Product Details

• Actors: Tomokazu Seki, Yui Horie, Yumiko Kobayashi, Keaton Yamada, Etsuko Kozakura
• Directors: Tensai Okamura
• Writers: Shotaro Ishinomori
• Producers: Shou Onodera
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Bandai
• DVD Release Date: August 5, 2003
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008DDIM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #89,577 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Android Kikaider - Lonely Soul (Vol. 1)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori's reworking of "Pinocchio" was made into a live-action series in 1972; this later anime version (2000) is done in a retro style that reflects the influence of Osamu Tezuka and some American cartoons. Professor Komyoji is killed in his lab while creating Jiro, a super-android who looks like a human--until he morphs into his battle form. What sets Jiro apart is the "Gemini Circuit" that gives him a conscience. Jiro meets Komyoji's daughter Mitsuko and son Masaru, who initially welcome him. But when Mitsuko checks her father's data, she learns that the Gemini Circuit is flawed: if it cannot be repaired, Jiro must be destroyed. Jiro flees, but finds himself battling the insect-like mecha sent by the evil Dr. Gill. The basic story is familiar, but it's presented with more feeling than most mecha tales. (Rated 13 and older: violence) --Charles Solomon

Product Description

The genius robotics professor, Dr. Komyoji has created Kikaider – a humanoid robot tasked with the protection of Dr. Komyoji’s son and daughter. Gifted with the ‘conscience circuit’, Kikaider is given the power to simulate real emotions that helps to distinguish between ‘right and wrong’. Can Kikaider protect Dr. Komyoji’s children and battle against the evil Dr. Gill and his army of androids? The fight against world domination lies in the hands of Kikaider.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant interpretation of a classic, February 19, 2003

By	Kyle R. Schlichter (Somewhere, out there.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a long time fan of the Masked Rider and live action Kikaider shows, and imported the animation discs from Japan as soon as they were released! I was very impressed!

Android Kikaider is a dark, often violent, and incredibly stylish series based around the comics and television series by Shotaro Ishinomori (the creator of "Masked Rider" and "Cyborg 009"). Intelligently written and sometimes quite touching, "Android Kikaider" breaks away from its super hero roots and explores the question of what it truly means to be human.

It's a short series (only 12 episodes), and I believe this first disk has eps 1-3.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Anime - More Than Fighting Robots, November 11, 2003

By	"snowdoggie" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

I am not normally a fan of anime and I am not a fan of fighting
robot transformer type shows, but Kikaider is different.

Based on the Japanese live action show from the 1970s that inspired George Lucas to create the character, Darth Vader and the visual progenitor of Heim Saban's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and dozens of other cartoons and live action series, Kikaider asks the Asmovian question, what is the difference between man and machine when the machine becomes the equal of
man.

The series also has many other themes. The loneliness of the children of workaholics, a major issue in both Japan and the United States. What happens when someone sent to spy falls in
love with the victim and how that tears the spy apart. How an evil man can manipulate both machine and man to the point that the influence cascades to effect everybody related to the ones being manipulated. The pain of the individual who has to deal with the negative reaction of others to his ugly appearance.

A child's shock at learning the truth about a fathers misdeeds.

The sad tale of Android Kikaider is one in which a machine actually becomes more human that the humans surrounding him. And this is a tale worth hearing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Past Comes To The Present, July 4, 2003

By	Chon-ny "Your Sensei's Sensei" - See all my reviews

Jinzo Ningen Kikaider--Humanoid Kikaider, Android Kikaider...the show goes by numerous names and began airing Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The series is a remake of a 43-episode live action series popular in Hawaii called "Kikaida," which played out similar to "Ultraman" or "Power Rangers" in terms of the cardboard-box suit robots. Depending on how Bandai plans on packaging the rest of the Kikaider DVDs, it could come out as anywhere from a 13- to a 16-episode series that, while introducing a powerfully deep story, falls victim to too many common anime cliches.

The story opens with a scientist, Dr. Kyomoji, attempting to finish a young android. A robot attack orchestrated by the show's biggest villain, Lord/Doctor/Professor Gill, presumably kills off Kyomoji and throws everything into chaos. Later on, his daughter Mitsuko, having found the young android named Jiro, proceeds to try and find what has happened to her father. This constitutes the first main driving force in "Kikaider," the search for Kyomoji, and the protection of his children. The second deals with what Mitsuko finds out about Jiro: inside him is Kyomoji's ultimate creation, the Gemini or Conscience Circuit that allows him to feel emotions, and have a sense to distinguish wrong from right. However, should this circuit malfunction, Jiro must be destroyed because of the danger he presents with his incredible powers, as well as his battle form called "Kikaider."

This first volume, and most likely half of the next, will contain your standard hero-vs-villain battles featuring Jiro battling various androids from Professor Gill's DARK organization, each with color/animal related names like Carmine Spider, Golden Bat, Orange Ant and Yellow Jaguar. This is standard, and annoying to a point--you know Jiro is going to win, and you hardly ever get the sense like he is truly in peril. However, everything else aside from the fights and build-up to the fights are excellent. Jiro begins to overhear conversations about "puppets" and returns again and again to a "puppet clock," beginning to question how much of an abnormality his existence is.

An extremely important point to the series takes place when Jiro overhears a man playing a guitar and asks to learn how to play. He learns with little difficulty (two lessons maybe) prompting the man not to be amazed, but frightened. Two things grow from this: Jiro's attachment to the guitar, and fear of alienation and discrimination (therefore his desire to become real instead of humanoid, the so-called Pinocchio element of the series). The guitar will play (forgive the pun) an important role in the series, and originally was used in the opening sequence not shown on Cartoon Network.

The later episodes turn more serious, more than just your fighting-robots-type anime. Mysteries, all the unanswered questions posed in the earlier episodes, begin to unravel; characters learn new things about themselves and their connections to each other and to other organizations; characters die, re-appear and vanish. There are enough surprises packed into the second half of "Kikaider" to carry it to its heart-wrenching, surprising finale.

The big issue for anime fans here has to be the art. Drawn in the old Osamu Tezuka style of AstroBoy, "Kikaider" brings the old-style manga and anime drawings back with all the polished movement of modern anime. The characters aren't correctly proportional or drawn to appear like normal humans. They're drawn similar to the characters in "Cyborg 009" also airing on Cartoon Network, or in "Metropolis" (I recommend picking up an old AstroBoy manga from your local bookstore to see what I mean--plus it gives you perspective on where anime and manga really took off). Noses are too long and pointy or too big and rounded. Hair points sharply to the side or to the back, and will, more often than not, drape "coolly" over the eyes of the show's hero. Eyes are large and expressive for the good guys, slanty and emotionless for the bad guys. The robot drawings--be it the giant robots, the Kikaider combat forms, or the DARK villains--are nothing impressive. The colors are also overdone, sometimes featuring more than six or seven different and strong colors on a single character. You can't see the struggle or the emotion on the face of most robots, meaning you'll have to rely heavily on the vocal performance. Thankfully, the English vocal cast steps up to the task, meaning you won't have to resort to reading subtitles in the always superb Japanese performances.

If you're in the older age range that was exposed to "Kikaida" or the older cartoons and anime, this will be something that will definitely interest you. The movement and animation is up to par with the newer animes out there, just with the old-style art, and a good storyline, especially in the second half of this series. If you're younger, you might struggle with the art that isn't quite "DragonBall Z" or "Outlaw Star" or "Trigun." If you can get past that and keep an open mind on the art, you'll enjoy the series.