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.
