Zetman had all the signs of being cotton candy anime, pretty and tasty, but not exactly filling. It was self-obsessed with its mythos, featured a wooden main character, and was in too much of a hurry to get to the next action sequence.
These aren’t necessarily bad things if that’s what your expectations are. Not every anime should challenge you as a human being or pose important questions that threaten to change your philosophy of life.
It’s only a bad thing when the former tries to become the latter midway. You look back and start peering down plot holes you ignored before. Characters you thought you once knew become little drama queens bitching about how incongruous their beliefs are with the rest of the world. The worse part is that when the ending comes around you begin to think that this jaunt was actually a waste of time. I left Zetman with that feeling.
But, as a straight action title it succeeds because of its strong production value. The fight sequences are brisk, fluid and creative, filled to the brim with fire, debris and blood. While the character design can be hit or miss there are more successes than not. It’s all brought together by an appropriate soundtrack of thrashing guitars and sweeping orchestral chords.
This anime fails when its focus steers from action to daunting melodrama. The opening premise is a simple enough excuse for some carnage: monsters have escaped from the confines of a secret lab and all hell breaks loose. While our heroes could just sweep up all the baddies and call it a series they decide to get hung up on ideas of justice and humanity. While exploration of such ideas in anime is common place, Zetman fails to provide answers for its own questions. When the dust finally settles you’re left asking yourself what was the point of it all?
If you can ignore the ham-fisted attempt of Zetman to pull at your heartstrings then you have a solid action title on your hands that pulls very few punches. But most won’t be able to look past the heavy handed writing to get to the cool bits.
Production: Great
Story: Below Average
Characters: Below Average
Originality: Average
Entertainment: Average
Final Score: Average
