Zeoraima - Projeto das trevas

This is without a doubt one of the best anime I have ever seen. When I first rented it, I wasn't really expecting much. I just thought it would be the normal run of the mill pointless mecha, but this has a great plot that surprised me big time. From it's first five minutes that draw you in, to the very end with a very dramatic ending, this keeps you interested the whole time. If you want a good anime, see this!

Unfortunately, Zeoraima has the downside of being an anime with an excellent plot idea that feels ridiculously rushed. this is a genuine pity, because it deserved to be much better, yet it suffers from bad animation and absolutely atrocious voice acting. the plot works, but only in such a way as is confined by the rest of the anime.

get it on rental - don't waste £15 like I did!

I found about this as it was compared to Evangelion (predating it by almost a decade)! With it's giant Robots, world conquest plot, emotional teenage pilots, and even visual similarities in HQs.

And while the art/animation are great (as most anything from that time) and it has some interesting ideas.. the four 20+ minute episodes don't leave a lot of space for character exploration or proper world building. The ending is not particularly satisfactory either! And while I enjoyed it, there's nothing very memorable about it all aside from a few robot designs, the overpowered and underused dimensional coupler system, and a twist that could have been SO much better if done correctly in a more chess-like game between factions (like Code Geass aspired to create).

It is good enough still to watch nowadays, but one cannot escape from its hollowness and short running time (which in this case could be seen as a positive).

This has to be the swan song of the classic mecha vs mecha genre, and as such it ends up paying homage to the classics, while at the same time breaks the mold from them and evolves in a very original and interesting direction. The story is very intriguing from the start, even if a bit confusing in his exposition at the beginning, but it gets better. A lot better. In fact it has to be one of the best written screenplays in the whole genre. The animation style is also very solid, and every character has a motive, a backstory, and some of them even have dramatic developments during the 4 episodes. If you'll watch it, you'll wonder by the 3rd episode how on earth they'll manage to end this overarching story in one episode only. Don't worry, it actually escalates quickly to a very satisfying and gritty finale. I recommend this anime to all fan of 80s animation done right, I frankly consider it to be quite underrated.