Category: The Big O

Welcome back everyone, to week 4 of The Big O! Last week was a bit of a miss for me, neither episode was particularly great, though one still stood above the other. This week was much better however with two great episodes, one of which might be my favorite episode so far. We have a lot to talk about, so lets just jump right into it!

Getting started, first up is episode 7, “The Call from The Past”. This was a fun one. Nothing particularly deep, metaphorically at least, just Roger and Angel hanging out and getting to know each other a bit more. We learn about what her job really is, hunting down valuable memories for money, and we get hints towards something more there she isn’t yet ready to share. Those scars on her backs, suspiciously placed like someone had ripped the wings off of an angel. A little on the nose maybe, but it’s effective in catching my eye, in telling me “Just wait, there’s something there”. That’s good, Big O is promising us something more down the line, telling us to keep an eye on her and really pay attention to how she acts. This way, when it’s all inevitably revealed, it won’t feel like it came out of nowhere.

Continue reading “The Big O – 7/8 [The Call from The Past/Missing Cat] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to week 3 of The Big O! This week gives us another pair of Monster-Of-The-Week stories. One follows a ghosts quest for revenge, the other an androids memory of its father. Are they any good? Lets dive in and find out!

First up we have episode 5, “Bring Back My Ghost”. To cut right to it, I felt like this episode was the first real miss of Big O’s run. The core of the story is split between an old woman wanting to see her family for her birthday and a son, murdered by corrupt cops, out for revenge. On the one hand we have a mothers tale about bad people still loving their family, having wants, desires and feelings despite being ostensibly horrible people. Yet because we spent so little time with her, instead focusing on the son, it ended up feeling underbaked and ultimately toothless. Meanwhile on the other hand we have the sons story, which did little more than remind us how corrupt Paradigm City is, not telling us much more than that. And together? Well they don’t really fit together at all. That’s the problem.

Continue reading “The Big O – 5/6 [Bring Back My Ghost/A Legacy of Amadeus] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to week 2 of The Big O! This week we get to travel outside the city, as well as beneath it, and meet both a new villain and femme fatale. There’s plenty to talk about this week so lets dive right in!

First up we have episode 3, “Electric City”. Much to my surprise, not 3 episodes in, we’re already taking a peek outside of Paradigm City, getting a look at the outside world. And what do we find? In some ways, regression. The people of Electric City have started to believe in myths and legends, refusing to power the dam out of fear of angering a god. Yet that doesn’t really work when you learn not only that this god is real, but in fact manmade. The consequences of science gone to far perhaps, back before everyone lost their memories. Knowing that, this is more like oppression than regression. These people, trapped under the thumb of a parasite that’s siphoning off what little power they have, holding their city back from its true glory. It makes you wonder a bit if Paradigm City is in a similar way.

Continue reading “The Big O – 3/4 [Electric City/Underground Terror] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to the next season of Throwback Thursday! After being on the list for years it’s finally happened, Bruce Wayne and his giant robot finally got picked. That’s right, it’s the Batman The Animated Series knockoff, The Big O! Now without further ado lets dive in! Also in case it wasn’t obvious, that was a joke. Even if some of the staff worked on both.

Starting off lets talk visuals. By now many of you should know that I absolutely adore cel animation. There’s just something more… real about it, something that pops, where you can tell that each frame is hand-made. Combine that with a film noir atmosphere and an art deco aesthetic and The Big O has a winning formula. Seriously, I cannot understate how much I love its use of heavy blacks and contrast. There’s nothing complex about the designs, no ludicrously detailed fabrics or faces. Just simple colors, heavy contrast, and strong direction. And to top it all off? The effects work. My god the effects work. From explosions to debris and dust clouds, they all move so cleanly. While we don’t know how it will hold up as we go, I know it switches to digipaint in season 2, I can’t help but love The Big O’s style.

Continue reading “The Big O – 1/2 [Roger The Negotiator/Dorothy Dorothy] – Throwback Thursday” →