"Jinjou Ningen Kikaida" - A remake of an old and famous live action "robot boy" series from the 70's. It is an interesting blend of updated but still old fashioned character designs and modern background CG. (Dave Baranyi)The following anime opening probably sounds very familiar:
It is a dark, rainy night in the forest with lightning and thunder making the atmosphere even more ominous. Inside a dark, castle-like building is a mad scientist who is turning on the switches on a room full of Frankenstein-style equipment while a humanoid figure stands still in a big glass cylinder filled with pink liquid. At the same time, the mad scientist's teen-aged daughter is at home a little ways away, reading the opening part of the original "Pinocchio" story to her younger brother who is quickly falling asleep.
Back at the laboratory, things are going well when suddenly the power cuts out and an ominous, non-human figure shows up a window. We notice that there is an orange glow coming from the eyes of the humanoid figure in the cylinder, but at that point the scientist pushes one last button. The scene changes to the outside of the laboratory, which suddenly blows up in a huge blast of flames. The scientist's daughter hears the blast and feels the force of it as she sits and reads. She runs to the window and sees the night sky aglow with flames from the direction of the laboratory.
Meanwhile we see the scientist running through the forest away from the destroyed laboratory, but he stumbles, falls and when he looks up he is confronted by the same huge non-human figure he saw through the window back at the lab, which now looks like a giant mechanical rhinoceros. Next to it are a giant mechanical praying mantis and an evil looking older man who is dressed like a sorcerer. When the scientist's daughter reaches the laboratory all she sees is destruction. The next day she goes back with her brother and the police, but there is no sign of her father.
At the same time that morning, we switch views to a nearby meadow in which sits a teen-aged boy, dressed in an old fashioned blue school uniform with goggles sitting in his hair and a guitar strapped to his back. He doesn't know who his is, where he is or even what he looks like. Wandering along, he helps two boys get their rubber band airplane out of a tree by smashing down the huge tree with a simple push. The two boys run off terrified.
What I've described fits the opening of many anime and live action shows, particularly Japanese shows of the 60's and 70's. But despite the fact that this anime is on the Japanese satellite channel, "The Kids Station", it isn't an old repeat. Instead, "Jinjou Ningen Kikaida" ( "Artificial Humanoid Kikaida" ) is modern remake of an old 1970's live action show which was based on the works of Okamura Tensai. And even more surprisingly, this new show artfully combines 2D and 3D CG with a character design and setting which faithfully capture the "spirit" of the classic 60's and 70's shows, while still being subtly up-to-date.
Certainly, last year's enjoyable remake of another old live action adventure show, "Gekkokamen-kun", covered similar ground, but "Gekkokamen-kun" was a light-hearted "tribute" of sorts to the original series. "Jinjou Ningen Kikaida", on the other hand, is a serious remake of it's earlier manifestation.
Now, seriousness can sometimes be the kiss of death for a modern action series, but, at least for the first episode of "Jinjou Ningen Kikaida" the drama, action and mystery come together and work surprisingly well. From the initial previews I had expected the show to be virtually unwatchable, as are many of the old, original series from the 60's and 70's. But instead, it turned out to be a surprisingly engrossing pilot and I am looking forward to seeing more of this series.
(Dave Baranyi)
Dave,
Your comment on Jinzou Ningen Kikaida the Animation was quite close with my
impresson. It was one of the BEST of this season.
But I wanted to dispute your comment in the following phrase
" the show to be virtually unwatchable, as are many of the old, original series from the 60's and 70's "
Many 60s and 70s classics were definitely enjoyable and were sometimes
more enjoyable than recent anime/live action. The tension and emotion in those
shows were really good and beyond the age.
(CALCI)
Jinzou Ningen Kikaida THE ANIMATION was inspired by the live action,
monster suit stunt show from the 70s, shot by Toei. But this was the first
time it has become an animation. Surprisingly, this stuff was quite truthful
to the original Ishinomori's manga's look-and-feel, and you will feel
as if his manga started moving. His round shaped, delicately unique
artworks have reproduced PERFECTLY, and fit with the dark theme
of this series, which wasn't perfectly expressed in the live action.
And not only it was well done, but this was actually one of the best
Ishinomori's based anime so far. It is a great irony that good anime
stuff came since after the original artist died, but this was common
also with Tezuka Osamu's animation. Anyway, this series was
THE BEST TV anime series in this fall season.
Only broadcasted from CS's Kids Station by SkyPerfecTV on every
Monday. Highly recommended. Rating A.
(CALCI)
