiko Sahashi, *Big O* has an absolutely *banging* soundtrack. Seriously, slap on "Holy" while you read this and try not to jam out. Now, most of the available tracks you'll find will be either orchestral, such as the grand and looming "Stoning" and Dorothy's erratic and rapid piano solo "Run Down", or jazz, like the chasing saxophone of "The Words" and the more blues inspired piano solo of "Nature". There are the occasional surprises, like the eerie and synthetic sounds of "Touch" or the absolutely dripping with funk "Servant". For the most part though, you'll be looking at, or listening to in this case, a lot of instrumental ensembles with very little the in the way of vocal tracks. For more detailed look into the OST I highly recommend this article by Sarah Stankiewicz, an actually trained musician. To summarize Stankiewicz, since I largely agree with her though you should definitely read the article, the biggest failing of *Big O's* soundtrack is that it's *too short*. The longest track across both seasons is "Chain" at 2:39. There's also "Legend of First Memory" at 5:31, but that track is a mix of multiple other tracks so I don't really count it. Point is, the songs aren't particularly long nor do many of them seem composed for individual listening. Rather they are purpose built to support the visuals of the show, to be played in the background of an actual scene. As far as the show goes, that's great! They succeed *tremendously*, many of the tracks are iconic and really add to the scene. The issue comes when you want to listen to the OST on its own, leisurely, and in that it falls a tad short. Overall though, in the context of the show I think *Big O* has a fantastic OST. From the jazz/rock fusion of "Freedom" to the quiet and lonely piano of "Sleep My Dear". The rolling drums and blasting horns of "Sure Promise" to the melancholy sax of "Eternal Life". *Big O* is absolutely *filled* with music that, if it was just a little bit longer, I would have already added it to my driving playlist. And it's not like this quality applies to just the OST, *Big O's* overall sound design is pretty good as well. I have less concrete examples of this, and am not properly equipped to describe it, but take my word for it: The crack of stone as the mechs walk, the crash of steel as they collide, the soft footsteps of shoes on carpet. *Big O* sounds pretty good, in almost every way. ~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/The-Big-O-9.5.jpg)~~~ #~~~__The Fight for the Right to Exist__~~~ And so we come to the end of this review! This last section here is simply where I take off the reviewer hat, drop any pretense of "rating" a show, and simply talk to you about my experience with *The Big O*, one fan to another. This is no-holds-barred spoiler territory folks! I *will* be spoiling the ending, going into detail with what it meant for me and my enjoyment of the show at large. So if you haven't watched the show, or don't care and just want to see a number, skip to the conclusion! If you want a peek behind the curtain into who I am though, than read on. We have a lot to talk about. ~!So, the ending. This is something I can see turning a lot of people off, and I understand why. *Big O* goes from a show about giant robots beating each other up to some kind of existential and philosophical crisis where Angel turns into God and the entire world gets Thanos snapped, reset and looped. To many, it probably feels like a non-ending, a cop-out, meta-bullshit that doesn't really mean anything and takes away from a story they were enjoying. And I get that. There was a period of time where I felt the same, where I felt like *Big O* didn't give me the ending I wanted. But as I thought about it, I realized something. *Big O* didn't get the ending *it wanted* either. And the whole thing with Angel, with Roger supposedly negotiating with God? That was *Big O* fighting for its right to exist on the air. In 1999, *Big O* was originally slated for two cour. However due to poor reception in Japan it was cut short, to just one, only getting the second cour after airing internationally and being being picked up by Cartoon Network. However even that wasn't what Konaka wanted, having given Cartoon Network the option for an additional two cour *on top* of the one they were already getting. As such, it's clear that the story he wanted to write was larger than what he was allowed, leading to the sudden shift in the ending and this feeling of... desperation throughout it as the characters beg and fight for their right to exist. Roger's "negotiation" with God? That's the characters fighting to keep the show on the air. Angel sitting at a desk watching the show, crying as it ends? She's like a producer who regrets pulling the plug, being comforted by the "Actors". You also have Alex Rosewater and Roger's conflict of Determinism versus Free Will. Of being born, *destined*, for a specific role, a specific life, versus taking control and creating one for yourself. Of not defining yourself by your past, by your memories, but rather by your future, by the actions you choose to take. Combine that with Schwarzwalds own argument of searching for the truth, for *your* truth in a world with many, and how the Bigs seem to only respond to those have *found* some kind of personal truth, and it definitely feels like *Big O's* ending was aimed more at the producers than the audience. Even the way it ends, resetting back to the first scene of episode 1, feels like your starting up another round rather than the story itself repeating. As if, so long as you watch and love it, *Big O* never truly dies. What I'm trying to say is that while *Big O's* ending is definitely meta, and definitely comes out of left field in a lot of ways, its message still felt like it belonged to the same show. It isn't that the ending doesn't fit, or couldn't work, but rather that it didn't have the time it wanted to properly build up to that. Yet in spite of this, once I stopped to think about it, it still managed to connect with me. To make me sit back and think about what had happened, what the characters wanted and, in turn, the artists working on it. Is the most emotionally affecting ending I've ever watched? No, a lot of the casts stories don't really get resolved. But it was definitely memorable, making me think about something I hadn't prior. And for me, that's good enough. Also Dorothy is Bae and I'm really happy it committed to her and Roger's relationship, sue me!!~ ~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/The-Big-O-10.4.jpg)~~~ #~~~__Conclusion__~~~ All in all *Big O* is a solid mecha anime with a strong sense of style, a banger soundtrack and only occasionally missteps with its episodic content. The ending gets a bit weird, and that might turn some people off, but I think if you enjoyed any of Chiaki Konaka's prior works, or if you just give it a chance, you'll come away pleasantly surprised. If nothing else I think the journey to *get* to the ending will be worth your time. Whether it be because you enjoy watching giant robots fight or Roger and Dorothy banter, I think *Big O* will certainly be worth your time. If you enjoyed this review make sure to check out some of my others, or read my thoughts episode by episode on my blog. See you at the next one! Thanks for reading! 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