Iria: Zeiram The Animation

First of all: Iria- Zeiram the Animation fits the sci-fi and adventure genres. If you are interested in watching this title, get prepared to watch some nice fighting scenes! Story: Iria is a bounty hunter, and follows her brother´s footsteps. She goes along with Gren (her brother) to a mission...and since that she won´t get satisfied until she destroys Zeiram...an alien lifeform created to kill and destroy. The plot is fantastic! 10/10 Art: Even though the artwork isn´t recent, I think it is wonderful...the colors well chosen, the graphics well made and lets admit: Iria is a gorgeous bounty hunter! 10/10 Sound: The background music is very good! It is old and has some 80´s/90´s catch, and the OP is real good! At first you think it is a bit strange...^^ 9/10 Character: The characters are well developed, but the main thing of the story is Iria...she is a bold and strong woman, that won´t relax until she finishes her duty...She shows herself a bit fragile in some moments, but when it comes do Zeiram she will try by all means to destroy what is tecnically "undestroyable". 9/10 Enjoyment: As a fan of adventure, sci-fi and great fights, Iria- Zeiram the Animation is excting, and at least 99% enjoyable! A true classic! 9/10 Overall: 9/10...if you like sci-fi genre, this is a classic and a must see! So sad there isn´t more of it!!

Iria: Zeiram is a rare Gem of an anime. It features some things found in almost no other anime. The world design in particular is very unique. The houses, props, vehicles, and general setting are very unique to this anime, and you don't see anything like that in most other anime. The closest similarities I can think of would be Outlaw Star or Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It definitely stands out in terms of prop and world design. Story wise, Iria is a unique and classic sci-fi anime. It takes place in a universe where there are many established planets that people live on that each have their own existing culture and customs. Iria is a bounty hunter apprentice, that is searching for answers surrounding the disappearance of her elder brother and mentor. Along the way a creature that is very violent and involved in the disappearance her brother, ends up in the same place as her travels, and she must deal with it, as well as unravel the conspiracy that may be behind the creature in the first place. One of the things I really like about this story, is it tells the story of a girl who has a submissive, yet sporty personality, and is still strong enough to stand on her own. Iria is a very unique character, and a combination of girly and motherly, as well as quite sporty and capable. It's definitely a very unique anime and very enjoyable. This was one of the first anime I ever really enjoyed, and at only 6 eps long, it's definitely worth a watch! I kind of think of it like a long movie broken into 6 chapters. It's really good.

Iria: Zeiram the animation is a six episode OVA from Ashi Productions and Bandai Visual. If you've been following my reviews for a while you may recall Ashi as the ones behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Superman Legend. The OVA is actually set up as a prequel to a live action film from '91 called Zeiram. To be completely honest, I haven't seen the film in question and I'm not going to know how well it follows it. Basically, I'll be judging the OVA entirely as its own thing, is what I'm saying. Story: We open with our heroine using her Shine Aqua Illusion to bring in a baddie. Or she just beats him up. Unfortunately for her, a different bounty hunter shows up to steal the bounty away. We cut to later where she's conversing with her older brother about the situation while he prepares to go on his own mission with his friend, Bob. Events unfold, she follows and they end up on a space station looking to rescue the crew and recover the cargo. They find no cargo and a whole lot of bodies. When they do locate some survivors, they indicate that the cargo itself may be to blame. Iria and her brother quickly have their first encounter with the monstrous Zeiram. The biggest narrative issue is that the OVA doesn't explain some things very well. Most notably, there's an episode that ends with Iria on the run from the authorities for reasons and the very next episode opens with her back in good standing. I don't know how it happened but I'm just going to assume her shrine priestess girlfriend pulled some strings. Another issue is just that things are pretty predictable and it makes things less interesting. Not uninteresting, mind. The Ova is still kind of interesting. On the positive side, I do like the way the OVA manages to bring Zeiram and Iria's confrontation into play in a variety of situations. The climactic confrontation works well. And the story telling is pretty good, as a whole. Characters: Iria is a pretty compelling character. Her dynamics with other characters also work well. Particularly with Gren and Bob. That being said, most of the characters aren't particularly interesting aside from their dynamics with Iria. It's kind of like Spice and Wolf where the main female lead just carries the cast because everyone else is dull. There are two child characters who are kind of obnoxious little sods. Zeiram is also very much one of those not remotely complex and menacing because of supernatural abilities villains. Art: By today's standards, the art and animation are a bit dated. That being said, it holds up pretty well. The action sequences are strong. The character designs are nice. The sci-fi trappings look good. About the worst I can say for the art is a nitpick, the hair bead things don't look like they should stay in place. They don't look so much braided into the hair as they do haphazardly attached to it. Sound: Most of the performances in this are competent. Not good, but decent enough. The exception is Hisakawa Aya (also the voice of Mizuno Ami). She's really good in this. Yoshikawa Yoichiro did a good job with the music composition. Ho-yay: There really isn't any. Final Thoughts: Ultimately, Iria: Zeiram the animation is a decent little OVA. Not good, but okay. If you're a big fan of adventurous sci-fi, it'll probably keep your attention. You may even like it more than I did. For myself, however, the rating is going to stand at a 6/10. Next week's review is Mob Psycho 100.

Another anime classic that I caught on the Sci-Fi channel about 10 years ago. (C'mon, Sci-Fi, start showing anime again!) Iria: Zeiram the Animation is a 6 episode mini-series that actually be likened to a 3-hour action flick. Iria shines becuase of the world and chracters that are created. The characters themselves are well-done are show a good amount of depth and personality for a mini-series. Escpecially the titular character, Iria. Iria is a tough-as-nails bounty hunter who is just starting out, but her character is still that of a young woman. Strong but feminine. Iria is a great role-model for young women, and a good example of a strong woman. The character designs for this show are excellent. Done by the famous Masakazu Katsura (Video Girl Ai), each character is detailed and has a unique look. The visuals of the world itself are equally as amazing. The world has an oriental look but mixed with futuristic technology. The designs for the weapons are inventive too. Some of the weapons these bounty hunters use make me want to be one! I'd reccommend Iria for the visuals alone. But the story itself is worth a watch. A classic tale of revenge and justice. The English dubbing is really good for this one, and the DVD quality gets my thumbs up as well. Rent disc 3 if you want cast interviews and some insight into this world. I reccommend checking Iria out. It's a cut above most of the garbage anime that's flooding the US nowadays.

"Iria: Zeiram the Animation" is a pretty good action oriented OVA spanning across 6 half hour episodes. It tells the story of a young bounty hunter Iria's hunting of Zeiram, the most dangerous life form in the galaxy. The weird opening theme, which sounds like some Sharon Apple song from "Macross Plus", feels out of place and put me off the anime initially. And not being the fastest anime off the block despite its short length, it took "Iria" a couple of episodes to catch my interest, but to its credit it gains more and more momentum as it goes on. The action, though slightly sluggish at times, is overall solid enough to provide a good foundation for the enjoyment of "Iria: Zeiram the Animation", with the appropriately climatic climax being especially good. It's backed up by a pretty good story (albeit one that doesn't explain everything) and some really likeable characters. The roles of the mischievous kids are played out perfectly, as is that rogue Fujikuro, providing comedy entertainment that often had me grinning widely. The animation may not look that great by today's standards, but there are some fantastic character designs. The heroine Iria herself has quite a unique look, while Zeiram reminds me of Yoshimitsu from the Tekken video games. On the downside, I think the anime suffers from small inconsistencies in its characterisation and plot. To name a couple of examples, part of the personality of Iria is hard to pin down since she seem to be inconsistently portrayed from one episode to the next, and I could have sworn the Zeiram's weak point that is revealed towards the end had already been peppered with bullets with little or not no effect in an earlier episode. Even though this OVA does look and sound a bit old, it's still succeeds in providing an entertaining 3 hours. Worth checking out if you come across it.

I'll be honest from the get go, this anime is not a 10, it's not a 9, it's probably around a mid 8.5 from a fair objective standpoint. However, I'm inflating my review after looking at some of the other reviews. Mainly because there is an unfortunate portion of modern anime viewers that see old school animation, and that's all she wrote folks, that's all it takes to make it average... Except Iria Zeiram is a badass anime, with beautiful hand crafted art, and a strong female lead that isn't drenched with fan service, characters like this are why I fell in love with anime all those years ago. Anywho, I'll (try to) keep the rest of my review fairly short. The art for me is the standout, along with some really refreshing character design/writing. The art is classic late 80s to 90s hand drawn goodness, if you're in a nostalgic scifi mood look no further, especially if you've seen the usual recommendations. Character design is awesome, modern anime is a little uh, sexist? I hesitate to use the word, but really it's refreshing to see an anime without fan service, while still being mature make no mistake. Weird how you can make a strong sexy female character without their boobs flopping about, go figure. Having listed the strengths, the weaknesses are undoubtedly the story and sound. Story is really nothing to salivate over. Depending on your exposure level to anime/manga/books/cinema, then a fair rating would fall somewhere between an 8 to 6. If you're experienced, it's a 6, otherwise it could range up to an 8 if you aren't familiar (bored) with common anime tropes. Sound is to me the weakest part, it's by no means bad but there's nary a banger to me found here IMO, but lovers of 80s sound design might really dig this. Overall this one really took me by surprise, the MAL reviews made me hesitate. Reviews be damned though, this is a keeper anime, and when you've been around the anime block as long as me that's rare. Granted some of this might have to do with my disillusionment for modern anime, it's getting old seeing awesome stories/characters ruined by horndogs beating the fan service cash cow like there's no tomorrow.

This has to be one of my fav to this day. ITs got a great story line about a young female bounter hunter trying to make it in a man's world and follow in her brothers footsteps til the unthinkable happens and she's all alone. Now she has to Zeiram the alien who she thinks killed her brother.

Certainly interesting, and didn't even go too far wrong, but still kind of missed the mark. Now, I did enjoy Iria: Zeiram. I wasn't uninvested, and I haven't forgotten the events so far. In fact, if anything is to be taken from this review; be it that it's no doubt worth a try. But that said, it didn't quite click with me. Being seriously strong with characters and their world, and with a pretty decent standard of narrative, Iria: Zeiram, while not exceptional, stands as a fair show. If given another chance to go around, it could easily exceed itself. ---- The story is admittedly simple, not boasting any revolutionary concepts, but is easily followed and flows without issue. Being half-cour length works pretty well, as it keeps each episode unique and doesn't spawn any unnecessary characters. All I can really point to as a plot issue is suddenly abandoning a line of inquiry the eponymous Iria is taking halfway throigh the show, with the information gotten in the previous episide being seemingly forgotten. The characters are excellent, as is the way they are handled. Everyone gets a sizeable lump of screentime, and their starkly different personalities clash really well. The group that accompanies Iria in the second half has particularly good chemistry with each other, being perhaps the biggest strength of the OVAs. Zeiram himself isn't really a character, being an illegible monster. I can't complain too much being as this is wholly intentional, but there are more interesting villain paradigms. ---- Iria: Zeiram has at-par animation, nothing stands out in either direction. The artstyle is quite nice, it gets every character looking good. But music, though, is rather poor. While the ED gets no complaints from me, the OP is surprisingly just awful. The song is grating to hear and feels like the singer hadn't seen the lyrics before the night. Try as I might to bear it, it ended up amongst the few I just had to skip past. Now, where these OVAs really shine is with aesthetics. The vehicles, technology, clothing and architecture is all extremely unique, featuring antiquated and modern elements in equal parts. While this style isn't my cup of tea personally, I do appreciate the creativity behind it and I would by no means be opposed to seeing more of the world. As for character design, I really like Iria's, with everyone else also being pretty solid until Zeiram. His design sort of falls apart at his head and face, which doesn't really sit right. A few small tweaks could easily make it much more appealing and menacing, but again, this is probably just personal taste. ---- Iria: Zeiram, then, stumbles in that while most elements are good, they don't mesh quite as well as would be needed. As for improvements, I'd change the OP first and foremost, and add scene or two in the centre to handwave the forgotten plot point I mentioned. All in all, much of what I disliked can be chalked down to personal dissatisfaction for one reason or another, so I wouldn't want to complain too much. It's a curious little set of OVAs that didn't do much spectacular, but also never collapsed in on itself.

Coming from a somewhat unknown studio, Ashi Productions, and an unknown director, Tetsuro Amino, there was much to speculate how decent this could be. An action story about a rookie bounty hunter named Iria, comes into a battle conflict against an unstoppable killing lifeform called a Zeiram. With a plot straight to the point, live and get rid of the Zeiram, this anime knows what it is. Spanning as a 6 episode OVA series, each episode is different, yet a continuation on each other. Time continues between each episode until Iria must have another life and death battle between her and the Zeiram. Even though the anime is on the short side, luckily, all the characters involved are fairly interesting and the viewer slowly sees Iria become more mature with each episode. There is plenty of action ranging from the transportation machines to the numerous gadgets used to fight. Needless to say, the action is the strong point, and while not being smooth all of the time, the fighting sequences and explosions are done well enough. However, the anime does have its flaws. The ending, for example, is pretty controversial, and why some weapons work in places while others do not are just a couple to pay attention to. Although, if given more time (episodes), maybe things could have been explained better. Instead most is left up to the viewer’s imagination. As Iria Zeiram the Animation could come off as a bit old and average, the action is worth the ride. Iria is lovable and so is the supporting cast around her.

This is amoung the best, classic goodness. Great sci fi story great charecters especialy the zeiram and good animation for its time. I give it a 9 and would have given it a 10 if it werent for the bad english dub over.

English: Review: Iria: Zeiram The Animation I already knew about the existence of the Iría eggs, as well as that the Iría eggs act as prequels for 2 live action movies that had been released before (more specifically in the years 1991-1992 the films and the eggs in 94) . Despite that detail, I will only focus on talking about the eggs of Iría and leaving my opinion on the matter about the work in question. Well, something that I must highlight about the work is its technical apparatus, both the animation, direction, setting and music in general is exceptional, this whole section is fantastic. The music is catchy, pleasant and beautiful to listen to, it makes the viewer feel involved in the work and want to continue seeing more of it. Each piece of music that is available is quite suitable in specific moments, it has music for action, as well as relaxing and ambient music for moments of calm / serenity, as well as melancholic music for when you want to evoke the feeling of tragedy or lost, as well as many others that are quite good. The animation and direction are not far behind either, the animation is budget-friendly, so you will not see quality downturns for any moment and the action or chase scenes are quite polished and worked. Likewise, the designs of the characters are quite distinctive and recognizable, since each character has its own characteristic style that makes it different from other characters (Of the main ones obviously), although it is not revolutionary or unique, but even so this section fulfills its function quite well. The other section that I would like to emphasize would be in the story, because the story is quite basic, since it is about a novice bounty hunter, called Iría who is after a strange creature that asks a high reward for her, called Zeiram, which is wanted by the number of people that this creature has killed and one of those people was Glenn (Iría's older brother). Who sacrificed herself to save her sister's life, helping her escape, causing Iría to make the decision to hunt down and defeat the Zeiram on her own, although the latter could not face the Zeiram, but is still willing to defeat him, even if you have to lose your life in the process. As I said before, this is an adventure story with sci-fi elements so you will see civilization and high-tech weapons, something that the work does well is to show you how imaginative and creative it is with the construction of its world, especially with its weapons and advanced technology that is presented and how the work manages to provide exposure on the use of said weapons, which is achieved thanks to the actions and situations that the work puts our protagonist and how she takes advantage of these in the circumstances, providing the information that the viewer needs to know, how the operation, use, times when it is useful, etc. It should also be clarified that the work also has a government system, which gives it quite a lot of credibility with our world, as well as preventive measures in case of a threat, in addition to having scientists and other entities to make it even more plausible for the viewer. Well, already talked about the technical and the history, you will think that the characters section is as good as the 2 sections above, right? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the work wastes several characters in your work, although not all of them, I will talk about them in a more concrete way. Iria the protagonist can become quite interesting as a character, she begins as a rookie bounty hunter, to gain more experience thanks to her confrontations with the Zeiram and other hunters, likewise her attitude undergoes a significant change as well, since it goes from being of a girl who is only insecure about her ability and only having sex with her brother Glenn. To later be more confident in her skills as a bounty hunter and in improving her relationships with the other characters in the works (mainly with Kei and Bob). Also obtaining her license as an official hunter thanks to her training with her brother, in addition to having a team willing to help her in combat and I proved more confidence / security, in addition to the love / affection that her brother gave her and wish her the best (And for those characteristics it is my favorite waffle: -u). Another would be Kei, who begins as an orphan who only went after he would go to steal equipment and food to survive, but that caused him to get into dangerous situations and be a hindrance to Iría on several occasions. But little by little he manages to progress and in a surprising way he manages to establish a brotherhood relationship with Iría, helping her and supporting each other, in addition to forming a great duo together (In addition to another surprise that Kei kept almost at the end: v) without doubt the best of any work in general. While for the rest of the characters they do not shine so bright, the rest are only plot devices to trigger future events that the work needs to develop. Glenn (Iría's older brother) is one of the cases of characters that I just mentioned, such as the fact that he is quite forgettable if it weren't for Iría keeps emphasizing how much he misses him and because of the guilt she feels for his lost. Bob is another character who falls into the same problem, which only served as support for Iría and his brother at the beginning of the work to disappear at the beginning, and then return to the middle of the work, but now on a computer without explaining what happened to his body, with the only justification that his body is badly damaged, but that he was still off-screen and omitting what happened to his body after transplanting his mind to the computer. Although it is not such a serious damage, since at least it manages to be of help to Iría, giving him advice as a bounty hunter with some experience and giving him some advice that would help him. But out of desire it does not fulfill another function, in addition to being a role that any other character can do without problems, in addition to the decision that they get rid of their body to transfer their mind to a computer was quite taken out of the hair. And that such action deprives him of showing human characteristics and can show human characteristics, which is a shame. Fujikoro is another who also falls into this syndrome of other wasted characters, since it only limits itself to making life more complicated for Iría and putting her in more dangerous situations and what little she contributes to the plot, as in the development of his character. Komimasa suffers from the same problem as Glenn, that you will only remember him as Kei's friend and his sacrifice to save Iría and Kei, apart from being a friend of Kei and being an orphan and that, like the latter, his death only serves to trigger future actions of the characters of Iría and Kei and that the plot progresses. Doctor Touka would be the worst case of a wasted character, his role in the play was to investigate the Zeiram, because they do not contribute anything, also being ignored throughout the work after its presentation, although it could contribute a lot to the plot, such as knowing where the Zeiram comes from, improving the military combat equipment, Improving the security system of the planet and the cities, etc. Government committees are also another basket case, as they ignore the ideas / suggestions of Dr. Touka and send troops to the idiot to die in battle in vain. Also another weak point of the work is the slow rhythm, which does not suit this series of eggs, this slow rhythm does not allow the work to develop its plot naturally and without problems. Causing that they do not have a more active role in the play and have their time to shine on the screen. But instead all of them were either forgotten or did not have a satisfactory conclusion as characters (with the exception of Iría and Kei), as well as several things that were not clear in th…

The world is on lockdown and you can’t leave the house so, what better way to spend that time than watching anime! I decided to switch things up and go back and watch older anime so that I could find any hidden gems. While browsing through the app RetroCrush, the first anime that caught my eye was an Original Video Animation (OVA) called Iria: Zeriam The Animation (1994) which was made to be a prequel for the live-action movie Zeriam (1991). The show is a short watch as it’s only six episodes but, is it worth your time to watch during this quarantine? The narrative is a simple premise of a bounty hunter chasing a supposedly “indestructible” monster. It’s nice that the show had a simple premise because of the limited run time which made sure that every episode had impact and purpose. The world-building was it’s the strongest point and made the show interesting; they dropped hints of how the world operates through dialogue and visual clues that weren’t emphasized. Also, the first few episodes of the show did a good job of pacing and not trying to overload the viewer with a bunch of exposition. Unfortunately, during the last half of the series the limited run time worked against it because it felt like the show wanted to reveal more of itself to the viewers but it had to quickly wrap up for the finale. So you can probably predict that there may have been some things that viewers would’ve liked to see or questions that they might’ve had that will never get answered because there were too few episodes. Visually, the show was gorgeous and really stands up to the test of time. The colors in the show were vibrant and helped bring the world to life. The character designs were very original and felt very unique to this show. The suits had Batman-like compartments that characters could pull little gadgets, while that is a little ex Machina, it still was an interesting thing to see. Also, the gadgets looked great with having a less traditional look to them but were used in the manner they were designed to do so it didn’t take away from the show in any way. Additionally, the backdrops in the show were really great. The show teases you with the wonders of what else could be out there to see in this universe. The version of Iria that I watched was dubbed and with this show being made in a time where anime was very niche, it’s to be expected that the voice acting quality would not be to par to today’s standards. With that knowledge, the voice acting was still subpar. Almost, everyone in the show sounded like emotionless robots. That really took away from the show making you wish the characters would hurry up and shut up. The music in certain parts also failed because they tried to really hone in on the Sci-Fi elements by making experimental music that would really fit into the genre. The end result was that music was so different that it failed to draw on emotions in order to enhance a scene. Iria herself wasn’t the most interesting character you will find in anime but that still makes for an enjoyable watch. She is your stereotypical good guy that believes in treating all humans as humans. The rest of the supporting cast wasn’t really that memorable, to be honest, but that is another fault of having a limited run time where you can’t flesh out every character. Now, the character of Zeiram wasn’t anything unique just like it’s protagonist counterpart. Zeiram is presented as an indestructible killing machine...that likes to kill. That’s it and that’s honestly all the show needed from it. Overall, the show was an enjoyable experience and it left wanting more. I felt the universe of Iria was really original and had a lot to offer if it was given a chance to be a full 12+ episode season. As it stands, I wouldn’t rewatch but I would recommend it to those that haven’t seen it. There aren’t that many episodes and during these crazy Covid-19 times we have nothing but time, so I implore everyone to give it a watch. Story: 7/10 Art: 9/10 Sound: 5/10 Character: 6/10 Enjoyment: 7/10 Overall: 6/10

✒ 🌠Beaded Redhead Directs Her Spacecraft, Baster & Temper °7.5° °VG° 💯%🔍 minor spoilers only This 1994 animation has a retro sound and look - anime's structure, sound, and feel changed very little in the entirety of century-20. Iria is a prequel to the live-action film Zeiram. Just 6 short episodes, it's worth watching this b@d@$$-in-the-making for even the casual anime fan. Iria is wrapping up her bounty hunter apprenticeship. She's out on a mission with her brother, Gren, when things go horribly wrong. Gren and his partners went after their target, Zeiram, who was surprisingly impervious to their weaponry. Now Gren is missing and presumed dead, though Iria is determined to find him. Gren's partners, Fujikuro and Bob will help her, though a grumbling Fujikuro sometimes claims that he won't. Post Zeiram mission, Bob is reduced to a consciousness existing on a computer, which was the only way he could survive the mission. They want to find Gren, and they want to kill Zeiram - if he can be killed. Iria has a Cowboy-Bebop-Vibe without the sexual content and the humor. It predates Cowboy Bebop by at least 4 years and seems to have influenced CB. Ed, from CB and Kei, from Iria, are particularly similar. Kei is not unlike Iria, herself. I suspect a cloning program to keep gingers in space! Most of Iria takes place on a planet (Myce) with a landscape very much like Tatooine from Star Wars. I could feel the SW residue, sans the Jedi… or the cuteness - Iria is edgy. Iria, herself, is a cool, brave, talented, and bold lil’ sis. She sports a proceed-with-caution beaded hairdo - It's awesome. Iria is not a feel-good show, but it is good ol’ Sci-fi. It is smart and direct, like Iria herself. 〰🖍 IMHO 🎬7.5 📝7.5 🎭7.5 🌞5 🎨7⚡7 🎵 7.5 😅3 🤔6 🔚8.3 Re-📺? Possibly Originally 〰️🖋 3/2024

Iria: Zeiram the Animation is decent sci-fi. You get bounty hunters, an Asian (Thai) space tech motif, an evil invincible alien, annoying kids, good action, and decent plotting. Story 6/10 The story is pretty good overall. Per the title, it focuses on Iria and her trials as a budding bounty hunter. It starts off with a small mission to have us get to know her and the universe. Bounty hunters are called on for special missions outside the scope of the authorities, have rules and regulations and honor code, and are in competition with one another occasionally. Then we get into the meat of the story with the Zeiram creature, corporate conspiracy, and wacky kids. The story is told mostly straightforward with minor flashbacks to fill in the brother-sister relationship. The main story with Iria vs. the creature and corporate intrigue is pretty good. There are some minor twists along the way but nothing unexpected or surprising. The series is 6 episodes long and, with an exception of the escapades with the kids, is filled out at a good pace. It felt like the writers didn’t know how to wrap up the creature. We are told of its goals but not of the consequences of it succeeding. I think the story could have been script-doctored to make the end have better stakes instead of being an alien shootout. The entire arc with the kids did add some humanity and self-reflection to Iria’s character but I didn’t like the way it was handled. The kids were annoying to the point I was rooting for them to get blown up at times. They would alternate between being skillful robbers to crybabies and too much of the runtime was spent with them. Minus one point. Finally, there was the story with the doctor who studied the creature. It did not pay off in a meaningful way. If they had executed this plot point better, it could have been a plus point or even neutral. But I’ll have to subtract one point here. I like bounty hunters, space monsters, and corporate intrigue. 8/10. Minus two points for the kids and the hanging scientist thread. 6/10. Art 6/10 The art for the series was innovative but executed in an average way. The quality was 90s budget anime level. The animation looked mostly decent but was rough in some spots – the characters looked different from some angles and the movements were awkward. The setting had the aesthetics of tropical space-Thailand. It looked cool especially for someone who has familiarity with southeast Asia. The tech was creative too – lots of things that spin, organic tech, and wild west style gunplay. There was an emphasis on mushroom shapes (the alien, the buildings, and actual mushrooms as flora) and that was interesting to look at. Plus point for creativity. Iria’s character design was okay for a space bounty hunter. She had her skin-tight jumpsuit, armor plates, and then the cloak. She looked the part and had action sequences that were well-directed. The creature’s design was creative and menacing. The mushroom head and the tiny demon face were a nice and strange touch. In the beginning, he had a couple of different forms and some technological abilities. I was looking forward to seeing how he’d evolve new abilities and challenge our hero. However, it was only for the first episode and the rest of the time was spent in his default form. I couldn’t stand the kids. Their hair was aggressively annoying. And the second kid had the constant facial expression of being electrocuted. I know it’s anime and they needed memorable character designs but I hated almost every second they were on screen. Minus point. The action was pretty good. The bounty hunter’s arsenal was interesting and the running, jumping, shooting, and kicking were well directed. There were a few instances where the main characters had plot armor and couldn’t get hurt (everyone was getting shot and slashed and the MCs were getting punched and thrown) but it’s anime so I’ll roll with it. Plus one point for the action. Average plus two and minus one. 6/10 for the art. Sound 5/10 The sound was average. The Japanese voices were okay. Iria sounded good and was expressive. The men’s voices were average. And the kids were annoying. The less they spoke the better. The sound effects were basic and didn’t standout. Gunshots, machines, and high-tech whirring. The sounds of the creature humming/chanting were unsettling and that was nice. The music had a groovy feel to it with funky guitars. The opening theme was not memorable or special. The end ballad was okay. Both songs had tropical-sounding instruments so they fit the aesthetic. The battle theme was twangy and fitted the action. Characters 5/10 The main characters were pretty good. Iria was the apprentice bounty hunter looking to make her mark. She was brave, brash, and feisty. Her relationship with her brother was shown well and central to the story. She was tough when she needed to be and showed humanity at the right times. Iria was a heroine that was easy to root for. Zeiram was decent evil alien villain. His mushroom demon face, strange mumbling sounds, morph capability, and ability to interface with tech (though not played up well-enough) made him a menacing and formidable foe. If the writers had a little more for him to do at the end, his character and the story would have been better. He was decent, though. The supporting characters were pretty cookie-cutter. Bounty hunter friends, sniveling corporate crooks, and of course the kids. The kids were annoying from the first minute they showed up. Main characters 6/10. Minus one for the kids. 5/10 total. Enjoyment 7/10 Even though some parts dragged, I had a good time watching Iria. I’d say the main character, the action, and the future-tropical aesthetic were good enough to keep me through all six episodes. The setting was interesting enough that I thought that there would be a sequel or two. If I had script-doctored the series, I would have kept evolving the Zeiram and made his motives more well-defined, reduced the annoyance level of the kids, and made something more interesting happen with the scientist. With those points executed well, it would have been 9/10. Still though, it’s solid sci-fi. Overall 6/10.

Iria: Zeiram the Animation is a bizarre case indeed. On the face of it it seems as though this is just another 90s sci-fi action OVA, and in many ways it is, but upon closer inspection it manages to set itself apart in a variety of interesting and bizarre ways. For example, this anime is actually a prequel to the live action film Zeiram from 1991. When considering this weird production trajectory, backed up by an utterly unique art style and fun campy premise, it's clear that this anime is more than just a throwaway OVA. Beginning with the story, it's fairly straightforward, and heavily reminiscent of the Alien franchise. Two so-called 'hunters' and an apprentice are sent up to a ship in crisis to evacuate the crew and retrieve the cargo, only to find a horrible, seemingly invincible humanoid monster with grotesque biological abilities has escaped, which then begins to wreak havoc across the system. Despite being a touch predictable and perhaps heavy-handed with its Alien influences, it manages to execute its formula well and remain a distinctly badass early 90s romp throughout. It really feels like something meant for popping in the VCR, then cracking open a few beers and ordering a couple pizzas with your friends. Moving on to the art, it is this anime's strongest aspect. The general art direction is incredibly strong, with a real vision for a unique and fantastic world distinct all its own. It has this engaging blend of the futuristic and the traditional, combined with a style which draws heavily from Southeast Asian cultures in a broad sense, namely in terms of architecture and fashion. The backgrounds are also consistently impressive, and seem to be where most of the budget went. Overall, it reminds me more of an 80s anime than a 90s anime, due in part to some of the stylistic choices they make throughout. Unfortunately, while the characters themselves have good designs and are well-animated in combat scenes, they often feel somewhat cheap in comparison to the rest of the show, and sometimes suffer from what I term the 'dreaded mask', where the characters' facial expressions seem stiff and unemotional at moments where they absolutely should not be. One final note here is that the experience is improved by watching it through a CRT filter, or on a CRT TV itself- the darks are richer, the warm colors pop, and imperfections like production mistakes and digital artifacts are obscured, resulting in a better image. In any case, the art is what really sets this anime apart- it is a creative, totally distinct visual work, with many memorable moments. The sound is good, meeting all standards of quality for the time, and supported by an energetic and almost trippy synth soundtrack that sounds straight out of the 80s. The characters fit their setting rather well, even if they're not very deeply explored. Among the cast, my favorites are Fujikuro and Komimasa, because in comparison to everybody else, they feel somehow the most believable. Fujikuro has this rough exterior which evolves over the course of the show to the point he really grows as a person, and as a result has actual layers to his character, whereas Komimasa acts in a fashion which befits a street urchin with a sense of honor, and his moments of dialogue almost feel like they come from a different anime altogether- he is a more believable depiction of what he is than his friend Kei, for example. Overall, Iria: Zeiram the Animation is a fun high-effort 90s action romp, to be enjoyed with your brain on or off, and I definitely recommend it.

Full disclosure, I recently binged Zeiram 1 and 2 and became kind of obsessed with them, so that definitely colored my review of this OVA. For a prequel, it never really justifies itself, partly because you know that Zeiram is coming back for the movies, but also just in not really providing that much character work, fan-service, or even world building. Its' biggest mistake is just being incredibly ok, being tropey or generic is totally fine and can still be a lot of stylish fun, but in this case idk I just really struggled to stay interested. Always quality, had some fun action and glimpses of Iria's origin/sci-fi world building, some great fights, animation, and environments, but I think has aged to be pretty middle-of-the road, especially compared to the movies. Art: Even with all my criticism, Iria looks great especially for its' length. A lot of the times the mixture of wild and technological alien environments and city-scapes is what kept me interested. You can tell a lot of thought went into how the bureaucracy of the bounty hunters and everything functioned, even the technology like how the force fields cut things in half or how Iria's grappling hook works, it's all really technically realistic and great. The backgrounds look good, especially the city Myce in the end, that's that 90s sci-fi look I live for. All the characters look good too, there's lots of great use of color and detail, I don't love Iria's redesign though it's a little too stupid and porny in my opinion. Overall, the art is consistently a high for the series, even when not much is going on. Music: I don't remember much of it, but I liked the big final showdown theme I think that was a callback to the OP. Not super varied, but serviceable. OP/ED: OP is strangely melancholy and very cool, song's great. Loved the kind of static animation of Iria, it's moody and great and highlights her main conflict and sadness. The ED is simple, it's fine, I liked the song too. Story: Ok this is what really brought it down for me. Very very predictable (which again is not a bad thing) but it just crawls forward and never really goes anywhere. I guess Iria gets an arc, but it was not built up the best and needed more. What I absolutely did not want from this series was for a pair of spunky troublesome slum kids to become the focus, so dorky and so fucking stupid AND LAME! I CARE ABOUT I R I A ! ! ! And ZEIRAM I GUESS ! She doesn't even need them for motivation because she's a bounty hunter so it's her job, also her brother?? The character who should have had more development and focus? The hunter job and the corruption that led to Zeiram and Iria's motivation to become a hunter (Glen) and Bob's origin and Fujikuro and even more info about Zeiram are all topics that should have gotten more attention. Maybe their hands were tied because of the original canon, but I feel like they play fast and loose with so much of it they could and really should have actually taken a swing at something, otherwise, why are we doing a prequel? Really want to stress though that this little OVA is technically good, some elements are great like the action, the animation, some of the technology and the world-building that's actually explored. But it never rises above, you can really see why it was pushed in NA as an entry-point for anime because it is just so frustratingly simple at times. Final thoughts: Either watch this first and then the movies, or honestly just skip it and watch the films. More Zeiram is always welcome, but there's not enough here.

I should preface this by saying that I watched the dub of this OVA, as I was unable to find the subtitled version. The OVA scratches a particular 90's anime itch, it does this fairly well. However the show is incredibly average. Though it has some truly inspired visuals, it's never cohesive enough to really sell the world. There is this awkward mix of high and low tech that feels awkward in some places, though most of the weapons are cool. The show never really pushes it's art style forward. The plot is pretty thin, but it serves it's purpose of motivating the characters and adding some drama. However the pacing is quite rough. Each episode feels the same and it feels as if nothing is ever accomplished. Iria: Zeiram The Animation is not bad by any means, it is intensely competent, but never becomes anything more.

Iria Zeiram is an anime prequel to the movie of the same name. It focuses on rookie bounty hunter Iria who works with her brother Gren who is a more experienced professional bounty hunter. Together, they hunt down and capture criminals for money. After Gren was killed, Iria finds herself working on her own taking on various different bounty hunting jobs. She can be very naïve and reckless and her actions cause a lot of harm. Iria skills as a bounty hunter improves as the story progresses. Episodes are told through an overarching narrative where it connects to a much bigger plot in the later episodes. The plot is also very inconsistent in its storytelling as well as Iria can be on the governments bad side on one episode but in the next they would team up together like nothing much has happened. The government controls the bounty hunters and seems to be manipulating them for some nefarious purpose. The plot was generally faithful to some aspects of the film. It’s a prequel so you do not need to watch the film to understand the plot as it does its own thing for the most part. Iria is the typical rookie type protagonist and is a tomboy and her notable thing about her appearance is the beads she wears and that is normally reserved for males in the world of Iria Zeiram. The beads represent her level of skill in bounty hunting and because of her wearing beads she is the eccentric. There is plenty of comedy and entertaining moments in the show. The musical score was generally good and I also found the voice acting good but the dialogue was cheesy. The characters and plot concept wise were not the most original and they are not really complex either. The sci fi atmosphere does feel trippy and bizarre and the art design for characters, world and sci fi related scenery such as the aliens and bio weapons are generally good. The animation is sort of fuzzy looking and has not aged well. There was no CGI in the anime and it was entirely hand drawn animation. The action is decent but nothing really special with the space fights being pretty good. It can be high stakes at certain parts of the episodes from fighting unknown aliens and mysterious bio weapons. The story can be predictable at times and you already know what the end result. The storytelling is secondary to the action. The pacing of the story is generally fast with no filler or padding. There are plot discrepancies between the movie and the anime. Many things are left unexplained or glossed over but this is probably because of the short length of the anime version. It is not fully clear how Iria’s brother survived or where there any explanations for his absence. It’s a decent watch if you can overlook the cheesy dialogue and inconsistent story telling.