Cyborg 009

Entry updated 15 April 2024. Tagged: Film, TV.

1. Japanese animated film (1966). Based on the Manga by ShotaroIshinomori. Toei Animation. Directed by Yugo Serikawa. Written by Takashi Iijima and Yugo Serikawa. Voice cast includes Judy Ong, Hiroyuki Oota and Jouji Yanami. 65 minutes. Colour.

This was the first of severalAnime based on the long-running mangaCyborg 009 (1964-1981).

When racing driver Shimamura Joe's (Oota) vehicle is sabotaged and crashes he is taken in a fake ambulance to the lair of the Black Ghosts, an organization that manipulates nations into fightingWars so it may profit from arms deals. On arrival Professor Gilmour (Yanami) turns Joe intoCyborg 009, with heightened reflexes and otherSuperpowers. There are already eight other cyborgs from different countries, all with individual talents – genius (seeIntelligence), flight, finger/arm cannons, super sight/hearing, strength, fire-breathing,Shapeshifting and swimming underwater. None wish to be part of the Black Ghosts' plans, so they – and the Professor – flee.

The Black Ghosts pursue, sendingRobot Dinosaurs, a giant octopus and sharks fitted with missile launchers. 003 (Ong) is kidnapped and – belatedly – brainwashed. Joe pursues: there are a series of Black Ghost officers, each killed for incompetence by their superior – who will be killed in turn by theirs. Whilst freeing 003 Joe meets and kills the true leader, who resembles aComputer with a human brain. Though defeated, more by accident than design, it insists the Black Ghost will not be destroyed as it is created by the corruption that lives in the human heart (as such it might be argued that, as Joe is human, it was also killed by its line manager); it also adds that theIsland will blow up in five minutes. The cyborgs make it out in time. War ends, but it is acknowledged that the desires that cause them might one day resurface; if so, the cyborgs are prepared to return to the fray.

The production is unremarkable, using limited animation and clearly having a small budget; uncomfortably, the African, Chinese and Native-American cyborgs are caricatures (seeRace in SF). The plot is full of action, but not exciting: the film is at best pleasantly forgettable, with the occasional diverting scene. However, by featuring a team of humans turned into superheroes it could be considered a forerunner of shows like theSuper Sentai series and possiblyTheSix Million Dollar Man (1973-1978). The best character is the underused 001, a baby genius (why the Black Ghosts cyborged a baby is unexplained).

A sequel followed:Cyborg 009: Monster Wars (1967; original titleSaibogu 009: Kaijū senso; vtCyborg 009: Underground Duel). There were further films:Cyborg 009: Legend of the Super Galaxy (1980; original titleSaibōgu 009: Chou Ginga Densetsu; vtCyborg 009: Legend of the Super Vortex) was a companion to the 1979 television series;009 Re:Cyborg (2012) is a 3D film set 27 years after the break up of the original cyborg team;Cyborg 009: Call of Justice (2016) was a trilogy. For theTelevision series, see2, below. There have also been twoRadio shows and severalVideogames. [SP]

links

Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database –Cyborg 009: Monster Wars
Internet Movie Database –Cyborg 009: Legend of the Super Galaxy
Internet Movie Database –009 Re:Cyborg
Internet Movie Database –Cyborg 009: Call of Justice: I
Internet Movie Database –Cyborg 009: Call of Justice: II
Internet Movie Database –Cyborg 009: Call of Justice: II

2. Japanese animated tv series (1968). Toei Animation. Based on theManga by ShotaroIshinomori. Directed by Yugo Serikawa. Written by Masaki Tsuji. Voice cast includes Katsuji Mori and Jouji Yanami. 26 25-minute episodes. Black and white.

This series is set after the events of1 above, with Cyborg 009 (Mori) and the otherCyborgs ready to combat evil, with Professor Gilmour's (Yanami) support. Though also having a small budget this series made better use of its resources than the film, being more ambitious (to its cost); whilst many scenes are simplistically animated, others are reasonably effective.

Adventures include aMad Scientist who turns people into mindless giants;Uplifted pyrokineticDogs; cyborg children implanted with bombs;Aliens who plan to wipe out humanity; an IncanRobot; arms dealers blackmailing an alien lion; a man claiming to be Moses using science to mimic miraculous powers; and future humans,Mutated by nuclear bombs, trying to preventWorld War Three (seeTime Travel).

The latter episode led to complaints, as did the anti-militaristicGhost of the Pacific (original titleTaiheiyô No Bôrei), where Japan'sWorld War Two navy rises renewed from the seabed and once again attacks Pearl Harbour, with the radioactive battleship Nagato heading towards San Francisco – the USA respond by dropping an atomic bomb on it, which only makes matters worse. The team discover the culprit is a Japanese scientist who has developedTechnology boostingPsi Powers, making his wishes flesh: his son died in the war and he desires revenge. However, when he senses the fear of the San Francisco public his mania subsides, culminating in the ghost of his son appearing and remonstrating with him: the navy reverts to its ruined state and sinks once more. There are also prolonged images of the Hiroshima Peace Park and of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution ("... the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes ..."). The episode wasn't broadcast again for decades.

Though most episodes were routine, a few others were strongly anti-war/nuclear weapons, including the finale,Death Is the Peace of Soldiers (original titleHeiwa No Senshi Wa Shinazu), whilst others were anti-racist – inThe Final Escape (original titleHateshinaki Tōbō), the cyborgs become involved in the Nigerian Civil War, and the death of an African leader is intended to draw parallels with the assassination of Martin Luther King. Tsuji has said the shows relatively short lifespan was due to its staff refusing to bow to the television company's request to be less political following complaints from Japanese Parent Teacher Associations (the alien villain in the finale is said to represent a PTA member).

The 1979 series (in colour; 50 episodes) has the cyborgs, having gone their separate ways, coming together when the Norse gods (seeGods and Demons) return, planning to rule the human race (one god insisting, "Power is justice."); however this arc only lasts 9 episodes and the rest of the series is taken with a fight against the Neo Black Ghost, a more traditional evil organization. The 2001 seriesCyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier (2001-2002; 51 episodes) reworked the source manga's stories, including Ishinomori's unfinished final work. Another television series,Cyborg 009: Call of Justice (2017; 12 episodes), was edited from the 2016 film trilogy, and the three-part OVACyborg 009 VS Devilman (2015) is a crossover with theDevilman franchise (seeDevilman Crybaby). [SP]

links