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Zegapain is one of those series that I’m glad they exist and keep thinking that I should’ve watched sooner, I only found out about it more than a decade after it came out, and only watched it almost 15 years after it aired. But it’s because I never heard about it before that, it didn’t even have the luck to become more known some years after it ran like Shinsekai Yori, I still rarely read or hear someone mentioning it.
It is not hard to see why, the show was clearly a side project in 2006, when Sunrise had their hands full with Code Geass and Gintama at the same time (and perhaps a Gundam project, cause, you know, they never stopped with that one). It’s perfectly clear with just one look at the series, the visuals were ok for its time and are pretty bad by now.
The series begins in a kind of ambiguous or confusing way, combining a typical high school setting with a post-apocalyptic one, you are not sure when you are watching it if what happens on the latter is real or not, since it begins in a mostly typical mecha fashion, where what happens on the other side is disguised as a virtual reality videogame, before revealing its Matrix like setting and premise (but with mechas).
Thus, the visuals are a mixed bag, half the time you are seeing a very well presented mundane setting that still holds up to this day, and the other half you are watching poorly rendered awful CGI in poorly animated battles in a most unimpressive battlefield. The coloring, clearly digital, is ok, darker than what can be seen nowadays, the artwork does not suffer from major quality drops, the character designs are generic but their models are mostly consistent, and they went for semi realistic physical looks, and they never sexualize their characters. The backgrounds are good to the most part, specially in the mundane setting, but since there isn’t much to see in the destroyed world, over there you are mostly watching a void space with CGI clouds. The CGI ends up being what ruins the visuals of the show, the mecha have stupid designs, are done in a very crappy CGI, their attacks and the explosions during battles are even worse, and the movements during battles can’t carry them even if sometimes they try to be slightly tactical, specially when they tend to have repeated footage. The special effects are not great either. Eventually both worlds collide and the visuals become much better during the final episodes, but until then you are watching the same battle coreography against the same enemies throughout most of the duration, and when you are watching a mecha show full of action, that’s a big flaw.
The sound effects are not very good by now, and are a bit generic, buy they are still great for their time, the voice acting is good, there are well known actors and some other that aren’t that famous and all of them made a good job, Kana Hanazawa and Marina Inoue got rather typical roles for them, and you can clearly tell who they are when you hear them, but they were still fine and not as exaggerated and waifu baity as their roles in other series would become later on. The soundtrack is good, sometimes very atmospheric, but not amazing, there are several endings and just one opening, all of which are very calm and melancholic jpop, which fit well with the feel of the show.
But enough of that, eventually what makes the series worth it is its theme exploration and characterization, that are far better than its more famous counterparts (those being the Matrix and Dark City), since Zegapain doesn’t rely on prophecies about chosen ones that contradicts the whole theme of free will nor antgonists of inconsistent capabilities that despite being so powerful are so easily defeatable, nor protagonists that become super powerful from one moment to another with no explanation or a poorly justified one.
The only complain I had with him is how was he able to even pilot the robot in the first place, and the series gave me good anwers for that. There’s a VR game in the series in the made up world by the good guys in order to prepare people for the real battle once they awake, something that’s done slowly so they won’t break all at once in an instant. Also the robots are used by two people at the same time, with one piloting and attacking and other managing all the complicated technical stuff, which also serves for faster reaction during battles, better fuel management and to form character dynamics. By the way, unlike Darling in the Franxx, there are no sexual innuendos and fanservice here, despite every female character being good looking and having somewhat tight suits.
Eventually it is revealed that Kyo used to be a pilot in the past, but unlike other series, the amnesia is used here in a thematically relevant way, related to a plot point and it also serves a purpose in fleshing out Kyo even more once his background is revealed, and how his identity crisis and relationships are complicated even further because of that. Heck, it was a way to show even the doubts he has had in the past.
Despite me wording it as if it is something happening to him alone, there are other characters that go through the same thing as well, just not as intense, and not as well done. Zegapain also has a love triangle going on, but is not done in an annoying way, since the girs are good sports, respect each other and even this plot point is related to the themes. If you are in love with someone in a made up reality, is it true love, or something that was programmed by someone else? In this world which sometimes resets and makes you lose your memories, what happens if you had other girlfriend in the past? It was you, or another version of you, with a different conscience and different feelings? Which by the way also serves to flesh out Kyo more and change his way of acting and even fighting later on.
Anyways, Kaminagi is a typical kind girl you’ll find in any other anime but she discovers the truth by herself, not driven by the plot, and since she passed so much time in the simulation program she turns out to be one heck of an almost unpresedented pilot, and even she is not a mary sue that wins all her battles, quite the opposite actually. The problem with her is that at certain point the story finds a somewhat contrived way to make her stay relevant to the plot and even step back her development a little, for at least half the time…I can’t get into details for that but it was a little flaw, even if it served to kick her own identity crisis, for half the time at least. Oh and I won’t spoil this but I want to say that she is voiced by Kana Hanazawa and for once she ends having different luck than her characters usually do, I’ll just leave it at that.
Shizuno is a good character as well, it’s just that she remains rather mysterious for most of the duration, and when her past is revealed and her identity crisis touched upon, there’s almost no time for the show to manage her mini arc in a completely satisfying way, even if her interactions with Kyo and her catharsis were strong.
There are more secondary characters and they get focus and background stories as well, it’s just that since a lot of time is spent on the main trio, their characters arc are done in a much faster way to feel completely organic. Nevertheless it was great to see internal conflicts, positions and doubts within the group, some want to stay in the fabricated reality because they are traumatized for what they have faced in the real world, others want to leave their final moments the best they can, others are running out of time and about to die so they HAVE to defeat their enemies and restore the world as soon as possible, some quention other members of the crew for being so mysterious and try to find out the truth on their own, and so on.
As for the antagonists, they are ok, they are imposing, have their own language and all sorts of powers, yet can be neutralized, they question the humans and learn things along the way, interact with different humans in different ways, they are not onedimensional, and the big boss has a classic sci-fi objective regarding the next step of human evolution and stuff. It’s just that they don’t have nearly as much screentime as the good guys, so you do feel like they could have gotten more focus.
Another good thing is how even the majority of logical gaps I got along the way were answered in a mostly justified and convincing way. I already talked about Kyo but I was also asking myself how do they have the technology for a freaking spaceship and AIs but are limited in what they can do regarding data? Why can’t they just transfer it? What are the rules regarding all the stuff related to that? Why are they fighting against the same two enemies every single time and how do they reappear every single time? What is the explanation of their powers? How can it be that they have a secret base right in front of the enemies base? Is everyone in the crew a teenager? Why aren’t more adults fighting? Do the awakens all come from the same school? Is it just an excuse to have the setting to feel relatable to a young audience or is there an in story reason? Does it affect the character dynamics in some way? And all of that was explained and answered in believable and satisfactory ways, I can’t get into details about any of that sadly.
With that said, there are still things that won’t feel very convincing regarding the data but I consider them minor and easy to miss, at least for me because I honestly don’t know much about all that stuff.
Since the middle episodes take place in the everyday life in the school, some bits of the series will definitely be dull. But since the setting is explained, the dynamics serve to flesh out and develop the main cast, and has an in story excuse regarding the secondary cast, it is all story related and in the service of the narrative, so I can’t complain about that despite not enjoying those bits much myself. So much time is spent at the school during some episodes that forces big events and revelations to happen in a hurry at the end of those episodes, but is not done in a rushed way, the pacing is steady from beginning to end, building up and anticipating what comes next and balancing the major stuff with relaxing moments in a good way.
Eventually there are only two major problems in the show as far as I’m concerned, the mecha battles which as I said, despite having some variety and trying to be tactical, are still simple, repetitive and look ugly as shit, not even the inside of the robots have cool machinery, almost every mecha title have that regardless of its quality! Well I guess it is well excused since most of the functions are activated through advanced holographic technology, damn this series thought about almost everything.
Anyways the issue with this is not only that they are poorly animated and boringly choreographed to the most part, but they also take a lot of needed screentime, which is why the secondary characters and antagonists are not fleshed out in the same level as the main protagonists. Also there are more branches in the series than the main crew but they are hardly present in the show, which is why despite the final battle being epic as hell in terms of scale and stakes, there is very little emotional impact when you see characters dying which you never knew before that point. It also makes you ask yourself if they had the same information as the captain and why you don’t see them fighting against the enemies throughout the show or why you don’t get to know more about them before the final battle.
The other issue is how convenient are the resolutions in the final episodes, lots of stuff happen to give more functions, abilities and power ups to the good guys in the last two or three episodes, and as much as they try to explain and justify it, they will still feel rushed and contrived in order to let them win for a quick happy ending after a time skip.
Which is why Neon Genesis is still the best mecha anime starring teenagers ever made despite its flaws and not being nearly as philosophical as this one, no ugly CGI, the enemies and battles have lots of variety, and yet the protagonists don’t win all the time, far from it, there’s a reason why the kids are the ones doing the fight and why are they the ones piloting the robots since the very beginning, the action takes place in the same city and there’s a reason why, as well as showing how the whole place is built taking that in count, every secondary character is fleshed out in a basic or major level and contributes to the plot or character dynamics since the very beginning, and there are no forced happy endings, quite the opposite actually. And no preference for badass Kyo Sugurus over depressed Shinji Ikaris will change that.
That doesn’t take away the greatness of Zegapain though, it’s still a great show to the most part, but it prevents it from being even better, which would have been that way if the ugly mecha battles were shorter and more time was spent on the other branches and characters, as well as anticipating the power ups so they don’t feel aspulled at the end. Other than that I consider it a great and seriously underappreciated anime, one of the best that I watched, and much more meaningful and polished than some similar movies that are far more famous.
8/10
