In the pantheon of mecha anime, Gundam far and away reigns supreme. But even with its numerous popular releases, one of the franchises that dared to challenge the industry titan was Zoids. While there are a few releases in the franchise, it’s Zoids: New Century that directly got a chance at going toe-to-toe with its rival mecha series on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block back in 2001. The show represented a shift from Gundam’s mobile suits, which were giant, humanlike robots to animal robots called Zoids.
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New Century wasn’t the first in the franchise to be released, however it is the most well-known title in the United States, as it was the initial English dub release. The series only lasted 26 episodes and didn’t have any ensuing season. However, it introduced the United States to Zoids. And it was such a strong introduction that the series deserved to have way more episodes going on to the same success.
Zoids Could’ve Been a Bigger Deal on Toonami
Zoids: New Century follows scrap dealer Bit Cloud, who accidentally stumbles upon a Zoid battle featuring the Blitz Team. He joins the team and becomes the pilot of the Liger Zero. A Zoid that no one can pilot which also happens to be the sought-after Ultimate X, a Zoid that can adapt and communicate with its pilot. Bit quickly connects with the machine and is found to be the only one that can control it.
The anime mostly goes from team battle to team battle with the shadowy organization the Backdraft Group lurking in the background attempting to capture the Liger Zero and other Ultimate X Zoids. Throughout the series, the Liger gets more power ups to counter different Zoids with the Jager (speed boost), Schneider (close-range, blade combat) and Panzer (long-range, tank combat) upgrades. It creates more variety for the battles and offers less predictability.
Zoids Is Light on Plot But Packs Tons of Fun
Zoids certainly doesn’t broach as many adult topics as the Gundam franchise. The stakes are much lower as it focuses more on the tournament battles and less on war and death. Zoids: New Century is more like the Pokemon of the mecha world, as Bit carries a connection with Liger Zero the same way Ash connects with Pikachu. It’s got great action, but it’s built for a younger audience, which is far from a bad thing. Anime like these clearly have a place in with their respective demographics.
The battle art style was also an appreciated part of the entire package. It was one of the first notable anime releases on Toonami to combine CG with more traditional hand drawn animation. The lines and pixels were cleaner on the Zoids, and looked more lifelike with their movements. It doesn’t hold up as well now looking back on it all, but it was ahead of its time when it was released a quarter century ago. It’s a franchise that just hasn’t been able to stick, which is unfortunate.
Zoids started its run on television in 1999 in Japan, but hasn’t had a series last for more than 67 episodes with only six series in total. The franchise is known more for its model kits that’ve been a popular for years and rival gunpla in Japan by comparison, so a continuation of the series or a reboot would be welcome. It’s not as popular as Gundam, but the nostalgia factor coupled with a well-built show would offer a nice addition to the mecha genre.
Not to mention, competition brings out the best for everyone. Gundam has dominated for years, and it could use a rival or just something different which Zoids was back then. Would another Zoids entry be welcome in anime? Let us know in the comments.
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