List of The Big O episodes

This is a list of episodes of the anime series The Big O (THE ビッグオー). The series is directed by Kazuyoshi Katayama and animated by the Japanese animation studio Sunrise. The series follows Roger Smith, Paradigm City's top Negotiator.

The first season of the series premiered on 13 October 1999 on WOWOW with the episode "Roger the Negotiator" and concluded with "R.D." on 19 January 2000. Starting on 2 April, The Big O aired two times on the Cartoon Network: once during the afternoon Toonami block at 5:30 PM, and once at 12:30 AM during Toonami: Midnight Run; the 12:30 AM showing was the premiere and the more publicized 5:30 PM showing a rerun. Even at its late hour, The Big O was shown in edited form. In anticipation of the premiere of The Big O: Season Two, the first thirteen episodes were re-aired, completely un-cut, on the Adult Swim block.

Originally a thirteen-episode series, positive international fan response resulted in a second season co-produced by Cartoon Network, Sunrise, and Bandai Visual. The Big O: Season Two premiered on 2 January 2003 on SUN-TV with the episode "Roger the Wanderer" and concluded with "The Show Must Go On" on 27 March 2003. The American premiere took place seven months later. On the night the final episode was to air, 26 October, the viewers were treated to a rerun of episode 20, "Stripes". This resulted in the Adult Swim message boards being flooded with complaints by fans. After an apology from Kim Manning, programming director for Adult Swim, the final episode of The Big O was aired on 2 November at 11:00 PM.

The first opening theme is the Queen-inspired "Big-O!" Composed, arranged and performed by Rui Nagai, the song resembles the theme to the Flash Gordon film. The second opening theme is "Respect," composed by Sahashi. The track is an homage to the music of Gerry Anderson's UFO, composed by Barry Gray. In 2007, Rui Nagai composed "Big-O! Show Must Go On," a 1960s hard rock piece, for Animax's reruns of the show. The closing theme is the slow love ballad "And Forever," written by Chie and composed by Ken Shima. The duet is performed by Robbie Danzie and Naoki Takao.