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

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.

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!

This is one of those titles I never watched in the 90s as a kid (when I cut my anime teeth on Robot Carnival, Akira, and eventually, Evangelion), but just decided to give it a spin recently now that everything's free on the internet.

I can now see why it's not heralded as an all-time classic, but I really don't want to dwell on the negative here. What kept me watching (despite a noticeable dip in quality after episode 3, I'd argue) is killer originality and style. This applies mainly to visual, and to some extent audio, design (check out the OP animation, which I find to be pretty strong despite the re-use of some clips in reverse), and also to the world the series creates.

I'm going for a zero-spoilers review here, but to speak generally, there are robot/creature/technology designs in this series that are extremely creative, daring and visually interesting, and that are explored consistently from various angles across the episodes. Despite (justified) complaints about the plot, it too has some interesting elements, including the very unusual transformation of a main character early in the series.

I'm sure had I watched this in the 90s, the nostalgia factor would boost my review by several stars, but with apologies to diehard fans, I do feel 6 is appropriate--but I wanted to celebrate what is in some ways objectively a very unique, compelling and probably (in these respects) underrated anime.

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.