Recap: Leviathan

Hello everyone: as part of my final year on this blog, I thought I would finally do my favorite episode of The Big O;  which also manages to help provide a solid start to the Halloween festivities; and you'll know why soon enough. Doing "Bring Back My Ghost" would have been too obvious, so let's open up my favorite episode of this excellent series: "Leviathan!"

We open on a vast desert wasteland, where the recurring villain Schwarzwald is stating his intent to spread truth and knowledge to Paradigm City in his own way. In just one scene, he's managed to be more profound than the entirety of Code Geass R2.

Upon finding a copy of Schwarzwald's manifesto and an image of the titular "Leviathan", the authorities and Roger Smith try to determine their next move. However, Roger is reluctant to work with the military based on his last encounter with Schwarzwald, and decides to handle the matter himself. His relationship with Chief Dan Dastun is not that different from the one between Batman and James Gordon, and it's not the only connection the anime has with the Caped Crusader as I'm about to tell you.

It also turns out that the writing in the manifesto has parallels with a man named Michael Seebach; a reporter who became the target of the Paradigm Corporation. Leaving behind his family, he has apparently been missing, presumed dead for years.

Elsewhere, the android Dorothy is taking piano lessons in a pub known as the Amadeus as her instructor, named R. Instro compliments her progress.

As Roger and the Chief try to determine their next move, it's also revealed that R. Instro is an accomplished organist for a local cathedral; as Dorothy begins to wonder what's happening as well.

While investigating Schwarzwald's intentions in the lower levels of the city, Roger comes across another strange document containing the phrase "There is but one truth: if you avert your eyes from it, you will always remain nothing more than a puppet" over and over.

"Feelin' fine."

Elsewhere, Dorothy lets out strange sounds from her mouth; as if she's being controlled by some strange force!

Roger's search leads him to an array of "Megadeus" that he fought before, as well as an adversary known as Alex Rosewater!

Unable to contact the Big O due to the frequency of his watch being jammed, Roger is then attacked by Rosewater's assistant Alan Gabriel! Given his very Joker-esque appearance, I will be totally open: I like anime, and I like Batman The Animated Series, so you would definitely expect me to love an anime from the Japanese animators of Batman The Animated Series; and I do!

You are merely the last tiny cog in my grand design!

Furthering this is the art deco-influenced design of Paradigm City, as well as the retro-futuristic look of the mechs such as the titular Leviathan; this is definitely an unofficial Batman anime before they made official ones such as Gotham Knight and more recently; Batman Ninja.

As Roger tries to get topside, his faithful manservant Norman Burg is able to have Dorothy pilot the Big O long enough for him to escape and to prevent the city from being turned to dust!

Just in time, Roger is able to take the controls of the Big O, and turn the Leviathan's own lethal touch against it; turning it to dust! You see, IGPX? THIS is how you make compelling mecha action that can appeal to more than one age demographic.

I gotta car full of girls and it's going real swell, next stop is the East Side Hotel!

We then close on a shocker, as it turns out that Schwarzwald is really Seebach, and he's still out there somewhere! After all these years, still a great episode of a great show.

"Leviathan" was a great way for me to kick off the final year of Halloween celebrations on this blog, and it's definitely a series that was more deserving of its Adult Swim co-produced second season than IGPX was for me. This anime feels like driving my ideal fantasy car if money was no object: the perfect mix of beefy muscle performance and sleek concept gadgetry. IGPX felt like a coin-op ride you'd find inside a Walmart sometimes. It also shows how, much like the second and third seasons of FLCL later; you can make a series "adult" without excessive gore, profanity, sex or whatever Paradise PD was doing. I must also forgive how short this and some of my other episode recaps will be this month, since most of my energy will be going to the recaps of the third and fourth Yo-Kai Watch movies. My goal is still to be done by Halloween Night, since I will once again be going out of town and I have much to do to get ready for that. That will be all for now. Later.