Hades Project Zeorymer: Separation [DVD]

Amazon.com Masato, the teen-aged hero of this 1988 sci-fi adventure, discovers he was a test-tube baby, created to pilot the enormous mecha Zeorymer. Fifteen years earlier, a renegade scientist stole it from the Hau Dragon Corporation. Yuratei, the head of the company, plans to use it and her other robots to conquer the world and become "Queen of the Underworld." Although she's apparently done nothing for 15 years, Yuratei wants Zeorymer back, and dispatches her henchmen in mecha to capture it. Masato immediately bonds with Zeorymer. Like Shinji in Evangelion, he initially balks at harming the human robot-pilots--then a sadistic alter-ego takes over who gleefully savages any and all opponents. As there are only four half-hour episodes of Hades Project, splitting them between two discs seems a bit chintzy. (Rated 13 and older, but more appropriate for over 16: violence, nudity, torture, sexual situations) --Charles Solomon