009 Re:Cyborg (Dub) Episode 1
Another 3D film, produced by Production I.G. and animated by OLM Digital and Signal.MD and distributed by Toho, was released on November 25, 2016. The movie itself was divided into three parts, with Part 2 being released December 2, 2016 and Part 3 on December 9, 2016. Kenji Kamiyama was chief director of the project, and Kokai Kakimoto directed the film.[1] Netflix acquired digital distribution rights to the movie, where the movie was shown first on Netflix Japan in Spring 2016, with other territories following later.[18] The films, edited down into 12 episodes, were released worldwide on Netflix on February 10, 2017.[19]
009 Re:Cyborg (Dub) Episode 1
An anime adaptation was released on April 5, 1968, on NET and ended on September 27, 1968, with a total of 26 episodes. This series was directed by Yugo Serikawa, Takeshi Tamiya, Tomoharu Katsumata, Toshio Katsuda, Taiji Yabushita, Ryōzō Tanaka, Yoshikata Nitta, Kazuya Miyazaki, Fusahiro Nagaki, Minoru Okazaki, Yoshio Takami.
A third television series, entitled Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 14, 2001 to October 13, 2002 on Sundays at 18:30. It spanned a total of fifty-one episodes.
The 2001 TV series was licensed by Avex Inc. (the North American branch of Avex Mode, the 2001 series' original distributor in Japan) and dubbed into English by Animaze and ZRO Limit Productions. The entire series was dubbed, with the first 26 episodes shown on the Toonami programming block on Cartoon Network, while episodes 27 to 47 were shown on Cartoon Network's late Friday night "Graveyard Shift" block, right before the show was dropped from their line-up. The first 8 episodes were distributed on DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment in a two-disc uncut bilingual set, as well as two dub-only edited broadcast volumes of four episodes each along with Portuguese and Spanish dubs. As of 2017, none of the other episodes have become available on home video outside Japan and Hong Kong, but Madman Entertainment released the first 26 dubbed episodes to DVD in Australia; they are since out of print. Discotek Media announced during their Otakon 2017 panel that they have licensed the 2001 series, and they will release the entire series, in the uncut bilingual version, on a SDBD set.[25] The purpose for this set is to restore the uncut version of the dub for the whole series to its best state possible, as well as the video quality. The uncut dub master tapes were damaged upon arrival,[26] due to the age of the DA-88 tapes.[27] The set has an 11-page essay about the restoration process by the company's producer and Anime News Network founder Justin Sevakis, along with an 83-page art gallery.[28] The set was also the North American and dub premiere of the three-episode God's War finale. The set was officially released on June 25, 2019.[29]
This incarnation also has an OVA special consisting of episodes 49-51, which are not in continuity with the main series (1-48). These special episodes are a loose adaptation of Shotaro Ishinomori's final work before his death, Cyborg 009: Conclusion GOD'S WAR, and subtitled with "Prologue" (as there was initial intent to do a follow-up). These episodes ran in the weeks after the wrap-up of the main plot line, concluding on October 14, 2002.
With the collaboration of Kawagoe as director, as well as the series configuration writer Shinsuke Onishi and character designer Naoyuki Konno, various new guest characters were also devised for the series, drawing inspiration from other manga works by Shotaro Ishinomori. Other characters from the manga also underwent alteration, and the "Mutant Warriors" arc (episodes 39-42) was an anime-original creation loosely paying homage to some elements and characters from the "Immigration" and "People Drifting Between Space and Time" stories from the manga.
This adaptation has the distinction of being the second anime television series of the franchise to be broadcast in the US, and the first to be dubbed into English. It was broadcast on Cartoon Network through 2003-2004, with the first season airing on Toonami. However the dub never managed to air in its entirety on the network, as although all the episodes had been dubbed, Toonami had only acquired the first 26 episodes for broadcast on their block.
The latter half of the show ran through 2004 in a late-night slot at 1:30am, with Cartoon Network abruptly cutting the series off at episode 47. However, the recap episode "The Yomi Group" and Episode 48 aired overseas in Australia and the UK, as did the English dub of the "God's War" OVA arc (as those three episodes were dubbed as part of the series package). The English dub of the "God's War" episodes and "The Yomi Group" remain difficult to find.
The dub was also edited for time and some content, and some episodes (such as 48) took significant liberties with the script. These content edits and script changes also cropped up in foreign dubs that based their scripts off of the English adaptation.
The early episodes initially ran in a less-edited format on Toonami, but were later censored for reruns after complaints, as well as Cartoon Network's Standards & Practices department realizing that certain objectionable language had slipped by for the TV Y-7 rating. The offending lines were either simply muted, or muted and later redubbed by Sony (ie: "The Assassin of Flash" originally having 0010- refer to himself as the 00 cyborgs' "Brother from Hell", which was initially muted in later airings before being redubbed with "Brother gone bad".). The editing increased for the later episodes, particularly the Yomi arc, which encountered various cuts to remove on-screen violence and death.
Adding to the frustrations of fans, this incarnation of the series has never received a full DVD release. Only 2 discs of the series (containing 4 episodes each) were released by Columbia TriStar in 2004 along with an 8-episode "uncut" bilingual release, while Sony Pictures Australia had released episodes 1-25 on DVD, covering up to the end of the "Mythos" arc. All bilingual DVD sets were controversial for their usage of "dubtitles" in the subtitle track, as well as poor video quality and incorrect opening/ending sequences used for some episodes.
Though it is unlikely the series will ever re-air on Cartoon Network due to the rights issues and the show doing poorly in ratings the first time around, it is said that Cartoon Network does keep copies of all their programming in their archives[5], leading to the possibility that the entire Cyborg 009 dub (unaired episodes included) lies there, unable to be released due to the extenuating circumstances but nevertheless saved in some format. It is uncertain if this may also be the case for Cartoon Network Australia, which had actually aired the episodes that the USA broadcaster hadn't.
A year later, possibly due to the unpopularity of the subtitled version, the station Animax broadcast a Korean dub of the series. All 51 episodes were translated. However, this dub was never released on home video and no recordings of it can be found. Cyborg 009 has never been rebroadcast since, likely owing to the rights expiring and Ishimori Productions' "license freeze" situation.
Cyborg 009 Vs. Devilman will certainly please fans of both franchises, but the casual viewer will have some reservations in watching this three-episode nostalgia trip. The production is competent even though the emphasis is on the fight scenes. The main protagonists are competent, but some of the secondary characters are either underdeveloped or feel more like plot devices to keep the story going. The plot is extremely basic, yet it has a habit of making it look edgier than what it already is. The music is quite good with JAM Project providing both themes that really fit the aesthetics of the anime series. However, I thought this was a shallow crossover than lent itself to being an average watch.
Cross-Dressing Voices: 007 was voiced by Machiko Soga (AKA Bandora/Rita Repulsa) in the 60's anime and movie. In the rest of the anime adaptations, he was voiced by male actors. However, as the '60s anime adaptations had redesigned 007 to be a child (see below), a female voice was probably considered more fitting. Ivan is a case of this in all incarnations of the anime, though it's averted in the English dub of the 2001 series.
Died During Production: The original manga was never finished due to Ishinomori's death. Thus, the final planned story arc, "Conclusion: God's War" was never finished or published in manga format in the year 2000 as Ishinomori had hoped for (as his death cut the planning short). That is, until 2012, when Ishinomori's son Jou Onodera used his notes to complete it as a novel (with the anime writers having previously adapted it as a mini-arc and OVA). It has now been completely adapted into manga format and published on Shogakukan's free manga hosting website. Do keep in mind that this is all happening only in Japan. However, Ishinomori's planning notes are also said to differ from both Onodera's novel and manga adaptations to various extents, leaving it iffy on how faithful the final story may be at delivering on his intent.
Executive Meddling: In the 60s anime adaptation, 007 was turned from a forty-something former actor into a nine-year old Bratty Half-Pint Mouthy Kid who was functionally 009's Kid Sidekick along with Plucky Comic Relief. Ishinomori didn't care for this change, but had to incorporate it into the manga to some degree. The kid version of 007 got used briefly as a Mythology Gag in the 2001 anime adaptation, in a scene where 007 kept shapeshifting through different forms.
The continuation of the manga past the Underground Empire arc came from this and fan outcry; Ishinomori had to retcon the Bittersweet Ending and start a new tale with the cyborgs.
The Mythos arc's abrupt end came about when a new editor-in-chief was hired for Weekly Shonen King and ordered Ishinomori to wrap up the story as it was being dropped from the magazine soon. The editorial department had felt that the story and large amount of characters would be too confusing for children to follow.
The anime version of "Conclusion: God's War" was truncated to two episodes in its run on TV, with episodes 50 and 51 being cut and merged together. The DVD shows the episodes as they were intended to be seen.
Flip-Flop of God: While the '60s anime was running, Ishinomori incorporated 007's child persona into the manga by having Gilmore upgrade him. First introduced as a permanent new form, it later flitted between Sleep-Mode Size to a Super-Deformed mode for comedy moments (during the Underground Empire arc) to being discarded and forgotten entirely and back again. A Whole Chapter Flashback that Retconned their escape so that 007 was already in child mode (or just flat-out a child) didn't help, either.
Fountain of Expies: While he's not quite as major an example as some of the other, more notable sub-trope examples (and thus he doesn't quite rate his own entry on TVT), Cyborg 002 is still the inspiration for a lot of expies, especially among authors who were kids growing up during the earlier runs of the manga and shows. A few of the more familiar expies to English-speaking fans would be Kurtis, Roam (an expy created by Ishinomori himself, no less) and Pizza/Soldato-J.
God Created Canon Foreigner: Hisui Kagariya (the girl who appears in the final arc of the 2001 anime) may seem like she was a character exclusively created for the anime version of "God's War", due to the fact that Ishinomori's notes had yet to be adapted into a manga format. She did in fact exist in the drafts for the arc, but would not make her transition to the intended manga format until 2012.
I Am Not Spock: In an interview made around 2001 Kazuhiko Inoue, who had voiced 009 in the 1979 series, said that Kazuko Sugiyama, who had played 003, would still occasionally call him "Joe" when meeting him.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: Only the first eight episodes of the entire 2001 anime were originally released on DVD in the US, and only the first 25 were released in the UK and Australia. Outside of incomplete bootlegs and internet uploads, the rest remained elusive for well over a decade. This is no longer the case now that Discotek Media has reissued the series on SD-BD, which is the first time the English dub of the "God's War" OVA has surfaced anywhere.
The English dub of the 1980 film, produced in 1986 by Tokyo-based Frontier Enterprises, was released to VHS twice: once in 1988 through Celebrity Home Entertainment as Defenders of the Vortex with over 30 minutes cut, and again in 1995 uncut through Best Film & Video (as Cyborg 009: Legend of the Super Vortex). It hasn't been made available anywhere since.
Missing Episode: The English dubbed versions of Episodes 34-37, & 39-45 from the 2001 series are usually this. Episode 48 also only got to air in overseas broadcasts. As far as "God's War" (49-51) goes, the episodes were dubbed but remain elusive. The English scripts (complete with edits) were further adapted and utilized for the Latin American dub. Episode 38 did have a surviving English dub, but is extremely rare. Though now that Discotek Media has rescue licensed the 2001 series, these episodes will finally be seen in North America for the first time.
Episodes 15 and 17-26 of the 1968 anime series are also hard to track down, and don't appear to be available subbed anywhere.
No Export for You: Only the first 10 manga volumes were published into English by Tokyopop, and those same volumes were made available digitally by ComiXology. None of the other volumes have been officially translated English. Also, the 1966 anime film and 1968 anime series have never seen the light of day in English (even complete fansubs are impossible to find). The 1979 anime's only official English release was through a subtitled version in the early 80s that aired on a few small local networks in New York, California, and Hawaii that featured Japanese programming.
The Other Darrin: As far as the dub for the 2001 series goes, Joshua Seth was seemingly unavailable to voice Joe in episodes 5 and 9, with Derek Stephen Prince filling in for the role. See The Other Marty for the full reasoning.
The '68 series recast the role of 004 at episode 18, with his voice actor switching from Hiroshi Otake to Kenji Utsumi.
The Other Marty: Derek Stephen Prince was originally cast as Joe, but was fired after an unspecified amount of episodes when Sony executives didn't approve of the voice he used for the character. Joshua Seth was then cast in the role (after he'd initially planned to retire from anime dubbing) and redubbed all of the episodes that Prince had recorded for- except for 5 and 9, which they were either unable to re-record in time or that wound up airing as the original versions with Prince's vocal track.
Role Reprise: While it could be a coincidence, the Mexican Spanish dub of the Call of Justice movie brought back the same voice actor who voiced 006/Chang Changku in the 2001 TV series (Pedro D'aguillon Jr.). This is relevant because all the Mexican dubs of all the animated adaptations of the manga had different voice actors along the way and this is the only time where a voice actor from a previous adaptation reprised the same role.
Fuyumi Shiraishi, who had played Ivan in the 1968 series and came back to the role in the 1980 movie Legend of the Super Galaxy, counts as well.
In the Italian dub of Legend of the Super Galaxy, Massimo Rossi was the only voice actor from the series to reprise his role as Joe. What makes this especially noteworthy is that while the '79 anime was dubbed and broadcast around 1982, the movie had to wait until 2010 to be finally adapted and released in the country, making the gap in the reprisal of the role a whole 28 years.
The English cast is never consistent between the different incarnations, but Michael Sorich, who voiced 007 in the 2001 series, returned to 009 Re: Cyborg to voice 006, and Stephanie Sheh, who voiced 001 in 009 Re: Cyborg returned for Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman as 003.
Screwed by the Network: All but the last five episodes of the 2001 series aired on Cartoon Network. The first twenty-five got rerun in the Toonami block several times, while the rest were eventually aired during the Midnight Run. Once. They stopped right before the end of the Pu'Awak arc, deciding not to air the finale or the God's War arc. This meant the scene viewers were left with was 004 screaming Viina's name after seeing her and her sisters shot by Von Bogoot. Rather curious, considering that other Cartoon Networks (like CN-Latin America) exhibited the WHOLE series, God's War arc included, around a year before this happened.
Talking to Himself: The five Pu'Awak Sisters were all voiced by Yuki Masuda. This trope was averted for the English dub and the Latin American Spanish dub (with each sister being voiced by a different actress).
What Could Have Been: As mentioned in the Aborted Arc trope, "Angels" was originally going to be an arc to wrap up the manga, but it was unfortunately cut off on a cliffhanger when the magazine it was running in (Adventure King) dropped Cyborg 009 as a feature due to Ishinomori falling into a writer's block and being unable to continue the story. In the cliffhanger, the cyborgs learn that Ivan has the ability to upgrade them. The volume release of the Angels arc also had a footnote by Ishinomori, suggesting that the arc was difficult to write for due to him planning it to be the longest (and final) battle that the 00 cyborgs would experience. Ishinomori attempted to rewrite and revisit the storyline a few years later with "Battle with the Gods" (with it serialized in COM), but that was also cut short when the manga was dropped again- in light of fans' enraged letters over Joe and Francoise having sex and criticisms of Ishinomori's art and narrative style in the arc.
Before "Angels", the Underground Empire arc would have ended the manga with the now-iconic and infamous "shooting star" sequence. Before that, fans believe the Mythos arc was meant to be an earlier wrap-up, as the arc ends very abruptly with an explosion and a narration stating that there were no traces of either Cyborg team left behind (leading to the assumption that the 00 cyborgs were all dead). However, in that case, the destructive and abrupt ending was due to the manga being dropped from Weekly Shonen King, and Ishinomori not being given enough time to write out a more detailed finale.
Early draft designs for the characters had Jet/002 lacking the Gag Nose that he'd become known for, and Francoise/003 went through having several different hair style ideas before Ishinomori settled on her final look. Ivan/001 also lacked his bangs, while Dr. Gilmore could have had an afro.
The Mythos cyborgs were originally going to appear in the 1979 series in an arc after the Neo Black Ghost one, and three episodes were being drafted while Ishinomori was drawing redesigns for the characters. Unfortunately, the '79 series was cancelled at episode 50, leaving things to be hastily wrapped up with the Neo Black Ghost arc. Not all was lost, as the redesign for Helena/Artemis did eventually make it into the 2001 anime.
The 2001 anime was originally tended to stick a lot closer to the manga, with only Birth through Underground Empire being adapted (thus no recap episode, "God's War", or the later manga stories that were placed earlier in the chronology).