Following the credits, we meet up with Iria who is brokering a deal with some werido bad guy and his two goons for the return of an ancient artifact. The deal is being made through Iria's partner, the insane Fujikuro. The deal goes bad and a Power Rangers-style fight ensues. It ends with the duo being called back to their apartment by Iria's other partner, the computer Bob.
They then learn that they have a new backup unit arriving nearby, a robot. Yes, Zeiram. However, as Iria arrives at the drop point, she is met by the baddie from earlier. This time he brought a horde of friends, all of them intent on taking down Iria. Zeiram has a different idea of how to deal with the mass of bad guy bodies. I'll let you figure that one out.
Anyway, this is where the movie begins to take better form. The players are all in place, Fujikuro is revealed to be treacherous, looking to take the artifact for himself, a couple of humans, Teppei and Kumiya, are getting in on the fun, and Zeiram revels itself as the next mission.
The gang is transported into "The Zone," a standalone battlefield that replicates where they just were. This makes it easier to destroy things indiscriminately. What comes next is an ever escalating battle between Iria and the Zeiram unit that sees the appearance of a variety weapons, some nice staged action (yes, even with the budget constraints), and even a few explosions. Oh yes, there is also this bizarre alien dog thing that almost defies explanation.
While nearly the entire second half of the movie is a battle sequence, it is constructed in such a way that there is a natural progression to the escalation of aggressions that benefits the story. Fujikuro is trying to get away with the artifact, Iria is trying to stop Zeiram, Teppei and Kumiya are trying to help while staying alive, and Zeiram just wants to destroy. Watching some of this makes me think that Charles Band would be proud — some of the puppetry is very reminiscent of his Demonic Toys.
The movie comes to a close pretty much as one would expect. What I didn't expect was the considerable tension that builds. As the fighting becomes more personal and with more players involved, the tension is palpable. You can really feel for everyone involved as you wonder how it will end, even realizing what the end will be.
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