Zetman – 03

Seriously, I really like Zetman. The manga may be so much better, but something just clicks with the anime for me. Atsuhiro Tomioka‘s adaptations are often like this: incredibly flawed and rushed, but also with some really good parts. Nishi no Yoki Majo for example had some great characters and dialogue, but it just went way too bloody fast. Disgaea on the other hand went way too bloody slow, but it did get some good development out of the characters in the end. Trinity Blood had a horrible ending, but its first half was brilliantly written. Zombie Loan was over before it even started, but it had a cast of really good characters. All of this regardless of how good the source material was, of course.

The thing is that after these three episodes this might become the best series he worked on yet. The rest of this series has for me really made up for his rushed script: the original story, however butchered it may have been, shines through, and there are some really good animators and storyboarders working on this series. This is slightly different from Deadman Wonderland, which I covered last year: that show was a very entertaining over the top trainwreck. Zetman however, has something more, and it’s not a trainwreck. It’s very genuine at what it does, and I really like that about this series.

Also, this series has the kind of rush I don’t mind. The big problem I had with Persona was that it rushed through everything, yet spent way too much time on things that in the end didn’t matter. This script however allows the characters to show their emotions and development. While the plot itself has a lot of unexplained things, it’s not to the point where this series becomes incomprehensible, and it becomes fun to try and puzzle what this series is trying to do. If this series does that consistently, it can work out well. You don’t want to have a series that thrives on being solid and believable, only to have one gigantic plot-hole in its middle. That just breaks suspense of disbelief.

This episode also revealed that Kanzaki’s grandfather is still alive, and not only that: Kanzaki was his creation, attempting to make the Zet monsters that we’ve been seeing more human. If the rest of this series can explore more about this humanity I’ll be very interested. If this series can get to that, in any case. I really like this series, but I also have no clue whether this will be the same at the end of this series.
Rating: ** (Excellent)