In this video we take a look at the Zeiram movie series and its anime adaptation, Iria Zeiram The Animation. This is an underrated sci-fi anime and live action movie series from the early 90's. Should you watch it? #iria #zeiram #anime
As a long time diehard fan of Iria, I enjoyed watching your review of the series. I liked the fact that you remained respectful throughout the review and gave your thoughts on the live action which echoes my setiments. I really fell in love with Iria (the character & anime) back when I first watched it on VHS in the mid 90s and always wished they would do a proper reboot following the aesthetics of the anime. Character designs were done by Masakazu Katsura with Iria in particular resembling a couple of characters he later created for DNA² (Karin Aoi) and Shadow Lady from the manga of the same name, respectively. One thing that many viewers of the Iria OVA overlook is that Iria herself was an orphan like Kei which is why Iria sometimes identifies with Kei. Gren took her under his wing teaching her the ropes of being a bounty hunter, but never intended for her to get caught up in the mission that led to his assimilation. So technically Iria is not Gren's biological sister which is why Iria seems to have a physical attraction to her "brother" Gren. That's why Fujikoro laughs when Kei suggests they are brother and sister to which Fujikoro responds to an oblivious Kei "I guess they were very close, like brother and sister", Kei is then stunned by the revelation. Sure you may have known this, but thought I should mention it here in case you missed it. Also, in some subtitles Gren's name may be written as Glen, but I prefer Gren as it's a more accurate translation imo. Iria's been an influential character throughout the years that may have inspired certain design choices in other video games and anime media to this day. There's an article on the many influences Iria has had on different media with FFVII being one of them. I highly agree with that take as I myself saw the similarities in character design of both the Iria anime and FFVII game. To this day Iria's been my favorite anime character and I still love the anime which imo is highly underrated.
First of all thank you for this video! I just watched the movie Zeiram for the first time last night while i was working after falling down a rabbit hole because i wanted to find out where an image came from. I've seen a creepy looking gif of Zeiram's little noh face opening it's eyes and smiling online so many times over the years, it always freaked me out and fascinated me at the same time. So last night i went in search of it's origin, found the 1st Zeiram movie, the exact one you watched on youtube, for free. And i gotta say it was not what i was expecting but i thoroughly enjoyed it, crappy english dub and all. Not too big into sci-fi myself but i liked the characters and story line and especially the nightmare fuel Zeiram is made of lol Iria is such a badass heroine and BOB was the wittiest sidekick, i'll have to look into the anime now that i know it exists, thank you!!
I've yet to watch the live actions for years now, and never even heard of the movies until just recently, but I'm glad to have discovered Iria, the Anime Series many years ago. I consider the Anime Series one of the greatest and most underrated 90s anime series of all time. Very special works of art indeed.
When it aired for you did they do it was 2 movies, I know for me it was one of their late night showings and they did it was 2 movies and also Armitage too.
@@max666tall I think so, but I surely remember L.I.L.Y. cat, Akira, Tank Police, Fist Of The North Star, and Iria: Zeram The Animation for example on sci-fi channel. Oh and Robot Carnival too!
Oh man, this has been on my watchlist for like, over 2 decades. I just kept forgetting about it. I'm gonna go watch it. Thanks for making this video and reminding me!
The movies and the anime are definitely 2 completely different animals. The films are very much Tokusatsu/Monster movies with a buddy comedy element thrown in, and as the title suggests, Zeiram (the monster) is very much the star of the show. Not unlike Alien, Predator, Terminator, The Thing, etc. The anime on the other hand is more space-opera/space-western action adventure, and once more, the title says all, as the OVA is very much Iria's story as Iria is our main protagonist. That being said, I personally really appreciate the differences between both versions, as it shows how the same general premise can lead to 2 very distinct takes on the material, both quite effective in their own right, as each are going for a very different style from the other anyways. I very much enjoy both, but for very different reasons.
I had the biggest crush on Iria when I saw the series for the first time when I was young (I watched it on SciFi channel). My crush was so much that I actually bought the Super Famicon game called Hyper Iria (which is based on this anime), thinking that Super Famicon and Super Nintendo were the same, but different name. I was so angry that the game didn't work.
The anime version is by no means bad, although I feel it lacks a few things compared to the live action movies: - Zeiram itself is WAY cooler in tokusatsu than animation - The music in the movies is generally better, and Zeiram feels off without the creepy Shinto chanting whenever it is onscreen - Iria herself is a lot less interesting as a character without Kamiya and Teppei to bounce off of
First time I saw Iria was on sci-fi channel back in 97, they aired it as 2 movies, then I bought that same exact DVD in 2001 from a game store, I also bought Devil May Cry that day too, so it was a good haul. I also have the live action movie on a DVD duology set, it was actually being sold at a Best Buy back in the day when they had rows upon rows of DVDs and Blurays were starting to become a thing very slowly. Still a lot of the HD dvd you know the ones in the red cases were still being sold at the time.
this was one of those animes that i saw on the scifi channel anime mornings. except i couldnt remember what it was called. periodically it would come to my mind and i thought it was called something like "Aireal the bounty hunter" or something. the scene i kept in mind was the one where she finds her brother after he got taken over and how he would say her name "Air-e-al" and flick his ear ring.
I saw the anime sometime last year and enjoyed it! Had know clue there was a live action version! I'll check that out for sure, great video 🤙 there was also a sequal to the live action movie!
Umm Zeiram creator and live action movie Director Kieta Amemiya himself said that Iria Zeiram the Animation IS an actual Prequel to his movies. The alternating factor is Fujikuro in the second live action film, but it can be alluded that he is a different character with the same name, possibly a relative to the animated version, since that one is obviously older, while Iria in the live action is older and more experienced and the live action Fujikuro is way younger and a rotten POS. Iria in the OVAs is a rookie as well, and we see that Bob was an actual person before. Some people can say it is an "Alternate Universe" kinda thing, but I go with the Creator of Zeiram's own words.
@@timson3489 You don't make sense, since in the Anime, Doctor Toka clearly states that there are MULTIPLE Zeiram scattered around the galaxy. And in the second live action movie, they used a DIFFERENT ZEIRAM as a bio weapon, which was the intent of the Taowaijan all along.
@@timson3489 I some ways the 2nd movie is pretty much similar to the first, with the same cast and similar issues, but with better special effects and more looking extras that...die quickly and serve no other purpose than to be blood on screen LOL. But is is quite fun still.
I think the biggest continuity hangup is the movie treats this like Iria's first encounter with Zeiram. And sure, you could do some mental gymnastics to say they meant this one specific Zeiram, but I have a hard time buying that. A lot of the movie is Iria and Bob speculating about the abilities of Zeiram and never really knowing how strong he really is or what tricks he has up his sleeves, something that doesnt really make sense if the anime happened to this version of Iria. You can just ignore that issue, but I think it's totally valid to say it's functionally it's own disconnected story, word of god or no. I mean according to the developer the 5th gen armored core games aren't connected to the past games but you find wrecks from 4th gen stuff and the last boss of verdict day is literally white glint rebuilt and modified, so I don't exactly treat creators as authorities, even setting death of the author aside. Also, this is more of a personal gripe that you could handwave away, but it needs to be said there's very little overlap in the design sensibilities of the "human" technology of the anime and the movies. From the movies you get a very different feel for the broader universe Iria participates in than you do from the show. I don't necessarily think one is better than the other, but I certainly prefer the movies in that regard especially.
