Synopsis

Iria is already a competent bounty hunter, although she's technically just an apprentice. One would expect no less for the sister of Gren, one of the best bounty hunters in the sector. She's always looking for ways to prove her skill, so when Gren receives a secretive assignment, she follows him against his wishes. Unfotunately, no amount of experience can prepare them for what they are about to face.

Review

Zeiram, an immortal space creature, has been unleashed by a greedy corporation that hoped to contain him and use his power for producing military technology. After the group encounters the indestructible killer on a remote star base, Iria barely escapes with her life. She then begins her quest to find who is responsible for releasing this monster, find her brother, and kill Zeiram.

The story of Iriam is told through a series of 6 OVA's. The plot is extremely straightforward, like her mission statement, although there are some detours along the way.

The action is intense. Explosions and firefights are the rule, not an exception. It was interesting to see how the characters, especially Iria would handle each situation. She had a ludicrous amount of gadgetry at her disposal, so that almost no fight was the same. Obviously, bounty hunters have to be prepared, but her armament would have made Batman jealous. The only problem with this variety was that occasionally some device would be used without an obvious explanation of what it actually accomplished, but this was rare.

Relationships are not a high on the agenda when you're hunting the ultimate predator, but Iria still manages to forge some friendships along the way. Despite the non-stop action, her personality does shine through and reveals her character to be more than one- dimensional. The characters are enjoyable, but don't expect to become particularly attached to any of them.

Aesthetically, Iria is a well-done anime. The animation is smooth and features a consistent amount of detail and some nice maneuvers during action sequences. The setting is rather unique, combining a lot of sci-fi settings with asian and middle eastern design influences. The character designs are nicely detailed as well. Iria's character in particular is rather distinctive and memorable. One aspect of the design I did find distracting was the overuse of the onion dome. This appears on everything from weapons to vehicles to buildings and equipment. Is there some sort of subliminal message there?

From what I could notice, the music for Iria was pleasing, but it was mostly lost in the cacophony of explosions and gunfire. The rest of the sound effects were fine, and the voiceovers above average.

Conclusion

Despite the plot being rather simplistic and linear, there are a few surprises along the way. Unfortunately, they are too infrequent for the 150 min. runtime. The story seems to drag unnecessarily at times and becomes repetitive. Fortunately, the action is entertaining, although the pacing might have benefited from some additional editing.

-Review by Reptile (25 Jun, 2006)

Audio:	Good overall. Forgettable soundtrack
Video:	Clean lines with some creative action
Plot:	Kill monster. The end.
Style:	Nicely original sci-fi style
Characters:	Iria is the star (obviously)
Violence:	Medium (blood)
Language:	Mild
Nudity:	Mild
Genre:	Scifi
Episodes:	6
Rating:	3.0 of 5
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