The Big O…Just another Mecha anime. Perhaps the best Mecha anime I have ever watched! Premiering on Toonami in 2001, at first, I was turned off by it, because it looked too much like Batman: The Animated Series of the early 90′s. I finally gave in and watched Big O after its move over to Adult Swim in 2002 when anime took up most of their airtime before Family Guy and Futurama reruns took their place. Unfortunately, it was still edited for blood, innuendo and profanity from the Toonami airing. Shortly after the re-airing, a second season was announced. It took them a long time for them to make another season, in 2003, of a show that started in 1999. It could have something to do with the cliffhanger ending of the first season when it aired on Toonami and again on Adult Swim. If it wasn’t on AS, we would never see the true ending of Big O.

The story of The Big O follows a negotiator by the name of Roger Smith, (who looks like he could be Phoenix Wright’s father!) and his android companion, R. Dorothy. Roger used to work for the police department before he went out on his own. Whenever a building is suddenly leveled by a giant mechanical hand, he calls upon The Big O to put an end to the destruction. It’s been a long time since I watched the first season–and the second season, if it weren’t for Adult Swim messing up the final episode of Season 2 by not airing it as some sort of joke. After complaints from fans, they rescheduled the series finale the next week. I have the second half of Season 2 recorded on VHS, somewhere…So, yeah. I never finished watching it. Luckily, Bandai (Namco) Entertainment released the complete collections of Season 1 & 2. However, they are sold separately, so you will need to shell out at least $80, which is not bad than hunting the individual DVDs of both seasons on eBay. I already have the first season of Big O. I just need to get the second season collection before it vanishes–again.