Back to Keedoscoxy's Profile Keedoscoxy's Profile

Baldios the movie is a good opportunity to experience a long gone era of anime in a convenient way. It hooks you in by collecting all the storytelling tools known at that time in the genre and tying them into a picture that is simply beautiful in its sadness and tragedy.

It is worth seeing. In a nutshell - for the sake of mood and, excuse me for being so trivial, strong drama. Due to the extraordinary atmosphere of inevitability and sadness interwoven with the message of attention to our planet. The war and the tragic love story of people who, by the will of ... fate, find themselves on opposite sides of the barricades. The main character, fighting on the side of the Earth against the invaders from his abandoned home planet and the female commander of these troops, who are looking for a new home after the severe pollution of their old one.

The internal conflict of the female antagonist makes the romantic subplot special in its own way. She is torn between her feminine, secretly romantic personality that wishes to be loved, and between the role of a ruthless executioner. The film can be praised for a well-planned risk of trying to make you sympathize with someone as heartless as her. Especially taking into account the musical insert in the middle, very sincere and sensual.

An emotional burden would be the perfect description of the film. But we need such burdens in media sometimes. The film does not try to force you pitying someone with cheap shots, but gazes at you with a sorrowful look, so to speak. There's no direct bashing of humanity akin to what Matsumoto does, only an observation of the inevitable from the outside. Political strife, war and disaster. People dying, dying en masse and in vain. It feels sorry for them, just like a normal human being would, but there is nothing left but to stand by the shore and look at the sea.

It's not perfect, and could've been shorter and a bit brighter in terms of action scenes with the robot (his name is in the title after all). Regardless of imperfection it simply deserves a chance. Maybe you'll get engrossed in its charming atmosphere of sorrow just like I was.

I watched this version of the story after discovering the movie version and I'll tell you right off the bat that the film is superior.

What we have in the TV show is a series of mostly unconnected monster-of-the-week episodes with all of the standard cliches of the genre at the time. That on itself wouldn't be much of a problem. What is a huge issue, however, is the tone of the story. You come in expecting the melancholic and tragic mood that the movie and the OP gives off - instead you get constant screaming and an overall atmosphere of chaos. Incompetent main characters ... that act like children despite being adults, constantly bickering when the lives of others are at stake. By the end of each episodes countless are dead not because of the tragedy of war, but because of the aforementioned incompetence.

What also ended up being very disappointing was the character of Roza Aphrodia. Once again, thank God for the movie. There she is made into an actual character torn between her will of wanting to be a loved woman and the goal of revenging her brother and being a heartless warrior. Heartless doesn't mean crazy though. And that's exactly how Aphrodia is in the show. I hate to repeat myself, but all she ever does is acts as much inhumane as possible and YELLS at the top of her lungs (literally). The later episodes try to make you feel sorry for her but considering all of the terrible things she's done it's simply impossible (in contrast, once again, with the movie, where she is cruel but not crazy, at least has some hope for her). These attempts feel really hypocritical and annoying.

There simply is no point in watching this unless you're a hardcore mecha fan who just wants to see everything in the genre. The episodes are full of logical hoops, are disjointed and almost all disconnected from one another, the main characters you're supposed to root for act idiotic and due to that seem evil themselves sometimes. The charismatic female henchman (probably one of the earliest examples in anime) deserves no pity that is demanded due to acting insane. Any attempts at being melodramatic just look out of place in the TV-series, considering all the events that were prior. Corny, forced, these are the words that come to mind.

As I said, if you want to experience the true meaning of Baldios - watch the movie. It's not corny nor chaotic, has the feel of an actual piece of art with its directing, melancholic and tragic tone that is consistent.

There shouldn't be any beating around the bush when it comes to ZOE. If you liked the games, watching this series and the OVA is highly recommended.
It's a very good spin-off that fits nicely into the continuity and expands it's lore.

However, if you are unfamiliar with the games - it's just a solid adventure title. It involves characters that change and evolve, cool mecha action and the level of tragedy that will most likely leave you satisfied. Despite not being deeply dramatic/psychological as similar looking shows tend to try it's still original.

Also unlike some other adaptations done without regarding the newcomers ZOE Dolores doesn't require ... you to be familiar with the original source material. Everything is explained and some of the events even expand on the subject matter present in the games.

It's sort of a hidden gem. I really suggest you to check it out if you just want to have a good time.