Zetman

"To be the man, you gotta beat the man". - Ric Flair Being a superhero is never easy, especially when you try to live a double life. Superheroes like Batman, Superman, and Spiderman deals with the dangers they get exposed to on a daily basis. They feel like it's their responsibility to protect the innocent and deliver that strong sense of justice. After all, justice is the judgement of truth and to uphold such a sense comes at a great responsibility, sacrifice, and lives. Then there comes a hero at the darkest hour. He is ZET. Enter Zetman. The story is set in the modern times withtechnology that passes our own in the real world. Such technology of course brings forth wealth, prosperity, hope, but also crime and monstrosity. Luckily for the good folks, we have heroes. Now, to call Jin a superhero would be an overstatement. He is in fact some of us see as a dark hero of vengeance. Or maybe, we should call him a dark angel. Because of his efforts, lives are saved but not without a cost. That's the price of being a hero. Sometimes, you just can't save everyone. Yet Jin is an interesting character if we look at him carefully. He is quite the mysterious figure and for most of us, difficult to read. After witnessing the tragedies of his past, Jin swears vengeance and to never let anyone else close to him die again. Now that my friends makes him the dark hero, the dark angel, and the holder of justice in a different light. Then, we have somewhat of the antithesis of the story, Kouge Amagi. Both academically and sports-inclined, he is also popular and has nearly everything he's ever wanted...wealth, admirers, and a family. Yet, there's one thing he seems to be missing and always wanted. That would be his dream of becoming a hero of justice, one that people admire, one that people respect, and one that helps the helpless. Unlike Jin however, Amagi's desire to become such a hero is quite on the opposite globe. (rather than for vengeance to say the least) In his mind, justice should be delivered and enemies of justice will be terminated. Bu it's a lot said easier than done. We also have some of the other characters that lighten up the gloom and doom story a bit. The all innocent Konoha Amagi, and sister of Kouga, who has known Jin since their childhood times. The tomboy Hanako who has a curiosity in our dark hero (who also holds a dark secret) and among others. They tend to balance out the dark atmosphere and brings a little light as well as entertainment into the story. Now for the story. I'll best honest here, it's not really well performed. There's always a risk of making an anime adaptation off of a manga but even more so in this case because the amount of material it covers. There's a lot of potential and believe me, I want to see it at its finest form. Yet what I see so far is a rushed story based off a manga of over 150 chapters. It doesn't also help with the fact that the series only runs for 13 episodes. Thirteen episodes I'd repeat again! With that unlucky number, my hopes for the overall story is a little bit down with its rushed sequences. All in honesty, it kinda feels like reading a story with chapters missing. Oh yes, there are some awesome fights and blood gore if you can take it in the stomach. However, it feels that a piece of excitement is missing. This series could become a real blockbuster made for mature audiences with its old school action and violence. Yet with only 13 episodes, I just don't see how it could out perform some of the other longer series of this Spring. Maybe our heroes can save this series from being sent into turmoil. As for the art, the series seems to adapt a bit of old school. With the old school-like art, it certainly spawns some nostalgia in some of us who have been anime fans. But this is a R+ rated story and a reason for that. There's bodies being torn opened, blood spilled, and showing what our heroes do best: delivering justice (even if it comes at a cost). The sound is just "meh" in my opinion. It does contain drama and conveys the dark mood of the story but not something too noticeable. I do admit that the OP song, "dots and lines" by You Hitoto feat. Mummy-D, is performed well and give us a more suburban type of feeling. With the word "Zet" being mentioned several times, the songs brings out the dark hero out of the characters. Well, it is also not surprising that Masakazu Katsura was involved with the work of this series. He is Batman's biggest fan and we all know who he is. (at least I hope you do). As such, it is one of the possible main influences of his work. In fact, his influences can be even traced to another superheroes series that debuted last year. Maybe, Tiger & Bunny ring a bell? Overall, I'd say that this series just fits into the "so-so" for the Spring Season. It has entertainment value especially if you're into some fan-service and hardcore action. But if you can't take the violence and sexual content, then just hit that drop button and try something else. This series blends in the idea of a hero at the darkest hour and shows the cruelty of the world. Its approach of the dark hero genre will give you a strange feeling of both justice and also cruelty once you start watching. Yet, the story is blend and too rushed so for those looking for a complex storyline, then that little glimmer of hope may be crushed faster than a Player. However, if those aren't your criteria, then this series might be worth a shot. Try coming home from school or work, and watch this on your computer or TV with a nice cup of coffee (or w/e it is that you drink) and get into the OP song (while keeping up with the rhythm) after a tiring Monday. You might smile wishing that there are more heroes like Jin and Kouga to save you from all the tiredness of work/school. Or you might feel sad that there are such enemies of justice in the Zetman world. Yet, we all know one thing. There is a hero, a hero living in all of us.

Animation: quite standard but the artists dare to give a lot of details for the facial expression Character Design: could have been better actually Story: quite so-so. Just another "choosen one" type of story which in the end ended up like the Dark Knight (Batman) i.e. trying to protect the city from within the darkness. Good Points: harsh reality tested on one of the characters, i.e. that the idealistic justice is unrealistic.

[Portuguese-BR] "Justiça", é uma palavra um tanto curiosa, me pergunto até agora "o que é a justiça?". Bom Justiça de acordo com o google, seria um equilibrio, uma igualdade que deve ser razoável e imparcial entre os interesses, riquezas e oportunidades... Não está só resumido em "fazer o bem", pois assim como o "bom" pode ser interpretado de um jeito, o "mau" também pode, e assim a "justiça" é, cada um tem seu tipo de justiça, claro que a justiça que o google fala é muito boa, mas não esta certa, porém também não esta errada. O curioso do anime, é que a "justiça" ali tevedois lados, uma pessoa que só fazia a "justiça" como resultado de suas ações, e outra que a "justiça" era mais uma desculpa para receber elogios. Salvar pessoas, é justiça? Ao meu ver "salvar pessoas" não é justiça e sim uma "boa ação". Jin, o protagonista, também conhecido como Zet, seu objetivo juntamente com o presidente da corporação Amagi, era exterminar todos os Players ou Evols (como preferir) como meio de sua vingaça, pois mataram seu "avô" Gorou Kanzaki que era seu criador. Em certo episódio, Zet se encontra com Alphas, o Kouga Amagi em um incêndio provocado por um Player e após derrotar o player, Jin salva uma familia inteira, sendo que Kouga era contra salvar a mãe por estar machucada. Logo após isso, Zet sai do local, deixando todo o crédito para o Alphas que não tinha feito nada de útil. Kouga Amagi, bom ele que se diz ser um Herói, possui um certo sendo de "justiça" meio distorcido, porém não errado. Amagi é uma corporação, então Kouga futuramente seria o presidente dela, que até então essa posição era exercida por seu Avô. Obviamente uma familia muito rica, Kouga tendo tudo o que sempre quis, ganha sua armadura, a Alphas. Uma armadura que possibilitava a Kouga ser um "Herói". Ambos são muito diferentes como o preto e o branco, porém o menino rico que sonhava em ser um herói, mas nunca conseguiu fazer isso realmente. E o "menino pobre" era realmente um herói, porém era somente um resultado de suas ações. Bom se eu for falar do anime inteiro aqui vou ficar muito tempo escrevendo, então é isso. O anime é muito bom eu recomendo! [English-EUA] "Justice" is a rather curious word, I ask myself until now "what is justice?". Good Justice according to google, would be a balance, an equality that should be reasonable and impartial between interests, riches and opportunities ... It is not only summarized in "doing good," for just as "good" can be interpreted in a way, the "bad" can also, and so "justice" is, each has its kind of justice, of course the justice that google speaks is very good, but it is not right, but also not wrong. The curious thing about the anime is that the "justice" there had two sides, a person who only did "justice" as a result of their actions, and another that "justice" was more an excuse to receive praise. Save people, is it justice? In my view "saving people" is not justice but a "good deed". Jin, the protagonist, also known as Zet, his goal along with the president of the Amagi corporation, was to exterminate all Players or Evols (as he prefers) as a means of his revenge, as they killed his "grandfather" Gorou Kanzaki who was its creator. In a certain episode, Zet meets with Alphas, Kouga Amagi in a fire caused by a Player and after defeating the player, Jin saves an entire family, being that Kouga was against to save the mother by being injured. Soon after that, Zet leaves the place, leaving all the credit for Alphas who had done nothing useful. Kouga Amagi, well he is said to be a Hero, has a certain being of "justice" half distorted, but not wrong. Amagi is a corporation, so Kouga would later be her chairman, who until then had this position held by his Grandfather. Obviously a very rich family, Kouga having everything he ever wanted, gains his armor, Alphas. An armor that enabled Kouga to be a "Hero". Both are very different like black and white, but the rich boy who dreamed of being a hero, but never really managed to do that. And the "poor boy" was really a hero, but it was only a result of his actions. Well if I'm going to talk about the whole anime here, I'll spend a lot of time writing, so that's it. The anime is very good I recommend!

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