Ozuma

[Flash Sword Irene]

Episode 3

Well, those details about Maya are certainly a lot more different then anything revolving around Planet Lar Metal within Matsumoto's works in general.  I more or less thought that we would get something very similar to Galaxy Express 999 or Queen Millennia's versions of the skinny blonde chick.  Although, the amount of material covered actually leaves some questions left to be answered.  The part close to end with the Ozma felt pretty epic though.  Overall, a pretty decent info episode for the most part.

[Major Tom]

Interesting.  Still plenty of questions to answer, but at least we know part of the reason why Maya is so important to Theseus.  Ozma didn't look very organic to me, though.  I'm starting to wonder if it is a giant dive ship rather than a space whale.

[DrIdiot]

3:

The things I like:
It's relatively fun.
There's intrigue.
The throwback animation is kinda cool?

The things I don't like.
Sam.
Sam.
Sam.

The things I don't care about:
Scientific accuracy

Also, is it just me, or was redhead's outlasting mask-guy thing not that cool.  I mean, what it basically says is that she values her the lives of entire crew and Maya less than mask-guy values Maya... there's also an information imbalance -- she doesn't know how much he wants Maya alive, while he knows damn well that they all want to live.  It just seems rather bizarre.

Edit: Another thing I don't like: all the sci-fi mumbo jumbo.  It can be omitted.

[DrIdiot]

4:

Of course, the independent woman is secretly just pining for a man (the perfect man!)

Okay, so I think one key component of fantasy and science fiction is the idea of adventure.  Or at least, the setting must be used somehow as a key component in something -- you wouldn't choose a setting that absolutely no one can connect to if it didn't offer some sort of benefit.  Firefly used its setting brilliantly -- what is more romantic than drifting through space?  Or let's take an anime example; in Voices of a Distant Star it was a key component in the thematic idea.  In Lost Voices the characters ventured into the unknown.  In Trigun the setting is basically just the Wild West.

But how does Ozma use its setting?  So far all we hear is a bunch of sci-fi technical mumbo jumbo and spaceships.  It almost seems like a novelty, as if the writer came up with this cool concept of a planet and threw in the story as an afterthought.

A new piece of technology is introduced pretty much every episode which, as far as I'm concerned, is just as annoying as the shounen trend of introducing a new power every battle [and not every episode because in shounen a battle often lasts something like 5 episodes].  In fact there is very little attention paid to the setting after the first episode or so (we have no really new developments) but a lot of attention paid to the random pieces of technology these guys have.  Meaning, the setting doesn't seem to serve a purpose other than to satisfy the cravings of sci-fi fanboys.

So far, Ozma has just been really, really corny, with boring characters and cliches everywhere.  Just because it was made thirty years ago doesn't excuse it for being trite.  Perhaps it appeals to a nostalgia that I just simply don't have.  A little like Star Wars, but at least Star Wars has Han Solo.

We also get a bit of intellectual-battle flavor in this episode, except the parameters are so arbitrary it hardly feels that way.  But it still comes with all the unfortunate baggage, being characters over-voicing their thoughts.  "What should I do?  They know our position."  Yes -- presumably, that would be what she is thinking.  Let's not hear it.  Or, explaining their actions.  Actions should speak for themselves.

Also, I said I don't care about the science, but I do care about basic physics.  A ship that comes upright like that and then slams down on the ground -- the passengers would NOT be happy, because they'd be dead.

So, overall, I'm not liking this too much.  The good things, I guess, are the production values.

[Flash Sword Irene]

Episode 4

About time that someone (somewhat) put Sam in his place since his behavior is similar to younger characters in the Leijiverse.  At least those younger characters were actually children which made their actions and behavior more understandable.  (Not necessarily more tolerable.)  To be fair, those same characters like Tetsuro and co. did have time to actually develop and become more likable.  A luxury that this series does not have with it's current format.

Quite a shame since it definitely feels like there is a lot more material that could probably be properly explored if this was a 20+ episode series.  Either that, or if this was treated like an actual OVA with each episode given at least 40+ minutes which would be better.

This action packed episode somewhat signifies that there is going to be a rush to the ending.  Especially with the preview since it seems like there are going to be some huge things going down after Bainas' and Gido's standoff.  Still, it is going to be a marvel at how they will try to end this series and if there will be any indication of another season or two.

[Sorrows Neptune]

4:

These submarine battles would actually be pretty cool, if it weren't for the fact that they don't make much sense. Firing decoys to counter their missiles? Yeah, that's pretty smart. Speeding towards the missiles, just hoping they'll miss, twice? C'mon, really now.

[Sorrows Neptune]

5:

And so it's revealed that Gido is actually Sam's older brother! ...Honestly, I thought the characters already knew about it, seeing how obvious it was to us the audience. Because of that I found the genuine shock of the characters to be pretty hilarious.

All the other revelations throughout the episode was actually pretty cool. Seeing how little exposition we got in the previous episodes, I'm surprised they managed to effectively cram all that information in just one episode.

[DrIdiot]

5:

No real new comments.  Sam is still annoying.  This is just all the worst thing about Stars Wars and none of the good parts.  The production values are still good though.

[Flash Sword Irene]

Episode 5

It seems the fear of this series lacking a 2nd season is coming true next week due to all the info and events that went on.  Honestly, I didn't particularly like Maya's revelation since it was obvious how rushed it was to even get to that point.  Not that I didn't enjoy the whole Queen Millennia reference of the underground world.  Obviously, the writing behind this needs adequate time and it has been shafted by not having an OVA-type of schedule.  So now, I wonder how the directing will go for the finale since I can't see this ending properly either way.

[Fumoffu!!]

6:

It's over.

Overall, it was a fairly enjoyable series, however because it was so short it had many problems with it, especially towards the end. I will go with a 5, because it was incredibly rushed.

[Flash Sword Irene]

Finale

This would be a pretty awesome ending to a 25+ episode series.  Unfortunately, this is why you don't adapt an entire novel into a series that is not even in an OVA format with 40+ minutes per episode.  Overall, this series is really not that bad despite concluding far too early.

Score: 5.5/10 (5/10 for MAL format)

[Sorrows Neptune]

6:

This show had practically everything that could have made it into a good series, but ultimately failed due to the rushed pacing. Really, I think the creators just spent too much time focusing on submarine battles.

Not particularly good, but not really mediocre either. I give it a 6/10.
Edit: Actually, on second thought it kind of is mediocre. 5/10.

[DrIdiot]

I feel like I am expressing much more intense dislike for this show than others but I was going to give it a 5/10 from me as well.  I didn't think it was very enjoyable at all but uh, I guess, it seemed better than [C], which I gave a 4/10 (or was it a 3)?  It had good production values at least?  And it was never that awful?

If I were to give this series the greatest benefit of the doubt, I would say because of its short length none of the potential meaningful ideas it could have explored were, and because of this it ended up as some crappy scifi handjob.

But I think there's more to the story.  It has a shaky and trite premise, which is okay except that the premise is kind of the whole point of the show.  And the deux ex machina does nothing to enlighten us.  Chekhov once said that stories should only pose questions and not answer them.  Here's a good example why.

So, I see the point about length.  The short length makes every character nothing more than a device for the plot, which is really weak to begin with.  It's telling us not to fk with the environment, or nature, or something but fails to actually create a narrative.  It feels wrong somehow calling this fiction.

But I can say something for [C] and No.6 -- while they also had horrible premises and suffered from the same narrative problems (though a degree of magnitude greater), at least they tried.  So I'm docking this down to a 4/10.

[SQA]

6: Well, it's over.

I get the feeling this premise was supposed to be an OVA from the late 80s.  We could probably pin-point the year (roughly 1987) with a close study of what other media property this was cribbing from.  Still, there was potential here, but I don't think in that format.  You'd have needed to make it at least 13 episodes and rework the world a good bit.

Still, I had some fun with it.  It was nice to have Major Motoko's voice actress for our female captain and the Masumoto character designs are always a nice thing.  I just wish the story telling was up to his normal standards.