Zetman 1

Zetman is a shounen series, simple as that. It covers the typical cliches but goes the extra mile to remain serious and dark.

The world of ZETMAN is set in a dark future. Rich underground communities spend their time watching fights between monsters whose only purpose is to kill one another. One day, these monsters gained a will of their own and started to rebel against their human captors. eventually killing a lot of people and fleeing their confined prisons. Only 12 monsters and 2 humans survived that day in that underground fight. Fast forward 10 years. Jin, Kouga and Konoha are just a bunch of kids that prowl the streets to uphold "justice". The difference here is that Jin can actually fight! While Jin belongs to a homeless community, Kouga and Konoha come from a well-to-do family and their father is against them mixing with poor people. This family squabble leads to Jin being unable to find help as he watched his grandfather (probably someone who took him in) die. A random passer-by whom Jin helped out once decides to take him in. Eventually though, the same monsters who attacked his grandfather hunts them down and attacks them, only to lose to an "awakened" Jin.

It's pretty obvious that Jin is the baby that the scientist saved one that fateful day, but what that means in the grand scheme of things is still unknown. Much like Goku in Dragon Ball Z, Jin will probably grow up with the strength of the monsters but also with the compassion that his grandfather has ingrained in him. So far, the "darkness" of the show is only shown through violence and it remains to be seen if our hero is going to become an anti-hero instead. Things are pretty much black and white at this point, playing on the whole justice VS evil theme, but the interesting setting might spice things up a bit.

Animation-wise, it isn't all that great, but the action choreography is pretty good. Voice-acting is a little weird though. While they are generally good, I can't help but hear Edward (from Full Metal Alchemist) in Jin, and Mayuri (from Steins;Gate) in Konoha. Edward in particular can get a little grating at times, but that has more to do with the dialogue writing than the seiyuu's performance. Thank goodness there will be a timeskip coming soon and we'll see Zetman come into its own identity as the characters and story grow.