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The Big O

Series, 1999, The TOM years, Set in Paradigm City

The Big O is #13 of 16 in release order and #13 of 16 in chronological order in the Toonami Classics.

The story

Forty years ago, the minds of Paradigm City's inhabitants were wiped clean of all recollections of the past. Now, ruled by a powerful corporation and cut off from the rest of the world by desolate wastelands, Paradigm has become a virtual police state where Negotiators like Roger Smith keep the wheels of progress, commerce, and society turning.

The Big O recap

Forty years ago, an event known only as the Event erased the memories of everyone in Paradigm City, a domed city run by the Paradigm Corporation. Roger Smith is the city's top negotiator, working with his butler Norman and Dorothy, an android girl. When negotiations fail, Roger calls on Big O, a giant robot called a megadeus, to fight other giant machines and monsters. Cases bring him up against the corporation's head, Alex Rosewater, the vicious Schwarzwald, the terrorist Vera and others, and keep putting him in the path of Angel, a mysterious woman looking for her past. The first 13 episodes ended on a cliffhanger, and a second season was made in 2003 with Cartoon Network's backing, revealing more about the city and its memories.

The Big O ending explained

In the final episodes, Alex Rosewater pilots the megadeus Big Fau against Big O, and then Angel, revealed as the one who created Paradigm City's reality, appears as a giant megadeus, Big Venus, and starts erasing the world. Roger asks her to let go of the past, Big O and Big Venus merge, and reality resets. The last scene shows Roger driving through a restored Paradigm City, watched by Dorothy and Angel.

Ratings

IMDb 7.5/10

Where it fits

Cast