released 19 jun 05 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* I had seem IRIA: ZEIRAM THE ANIMATION (IZTA) some years ago when SCI-FI CHANNEL was doing anime for a time, and had enough good memories of it to want to pick up this "complete collection" set of DVDs.
The IZTA set includes three disks (in a tidy metal can), two disks with the six half-hour episodes of the series and one of various extras, none of which I had any interest in myself. The story is straightforward: galactic bounty hunters Glen and his adolescent kid sister Iria take on a job that leads them in a confrontation with a bizarre, seemingly indestructible monster named Zeiram. Glen disappears in the fight, and Iria then continues the crusade against Zeiram, with a little help from some friends.
There is absolutely nothing all that exceptional about IZTA in terms of production or script, but in general it comes across as a fair amount of fun. Iria is a riveting heroine, being tough, determined, resourceful, sweet, and pretty -- combat armor never looked so good! -- and the style of the production is colorful, flashy, and elaborate, involving a lot of quirky technology with an imaginative style, something like watching someone play a fascinating videogame.
IZTA is kitschy, no great work of art, and I really doubt anyone who wasn't an anime fan would have the slightest interest in it. I also think it could have been substantially improved by cutting the number of episodes from six to four, since the final episodes tend to drag out in a tedious, repetitive sequence of fights with a literal army of monsters, losing the charm and flash of the early episodes in the process.
That said, this is a fun if insubstantial bit of work, and worthwhile if taken in that way. I wish somebody would put Iria back to work with more modern animation and better scripts; the character has plenty of staying power in her and it would be nice to see somebody do a really good job with her. I heard a live-action sequel was done, but it looks dodgy, and such comments as I have heard on it tend to confirm that impression.
