Big O Vol. 1 |
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Before I get started with my review
of Big O Volume One, I'd like to point out just what
every article/review of the series has brought up... The
series is very similar to Batman. Thankfully, not the
campy cheese-fest Batman series of the sixties, but
Batman : The Animated Series. A rich crime fighter, a
butler, and some neat utilities are just a few of the
similarities.. Both Batman : The Animated Series and Big
O have a film noir edge to them, along with character
designs similar to the Fliescher Superman cartoons of the
forties(although Big O does borrow a bit from anime from
the disco era). However, Batman : The Animated Series was
one of the best American cartoons of the nineties, so is
it really that bad if Big O has some similarities? Bruce Wayne, er, Roger Smith is a negotiator in Paradigm City, a city much like any other city except for the fact that one day forty years ago everyone in the city lost all of their memories. Humans, being adaptable creatures learned to live with the changes and form new lives for themselves, with their only history being whatever written records they could find. A firm named Paradigm seems to be in control of everything in the city(hence the name, Paradigm City), with all of their dirty secrets kept under lock and key. Being a negotiator, ex-cop Roger Smith is sort of like a glorified bounty hunter/private detective. Although not devoted to being a crime fighter(he is doing it for money, after all), he is devoted to his clients and always tries to finish the job, no matter what happens to them. His one secret weapon is Big O, a giant robot that sure comes in handy from time to time. With Big O at his side(sometimes), Roger Smith solves cases and tries to uncover the mysteries of Paradigm City. That's basically a synopsis of the series. When the show first ran for a short time on Cartoon Network, I only saw the first episode and it really didn't draw me in. The show looked great and moved great, but it really didn't do anything to bring me back to the television the next day(I watch very little television, anyway). I decided to buy the first DVD, because I was looking for something different and also because I was interested in seeing if the show picked up after the first episode. Boy, did it ever. Don't get me wrong, the first episode is pretty good, but only after the follow up episode did I really begin to appreciate this series. The premise was also something that intrigued me, especially after seeing the movie Memento. Basically, all we have are memories to tell us what has happened in the past. Anything can be written down in books, truth or fiction. For the people in Paradigm city, all the memories of their past are gone, so what are they to believe? The show is really deep on this level if you look at the characters and the world they live in based on their loss of memories. The show opens with Roger Smith on a typical negotiator case, this one being a kidnaping. He recovers the missing girl from the kidnappers, but soon after they have the ransom money and have fled the scene. Soon after the daughter is in safe hands, Roger finds out from the "father" of the girl that she isn't a human, but an android. Disappointed from the results of his last job, Smith returns home to find that the android, R. Dorothy Wayneright, is there waiting for him. It seems that Dorothy is looking for a bodyguard, and Roger seems to fit the bill. The two don't have time to hit it off as another giant robot seems to be attacking a bank in the city, and Roger goes off to stop it with Dorothy in tow. Dorothy seems to think that the giant robot is her sister, and almost gets killed in an attempt to communicate with it. The next episode continues as Roger and Dorothy try to stop the criminal, Beck(no, not that Beck), from destroying any more of the city. Before the obligatory giant robot fight, Dorothy seems to find her real father and is somehow a key to powering other robots. After the initial two episodes, Dorothy takes up residence with Roger Smith. He is her bodyguard, after all. Her calm and rational reasoning is a great foil to his brash and cocky attitude. The final two episodes on the disc are two different cases for smith. One case involves Smith going to reactivate a power plant for Paradigm, as the people in the newly named "Electric City" seem to be sticking to their roots and rejecting the idea of electricity. The last episode deals with Smith going into the abandoned subway system to find a missing reporter. Now only used by Smith to transport Big O, the underground tunnels of the city are said to be inhabited by a group of people that no one has ever seen. The reporter knows some secrets about Paradigm, secrets that Smith doesn't really understand at the moment. The story of Big O is something that kept me interested. Much like the people of the city, we know nothing about the history of Paradigm City and are forced to assemble some kind of past from what we see on the screen. Paradigm seems to be behind the cover-up, but why? Also, where did all of these giant robots come from? There are many questions I have about the series, hopefully most of them will be answered by the time the show ends its run. Yes, I didn't see the run on Cartoon Network, so for some people these questions will be old news. Hey, the show is still new to me! I mentioned the look of the show in the first paragraph, and I'd like to add that I enjoy seeing anime designs that aren't the typical big eyes and small nose look. Being a fan of the Batman series, it didn't take long to get used to the visuals of the show. The mechanical design was also really interesting. I originally wrote off Big O as being a really dorky looking robot. However, after watching the first disc I now think that Big O is one of the most unique giant robots in anime. It may not be the most graceful thing, but it sure is fun to watch it fight. While we're on the subject of visuals, I'd just like to say that this may be the best looking DVD I own. While titles like Cowboy Bebop and Trigun have set new standards in DVD video quality, both shows got off on a semi-rocky start and those discs were riddled with a few technical problems. Big O seems to be getting off on the right foot, however. Colors are solid, with no breakup or bleeding whatsoever. I can usually spot technical problems instantly thanks to my expensive component cables, but with Big O I was hard pressed to find any. Bandai has raised the bar on DVD quality, in my book. The sound mix was something I enjoyed almost as much as the visuals. A fairly recent show, Big O has a really nice stereo mix, with lots of directional effects. Everything was crystal clear, and a joy to listen to. Much like Cowboy Bebop, Big O uses non-traditional anime music in its soundtrack. Aside from the opening song that sounds like Queen and the ending song that sounds like a Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross duet, Big O features some really blues-y stuff, along with a few spooky tracks(that somehow reminded me of the movie Twelve Monkeys). The dub is also excellent, not the best but certainly way above average. Extras are very nice on this first volume. We get a text interview with the creator, always something great since I love to get into the nuts and bolts of an anime series. There's also a Creditless version of the opening, which is cheesy but fun to listen to. The presentation of the disc is also excellent. The menus are a version of Big O's cockpit, a very nice touch. The cover art is also very striking, not to mention very cool. Once again, Bandai uses the original Japanese covers. Excellent work here. Once you get over the few similarities to Batman, Big O is a great, original show that should not be missed. If you're looking for something original or something to make you think, try Big O. - Bob Mackey |
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