Category: Zetman

Interesting: someone actually saw a bunch of thugs beating up someone, and did the most sensible thing: run away. Unfortunately this was nullified a bit when she headed outside again afterwards, but at least this was for a better reason than the usual “I want to help too!”

In any case, what also was interesting about this episode: all of the people observing Jin. They feel different from your average support crew. For one they feel like having actual characters and worries beyond their professionalism. It doesn’t feel like they exist solely to support Jin, but have a more complex job.

With the players, the creators also made random thugs better than your average thugs you see in anime. What I mostly like about these characters when they’re used is how they’re devoid of any sort of character. It’s like, “we need drama! throw in some random thugs with just one line!” These guys actually had a personality though. And they were actually a bit smart in when to run away. Two of them, at least.
Rating: +* (Great)

Seriously, I really like Zetman. The manga may be so much better, but something just clicks with the anime for me. Atsuhiro Tomioka‘s adaptations are often like this: incredibly flawed and rushed, but also with some really good parts. Nishi no Yoki Majo for example had some great characters and dialogue, but it just went way too bloody fast. Disgaea on the other hand went way too bloody slow, but it did get some good development out of the characters in the end. Trinity Blood had a horrible ending, but its first half was brilliantly written. Zombie Loan was over before it even started, but it had a cast of really good characters. All of this regardless of how good the source material was, of course.

The thing is that after these three episodes this might become the best series he worked on yet. The rest of this series has for me really made up for his rushed script: the original story, however butchered it may have been, shines through, and there are some really good animators and storyboarders working on this series. This is slightly different from Deadman Wonderland, which I covered last year: that show was a very entertaining over the top trainwreck. Zetman however, has something more, and it’s not a trainwreck. It’s very genuine at what it does, and I really like that about this series.

Also, this series has the kind of rush I don’t mind. The big problem I had with Persona was that it rushed through everything, yet spent way too much time on things that in the end didn’t matter. This script however allows the characters to show their emotions and development. While the plot itself has a lot of unexplained things, it’s not to the point where this series becomes incomprehensible, and it becomes fun to try and puzzle what this series is trying to do. If this series does that consistently, it can work out well. You don’t want to have a series that thrives on being solid and believable, only to have one gigantic plot-hole in its middle. That just breaks suspense of disbelief.

This episode also revealed that Kanzaki’s grandfather is still alive, and not only that: Kanzaki was his creation, attempting to make the Zet monsters that we’ve been seeing more human. If the rest of this series can explore more about this humanity I’ll be very interested. If this series can get to that, in any case. I really like this series, but I also have no clue whether this will be the same at the end of this series.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

From the start I was a bit apprehensive about blogging Zetman, because I knew right away that it would be rushed. Why? Because of the guy behind the series composition: Atsuhiro Tomioka. It’s not like he is bad or anything: I really liked his adaptation of Samurai 7, and all of his other adaptations do have a number of really good parts. However, he always takes huge liberties when it comes to source material and he always rushes through with incomplete stories. And then you give him a huge manga to adapt with only 13 episodes. Yeah.

So Zetman will be incomplete. I don’t really care about whether it’s faithful to the manga or not, but it is not fun to start watching a series knowing that that it’s not going to end well. But really: after that first episode I just have to cover this. It had so much detail there, and the creators put so much emotion in this episode. the graphics were also amazing. In fact, out of all the first episodes to have premiered this season, I liked the graphics of Zetman and Lupin the most. Yes, both are TMS Entertainment series. I really like how they went for something completely different from their usual series, and it works.

Now, the looks of this episode were decidedly less impressive and the animation was much more static, but it still had its parts that looked great. The characters’ faces in this series have depth. they’re not some cardboard-cutouts but they feel like movable objects. It’s not like the animation is perfect, and there were plenty of rushed shots in this episode, but even considering that the amount of the shots with depth was remarkably high. On top of that, I also love the amount of emotion that the characters’ faces portray.

Now, this wasn’t perfect though. I can only imagine that the manga had a better solution for saving the family trapped in the burning building. A bunch of pillows are nowhere enough to break the fall of several stories. Some of the old guys in this series also lack the energy that the young ones have, especially the corporate bastards: they feel like the same corporate bastards you see everywhere.
Rating: *+ (Great)