Anime: Z.O.E. 2167 Idolo

Synopsis
This tells of an event preceding the anime Z.O.E. Dolores,i, about an incident involving the prototype Metatron LEV, Idolo, and its operator, Second Lieutenant Radium Lavans of the Martian army. It focuses on him and his hopes, dreams and aspirations as one of the opressed Martians wishing for freedom.

Story
As this is a prequel, it is meant to be viewed in conjunction with Z.O.E. Dolores,i, and it seems to lead directly into it. It wouldn't hurt to have played the games either, though it is not essential (I haven't played them, yet still got what it was about). There is not much depth in the plot, but it is a solid plot nonetheless, and I assume that you would get alot more depth if you've played the games. It barely scratches the surface of the conflicts and tensions that lie between the Earth governments and Mars, but for being less than an hour long it does a great job in getting you up to speed about the situation and developing the main storyline.

Characters
There are basically two characters you get to know decently, Radium Lavans, and his Sergeant Viola Gyunee, who are both a part of the Martian military and having thoughts of rebellion against the Earth's opressive influence. Both their backgrounds aren't particularly thouroughly explained, you merely touch a bit on Viola's past, but all their reasoning is pretty straightforward and follows the story very well. Radium is really the only character that gets any character development, but it isn't done particularly well; it is far from bad; it doesn't make you cringe or anything, it's just not very good.

Animation
The animation in this OVA was very good, almost great even. Almost all the 3D effects were seamlessly blended in, there were hardly any repeated frames and the character design was splendid. Nothing to complain about here, except for one thing. The Idolo itself. It looked very good and all, very well and nicely detailed. But. It had a giant dildo. Ok, so it wasn't really a dildo, it was more a protrusion that was sticking out in the general crotch area. But you couldn't help making the association of it being a dildo. It was disturbing. All other aspects of the mecha, as well as all the other mechas that were featured were very good though. If it hadn't been for the giant protrusion, there would be nothing to complain about.

Sound
The music is nothing special, it wasn't bad, but it could have been a hell of alot better. There was even one scene in the beginning when they were trying to get our hearts pumping with some good action music, but the effect was spoiled by the obviousness of what the scene was about.
The seiyuus were good, they used their voices as befit the scenes, and the voices were really a part of the characters.
When it comes to the sound effects they were also very good, nothing particular to complain about here. You could easily live yourself into the scenes.

Value
This one is mostly for those who are planning to watch/have watched Z.O.E. Dolores,i, and/or played the games. It has a nice story as long as you don't look for much depth in it in this OVA.

Enjoyment
I personally have never been much of a fan of either mecha or games, so for this one I focused more on the story, the situation and the relationships, which weren't superb, but still made for a nice watch. When it came to the mecha aspect of it, I would consider it relatively good, but as I am not a big fan of that, I haven't got very much to compare it to.