While manga treatment of Marvel characters has happened before this current series and the video game crossovers have tapped into the Tokusatsu elements of Marvel icons it is hard to believe that no formal anime productions have happened before. Discounting the fact that Marvel animation has been linked into Japan’s market and production since some of its 90′s shows like X-men and Iron Man bringing a distinct Japanese influence and setting to the properties would seem long overdue. A character like Iron Man shares a good deal of elements with other Cold War era creations that reflect the tensions of military hardware and progress as they do even in the many Mecha series over the decades in Japan.
The genre started with Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s 1956 manga Tetsujin 28-go (which was later animated in 1963 and released abroad as Gigantor to my childhood delight). While debatable, as the robot was controlled by remote instead of a cockpit in the machine it is not as if we haven’t seen both in early Iron Man comics. After that the genre was largely defined by the more fantastical by Go Nagai’s Mazinger Z, his most famous creation, as not only the first successful Super Robot anime series, but also the pioneer of the genre staples like robots being piloted by the hero from within a cockpit. In one sense the fantastical aspect itself replicated the whole of the superhero genre, which in coming later to Japan ordinates the superhero to science differently than it did in the Us and else where. Consider just the different histories with atomic power and one can see how the genre priorities could be arranged differently.
Anime itself has certain staples which appear in this series as a breath of fresh air to those unfamiliar with japanese action animation. The inclusion of characters like reporter Nanami Ota and Stark subsidiary scientist Dr. Chika Tanaka play off the traditional character of Tony Stark as the cheeky and somewhat arrogant playboy genius in ways that include sexuality rather than deny it as in so much of our animation. As types though the characters of Ota and Tanaka are extremes. Plucky but naive novice reporter Ota gives the audience and Tony someone to connect with while being knowing. She is the cute one of the pair that is often accompanied by the aloof and seemingly cold cypher in the pubescent male dialectic understanding of women. Here she is played by Tanaka who is not amused by Tony’s attempts at banter to engage her interest.
Voice actor Adrian Pasdar (yes of Heroes, Castle… fame) does a good cross of Robert Downey Jr. and the more subdued Tonys in the media over the years by taking the manic down at least two or three notches to likable levels while keeping a bit of the sleazy. The rest of the voices are right in step with anime cliché at this point and add to the very distinct quality that this is our Tony visiting Japan. Which is what the story basically is.
Tony as Iron Man is a publicly known fact at the start of this series and is just now expanding into the japanese markets with the acquisition of Lab 23 which will be leading the production a new arc power station and showcase the Iron Man Dio, a new prototype armor, that will replace him when he soon retires. In the first episode however, the Dio goes out of control and it is up to Tony as Iron Man to stop it along with an organization, introduced here, producing a number of tech baddies called the Zodiac and later revealed as an offshoot of Marvel Comic’s A.I.M. It dovetails with much of Iron Man continuity so that anyone who is either reading the comics or seen the movie can walk in a see much the same character. It only makes the usual departure over the origin of Iron Man giving us yet another rendition of his capture by some sort of Warlord and escape with the help of another. The arc of the series is getting the arc reactor to working levels for Japan’s benefit and free of the saboteurs.
There is in words much to love about this series as an adult Tony Stark taking on new threats each week in action that ranks up there with many a cartoon that is already on TV. It might not be breaking any ground visually or even in story but as a fusion it is quite successful. Produced by stalwart japanese animation company Madhouse it might even be considered a lesser work for anime buffs. Certainly the fight sequences are abrupt and somewhat predictable and just as a matter of comparison the Armored Adventures is far more detailed and for me exciting. Madhouse has been around for quite sometime and produced various levels of work over the now decades of its existence. So it sort begs the question of why hasn’t something like this show happened about ten years ago already?
Much of the answer for that lies with Marvel getting its house in order and the legacy of its own animation company effort. The fact this is overdue should not prevent one from checking it out and even enjoying it as I have. With the comic in the hands of Fraction still it is a great way to trill to some classic Iron Man and tie into a universe at the same time.
Adrian Pasdar – Tony Stark / Iron Man
Laura Bailey – Dr. Chika Tanaka
Eden Riegel – Nanami Ota
Travis Willingham - Captain Nagato Sakurai
Kyle Hebert – Yinsen / Iron Man Dio
Neil Kaplan – Minister of Defense Kuroda/Rasetsu
Cindy Robinson – Pepper Potts
Milo Ventimiglia – Wolverine
Daran Norris – Editor Nomura/TokyoJournal
Ben Diskin - Ichiro Masuda
I actually enjoyed this series myself. I watched it last year online (with japanese audio and subtitles). Honestly, I prefferred the japanese audio to the american voice actors they chose. This is a good overview of the series, but what did you think of the animation?
It seems like whenever Iron Man is going to be animated, the armor must be CG. This has been a trend since the cartoon of the ’90s. Do you remember the suit up scene from the first season? They did it again in the Invincible Iron Man movie as well. The CG mixed with 2D animation never looks as good as it should. This anime probably has the best looking mix of it so far, but I’ve always preferred consistency. In the final episodes, the armor switches back and forth between 2D and CC many times and it’s noticable.