8th Man

or or is a manga and superhero anime created in 1963 by science fiction writer Kazumasa Hirai and manga artist Jiro Kuwata. 8 Man is considered Japan's earliest cyborg superhero, pre-dating ''Kamen Rider.''

The manga was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine and ran from 1963 to 1966. The anime series was produced by Eiken in association with TCJ Animation Center. It was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System and ran from November 17, 1963, to December 31, 1964, with a total of 56 episodes, as well as a "farewell" special episode, "Goodbye, 8 Man".

Plot

Detective Yokoda is murdered by criminals and his body is retrieved by Professor Tani. Tani takes the body to his laboratory where he attempts to transfer Yokoda's life force into an android body, an experiment that has already failed seven times. Yokoda is reborn as the armour-skinned android 8 Man and is able to dash at impossible speeds as well as shape-shift into other people. He takes on his former body, this time taking on the name "Hachiro Azuma." He keeps this identity a secret, known only to Tani and his police boss, Chief Tanaka. Even his girlfriend Sachiko and his friend Ichiro are not aware that he is an android. As 8-Man, Hachiro fights crime–eventually avenging his own murder. To rejuvenate his powers, he smokes "energy" cigarettes that he carries in a case on his belt.

In Japan, the character's origin varies significantly between the original manga, the TV series, and the live-action movie. In the original Japanese manga and TV series, the character's name does not change when he is reborn as 8 Man. The "Detective Yokoda" name was created for the live-action version. In the manga, Detective Azuma is trapped in a warehouse and gunned down, while the TV series has him killed when he is run over by a car. In contrast, the original Japanese version had the main character named as "8 Man", as he is considered an extra member of the Japanese police force. There are seven regular police precincts and 8 Man is treated as an unofficial eighth precinct.

The Japanese manga was presented as serial novella stories along with a set of one-shot stories. Many of these stories were edited down and adapted for the TV series. The novella stories were originally printed every week in ''Shukuu Shōnen Magazine'' in 16-page increments that consisted of 15 story pages and one title page. Ten additional one-shot stories were presented in seasonal and holiday specials of ''Shuukuu Shōnen Magazine''. These stories were generally between 30 and 40 pages in length.

In the North American version of the series, the resurrected detective/android is known as "Tobor" or the word "robot" spelled backwards. Tani is referred to as "Professor Genius" and the sobriquet of 8-Man is slightly changed to "8th-Man," the name explained as he is the 8th attempt to be a super-robot. The story content was directed toward a wider audience of both young and adult viewers. As such, much of the violence was toned down for Western audiences. Due to changes in cigarette advertising laws in the 1960s, television characters were not allowed to be seen smoking. As this was a major plot device in the series, the show was forced to be removed from broadcast in the United States.

Original Japanese manga story titles

Novella stories

*怪人ゲーレン (Kaijin Geren) - Galen, the Mystery Man
*サタンの兄弟 (Satan no Kyodai) - Satan's Brothers
*怪力ロボット007 (Kairiki Robotto 007) - Strange Powered Robot 007
*光線兵器レーザー (Kosen Heiki Reza) - The Laser Beam Gun
*超人サイバー (Chojin Saiba) - Cyber, the Superhuman
*人間ミサイル (Ningen Misairu) - The Human Missile
*殺人ロボット005 (Satsujin Robotto 005) - Murderous Robot 005
*魔女エスパー (Majo Esupa) - Esper, the Witch
*超人類ミュータント (Chojinrui Myutanto) - Superhuman Mutant
*魔人コズマ (Majin Kozuma) - The Demon Kozuma
: The strip's artist Jiro Kuwata was imprisoned for possession of a handgun before the final 16-page serial of "The Demon Kozuma" was completed. The final serial was drawn by Takaharu Kusunoki for the magazine version. Jiro Kuwata later redrew the final pages of the story himself by request of Kazumasa Hirai and Rim Publishing, so that they could publish a complete version of the final story. The publishers were not able to use Kusunoki's artwork, so the story was omitted or left incomplete in previous official releases

Short episode stories

*死刑囚タランチュラ - The Condemned Criminal Tarantula
*決闘 - The Duel
*シャドウ・ボクサー - Shadow Boxer
*復讐鬼ゴースト - Vengeful Demon Ghost
*超振動砲 - The Super Vibration Gun
*マッド・マシン - Mad Machine
*サイボーグPV1号 - Cyborg Number PV1
*殺し屋イライジャ - The Assassin Elijah
*燃える水 - Burning Water
*幽霊ハイウェイ - Phantom Highway
*太陽衛星サンダー (単行本未収録) - Solar Satellite "Thunder" (unreleased story)
: This was intended as a lead-in to a series of 23 manga stories adapted from the TV series.

Original Japanese TV series episode titles

# エイトマン登場 - Introducing Eightman
# 殺し屋ゲーレン - Galen, the Hitman
# サタンの兄弟 - Satan's Brother
# 死刑台B3 - The B3 Gallows
# 暗黒カプセル - The Darkness Capsule
# 黄金ギャング - The Gold Gang
# 消音ジェット機 - The Stealth Jetplane
# 超小型ミサイル - The Ultra Micro Missile
# 光線銃レーザー - The Lazer Ray Gun
# ロボット007 - Robot 007
# まぼろしの暗殺者 - The Phantom Assassin
# 海底のウラン - The Undersea Uranium
# 人間パンチカード - The Human Punch Card
# スーパーパイロット - The Super Pilot
# 黒い幽霊 - The Black Ghost
# 怪盗黄金虫 - Goldbeetle, the Mysterious Thief
# 超音波ドクター - The Ultrasonic Wave Doctor
# 台風男爵 - The Typhoon Baron
# ゲーレンの逆襲 - Galen Strikes Again
# スパイ指令100号 - Spy Directive No. 100
# ロボットタイガー - The Robot Tiger
# ゼロへの挑戦 - Challenge to Zero
# ナポレオン13世 - Napoleon the 13th
# サラマンダー作戦 - Operation: Salamander
# 超人サイバー - Cyber, the Superhuman
# 地球ゼロアワー - Zero Hour: Earth
# 大怪物イーラ - Eeler, the Giant Monster
# バクテリア作戦 - Operation: Bacteria
# 人間ミサイル - The Human Missile
# サイボーグ人間C1号 - Cyborg No. C1
# 幽霊ハイウェイ - The Phantom Highway
# 太陽衛星サンダー - Thunder, the Solar Satellite
# 人工生命ヴァルカン - Vulcan, the Artificial Lifeform
# 決闘 - The Duel
# 冷凍光線 - The Freeze Ray
# バイラス13号 - Virus No. 13
# 悪夢の7日間 - The 7 Day Nightmare
# 怪人ゴースト - The Mysterious Ghost
# まぼろしを作る少年 - The Boy Who Made a Phantom
# 透明ロボット・ジュピター - Jupiter, the Invisible Robot
# エイトマン暗殺指令 - Order: Assassinate Eightman
# 女王蜂モンスター - The Queen Bee Monster
# 魔女エスパー - Esper, the Witch
# 世界電撃プラン - The World Blitz Plan
# 死刑囚タランチュラ - Tarantula, the Condemned Criminal
# 空飛ぶ魔人 - The Flying Devil
# バブル・ボール作戦 - Operation: Bubble Ball
# 火星人SAW - SAW, the Martian
# 30億人の人質 - 3 Billion Hostages
# 怪像ジャイアント - Giant, the Mysterious Statue
# 狙われた地球 - Target Earth
# 人喰魚ピラニア - The Man-Eating Piranha
# ムタールの反乱 - Moutard's Rebellion
# シャークの掟 - Law of the Shark
# 超人類ミュータント(前編) - Superhuman Mutant (Part One)
# 超人類ミュータント(後編) - Superhuman Mutant (Part Two)
* "Good-Bye Eight-Man" - a special look back at the TV series.

The U.S. syndicated version

In 1965, ''8 Man'' was brought to the U.S. as ''8th Man'' (sometimes called "Tobor the 8th Man," as in its English-language theme music), with ABC Films as its syndicated distributor. Only 52 of the original 56 episodes were translated into English.

The characters were renamed as follows:
* Yokota/Azuma/8 Man - Special Agent Brady/Tobor ("robot" spelled backward)/8th Man
* Tani - Professor Genius
* Tanaka - Chief Fumble Thumbs
* Sachiko - Jenny Hartsweet
* Ichiro - Skip

Theme song

Call Tobor, the 8 Man

Reception

8 Man was ranked ninth in the Mania Entertainment's 10 Most Iconic Anime Heroes. The author of the ranking, Thomas Zoth, commented, "Before '' Cyborg 009'', '' The Six Million Dollar Man'', and ''RoboCop'', there was 8 Man: The first cyborg manga and anime hero. Building on '' Astro Boy'', 8 Man helped to shape the trajectory of robot and cyborg heroes for the next decade."

Legacy

The 8 Man franchise was revived in the early 1990s with a live-action film, video game, and new animated series.

Video game

In 1991, SNK released a video game edition of '' Eight Man'' for the Neo Geo arcade and home video game system (both versions are identical), where the player took the role of 8 Man and his Robo-comrade 9 Man in a fight against an invading evil robot army. The game was released internationally. While the game stayed true to the concept of a crime-fighting super-robot, it was widely criticized for being tedious and relying too much on the gimmick of its speed-running effect.

In 2009, he appeared in the crossover ''Shonen Sunday & Shonen Magazine White Comic'' for the Nintendo DS.

Live action movie

In 1992, a live-action film version of 8 Man was produced in Japan. Titled ''Eitoman - Subete no Sabishī Yoru no Tame ni'' (, lit. ''8 Man - For All the Lonely Nights''), it was directed by Yasuhiro Horiuchi and starred Kai Shishido as the title character and Toshihide Wakamatsu as Detective Yokota. Distributed in the United States by Fox Lorber video simply as ''8 Man'', the movie was widely panned for its choppy editing, mediocre direction, and low-budget feel. Many modern American viewers, unfamiliar with the older animated series, felt the movie was an inferior version of ''RoboCop,'' although the latter was a much more recent franchise.

''8 Man After''

In 1993, the mantle of 8 Man was taken up by Hazama Itsuru in the OVA series ''8 Man After''. Existing in a world far more corrupt than that of his predecessor, the new 8 Man had no qualms about being extremely violent towards the cybernetic criminals who had murdered him previously. It was licensed by Streamline Pictures where it went out of print until being released on DVD by Image Entertainment in 2001. It has since been released by Discotek Media in 2016 with Japanese audio, featuring English subtitles for the first time.

''8 Man Infinity''

A manga comic strip called is being authored by Kyoichi Nanatsuki under Kodansha, which is being serialized under Kodansha's ''Magazine Z''.

''8 Man vs. Cyborg 009''

A crossover between 8 Man and Cyborg 009 by Kyoichi Nanatsuki (script) and Masato Hayate (art), began serialization in '' Champion Red'' on July 18, 2020.

References

Notes

External links

* (1963)
* (1965)
* (1992)
* (1993)
*

{{Eiken

1963 anime television series debuts
1963 manga
1987 films
1991 video games
1992 films
1993 anime OVAs
1994 manga
2005 manga
Anime and manga characters who can move at superhuman speeds
Arcade video games
Discotek Media
Eiken (studio)
Fictional cyborgs
Fictional Japanese police officers
Fictional robots
Fuji TV original programming
Japanese television dramas based on manga
J.C.Staff
Jiro Kuwata
Kazumasa Hirai (author)
Kodansha manga
Robot superheroes
Seinen manga
Shapeshifter characters in comics
Shōnen manga
TBS Television (Japan) original programming
Cyborgs in anime and manga
Television series about shapeshifting