(L) Skull Man

[wrex_japan]

Originally Posted by orion

Oh I must have missed that. Where was it mentioned that it is American occupation?

It didn't mention anywhere that it was under American occupation. It is just an assumption that the time setting for this is a little after American occupation.

[Ashlotte]

Interesting first episode. I like the fact that the title character is presented with abit of a dark and almost villainous slant to him, Should be fun to find out just why hes killing these people and whats up with his "associates".

Overall I like the look and feel of it with it appearing abit grittier with its visuals then, as someone mentioned earlier, Darker then black.

[Blackula_Jonez]

i am digging the show so far, did more exposition than i would expect in a first ep but it looks like it will be a cool show

[Zu Ra]

Starting was a little cliché damsel in distress, interesting thing to note was the change of night vision color from green to red. That awesome opening made up for the slightly cliché start.

Did remind me a bit of Guyver the Live Action movies kudos to the anime and the manga ka they have gone through a lot of trouble whilst designing the city

[orion]

Yeah! Ep. 0 got subbed. Thanks Makoto.

[BluWacky]

Episode 3 is weird. Not trippy, just... weird. It's hard to explain, but whilst the show is turning out to be pretty solid I'm not exactly looking forward to the next episode. The Skull Man isn't even an anti-hero; he's just cruel and evil...

[ssfsx17]

Episode 0 seems to imply that the Skull Man is indeed a hero.

Spoiler for Episode 0:

It seems that everyone he has killed was actually turning into one of those monster things, caused by being injected with some formula. This explains the superhuman strength of that one guy who threw Hayato way far away.

[BluWacky]

Originally Posted by ssfsx17

Episode 0 seems to imply that the Skull Man is indeed a hero.

Spoiler for Episode 0:

It seems that everyone he has killed was actually turning into one of those monster things, caused by being injected with some formula. This explains the superhuman strength of that one guy who threw Hayato way far away.

Yes, but...

Spoiler for episode 3 of the anime:

When two of your servants are also said monster things, who bait their victims with whips, and are deliberately characterised as vicious thugs compared to one of their victims whose monster form is a beautiful angel, and said angel dies trying to protect someone without monstrous powers whom the Skull Man then shoots in cold blood as she tries to struggle away... then I'm not so sure.

[duckroll]

I really, really don't know what to think of Skull Man after 3 episodes so far. Izubuchi might have taken it up a notch too far in his interpretation imo. The Skull Man protrayed in the anime so far simply isn't a hero, at all. More like a psychotic vigilante that needs to be put down. The writing and art direction is really good, but the scenario is getting a little distasteful.

[Lanz]

wait, the RAW for 3 is out now? I can't find it anywhere D:

[Wosho128]

Eh, it's not bad but it won't be climbing my favorites list anytime soon.

The anime I've been watching lately has been focusing on following the lives of journalists, paparazzi and news reporters; I might stop following just because I'm overwhelmed at the moment with these types of characters.

The script and direction in episode one is excellent though; I have no complaints about that.

[orion]

Originally Posted by BluWacky

Yes, but...

Spoiler for episode 3 of the anime:

When two of your servants are also said monster things, who bait their victims with whips, and are deliberately characterised as vicious thugs compared to one of their victims whose monster form is a beautiful angel, and said angel dies trying to protect someone without monstrous powers whom the Skull Man then shoots in cold blood as she tries to struggle away... then I'm not so sure.

Oh that episode is ep. 3. There was a clip from that in the promo on the website IIRC. Waiting for the raws like everybody else.....

Also, that's what makes anti-heroes so interesting....

[wrex_japan]

Originally Posted by BluWacky

Yes, but...

Spoiler for episode 3 of the anime:

When two of your servants are also said monster things, who bait their victims with whips, and are deliberately characterised as vicious thugs compared to one of their victims whose monster form is a beautiful angel, and said angel dies trying to protect someone without monstrous powers whom the Skull Man then shoots in cold blood as she tries to struggle away... then I'm not so sure.

That's what they're trying to make you think... though I think you may be baiting people on a bit. ^_~

Ep. 3 screencaps and summary.

But then again, I do agree that it seems he's no goody two shoes. I am disturbed by the indiscriminate cold-bloodedness.

[orion]

But...

Spoiler for ep. 3:

That actress had to know something. She was more afraid of those wolves than her companion in beast form. Her companion stayed to fight those wolves instead of flying off into the sunset so something must be up with the actress too.

Did all the victims so far have a relationship with that orphanage?

Maya seems to know something too I bet.

Just because we haven't seen those beast do something doesn't mean that they haven't. Human experimentation on this level is prob done to create a new weapon imo.

[highflyer52287]

Originally Posted by Geta Boshi

Starting was a little cliché damsel in distress, interesting thing to note was the change of night vision color from green to red. That awesome opening made up for the slightly cliché start.

Spoiler for monster in beggining:

Actually after reading some of the manga and seeing the live action and the first anime episode, I think that monster wasn't an enemy he is Garo, Skull Man's assisstant. In the manga Garo can only become a wolf, a bat, and an aligator but after seeing Skull Man's anime costume being so much more different then his manga costume I doubt that they would only keep Garo in those three forms. According to Wikipedia though, in the 1970's version, Garo can change into, "various powerful mutants." They probably just went with that version instead. If you look at the first volume of The Skull Man, on the cover, behind Skull Man stands Garo in his bat form.

[aohige]

It's been like a day since ep4 aired, but there's still no reviews?
I guess the raw isn't out yet then.

Anyways, episode 4 didn't move the story much.

Spoiler:

The priest is playing a pipe organ in the beginning. Oh no... he must be villain!

The little boys wanted to play "menko" with Kiriko. In Osaka, we called it "pettan".
A card game where you slam your cards onto other cards, and flip them over.
The show's atmosphere is very mixed with early Showa era and 60s 70s cultural references, it was this type of nostalgic reference that hit me home. (Since early Showa era-ish setting like the train station is a little too old for my generation)

Nietzsche's book "Also sprach Zarathustra" makes an appearance.
The old man seems to know how it's related to the ressentiment phenomena in the town, but our simple minded hero seems to misunderstand it.

And the Skull-man that appeared in this episode... could it be a fake?
A copy cat, who's using his appearance to commit murder?

Unfortunately, not much was revealed this episode.
Other than the fact that the old detective is definitly not an ordinary citizen... a veteran soldier from the WWII most likely, as he spotted the Mauser gun, and said it reminds him the days at the continent (Europe, no doubt)

[wrex_japan]

Originally Posted by aohige

It's been like a day since ep4 aired, but there's still no reviews?
I guess the raw isn't out yet then.

Anyways, episode 4 didn't move the story much.

Spoiler:

The priest is playing a pipe organ in the beginning. Oh no... he must be villain!

The little boys wanted to play "menko" with Kiriko. In Osaka, we called it "pettan".
A card game where you slam your cards onto other cards, and flip them over.
The show's atmosphere is very mixed with early Showa era and 60s 70s cultural references, it was this type of nostalgic reference that hit me home. (Since early Showa era-ish setting like the train station is a little too old for my generation)

Nietzsche's book "Also sprach Zarathustra" makes an appearance.
The old man seems to know how it's related to the ressentiment phenomena in the town, but our simple minded hero seems to misunderstand it.

And the Skull-man that appeared in this episode... could it be a fake?
A copy cat, who's using his appearance to commit murder?

Unfortunately, not much was revealed this episode.
Other than the fact that the old detective is definitly not an ordinary citizen... a veteran soldier from the WWII most likely, as he spotted the Mauser gun, and said it reminds him the days at the continent (Europe, no doubt)

I have a summary written up for my blog, but I'm waiting for a high definition RAW to make screencaps (I have an analog recording on my computer).

Spoiler:

I too, think that this was a copy cat Skull Man... the real one wouldn't use a gun, would he? And he didn't have his two wolves to back him up. I think it was Usami.

Also, I was a bit bothered by the anachronism of the gift card that PI Tachiki gave the girls... it seemed too modern for a setting that seemed to be set in the 60s. Yeah, the monorail looked too modern too.

[highflyer52287]

Originally Posted by wrex_japan

I have a summary written up for my blog, but I'm waiting for a high definition RAW to make screencaps (I have an analog recording on my computer).

Spoiler:

I too, think that this was a copy cat Skull Man... the real one wouldn't use a gun, would he? And he didn't have his two wolves to back him up. I think it was Usami.

Also, I was a bit bothered by the anachronism of the gift card that PI Tachiki gave the girls... it seemed too modern for a setting that seemed to be set in the 60s. Yeah, the monorail looked too modern too.

Remember that Japan has been about ten years ahead of us, technologically speaking, since around the sixties and seventies so it is plausible for that stuff to look more modern.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by highflyer52287

Remember that Japan has been about ten years ahead of us, technologically speaking, since around the sixties and seventies so it is plausible for that stuff to look more modern.

Except, highflyer, that I personally lived in Japan myself during the 70s and 80s, and they still look like mix of diffrent eras.

[highflyer52287]

Originally Posted by aohige

Except, highflyer, that I personally lived in Japan myself during the 70s and 80s, and they still look like mix of diffrent eras.

Apologies if I overstepped in that reply. Simply meant to say that under that assumption, having something that might be a little too advanced under American pretenses migt not be so for the Japanese.