8 Man

Plot

Murdered by criminals, Detective Yokoda's body is retrieved by Professor Tani and taken to his laboratory. There, Tani performs an experiment that has failed seven times; Yokoda is the eighth subject to have his life force transferred into an android body. For the first time, the experiment succeeds. Yokoda is reborn as the armor-skinned android 8 Man, able to dash at impossible speeds, as well as shape-shift into other people. He shifts himself into Yokoda, this time christening himself as "Hachiro Azuma". He keeps this identity a secret, known only to Tani and his police boss Chief Tanaka. Even his girlfriend Sachiko and friend Ichiro do not know he is an android. As 8-Man, Hachiro fights crime (even bringing his own murderers to justice). He smokes "energy" cigarettes, to rejuvenate his powers, that he carries in a cigarette case on his belt.

In Japan, the character's origin actually 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. Also, in the Japanese story, the character is called "8 Man" because 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 all to himself.

The Japanese manga was presented as serial novella stories along with a set of one-shot stories. Many of the stories were edited down and adapted for the TV series, but not all of them. The novella stories were originally printed on a weekly basis 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 30-40 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 changed slightly to "8th-Man". The story content was clearly directed toward a wider audience of both young and adult viewers. 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.

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 (Chojinri Mutanto) - Superhuman Mutant

魔人コズマ (Majin Kozuma) - The Demon Kozuma

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 comic stories adapted from the TV series.

Original Japanese TV episode titles

1. エイトマン登場 - Introducing Eightman
2. 殺し屋ゲーレン - Galen, The Hitman
3. サタンの兄弟 - Satan's Brother
4. 死刑台B3 - The B3 Gallows
5. 暗黒カプセル - The Darkness Capsule
6. 黄金ギャング - The Gold Gang
7. 消音ジェット機 - The Stealth Jetplane
8. 超小型ミサイル - The Ultra Micro Missile
9. 光線銃レーザー - The Lazer Ray Gun
10. ロボット007 - Robot 007
11. まぼろしの暗殺者 - The Phantom Assassin
12. 海底のウラン - The Undersea Uranium
13. 人間パンチカード - The Human Punch Card
14. スーパーパイロット - The Super Pilot
15. 黒い幽霊 - The Black Ghost
16. 怪盗黄金虫 - Goldbeetle, The Mysterious Thief
17. 超音波ドクター - The Ultrasonic Wave Doctor
18. 台風男爵 - The Typhoon Baron
19. ゲーレンの逆襲 - Galen Strikes Again
20. スパイ指令100号 - Spy Directive No. 100
21. ロボットタイガー - The Robot Tiger
22. ゼロへの挑戦 - Challenge to Zero
23. ナポレオン13世 - Napoleon The 13th
24. サラマンダー作戦 - Operation: Salamander
25. 超人サイバー - Cyber, The Superhuman
26. 地球ゼロアワー - Zero Hour: Earth
27. 大怪物イーラ - Eeler, The Giant Monster
28. バクテリア作戦 - Operation: Bacteria
29. 人間ミサイル - The Human Missile
30. サイボーグ人間C1号 - Cyborg No. C1
31. 幽霊ハイウェイ - The Phantom Highway
32. 太陽衛星サンダー - Thunder, The Solar Satellite
33. 人工生命ヴァルカン - Vulcan, The Artificial Lifeform
34. 決闘 - The Duel
35. 冷凍光線 - The Freeze Ray
36. バイラス13号 - Virus No. 13
37. 悪夢の7日間 - The 7 Day Nightmare
38. 怪人ゴースト - The Mysterious Ghost
39. まぼろしを作る少年 - The Boy Who Made a Phantom
40. 透明ロボット・ジュピター - Jupiter, The Invisible Robot
41. エイトマン暗殺指令 - Order: Assassinate Eightman
42. 女王蜂モンスター - The Queen Bee Monster
43. 魔女エスパー - Esper, The Witch
44. 世界電撃プラン - The World Blitz Plan
45. 死刑囚タランチュラ - Tarantula, The Condemned Criminal
46. 空飛ぶ魔人 - The Flying Devil
47. バブル・ボール作戦 - Operation: Bubble Ball
48. 火星人SAW - SAW, The Martian
49. 30億人の人質 - 3 Billion Hostages
50. 怪像ジャイアント - Giant, The Mysterious Statue
51. 狙われた地球 - Target Earth
52. 人喰魚ピラニア - The Man-Eating Piranha
53. ムタールの反乱 - Moutard's Rebellion
54. シャークの掟 - Law Of The Shark
55. 超人類ミュータント(前編) - Superhuman Mutant (Part One)
56. 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 US 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. 52 of the original 56 episodes were "converted" into English.

The characters were renamed as follows:

Yokota/Azuma/8 Man - Special Agent Brady/Tobor ("robot" spelled backwards)/8th Man

Tani - Professor Genius

Tanaka - Chief FumbleThumbs

Sachiko - Jenny Hartsweet

Ichiro - Skip

Reception

8 Man was ranked ninth in Mania Entertainment's 10 Most Iconic Anime Heroes written by Thomas Zoth, who commented that, "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 by 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 panned for being tedious and relying too much on the gimmick of its speed-running effect.

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 (8マン・すべての寂しい夜のために, lit. 8 Man - For All the Lonely Night), 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, despite the fact that the latter was a much more recent franchise.

8 Man After

In mid-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. Licensed by Streamline Pictures, it has since gone out of print.

8 Man Infinity

A manga series called 8 Man Infinity (8マンインフィニティ Eitoman Infiniti) is being authored by Kyoichi Nanatsuki under Kodansha, which is being serialized under Kodansha's Magazine Z.