Zone of the Enders: Idolo (2001 Video) User Reviews

Watchable mecha anime

[siderite · 6/10 · 22 July 2005]

What is it with anime and humanoid robots? I mean, why not 4 arms? Or wheels? Why not something that looks like a bird if they are flying around all the time?

Anyway, this starts out as a combat robot prototype built on Mars by the Martians that want independence from Earth. I guess the vast empty space in between Mars and Earth does nothing to human nature. The prototype is "magic" (or has a technology that is awesome and unexplainable, which is the same) and thus very powerful.

We go to the (now routine) cycle of power, responsibility, shame/blame that seems to pollute a lot of Japanese animees. It seems there are two types of people: those wanting to use power for destruction and those who don't want to use it at all, rather they would leave it in "responsable" hands. If you follow this through you will see the obvious consequence of this and why I used the word "pollute" above.

The ending does a lot of harm to the movie, which was overall acceptable. I liked the moral of the story, though: if you get married you die! ;)

Well...the Ending robbed me!!!

[shawny11_2001 · 7/10 · 1 June 2003]

This is decent, not great, not good, but decent enough to watch. The mecha, not the bada$$ one, reminded me a lot of Gundam and Robotech/Macross mecha. The Idolo mecha reminded me a whole lot of Evangelion. But overall they weren't too blatant.

The voice acting was pretty good. The dialogue at spots was a bit odd, but you can never nail dialogue perfectly. The story was beautifully drawn and written, yet I felt the backstory wasn't very well set up. Granted, I've not played the Zone of Enders game or seen anything else on this series, I'd like to know more.

6.5 out of 10

Good enough to watch at least once.

[Killa42 · 9/10 · 22 April 2007]

Note: Sorry if this seems at all like a spoiler, I don't feel like I gave away anything.

Zone of the Enders: 2167 Idolo (2001) wasn't just another anime series, it also had a different storyline than the video game. This gave it its own unique storyline. It starts out about a father trying to get by… James Links. Early in his life he married an alien from Mars named Rachel; they fell in love having two children, Noel and Leon. At the start of the story; everyone believes that Rachel is dead. James wasn't on speaking terms with his kids either. Once they are reunited; James is tries to prove to his children that he's more than a worthless earthling. Through his failures and triumphs you get to see a very neat outcome.

After a short reunion with his children and an added guest, Dolores an, "orbital frame," they embark on a journey to find the missing family member… Rachel, to whom they had heard, was dead. Through their journey they will be chased as fugitives, betrayed, and meet some amazing characters. Some of these characters even join them, such a feisty reporter, who by the way later becomes an important person in the story. Every character in fact has their story that are each developed extremely well by writer; Shin Yoshida ("Karas: The Prophecy," "Witch Hunter Robin" and many more). This includes the antagonist of the tale; he is developed so that one could see even his point of view. For the record, even though I watched this dubbed in English it was still translated in a professional manner.

With Dolores's awesome "orbital frame" strength and powers; James Links is able to battle every obstacle… except for the battle of getting respect from his kids. However, throughout the story one could see that they stayed a family and in fact become a closer and stronger unit.

If you allow it you might fall into the spell of these characters; especially the bleeding heart father who cares deeply for individual life and shows compassion when most people would not. The show was funny, fast paced, but sometimes slow… all and all it's definitely worth seeing all twenty six episodes once.