Big O is an anime designed with a western audience in mind, built to be an interesting mix of Batman TAS, classic Film Noir, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, with Gigantor/Tetsujin 28 and classic giant monster movies stapled on for extra decoration. By all rights it should be a fucking mess, right? Wrong. Everything is assembled with such love and care that it produces a damn fine mech anime that feels distinct from it's peers.
Taking place in the stylish Paradigm City, 'the city of amnesia', the negotiator known as Roger Smith is often tasked with solving the myriad problems always cropping up throughout the city. Assisted by his one-eyed butler Norman, and the snarky emotionless android Dorothy, he comes across everything from other giant robots, insane mech pilots and... a giant sentient Christmas tree. That's where the titular 'Big O' comes in, a 30-meter tall megadeus armed from head to heel with powerful weapons from a forehead laser to the piston-powered punches that can wreck just about anything.
Two seasons worth of episodes, filled with smooth jazz, kickass action, bountiful Mind Screw and the most badass combat music you're liable to hear. The story keeps ambiguous with just what the hell is going on in Paradigm City, but it's the good kind of ambiguous rather than the shit kind. You're given just enough strands to follow so that you can forge your own theories.
The only downside is that, well, two seasons long. It really deserved more, or at least some OVA's to tie up some loose ends. I'd settle for anything more. But as it stands, the episodes that do exist are very much worth the watch.
Attractive and Awesome: Deserved at Least Five Seasons
Big O is an anime designed with a western audience in mind, built to be an interesting mix of Batman TAS, classic Film Noir, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, with Gigantor/Tetsujin 28 and classic giant monster movies stapled on for extra decoration. By all rights it should be a fucking mess, right? Wrong. Everything is assembled with such love and care that it produces a damn fine mech anime that feels distinct from it's peers.
Taking place in the stylish Paradigm City, 'the city of amnesia', the negotiator known as Roger Smith is often tasked with solving the myriad problems always cropping up throughout the city. Assisted by his one-eyed butler Norman, and the snarky emotionless android Dorothy, he comes across everything from other giant robots, insane mech pilots and... a giant sentient Christmas tree. That's where the titular 'Big O' comes in, a 30-meter tall megadeus armed from head to heel with powerful weapons from a forehead laser to the piston-powered punches that can wreck just about anything.
Two seasons worth of episodes, filled with smooth jazz, kickass action, bountiful Mind Screw and the most badass combat music you're liable to hear. The story keeps ambiguous with just what the hell is going on in Paradigm City, but it's the good kind of ambiguous rather than the shit kind. You're given just enough strands to follow so that you can forge your own theories.
The only downside is that, well, two seasons long. It really deserved more, or at least some OVA's to tie up some loose ends. I'd settle for anything more. But as it stands, the episodes that do exist are very much worth the watch.