Overview (Idolo)

2167 AD. Deep in a hidden laboratory, the Martians are testing new weapons technology that's going to blow Earth away! Hotshot pilot Lieutenant Radium Lavans is taking charge of this program to lead the fight against Earth's oppressive rule-or is the program taking charge of him? The mineral Metatron that powers the Idolo weapon has a mind of its own! With the Earthling UNSF working to crush a possible Martian uprising, Radium's Orbital Flame project development team has no time to lose. Will Radium be able to force the Idolo beta unit to choose a noble destiny, or will the power of Metatron consume him completely?

Overview (Dolores)

The planets are on the brink of war, but the only thing hard-working, hard-drinking, all-American cargo hauler James Links wants is to reconcile with his estranged wife. But when he discovers the Orbital Frame Dolores aboard his carrier ship Ender, the entire Links clan is plunged into mystery, murder and mayhem! Earth wants her; Mars wants her; everybody wants Dolores except the one man who has her. Blast off with a crew of unlikely heroes in the high-speed interplanetary adventure Zone of the Enders!

Review

Alright, first, if you don't already know, these Anime's are a continuation, or shall I say prequels to the ultimately cult games Zone of the Enders for Playstation 2. If you thought the games where amazing, then you're gonna think this is the reason for living. The idea for Zone of the Enders was originally created by the man who created the Metal Gear Solid Universe that we are all so in love with, at least I am (Solid Snake is no joke).

P.S. Did you know Solid Snake is getting his own comic book now?

So with all this said, I sat down and watched the Idolo movie and then went immediately on to see the Dolores TV series and I just enjoyed (loved really) them both. I think this is important to say, Idolo the movie should be seen first otherwise you'll be lost as to what the hell is going on in Dolores the show. Yes, the two shows complement each other so you'll be forced to spend more money for a fuller richer story; but listen if you do you won't regret it. There is mecha action out the ying yang in these shows, if you like Gundam, please check this.

Be warned the two shows are completely different initially in style, Idolo is hardcore, thru and thru. On the other hand Dolores is a comedic (honest yo, the show is funny) romp through space that gets darker as it progresses. The art seems to lack detail, especially for a show with a overwhelming volume of fighting robots but then you realize it works for the show because it never gets worse or improves, totally consistent. I guess they set out to make the flow of the story the most important aspect rather than pondering about all the eye candy.

By the way the Orbital Frame Dolores is pink, don't let it bother you, she crushes her opponents.

This whole saga is political, but it never bogs you down, its good politics because it's really all about saying "hey, we're all humans right!!" Same thing in Dolores except its family politics, there's a whole macro — micro concept happening here. James Links family is totally dysfunctional and so is the Earth/Mars relationship, but they're still family and have to work it out.

In Idolo there are scenes that have Earth born humans fighting Martian born humans and you really never realize that being born on another world could cause such physiological and psychological affects on people, cool stuff to observe. In Dolores, there's a ton of stuff about the solar system and Mars that you never get to witness in the video games. You also get to meet a lot of the characters in their youth that are in the video games such as Viola and Anubis.

Best of all about Dolores is you get to see a terrorist attack on an orbital space elevator (How cool is that? I mean not that terrorism is cool, just the realism of the show). There is a lot of subject material about the future in these two anime's that almost nobody's ever taken the time to touch upon elsewhere. Even Babylon 5, which does have a civil war with Mars in the series, never gets around to the level of detail that Dolores does.

Being the science fiction lunatic that I am, I recommend this to anyone. Also for those of you who loved Cowboy Bebop, Dolores is very similar in that you have no idea where the show is going, but you know it all comes to an end.

Review by David Marini
www.everythingevangelion.com