Iria: Zeiram the Animation

Iria has long been one of my favorite animes. The characters, locations, weapons, vehicles, and just about everything else are so uniquely designed it's incredible. They really put in the effort to create a truly unique sci-fi universe.

Iria is a young bounty hunter following in the footsteps of her older brother Gren. There's a big corporate cover-up going on and a deadly alien monster named Zeiram on the loose. I don't want to spoil the story so I'll keep the details brief.

The anime revolves around mystery and action. When things start to get too slow, a heavy dose of Iria's fighting abilities come into play. Iria's right up there with Armitage, Faye, and Motoko Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell. Between her incredibly designed armor, Bond like gadgets, and fighting style, there's plenty to keep things fresh.

I absolutely love how they designed Iria. The hair, the weapons, the blue and white armor... it's all very cool. If you're not an Iria fan just by watching the opening then we've got different tastes. She has moves that would make Batman jealous and a good sense of humor to boot.

The music is really catchy... I always have the opening theme in my head for days after watching the movie. It's a really great song that truly fits with the style and theme of the animation.

This one's a good family anime. The message is good and the action is sure to keep everyone interested. There's a real brief shower scene in the full sub version though. It's not fan service, but brief nudity none the less.

The story itself is well told and will keep you guessing. There's plenty of twists and turns to keep things moving and interesting. All in all this is a great anime that has been a favorite of mine for many years now. Give it a shot if you like bounty hunters, female fighters, alien monster sci-fi, and/or mysteries.

• Rirath_com

This 1994 animation has a retro sound and look - anime's structure, sound, and feel changed very little in the entirety of century-20. Iria is a prequel to the live-action film Zeiram. Just 6 short episodes, it's worth watching this b@d@$$-in-the-making for even the casual anime fan.

Iria is wrapping up her bounty hunter apprenticeship. She's out on a mission with her brother, Gren, when things go horribly wrong. Gren and his partners went after their target, Zeiram, who was surprisingly impervious to their weaponry. Now Gren is missing and presumed dead, though Iria is determined to find him. Gren's partners, Fujikuro and Bob will help her, though a grumbling Fujikuro sometimes claims that he won't. Post Zeiram mission, Bob is reduced to a consciousness existing on a computer, which was the only way he could survive the mission. They want to find Gren, and they want to kill Zeiram - if he can be killed.

Iria has a Cowboy-Bebop-Vibe without the sexual content and the humor. It predates Cowboy Bebop by at least 4 years and seems to have influenced CB. Ed, from CB and Kei, from Iria, are particularly similar. Kei is not unlike Iria, herself. I suspect a cloning program to keep gingers in space! Most of Iria takes place on a planet (Myce) with a landscape very much like Tatooine from Star Wars. I could feel the SW residue, sans the Jedi... or the cuteness - Iria is edgy. Iria, herself, is a cool, brave, talented, and bold lil' sis. She sports a proceed-with-caution beaded hairdo - It's awesome. Iria is not a feel-good show, but it is good ol' Sci-fi. It is smart and direct, like Iria herself.

As of today, Iria is available on Hidive. Some dubbed titles worthy of a visit of Hidive are: Maid Sama 10, Made in Abyss 9 (currently the 3rd movie and S2 are not dubbed. Per Hidive: "Since MADE IN ABYSS: Journey's Dawn... and MADE IN ABYSS: Wandering Twilight... are compilation movies, you can either watch MADE IN ABYSS season 1 or just the two movies before moving on to the MADE IN ABYSS: Dawn of the Deep Soul..., the third movie is NOT optional "); Parasyte the Maxim 8.9, The Eminence in Shadow 8.8, No Game No Life Zero 8.8, RahXephon 8.6, Akame ga Kill! 8.6, Princess Principal 8.6, Chihayafuru 8.5, Girls Last Tour 8.5, CR Chaika The Coffin Princess 8.4, Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, Special A Class 8.2, Food Wars 8.2, Land Of The Lustrous 8.1, Girls Und Panzer 8, Land Of The Lustrous 8, Reincarnated as a Sword 8, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU 8, Gate 7.9, Ice 7.8, Ao-chan Can't Study 7.8, Beyond the Boundary 7.8, You're Under Arrest 7.8, Pet Shop of Horrors 7.8, Hakkenden 7.7, Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun 7.7, Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? 7.7, Flowers of Evil 7.7 (not dubbed), Farming Life in Another World 7.7, Princess Resurrection 7.6, Akiba Maid War 7.5, Real Girl 7.5, School Live 7.5, Kokkoku 7.5, Needless 7.5, Senryu Girl 7.5, D4DJ 7.5, Iria 7.5 Kokoro Connect 7.4, Aura Battler Dunbine 7.4, Pet Girl of Sakura Hall 7.3, After the Rain 7.3, BToom! 7.3, Armed Girl's Machiavellism 7.1,

Honorable Mention: Wasteful Days of High School Girls, Blue Seed, Patlabor, Get Backers, Clannad, Tsurune, Tada Never Falls in Love, Kino's Journey, Lupin III.

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬7.5 📝7.5 🎭7.5 🌞5 🎨7⚡7 🎵 7.5 😅3 🤔6 🔚8.3

Age 13+ feeling up breasts, underwear joke - mild; Hot shower scene, we see a taught backside and the side-boob. Iria has a rocking hard bod with full udders.

Re-📺? Possibly.

They absolutely do not make them like they used to. New anime is painfully predictable & oftentimes immature; capitalizing on some trivial gimmick or twist in traditional anime archetypes. For the few good OAVs out there--like cowboy bebop--, they owe much to films like IRIA. I first saw this on Sci-Fi's 'Saturday Anime' as a child, when Anime in the U.S. was still nascent at best, and Japan was producing provocative films and advancing the genre instead of the drivel large-scale studios produce for the popular market today.

For those of you who want to see where goldies like "Outlaw Star" and "Cowboy Bebop" came from, you must watch Iria. Do not heed the 'Iria is a trite and predictable anime' warning: Iria is only trite in retrospect if you're ignorant of the fact that it was cinema like Iria that made the myriad of contemporary imitations possible.

On another note, if you like Iria don't expect to like the live-action--you simply can't transfer the 'manga-feel' to physical actors & sets without a sizeable budget!

Basically about this bounty hunter/ gun for higher crew that take on a mission that goes awry when they encounter a nearly immortal alien being and the rest of the episodes are basically this one gal's quest to ( you guessed it) try to destroy it.

They story is nothing special. The mechanical designs and world building are specifically very un-special. It's trying to do cross between woodlands and sci-fi. Think the whole Ewok sequence in Star Wars or a way lesser Tenchi Muyo. The animation has it's moments where it shines with all it's retro charm, specifically the last episode. But I really couldn't get over how boring the weapons and creatures were.

It was back in 1994 when I first laid eyes on Iria, and ever since then I've been in love with the movie. I don't consider myself an anime expert by any stretch, but I've seen enough to know what's good and what's not. There isn't a whole lot about this movie that I don't like, with the exception of some of the voice acting, but that's to be expected with translation. The action is spectacular, the characters are likeable, and the animation is beautiful. I think the thing about Iria I like the most is the villain, Zeiram. The way that he's so emotionless and tenacious is something that you don't see very often with bad guys. He doesn't talk or brag, so you don't get the run of the mill psycho or typical villain. The story holds up througout the entire movie, and moves at a very good pace, especially the action sequences. All in all I would rate Iria: zeiram the animation an 8 out of 10.