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[series:2544#628] | ||||||
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(Two episodes watched) Episode one of Zetman seemed like a very cool show. 'Players', terrifying monsters whose only instinct is to kill, have been created to take part in brutal gladiator fights for the amusement of the rich and famous. However, they rebel and 13 of them escape and melt into the general population, causing a rash of serial murders. This show seemed to have a American comic book feel to it. Episode one was kind of stereotypical at times, with pure-evil bad guys and secret organizations, but apparently the real conflict will be between two factions of superheroes with differing ideas about what 'justice' is. This plays with the concept of heroes which is inculcated into young boys in the Japanese culture, and might be interesting. It looks like main character Jin will find himself pitted against his boyhood friend Kouga (and they will apparently age a good deal before episode two). The strip club dancer who lets Jin move in with her after he is orphaned was a neat touch (as was them bathing together later on). The animation is very good, though the first fight got so fancy that I couldn't tell what was going on, only who was still on their feet afterwards. Character designs are realistic and distinctive; done by the same people as Blassreiter, no doubt. I was worrying that the bad guys might just be evil for evil's sake, with no interesting motivation, but the preview of episode two and ANN synopsis above suggested that Zetman really would be cool and intriguing. It's always possible that a new show will get corny and fall into established patterns, but I definitely decided to watch some more. Episode two, however, wasn't nearly as thrilling. I got the feeling that this was the sort of show that is cranked out in lots of versions with minor differences but essentially the same thing: lots of flash but little substance. Everybody has a simplistic personality, if any at all. Lots of despicable acts take place, like Jin's new mother, who I had thought might be an interesting touch, meeting her end almost before she had appeared. This seems like one of those shows which doesn't think I am capable of seperating the good guys from the bad ones, so it jackhammers the plot into my brain just in case. But that means that Zetman is liable to be the same old same old. 'Won't you watch', the show seems to be asking me, 'for these awesome guys with their fantastic superpowers'? But the conflict between Jin and Kouga seems to be just as blah as the rest of the show, so I think I will pass. Last updated Wednesday, April 25 2012. Created Thursday, April 05 2012. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Official Website (japanese) | http://zetman.jp/ |
