Customer Reviews

Zaion - Epidemic (Vol. 1) - with Series Box

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Brought to us by the well known company GONZO, "Zaion: I Wish You Were Here" has many double faced comments and feelings towards it. Partially due to the sudden cut off of the series, GONZO turned what could of been a very well done 13 episode series to an OAV, containing only 4 episodes.

The story line itself is indeed a repeat of past projects. Known as NOA Soldiers in the anime, the group of soldiers transform into Power Rangers look alikes. This was the downfall that probably earned its bad reputation with fans of GONZO. As the characters go off and fight virus infested mutants, the general storyline is a typical science fiction setting.

Faced by an unknown entity called the M34 Virus, the lethal virus came with a meteor that crashed on Earth. Obviously having horrific effects on the human race, the Japanese government develops a group of soliders to fight off the virus victims.

The characters themselves are indeed a tad two dimensional. With only four episodes to indulge the audience in a science fiction world, character development cannot exist. The two main characters in the anime are 18 year old fighter Yuuji, and 16 year old Ai. Torn between why he fights and being used as a puppet, Yuuji faces internal issues of honor versus being a puppet.

Ai, having known no other life beyond being a science expierment, longs to know if she will actually live her life. Meeting by chance, the first episode indulges you in what will soon be their star crossed love. This earns another bad fault with the fans; the sudden love interest with each other.

With the well known reputation for creating amazingly deep and moving stories, this sudden turn from GONZO shocked fans.

However, the music of this anime is one of the most beautiful scores I have ever heard. As the end of the anime nears, you are indulged in beautiful piano pieces.

In the end, I cannot give it a high score. This was an unexpected switch from GONZO and was not recieved well. However, if you are looking for a not too expensive buy, this is a good recommendation. I personally enjoy watching all four episodes back to back every now and then for the sole purpose of hearing the music scores.

If your a fan of GONZO, give it a try and if you are solely looking for a new anime to buy, I would suggest moving on to something else.

Zaion had potential to be a great anime series. I had purchased it thinking it would be an excellent series, the premise on the back of the box seemed like it had potential to be some thing incredibly good. I watched the series and was entirely disappointed. Everything that could possibly go wrong did in this series.

Lets begin:

There is incredibly little Character Development, Extremely horrible implementation of Computer Graphics and animation techniques. Any action sequences shot in this series seemed like they were cut and pasted from previous action sequences. There was no Originality or Plot development after the first 3/4s of the way into the first episode. Being a nonjudgemental person I decided give the series a second chance hoping that it could redeem itself. It didn't redeem itself at all it only continued to get worse. The only thing that this series had going for it was a plot that sounded decent on the back of the box and the fact it was made by the same people who did Full Metal Panic(FMP). If I were the people who made FMP I would retract and recind all ties to this piece of garbage and hope that this series doesn't tarnish their Careers.
The only reason to subject yourself to this piece of garbage is to see what not to do when making a series. The only good thing that came from watching this was many new found ways to poke fun at what happened in the series.

If you are new to Anime do not watch this at all! It will ruin your entire perception of what Anime is. If you decide to watch this keep in mind this is an example of what Anime is not!