The Big O II #1: Paradigm Lost Bandai 100 minutes English/Japanese English Subtitles 01/20/2004

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Listen to Dave and Joel talk about this show! (right click, save as)

People who don't like The Big O are excessively stupid. I have no qualms about saying that, because Big O is something like the greatest thing to hit the plant since the coming of whatever lord your respective religion adores, and I hear there were a lot of pretty cool guys in that bunch. None of them hold a candle to Big O, sorry. There are shows that I enjoy with all the veracity of a thousand dying suns, shows like Bubblegum Crisis 2040, which I would gladly give away a living child, my living child, to get a sequel in the works. But when I talk about that show, with all the excitement my tiny, tenacious frame can muster, I am careful and I make sure to make certain dispensations. I understand that 2040 isn't everyone's cup of tea. It's hard to believe, but it's true! Some people aren't totally awesome and don't like things like mutating robots and bitchy punk chicks with spiky hair in form-fitting robot catsuits.

I will make absolutely nothing in the way of exceptions for The Big O. If you don't like this show you are a fool. And it's not because I'm obsessed with everything that has to do with Noir, or giant robots, or cool police/army officers with raspy voices and giant scars and pointy beards. All those things are great, sure, and it's more than enough to get the juices flowing in someone like me. But I am not your average man. So why should the average man, John Q. Animepublic, enjoy The Big O? The reasons for this are quite clear. Big O is an intelligent show by people who know how to lampoon their intelligence. When you sit here, and you hear the main character shout out about "tomatoes" while he's totally wailing on a bunch of giant French robots with his awkwardly proportioned black colossus you can't think for even an instant that they're more serious than the average Batman episode.

It's a hokey comparison, but there's a reason why people link the two shows together, besides the whole 'rich guy who fights crime while living in a big build with a butler'. They're both sterling examples of cartoonery without that excessive preaching that giant robot shows go into when they think they're being smart. You know what I mean. It conscientiously avoids all that proprietary knowledge that shows like Evangelion or Raxephon require from you about impacts and angels and genetically engineered fourteen year old girls with antisocial disorders. In Big O the story is really quite simple: there was an event 40 years ago and everyone lost their memory. They're starting at square one, just like you! Big O looks like it's trying for this big, grandiose theme, but it's really not. It keeps your attention with a great soundtrack, charming characters, and giant robot action scenes that you are legally compelled by the Federal Government not to miss, and I am so not even kidding about that last fact. The piston punch alone is worth the $30 price tag on this set of DVDs, but you won't see me complain when heroic protagonist Roger Smith shouts, "People. Are. Not. Ruled. BY THEIR MEMORIES!" and their totally rocks out with some crazy laser beam junk. That's just gravy, the main dish is something so much more.

The joy of this show is it doesn't force you to dig into its story. If you think the idea of a whole city of amnesiacs trying to recover what they lost is pretty cool, then run with it! There's enough to keep your interest. If not... the show really doesn't go out of its way to make you pay attention. There's plenty of robot beatdowns in this 100 minutes to satiate an antsy viewer, even a guy who is clinically unable to sit still like myself. It's strength is in its ability to be open. Quite simply, Big O manages to be smart by not going out of its way to be stupid. It's a simple story of good guy versus the bad guys, wrapped up in a bit of hokey to give it some appeal to the kids today. It doesn't waste your time or mind with silly things, you know what I mean, goofy deeds and overly long monologues. Most monologues in the show are resoundingly punctuated by piston thrusting punches. How hard it is to keep your interest in that? And if that's not enough, you really shouldn't need any more reason than this GIF.