Zone of the Enders: Dolores Review

story 8.5/10

I thought this was going to be an all out serious show with lots of action and blood, fighting scenes etc. In the first episode we meet James who is a drunkard that wants to reconcile with his family, even though he chases other women. Then later on he discovers Dolores, who is pink and behaves like a confused, love struck woman. Not much action there. This made me a bit confused. It doesn't take long, however, until the action starts to unfold and soon the first mecha battle commences.

This is a great show which took me by surprise. Sure, it's not what I initially expected but that doesn't really matter. We've got a show with very good character development, nice smooth animation, very nicely animated battles, a good story and plotline with some twists and turns every here and there.

This is an anime which builds loosely on the Zone of the Ender games. It takes place roughly 5 years after ZOE 2167 Idolo and a short while after the first ZOE game. While it isn't neccessary to have much knowledge about the games it helps to broaden the understanding. There are parts of the show where references are being made back to both 2167 Idolo and the first game. I highly recommend that a potential viewer watch 2167 Idolo before this one. When it comes to grabbing information about the game or not I leave that up to the viewer. Being the researcher I am I watched a couple of game trailers and bugged a friend during a whole evening about what happened in the first game, as well as the second. The second game "Z.O.E 2:nd runner" takes place 1½ - 2 years after Dolores.

Due to it connecting to the 2nd gunner game there are some elements in Dolores which are not explained, they are minor however and not something to stress oneself about.

animation 8/10

Not top of the line, but certainly not bad. Nice character designs which I found very likeable. They follow a mature style with lots of details and the eyes are more of the "slit" version than the big balloon version. The body proportions are also done well most of the times.

The fighting scenes are beautifully animated as well, are fluid, and you do not see any re-used animation. It's action from the beginning of a fight scene till the end with some neat camera angles here and there. The backgrounds and sceneries are also done very well. I dont have anything to complain about, really. The CG is used here and there and it blends in just fine.

sound 7/10

The music was quite nice and fit the scenes well. Once again, nothing extraordinary, although they did have a very funky track with a nice funky baseline. I give the Opening theme 9/10 though. Good 'ol crunchy catchy Rock is NEVER wrong in my book. A small minus for overuse of some tracks.

I watched the sub of the show and the voice actors did a nice job on their parts, don't have anything to complain about.

characters 8.5/10

The show does very well in this department. Most characters grow in a good and believable way. The dramatic moments are well depicted and it did not take long before I had an increased heartbeat rate and adrenaline flow during the dramatic moments, be it during some of the action scenes or the more emotionally confronting ones. I'd like to set a nine, but there are a couple of moments which takes away that 0.5 point. Some of the characters change too fast, it's simply not possible to change ones own personality in the blink of an eye in my book. That is, if they don't happen to have dual-personalities or something similar.

overall 9/10

I had a hard time deciding whether I should give this an 8.5 or a 9, but I settled onr a 9. It took me four or five episodes before I really got into the series, but after that, I really enjoyed this show and I ended up watching the latter half in one go. They did a good job on keeping the story going throughout all 26 episodes.

As far as rewatchability, since the show is as eventful as it is I don't see why not. The only thing which might be a bit troublesome would be to find the time.

This is a show that anyone who enjoys sci-fi with action, drama and a bunch of other things mixed in between should give a try.