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REVIEW: Zegapain DVD 1

At first I was a tad weary

...At first I was a tad weary since this series has a decent score on the ANN Encyclopedia...

Yes, it does tell you something doesn't it, perhaps the fact that those scores are based on the WHOLE, not on the first 5 episodes?

Some titles take up to 50% it's airtime before getting real

Thank goodness that I;m not the only one who really didn't like this DVD. At first I was a tad weary since this series has a decent score on the ANN Encyclopedia. When I got around to watching it Ihad to break up my viewing of the DVD into three sittings. This is really sad since I love mecha shows.

I didn't have as many issues with the art or animation, although it wasn't enough to save this DVD for me. I'm really glad that the second DVD isn't set until December so I didn't pre-order it yet. The worst thing is watching a terrible DVD only to realize that you already pre-ordered the next two volumes.

Yeah people only rate shows when they're finished airing, Clannad isn't in the top 10 with 89 votes after only 3 out of 24 episodes have aired... *whistles*

And a lot of titles manage to do this without being as crap and boring as Zegapain is.

as long as this reviewer does not try to write-off the entire series based on the first disc alone, then I am generally OK with what he/she has to say

It's very rare for something to annoy me as much as this poor attempt of a review did. I usually work on the assumption that ANN staff, by now, realized that the first episodes of a long series (20+ is long enough, but it can also happen with smaller series) are often just dragging around to introduce the characters, the basic premisse of the plot, and the enviroment in which, LATER, will kick in the plot.

Yes these episodes are plain and boring, they show only repeating pointless battles and get us to know only the shallow surfaces of the characters, but it is called character development. They evolve, they change, we eventually see them shinning. Do we expect that to happen on the first episode, or DVD? NO.

Also, most of ANN review for this DVD focuses in the character design and animation as if it meant ANYTHING. Fantastic Children is fantastic, yet has an horrid design and animation. Wind Tales feature the worst art you can get, but it's contents are far worth it. I am all for warning the audience of poor visual quality, but judging and even whinning that the female lead who was "supposed to be pretty" isn't ... in a CARTOON ... is childish. I could go all the way and say all female characters are ugly compared to the real human thing. I think the females at this title are pretty enough, but that's still not important as to start drawing comparisions with other titles as if ZEGAPAIN DVD BOX had something like "the pretties character design ever". It does not, so why bother? artwork was never the seeling point on this title, or Fantastic Children, or Wind Tales, or most plot-driven anime. If it comes with nice visuals, all the better, it's a bonus.

Zegapain is not trying to find an excuse to use mecha. In fact, the mecha battles are secondary once the plot kicks in. It's not trying to mimic Matrix (and if it were, by God it's way better than the 'we are duracell' cliché). The art is not good and production is low-budget but last time I checked, what bring people to a title like this is the plot not framerate. Sure some people are all about the looks, but than, go for plotless dating-sim or ecchi titles, not this. It seams that ANN staff suffers from "everything is a copy of Evangelion", as if all titles in the infinite future will be a copy of Eva, or inspired on it, or whatever. Is it important? picture someone watching Zegapain as their first mecha title and you will be able to answer it for yourself.

I really urge people to wait and see. I'm sure ANN reviews for upcomming DVD's will start to increase the ratings, we might even get a "mea culpa" latter on (unlikelly). It might not be a A+ last DVD, but as a whole, Zegapain excells from the sea of mediocrity seen latelly in anime and shines as one of the best mecha titles I ever watched. Yes it did not hook me on the first couple of episodes, but it did once I got to know what was going on, what drives the characters and all the enviroment and setting that is, presently at this DVD, only being presented .. with little detail in fact - as expected, you don't give all the plot mysteries in the first settlement.

JUDGING A BOOK BY IT'S COVER IS INNAPROPRIATE, thus, judging a title PLOT by it's first 20% run is as dumb as saying a book is boring after reading one page (and also whinning the font used in the publication is not pretty). Some titles take up to 50% it's airtime before getting real. And unless you want to use this title to turn you on into your perverted fetiche, I don't think it's important if the character design is not in par with the latest dating-sim flick. Some hentai have worst art and still sell.

This is a very poor review and people should not judge the whole series based on one DVD, or a biased childish review that, clearly, can't see or wait what is ahead.

Quote:

...At first I was a tad weary since this series has a decent score on the ANN Encyclopedia...

Yes, it does tell you something doesn't it, perhaps the fact that those scores are based on the WHOLE, not on the first 5 episodes?

Zegapain doesn't even deserve the epithet "escapism." In order to be escapism there needs to be something there to escape into; Zegapain is so utterly uninvolving that it leaves the mind completely unfettered, it's incapable even of distraction.

If we are going to list series that are consistently great, it'd be better to list another mecha series...like Code Geass. I'd give every episode of Code Geass 10/10 with a straight face.

On one hand, I think it is perfectly valid that a rating of "C-" is given to volume one. The review is about the first volume, and I think it is quite fitting.

I think the point that the people who enjoy the series, is...

For the reviewer: Should refrain from sentences that sounds like he/she has written off the entire series based on the first volume alone with stuff like

Quote:

Zegapain doesn't even deserve the epithet "escapism." In order to be escapism there needs to be something there to escape into; Zegapain is so utterly uninvolving that it leaves the mind completely unfettered, it's incapable even of distraction.

It would be wiser on the reviewer's part to clarify that the comments are for the first volume alone, or refrain from such strongly biased language.

For people who have not seen the series: Do not base your judgment on whether to purchase the series or not on this single volume. Wait and see what people has to say about the rest of the series - there has to be a reason why it's rated so highly.

Like many people have pointed out, there have been many series that started out fabulously and ended in mediocrity or disappointment. The opposite is also true.

If we are going to list series that are consistently great, it'd be better to list another mecha series...like Code Geass. I'd give every episode of Code Geass 10/10 with a straight face.

Though there are plenty of little details to pick on, particularly the inconsistent pronunciation of names and Zegapain technobabble terminology, there are no glaring problems with the dub. The English version simply matches apathy for apathy, faithful in its reproduction of the original's boredom. The translation is similarly faithful, with the matching of lip-flaps accounting for the majority of the changes.

Does ANN need to have a disclaimer, similar to the Season Previews, on every review saying "Disclaimer: This is only a review of the first X episodes of the series. The series has potential to get better, get worse, or stay the same in future episodes"? Apparently so, since we've been through this with Solty Rei Vol 1.

This is true; I'm glad I didn't take ANN's advice on the first DVD of Solty Rei; I saw the trailer first and thought it looked cool, so I rented it, and really liked it. In fact, Solty Rei has become one of my favorite series, period. If I'd listened to ANN, I would have missed an awesome show.

So in hindsight, I suppose I should at least check out Zegapain before writing it off. You guys talked me into it.