| Average |
6.7 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Having watched a few episodes of other Zoids animes, I disagree with the general opinion that FUZORS is severely below par. I merely think it's aiming for a different audience.
The storyline in FUZORS is much weaker than in its counterparts. RD searches for the legendary Zoids thing but the story really gets nowhere, especially at the beginning. The beginning of FUZORS was quite bad because RD was so childish and annoying.
However, RD's maturation throughout the series was quite apparent. By the time half the series was over, he actually transformed from an immature kid into a leader-figure. I found that his progress was a good relief. After RD matured, the storyline began to improve and steer away from fillers. A real schemer started to emerge from behind the scenes.
Sound was quite a problem in the anime, but it improved later on. When I first listened to the OP/ED songs 'Enemy of Life' and 'Self Control' I thought both songs didn't even have a melody and were terrible. However, the more I listened to those bad songs, the more they were stuck in my head. I guess the themes, as well as the bland bgm, had a counter-negative effect.
Animation in FUZORS was quite good, because the machines were depicted with some 3D graphics that weren't too show-off and weren't too shabby. Speaking of the machines, the Zoids were designed quite well (especially the brachiosaurus at the end). However, this anime placed too much emphasis on the fusion process, which was always boring to watch.
Characters were well designed in general and none of them were too bland. And like in real life, the characters are actually quite dynamic. I ended up liking a character whom I did not like before. The progression of the story takes you through the characters' real trains of thoughts.
I have a major criticism for the very uneven screentime. RD gets so much screentime, so much more than even his rival Blake. I find that this diminishes the importance of other characters and sometimes places too much attention on RD, which makes him seem like a simple-minded goody-goody. In addition, the story of RD's history was not even particularly interesting. There were other characters, such as Sigma or Helmet (sp?) who had more interesting background stories.
The storyline was quite weak at the beginning, it improved, only to get bad again. The last episode of FUZORS made me realize that the target audience for this anime is pretty much the kids. I say this because the final battle was very unrealistic and the ending/conclusion was superficial and shaky. Even though I may not happen to fall too closely into the target market, I still managed to find FUZORS bearable. I ended up not missing the anime, but missing some of the characters.
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