Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81380 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-11-23
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Box set, Special Edition, NTSC
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 795 minutes

Customer Reviews

The Big O II Tops The First One
I've started watching Big O II on Cartoon Network. I missed a few episodes, so I picked up Big O II Complete Collection. The box set contains extras. There are 13 episodes on 4 DVDs. If you want to know the episode titles I have included them in this review.

Disc .01
14.Roger The Wanderer
15.Negotiation With The Dead
16.Day Of The Advent
17.Leviathan

Disc 02.
18.The Greatest Villain
19.Eyewithness
20.Stripes

Disc .03
21.The Third Big
22.Hydra
23.Twisted Memories

Disc 04.
24.The Big Fight
25.The War Of Paradigm City
26.The Show Must Go On

Sorry about the 2 stars in the rant review
Intro - Right. Well I wrote the "rant" review that was entitled under "Keifer Yeoman". I had to use my own account (I was using my brothers) to rectify this terrible mistake when I said 2 stars. Also, I realize I didn't say much in the way of actual video, audio, and story quality.

Video - The video quality can be called better than the first season. The first season has great quality, but they have really gone to town on the second. It is livlier, crisper, and brighter than before. It still reflects the repressed mood of Paradigm City however, especially the outer domes. As for the Megadueses and characters... well, they are outstanding as well. Big O has never looked better.

Audio - Big O suffers from the fact that it, like many anime, has a limited soundtrack. Don't let that stop you though. Some of the greatest anime of all time have this problem, and as any fan knows it doesn't ruin them in the least. Big O is one of that quality. The soundtrack is addictive and catchy, and portrays the spirit brilliantly. You don't need very many with these tunes.

Subtitles - I actually never bothered with these, which boggles me no end. Big O is actually the first anime I ever watched that makes me want to listen to the dub rather than the sub! I don't believe it. Nonetheless, it is here. For one brief, shining moment in history, the dubbing excels! Everyone I talk too tells me that the subtitles are on the mark though, which isn't surprising since it is of high quality.

Story - If there is one place where Big O blows everything away, it is the variety of the story. A psychological-action-adventure-mystery-angst-romance thriller, mix in the millionaire Negotiator who is running around in a giant Megaduese (mecha) and his sardonic Android partner (go Dorothy!) and the ever reliable Norman (the Butler who is loyal DIDN'T do it, deviating from the traditional theme).

For the sake of completion, I will give a small overview on the story itself. Roger Smith is a Negotiator who lives in Paradigm City, the last surviving city on earth after a apocalyptic force known as "the Event" sealed the memories of both humans, androids, and everything else. Forty years have pased since "the Event", and mankind has began a search for memories that help them advance in their small civilization. Roger has a secret though. He is the pilot of ancient technology from times before "the Event". The megadues, Big O! Joined by his partner Dorothy, his loyal butler Norman, and his megadues, (plus a whole bunch of other people) he is on a mad dash to bring order to Paradigm.

Overview - Big O is one for the collection folks. It still has a fanbase after five years and the works. I don't need to waste my time telling you that it as an American audience that spurred Big O into the second season, which it a historic mark in both the anime world. If you like mecha, psychological and grandthemes, AMAZING characters, great dubbing, and a storyline that is both tribute and original, then this it!

This goes against A Kid! This is the counter example that must be!
Wow. Unlike most people I wasn't that worried about CN taking a hand of the second Big 0 series. The fact that they were likely doing it for money didn't worry me in the least. I knew they would do their best to deliver a quality work and continue on with the spirit of Big O. If you liked the first season but are denying yourself the second, you are making a big mistake. Don't let Kid's review scare you away either. That is neither proven nor acknowledged as a theory for the series. It is just one possible interpatation. To set those of you that have fears at rest, I will deliver a counter-example. For everything the Kid said there is a counter example that makes the events of Paragdrim real and the ones in the first episode as false. These are spoilers for the first episode, but please read it! Especially if you read Kid's review... it is a counter to that.

SPOILERS:

1. When Roger speaks into his watch to call Big O there is nothing on his wrist but a leather band and a broken watch. (A Kid)

Counter: Yes. That is because as we speak Roger is losing faith in himself and thus Big 0 won't allow him to be his pilot. The missing watch isnt insanity. It is Freudian psychology. As a side note, the reason the fake world Roger invented looked like our world is for a variety of reasons. One of them is so that the audience can associate with it more. Another reason is so that we think Roger is insane. Roger thinks he is insane, and the makers want us to think he is too. Later, Roger realizes he isn't insane. He was just afraid! He admits that fear and then gains back his confidence. The audience then moves on and enjoys the real world of the anime. "A Kid" decided to not do that and instead set about ignoring the sequence of events, and also making giant assumptions out of absolutely nothing. For example KID: Where does the insane asylum mentioned in 5. come from? There is no reference to it either abstractly or directly in the anime! You made up the asylum, and even admitted it yourself. The asylum forms a large part of your reasoning and without it the flaws in your theory are already becoming clear. I just hope that makes watching Big 0 for the second or third time more enjoyable for you A Kid (:

2. The REAL Beck, the Bank manager, who Roger fantasizes as a criminal, points out that "this man is obviously dilusional." (A Kid)

Counter: Beck appears in the Big 0 manga. Everyone keep that in mind for the rest of what I say. Now, in the anime Roger is reading the manga. In the first episode of the second season, Roger runs into Beck. He knows who Beck is. Got that so far? Good. Later, after meeting Beck, he reads the manga that Beck is a villian in. Now how is it that a "real" bank manager appears in the manga that supposedly inspires Roger Smith with the idea of making up a pretend world? Did the bank manager give the manga makers permission to use his character for whatever reason for a vilian inside the manga? I know that is hard to understand, but read it through two or three times and it should become clear. It is already proof that A Kid was wrong in his sequence of events, as in, what happened first and what happened next.

3. Roger reads from the Big O Manga and gets the idea for his fantasy about being a negotiator and piloting Big O. (A Kid)

RIGHTTTTTTT *sarcasm*. Have you read the Big 0 manga A Kid? If Roger Smith as the Wanderer based a fake world off of the manga, then why is it that so many people in the Wanderer's World appear in the manga before he even reads it? Roger was reading about people he had met in the Wanderers World. For example, he met Beck in a bank, called him on being a criminal, and was called delusional for his trouble. He then LATER, after meeting the bank manager Beck, reads a manga that YOU (A Kid) use as evidence that says that Beck is a criminal, thus confirming what he already knew. Roger is disheartened by this because he sees it as proof that his world does not exist (which it does). A bit like this:

Wanderer Roger: Oh. It is a manga. I can use this to make my own fantasy world! (WRONG!)
Negotiator Roger: NO! It is a manga! That must mean that I really am insane! (RIGHT! BUT NOT REALLY, CAUSE HE IS RIGHT AND THE MANGA IS WRONG. It is just what Roger thinks).

Want another example? Roger calls out Dorothy's name as the human Dorothy walks into the Nightengale, but Dorothy appears in the manga that Roger reads afterwards. How can Roger be living in a real world with a manga inspired off people that exist in his world?

4. By the time Angel comes to pick him up in the car Roger has already returned to his fantasy world and nothing that occurs from that point on is real anymore for the rest of the series (I think). (A Kid)

You think wrong. You don't think on a psychodynamic level do you? Roger is being driven by conscious and unconscious forces, okay? Get that through your head, it is crucial. Roger is losing confidence in himself and unconscious forces within himself are helping him do just that. LOSING CONFIDENCE. At the same time, we, the audience, are supposed to lose confidence with him. The next step is admitting that we were wrong and that Roger is sane. You just decided not to do that. Again, you just jumped around filling in holes and making the "crazy" theory where there was none.

5. Roger sees himself driving the car while he is in the back seat, a halucination that has been known to have been played out by schitzos. (A Kid)

This is basically the first thing you said that has any bearing whatsoever. It isn't enough though. While what you said about schitzos is true, it isn't enough to condemn Roger as one. Rather, Roger was trying to make himself (and by extension, us) think that he was schitzo. A person losing faith in themselves does what their intuition tells them. Try to lose it faster! That was what Roger did. Eventually, he had to face the facts. Roger the Negotiator was real, Big 0 was real, and he needed to master his fear and move on and embrace the uncertain future.

A Kid - A Kid, your problem was that you put way too much stock inside one episode. After that you mixed around the sequence of events. You make it sound like Roger read the manga and then met everybody inside it. That isn't impossible. A Kid, you need to pay more attention to the other episodes! Especially the last one.

Roger talks about how Memory helps people find out who they are.
At the end, Roger starts remembering who he is by examing his past. At the end of the series, Roger claims he doesn't know exactly who he is. He starts Remembering everything from start to finish because he wants to get a bearing on that. That is the end of Big 0! He is using Memory to help find out who he is now compared to what he was then. His experiences (with Dorothy and Angel) have changed him a lot. Notice that the fact that he is insane doesn't even enter his head once. He got over it. You should too.

Roger the Wandederer is the fake. Roger the Negotiator is real. Roger has a lapse, that lapse made him think he was insane and he lost confidence. That was when he was Wandering. He later realized (thanks to memories of the real Android Dorothy, for whom he feels affection) that The Negotiator was real and the Wandederer was just the guy who was afraid.

A Kid. The chances of you reading this a year later are tough. Still, I got to press you. You seem smart. Watch the series again and look out for the things I said. Namely the first episode. As for everyone else. Take what I have said to heart or at least to thought.

A Kid's Theory about Roger being crazy: It has no ground. A Kid messed up the order of events in the first episode, ignored the rest of the series, and then made a whole bunch of assumptions that have no factual proof whatsoever. There is no asylum, there is no Wanderer. That was Roger losing faith. He regained the faith in himself and remembered he was the Negotiator. Read everything I said again if you are still confused. It is important that you understand.

A Kid makes you think the first episode is the only real episode. That is wrong. It is the fake episode, and that episode that is a review! Come on everyone! Think! The first episode of the second season is just a review on everything that happened in the first season of the anime! You have little retake episodes like that in every anime series you watch! Think! THe Big O crew wasn't satisifed with just making a recap epsisode though. They made it like it was so that they could mess with our heads. A Kid took a small ball, ran with it, and tried to make it into something it is not. He ignored the order and made very large assumptions where there are none. If you research a round a little, you'll find out that what I said is true.

Conclusion: Roger the Wandererer is the Roger Smith who is fake. He is the lost faith Roger. Roger the Negoitator is the Roger who regains faith.

Rent or Buy?

BUY OF COURSE.