Product Details

• Actors: Mitsuru Miyamoto, Steve Blum, Akiko Yajima, Lia Sargent, Motomu Kiyokawa
• Writers: Chiaki Konaka, Hajime Yatate, Kei'ichi Hasegawa, Masanao Akahoshi, Shin Yoshida
• Producers: Charles McCarter, Chieo Ohashi, Eiji Sashida
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Bandai
• DVD Release Date: August 21, 2001
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005LC3W
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,731 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Big O, Vol. 2" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

The designs in this mecha detective series have a minimal, vaguely art deco elegance that sometimes overshadows the series' lack of plot and characterization. The action unfolds in Gotham-esque Paradigm City, 40 years after a mysterious "incident" caused its citizens to lose their memories. Roger Smith is officially a Negotiator who handles difficult situations for the police, but he's really a crime fighter in the Batman tradition. When the going gets rough, he summons the title character, a giant mecha suit as a sort of deus ex machina. In "Bring Back My Ghost," Roger has to find an honest military policeman who was murdered a year earlier. The man didn't really die and has been using a robot to create specters that kill corrupt officers. When they meet, the man confesses to Roger he doesn't know how he learned to operate the robot, and the story falls apart. The viewer never finds out who's dispatching the frogmen Roger battles or the identity of the mysterious woman known as Angel in "The Call from the Past." Many of the scenarios were written by Konaka Chiaki, who was also one of the writers on "Serial Experiments Lain", and the storytelling is similarly fragmented and opaque. Like Warner Bros.' animated "Batman", "The Big O" looks better in stills than it does in motion. Rated 13 Up for minor profanity, occasional suggestive humor, and mild violence; alcohol and tobacco use. "--Charles Solomon"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS ANIMATION AT ITS GREATEST!, July 17, 2001

By 

"cherrylollipop2k" (Harker Heights, Tx USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big O, Vol. 2 (DVD)

This animated, action packed, mind-blowing movie is out of this world! Not only is it a movie, but also a cartoon that aired on the cartoon network program, toonami. The cartoon series was just as awesome as the movie. unfortunately, the production of the cartoon was stopped. why stop such cool animation? beats me. Its terrible that they've stopped work on such an awesome cartoon. Let's hope the animators haven't REALLY given up on Big O and that they'll make more of his animation to be seen. But the movie is a movie for people who like action and mystery. This movie keeps you yearning to know more about the past-less city called Paragdim City, and makes you wonder what's around the next corner. All eyes are glued on Roger Smith, a negotiator, who calls upon a megadeus called Big O, when Paragdim City is under attack. This is almost like a "virtual" movie, only without all of the virtual-ness!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I love it, but..., January 7, 2002

By 

chris romano "toonlets.com" (Topanga, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Big O, Vol. 2 (DVD)

I have to admit upfront that I have a (inexplicable) soft-spot for THE BIG O. Probably because of it's balance of action and "cheese." And because of it's strange dialog and seriousness, and because of its absurdly repetitive setting (just how many large robots can attack a city?). I also like the sometimes reductive character design. However, some will consider THE BIG O to be anime-light, at best, and you'd be right in doing so.

While THE BIG O/main character relationship is a near copy from GIANT ROBO, while the plot mirrors that of BATMAN, the theme song totally copies FLASH GORDON, and while the campy jazz soundtrack is almost a direct lift from COWBOY BEBOP, this incomplete (only one season was made) little show manages to have a character all its own.

Really, it does!

I was disappointed they decided to only include 3 episodes on this DVD...it's barely over an hour of material. But the 3 episodes introduce a recurring enemy, show some interesting elements to the Dorothy character, and have another appearance of Angel, where, for no apparent reason whatsoever, she takes her dress off.

If you didn't like the first DVD in the series, this one certainly isn't going to change your mind about the series. But if you appreciate it's quirk, you're certain to find more things to be amused with.

5.0 out of 5 stars Bring back my Big O, May 2, 2005

By 

Strategos "The Guardian of Time" (In Space above Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Big O, Vol. 2 (DVD)

Things just better and better as the second volume of The Big O crashes onto the DVD scene. The wonderful music, voice-acting, story-telling, action sequences, and character development of the first disc are continued here, and the direction of the series is taken to yet higher levels of sophistication. There are three episodes to this disc, and they are all wonderful.

One episode has Roger investigating a police officer who disappeared and is somehow related to mysterious "ghost" sightings and murder of government officials. This episode is so good it could stand completely on its own independent of the entire series. The camera angles, dialog, and use of music and subtle direction make this episode a simple masterpiece of storytelling that I never get tired of. And the emotion expressed at the end of the episode (it's warm heart) had tears in my eyes the last time I saw it despite the fact that I have seen this episode many times already.

Another episode has Dorothy taking some piano lessons so that poor Roger can wake up without a headache (due to Dorothy's mechanical past-paced piano playing). That whole aspect of the show is wonderful, and the character of Instro is also interesting. I'm not too thrilled about Instro being involved in yet ANOTHER giant mechanical monster plot. It just ends in another show-down with the Big O, and I wonder if that whole fight could somehow have been cut from an otherwise flawless episode (I love Giant Robot fights, but it's starting to feel like overkill about here).

The last episode to mention is a masterwork of character development and skillful direction, as the entire episode is told with the viewer jumping backword and forward in time to watch as Roger waits with Angel for a rescue, and we see how they got into the mess in the first place. The whole thing involves the price of fish, a Sea Titan, lost memories, and strange scuba-divers in frog-suits. The real great thing about this episode though is how we get to see more of EVERYONE'S personality. Roger interacts with Angel, we see WHY she's called Angel, we see how Dorothy and Norman spend their day when Roger is gone, and even good old Dustin from the Military Police and the mysterious Alex Rosewater show some of their true nature as the former acts against orders to protect the people of the city, and the latter says to let the helpless be wiped out in the face of another giant monster attack.

Fans of the first disc have every reason to buy this one too. The show just gets better and better, and the whole triangle of Dorothy, Roger, and Angel (to say nothing of detective stories, sci-fi mysteries and fights to the death between Megadeuses) is sure to please any fan of spy films, giant robots, or anime heroes.