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| Excellent animation but... |
Background
I'm quite sure most of our readers have found out about our love for Animé with lots of robots in. Today's review has been a sketch for a long time, because we wanted to avoid putting similar Animé analyses together since the "one after another" effect could lead into misunderstanding that Japanese animation either runs short in varied storytelling or is purely a derivative product for mass consumption. Both cases are wrong, of course. If there's one thing that makes Manga and Animé great, is that seasoned fans can detect the many nuances they can get from following a certain genre. Newcomers, on the other hand can easily feel lost and disturbed by the apparent lack of originality some of these works carry.
Hades Project Zeorymer, known in Japan as 冥王計画 ゼオライマー is a manga by Yoshiki Takaya, written under the pen name Chimi Moriwo, and published in the adult manga magazine Lemon People from October 1983 to November 1984. A three-part finale was serialized in Monthly Comic Ryū in 2007. A four episode OVA adaptation by AIC and Artmic tones down the explicit sexual content and deviates entirely from the manga storyline and setting, and yet that's this week's Animé in review.
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| Friends and foes. |
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| These ladies need no men for protection. |
The four episode OVA was produced by Youmex & Toshiba EMI through Artmic and AIC studios. Directed by the legendary Toshiki Hirano (Megazone 23, Fight! Iczer 1, Dangaio & Urusei Yatsura are a few of his works), the mecha designs were in charge of Yoshiki Takaya himself. each 25 minute episode aired from Nov 26, 1988 to Feb 21, 1990. Rated R+ - (Mild Nudity) this little 80's story is a hit & miss among Animé fans. To some, HPZ is a "proto-Evangelion" and after carefully rewatching the OVA (on pristine Blu Ray. Last time was on bootleg VHS many years ago) and to other fans this is only a heartless cash grab.
The official international release came in the year 2000 in the good old VHS tape format in two volumes. The DVD update came one year later, and it was also divided into two separate volumes. The import Blu ray edition was released in 2008, and you can track a copy for about US$75. Today's review, as above mentioned, is based upon the Blu Ray release.
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| An extended cast for such a short OVA series. |
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| Looking good. |
Review
The 80's OVA decade is a strange animal. At its height, it was responsible for titles like Megazone 23 and Aim For the Top! Gunbuster
that pushed the limits of anime. Yet this "edginess" (admit it, everyone thought any animation coming from Japan was either edgy or gritty even if it wasn't) acts as an
unpredictable two-edged sword that is the cause of such travesties as M.D. Geist and Angel Cop.
Overdoing anything is a recipe for disaster, but without it, the style
of anime wouldn’t have been as unique as it was. Case and point, Zeorymer, which doesn’t test its boundaries, and just ends up insipid on all sides.
This 1988 OVA came out in
the span of about a year and a half, and it stars a kid named Masato
who's kidnapped by G men and told that his family life was a lie
and he is an artificial human groomed to pilot the mecha Zeorymer. He
doesn't take it too well at first, but soon accepts his fate to fight
against Hau Dragon, an organization bent on world domination
using their mecha known as "Hakkeshu", and seeking revenge on Zeorymer for being the mech stolen from them by a traitor. The Hakkeshu are a legion of fighters
in Tekkoryu's employ that plan to use their own machines to take
Zeorymer down. With the help of the beautiful Miku (nothing to do with Hatzune Miku) , his co-pilot,
Masato must stop the approaching menace. It may be an impossible task,
though, since there's a mystery lurking in Masato's DNA which may make
him even more dangerous to the safety of the world than all the Hakkeshu
combined.
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| Masato doing his job. |
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| The Zeorymer, a cool mecha. |
HPZ offers some of the best animation OVAs in 1988 had to offer. It's an
absolutely beautiful series with great character designs and a nice use
of light and darkness. The animation looks more like a film than a
made-for-video series in some sections, which enhances the mood
considerably. If you dig big robots fighting and want everything to look
as cool as possible, Zeorymer is probably your ticket.
Let's talk about the mechs, because I
actually quite like Yoshiki Takaya's designs. The Hakkeshu look very
alien in appearance due to their lack of an obvious human base in
design. They don't have two eyes or visors reflecting helmets, and
instead their "eyes" are expressed by glowing orbs that are simply stuck
in square compartments. They're very blocky and not aerodynamic with
sharp or inconsistent shapes jutting out. They kind of look like relics
or statues of mythical gods with how they defy any facial
characterization. Omzack doesn't even have limbs, just being some sort
of floating aquatic-like machine with several tails flowing behind it.
Zeorymer itself is a massively overpowered machine which can still be
cool if pulled off well, but what makes its strength kind of dull is the
fact it doesn't really escalate. It feels as though it's about
demonstrating the same level of power in every fight all the way to the
end, and it's simply always enough to destroy the enemy machines in one
blow while never being an any serious danger. The fights aren't very
dynamic nor do they have complex choreography due to their slow pace,
but they're entertaining enough due to the plot and character
development that continues to unfold as they play out. Zeorymer also
doesn't have particularly great animation, but when it does decide to
show off some action it looks fluid. What's most commendable is just the
excellent illustration. I love the shading here, and there are several
great stills that are incredibly detailed with scene compositions that
are focused and easy to follow, so this does feel like a production
worthy of an OVA and it has solid direction. The imagery is great, but
there isn't a lot of complex motion to marvel at. The soundtrack is
decent, with the brassy "Awake! Zeorymer" and the angsty, cathartic
ending theme "Crimson Loneliness" being the highlights.
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| Peeping Tom mecha. |
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| Make love, not war! |
Unfortunately, there's not much to recommend beyond the animation. Although Zeorymer
promises hidden secrets and layered characters, it's all an excuse for a
"robot of the week" show with tedious plotting and asinine characters.
We already know the plot from the narrator who spoils things not five
minutes in. However, we could still have moved on from there. Instead,
we get the worst cliché in the book: the "send out one man after
another to defeat the monolith" style of enemy. Now I know that not
every criminal has read Sun Tzu's Art Of War or Napoleon's diaries, but
you'd think these folks would start to learn. When faced with a deadly
protagonist, send in all your folks at once and take him down
definitively! That would make sense, but not in anime land. Zeorymer
would have been no match for the whole of the Hakkeshu all at once, but
it's never a situation faced. How annoying.
What's more unsettling is how the show breaks up
internal logic for its character storylines. For example, Masato finds
himself changing into an altogether nasty fellow when he gets angry,
sort of like The Hulk but with a sarcastic disposition instead of
muscles and lime green acne. Now that could make sense in a way; after
all, he was programmed to be a fighter pilot who would someday take on
the world. But instead (and skip this next part if you dislike
spoilers)...he realizes that he is becoming his creator. And somehow, he
literally has to fight turning into this horrific sadistic scientist.
It's too much to bear--how would this guy's whole memory wind up
implanted? The show doesn't explain, only using it to create pathos.
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| Nude babes! |
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| Nude fighting! |
I never thought I would chastise an ‘80s OVA for having too little
carnage or porn. The animation is good enough that it wouldn’t come off
as disgusting. Besides, as movies like Fist of the North Star have shown, the extra mile can go a long way when there is little else to play on. Granted Zeorymer
could have always gone the preferred route and play to the ideas it
leaves on the table. The series brings up some pretty interesting
concepts having to do with abuse, exploitation, and even predestined
servitude. Personally, I don’t really care for how they went about it.
But that aside, the real issue is that it deals with these issues with
very little follow-through. Let’s face it, that premise isn’t so
creative that it can stand on its own, so the OVA really needed
something beyond the same one note it had for every character to be
meaningful.
I wish I could have recommended this title on action. I’m sorry I
cannot. The animation quality and artwork are not bad at all, as stated
above. However, there is no point to good looking animation if nothing
is done with it. The fights mostly involve the robots slowly charging up
some kind or energy blast while the other dodges it with no visible
sense of urgency. And it was all done with no real choreography and no
semblance of tension. Even something as incoherent and mind-numbing as M.D. Geist had movement in it.
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| No pubes! momma! |
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| Wired fanservice. |
Zeorymer in general just sort of ends
unsatisfyingly. This OVA is full of a lot of great concepts that it
doesn't have the breadth to pull off, so it ends up being emotionally
limp due to weak set-ups that don't provide enough relationship detail
or nuance to do its ideas justice, even though it has respectable
ambition. The ideas that are still there such as the dark tone and
psychological themes make it a decent enough watch for its run time even
though they're minor, but it never ends up outdoing itself. I can
safely recommend this to hardcore mecha fans or 80s/90s OVA junkies
because it does enough to distinguish itself, but most people will
probably think there just isn't enough here to leave a lasting
impression. Zeorymer isn't a heavily flawed series, it just needed to
actually be big rather than just think big.
I got more and more depressed and bored as the series
progressed, knowing that it was only going to get worse. And it did. By
the time the tragic conclusion happens, I was ready to find out what
was on TV. Hades Project Zeorymer has gorgeous artwork, nice
explosions, a few naked people, and little else of any interest. If
you're among its intended audience, you now know.
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| Sunny fanservice. |
Here's a Blu ray clip (featuring the "Awake!" main theme song) , proving HD is the best that's happened to Animé:
The Manga Corps preview:
The ending featuring "Crimson Loneliness" sang by Yukio Yamagata:
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