Iria: Zeiram The Animation

First of all: Iria- Zeiram the Animation fits the sci-fi and adventure genres. If you are interested in watching this title, get prepared to watch some nice fighting scenes!

Story: Iria is a bounty hunter, and follows her brother´s footsteps.
She goes along with Gren (her brother) to a mission...and since that she won´t get satisfied until she destroys Zeiram...an alien lifeform created to kill and destroy.
The plot is fantastic! 10/10

Art: Even though the artwork isn´t recent, I think it is wonderful...the colors well chosen, the graphics well made and lets admit: Iria is a gorgeous bounty hunter!
10/10

Sound: The background music is very good! It is old ... and has some 80´s/90´s catch, and the OP is real good! At first you think it is a bit strange...^^ 9/10

Character: The characters are well developed, but the main thing of the story is Iria...she is a bold and strong woman, that won´t relax until she finishes her duty...She shows herself a bit fragile in some moments, but when it comes do Zeiram she will try by all means to destroy what is tecnically "undestroyable".
9/10

Enjoyment: As a fan of adventure, sci-fi and great fights, Iria- Zeiram the Animation is excting, and at least 99% enjoyable! A true classic! 9/10

Overall: 9/10...if you like sci-fi genre, this is a classic and a must see! So sad there isn´t more of it!!

Iria: Zeiram is a rare Gem of an anime. It features some things found in almost no other anime. The world design in particular is very unique. The houses, props, vehicles, and general setting are very unique to this anime, and you don't see anything like that in most other anime. The closest similarities I can think of would be Outlaw Star or Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It definitely stands out in terms of prop and world design.

Story wise, Iria is a unique and classic sci-fi anime. It takes place in a universe where there are many established planets that people ... live on that each have their own existing culture and customs. Iria is a bounty hunter apprentice, that is searching for answers surrounding the disappearance of her elder brother and mentor. Along the way a creature that is very violent and involved in the disappearance her brother, ends up in the same place as her travels, and she must deal with it, as well as unravel the conspiracy that may be behind the creature in the first place.

One of the things I really like about this story, is it tells the story of a girl who has a submissive, yet sporty personality, and is still strong enough to stand on her own. Iria is a very unique character, and a combination of girly and motherly, as well as quite sporty and capable.

It's definitely a very unique anime and very enjoyable. This was one of the first anime I ever really enjoyed, and at only 6 eps long, it's definitely worth a watch! I kind of think of it like a long movie broken into 6 chapters. It's really good.

"Iria: Zeiram the Animation" is a pretty good action oriented OVA spanning across 6 half hour episodes. It tells the story of a young bounty hunter Iria's hunting of Zeiram, the most dangerous life form in the galaxy.

The weird opening theme, which sounds like some Sharon Apple song from "Macross Plus", feels out of place and put me off the anime initially. And not being the fastest anime off the block despite its short length, it took "Iria" a couple of episodes to catch my interest, but to its credit it gains more and more momentum as it goes on.

The action, though slightly sluggish at ... times, is overall solid enough to provide a good foundation for the enjoyment of "Iria: Zeiram the Animation", with the appropriately climatic climax being especially good. It's backed up by a pretty good story (albeit one that doesn't explain everything) and some really likeable characters. The roles of the mischievous kids are played out perfectly, as is that rogue Fujikuro, providing comedy entertainment that often had me grinning widely. The animation may not look that great by today's standards, but there are some fantastic character designs. The heroine Iria herself has quite a unique look, while Zeiram reminds me of Yoshimitsu from the Tekken video games.

On the downside, I think the anime suffers from small inconsistencies in its characterisation and plot. To name a couple of examples, part of the personality of Iria is hard to pin down since she seem to be inconsistently portrayed from one episode to the next, and I could have sworn the Zeiram's weak point that is revealed towards the end had already been peppered with bullets with little or not no effect in an earlier episode.

Even though this OVA does look and sound a bit old, it's still succeeds in providing an entertaining 3 hours. Worth checking out if you come across it.

Another anime classic that I caught on the Sci-Fi channel about 10 years ago. (C'mon, Sci-Fi, start showing anime again!) Iria: Zeiram the Animation is a 6 episode mini-series that actually be likened to a 3-hour action flick. Iria shines becuase of the world and chracters that are created. The characters themselves are well-done are show a good amount of depth and personality for a mini-series. Escpecially the titular character, Iria. Iria is a tough-as-nails bounty hunter who is just starting out, but her character is still that of a young woman. Strong but feminine. Iria is a great role-model for young women, and a ... good example of a strong woman. The character designs for this show are excellent. Done by the famous Masakazu Katsura (Video Girl Ai), each character is detailed and has a unique look. The visuals of the world itself are equally as amazing. The world has an oriental look but mixed with futuristic technology. The designs for the weapons are inventive too. Some of the weapons these bounty hunters use make me want to be one! I'd reccommend Iria for the visuals alone. But the story itself is worth a watch. A classic tale of revenge and justice. The English dubbing is really good for this one, and the DVD quality gets my thumbs up as well. Rent disc 3 if you want cast interviews and some insight into this world. I reccommend checking Iria out. It's a cut above most of the garbage anime that's flooding the US nowadays.

I'll be honest from the get go, this anime is not a 10, it's not a 9, it's probably around a mid 8.5 from a fair objective standpoint. However, I'm inflating my review after looking at some of the other reviews. Mainly because there is an unfortunate portion of modern anime viewers that see old school animation, and that's all she wrote folks, that's all it takes to make it average... Except Iria Zeiram is a badass anime, with beautiful hand crafted art, and a strong female lead that isn't drenched with fan service, characters like this are why I fell in love with anime ... all those years ago.

Anywho, I'll (try to) keep the rest of my review fairly short. The art for me is the standout, along with some really refreshing character design/writing. The art is classic late 80s to 90s hand drawn goodness, if you're in a nostalgic scifi mood look no further, especially if you've seen the usual recommendations. Character design is awesome, modern anime is a little uh, sexist? I hesitate to use the word, but really it's refreshing to see an anime without fan service, while still being mature make no mistake. Weird how you can make a strong sexy female character without their boobs flopping about, go figure.

Having listed the strengths, the weaknesses are undoubtedly the story and sound. Story is really nothing to salivate over. Depending on your exposure level to anime/manga/books/cinema, then a fair rating would fall somewhere between an 8 to 6. If you're experienced, it's a 6, otherwise it could range up to an 8 if you aren't familiar (bored) with common anime tropes. Sound is to me the weakest part, it's by no means bad but there's nary a banger to me found here IMO, but lovers of 80s sound design might really dig this.

Overall this one really took me by surprise, the MAL reviews made me hesitate. Reviews be damned though, this is a keeper anime, and when you've been around the anime block as long as me that's rare. Granted some of this might have to do with my disillusionment for modern anime, it's getting old seeing awesome stories/characters ruined by horndogs beating the fan service cash cow like there's no tomorrow.

This has to be one of my fav to this day. ITs got a great story line about a young female bounter hunter trying to make it in a man's world and follow in her brothers footsteps til the unthinkable happens and she's all alone. Now she has to Zeiram the alien who she thinks killed her brother.

Coming from a somewhat unknown studio, Ashi Productions, and an unknown director, Tetsuro Amino, there was much to speculate how decent this could be. An action story about a rookie bounty hunter named Iria, comes into a battle conflict against an unstoppable killing lifeform called a Zeiram.

With a plot straight to the point, live and get rid of the Zeiram, this anime knows what it is. Spanning as a 6 episode OVA series, each episode is different, yet a continuation on each other. Time continues between each episode until Iria must have another life and death battle between her and the Zeiram.

Even though the anime ... is on the short side, luckily, all the characters involved are fairly interesting and the viewer slowly sees Iria become more mature with each episode. There is plenty of action ranging from the transportation machines to the numerous gadgets used to fight. Needless to say, the action is the strong point, and while not being smooth all of the time, the fighting sequences and explosions are done well enough.

However, the anime does have its flaws. The ending, for example, is pretty controversial, and why some weapons work in places while others do not are just a couple to pay attention to. Although, if given more time (episodes), maybe things could have been explained better. Instead most is left up to the viewer’s imagination.

As Iria Zeiram the Animation could come off as a bit old and average, the action is worth the ride. Iria is lovable and so is the supporting cast around her.

This is amoung the best, classic goodness. Great sci fi story great charecters especialy the zeiram and good animation for its time. I give it a 9 and would have given it a 10 if it werent for the bad english dub over.

Iria: Zeiram the Animation is a bizarre case indeed. On the face of it it seems as though this is just another 90s sci-fi action OVA, and in many ways it is, but upon closer inspection it manages to set itself apart in a variety of interesting and bizarre ways. For example, this anime is actually a prequel to the live action film Zeiram from 1991. When considering this weird production trajectory, backed up by an utterly unique art style and fun campy premise, it's clear that this anime is more than just a throwaway OVA. Beginning with the story, it's fairly simple, and heavily ... reminiscent of the Alien franchise. Two so-called 'hunters' and an apprentice are sent up to a ship in crisis to evacuate the crew and retrieve the cargo, only to find a horrible, seemingly invincible humanoid monster with grotesque biological abilities has escaped, which then begins to wreak havoc across the system. It runs into some problems later with character motivations, but it's not that big of a deal here. Despite being a touch predictable and perhaps heavy-handed with its Alien influences, it manages to execute its formula well and remain a cool early 90s romp throughout. It really feels like something meant for popping in the VHS player, then cracking open a few beers and ordering a couple pizzas with your friends. Like, it's not necessarily good, but it is a fun time, especially under the right circumstances. Moving on to the art, it is this anime's strongest aspect. The general art direction is incredibly strong, with a real vision for a unique and fantastic world distinct all its own. It has this engaging blend of the futuristic and the traditional, combined with a style which draws heavily from Indic cultures, like India, Sri Lanka, and more broadly Southeast Asia. The backgrounds are also consistently impressive, and seem to be where most of the budget went. Overall, it reminds me more of an 80s anime than a 90s anime, due in part to some of the stylistic choices they make throughout. Unfortunately, while the characters themselves have good designs and are well-animated in combat scenes, they feel somewhat cheap in comparison to the rest of the show, and suffer from what I term the 'dreaded mask', where the character's facial expressions seem stiff and unemotional at moments where they absolutely should not be. Other than that though, the art is what really sets this anime apart. The sound is good, meeting all standards of quality for the time, and supported by an energetic and almost trippy synth track that sounds straight out of the 80s. The characters fit their setting rather well, even if they're not very deep. Among the cast, my favorites are Fujikuro and Komimasa, because in comparison to everybody else, they feel somehow the most believable. Fujikuro has this rough exterior which evolves over the course of the show to the point he really grows as a person, and as a result has actual layers to his character, whereas Komimasa acts in a fashion which befits a street urchin with a sense of honor, and his moments of dialogue almost feel like they come from a different anime altogether- he is a more believable depiction of what he is than his friend Kei, for example. Overall, Iria: Zeiram the Animation is a fun 90s action romp with which you can just turn your brain off and enjoy- so long as you can ignore its flaws.