"The Big O" (1999) TV series

User Rating:

8.1/10   

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:

Robot | Giant Robot | Android | Futuristic | Anime

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 19	4:30 AM	TOON
Sun. July 26	4:30 AM	TOON

Cast

Mitsuru Miyamoto	...	Roger Smith (13 episodes, 1999-2000)
Steve Blum	...	Roger Smith (13 episodes, 1999-2000)
Akiko Yajima	...	R. Dorothy Wayneright / ... (13 episodes, 1999-2000)
Lia Sargent	...	R. Dorothy Wayneright / ... (13 episodes, 1999-2000)

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:

When Roger is walking around the streets of the "real" New York. The camera changes onto the top of a building, where one can clearly see several of the Gargoyles from the Disney series "Gargoyles".

Quotes:

Schwarzwald: Even without the events of 40 years ago, I think man would still be a creature that fears the dark. He doesn't face that fear, he averts his eyes from it and acts as if he doesn't have any memories of his past. But, 40 years is both a short time and yet...

Soundtrack:

BIG-O!

Red Balloons and Red Tomatoes

Big O is not like any other show I have ever seen. The writers clearly have extensive knowledge concerning Greek mythology and even Christianity. It is a cartoon sure, but the depth of the show is very subjective. The show itself gives the viewer just enough clues to allow one to believe that all of the other unending parade of questions will somehow be answered, but apparently, they won't. The show walks a profound balance of story and probability and divine vagueness.

I saw a few episodes of this show and became hooked like no other show I have ever seen. The overall themes are far from light. Two of them being memories and ultimately attempting to define life. What is the value of one's life without memories? What separates humans from androids in a futurist world without knowing which actually came first? And that is assuming who and what each character actually is, which is far from a given. My obsession with the show did eventually wane, largely because the show itself is rather slow at times. There are plenty of action scenes with enormous robots, also representing something I'm sure, to balance the pace, but those battles rarely excited me.

The truly strange aspect of this show is that the majority of it for me is window dressing. It's the symbolism that is scattered throughout each episode that elevates this show to atmospheric levels. This show is just smart enough and just open ended enough for each little mysterious detail to have some profound meaning. This show has everything within it to be the basis of a new religion in and of itself, seriously. The fact that all the answers can plausibly be answered, but aren't, makes Big O that much more life-like in nature.