Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No.35] Excellent Robot Design of "The Big O," Involving Even Character Descriptions

The TV anime "Inuyashiki" will begin airing on October 12, 2017. The general director is the multi-talented Keiichi Sato, who has directed "TIGER & BUNNY" (2011) and "Rage of Bahamut VIRGIN SOUL" (2017), as well as live action films.
The anime for which Satou created the character and mechanical designs is "THE BIG O" (1999). Although the series now has 26 episodes, it was completed in 13 episodes when it was first broadcast. The reason why the second 13 episodes were produced three years later was due to the strong sales of the series in the U.S.

In this article, I will focus on the battle scene in the 12th episode, "Enemy as Another Big! As the subtitle suggests, this episode features Big Duo, an enemy robot of the same type as Big O, the main character of the series.

The demise of a "powerful flying foe

Big Duo looks almost identical to Big O, but there is a major difference. The Big O has five fingers like a human, but the Big Duo has four manipulators like a work machine. By rotating those manipulators at high speeds like propellers, the Big Duo flies through the air.
Big O can use subway tracks to emerge from the ground anywhere in "Paradigm City," the setting of the story. In contrast, Big Duo can fly freely through the air, putting Big O in a tight spot. In "Mazinger Z" and "Mobile Suit Gundam," there were scenes in which friendly robots were tossed about by flying enemies. The image of a flying enemy as a powerful foe is, so to speak, a stylistic beauty of robot animation.
The Big Duo is strong not because it can fly. In fact, Big O, who uses the anchor on his waist to move into the air, knocks Big Duo to the ground and knocks him down.

The pilot, Schwarzwald, escapes from the Big Duo, which has lost its right arm and head. However, despite the loss of its pilot, the Big Duo moves of its own volition, reaching out with its left hand to the central structure of the domed city that has become the battlefield. What is chilling is the next moment when the Big Duo, with four trembling fingers, reaches out its arm to the structure. Just before they finally run out of strength and fall, the four fingers rotate slightly like a propeller.
In other words, the Big Duo, which had been moving like a living creature, shows its mechanically equipped "fingers as propellers for flight" mechanism only at the moment of its demise. Just before he runs out of steam, he suddenly makes a reflexive movement without any will. This mechanical movement, in fact, gives the robot a strong sense of "death," as if it were a living creature.

The Robot and Its Pilot Share the Same External Characteristics

A robot is a machine that imitates the shape and movements of a human being.
In the "realistic" "Mobile Suit Gundam," when Char, wearing a red military uniform, rides a red Zaku, his mental strength and the Zaku's performance are synergized by the color, expressing his "strength. The red Zaku was a symbol of the "strength" of Char's mental toughness and Zaku's performance.
Likewise, the Big Duo share some similarities in appearance with their pilot, Schwartzwald. Schwarzwald is a former newspaper reporter who was severely burned while investigating the secrets of "Paradigm City," the setting of the story. As a result, his entire body is covered with bandages. The Big Duo also had their entire bodies covered in bandages when they first appeared.
Schwarzwald's left eye is covered with a metal cover due to his injury. His right eye is exposed through the bandage. Similarly, the Big Duo's faces are also unequal. The right side of their faces is black and the left side is white. Due to the similarities in appearance, it appears as if Schwarzwald's madness has taken over the Big Duo. The sense of oneness with the pilot that arises from their appearance is the "strength" of the Big Duo.

When Schwarzwald first meets Roger Smith, the Big O's pilot, he says, "I wish you looked the same," and shows him his bandage-covered face.
Then, when the Big Duo piloted by Schwarzwald grabs the face of Roger's Big O, the transparent cover over the Big O's right eye shatters, exposing the right eye camera. In other words, Big O's right eye shares an external feature with Schwarzwald's right eye, which is exposed from its bandage.
This description evokes the fear that "even Roger, aboard the Big O, will learn the secret of Paradigm City and fall into madness, just as Schwartzwald did. This is the fear that Roger, who is on board the Big O, will learn the secret of Paradigm City and fall into madness just like Schwarzwald. In the thirteenth episode, Roger becomes interested in the past of "Paradigm City," and Big O, like the doomed Big Duo, begins to move without a pilot.
The excellent robot design and battle scenes also depict changes in the characters' positions and emotions, and can drive the storyline.


(Text by Keisuke Hirota)
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