History Anime / TheBigO

** The Big O itself is the most obvious example. Unlike contemporary mecha shows where increasingly even the real robot-type machines show increasing agility, the Big O is massive, plodding, unsubtle, and destructive. When it's shot from a distance, it's shown that it can actually move quite quickly (like a car with low acceleration but high top speed), but it's so heavy that it can't stop on a dime, and it's not exactly graceful. Of course, it's got tremendous amounts of firepower, with even its weakest weapons blasting tremendous holes in skyscrapers. [[spoiler: Its [[WaveMotionGun Final Stage]] cannon blows away most of a city the size of New York.]]

* AGodAmI: Eugene Grant, the [[AxCrazy crazy as fuck]] MadScientist who engineers humans into animals.

* InvincibleHero: While by no means TheProtagonist, Dastun goes through all manner of what can only be described as "serious shit" and always comes out in one piece.

* AfterTheEnd: [[MindScrew Maybe.]] All of Paradigm is suffering under amnesia, with allusions made to a war involving Megadei, the people reusing traditions they don't understand (Heaven's Day in place of Christmas), and decaying satellites gradually falling out of orbit. Almost nothing is known about the world outside of Paradigm City. [[spoiler: Again though, the MindScrew ending involving Big Venus leaves it ambiguous about just what the hell the deal with Paradigm City really is.]]

''The Big O'' was created by Creator/{{Sunrise}} studios and premiered in Japan in October 1999. Though originally planned as a 26-episode series, low viewership in Japan meant that production ceased after only 13 had been completed. The series fared better internationally, however, where it received a very positive reception after airing on on Creator/CartoonNetwork in April 2001. This caught the network's attention and as a result they offered Sunrise and Bandai Visual to join as co-producers on a second season, consisting of the 13 unproduced episodes, which started airing in Japan in January 2003 and in August that year the US.

** Most of the Megadei are massive and cumbersome. Even the flying Big Duo handles more like a heavy bomber than an interceptor, flying mostly in straight lines and needing vast amounts of space to make a turn. The exception is the Archetype, a LightningBruiser which is apparently the stripped-down skeleton of a Megadeus and moves with the agility of a monkey.

There is a very Japanese cultural perspective here, in that wherever Roger goes in his investigation of the Monster of the Week, the people he talks to always think it is "a god." Anything strange or inexplicable is attributed to the gods. There's a reason each of the giant robots is explicitly referred to as a "Mega''deus''."

''The Big O'' was created by Creator/{{Sunrise}} studios and premiered in Japan in October 1999. Though originally planned as a 26 episodes series, low viewership in Japan meant that production was ceased after only 13 had been completed. The series fared better internationally, however, where it received a very positive reception after airing on on Creator/CartoonNetwork in April 2001. This caught the network's attention and as a result they offered Sunrise and Bandai Visual to join as co-producers on a second season, consisting of the 13 unproduced episodes, which starting airing in Japan in January 2003 and in August that year the US.

The second season began airing on the [[UnCancelled revived]] Creator/{{Toonami}} block on July 27th of 2013, airing at 3:30 AM and joining the lineup alongside ''Anime/SwordArtOnline''. Due to its role funding the anime's revival, Creator/CartoonNetwork (indefinitely) holds exclusive airing rights to the second season.

Not to be confused with [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam The O]]. Or big-O notation in mathematics or computer science. Or the tire store. Or the FanNickname for the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Or the common nickname for legendary 1960s NBA player Oscar Robertson. Or Music/RoyOrbison. Or TheImmodestOrgasm. Or BigNo, either. And try not to mistake the sixth DVD, "The Big O: Missing Pieces" for Creator/ShelSilverstein's book ''The Missing Piece Meets the Big O''. The name actually seems to be one of the many religious references (like "Behemoth" and "Leviathan") that appear in the show, in this case to "Alpha and Omega" - the name of the Greek letter "Omega" literally means "Big O", in contrast with Omicron (O-Micron), which means "little O".

* SinisterSubway: Though the residents of Paradigm City believe this is true about their own subway, they are apparently very safe and are used by Roger Smith to transport his robot, though it should be noted that Roger has only mapped out the basic system (and has yet to explore what is ''beneath'' the subway).

** In the episode "Roger the Wanderer," two [[https://eggabase.com/anime/the-big-o/gargoyles-cameo/ gargoyles]] briefly appear that resemble Brooklyn and Broadway from [[WesternAnimation/Gargoyles]].

** Episode 9 (Winter Night Phantom) had a crucifix digitally removed from the sequence where a little girl blows up a cathedral with a bomb (which was also edited).

* {{Flanderization}}: Beck's lackeys used to be normal-sized humans prior to his VillainDecay.

* BigDamnVillains: In Season 2, Alex Rosewater activates his own Big to stop an attacking Megadeus after Roger is forced to abandon the fight to save Dorothy. It doesn't quite go as planned, though.

* RedshirtArmy: They DO get a CrowningMomentOfAwesome at the end of the series, though.

** [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "BIG O! FINAL STAGE!"]], which makes the Chrome Buster look like a pea shooter. [[spoiler:He missed - possibly due to Roger being a TechnicalPacifist.]]

* IntimidationDemonstration: "The Greatest Villain". Before Beck fights Roger Smith he does some fancy maneuvers with a giant boomerang-like weapon his Megadeus created. Roger then shoots him with Big O's ArmCannon, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny trashing the whole thing in two seconds flat]].

->''"Cast in the name of God, ye not guilty"''

->''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTfbstFoj30 "You're a louse, Roger Smith."]]''
-->-- '''R. Dorothy Waynewright'''

* BadassInANiceSuite: Roger's typical attire is a lack business attire with a tie.

* CerebusSyndrome: A very strange example. The first season starts off simple enough--Roger solving self-contained mysteries--then episode 13 kicks in and season two becomes...[[MindScrew weird.]]

* MerchandiseDriven: Believe it or not, the anime was originally written to advertise a line of giant robot toys, thus the fact that there are mechas in it ''at all''. In fact, some have commented that the shoe as a whole would've be far superior if the whole mecha element were to be removed altogether.

* MerchandiseDriven: Believe it or not, the anime was originally written to advertise a line of giant robot toys. Some have commented that it would be superior if the mecha were removed altogether.

* MindScrew: Oh boy, where to begin.
** Try and explain the ending. Go on. Try.

Paradigm City is a strange metropolis that seems to be a cross between a FilmNoir UsefulNotes/{{New York|City}} and a City of the Future. Forty years ago, its inhabitants were struck by a mysterious case of amnesia that robbed them of their past and sense of self. Yet life continues on, and the people of Paradigm City have come to a sense of peace with their lost history.

Forty years ago, amnesia struck all the inhabitants of Paradigm City, a strange metropolis that seems to be 75% FilmNoir UsefulNotes/{{New York|City}} and 25% City of the Future. In the decades since, life has gone on, despite the loss of history, the loss of past, and the loss of self which has struck each and every inhabitant.

Roger Smith is one of them. A former member of the Military Police, Roger now makes his living as a negotiator (a combination of private investigator and professional go-between). It's a job that pays well, as the penthouse atop his private building proves. Roger has been described as half [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]], half Franchise/JamesBond -- but when negotiations fail, he has something else to fall back on: The Big O, a giant battle robot (known in this show as a "Megadeus" -- pronounced "mega-deuce" in the English dub and "Mega-day-oos" in the original Japanese) that he stores in the abandoned subway tunnels under the city.

And fall back on it Roger must; after forty years, lost secrets and forgotten memories are returning, and all manner of threats to Paradigm City and its people are coming with them. Aided by his butler Norman and the sarcastic (and opinionated) android girl R. Dorothy Waynewright -- along with (occasionally) his former commanding officer in the police, Major Dan Dastun, and the mysterious and beautiful free agent who tells Roger to just call her "Angel" -- Roger faces off against monstrous forces from all manner of enemies while simultaneously pursuing the truth behind Paradigm City's lost history.