Kikaider

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Kikaider
人造人間キカイダー
(Artificial Humanoid Kikaider)
Genre Action, Adventure, Drama, Mecha, Science Fiction
TV drama
Network TV Asahi
Studio Toei Productions
Ishimori Productions
Original run 1972-07-08 – 1973-05-05
Episodes 43
TV anime
Director Tensai Okamura
Studio Studio OX
Network Kids Station
Original run 2000-10-16 – 2000-12-28
Episodes 13
OVA: Kikaider 01: The Animation
Director Keitaro Motonaga
Studio Studio OX
Episodes 4
Released 2003-06-30 – 2003-07-03

Kikaider (人造人間キカイダー Jinzō Ningen Kikaidā?, lit. Artificial Humanoid Kikaider) is a Japanese superhero created by Shotaro Ishinomori. The character has appeared in manga, tokusatsu, and anime.

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.

The tokusatsu series from 1972 is especially popular in Hawaii. The complete DVD series is available in the west with English subtitles through JN Productions.

Kikaider, the main character, is a humanoid robot, built by Dr. Komyoji to protect himself and his children from the dark Android commanded by the evil Professor Gill.

The series was originally a live-action Tokusatsu series, as was its sequel Kikaider 01. A manga drawn in a style reminiscent of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy was eventually published, introducing Kikaider 00. A 13-episode anime and 4-episode OVA based on the manga were created in 2001.

Contents

[edit] General Characters

Main article: List of Kikaider characters

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Manga

The manga series was serialized in Shōnen Sunday at the same time as the live action television series.

[edit] Tokusatsu

[edit] Anime

[edit] 2005 manga

In October 2005, DC Comics began production of English translations of the new Kikaider manga titled Kikaider - Code:02. These books are a more visually updated version of the original story, with mildly altered plot changes. All six volumes of the new series have been released to American audiences as of yet, with the cover art featuring one of the series' main characters, usually the one focus on in that volume.

[edit] Superhero Safety

In the past, the Super Giant movie series and shows like Moonlight Mask (the first TV superhero in Japan) became controversial, when kids imitated the stunts performed by the featured superheroes, usually by jumping out of a window (this was also a major issue with TV and movie adaptations of Superman).

The original Android Kikaider series was one of the first tokusatsu superhero TV shows that added safety bumpers (seen at the end of each episode) which warned kids not to imitate the dangerous and impossible stunts performed by the title superhero.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Languages