The Big O

The Big O

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I don't exactly remember much about this show, but I know that it was awesome. Really awesome. I just wish I could remember why.

I know it had giant robots, and a this cool guy in a business, and a robot girl, everyone had amnesia... DAMN! I really need to watch this again.

I watched it again recently.

In short:

Big O is awesome. Really awesome. It's Batman with a giant robot and instead of that pansy Robin he has an ass-kicking, cool-as-ice robot maid. There's also a mind-screw plot that slowly unravels from Serial Experiments Lain writer Chiaki J. Konaka. So, yeah, it's pretty smart in addition to being exceedingly cool with that noir / art deco 1990s Batman cartoon aesthetic.

Basically, this show is awesome and has it all and anyone out there who hasn't watched it give it a try.

valondar said:

I watched it again recently.

In short:

Big O is awesome. Really awesome. It's Batman with a giant robot and instead of that pansy Robin he has an ass-kicking, cool-as-ice robot maid. There's also a mind-screw plot that slowly unravels from Serial Experiments Lain writer Chiaki J. Konaka. So, yeah, it's pretty smart in addition to being exceedingly cool with that noir / art deco 1990s Batman cartoon aesthetic.

Basically, this show is awesome and has it all and anyone out there who hasn't watched it give it a try.

Click to expand...

Seconded

So many people have compared this show to batman, i guess because they creators were inspired by the batman animated series here in NA, but still, overall the story is completely different then Batman. The english voice acting was great in this series, for people like me who are always doing multiple things while watching it helps, heh.

I will admit that I didn't much care for the ending, the whole series was just so inspiring, taking so much inspiration from film noir and the whole estetics of hard boiled fiction, combined witha uniquely designed set of futuristic tools and robots. At first I didn't know if I'd like the shows way or potraying their futuristic big robot kind of additions, but overall it not only fit the design of the story but I think it made it better. It's just too bad that they make you have to draw too many of your own conclusions at the end of the series in order for it to make any sense what so ever, it's basically the matrix without any explination what so ever.

Still overall an instant classic and though it is not currently in my library, it will be eventually, I suggest the same for everyone else :D

AstroJunkie said:

So many people have compared this show to batman, i guess because they creators were inspired by the batman animated series here in NA, but still, overall the story is completely different then Batman.

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The premise is basically Batman with some twists. You have the wealthy suave guy who moonlights as a superhero with his fancy tech, usually fighting colorful villains in their own aliases. He's even got an Alfred-type butler. Dastun is clearly Gordon, and so on. It's true there's also a hard-boiled noir influence - but the same can be said of some interpretations of the Dark Knight, particularly the specific cartoon this series took after.

The main difference here is in the story arc. As the whole issue of Paradigm City and the lost memories develop, yeah, that owes nothing to Batman and everything to the wonderfully screwed up writing of Konaka. Trust him to take an innoucous premise and punch it up with weird mind-bending.

On that front I think the show is a little underrated, actually; mostly when I hear people talk about psychological robot shows the discussion's confined to Neon Genesis Evangelion and RahXephon. Whatever one thinks of Big O's ending, it's very bit as opaque as how those shows concluded.

valondar said:

The premise is basically Batman with some twists. You have the wealthy suave guy who moonlights as a superhero with his fancy tech, usually fighting colorful villains in their own aliases. He's even got an Alfred-type butler. Dastun is clearly Gordon, and so on. It's true there's also a hard-boiled noir influence - but the same can be said of some interpretations of the Dark Knight, particularly the specific cartoon this series took after.

The main difference here is in the story arc. As the whole issue of Paradigm City and the lost memories develop, yeah, that owes nothing to Batman and everything to the wonderfully screwed up writing of Konaka. Trust him to take an innoucous premise and punch it up with weird mind-bending.

On that front I think the show is a little underrated, actually; mostly when I hear people talk about psychological robot shows the discussion's confined to Neon Genesis Evangelion and RahXephon. Whatever one thinks of Big O's ending, it's very bit as opaque as how those shows concluded.

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not saying that there is not similarities, infact I think there was a quote that said they wanted to do something like batman to begin with. However, people say "well it's like batman" and people tend to shy away from the show or come to their own conclusions. Other then similarities with a few characters the story, development and events of how each character meets, grows and interacts is much more original then one might think when you say "it's like batman".

either way, we both agree on something, the show is highly underrated, and i wish i had more.

The Batman animated series kicked ass. If someone told me it was like Batman I'd want to watch it more. However, I've never heard that, and I didn't notice anything while watching it. It seemed more inspired by film noir.

AstroJunkie said:

either way, we both agree on something, the show is highly underrated, and i wish i had more.

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Hm. Apparently there had been an option for a 26 episode second season when Cartoon Network helped bring it back from cancellation, but only the 13 episode option was chosen. I think the series acquitted itself pretty well in its briefer running time but the greater length would have been interesting to see.

lagore said:

The Batman animated series kicked ass. If someone told me it was like Batman I'd want to watch it more. However, I've never heard that, and I didn't notice anything while watching it. It seemed more inspired by film noir.

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It's really both. In premise and visual look it's largely Batman (and Batman-esque noir). The other norisih elements come out through the plot, which I guess one could say is psychological sci-fi noir. Or somesuch. Honestly I guess one could wind up splitting hairs about this at some point - Big O is so much more than to merely be considered a Batman knockoff, I think we can all agree aout that.

valondar said:

I watched it again recently.

In short:

Big O is awesome. Really awesome. It's Batman with a giant robot and instead of that pansy Robin he has an ass-kicking, cool-as-ice robot maid. There's also a mind-screw plot that slowly unravels from Serial Experiments Lain writer Chiaki J. Konaka. So, yeah, it's pretty smart in addition to being exceedingly cool with that noir / art deco 1990s Batman cartoon aesthetic.

Basically, this show is awesome and has it all and anyone out there who hasn't watched it give it a try.

Click to expand...

[insert obligatory 'i hope you review it' comments here! :D]

sothis said:

[insert obligatory 'i hope you review it' comments here! :D]

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Been thinking about it but I would need to rewatch first. So probably. I think I'll compile a little list on my profile of reviews I'm working on, for the curious.

the film noir aspects of the show come through the most, but like i said, people keep comparing it to batman so I always have to put my two cents in, whether it be a rebuttle or whatever.

The film noir aspects of the show are what drew me in and kept me watching, not the fact that it had similar stylings to NA standards in animation.

I wish they would take it to the next level and actually hire some really amazing western writers to do a truely amazing homage to the old film noir roots of writing and movie making. I'd pay good money to see it too likely, lol. I thought Speed Grapher was going to be just like that, but it ended up being a big pile of crap in the end.

I love The Big O from start to finish. The film noir style, the piano-jazz soundtrack, the coolness of the characters, everything.

However, I will never forgive the ending of the series. I still hold a grudge for that one.

Necrobuuump ..

valondar said:

I watched it again recently.

In short:

Big O is awesome. Really awesome. It's Batman with a giant robot and instead of that pansy Robin he has an ass-kicking, cool-as-ice robot maid. There's also a mind-screw plot that slowly unravels from Serial Experiments Lain writer Chiaki J. Konaka. So, yeah, it's pretty smart in addition to being exceedingly cool with that noir / art deco 1990s Batman cartoon aesthetic.

Basically, this show is awesome and has it all and anyone out there who hasn't watched it give it a try.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Seems like it wasn't just me who's liking this show after all. So far I've watched 23 episodes, going to finish the last 3 tomorrow. And I also like Dorothy, she is far superior to Robin.. made a gif of her. :D


Edit: the soundtrack is also good.

Odd that someone would swing in here about 2 weeks ahead of me. This last week, I just finished up the second series and wrapped up the characters. But man, what an ending. I'm... I don't even know.

Necro.

Just finished watching this, and to echo some of the thoughts in this thread, it is a very underrated show. However, it does suffer from a couple of problems, firstly the comedy episodes that pop up here and there are totally out of whack with the rest of the show and often fall flat, and secondly, with the overarching plot of the second season, it might have been prevalent to have made the first season less episodic.

I did like the ending though, it didn't tie up all the loose ends, but it gave you enough to make your own interpretation which I was glad for, it didn't feel like they just tried to forget anything, they actually gave you snippets here and there of the different past threads and let you draw your own conclusion. I guess they could have fleshed the mystery element of the show out a bit more with more episodes, or, as stated previously, by making S1 less episodic, but all in I felt satisfied by what we got.

In terms of being on Evangelions level in terms of a twist n mecha shows? It's not up there, currently rewatching Eva right now and Big O isn't close to it, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of RahXephon.

I sadly dismissed this show on it's first run, and had to be convinced later to take a second look.
By season 2 I was hooked.

I believe Big-O's original demographic was aimed at an afternoon show. The episodic nature was to appeal to that afternoon crowd. Also it is supposed to pay homage to older stuff.
I knew that Adult Swim backed it when it came over here. Probably why the second season seems like a different show.

I'd agree that it did have oddities with comedy. It is almost on the level of Ergo-Proxy's out of left field comedy episode. But Smith was pretty smooth delivering lines...
On that, I saw this dubbed. So, it is one of those very few that I would say is a damn good dub.

Megaduce will still make my inner 12 year old chuckle.

Big O! Very nice show, great elements and plotting. I enjoy the dark, Batman/Noirish aspects of the atmosphere and artwork too. OST is quite nice as well, I enjoy it for the ride it is.

Opening is too catchy, it's ruining my life.

Fun show thus far, by the way.

I rather enjoyed big o, there are plenty of twists and turns in this anime. but, yes, the opening is beyond catchy and I have it on my mp3 player to this day.

Nine episodes in. I really enjoy the protagonist duo, they really make the show for me. Especially Dorothy. The stories are entertaining and I like the setting which is slowly developed, but I actually could do without the giant robot moment in every episode. The fight scenes are well put together, don't get me wrong, but the repetition makes the show have a monster-of-the-week element that I just never care much for.

Opening is still sickeningly catchy.