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* Shotaro Ishinomori would be proud ...
The time I thought I would sit down and review a manga I am currently enjoying it is called "Kikaider Code 02". The manga is a reimagining of an old 1970's Japanese manga and live action TV show called "Android Kikaider" created by Shotaro Ishinomori. Bringing every one up to speed on who Kikaider is will not be easy but here it goes. Kikaider is an android created by Dr. Komyoji. To protect Kikaider also called Jiro from his enemy Dr. Gill and the his organization known D.A.R.K. he gave him a conscience circuit called GEMINI (because in Japanese this sounds like Jiminy). Paying tribute to Astro Boy, created by his mentor Osamu Tezuka, Ishinomori used the stories of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio (which was also the basis for Astro Boy) along with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as the basis for his science fiction action story. That is the original Kikaider in a nut shell. The new manga Code 02 is drawn by artist know as MEIMU. The artwork of the charters is very much the perfect update this series needed without the characters being unrecognizable the elements of the story stays the same the same with some things added and some things taken away. This volume does mostly the introduction of Jiro (Kikaider) who is found behind a door marked Code 02, Mitsuko Komyoji (Dr. Komyoji oldest daughter), Ichiro Komyoji (the oldest son of Dr. Komyoji who in the original manga and anime was also a robotic engineer), and Hinano Komyoji. Missing from this is Masaru Komyoji Dr. Komyoji youngest son in the show and manga. The Manga starts off with Kikaiders creation where Dr. Komyoji declares him a failure. The manga moves on to introduce Mitsuko who is a college student in robotics. The story then moves through a series of flash back where we learn that Dr. Komyoji fail to believe his son's death was an accident he then goes on to disappear for ten years. Mitsuko is then introduced to her younger Half-sister Hinano, who was not in the original works at all. They then move to the house where there father made his robots. There they find Jiro and some of Dr. Komyoji other robots who were sent to capture Hinano they are Gray Rino, Green Mantus, Carmine(it's a deep purplish red) Spider, Black Horse, and Orange Ant. It during this time that Jiro first transformers in to Kikaider. At First we see this all blue version of him giving fans a peek at a perfect Kikaider then the robot screams in pain and his left side is changed in to a red disfigured appearance. It is at this moment that tears are emitted from his eyes. This is all because of a flawed GEMINI chip. It during this fight we see one of my two favorite moments in the book. Kikaider like all superheroes has a finishing movie it is call Electro End. In the anime his forearms glow with energy and he crosses them and bring down his opponent. In this up dated version he has a blade that come out of each his forearms and he doesn't cross his arms but it does bring them up to a point in front of his chest and finishes the fight with this. After moments peace a little nudity mostly male another attack happens this time by a big robot cobra who I cannot give a color name too because I never seen him in the older works. Kikaider who at this point has no arms tries to fight the robot only to bring about my second favorite moment the introduction of another character a young man dressed all in black biker gear wearing sunglasses with a cross shaped scar on his cheek kills the cobra then looks at Jiro and says "Jiro you're a freak. And one these days, I'm going to delete you." This line leads me to believe that one of the main antagonists Hakaider has been introduced. All and all the book has good visual art good transitions from panel to panel and is very true to the spirit of the original Kikaider. If you are fan of sci-fi superhero drams or just like fighting robots pick up "Kikaider Code 02"
Buyer Rating: -
A Great Remake
Kikaider is a Japanese superhero/android character who has appeared in manga, tokusatsu, and anime. The story is fantastic, but the original anime and manga paid tribute to Astro Boy in stylized animation and this turned most people off. Thankfully, this new manga strays as far from the original style as it can while still maintaining the same themes and general look and feel.
The first book focuses on Mitsuko Komyoji, the daughter of Dr. Komyoji, the scientist who created Jiro aka Kikaider. She is bitter, distant, and cynical. Then one day her father, who she thought dead, sends her to meet her "sister" along with her protector, Kikaider. Events quickly escalate as the mysterious new sister is attacked by robots in Dr. Komyoji's old lab.
The series' theme can be summed up as androids being more compassionate than humans. It was based originally on Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the theme is very apparant through the manga.
Warning! This new series is NOT for kids! It comes wrapped with a label saying such, but amazon does not list it that way. This in no way diminishes the quality of the series, but it's still not for the youngsters ;) The warning is due to nudity (no sex), language, and most likely violence (although there are plenty of much more gory stories out there)
