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Thread
:
DS Wants You! To Watch Toku(-inspired) Anime!
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07-19-2020, 02:59 PM
#
55
Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
My thoughts are extraordinarily scattered on this right now, so hopefully I can make myself write something that at least makes sense. After finally sitting down to watch the last episode of the 01 OVA, it left me with a lot of very complex, conflicting feelings I wasn't sure how to articulate.
In an attempt to get a little extra clarity, I went back and read Igadevil's old Ishinomori Week articles on both
Kikaider
and
Kikaider 01
, which are mainly about the live-action shows, but do a ton of comparing and contrasting between them, the manga, and the animated version, which is obviously the subject here. And, to go on a brief tangent, for anyone who's never heard of those articles, I
highly
recommend giving them a look if you've any interest in classic tokusatsu, and maybe even more so if you
don't
. They're in a bit of a state of disrepair, with all the pictures missing, unfortunately, but even with text alone, Igadevil is a fan among fans, who describes the material with an infectious enthusiasm and a very informed perspective. For a lot of the series covered, those are probably the most in-depth English-language writing ever done about them, even. A++ work. Everything I know about talking about tokusatsu, I learned from this guy.
But getting back to the subject at hand, the whole point in doing that was in part to get a refresher on how many liberties the animated version was taking, and in part just to see if Igadevil's reading of it would maybe help me work out my own perspective. It, uh, didn't exactly do that last thing. "It's kind of hard to say exactly how I feel about it" is basically where I was already at. It might also really be the ultimate answer here, though. I supremely respect the story being told, and both the commitment and thought put into its execution, but overall, Kikaider 01 The Animation left me pretty cold. Unlike the main series, the body of it is a lot less melodramatic introspection, and a lot more jam-packed action, while the ending is something I appreciate on an almost strictly analytical level. I thought everything being said, all the points being made, they all made sense, and they fit, but it wasn't something I
felt
the same way as the slightly more understated resolution of the first stretch of the story.
But there is one last piece of this series. The real finale that DreamSword kinda can't talk about because it was never dubbed, or even released in the west at all. An entire, full-length extra episode included on the DVD release of the Kikaider 01 OVA, adapting a chapter of another Ishinomori manga, Inazuman, which guest-starred Jirou, and was used to give his story further closure.
"The Boy Who Carried a Guitar" is, in my opinion, the best possible conclusion to the Kikaider story. Kikaider The Animation has three different endings, that all work in their own way, but this is definitely the one for me. It brings things a lot more full circle, reusing music from both composers (also meaning you get to hear Jirou's guitar again), and indirectly following up on the mention from episode 13 of the Koumyouji family heading overseas for the doctor's rehabilitation. Hattori is back, searching for Jirou, but the reunion is cut short when it becomes apparent Jirou considers himself too tainted by his Submission Circuit and the acts he's committed to return to the only family he has left.
He's also being controlled even now, as an unknown force compels him to try and kill Inazuman, a high school student with mutant powers whose own battle against evil has gotten wrapped up with Jirou's. During the fight, Inazuman eventually manages to break through to Jirou through a combination of his own psychic abilities allowing Jirou to essentially look inside his own psyche, and simply having some sharply chosen words for him. The most poignant actually come after Jirou has already managed to break free of what's controlling him, when Inazuman lays out his mission statement to Jirou, which may as well be the mission statement of most Ishinomori heroes, including Kikaider himself, which is probably why it hits so hard. Inazuman explains he's fighting against a group of mutants attempting to destroy mankind, despite being a mutant himself, because he trusted the feelings in his heart and resolved to protect the people he cares about. The bit about the heart in particular seems to reawaken something in Jirou, and the two leave on good terms, even shaking hands in classic hero team-up style.
Jirou still isn't ready to head home at the end. The last we see of him, the very last scene of the series, is him sitting all alone, imagining himself playing his restored guitar alongside Mitsuko and Masaru. The illusion fades, and the reality that he's still alone hits him. He looks forlorn. But then he does something. He
smiles
.
It's a wistful smile. A faint expression of joy from someone who has a lot to be sad about. But it's clear Jirou has renewed faith in something. He's alone and suffering, yes. But maybe the day will come where he won't be anymore.
It's an ending that takes a much more optimistic stance without really undercutting the ambiguity or removing the consequences of the original conclusion, and it works wonderfully for people like me who weren't totally satisfied with the 01 OVA's rather disheartening final scenes.
Even if it did all end there, though, I definitely wouldn't have regretted taking the time to finally sit down with some version or another of Kikaider. It's a property that leaves you rather spoiled for choice when it comes to ways to get into it, which is maybe why it's taken me this long, but I definitely feel like I picked a good one. Thank you, DreamSword, for making this thread and finally giving me that extra push. You said upfront you wanted to get people to give these shows a shot, so take heart in knowing you've definitely made at least one new fan of Kikaider The Animation.
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