I: Wish You Were Here

Zaion is a basically a story about a meteorite which landed on Earth containing an alien virus that has begun infecting humans. So basically this is very similar to the Resident Evil theme. The story must also take place in the future because they have warriors using nano-technology and mecha-type machines to fight against these mutated humans. They also decided to stick in a bit of romance which is basically a love at first site ordeal. Overall, the series is worth watching considering it's only 4 episodes and can be watched while ... you're waiting for your ongoing anime to be posted.

Unfortunately, I can't help having a sense that I was robbed. This could have been a really good series if they wanted to make it a 12-13 episode series and started from the beginning. However, this story takes place after people have been infected and people have already been created to destroy the infected beings. Seeing as it was only a 4 episode series they could only hint upon different things that could have happened. Plus, how things came to be are never explained in detail and it seems like the plot was rushed.

Considering the anime was only 4 episodes I thought they did a pretty good job with character development and the character art suited my taste. Plus the sound fit in well and I enjoyed it......still I'm bummed it was only 4 episodes.

To all those who enjoy an action anime I suggest you watch it. And to those who don't, it's only 4 episodes.....you might as well watch it too

Zaion: I Wish You Were Here is a a somewhat generic, ingly entertaining sci-fi anime built upon a fun concept. Put simply, it is an almost stereotypical example of anime in 2001. Beginning with the story, it's alright. The idea of a mysterious space virus turning people into monsters is cool, and the idea of fighting them with nanobot-enhanced tokusatsu-style supersoldiers is fun, if a little out there. Furthermore, the concept of a psychic girl's powers only really working due to a special connection (and often proximity) with the love of her life provides an interesting opportunity for conflict, and ... calls back to the title. The story, in short, has a lot of potential baked into its core ideas, and could have been a lot of fun, if not strictly good. As it stands, however, it ends up just being okay. Yeah, supersoldiers and giant monsters are fun, but the anime doesn't bring anything particularly notable to the table that could take it to the next level, be it in of story or animation. Also, there are quite a few plotholes that are left completely unresolved. Namely, this space virus that turns people into hulking monsters and has the ability to mush together the infected to create what are essentially Kaiju, is being dealt with in secret by a shadowy international organization. This is to say, nobody has noticed that this is happening yet. You're telling me entire hospitals are being exploded by flesh monsters and people are disappearing by the thousands, and not a single civilian has been able to figure it out yet? Beyond this, characters also just completely disappear from the narrative as soon as they no longer matter, and the decisions of the shadowy international organization make little strategic sense, abusing their greatest resources for no real reason and seemingly pursuing whatever course of action would lead to the greatest loss of human life. All of this is framed by the constant backdrop of the world's most incompetent scientists, unable to make basic connections between data points, and leaving biohazardous material just laying around while they go take naps or get snacks. Insane. If you can just focus on the fights and the brooding 2000s atmosphere, then it's a fine time, but be forewarned that these things are hard to ignore. Revisiting that title, by the way, the "Zaion" part doesn't really make any sense, because as far as I can tell nobody says that word anywhere in the show, and it appears exactly zero times onscreen. Baffling.

Moving on, the art walks the line between high and low quality. Still shots of characters are actually pretty good, with thick linework, good contrast, and interesting angles. There is also a smart, reserved use of color throughout, giving the whole show a kind of mysterious, forlorn quality. However, there are many problems here, as well. The animation isn't always the smoothest, or the most consistent, with obvious shortcuts taken throughout, presumably to spare the budget. These include long, panning still shots, jarring jump cuts from one scene to the next, and some genuinely awful CG, though that last point is to be expected, especially from the early 2000s.

The sound has a pretty weird kind of character to it, though in this way it is the perfect fit for this anime. The soundtrack is this bizarre blend of synthesizer organ and electric guitar, tossing in random techno elements throughout. It's not good or bad, but it is so strange that I really can't think of anywhere else it could call home other than Zaion: I Wish You Were Here. The sounds of life and voice work, meanwhile, are generally unremarkable.

The characters are, tentatively, the strongest aspect of the show, though that's not to say they're necessarily good. They just feel like they have a lot of agency within the story, and fill their roles in ways which lead to interesting conflicts. They still suffer from the bizarre decision making that was mentioned before, but that's more of a problem on the part of the secondary cast. This aspect earns its spot simply because there's no huge flaw that drags it down when compared to the other aspects. Of the characters, the best among them are Yuuji and Ai, Yuuji as a decisive action-oriented protagonist who tends to make more sane decisions than other characters, and Ai for being written in such a way that's actually engaging and rooted in the central conflict of the plot. Overall, Zaion: I Wish You Were Here is a janky early 2000s mess with a ton of flaws, and while it can't be called good by any stretch of the imagination, it is still, on some level, enjoyable in its own way. Maybe it's the early 2000s aesthetics, maybe it's the big monster fights, or maybe it's the latent potential of the main conflict, but this anime, for all its flaws, didn't feel like a slog to get through. It feels like one of those throwaway Saturday morning cartoons that'd air just to take up time in the slot. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again, but if it were theoretically on TV on a lazy day I don't know if I'd change the channel right away. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide whether or not this would be worth your time, because the question of whether it's good or bad isn't really worth asking.

I: Wish You Were Here is a story about an alien virus pandemic that is turning humans into monsters and our main protagonists are in the team that is fighting against them. The anime was pretty short and with much-needed progress

The anime had a very basic plot that had no originality whatsoever and on top of that, the story was poorly written. The use of CGI was horrific but looking at the time it was released the Japanese media was still struggling with the concept of CGI. Putting aside CGI the art itself was pretty fine. The characters were written by amateurs from what can ... be seen in the anime. They are not only really basic but with no intention of trying at any point. The dialogues were also horrendously boring and forgetful right away. Many will disagree on different things looking at the era it was released but still the writing of the plot and story don't have that standard as these are done with creativity and the anime seriously lacks it. Even if it was a full 1-cour story it would have been a disappointment the romance was forced and random, the characters were merely existing with nothing likable about them and the plot was dead and superficial

In the end, I would say it was nothing but a failed prototype with an abundance of mistakes and amateur writing. I would not recommend this to anyone at all.