12th February 2011, 10:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 13th February 2011, 10:11 PM by Great Rumbler.)
Having given both shows a good while to sit and stew, Big O's the better of the two. Not a slight against Batman, it's a great show too, but Big O just does a lot of things that Batman never did, and couldn't do [on account of being a show aimed more towards the younger demographic]. This is a debate I've had before with OB1 many times, but Big O very often exhibits a level of storytelling maturity that's incredibly rare in animation, and I'm not talking about violence or swearing. Batman did as well, of course, but not to this level.
I'd also bring up the setting and setup behind Big O as well, a world where everyone has lost their memory of things that happened more than forty years, except that sometimes memories come bubbling up to the surface, often unbidden, and lead to all sorts of complications for those involved. This also leads the exploitation of forgotten memories for power and profit. Then there's the city with all its ruined buildings and gothic feel on one side and the immaculate domes on the other, with the wasteland out beyond both.
And then, of course, there's the soundtrack. The Batman theme is great and there are some other really good tracks scattered around as well. But Big O's soundtrack, with its liberal use of gothic symphonies, smooth jazz, and 50's scifi-inspired tracks in equal parts is amazing on nearly every level. It's one of the best soundtracks around.
Big O has its faults, the biggest would probably be how the format of the show [problem comes up, Roger investigates problem, giant robot appears, Roger rights giant robot, giant robots gets defeated eventually, and then the problem is resolved] does sometimes get in the way of the storytelling. But it says a lot about the show that all the other things [the story, music, characters, setting, and so on] make it so the show never feels stale or repetitive. There's also the fact that some of the characters and character designs are a bit too over-the-top and cartoonish. Some of the lines of dialog in the show feel a bit too forced and awkward. And even after the last episode, some parts of the story still don't really make sense. Some issues, unquestionably, but nothing that would keep it from being one of the best animes ever made. All in my opinion, of course.
I'd also bring up the setting and setup behind Big O as well, a world where everyone has lost their memory of things that happened more than forty years, except that sometimes memories come bubbling up to the surface, often unbidden, and lead to all sorts of complications for those involved. This also leads the exploitation of forgotten memories for power and profit. Then there's the city with all its ruined buildings and gothic feel on one side and the immaculate domes on the other, with the wasteland out beyond both.
And then, of course, there's the soundtrack. The Batman theme is great and there are some other really good tracks scattered around as well. But Big O's soundtrack, with its liberal use of gothic symphonies, smooth jazz, and 50's scifi-inspired tracks in equal parts is amazing on nearly every level. It's one of the best soundtracks around.
Big O has its faults, the biggest would probably be how the format of the show [problem comes up, Roger investigates problem, giant robot appears, Roger rights giant robot, giant robots gets defeated eventually, and then the problem is resolved] does sometimes get in the way of the storytelling. But it says a lot about the show that all the other things [the story, music, characters, setting, and so on] make it so the show never feels stale or repetitive. There's also the fact that some of the characters and character designs are a bit too over-the-top and cartoonish. Some of the lines of dialog in the show feel a bit too forced and awkward. And even after the last episode, some parts of the story still don't really make sense. Some issues, unquestionably, but nothing that would keep it from being one of the best animes ever made. All in my opinion, of course.
Sometimes you get the scorpion.