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Anime 101
Zillion
I should introduce you to what "Zillion" is. Zillion was a toy in Japan in the early 1980s (kind of what Laser Tag was to us in the US) and from there the popularity did what most toys/action figures do today (make a movie, or in this case a game). After seeing this widespread phenomena on the game Sega decided it was now time for it to hit the Manga (Comics and ANIME) scene, and with the aid of Tatsunoko the Zillion series hit the market.
The Zillion series now spans two video games, a five-part mini-series, and a special Zillion movie that followed short after. Before you say, "Hey, wait a second. Wasn't there more than just 6 episodes of a cartoon made?" The answer is yes. The US only received 6 translated episodes, that really did not make any since on how they flowed, due to the series being 30+ cartoons condensed into the 6 tapes we got. Oh and do not forget the Manga/Comic (Red Photon Zillion) series, as well as a few "adult" orientated Mangas :P
The series itself follows the story of the White Knights (aka White Nuts) and stars our hero J.J. who needs to rescue his teammates Apple and Champ who have been captured by the evil Norza (aka Nosa) army. Your mission is to find your friends, destroy the boss, set a bomb timer, and get out! Sounds simple enough, but the game has no save and continues are very limited, expect to spend a good amount of time on this game since you will have to beat it in one pass (that is unless you are using an emulator that supports Save States... CHEATER!!!).
The anime that the US received does not follow Zillion: The Game’s premise, other than the Norza (aka Nosa) army is the main bad guys, J.J., Apple, Champ, Opa-Opa, and Amy (aka Emi) are all characters in the plotline. You learn about the Zillion weapons and how only 3 exist and the White Knights are the elite of the elite and control these destructive weapons.
The series has that typical humor found in most of the “good” animes released recently, the art is well done, and the story is pretty solid. The unfortunate part is the overseas version is several episodes cut out of the original 30+ released in Japan, so the storyline does not flow properly, and you can pretty much watch them out of order (save the first one since it introduces the characters) and not miss out on anything. Hopefully fan-subs make it, but all the ones that were attempted never made it passed the 1st episode, how sad.
This brings us to the “end” of what Zillion is/was/whatever. If you never played the Sega Master System version, get it! It is as fun as Metroid for the NES, and the anime is as fun as watching something like mixing Slayers with Robotech.
Special Thanks to: J.J. Apple from Zillion Shrine for the information.
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