Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to The Big O, that exceptional mix of noir and giant robots that we all enjoy so much. Well, at least I’m greatly enjoying it; it’s a delight simply exploring the diverse sights of Paradigm, and Roger and Dorothy have made for dynamic, endearing tour guides.
Along with the show’s excellent art design and likable cast, what I most appreciate about The Big O is its willingness to embrace the weirdest consequences of its genre mix. While it’d be easy to construct a series of propulsive, action-packed murder-mysteries in the context of this world, The Big O has instead embraced both gothic horror and noir’s tendency towards ambiguity and even surrealism, frequently spending more time luxuriating in the atmosphere of Paradigm’s mysteries than following clues towards a destined end. Personally, I think ambiguity and atmosphere tend to be far more effective worldbuilding tools than outright exposition; through presenting a world with a rich sense of place but no clear answers, The Big O grounds us in the day-to-day experience of Paradigm, while implying there is more to this world than we could ever know. Let’s sift through the detritus of the sleeping city, as we explore a new episode of The Big O!
Episode 6
This opening keeps promising a sequence of Norman firing a mounted machine gun while also carrying a mop and bucket for some reason. The show damn well better keep that promise
Also Dorothy sitting on top of a missile bay attached to the back of a motorcycle. The disconnect between this OP’s tone and the show itself remains enormous
We open staring up at a belltower, and then once again pan across the gargoyles of a local church, a shot the show has used before. An efficient way of reestablishing this world’s mix of medieval grandeur and cold modernity
I’m definitely someone who’s particularly fond of stories that ground themselves in a unique, evocative sense of place – where the setting is essentially one of the major characters, be it a fantastical setting like this, or even something like K-On!’s incredibly familiar club room. Though my principle artistic focus is character writing, we are all in many ways products of our environments, and thus I feel it is difficult to truly know a character unless you feel like you’ve stood in their world. Narrative events mean little to me divorced from the context of their occurrence; learning how a moment felt, which is a product of both characterization and stage-setting, is what provides that moment dramatic meaning
Incidentally, this is also a reason I tend to dislike most isekai productions. They tend to handwave their worldbuilding with a vague “imagine we’re all playing Dragon Quest,” disregarding the pursuit of a felt, lived-in reality from the start
“A Legacy of Amadeus.” A title referencing Mozart, as Dorothy once more performs her morning piano routine
God, I love the design of Roger’s bedroom. Just this perfect mix of art deco and retro-futurist architecture, with the lamps and colors evoking art deco’s perception of societal grandeur, while the dynamic angles and minimalism seem drawn from a “vision of the future” from a ‘50s dime store novel. Paradigm is very specifically designed as a city stranded in the past but looking towards the future; its bones are old and gothic, but it dreams of the bright future as imagined by the ‘30s, the ‘50s, and beyond
In order to convey the strange, fluid inhumanity of Dorothy’s movements, the show animates her hands with more cuts per second than usual, likely animating them on twos (meaning every second frame is a new drawing)
Roger’s taking Dorothy to meet an old friend. At last, a new Roger-Dorothy episode!
This car’s suspension is way too low for Roger to keep driving it like this
Oh my god, is he just going to get her music lessons? Beautiful
Apparently Amadeus is the name of a restaurant. Whenever we get into the seedier parts of the city, this show’s shared staff with Cowboy Bebop becomes clear; the background art design feels unmistakable
Oh damn, the performer is a robot as well!
The bar is all in lime or faded green as well, which shares the spotlight with violet as the most art deco of all colors
Musical performance really is like magic. Personal experience can be translated into emotive performance with basically nothing lost in the conversion
We pan past an ornament in the background that looks like a glowing traffic light. All of this city is one cohesive organism
Instro is the pianist, who was created by the founder of this bar, Amadeus. Like Dorothy, Instro’s father loved to watch him perform
And now we meet Mr. Gisang, who’s the most villainous looking dude I have ever seen, with wild mad scientist hair, an oversized crimson monocle, and a preposterous top hat. He’s also a dead ringer for Dr. Caligari, who I assume inspired this look
Excellent shot portraying Roger as trapped between the “bars” of an upturned chair, reflected in the red of Gisang’s monocle. This show loves entrapping Roger visually
The graceful, clean curves of the piano’s innards fuse naturally with The Big O’s inherently sparse and angular linework, making for a beautiful shot as we pan upwards from the piano towards Dorothy at practice
As usual, the actual “mystery” part of this narrative is almost vestigial – Roger simply checks in with his police force buddy, who confirms that Gisang was Amadeus’ partner, and is likely up to no good. The priority here is not to present a twist-filled detective drama; the bones of the mystery narrative are largely here to provide structure and a sense of forward momentum to a story that’s most fundamentally about the felt experience of being an android in this city, and what dreams a character like Instro or Dorothy might aspire to
Roger pulls out a multitool to break into Amadeus, and then Dorothy just pushes the locked door over. “Dorothy is a million times stronger than Roger” will continue to be a great gag for as long as Roger continues to take himself this seriously
“Please, you must bring him back safely.” Dorothy relates intimately to Instro’s story, and through that, has come to care about him as well. It also seems like she’s discovered a lack in herself – Instro’s undeniably passionate music have made her realize she wants to grow as well
Their quest takes them out of the city proper, to a bleak and deforested wilderness. Paradigm tends to simply board up the past and build a new world on top of it; as Roger’s journeys progress, they send him outside of that sunlit surface, and into the resting grounds of the city’s former selves
Gisang’s secret is, drum roll please, he was building a giant robot. The boneless swaying of this robot’s arms remind me strongly of Evangelion’s Jet Alone
“My father built it. And I… am his instrument.” I see what you did there. It’s the same tragic situation as Dorothy – their parents built them to be capable of so much more than being used as weapons, but lacked either the imagination or empathy to let their children achieve their own potential
And of course, all this reflects back on Paradigm’s residents in general, who are all burdened to obey the vague blueprint of their amnesiac city
Instro is actually winning the battle against the Big O, but Dorothy’s melody reminds him of his own desires. Everyone in this world is hoping to break free of the roles they’ve been assigned, or resigning themselves to carrying on the patterns of the past
And while Roger fails to convince Instro he deserves to return to the piano, Dorothy sharing what she has gained from his tutelage does the trick. Extremely tidy, efficient character work this episode
And Done
Damn, that was basically a perfect episode! You all probably know I’m a sucker for a good episode with a music theme, but Instro’s story this episode really did serve as a terrific vehicle for Dorothy’s development, while also neatly echoing Paradigm’s overarching thematic conflict. And because this story was so centered on the personal feelings of Instro and Dorothy, rather than a larger conspiracy within Paradigm, it never felt like the actual storytelling was either rushed or awkwardly simplified – its structure was clean and elegant, while leaving plenty of room to luxuriate in the feelings of the characters, and the atmosphere of Paradigm’s more intimate corners. The Big O continues to impress at every turn.
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