Idioteex

When I watch Iria many strange things happen where my genitals are. Very cool! Awesome!
Rating: 5 / 5

Iria, despite having an entire series included on a single DVD, is a huge disappointment. The story is shallow, artwork is bland and the dialog is predicatable and cringeworthy.
Rating: 1 / 5

“Iria: Zeiram the Animation” is a thriller/horror/sci-fi. It concerns Iria, who must slay the evil Zeriam. The two terrifying conflicts this anime provides are A) a fantastic enemy, and B) waiting for this worthless piece of garbage to end. Plauged by poor writing, unbelievible fight sequences, and more, Zeriam is better left alone.

Its stars Iria, the younger sibling of her big brother, Gren. Iria admires Gren greatly. She follows him around, assisting him in his bounty hunting job.

The anime starts with Iria saving three girls from a criminal. Before she nabs the criminal, however, a rival of Iria’s flys down and grabs him, claiming the bounty for himself. Iria travels back to her brother, and he tells her that he has to board and investigate the “Karma”, a ship that has been hijacked by an unknown assailant. Gren must hurry, however, becuase he must rescue the few survivors before the authorities arrive.

But when Gren, Iria, and Grens companion, Bob arrive at the ship, they find more than they bargained for: a indistructible demon-like beast called Zeiram that is hellbent on killing Bob, Gren and Iria.

I”ll start with the good stuff first, The animation and art quality. The art quality is great.Many of the mecha and set designs have a decidedly turn-of-the-century Chinese/Japanese design and feel, and it looks very interesting. Character designs are above average. Uniquely drawn, Iria looks perfect as the gun-happy heroine of the series. However, her personalitie seems completly lifted from a Masamune Shirow work. Her friend Kei looks very sterotypical, with his sling-shot and spikey hair.

Frame-rates are exceptional, and do not hinder the detail of the drawings. Zeriam himself had a frightening design. Big and tall, Zeriam has a black blob where his head should be. The blob has a face on it that looks like a pale mask, and the face can strech out at his foes.

Now the bad. The story is uninspired and boring, and many of the key plot elements seem to have been completely lifted from “Alien”. In addition, viewers are forced to withstand chessy plot cliche’s.

It seemed as if the boundries and rules set in the universe of “Iria: Zeiram the Animation” where constantly forgotten, and gave “Iria: Zeiram the Animation” a unbelevable feeling. For example, Zeriam survives a explosion the size of a atom bomb and hundereds of bullets, yet a rising kick or a rock from a sling-shot stop him in his tracks. Even the characters behaved in unnatural ways. For example, Iria idolizes her brother, yet he dies, and she carelessly takes a nap. Completely emotionless.

Being a horror title, one can expect some violence. In the first episode, Bob is getting torn apart by Zeriam while Iria is having a calm conversation with someone else. Unfortunatly, “Iria: Zeiram the Animation” tends to have unnesscary scenes in which tons of children are shot down by Zeriam.

All in all, “Iria: Zeiram the Animation” is overrated story that is deprived of good storytelling, characterazation, and lack of realism. It’s not even fun to watch.

If you are looking for a good cyberpunk with a good story, “Battle Angel” or “Ghost in a Shell” would be good choices. Or if you want a anime high in entertainment value, try “Plastic Little”. “Iria: Zeiram the Animation” is unpleasant.
Rating: 1 / 5