Happy Birthday, Shotaro Ishinomori!

With all the hype we have for the 40th Anniversary of Kamen Rider and the 35th Anniversary of Super Sentai, we almost forgot the birthday of one important man who changed manga, anime and superhero shows forever, that man is Shotaro Ishinomori!

Born as Shotaro Onodera in January 25, 1938, he was 8 or 9 when modern manga first appeared, he started submitting his amateur works at the age of 12, it was until his 16 when his first story (the first manga he did was a picture story), Second Class Angel was published in Manga Shonen around 1955. Osamu Tezuka was impressed with his drawings thus, he ended up moving in Tezuka's new studio and became his assistant. That is why most of Ishinomori's early works kinda look liked Tezuka's.

It was at the year 1959 he set on his own and began using the pen name, Ishimori to inaugurate his "new life" as an artist. But it was in the year 1964 when he will become well known for his masterpiece, Cyborg 009 and like what they say, the rest is history.

Now you are wondering, how did he end up in making Kamen Rider?! Well it was because of a producer named Toru Hirayama who want to make a new kid's show and with a help of a friend approached Ishinomori for the character designs. Because of CrossFire's design (the name of the hero before Kamen Rider came to be), Toei agreed and thus, Ishinomori ended up having the Original Creator credit while Hirayama having the Producer credit.

But because of Ishinomori wanting to have changes in the last minute, we never have this hero but instead, Ishinomori wanted an adaptation of his manga, Skull Man! Since it is too scary for kids and it is not sure if the advertisers will buy it, they redesigned it with the grasshopper as an inspiration, thus Kamen Rider was born... and so is the partnership between the two which later created, Himitsu Sentai Goranger, JAKQ Dengekitai, Kaiketsu Zubat, Kikaida, Inazuman and more!

Asides from his heores, he also did serious and realistic manga titles back in the 80's such as The Cartoon Introduction to the Japanese Economy which became a surprise bestseller! It was later published in the US as Japan, Inc. This title talks about the boom of the Japanese economy back in the 80's. The other was Hotel which is an adult manga that talks about the lives and careers of the management and staff of Hotel Platon. It is also during that time on the 30th Anniversary of his career as an artist that he changed his name into, Ishinomori.

What makes this man awesome, asides that he created a lot of heroes that continues to inspire a lot of people, he is the current title holder of Guinness Book of World Records title for: Most Comics Published by One Author! What's amazing is that in Japan, he is hailed as the King of Manga, next to Tezuka who is hailed as the God of Manga!

Even if this man is gone for more than a decade, his spirit will continue to live on with his works as he continues to inspire a lot of people with his stories that are quite advanced during his time and the legacy of the heroes he created. So from all of us here, Happy Birthday, Ishinomori-sensei!

"When an era needs it, Kamen Rider will definitely return." - Shotaro Ishinomori

References: Anime News Network, Henshin Hall of Fame (Link 1, Link 2), Igadevil's Kamen Rider Page, ISHIMORI@STYLE, Skull Man Vol. 1 (Tokyopop), Wikipedia (Link 1, Link 2)

Also, special thanks to the people at 4chan's /m/ board for reminding me of his birthday!

Cyborg 009 (1968) 01 – The Terror of Monster Island Review

Before there was Kamen Rider, before there was Gatchaman, before there was Goranger, before Marvel decided to cooperated with Toei and create a Spider-Man (or Supaidaman) toku with a giant robot, which will be later used in the technically first Super Sentai, Battle Fever J. And most especially, before Saban decided to create a cheap children’s show based on footage of a Japanese kid’s show, there was Cyborg 009! Yup, here is the review of Cyborg 009 in his black and white glory. Is it really a kid’s show? Yes, it is.

The episode is about not the origins of the nine cyborgs but about three guys who escaped from prison and was used by two scientist named Dracula and Semushi who are the ones responsible with the prison break with the help of their giant rat.

Their purpose? To experiment on a couple of humans of course and obviously, our three convicts will be experimented and turned into giants but the fat convict wasn’t captured and ends with Joe (009) and Francoise (003) and they end up being part of this mess. And so, our four heroes (?!) take action on finding the other two convicts while trying to make the other convict that was infected by a bug to cause him not to talk!

(First pic) Umm, he is using an encyclopedia (second pic) Call Hibiki! NOW!

In case you are wondering why they are only mentioned four and not nine, that is because in this episode, only cyborgs 006, 007, 009 and 003 are introduced. 001 was briefly mentioned because he is the one that 003 must take care of (which I assume the baby) but he never made an appearance aside from the opening credits. To be honest, introducing only four cyborgs at the first episode is pretty smart considering that if all nine are introduced and considering the target audience, it will cause kids a hard time to cope up with the number of cyborgs running around the screen!

Since there are four cyborgs that are introduced, let’s break them up. 009 aka Joe Shimamura is what you can consider as the leader of the group. I was wondering the who time what is his powers considering that he prefers shooting enemies than to show off. Basing on this episode, he has a better body structure compared to a regular man since he can jump high (Rider Jump?) and that’s it.

006 and 007 share quite a friendship and in this duo, 007 stood out for me, asides that he has the ability to shape shift, he is what you can say the slacker in the group. He doesn’t want to take responsibilities and just wants to play games. Plus, in this episode, he is a badass. What makes it more awesome is that he was voiced by Machiko Soga aka Rita Repulsa of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers or if you are a Super Sentai purist, Witch Bandora of Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger! Add the fact that his real name is, wait for it, Great Britain!

006 is the fat guy of the group and the chef. He can breathe fire and that’s it. As for 003, she is the mother of the group who strongly believes that 009 and the others can do it even without her help and she will help the team if she believes that the team (that is outside) is on a pinch. As of now, her powers is something related to sonar, it is not that clear. And for Doctor Gilmore, the mentor that has Doctor Elefun’s nose from Tetsuwan Atom (err… Astro Boy).

Episode involves evil squirrels and convicts in steroids.

As for the plot, it is indeed a story aimed for a kid’s show. It is simple, understandable and direct to the point. You don’t need any background knowledge on how they end up as cyborgs, all you need to know is that they are cyborgs at the beginning of the series with Joe knowing that the Japanese police are the best of the world. No wonder fans of the manga are quite pissed off with the anime! According to what I have read, the manga is darker compared to the original anime with topics about racism, politics and other political topics in the 60’s that are considered to deep during that time are being talked about. The only thing that bothered me with the plot of the first ep is that why do the giants revert back to normal after 007 beat them up?

... along with giant rats with police shooting at it and 006 cooking a giant crab!

As for the art, it is somewhat similar to Osamu Tezuka’s art, not surprised considering that Ishinomori-sensei once worked as an assistant for Tezuka-sensei! As for the animation, if I will rate it in today’s standards, you might say it is average-ish but if I will rate it during that time, it is quite good considering the technology they had back then.

Overall, the first episode is one fun episode to watch with 007 stealing the show most of the time (which is epic!) and 003 acting like a damsel in distress at the near end of the episode. The only problem with this episode is the lack of origin story. How they ended up as cyborgs and why the nine of them band together and why at least one country is represented by the cyborgs (Joe is Japanese, Francoise is French, Chan/006 is Chinese and Great is well, British)? Also, where are the other five cyborgs?

Cyborg 009 (1968) & Casshern Now Subbed!

009 in his black and white glory.

I just recently discovered a fan subbing group called, The Skaro Hunting Society which subs anime shows back in the 60's (yes, it is in black and white) and the 70's and to my surprise, the 1968 version of Cyborg 009 and the original Casshern anime are subbed!

Based on Shotaro Ishinomori's popular manga, Cyborg 009 is about nine cyborgs that were modified by the evil Black Ghost organization. These nine cyborgs band together to stop the said organization whose goal goal is to start the next world war, by supplying any rich buyers with their choice of countless weapons of war and mass destruction.

The original manga was too dark at that time and the anime was aimed to of course, to the kids. Making fans of the manga quite disappointed. But is the original anime too kid friendly? It is for us to see! So far, only seven episodes of this classic anime are subbed and you can check it here!

Probably, one of the most brutal anime titles that Tatsunoko Productions produced. Created by Tatsuo Yoshida, Neo-Human Casshern is about a man named Tetsuya Azuma who decides to transform himself into a cyborg known as Casshern and along with his dog, Friender, they will stop Braiking Boss and his army of robots in conquering Earth!

Currently, the first episode of the series is subbed, and hopefully they can place a Megaupload direct download link in the future! You can check it here, by the way.

Cyborg 009 Anime Wallpaper

Cyborg 009 Anime Wallpaper

Cyborg 009 Anime Wallpaper

Cyborg 009 Anime Wallpaper