Hello world! Whilest I could start with an apology for my unplanned hiatus due to exams, my new-found python obsession and dealing with Kamikaze monkeys from hell, this review takes precedence. I’ll do the world a favor and get straight to the point.. Zetman sucks. I remember in a previous post I said:
“So the spring season has started and I must say that there are quite a few shows that caught my attention. Zetman for instance 🙂 I love how we have an initial episode giving us some background then in episode 2 we jump 5 years straight into the action.”
Although at episode 2 I felt I was barely keeping up, there seemed to be so much potential in this show that it had to be good right? Wrong. By episode 4 I realized that hey, things were not right. By 8 I confirmed that theory and today, episode 13 I was scratching at the screen screaming ‘MAKE IT STOPP!! DEAR GOD!! MAKE IT STOPPP!!!!!’
The root of the problem is that the original Zetman is basically the cross between a western (Marvel) comic and Japanese manga and while that sounds like a pretty awesome mix, they completely failed at the adaptation into an anime. The main character Jin is…. sigh…
Take a look at the image to the left, yea I know he looks pretty badass. But throughout the anime they tried so hard to keep up that image that they overdid it. Take his pose for instance, while it suits him, to have it constantly throughout the show is absolutely cheesy and not to mention creepy. He is also one of those ‘there is always a way to save all innocent people’ guys which just pisses me off to no end. Kouga (another main character) was also over-dramatized although differently in that he believes in a more logical version of justice (sacrifice one for the good of many). Too bad his logistics drove him to the point of insanity.
The plot, I will admit was possibly good on paper and served as a pretty good ‘origins’ explanation. The superpowered ‘Players’ (bloodthirsty monsters created for the entertainment of rich dudes), ZET (the ultimate monster in human form to combat the others) and Alphas (the white IronMan/Batman themed superhero who follows ‘his own brand of justice’) all serve as very unique elements for an epic story but again… Fails as an anime. I dare marvel to pick up this manga and adapt it into an (animated) movie, its sure to be a blockbuster.
Not everything is bad though, the graphics were quite good and compliments the show’s mature feel quite well. Its just too bad that it served as pretty much the only good thing about the show. The conclusion, wasn’t much of a conclusion as the entire show just acted as an intro to a potential array of Zetman pieces but hey, guess it did its job.
Overall you should avoid Zetman like the plague, it’s a waste of your time and you have wayy better things to watch like Sankarea for instance 🙂 which I will be reviewing next time, so you can look forward to that. Well i’m off to bed, lets hope my screen isn’t too damaged from the scratching. Peace out.
Plot 6/10 (good concept, poor exceution)
Music 7/10
Artwork 8/10
Effectiveness 2/10
Conclusion 6/10
Overall 5.5/10
Good thing they didn’t add a season of filler episodes in to extend the series. =-P
true, although somehow it would sort of make sense as everything did seem like a prequel to something bigger
>___< Totally was considering this show…and I see Wolverine every time I look at that second image. The top of the head (are those points supposed to be his hair? not sure), the eyes. Being a big X-men fan, it makes me want the the show to be good. :p
It’s been a while. Where have you been hiding Facade? 😛
I can definitely see the similarities it has to the whole batman superhero thing especially that ending which I personally didn’t like. It did have it’s good moments but yeah it wasn’t well executed. However, I don’t regret watching it. It was pretty refreshing seeing something different…away from all the moeness of this season. Although, this season had a lot of great shows 🙂
Thank you for talking about the stance! I completely agree on how it was creepy and also just so awkward.
Jin sadly turned out to be such a boring character, and it doesn’t help that the rest of the cast was pretty weak, too. I liked the story, I just found it needed more time to make it better, and it also needed more time to flesh out the characters.
thank god i’m not the only one who had a problem with the pose… and agreed, maybe some more time would have helped but still… at the rate they were ruining the show i’m not sure if they would handle the extra time appropriately
I agree 100% I was looking for a new exciting Anime since I usually enjoy watching the classics bebop, ghost in the shell and all of those. I thought that Jin as Zetman looked very cool and the playerslooked unlike anything I had seen before but the story was as u said terribe and the producers tried to make it exciting with an ridiculously ammount of violence. It would be really awesome if someone remade it in a couple of years like u said in a marvel block buster movie imagine zetman next to dare devil WOW
Read the manga, then try to complain about the story.
This is a bit late but i never said the manga sucks, I said the anime sucks.. Also:
“I dare marvel to pick up this manga and adapt it into an (animated) movie, its sure to be a blockbuster.”
It’s true that “Zetman” fails as an anime. However, huge success as a manga. 🙂
Appreciate scripting this article such apparent terminology. You are great using this kind of content and To be certain along with your unique ideas.
I thinks the series is good and very interesting
I wonder why you use Marvel as the only example of western comic books, as DC also exists…
i LOVED it
The whole thing reminded me of a Guyver/Baki thing and some of the camera shots during the show reminded me of a comedy anime moment when the character goes all serious and get’s weird shading and tons of detail.
I thought they were going to split the series up into multiple parts.. for example:
Part 1: Jin and his friends develop a relationship and deep bonds.
Part 2: Jin learns the truth of his origins while gaining a reputation with the ‘slums’.
Part 3: The ‘hero’ get’s introduced and turmoil shows up in terms of a difference in how things are done.
Part 4: It wraps it up and takes things slow…
I don’t know.. something like that. Instead, it just kind of skipped over 12 years of his life and implied the rest. A few flashbacks here and there and bam.. ENDING. The last 10 minutes of the last episode just seemed like an intro to the real series. I do want to see more, I just hope that if they do make more, that they rectify the whole ‘let’s just blast through this and get it done with.’
Why in the world would you say this is a bad anime to be avoided like “the plague” – goodness, it wasn’t that bad at all! I liked it a lot! I wish there were a 2nd season, there is plenty of AWFUL anime out there, this is definitely not one of them.
Why in the world would you say this is an awful anime, it was good, not great, but still a fun enjoyable watch – there is plenty of awful anime out there, this is definitely not one of them, I wish there was a second season, if you liked Guyver at all then Zetman is just as fun.
Here i am in 2020 leaving a comment after watching zetman, my instincts acted immediately and as soon as i finished the show i went to google and typed “ZETMAN SUCKS” and here i am 🙂