Skull Man
 

http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/skullmana4d.jpg

Production Company: BONES

Genre: Shounen cheese with a SciFi twist.

Expected Release Date: 2007

Website: http://www.skullman.jp/

A Japanese might be more familiar with the likes of Ishinomori Shotaro, the original creator of the Skull Man that becomes a very popular manga in 1970. His featured character, Skull Man, is apparently one of the first anti-heroes seen in the manga. In 1997, Shimamoto Kazuhiko continues with Skull Man after getting a personal request from the legendary mangaka who was, at that point, just too ill to do the things he loved. I'm going to give this series a try for two reason: a) Bones is doing it, b) The director for this series is Takeshi Mori. The scriptwriter/designer is going to be done by Izubuchi Yutaka, who also storyboarded the action scenes for the Cowboy Bebop Movie. As a shounen-fan at heart, the importance of well animated action sequence can never be stretched enough in a shounen series, and since, this guy is involved, I'm expecting good animated action from the series as well. The following synopsis is taken from the 1970 version, courtesy of Wiki. Shimamoto Kazuhiko's version is a remake with his own art and story although the concept doesn't change much.

There are mass murders and catastrophes all over Japan, committed by a masked/caped psychic madman called the Skull Man, and his shape-shifting aide Garo (named after the manga ninja Garo created by Sanpei Shirato), who can turn into various powerful mutant monsters. The calamities caused by the Skull Man are investigated by the Tachiki Detective Agency, with the help of a young man named Tatsuo Kagura, the son of a yakuza in the Kagura Clan.

I'm not yet sure which version Bones intends to animate. I hope they choose Shotaro's version that is, apparently, much much darker. Looking forward to it.

A correction, the director of the show is not Izubuchi, the director is Takeshi Mori. Izubuchi is doing the story/scriptwriting, as well as the design for the Skullman and the GRO (whatever that is) it seems.


I have a feeling they are basing it off the original version.

That is great to hear!

Thanks for the correction btw. I've upadated the opening the post.

So where's Castle Greyskull?

...oh wait, wrong series :heh:

Despite being the biggest BONES fan ever, I can't seem to get excited by this. Maybe because I'm not such a Kamenrideresque fan.

I'll watch it... maybe they'll surprise me. Honestly, I was waiting to Izubuchi to impress me one more time after Char's Counterattack and RahXephon, so maybe this is it.

Time (and 4-5 straight episodes of something impressive) will tell.

Very interesting. Being a 1st and 2nd generation (( First to RX )) rabid old-school Kamen Rider fan (( kind of distilled now... The last one I watched was Ryuuki, 555 and Hibiki. Kabuto nearly killed Kamen Rider for me. Urgh. )), I've heard a lot of praise for Skull Man as the basis for the original Riders only with a darker, more gritty tone. Not to mention a combination of BONES + Izubuchi + Mori (( less of him though...)), sounds promising.

What the hell am I saying, I'm definitely going to watch this just to cleanse my sin of never gotten the chance to see the origin of Kamen Rider in action.

Skull Man PV from Comiket 17 curtesy of Moetron. Not the best video, but you can see they've opted for the brooding 1970 story over giant insects and whatnot. Characters are pure Bones though...

Hey, that actually looked pretty shiny and nice. Now my interest in it has been upped... of course it's just a trailer, but it seems as if they've got the more capable staff on this show. I'm still uneasy bout Takeshi Mori but hm...

Then again, I already have so many shows I want to watch in the Spring season and I have to really cut down on my anime watching, so if this doesn't prove to be like, as awesome as Seirei no Moribito or something (that is, assuming Moribito ends up as kickass as its trailer)... then I'll probably not watch it.

Personally, I'd rather see this done both anime and Tokusatsu/live action, since the promotion pictures of the SkullMan costume looks pretty cool as seen here:
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7...ullman1pm9.jpg
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3...ullman2iu0.jpg
His helmet really reminds me of Wodan's helmet from Super Robot Taisen Original Generation 2 for some reason though.

Trailer now online. It's the one showed at Comiket 71.

Looks solid (if unspectacular IMHO), but definately something to look forward to in Spring. Anyone else get some Blood+ vibes from it?

Well, the trailer isn't bad. And I have interest in anything by Bones, so I suppose I'll give it a shot. It'll have to hit certain notes to click with me, but it gives off a bit of a spawn vibe and I actually enjoyed that series. It all comes down to the characterization and ambiance, cause once youve seen one badass vigalantie story you've seen em all (at least in this day and age). Looks fun though, in it's own way.

Your wish appears to have been granted - Fuji TV are airing a Skullman tokusatsu show (their first for 28 years), "Skullman - Prologue of Darkness", starting a week before the Skullman anime.

I'm pretty excited about the anime and this. Plus, the live action prologue's got Shigeki Hosokawa (Hibiki in Kamen Rider Hibiki and Ray Penber in the live action Death Note movie)

i just read that Shiro Sagisu (Bleach) is doing the music! that should be good!!

Cool.

I really liked the one piece of music we've heard so far, that Zorro-esque theme in the trailer was really nice.

Every time I hear or see anything about Skull Man, it just seems so god-awful... and makes me wish Bones was doing something good instead. Mainly, I guess, because Bones is capable of great stuff, and I hate the combination of dark + cheese. I sort of expect this to be one that has high ratings in Japan but fansub groups drop after the second or third episode.

Whenever I get a glimmer of hope, I need only glance at the picture of Skull Man, and it dies amid soft, sad laughter...

Your lack of faith in the impending explosion of pure awesome saddens me a great deal.

To enjoy this kind of show, one must have the appetite for shounen cheese. The show is also slated for 13 episodes, so it might be a good one from Bones.

the first episode will be a tokusatsu, I really looking forward for it. For the anime, not really.

I agree with that, especially as I'm in the process of watching Kamen Rider Den-O at the moment, hehe.

Saber Cherry, Bones is doing something good at the same time as this though if you don't like this one, you should check out Darker Than Black for their other show, in that you'll get your awesome Bones fix (Wolf's Rain/Bebop/etc. style).