Hades Project Zeorymer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hades Project Zeorymer
冥王計画[プロジェクト]ゼオライマー
(Purojekuto Zeoraimā)
Genre Drama, Mecha, Psychological, Science Fiction
Manga
Author Chimi Morio
Publisher Flag of Japan Kubō Shoten
Tokuma Shoten
Serialized in Lemon People
Monthly Comic Ryū
Original run October 1983 – August 2007
Volumes 1
OVA
Director Toshihiro Hirano
Studio AIC
Episodes 4
Released 1988-11-26 (ep. 1)
1989-06-28 (ep. 2)
1989-12-20 (ep. 3)
1990-02-21 (ep. 4)

Hades Project Zeorymer (冥王計画[プロジェクト]ゼオライマー Purojekuto Zeoraimā?) is a manga by Yoshiki Takaya, written under the pen name Chimi Morio, and published in the adult manga magazine Lemon People from October 1983 to November 1984. A three-part finale was serialized in Monthly Comic Ryū in 2007. A four episode OVA adaptation by AIC tones down the explicit sexual content and deviates entirely from the manga storyline and setting.

Contents

[edit] Anime Plot

Set in the near future, a secret feudal monarchy led by an empress and named 'Hau Dragon' (鉄甲龍[ハウ・ドラゴン]) uses, as a front, a firm 'International Electronic Brains' and has built a set of eight giant robots, each possessing a power based upon the eight elements of earth, fire, water, air, thunder, mountains, the moon and the heavens. However, one of them, Zeorymer of the Heavens, has been stolen and the main character, fifteen-year-old Masato Akitsu, is forced into piloting it with a mysterious girl named Miku Himuro.

Zeorymer possesses an energy based weapon called the "Dimensional Coupler Cannon" that appears almost telekinetic in nature; by holding its fist in the air, or aiming it at a target, energy strobes across the orb and causes a large explosion to engulf whatever enemy it is directed against. These orbs can also fire beams of golden-hued energy (labeled as the Energy Wave attack) which can cause massive damage, and project a forcefield which seems nearly impenetrable. The robot itself is also incredibly durable: in the third episode, it was struck with a weapon that left an effect similar to that of a nuclear warhead, yet suffered only minimal damage. Zeorymer of the Heavens is able to hover, fly, teleport unspecified distances, and possesses an incredibly potent weapon known as the Meiou Attack: when it lifts its arms in the air then lowers them across its chest, slamming its fists together or against the large golden orb on its chest, the robot releases a huge blast of golden energy that, at full power, can cause an explosion visible from space (inferring the power of several gigatons at least, though even on lower settings this final weapon seems equal to most nuclear weapons in scale). When this attack is activated, a mysterious voice, possibly Zeorymer's itself, can be heard saying "Meiou," the attack's name.

The first of the seven remaining Hau Dragon robots Zeorymer faces is the air-based robot known as Lanstar of the Winds, piloted by Taiha, the lover of Hau Dragon ruler Yuratei. Lanstar is smaller in build but slimmer than Zeorymer, denoting less overall protection but seeming to exhibit greater speed and agility, though they appear to be the same height. Lanstar of the Winds has a pair of huge mechanical wings on its back which seem to be the source of its powers, which are focused around creating and controlling intense air currents. To this end it can generate, at will, "sharp" planes of wind, tornadoes, or even release its signature Dead Long Fuun attack wherein Lanstar projects four streams of incredibly intense air currents that combine into the shape of a serpentine dragon. This intense wind blast creates a vortex of wind so powerful when it strikes a target that it was easily capable of stripping stone and earth from the ground and even causing some damage to Zeorymer's armor.

The second and third robots encountered by Zeorymer were Breist of the Fire and Gallowin of the Water. They were piloted by two identical twins, who seemed to despise one another, much like water repels fire, though it is the "fire" sister Shi-Aen who is more level-headed and controlled while her "water" sister Shi-Tau is hotheaded and untamed. Both Briest and Gallowin possessed what appeared to be several unspecified energy weapons - most of which were left unnamed - though they boasted two incredibly powerful combo attacks: Twin Lords and Twin Flare. The former had them use their primary weapons (Gallowin's twin particle beams, the Beam Searchers, and Briest's shoulder mounted Magna Flares) which are fired at one another. When they impact they result in what can only be described as a huge nuclear detonation capable of tremendous damage; next to Zeorymer's final attack it is one of the most powerful seen in the series. The latter attack, Twin Flare, is when the two robots link into one another and form twin beam cannons which, while powerful, pales in comparison to the Twin Lords attack.

The fourth Hau Dragon robot to attack was Rose C'est La Vie of the Moon, who was piloted by Ritsu, an asexual man who hid his woman-like face behind a steel mask. Rose C'est La Vie was among the most powerful single combatants ever seen in the series and was easily the most powerful Hau Dragon robot besides Zeorymer of the Heavens itself. Rose C'est La Vie was literally loaded with weapons: his chest contained four beam cannons, one beam cannon was hidden in each leg, each of its ten fingers could fire a beam of energy, and when all ten on each hand were combined they formed the Moon Beam Swords, twin energy blades powerful enough to cut through seemingly anything. Finally Rose C'est La Vie possessed a weapon which rivaled even Zeorymer's final attack, known as the J-Kaiser. Parts of Rose C'est La Vie's armor would disconnect and form a gargantuan energy cannon, and three small pods were launched into orbit. They would beam energy down to Rose C'est La Vie, which would project it out as a blast of energy from the J-Kaiser cannon so powerful it left huge craters in the ground and could even shoot a hole through mountains

After three failed attempts to destroy Zeorymer, Yuratei finally dispatched her last three remaining robots: Omzack of the Thunder, Dinodilos of the Earth, and Burrstone of the Mountains, piloted by Saiga, Rokfel, and Giso respectively. Giso seemed to have strong feelings for Rokfel, but she seemed to have similar feelings for Saiga. Saiga was, in turn, a sociopathic man who cared for little other than proving himself the most powerful of all and boasted that his robot Omzack was the strongest Hau Dragon machine ever, which would later end ironically for him.

Their three robots were only featured briefly in the fourth and final episode and so they were not well understood, though some things were made clear: Burrstone was a heavy support robot who mounted over five hundred missiles in various launchers, ranging from normal cruise missiles and guided weapons to hugely powerful atomic bombs capable of destroying several miles of landscape, and also seemed to be incredibly well-armored with huge plates covering its entire body. Dinodilos's powers were ill-defined but it appeared have the ability to, by inserting its huge arms into the ground, control underground magma flows causing geysers of magma and huge earthquakes, and could also have limited control over earth itself. Omzack's powers, despite Saiga's boasts, are in fact never fully shown; while it handily destroyed an entire carrier group in a single massive explosion and was said to possess the "photon lightning system", Omzack of the Thunder proved an utter failure in battle because of Saiga's overconfidence and short sightedness.

It should be noted that the Hau Dragon possessed at least one other mecha - their own flying fortress - but it seemed to be rather helpless without the seven robots to defend it. Additionally, the manga introduced the Great Zeorymer, an even more powerful form of Zeorymer of the Heavens possessing many of the attacks of all eight Hau Dragon robots, but it never materialized in the actual anime series.

[edit] Notes and Trivia

  • The machines are named after one set of Sino-Japanese mythological elements which has eight components (fire, water, mountain, lightning, etc.).
  • One scene is set in "Aokigahara," a forest renowned for suicides in Japan.

[edit] Relation to Super Robot Wars

Zeorymer has been a relatively obscure title even in Japan, as its reviews were generally lukewarm.[citation needed] However, its appearances in the games Super Robot Wars MX and Super Robot Wars Judgement - yet two of many in a series of very popular anime mecha crossover games - Zeorymer is an incredibly powerful unit, so much so that players of the series widely consider it to be overpowered and one of the biggest factors in making the mentioned games' difficulty among the easiest in the series.

Great Zeorymer made its game debut in Super Robot Wars J, even more powerful than the original and having access to the ultimate attacks of all eight Hau Dragon robots, in some cases even being able to utilize two of them during a single attack. Like the original Zeorymer, not only is its Meiou Attack extremely powerful when used against a single enemy, but it also sports a multitarget version of this attack that when fully upgraded is by far the most powerful MAP weapon in the game. However, the requirements for unlocking this unit are very strict, and doing so prevents the player from recruiting several other secret characters.

[edit] Sources