Anime: Zoids Genesis

STORY SECTION: 5/10
In a world were mechanical animals of an ancient civilization are excavated, a boy pilots one of them and teams up with other pilots in order to protect the people from a megalomaniac bad guy… That is pretty much the story. It conveys only the most basic elements of a scenario. I still give it a 5 because there is story continuity… as simple as it may be.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10
- Since the story is two lines long, you can expect a really simple plot, cliché battles and a really predictable conclusion. There are plot twists but nothing great that will keep a veteran viewer interested.
- There are billions of series and games with a similar premise. Kid finds weapon, villains with similar weapons attack, kid fights them with weapon, meets others with similar weapons, trains to get better with the weapon, learns about the world and the weapon’s origin, goes to beat the main bad guy’s weapon. You get really bored with the same old 80’s JRPG theme, after the 1000th time.
- Being a children’s series, there is not much violence, bloodshed, nudity and the sort that usually attracts the average viewer. Playing too much on the politically correct side, the series fails to be attractive to a more mature and demanding audience.

ART & SOUND SECTION: 5/10
-All character figures, backgrounds and visual effects are drawn too plain and un-imaginary, thus becoming boring quite fast.
-The really cool-looking 3D Zoids have interesting mecha designs but also get boring after watching them fight with erratic movement and simple attacks.
-There are a few scenes with soft ecchi and imposing artwork because of smart camera angles but they are nothing compared to those found in similar series.
-Typical J-pop and action themes. Nothing to remember after you finish (or stop) watching it. Voice acting and sound effects were decent to hear. An exception is the voice of the little girl pilot. It’s too squeaky to stand listening to for long.
- The producers must have focused all the attraction of the series on the mecha. “Hey, throw some cool mecha on the posters and there will be plenty of kids that will buy it” is what they were thinking. Who cares about the simple story and the run-of-the-mill characters if it sells because of the cool mecha, right? It worked a zillion times before, why should this one be an exception to the old marketing trick?

CHARACTER SECTION: 3/10
- Like the story, the characters also have a description of two lines long each. You will hardly remember their names and refer to them as simply the boy pilot, the girl pilot, the wise pilot, the old pilot, the chick pilot, and the brute pilot. None of them have a strong presence or a different goal in the story, other than protecting the world. This is even worse for the bad guy, who is supposed to be the coolest of all but is equally as fake as the rest.
- Some characters are given a slight development but as I said, it’s nothing great that will keep a veteran viewer interested. An exception is that girl pilot again. She is dressed in clothes that simply yell: Look at my panties! And her voice is high-pitched enough to give you nightmares. Brrr!

VALUE SECTION: 1/10
This series has nothing new to offer. It’s feels like a silly excuse to waste your excessive money on. I recommend watching something else, leaving this reminiscent title of the 80’s JRPG franchise as a last resort. (I don’t hate old JRPGs. I just find them too shallow to bother with these days.)

VERDICT: 4/10
The accused is found … GUILTY! … For trying to sell us a typical story at high prices, by disguising it handsomely.

SUGGESTION LIST
The concept of it is too reminiscent of two other more famous and better series, Gundam (the boy “accidentally” enters the mecha) and Digimon (each characters controls a monster-like being that evolves as it gets stronger). With those two blocking the sun of fame, Zoids Genesis simply turns invisible in their shadow.

Zoids Genesis has turned out to be a truly enjoyable series to watch. The protagonist, Ruji Familon, showed growth and progress as the series goes on. The only drawback was that he was a little younger than I thought his maturity level is at. If they portrayed an older, mid teens character, it would have been more believable.

As the series was introduced to a few friends (all guys in this case), they were immediately engrossed with the story line. It had its twist and turns, and kept everyone engaged in it. It was great to see character development with the main character as he grows and comes to terms with his responsibility. Furthermore, the interaction with the different characters always played well off one another. There really was not a dull moment in the series.

The characters were well developed and very likeable. However, the character types are nothing new, i.e. you've probably seen their type of character in another series. That should not detract you, since it is always better to have a re-used character that is good than it is to have a new character that is bad.

Yes, some of the story progression is predictable, but how they get to that point was not. It was very entertaining to watch, and after each episode, you are left to wonder what will happen next.

The only major drawback in this series is the animation. At times, it feels a little too 2-dimensional and cheap. Furthermore, a lot of the animation sequence is repeatedly re-used. However, it is not unbearable.

The characters, stories, twists and turn definitely makes up for any shortfall in the animation. Furthermore, the voice actors did an excellent job, and fits the characters well.

As far as how this series compares to the rest of the Zoids series, it was good to say the least. Zoids Chaotic Century was good, but a little slow. Zoids Zero was entertaining with its non-stop action, although little story line. Zoids Fuzors just did not have a good story line. However, Zoids Genesis did redeem all that by having a storyline that is comparable to Zoids Chaotic Century and action as engaging as Zoids Zero.

This series is definitely recommended if you are looking for an entertaining storyline, with growth and progression, and fun character interaction, but are not detracted by its animation shortfalls. Just do not expect a master piece storyline like Great Teacher Onizuka or the bang bang action series Code Geass, and you'll enjoy it for what it is, a fun series to watch.

Another hard to rate series. It's a nice filler if you really got nothing else to watch and a lot of time to waste. And of course, if you like mecha. Other than that, it's not really worth watching. The story has some nice elements in it, but most of it is rather poor (especially the ending).

I have to say that the animation is the weakest part of the series. The characters and scenes seem hand drawn, the mechas however are poorly 3D rendered CG. It does not blend in very well, making everything seem very artificial. There are rendering errors all over the place; for example guns that are suddenly no longer properly attached but floating in the air. On top of that, animation sequences get re-used all of the time in a pretty obvious fashion.

The sound effects of the mechas are nothing special and sometimes even missing, but they did a really good job on the voices and I really liked the music. Without these two points I probably couldn't bear to watch this series at all.

You know how the story goes. Oh wow, I found a mecha. Whoa there are the bad guys. Let's fight, kill the evil overlord, and be happy ever after. It's fine overall, has some twists here and there, but nothing special that'd be really worth mentioning.

I really hate the ending. They take an awful lot of time to finally confront the bad guy for good and what happens... bam he is dead, the main character gets another two lines to say and bam that's it, the end, thanks for watching. Many questions that don't get answered in this one.


Still, I watched this series through the end, so I guess I enjoyed it. The characters were likable (that's why the abrupt ending is annoying), their abilities well distinguished and the mechas were interesting - most mecha series use some kind of human model but the Zoids are in fact animals of all sorts (bugs, tigers, stags, elephants and so on ;) and they rarely just shoot, but use swords and similar weapons.

Apparently there are more Zoids series out there, this was the first one I watched. So I guess if you are a Zoid fan, you'd watch this anyway, and other than that, if you like mecha, you might find this series interesting despite its faults.