The Big O: #1
Bandai 100 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
06/19/2001
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The Big O: #1Bandai 100 minutes |
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Joel : Why'd you buy Big O? It's crap. Though you might ask, I absolutely refuse to lie to you people, because I'm a terrible liar (no I'm not, that was a lie. I'm an AWESOME liar, but I won't lie to you right -now-). When this show first arrived stateside however many years ago (three, three, it's ALWAYS three) Joel was unconvinced, and so I was I to a certain extent. Thus, we have the quote left over from my first 'review' of this wonderful show. After all, we know my stance on ridiculous giant robots and serious plot. But, watching Big O, I've found out that my values are a bit different than even -I- knew it to be. You see, it's not that I hate the combination of the ridiculous and the serious in one giant robot show ipso facto. No, I've realized that I only hate it when it's stupid and throws fan-service at you without remorse when someone's going to, like, DIE in the next episode. Yes, I am talking about Evangelion. While I still hate any and all shows directed/produced/staffed by Hideki Anno, The Big O is a special beast that's managed to dig a very wonderful nest in my heart. |
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The Big O is the story of a man and his first love and a tube of lube... and a banana, or so it would be if it was a show made for people like Kyle (not a bad assumption, given the name). But no, Big O isn't made for people like Kyle, who can beat off to 'horny bunnies' all they want as long as I don't have to be informed of it. No, Big O is for people like me people who like grit and lots of black clothing (of the formal variety, I am no goth) and bonanzas of giant robots. The man is Roger Smith, professional negotiator for the memory addled residents of Paradigm city, the first love is his heroic giant robot, aptly named Big O. The lube and the banana, I don't know... I don't think they're in the show. This is okay, though, because sexual aids and tropical fruit have NO place in a show like this. Big O only has time for two things, badass jazz/horns music and giant robot fight scenes of the monsterriffic variety. And when that's not going on (or sometimes even when it is), it sees fit to grace you with a little thing I like to call plot. We're introduced to Roger as he drives along in his giant (some might say phallic) car, en route to solve the pesky matter of a kidnapping. Only it turns out that his client wasn't exactly clear about the fact that his 'daughter' was the giant robot about to be used in the greatest bank scheme ever conceived and not the tiny robot named R. Dorothy who would soon become the bane of poor Roger Smith's existence in a very hilarious way (whit a name like Roger Smith, he could only be a straight man in their subtle comedy routine). |
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And so would he become hers, in a fashion. Okay, so it's true that it's not gonna be hilarious to YOU people, but that's sort of why I think I dig this show. You've got these two characters who both dislike each other's strange eccentricities because it interferes with their own eccentric behavior. It's like they're both playing the roles of Abbott AND Costello, just at different times! I know most of you probably don't think this is funny, and maybe with good reason, but it's rare that I actually really enjoy -real- comedy. This really low profile, 'stop waking me up with the piano' 'you stop being such a jerk!' routine that serves as kind of an undercurrent to the show gets me every time. You might think it's not hilarious and you might turn on that "crack anime"** crap that's more your style. I guess that's your prerogative, but I think you're missing out. For clarity, just look at the second episode "Oh miss 'not so human' Dorothy," Roger intones, asking her to be a decoy for the gunfire of a group of crooks. She responds by calling him a louse. But she still does it! Not only that, but she does it in a cool fashion (despite ridiculous green dress). Then, as if that weren't enough, Roger totally calls for his giant robot to thrash the hell out of Dorothy I (the evil giant robot), while taunting her in a very gentlemanly fashion "Not very ladylike!" He chides, while swinging one of Big O's giant piston arms in the general direction of his enemy's giant metal chest. If there's anything sweeter than that in the known world I don't want to know, because it would probably spontaneously give me a critical case of diabetes and they'd have to amputate my feet. In fact, the only bad thing about the fight scenes is that the amazing French Horn in "battle music" stops playing before I'VE stopped rocking. Holy crap! What deity forged this show, and why did he deem the lowly human man a fitting crucible to pound it out in? |
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But Big O manages to portion it out in just the right doses so that the only reason I get sick is because I've burnt an ulcer into my stomach like the little tot Oliver Twist, wanting for more. While I've seen all the episodes (multiple times in most cases) via Cartoon Network I still have the penetrating desire to pick this show up and actually own it. Blue Gender found me kind of wishy-washy about it after its run, and even Kikaider (while totally awesome in every way) doesn't inspire the feelings in me that this show does. Sometimes, when I'm asleep, I'll totally wake up after a sexual dream involving Big O. I'm not fooling with you. Okay, that was really gross (and a lie), but I did it only to get your attention. The main thrust of my argument is this: Not many shows do what The Big O is able to do. There's a reason I hate shows that mix the ridiculous sized robots with too serious a plot, and that's because it's too often mucked up (or semi-benignly mired in tit shots). Big O has neither, nor does it need it when it's got the giant piston arms of its title character pounding away on both cylinders into a giant robo-electric sea serpent. You can't make this crap up! What makes it even better is that the show doesn't resort to pandering, ever. This is funny, because a robot show with a 15 year old girl in it (robot or not) is like a LICENSE to flash tits. Big O is just serious enough to not be too crazy, whilst still giving me the enjoyable mecha designs and ridiculous special attacks of the 70s past that I so very much desire on a daily (i.e.: semimonthly) basis. And, as if all I've told you wasn't enough, Mike Reynolds is in it. Albeit in a short part, the man's grizzled voice is always a joy to my tender ears and the icing on top of the cake that is this show. God bless you Big O, god bless you. |
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