ZETMAN - Review

Blogger's Note: Surprised I wrote a series review? Well, don't be. I know that I have five, including this one, on the backlog now and aim to write about one per week starting now. Episodic reviews (SAO & Hyouka) will come shortly.

What is the true meaning of justice? Is it doing the right thing no matter the situation, or achieving the right result no matter the cost? This is the question that ZETMAN centers around. What may seem like the right thing to do can actually end up not being the case and vice-versa, as shown many times throughout the series. The decisions that one comes to based on their kind of justice will undoubtedly vary from person to person. Thus, ZETMAN attempts to illustrate the effects of various viewpoints on justice within a city that is riddled with evil and crippled by the conflicting mindsets that its inhabitants carry.

Art (7/10)
Personally, I found the art to resemble the quality of rough sketches that have been coloured in. The sharp strokes and uneven outlines of the artwork, although I haven't seen it too often in the anime I have watched, didn't really impress me all that much and took a while to get used to, especially when it came to the characters themselves; I still wasn't able to fully appreciate it in the end. But in terms of fitting the anime's atmosphere, I thought this art style was a great choice. I found the roughness of the art actually enhanced my overall experience, even though I didn't really like it.

Characters (6/10)
On one hand, the character development was definitely there. Both the two main protagonists, Jin and Kōga, were easy to understand and empathize with by the series' end. However, a lot of their development had a tendency to feel rushed and/or forced, hurting the solidity of their characters. Although the change in their characters could be explained by the circumstances that they went through, I still felt it wasn't enough to fully justify their development. On the other hand, some of the minor characters lacked development and seemed, at most times, to just be an unimportant part of the story, like an extra in a movie. And when they did play a role, it wasn't easy to connect or relate to them, given the limited amount of information about their character as a whole. The vast amount of characters for a short series also made it hard to keep up with and/or recognize each one. In a nutshell, the presence of a few great characters was offset by a bunch of not-so-great ones.

Sound (7/10)
The highlight of this category is definitely the OP. While it took a while for me to get used to, I thought it was an excellent choice for an anime like ZETMAN. It's extremely catchy and does a good job in pumping the viewer up for the episode. The ED provides something different-a soft and slow song that follows a cliffhanger especially nicely. Aside from that the OST was unmemorable and the voice acting was average.

Story (7/10)
In a way, the story of ZETMAN depicts the possible outcome of when humans abuse their scientific knowledge for their own pleasure and entertainment. Adding in the conflict between the two protagonists' different views on justice when it comes to dealing with the consequences of the aforementioned outcome and you have an interesting plot. Unfortunately, ZETMAN was unable to fully flesh out the potential of this basis and a lot of the story felt rushed. Accounting for the flow of the story in the manga, the anime, as agreed upon by many, paled in comparison. But that may have been due to the lack of time that the show was given (13 Episodes); maybe a 26-episode run would have greatly improved the overall entertainment value of the story. But as it stands, ZETMAN (the adaptation) ended up failing to build upon the solid foundation built by its predecessor.

Overall (7/10)
When you look at it in a general sense, ZETMAN was a decent anime. It had its good points (lots of action, an interesting premise, and two decent protagonists) but also had its flaws (rushed story and character development). Those who have read the manga will mostly say this adaptation was a complete flop, but by itself, there's no real glaring fault that makes it a complete failure. I'd recommend ZETMAN to anyone who enjoys a good mix of action (violence) and a decent story (nothing too special).