Zegapain

Zegapain (ゼーガペイン) is a 25 episode original mecha anime created by Sunrise.  The series aired between the Spring and Summer of 2006 and was used as a companion piece for two Xbox 360 titles, released in 2006 titled, Zegapain NOT and Zegapain XOR.

 

    Sogoru Kyo, a freshman in high school, whose anger issues have caused him to be the schools sole swim club member, struggles to recruit members to save the club. One day he sees a beautiful girl standing on the high dive board in the pool, she stares at him with sad eyes and silently speaks to him, then dives into the pool and disappears. He desperately begins to search for this mysterious girl, which no one else seems to know. At the same time he enlists the help of his childhood friend and neighbor, Kaminagi Ryoko, a member of the AV club, to help him make a recruitment video. His key to making the video is to have the mysterious girl in it.  After searching relentlessly for the girl, Kyo finds himself back at the pool after school. The girl appears, asking him if he heard her voice. She then pushes him into the pool, jumping in after him. Underwater she embraces him, a mysterious logo appears on her forehead, she asks him if he is ready to return to Zegapain and the logo appears on his forehead as well. Kyo finds himself in the front seat of a large mech, with the girl sitting behind him. She quickly instructs him that he is a Gunner and she is a Wizard, they, with the help of Zegapain; work to save humanity from a mechanized menace. Kyo feels comfortable and familiar in the Gunner seat of the Zega, as if he has done it hundreds of times before. Using the Zega's light armor and light weapons, they defeat a slew of enemies in an abandoned war-torn cityscape. When the battle is over Kyo finds him self back in the pool with only the memories of the fight and a kiss from the mysterious girl named Shizuno Misaki to prove it was real.

    The next day at school, Kyo discovers that everyone suddenly knows Misaki.  Barely questioning the circumstance around this, Kyo only cares about the promo video. During filming they are again transported through the water to the Zegapain, for another round of combating the enemy called Gards-orm. Kyo is instructed that the mission is to destroy the Deutera Areas, which the Gards-orm uses to make areas of the destroyed planet uninhabitable for humans. Kyo finds out that he is now a Celebrant, a select group of people who fight the Gards-orm using the Zega's and flying battleships. His high school student council president captains the ship he is now a part of. He also meets pilots of the other Zega aboard the ship. Kyo spends his time between the real world of school, fights and swimming, and the other world where he fights the enemy to save humanity. After visiting his friend, Kaminagi, he discovers that a popular net-game her brother plays, is exactly like the battles he goes through as a Celebrant. Soon he uses the game to train himself to fight more efficiently and learn about his mission. Nice little product placement huh?

    All is not right with the world though, Kyo begins to question what reality is. He questions why they are fighting the Gards-orm and why he continuously feels deja vu. The answers to these questions are all linked and the truth is strong enough to destroy his mind. I won't get too much into the actual mystery behind the series, I feel it would ruin the show. What I will say is that Kyo has been 'Resurrected'. The beginning sequence of the first episode shows Kyo and Misaki fighting the Gards-orm on the surface of the moon. Taking heavy damage, Kyo tells Misaki to return to the ship while he does what he can to stop the advancing enemies. The end result is Kyo self-destructing the Zega. Much like Neon Genesis Evangelion the Celebrum seem to come from the school that Kyo and the others attend. Almost everyone who works on the ship are from the school. Not only is the student president the captain of the ship but his second in command is the vice-president of the student council. The rest of the non-combat members are also students. Ultimately the fight against the Gards-orm is a fight to save humanity, even though it takes place in a different world.

    The animation is typical for the current crop of TV anime, nothing special. The design for the Zega took a little getting used to for me. Part of the mechs, the parts that are light armor, and light weapons, are computer generated. The integration of the 2d and 3d is mostly seamless, but it's still a bit odd to see parts of the mech glowing. The mech designs are very similar to the Eva's. The characters are moody and, for the main cast, well developed. The main secret for the story is revealed around episode 5 or 6 but more secrets keep you guessing almost to the end. Speaking of the ending, there is a nice little scene after the credits of the final episode that end's it on a nice note. I was pleased with the ending in whole, but, unless I missed something, there were a few questions, I had, left unanswered. People can pick out a good deal of hidden meanings in the series that relate to current political and scientific issues. Some of these you have to dig for and others are straightforward. The series is pretty much standard fair when it comes to the end result and the arc it takes. Good guys fighting the bad guys. Misunderstandings between each other’s worldly views. The main characters overcome personal flaws and prevailing through self worth, determination, trust in others and sometimes self sacrifice for the good of others. It can also be construed as a coming of age story and a loss of innocence archetype.

 

    All in all, good series, nothing too out of the ordinary, but then again it's not a bad thing to not fix what isn't broken. Even if most American reviewers didn’t like the series I still enjoyed it.

UPDATE: Bandai owns the license for this series in North America and released it on DVD.

 

UPDATE JANUARY 2024: Sunrise announced in August of 2023 that a follow up series is planned for 2024 called 'Olta Mode Arc' but little details have emerged since that press release.