"The Big O" (1999)TV series

Director:

Kazuyoshi Katayama

Writers:

Masanao Akahoshi (writer)
Kei'ichi Hasegawa (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

2 April 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Action

Tagline:

Good guys still wear black

Plot:

A futuristic city with lost memories, an expert negotiator fights threats to the city with the help of an android and his own giant robot.

Plot Keywords:

Domed City | Anime | Android | Artificial Intelligence | Futuristic

Cast

Mitsuru Miyamoto	...	Roger Smith (3 episodes, 1999)
Steven Jay Blum	...	Roger Smith (3 episodes, 1999)
Akiko Yajima	...	R-D / ... (3 episodes, 1999)
Lia Sargent	...	R-D / ... (3 episodes, 1999)
Motomu Kiyokawa	...	Norman Burg (3 episodes, 1999)
Ethan Murray	...	Norman Burg / ... (3 episodes, 1999)
Tesshô Genda	...	Major Dan Dastun (3 episodes, 1999)
Peter Lurie	...	Major Dan Dastun (3 episodes, 1999)

Also Known As:

Big O (USA) (cable TV title)
The Big O II (Japan) (second season title)

Runtime:

30 min (26 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG

Company:

Animaze

Trivia:

Background music based on the original score from the UK science-fiction series "UFO" (1970).

Quotes:

Roger Smith: My name is Roger Smith. I perform a much needed job here in this city of amnesia.

Big O is a big success by this great critic

Big O 2001 by Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment who brought Gundam Wing, and who made the Macross and Gundam games is one of the greatest cartoons I've seen in the year 2000.

This is a great series, one of the newest Japan Anime in 2001 and surely one of the best cartoons out there.

American animators cannot emulate the Japan Anime cartoons and Big O is proof.

It's gritty, romantic, touching, action packed and full of stories, and that is in every episode!!

The star is Roger Smith who is the head negotiator in breaking or sealing criminal cases or any cases where the police or military is afraid to get involved in.

He lives in Paradigm city, a dark city that has been torn by crime, military action and corruption.

In only his first days on the job, he catches the idea of an attractive and elegant young lady called "Dorothy".

Dorothy is not you're average woman, she is a whiz on the piano and has a certain way with people. Oh yeah Dorothy is a robot.

She is virtually indestructible,yet her softness in characters reveals she is not made entirely of metal.

Dorothy is cared for by her Grandfather. The Grandfather knows Dorothy is a robot but he protects her like his own daughter.

A hoodlum by the name of Beck Gold plots to steal Dorothy and Smith (having suspicions about Dorothy) tries to intervene. Dorothy's Grandfather is shot and Beck kidnaps Dorothy .

Smith rescues her eventually and they develop a mutual friendship between man and machine.

The series works because of it's likeable characters, musical soundtrack which uses the piano to produce a feeling of what's going on in a scene,and above all incredible animation. The musical scences with the piano also convey a soothing feeling to a long day.

Smith controls an undercover machine knows as "Megadeus" which is Big O.

The series reminds me of Voltron because Megadeus fights many bosses in every episode in spectacular fashion.

The series has been dubbed in English and currently showing in Cartoon Network's lineup.

The dubbing is amazingly good. It's one of the best dubbing jobs, I've seen so far. David Lucas (Roger Smith), Lia Sargent(Dorothy) lend their great voices to this anime.

Made through Bandai and Sunrise which produced Gundam Wing and Macross, these guys just keep making the hits.

Take it from this great critic, Big O is a big success.