Before there was Kamen Rider, before there was Gatchaman, before there was Goranger, before Marvel decided to cooperated with Toei and create a Spider-Man (or Supaidaman) toku with a giant robot, which will be later used in the technically first Super Sentai, Battle Fever J. And most especially, before Saban decided to create a cheap children’s show based on footage of a Japanese kid’s show, there was Cyborg 009! Yup, here is the review of Cyborg 009 in his black and white glory. Is it really a kid’s show? Yes, it is.
The episode is about not the origins of the nine cyborgs but about three guys who escaped from prison and was used by two scientist named Dracula and Semushi who are the ones responsible with the prison break with the help of their giant rat.
Their purpose? To experiment on a couple of humans of course and obviously, our three convicts will be experimented and turned into giants but the fat convict wasn’t captured and ends with
Joe (009) and
Francoise (003) and they end up being part of this mess. And so, our four heroes (?!) take action on finding the other two convicts while trying to make the other convict that was infected by a bug to cause him not to talk!
(First pic) Umm, he is using an encyclopedia (second pic) Call Hibiki! NOW!
In case you are wondering why they are only mentioned four and not nine, that is because in this episode, only cyborgs 006, 007, 009 and 003 are introduced. 001 was briefly mentioned because he is the one that 003 must take care of (which I assume the baby) but he never made an appearance aside from the opening credits. To be honest, introducing only four cyborgs at the first episode is pretty smart considering that if all nine are introduced and considering the target audience, it will cause kids a hard time to cope up with the number of cyborgs running around the screen!
Since there are four cyborgs that are introduced, let’s break them up. 009 aka Joe Shimamura is what you can consider as the leader of the group. I was wondering the who time what is his powers considering that he prefers shooting enemies than to show off. Basing on this episode, he has a better body structure compared to a regular man since he can jump high (Rider Jump?) and that’s it.
006 and 007 share quite a friendship and in this duo, 007 stood out for me, asides that he has the ability to shape shift, he is what you can say the slacker in the group. He doesn’t want to take responsibilities and just wants to play games. Plus, in this episode, he is a badass. What makes it more awesome is that he was voiced by Machiko Soga aka Rita Repulsa of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers or if you are a Super Sentai purist, Witch Bandora of Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger! Add the fact that his real name is, wait for it, Great Britain!
006 is the fat guy of the group and the chef. He can breathe fire and that’s it. As for 003, she is the mother of the group who strongly believes that 009 and the others can do it even without her help and she will help the team if she believes that the team (that is outside) is on a pinch. As of now, her powers is something related to sonar, it is not that clear. And for Doctor Gilmore, the mentor that has Doctor Elefun’s nose from Tetsuwan Atom (err… Astro Boy).
Episode involves evil squirrels and convicts in steroids.
As for the plot, it is indeed a story aimed for a kid’s show. It is simple, understandable and direct to the point. You don’t need any background knowledge on how they end up as cyborgs, all you need to know is that they are cyborgs at the beginning of the series with Joe knowing that the Japanese police are the best of the world. No wonder fans of the manga are quite pissed off with the anime! According to what I have read, the manga is darker compared to the original anime with topics about racism, politics and other political topics in the 60’s that are considered to deep during that time are being talked about. The only thing that bothered me with the plot of the first ep is that why do the giants revert back to normal after 007 beat them up?
... along with giant rats with police shooting at it and 006 cooking a giant crab!
As for the art, it is somewhat similar to Osamu Tezuka’s art, not surprised considering that Ishinomori-sensei once worked as an assistant for Tezuka-sensei! As for the animation, if I will rate it in today’s standards, you might say it is average-ish but if I will rate it during that time, it is quite good considering the technology they had back then.
Overall, the first episode is one fun episode to watch with 007 stealing the show most of the time (which is epic!) and 003 acting like a damsel in distress at the near end of the episode. The only problem with this episode is the lack of origin story. How they ended up as cyborgs and why the nine of them band together and why at least one country is represented by the cyborgs (Joe is Japanese, Francoise is French, Chan/006 is Chinese and Great is well, British)? Also, where are the other five cyborgs?
