The original one-shot manga created by Shotaro Ishinomori, known for his other creations such as Kamen Rider, Cyborg 009 and Kikaider. This story is said to have a dark-theme with an anti-hero as the lead character, who assumes the identity of the Skull Man… and considering the fact that this one-shot is created in the 70’s! Because of the word, dark-themed, anti-hero and revenge, I got a sudden interest about it aside that it is suppose to be the basis of Kamen Rider. There are dozens of mass murdering cases and catastrophes that seem to have no connection, that’s what the masses thought. A detective agency investigating those cases came into one conclusion, it is done by him. The said “him”, is a psycho calling himself, the Skull Man.
A man named Tatsuo Kagura decided to help the investigation of the said crimes. As the manga progress, we learn that Tatsuo is Skull Man and he seeks answers about the death of his parents. After killing the cop, he with his partner, Garo who has the ability to shape shift, went to the place of the person the cop mentioned, Chisato Kogetsu.
He is about to do his revenge after he revealed the reason why he kills those “innocent” people who are not connected to Chisato. He said that they are not innocent, some get money from the people, took bribes, and other possible crimes you would like to think of. Chisato said that almost all people are connected to him. Skull Man replied in a sort that sounds, I don’t give a damn, I will kill them.
Skull Man said that he will kill him and her granddaughter. Her granddaughter said to him that don’t shoot brother. Ooh, the plot thickens.
Her granddaughter, Maya then revealed that Chisato is his grandfather. The readers then learn why his grandfather killed his parents. The reason why he killed his children is the fact that his son, a brilliant man who is considered more than a genius, is doing harsh experiments and creating mutants. To stop this madness, his father decided to kill his own son and his daughter-in-law. He is planning to kill young Tatsuo but he is rescued by one of the mutants, Garo. His grandfather later adopts his sister Maya.
After revealing the truth, Chisato then reenters the house with Maya. Skull Man noticed this and entered the house. On the next panel we saw the interior burning. Chisato then said, “We were born in wrong era!” and so, on the last page, we saw fire on the site, concluding us with a tragic ending. Skull Man, Garo, Chisato and Maya died.
On to the review, in my own opinion, Skull Man is the epitome of what a manga anti-hero supposed to be. At first, I thought he is the bad guy until at the last pages of the manga revealed why he is killing people. Skull Man is like Batman with a gun with a thirst to kill those who are evil. While reading every page, I was amazed with the darkness of the manga. The first few pages have no dialog which adds more to the darkness of the work. It really captures the reader to continue on reading this. Skull Man has this sort of element that is missing to the current stream of anime and manga anti-heroes. He has a dash of mystery yet he has a lot of showmanship that the media tried to hide from the general public.
Skull Man’s main theme is revenge. Skull Man is fueled by revenge, unlike Batman, who is in my opinion is the closest thing to compare to Skull Man. Bruce Wayne used his experience of losing his parents in becoming the vigilante known as the Batman. He wants people not to experience the same fate. While Tatsuo, while he is in the same level like that of Bruce except that he will kill and he will use a gun… unlike Bats. Cool.
To sum things up, Skull Man is one heck of a manga, even though it is created back in the 70’s, it has a theme that can be adapted into this current era. Skull Man is best read by people ages 13-up simply because kids can’t handle the darkness of this masterpiece.