Zetman Episode 1 First Impression

Zet Screen.

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I’m really watching this. I thought I had my fill of the darker side of shounen anime with Deadman Wonderland, but apparently not. Really I just felt like writing some stuff and the shows I’m looking forward to haven’t aired or haven’t been subbed as of yet. I’m hoping there’ll be some redeeming chills and thrills in this monster mash-up.

Little philosophers Kouga, Jin and Konoha discuss justice.

As usual, there’s a setup and then things happen. We too briefly listen to narration about the players gaining some sense of themselves. They seem to be some sort of artificial hybrids gone wrong and they end up murderously escaping the wealthy and scientific pricks that created, and then used them. Then a doctor escapes with a baby. Baby Zetman. Baby Zetman made a messy. Probably.

Ok flash forward and we see a young man, Jim, getting schooled by some old homeless geezer. Obviously the baby and the doctor. We see the kid fight some thugs and later meet Jin’s two little friends, the siblings Kouga and Konoha. After his old homeless friend collapses, Jin begins to wander the streets for help.

He finds the hot older blonde woman, Akemi, whom he earlier saved from some rapists and asks for her help. She helps him by getting naked and taking a bath with him. Things are looking up for young Jin. I guess if you’re gonna’ have an emotional breakdown in a tub, it’s better nude with a giant pair of boobies instead of my preferred style–fully clothed in an empty tub staring into nothingness.

After a quick glimpse of the evil scientific installation, the strolling duo of Jin and Akemi get accosted by Tongueman. After being pushed to his limit, Jin’s powers awaken and he mashes the lizard dude. He passes out and then some guys show up to cover up the player’s appearance (I’m assuming Tongueman was a player). Everyone is fine as Jim and Lady reunite in the hospital.

I definitely didn’t have any positive hopes prior to viewing episode one. I have heard of the series beforehand as it’s been around for a while. In an industry where it seems like they’ll animate any manga series worth its proverbial weight, Zetman took quite a while. Surely because it’s really bad, right?

Well I liked the opening episode. Surely we’ve seen it before, but it was executed fairly well. It seems like there’s a fairly lengthy Zetman lexicon and it will be interesting to see how they further delve into the world of escaped psycho bug killers and homeless people.

Some random thoughts on the show. It looks pretty good and the few glimpses into the super-human action showed some smooth kickassity. The background music during the action was noticeably shounen-like, but not bad. I could use some more humor. The characters seem like the kinds typically found in shounen stories. I predict there’ll be a lot of challenges, betrayals, level ups and long fights. The opening narration took the place of the opening, unless my downloaded version chopped it. There’s an ending though, with a large cast of unseen characters, action and a jazzy little song.

I swear, you can learn so much more from opening or ending sequences, in these early episodes at least, than in the episodes themselves. I remember watching Utawarerumono and in the opening, the little girl was riding the big white panther thing and I thought to myself, “Self, that would be something cool to see as it happened, but now I know it’s going to happen and I feel saddened.” Then I went into an empty bathtub with my clothes on.

Episode 2: Out the frying pan.

Next week looks interesting and there seems to be a time skip pretty early. I wonder if teenage Jin will still be bathing with Akemi. I would pull one of those, “the pain of Gramps dying is still too real,” sort of things. Regardless of topless foster parents, I’ll be watching episode 2.

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