#254: Zone of the Enders – 2167 Idolo (2001)

Studio: Morning time

Director: Tetsuya Watanabe

Screenplay: Shin Yoshida

Per the videogame franchise by Konami

Narrate Cast: Takehito Koyasu as 2nd
Lieutenant Radium Lavans; Chiharu Tezuka as Viola; Houko Kuwashima as Dolores;
Rumi Ochiai as Melissa; Yoshiko Sakakibara as Dr. Rachel Links

Considered in Japanese with English Subtitles

Idolo as a tie-in does suffer from the project that, separated from
its source, you are attentive to the wider franchise it might develop with or lost
advantage from, and the inherent discipline that if the relaxation of the multi-media
franchise is forgotten, these form of tie-ins hardly ever win re-released. Perfect months
after this became as soon as released, the 2001 spirited sequence Zone of the Enders: Dolores,i
became as soon as already being broadcast, so there became as soon as a noteworthy push for adapting in
spirited form the arena of Zone of the Enders, a videogame released that yr in
a grand marketing and marketing push. Situation in a future Earth and its relationship to diversified
colonies, which Idolo affords with
from the Martian colony, Z.O.E. as
abbreviated became as soon as sold as a killer app from Konami
for the Sony Playstation2, a grand
cultural phenomenon within itself as a videogame machine riding the head of
the fashioned Playstation. Zone of the Enders even had Hideo Kojima as a collaborator, which might perchance beget hyped the game even in
the West when it became as soon as released. Satirically despite the reality that, the legacy of this franchise
is more likely held by Zone of the
Enders: The 2nd Runner (2003), which became as soon as a noteworthy greater work in scale,
length and virtues for critics, even having spirited scale back scenes sourced to
studio GONZO.

Clearly, in context to this, Idolo is a tie-in meant to sell the
first game to boot to provide greater the story with a prologue, in this case surroundings up
an handsome premise in its sleight fashioned-video-animation length of fifty
minutes. That it is produced by Morning time,
the Gundam creators and frequent
studio for robotic and mecha animation, affords an handsome prospect too this
merely touches on. In due route, whereas we beget now got colonised the
galaxy there is additionally sadly bigotry, in this case to oppression of those
other folks born on Mars by Earth, who treat them as 2d class electorate least
in the case of their army on Mars even beating up Martian troopers for stress-free,
worse as being born on Martian gravity causes Earthlings to beget an profit
in impossible energy. What’s enticing to this anime, and is a small
spoiler, is files that right here’s in actuality a prologue from the angle of
the long term antagonists of the most important video game. This sets up the BAHRAM, the militia
force that might invade and damage the Jupiter colony the most important game’s lead
survives, surroundings them up from the angle that BAHRAM are the made of
old evils; colonial discrimination of the Earth forces sets forth those in
this tale, lead persona and soldier Radium and the persona of Viola, one
of the more crucial characters herself from the most important game, as those combating
relief oppression simplest to become a unfavorable force in the plot in which forward for the
tale. That in itself is totally attention-grabbing, and this Idolo prologue in itself is tantalising in what you win as, whereas
none of right here’s subtly told, it is a context determined to issue this tale
from, as wishing to free themselves of the Earthlings, scientists on Mars are
covertly rising the titular Idolo, a mecha constructed from the mysterious
discipline cloth Metatron, which items a unhealthy consequence both to the plot in which it influences
the pilot and when the Earth forces safe wind of this machine, looking to
claim it for themselves.

As a share of a fats multi-media
mission, including that there might be a twenty six episode television sequence which
runs from Idolo, living earlier than and
after the 2001 game, Idolo does
suffer from the reality that it is a small tale, the set the scenario is  a prologue to a noteworthy wider doc. As a one-off
by itself, I credit this with doing so much to stand out; it does no longer,
truthfully, beget as noteworthy visible punch as one might also desire for at occasions but
including its bleak ending, which sets up the fundamental context for later
facets, it has so much to admire. As a prologue to a greater work, it will no longer skedaddle
further, but past this there is so much to admire in phrases of the boldness of
its tale, as Radium’s tale is there are any individual being more controlled by the
Idolo by its particular properties, and merely your total idea of this being a
prologue to the antagonists of this franchise is one thing determined, as it
forces context of how even villainous figures might also be moulded by similarly villainous
acts, superb complexity one thing to admire when executed love this and in actuality
succeeding in its cramped form. Violet in particular, without further
context, would be left a persona you desire became as soon as developed more, a resolve harmed
by the evils of the Earth forces, including being a victim as a baby of
“Topic Radiation Sickness”, causes by an Earth terrorist assault on
Mars’ colonies, but who even though a mere fragment has the fascination of the set
her arch is intended to transfer. Her emotional attachment to Radium, who brought her
into the Particular Forces after she tried attacking him at streetlevel as a
puzzled young girl, will become a sizable emotional trajectory with the bleak
final consequence of this tale, which does win even some visually striking facets and a
bent bleakness when it entails the unreal intelligence taking
personalities and a hallucinated marriage ceremony reception. Pondering what the
epilogue in the long term brings up, and whom Violet comes in the franchise, a key
antagonist for the most important game and the franchise, and this proves one amongst Idolo’s most efficient facets.

Even in phrases of producing,
whereas the perceive and form of the present is now no longer the most elaborate, it is solid,
and the song particularly by Hikaru Nanase is a stand out from this mission,
alongside “Kiss Me Sunlight hours” by Coronary heart of Air as the ending theme a
cramped gem, the group collaborators by this franchise.  Idolo
is tethered to this franchise, with its director and key screenwriter
persevering with with the tv sequence, and these diversifications are obscurer
this day whereas the games were successfully regarded. The Zone of the Enders HD Assortment in 2012 preserved both games, but
it is Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner,
the sequel which continues this tale, which clearly left a sizable tag for
many, including a remaster, called The
2nd Runner M∀RS, which became as soon as released in September 2018 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation
4. This does keep discipline that Idolo
is forgotten amongst this, which is a shame as, in phrases of what it became as soon as meant to
invent, it does a commendable job. The sequence, which follows on with this its
beget prologue, is a wholly diversified tale constructing in length, and has
unique challenges as a lengthy form tale to accommodate, but Idolo by itself, as the most simple one, would were commendable as a one-off
tie-in price resurrecting.