Zaion ~i wish you were here~

Cherstal Sep 19, 2019

2

In the early 2000's there exists a trove of "lost anime"--the shows made during the awkward transition years of digital anime which were released and then almost completely forgotten by anime fandom. Sometimes, diving into this era of anime can allow you to discover some hidden gems. And sometimes, it gets you get this unfortunate trainwreck. To put it frankly, Zaion ~i wish you were(n't) here~ is awful. I originally picked it up because I enjoyed Yasuhiro Oshima's character design work in Geneshaft and the cover image looks nice. After watching Zaion to completion, I can attest to the fact that those are the only two good things about this anime. The characters are actively annoying to watch, and the romance between the two leads is rushed to all hell. Everyone else receives just about zero characterization, making the whole cast just as cliche as they are boring. Animation-wise, Zaion is bad even by 2001 standards. Compared to Geneshaft, which released that same year, the CGI is atrocious. The 2D fights are also extremely barebones and cheap--the staff at GONZO clearly didn't have the manpower needed to animate the large number of fights they wanted to include. The color design is also very drab, making everything look ugly and muddy.  TLDR; don't watch this. Even if it looks like it might have potential, it doesn't. Zaion's only 4 episodes long yet it still wasn't worth the time.