Rating: 
Summary: A brilliant interpretation of a classic
Review: I'm a long time fan of the Masked Rider and live action Kikaider shows, and imported the animation discs from Japan as soon as they were released! I was very impressed!Android Kikaider is a dark, often violent, and incredibly stylish series based around the comics and television series by Shotaro Ishinomori (the creator of "Masked Rider" and "Cyborg 009"). Intelligently written and sometimes quite touching, "Android Kikaider" breaks away from its super hero roots and explores the question of what it truly means to be human. It's a short series (only 12 episodes), and I believe this first disk has eps 1-3.
Rating:
Summary: The Past Comes To The Present
Review: Jinzo Ningen Kikaider--Humanoid Kikaider, Android Kikaider...the show goes by numerous names and began airing Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The series is a remake of a 43-episode live action series popular in Hawaii called "Kikaida," which played out similar to "Ultraman" or "Power Rangers" in terms of the cardboard-box suit robots. Depending on how Bandai plans on packaging the rest of the Kikaider DVDs, it could come out as anywhere from a 13- to a 16-episode series that, while introducing a powerfully deep story, falls victim to too many common anime cliches. The story opens with a scientist, Dr. Kyomoji, attempting to finish a young android. A robot attack orchestrated by the show's biggest villain, Lord/Doctor/Professor Gill, presumably kills off Kyomoji and throws everything into chaos. Later on, his daughter Mitsuko, having found the young android named Jiro, proceeds to try and find what has happened to her father. This constitutes the first main driving force in "Kikaider," the search for Kyomoji, and the protection of his children. The second deals with what Mitsuko finds out about Jiro: inside him is Kyomoji's ultimate creation, the Gemini or Conscience Circuit that allows him to feel emotions, and have a sense to distinguish wrong from right. However, should this circuit malfunction, Jiro must be destroyed because of the danger he presents with his incredible powers, as well as his battle form called "Kikaider." This first volume, and most likely half of the next, will contain your standard hero-vs-villain battles featuring Jiro battling various androids from Professor Gill's DARK organization, each with color/animal related names like Carmine Spider, Golden Bat, Orange Ant and Yellow Jaguar. This is standard, and annoying to a point--you know Jiro is going to win, and you hardly ever get the sense like he is truly in peril. However, everything else aside from the fights and build-up to the fights are excellent. Jiro begins to overhear conversations about "puppets" and returns again and again to a "puppet clock," beginning to question how much of an abnormality his existence is. An extremely important point to the series takes place when Jiro overhears a man playing a guitar and asks to learn how to play. He learns with little difficulty (two lessons maybe) prompting the man not to be amazed, but frightened. Two things grow from this: Jiro's attachment to the guitar, and fear of alienation and discrimination (therefore his desire to become real instead of humanoid, the so-called Pinocchio element of the series). The guitar will play (forgive the pun) an important role in the series, and originally was used in the opening sequence not shown on Cartoon Network. The later episodes turn more serious, more than just your fighting-robots-type anime. Mysteries, all the unanswered questions posed in the earlier episodes, begin to unravel; characters learn new things about themselves and their connections to each other and to other organizations; characters die, re-appear and vanish. There are enough surprises packed into the second half of "Kikaider" to carry it to its heart-wrenching, surprising finale. The big issue for anime fans here has to be the art. Drawn in the old Osamu Tezuka style of AstroBoy, "Kikaider" brings the old-style manga and anime drawings back with all the polished movement of modern anime. The characters aren't correctly proportional or drawn to appear like normal humans. They're drawn similar to the characters in "Cyborg 009" also airing on Cartoon Network, or in "Metropolis" (I recommend picking up an old AstroBoy manga from your local bookstore to see what I mean--plus it gives you perspective on where anime and manga really took off). Noses are too long and pointy or too big and rounded. Hair points sharply to the side or to the back, and will, more often than not, drape "coolly" over the eyes of the show's hero. Eyes are large and expressive for the good guys, slanty and emotionless for the bad guys. The robot drawings--be it the giant robots, the Kikaider combat forms, or the DARK villains--are nothing impressive. The colors are also overdone, sometimes featuring more than six or seven different and strong colors on a single character. You can't see the struggle or the emotion on the face of most robots, meaning you'll have to rely heavily on the vocal performance. Thankfully, the English vocal cast steps up to the task, meaning you won't have to resort to reading subtitles in the always superb Japanese performances. If you're in the older age range that was exposed to "Kikaida" or the older cartoons and anime, this will be something that will definitely interest you. The movement and animation is up to par with the newer animes out there, just with the old-style art, and a good storyline, especially in the second half of this series. If you're younger, you might struggle with the art that isn't quite "DragonBall Z" or "Outlaw Star" or "Trigun." If you can get past that and keep an open mind on the art, you'll enjoy the series.
Rating: 
Summary: A Top Rated Anime
Review: Kikaider is a wonderfull anime if you dont mind the graphics. The message that is sent is powerfull and the action and music and drama.For me, it is one of my top ranking along with inu- yasha, Rurouni Kenshin, trigun and tenchi muyo. I wait anxously for the next dvd and the soundtrack.
Rating:
Summary: A 16 year olds review
Review: Ok, I never saw the original version of "Kikaider" that took place I guess around the 70's or whatever, but I have to say I really enjoyed what I saw when I saw the show on adultswim. Now, I'm not one who really likes watching shows about robots (in fact I kind of stay away from them becuase there's not much that interests me about them), but this show really gave me what I like seeing. And I just got to say that the besides the characters, the graphic background was really good. And the music wasn't half bad either. So I just would really like to recommend this show.
Rating:
Summary: IT'S ALIVE, ITS ALIVE!!!!
Review: One dark and stormy night, Dr. Komyoji, a scientist more interested in robotics than his young son and daughter, brings to life a robot with a human appearance and even a conscience circuit named "Gemini" after the cricket in Pinocchio which in theory should give him freewill. Exactly why he has created this robot named Jiro is a mystery because after the evil Professor Gil destroys the lab and Komyoji's fate is unknown. Professor Gil sends several robots who look like guys wearing monster suits a la Godzilla movies, for example: overweight spiders and mantises who are quite comical looking to destroy Jiro. This is really the only weak point in the series. As Dr Komyoji's two children befriend Jiro in an effort to find out the fate of their father, Mitsuko learns that the Gemini circuit has a flaw in it which must be corrected or Jiro could be vulnerable to evil orders. She decides that if she can't fix the problem, Jiro must be destroyed. Her fears are realized when Jiro attempts to kill her while being controlled by Professor Gil. Realizing that he can never fit in and is a danger to his "family", Jiro flees to the city and tries to lose himself in the crowd. For reasons not exactly clear to herself, Mitsuko hires a detective who walks around dressed like Sherlock Holmes and his partner, who looks like Velma from Scooby Doo to help her locate Jiro. Boy oh boy, where do I start with the Frankenstein and Pinocchio refererences in this series? They aren't bad though. Yes, this is a mecha vs. monster of the week series with the big transformation scenes as Jiro hits the switches on his shoulders and transforms from a human appearance to android to fight against his potbellied attackers. The difference to me is the melancholy tone of it. Jiro wants to fit in and be like everyone else but everyone is always accusing him of being a monster, a freak, a cold machine. Even though the designs of the characters look to imitate the style of 40s and 50s manga, its not too distracting. Reminded me of Metropolis. The detectives bring some comic relief without being goofy. Like I said, the only weak point is the design of Gil's robots. You should check this series out.
Rating:
Summary: IT'S ALIVE, ITS ALIVE!!!!
Review: One dark and stormy night, Dr. Komyoji, a scientist more interested in robotics than his young son and daughter, brings to life a robot with a human appearance and even a conscience circuit named "Gemini" after the cricket in Pinocchio which in theory should give him freewill. Exactly why he has created this robot named Jiro is a mystery because after the evil Professor Gil destroys the lab and Komyoji's fate is unknown. Professor Gil sends several robots who look like guys wearing monster suits a la Godzilla movies, for example: overweight spiders and mantises who are quite comical looking to destroy Jiro. This is really the only weak point in the series. As Dr Komyoji's two children befriend Jiro in an effort to find out the fate of their father, Mitsuko learns that the Gemini circuit has a flaw in it which must be corrected or Jiro could be vulnerable to evil orders. She decides that if she can't fix the problem, Jiro must be destroyed. Her fears are realized when Jiro attempts to kill her while being controlled by Professor Gil. Realizing that he can never fit in and is a danger to his "family", Jiro flees to the city and tries to lose himself in the crowd. For reasons not exactly clear to herself, Mitsuko hires a detective who walks around dressed like Sherlock Holmes and his partner, who looks like Velma from Scooby Doo to help her locate Jiro. Boy oh boy, where do I start with the Frankenstein and Pinocchio refererences in this series? They aren't bad though. Yes, this is a mecha vs. monster of the week series with the big transformation scenes as Jiro hits the switches on his shoulders and transforms from a human appearance to android to fight against his potbellied attackers. The difference to me is the melancholy tone of it. Jiro wants to fit in and be like everyone else but everyone is always accusing him of being a monster, a freak, a cold machine. Even though the designs of the characters look to imitate the style of 40s and 50s manga, its not too distracting. Reminded me of Metropolis. The detectives bring some comic relief without being goofy. Like I said, the only weak point is the design of Gil's robots. You should check this series out.
Rating:
Summary: Top notch!
Review: This has a wonderful story-line, although the animation isn't at the same level as some of the other Japanese anime I've seen. I highly recommend it, though. Lot's of romance and action scenes, great for girls and guys!
Rating:
Summary: I love this anime!
Review: This is a wonderful show. Shotaro Ishinomori was a genius when it came to story telling, and this definantly rubs off on the adaption of his manga, Android Kikaider. Jiro, the main charcter, has to deal with being both a robot while having human emotions and a conscince designed into him. Definantly fodder for some very deep isues for this series to deal with. I believe the drama is executed perfectly, in an almost Shakespearian fashion. I also apreciate the fact that this anime was true to the manga, up to including the same style of character designs. Some less knowledgeable anime fans may be confused with the more generic character designs that are common today not being used here. However, I believe everyone who respects the manga/anime culture should develop a taste for that which began it all. Shotaro Ishinomori was taken under the wing of Osamu Tezuka, the man credited as the originator of the art form. Both his style of character designs and deep, encompasing story telling rubbed off on Shotaro. I believe the world fiction is the better for it thanks to the introduction of such classics as Cyborg 009, Skull Man, and Kikaider.
Rating:
Summary: I love this anime!
Review: This is a wonderful show. Shotaro Ishinomori was a genius when it came to story telling, and this definantly rubs off on the adaption of his manga, Android Kikaider. Jiro, the main charcter, has to deal with being both a robot while having human emotions and a conscince designed into him. Definantly fodder for some very deep isues for this series to deal with. I believe the drama is executed perfectly, in an almost Shakespearian fashion. I also apreciate the fact that this anime was true to the manga, up to including the same style of character designs. Some less knowledgeable anime fans may be confused with the more generic character designs that are common today not being used here. However, I believe everyone who respects the manga/anime culture should develop a taste for that which began it all. Shotaro Ishinomori was taken under the wing of Osamu Tezuka, the man credited as the originator of the art form. Both his style of character designs and deep, encompasing story telling rubbed off on Shotaro. I believe the world fiction is the better for it thanks to the introduction of such classics as Cyborg 009, Skull Man, and Kikaider.
Rating:
Summary: The story of an android.....
Review: This series is one of the best i have ever watched. I began watching it on adult swin, and it was very entertaining to watch. The concept of an android under the guise of a young adult longing to be human was very sad and interesting. The last episode had me in tears. I recommend this series to any fan of drama, and wanting something good to watch.
|
