Iria: Zeiram the Animation

Talk about confusing. I got to watch a bit of this series without really knowing anything about it, and boy, was I lost! My friend watched it with me, and we were both completely clueless as to what was going on. Not to mention some of the physics, quirks, and logic didn't totally add up for us. It wasn't that great, really...

I did some research on it (translated, Wikipedia tiem!) and it turns out that it's an OVA. It also turns out that it's a prequel, which explains why it was a bit confusing. It shows the characters of a live-action movie known as Zeiram years before; namely, it shows the bounty hunter Iria, the main character, "as a rookie," as the Wikipedia article puts it.

To me, this kind of reminds me of the manga for Scrapped Princess. Without reading the novels or...whatever it was that manga was based off of, I honestly don't remember anymore, you're lost. I should know, the pace was breakneck and nothing was explained. In hindsight, Iria was a bit like that.

I did find an aspect of the character designs interesting, though. A lot of characters had little...I don't know how to really explain them. They were like little decorative caps on their hair.

Ultimo

Shounen Jump has a new comic running called Ultimo. I've only read a chapter, but so far it looks like it could be interesting. The character designs sure are...I keep on wondering how the pants-skirt thing on the main character stays on, since it looks so loose. He looks like a girl, too...has girlish eyes, and his top looks like a halter top, complete with a crease in the middle that made me swear he had boobs. Who knows. XD

Anyway, the story has to do with these two mechanical boys, Ultimo and Vice. Created in ancient Japanese times, they embody the essences of a soul: ultimate good and ultimate evil, respectively. The old man that created them is accosted by bandits, and they accidentally activate both boys. Naturally, as they are both awakened at the same time and in the same place, they begin to fight. The old man is quite calm over the following calamity, stating he'd wanted to see which was stronger, good or evil, and this was his way of finding out. Cut to the future, and one of the bandits (or his reincarnation or something) runs into an antiques shop - and finds Ultimo there, asleep.

That's as far as I got; I have no idea how the kid remembers Ultimo since it seems like a reincanation. I'm sure as I read on I'll get more of it.

So ends my random and pointless post. Yippee.