So… Ozuma. What is there to say about it, really? After years of absence, another Matsumoto Leiji series has come out, adapting a story of his that’s more than 25 years old by now about sand submarines. After six episodes, I’m still not quite sure what I watched.
Ozuma’s biggest problem is that it’s plagued by production issues. While in theory it’s nice to see a series who says an entire “screw you” to broadcasting schedules, this series feels very sloppy, and way too short to really do anything with its premise. It just delivers a bunch of ideas, but doesn’t connect them well. The ideas are great, don’t get me wrong about that, and this could have been a great retro series, but in the end nothing really comes together and the whole execution lacks soul, not to mention the sloppy animation.
I think what also was pretty bad for this series was its cast of characters. The main character is a very annoying brat, and the ones around him just fail to be interesting. They have neat ideas behind their characters, but their delivery is all just so lackluster. I miss passion here, I miss attention to detail, I miss the build-up that stories of the Leijiverse are so good at. You can see that the original Ozuma story had potential, but it’s like the creators didn’t care or something.
| Storytelling: | 6/10 – Lackluster is the best way to describe this. Doesn’t care at all about standing out. |
| Characters: | 6/10 – These guys feel like caricatures of the usual Matsumoto Leiji characters. You can see flashes of other, better characters in them. Oh, and be aware of the male lead. He’s annoying. |
| Production-Values: | 7/10 – Great character-designs, but very sloppy animation and doesn’t stand out at anything else. |
| Setting: | 8/10 – Great ideas! Sand submarines? Awesome! Bloody shame that it doesn’t use them, really. |
Suggestions:
– Space Pirate Captain Harlock
– Hi no Tori
– Secret of the Cerulean Sand
I actually just finished this and i feel the same way. Annoying lead character, although i did like his character design. The few interesting side characters weren’t developed nearly enough, or barely had any screen time. I really enjoyed the captain of the Baldanos, but she was barely seen.
Not to mention the horrendous 3rd episode. An entire episode of nothing happening in a 6 episode series is hilariously moronic.
Should have rated this lower man. This was an utter disapointment.
I almost felt like I watched a repeat of the annoying sections of Fushigi Yuugi.
Where the characters kept screaming other characters names. Over and over and over again.
Where did they find these seiyuu’s?
I was actually planning to resume watching the anime until I saw this rating. Watched the first 2 episodes and thought it was interesting. But everything about the main character drove me insane… to the point where I put it on hold (perhaps for eternity)
Pretty much agree with that Armpit, also yeah Bainas was pretty cool, she was easily my favorite character.