Android Kikaider: V.1 Lonely Soul

Professor Gil sends several robots who look like guys wearing monster suits a la Godzilla movies, for example: overweight spiders and mantises who are quite comical looking to destroy Jiro. This is really the only weak point in the series. As Dr Komyoji's two children befriend Jiro in an effort to find out the fate of their father, Mitsuko learns that the Gemini circuit has a flaw in it which must be corrected or Jiro could be vulnerable to evil orders. She decides that if she can't fix the problem, Jiro must be destroyed. Her fears are realized when Jiro attempts to kill her while being controlled by Professor Gil.

Realizing that he can never fit in and is a danger to his "family", Jiro flees to the city and tries to lose himself in the crowd. For reasons not exactly clear to herself, Mitsuko hires a detective who walks around dressed like Sherlock Holmes and his partner, who looks like Velma from Scooby Doo to help her locate Jiro.

Boy oh boy, where do I start with the Frankenstein and Pinocchio refererences in this series? They aren't bad though. Yes, this is a mecha vs. monster of the week series with the big transformation scenes as Jiro hits the switches on his shoulders and transforms from a human appearance to android to fight against his potbellied attackers. The difference to me is the melancholy tone of it. Jiro wants to fit in and be like everyone else but everyone is always accusing him of being a monster, a freak, a cold machine. Even though the designs of the characters look to imitate the style of 40s and 50s manga, its not too distracting. Reminded me of Metropolis. The detectives bring some comic relief without being goofy. Like I said, the only weak point is the design of Gil's robots. You should check this series out.

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 or even superior to 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.