Big O

Publisher
Viz
Writer
Hajime Yatate
Artist
Hitoshi Ariga
Country of origin
Japan
Year
1999

Big O V. 5

By David Rasmussen
12th Feb 06

Big O V. 5
Big O the Anime may be over, and while there’s this “dispute” I heard just recently about (thanks to dajackal) about the end of the Anime we’re nowhere near the end of the story in the manga version.
Well, by now we must be close, but for the sake of this review we’re still muddling through the first 13 episodes worth of story as of this review. So, without further ado, let’s get to it and return to Paradigm City for another review of The Big O.

Now, at long last, we leave the review space of the $3.50 a pop review and go into reviewing the actual Graphic Novels (only because the $3.50 a pop books ended publication as of Big O V. 4 #4).
We start off with a story that concerns another rare type of Big O story, this time focusing on Norman. After seeing a day in the life of R Dorothy (Volume 3) we now have abit on Norman as he works to mend The Big O post it’s battle versus Big Duo and Schwarzwald. But that isn’t as important as what Norman is doing in a dome where Roger is meeting with a client, and “who” Norman is meeting with as R Dorothy walks in on him. A wee bit of an “eye opener”, so to speak, about the butler we seem to know so little about.

Next it’s ANOTHER Beck story! Beck seems to spend money like water, and his three henchmates seem to be suffering from his excessive spending… then he finds a gigantic Mega Deus, drags Roger underground while battling him, and apparently “perishes” in the battle underground. But since he reappears in the second half of Big O we’d just have to wait and see how Ariga writes himself out of this corner he seems to have placed himself in… quick, somebody give the man a writing wood plank to extract himself with!

Finally we see the story of a girl who seems to see the past, for she slept for forty years (supposedly) and did not lose her memories. This story is more of an excuse to have another rarity in Big O tales, a Dan Datsun lead tale, as well as the chance to have a “Penguin” character appear. After all we’ve had two Jokers (Beck and Alan Gabriel) and one Two Face in Schwarzwald, so now we have a Penguin. Short term, won’t appear again, story was more about the girl and Dan Datsun so forget the fat bird… wahhh-waah-waahhh!!
Now put that trick umbrella down and let’s get to the breakdown!

Big O Breakdown the 5th
What’s Hot?
Once again the same holds true here as with previous reviews. If you are a fan of The Big O you already know what’s hot, no need to bring that up. If not? Well it’s hot because it’s solidly done, and it’s one of the few titles I enjoy reading over and over. Nice work on Mr. Ariga’s part, and a nice series overall in my opinion. And hopefully when Mr. Ariga tackles the end of the series he’ll do a better job than the Anime did since… well… it didn’t go well.

What’s Not?
How the hell he explains what he just did to Beck when he has to bring him back in the second half of Big O remains to be seen… hopefully he‘s not lured to the dark side of creation when he sticks Beck in a shower and proclaims the story from Volume 5 didn‘t happen, once of that was more than enough.

Moments to Remember?
Volume 5 - It’s mostly memorable this time out.

What to Ignore?
Nothing yet, even with Beck doing a crash and burn and vanishing in this volume.

Overall?
Bottom line? I still have good words about the manga, and if you haven’t checked it out yet then now is as good a time as any to check out The Big O from VIZ.

-- David Rasmussen 12th Feb 06