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8 Man

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Wikipedia article




or or is a manga and superhero anime created in 1963 by science fiction writer Kazumasa Hirai and manga artist Jiro Kuwata. 8 Man is considered Japan's earliest cyborg superhero, pre-dating 'Kamen Rider.'

The manga was published in Weekly Shnen Magazine and ran from 1963 to 1966. The anime series was produced by Eiken in association with TCJ Animation Center. It was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System and ran from November 17, 1963, to December 31, 1964, with a total of 56 episodes, as well as a "farewell" special episode, "Goodbye, 8 Man".

Plot



Detective Yokoda is murdered by criminals and his body is retrieved by Professor Tani. Tani takes the body to his laboratory where he attempts to transfer Yokoda's life force into an android body, an experiment that has already failed seven times. Yokoda is reborn as the armour-skinned android 8 Man and is able to dash at impossible speeds as well as shape-shift into other people. He takes on his former body, this time taking on the name "Hachiro Azuma." He keeps this identity a secret, known only to Tani and his police boss, Chief Tanaka. Even his girlfriend Sachiko and his friend Ichiro are not aware that he is an android. As 8-Man, Hachiro fights crimeeventually avenging his own murder. To rejuvenate his powers, he smokes "energy" cigarettes that he carries in a case on his belt.

In Japan, the character's origin varies significantly between the original manga, the TV series, and the live-action movie. In the original Japanese manga and TV series, the character's name does not change when he is reborn as 8 Man. The "Detective Yokoda" name was created for the live-action version. In the manga, Detective Azuma is trapped in a warehouse and gunned down, while the TV series has him killed when he is run over by a car. In contrast, the original Japanese version had the main character named as "8 Man", as he is considered an extra member of the Japanese police force. There are seven regular police precincts and 8 Man is treated as an unofficial eighth precinct.

The Japanese manga was presented as serial novella stories along with a set of one-shot stories. Many of these stories were edited down and adapted for the TV series. The novella stories were originally printed every week in 'Shukuu Shnen Magazine' in 16-page increments that consisted of 15 story pages and one title page. Ten additional one-shot stories were presented in seasonal and holiday specials of 'Shuukuu Shnen Magazine'. These stories were generally between 30 and 40 pages in length.

In the North American version of the series, the resurrected detective/android is known as "Tobor" or the word "robot" spelled backwards. Tani is referred to as "Professor Genius" and the sobriquet of 8-Man is slightly changed to "8th-Man," the name explained as he is the 8th attempt to be a super-robot. The story content was directed toward a wider audience of both young and adult viewers. As such, much of the violence was toned down for Western audiences. Due to changes in cigarette advertising laws in the 1960s, television characters were not allowed to be seen smoking. As this was a major plot device in the series, the show was forced to be removed from broadcast in the United States.

Original Japanese manga story titles



Novella stories

* (Kaijin Geren) - Galen, the Mystery Man

* (Satan no Kyodai) - Satan's Brothers

*007 (Kairiki Robotto 007) - Strange Powered Robot 007

* (Kosen Heiki Reza) - The Laser Beam Gun

* (Chojin Saiba) - Cyber, the Superhuman

* (Ningen Misairu) - The Human Missile

*005 (Satsujin Robotto 005) - Murderous Robot 005

* (Majo Esupa) - Esper, the Witch

* (Chojinrui Myutanto) - Superhuman Mutant

* (Majin Kozuma) - The Demon Kozuma

: The strip's artist Jiro Kuwata was imprisoned for possession of a handgun before the final 16-page serial of "The Demon Kozuma" was completed. The final serial was drawn by Takaharu Kusunoki for the magazine version. Jiro Kuwata later redrew the final pages of the story himself by request of Kazumasa Hirai and Rim Publishing, so that they could publish a complete version of the final story. The publishers were not able to use Kusunoki's artwork, so the story was omitted or left incomplete in previous official releases

Short episode stories

* - The Condemned Criminal Tarantula

* - The Duel

* - Shadow Boxer

* - Vengeful Demon Ghost

* - The Super Vibration Gun

* - Mad Machine

*PV1 - Cyborg Number PV1

* - The Assassin Elijah

* - Burning Water

* - Phantom Highway

* () - Solar Satellite "Thunder" (unreleased story)

: This was intended as a lead-in to a series of 23 manga stories adapted from the TV series.

Original Japanese TV series episode titles



# - Introducing Eightman

# - Galen, the Hitman

# - Satan's Brother

# B3 - The B3 Gallows

# - The Darkness Capsule

# - The Gold Gang

# - The Stealth Jetplane

# - The Ultra Micro Missile

# - The Lazer Ray Gun

# 007 - Robot 007

# - The Phantom Assassin

# - The Undersea Uranium

# - The Human Punch Card

# - The Super Pilot

# - The Black Ghost

# - Goldbeetle, the Mysterious Thief

# - The Ultrasonic Wave Doctor

# - The Typhoon Baron

# - Galen Strikes Again

# 100 - Spy Directive No. 100

# - The Robot Tiger

# - Challenge to Zero

# 13 - Napoleon the 13th

# - Operation: Salamander

# - Cyber, the Superhuman

# - Zero Hour: Earth

# - Eeler, the Giant Monster

# - Operation: Bacteria

# - The Human Missile

# C1 - Cyborg No. C1

# - The Phantom Highway

# - Thunder, the Solar Satellite

# - Vulcan, the Artificial Lifeform

# - The Duel

# - The Freeze Ray

# 13 - Virus No. 13

# 7 - The 7 Day Nightmare

# - The Mysterious Ghost

# - The Boy Who Made a Phantom

# - Jupiter, the Invisible Robot

# - Order: Assassinate Eightman

# - The Queen Bee Monster

# - Esper, the Witch

# - The World Blitz Plan

# - Tarantula, the Condemned Criminal

# - The Flying Devil

# - Operation: Bubble Ball

# SAW - SAW, the Martian

# 30 - 3 Billion Hostages

# - Giant, the Mysterious Statue

# - Target Earth

# - The Man-Eating Piranha

# - Moutard's Rebellion

# - Law of the Shark

# () - Superhuman Mutant (Part One)

# () - Superhuman Mutant (Part Two)

* "Good-Bye Eight-Man" - a special look back at the TV series.

The U.S. syndicated version

In 1965, '8 Man' was brought to the U.S. as '8th Man' (sometimes called "Tobor the 8th Man," as in its English-language theme music), with ABC Films as its syndicated distributor. Only 52 of the original 56 episodes were translated into English.

The characters were renamed as follows:

* Yokota/Azuma/8 Man - Special Agent Brady/Tobor ("robot" spelled backward)/8th Man

* Tani - Professor Genius

* Tanaka - Chief Fumble Thumbs

* Sachiko - Jenny Hartsweet

* Ichiro - Skip

Theme song



Call Tobor, the 8 Man

Reception



8 Man was ranked ninth in the Mania Entertainment's 10 Most Iconic Anime Heroes. The author of the ranking, Thomas Zoth, commented, "Before 'Cyborg 009', 'The Six Million Dollar Man', and 'RoboCop', there was 8 Man: The first cyborg manga and anime hero. Building on 'Astro Boy', 8 Man helped to shape the trajectory of robot and cyborg heroes for the next decade."

Legacy



The 8 Man franchise was revived in the early 1990s with a live-action film, video game, and new animated series.

Video game

In 1991, SNK released a video game edition of 'Eight Man' for the Neo Geo arcade and home video game system (both versions are identical), where the player took the role of 8 Man and his Robo-comrade 9 Man in a fight against an invading evil robot army. The game was released internationally. While the game stayed true to the concept of a crime-fighting super-robot, it was widely criticized for being tedious and relying too much on the gimmick of its speed-running effect.

In 2009, he appeared in the crossover 'Shonen Sunday & Shonen Magazine White Comic' for the Nintendo DS.

Live action movie



In 1992, a live-action film version of 8 Man was produced in Japan. Titled 'Eitoman - Subete no Sabish Yoru no Tame ni' (, lit. '8 Man - For All the Lonely Nights'), it was directed by Yasuhiro Horiuchi and starred Kai Shishido as the title character and Toshihide Wakamatsu as Detective Yokota. Distributed in the United States by Fox Lorber video simply as '8 Man', the movie was widely panned for its choppy editing, mediocre direction, and low-budget feel. Many modern American viewers, unfamiliar with the older animated series, felt the movie was an inferior version of 'RoboCop,' although the latter was a much more recent franchise.

'8 Man After'

In 1993, the mantle of 8 Man was taken up by Hazama Itsuru in the OVA series '8 Man After'. Existing in a world far more corrupt than that of his predecessor, the new 8 Man had no qualms about being extremely violent towards the cybernetic criminals who had murdered him previously. It was licensed by Streamline Pictures where it went out of print until being released on DVD by Image Entertainment in 2001. It has since been released by Discotek Media in 2016 with Japanese audio, featuring English subtitles for the first time.

'8 Man Infinity'

A manga comic strip called is being authored by Kyoichi Nanatsuki under Kodansha, which is being serialized under Kodansha's 'Magazine Z'.

'8 Man vs. Cyborg 009'

A crossover between 8 Man and Cyborg 009 by Kyoichi Nanatsuki (script) and Masato Hayate (art), began serialization in 'Champion Red' on July 18, 2020.

References



'Notes'


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