Cyborg 009

Plot

Nine people from around the world are kidnapped by the evil Black Ghost organization and undergo experiments which turn them into cyborgs with superhuman powers. The nine cyborgs band together in order to stop Black Ghost in its' goal of starting the next world war by supplying rich buyers with countless weapons of mass destruction. After the destruction of Black Ghost, the nine cyborgs go on to fight a variety of threats such as mad scientists, supernatural beings and ancient civilizations.

Manga

Manga publication history

Written and illustrated by Shotaro Ishinomori; serialized in Monthly Shōnen King; published in Japan by Akita Shoten and other companies through its history; published in North America by Tokyopop.

The Tokyopop release took multiple liberties with the dialogue and translation, and was sourced from the Media Factory "MF Comics" release that had been published in 2003. The MF Comics release had comprised 36 volumes, of which Tokyopop had only covered 10. Ishinomori's initial intent was to have the Yomi arc be the end of the series, but he wound up continuing due to the fan letters that urged him to resurrect 009 and 002.

Digital comics distributor comiXology licensed the entire catalogue from Ishimori Productions in 2012 and has since made the first 10 volumes of Cyborg 009 available. It is not known if comiXology intends to translate the entire series, as the volumes available had recycled the original Tokyopop adaptation by Mike Wellman and Bryan Matsumoto.

In April 2012, Shogakukan announced that the Cyborg 009 manga would be given a proper conclusion in Weekly Shōnen Sunday. Entitled Cyborg 009 Conclusion: God's War, the manga is to be illustrated by Masato Hayase and based on Ishinomori's original concept notes, sketches, and a novel draft, all of which had been gathered by his son, Jo Onodera. Conclusion is scheduled to debut on April 13, 2012.

Graphic novel

A full-color graphic novel based off the franchise was released at San Diego Comic-Con International on July 21, 2013 to align with the anniversary of Ishinomori's original manga. The book is a condensed retelling of the 00 Cyborgs' battle against Black Ghost, led by Sekar (Skull). The book also cites Foundation X, the recurring evil organization from the Kamen Rider Series since Kamen Rider W, as being the financial backers of Black Ghost, as they are for the various Evil Organizations in the recent Kamen Rider series. The full release was on September 11, 2013. The graphic novel is written by F. J. DeSanto and Bradley Cramp, penciled and inked by Marcus To and published by Archaia Comics.

1966 movie

The first Cyborg 009 film was released on July 21, 1966. It was produced by: Hiroshi Ōkawa (uncredited) and directed by Yugo Serikawa

Cyborg 009: Monster Wars (サイボーグ009 怪獣戦争, Saiboogu Zero-Zero-Nain Kaijuu Sensou) was the second film for Cyborg 009 and released on March 19, 1967. It was produced by Hiroshi Ōkawa and Directed by Yugo Serikawa

The theme Song for the films was Song of Cyborg 009 (サイボーグ009の歌, Saibōgu Zero Zero Nain no Uta) (Lyrics: Masahisa Urushibara, Composer, Arrangement: Taichirō Kosugi, Singer: Tokyo Meister Singer)

Cast

1980 anime film

An anime film for the second anime TV series was released on December 20, 1980 called Cyborg 009: Legend of the Super Vortex (サイボーグ009 超銀河伝説, Saibōgu Zero Zero Nain: Chou Ginga Densetsu).

The theme song was Love of 1 Billion Lightyears (10億光年の愛, Juu-oku Kounen no Ai) (Lyrics: Michio Yamagami, Composer: Kōichi Morita, Arrangement: Reijirō Koroku, Singer: Yoshito Machida).

Cast

2012 movie (009 Re:Cyborg)

A 3D movie, produced by Production I.G., Sanzigen and Ishimori Productions, was released on October 27, 2012. Kenji Kamiyama was the director and writer. Kenji Kawai, who worked before with Kamiyama on Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and Eden of the East, composed the music. The film was released in Japan on October 27, 2012. It also opened simultaneously in more than five Asian regions, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea. A manga adaptation by Gatou Asou, character designer for Moribito and Occult Academy, was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan. The UK anime distributor Anime Limited announced that they acquired the movie and produced an English dub at NYAV Post. Madman Entertainment also has rights to release the film in Australia and New Zealand. At Anime Expo 2013, Funimation had announced that they acquired the film for North America. The English voice cast was announced on April 16, 2015.

Cast

2016 movie trilogy (Cyborg 009: Call of Justice)

A 2016 3D movie, produced by Production I.G and OLM Digital and distributed by Toho, was released on November 25, 2016. The movie itself was divided into 3 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. 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. The films, edited down into 12 episodes, were released worldwide on Netflix on February 10, 2017.

Cast

1968 series

An Anime adaptation was released on April 5, 1968 on NET and ended on September 27, 1968 with a total of 26 episodes. Directed by Yugo Serikawa, Takeshi Tamiya, Tomoharu Katsumata, Toshio Katsuda, Taiji Yabushita, Ryōzō Tanaka, Yoshikata Nitta, Kazuya Miyazaki, Fusahiro Nagaki, Minoru Okazaki, Yoshio Takami

The opening theme song for the anime series was サイボーグ009 (Cyborg 009) (Lyrics: Masahisa Urushibara, Composer, Arrangement: Taichirō Kosugi, Vocals: Tokyo Meister Singer. the ending theme was End the Battle (戦いおわって, Tatakai Owatte) (Lyrics: Shotaro Ishinomori, Composer, Arrangement: Taichirō Kosugi, Singer: Vocal Shop)

Cast

DVD Box

The "サイボーグ009 モノクロ DVD BOX" was released on January 2006 from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
The low-priced edition "サイボーグ009 1968 DVD-COLLECTION" was released in July 2009 from TOEI COMPANY,LTD.

1979 - 1980 series

Another anime for Cyborg 009 was released on March 6, 1979 on TV Asahi and ended on March 25, 1980 with a total of 50 episodes.

The opening theme song for the anime was For Whose Sake (誰がために, Taga tame ni). The lyrics were by Shotaro Ishinomori, the composer was Masaaki Harao, the arrangement was done by Koichi Sugiyama and vocals were provided by Ken Narita and Koorogi '73); the ending theme was Someday (いつの日か, Itsu no Hi ka). The lyrics were by Saburō Yatsude while the composer was Masaaki Harao, the arrangement was done by Koichi Sugiyama and vocals were provided by Koorogi '73.

Cast

2001 - 2002 series

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 Opening theme song for the third anime TV series was "What's the Justice?" by Globe. The First ending theme was "Genesis of Next" by Globe followed by "Starting from Here" by Globe and later was replaced with "I Do" by Fayray.

Cast

Original video animation

A three-part original video animation crossover with Go Nagai's Devilman series, titled Cyborg 009 VS Devilman, received a two-week theatrical release in October 2015. The OVA was directed by Jun Kawagoe. Netflix released the OVA internationally in 20 languages on April 1 2016, including an English dub.

Cast

1979 radio drama

A radio drama was produced for NBS's Kirin Radio Theater from January 29 to February 23, 1979.

Cast

2009 radio drama

A second radio drama, entitled Cyborg 009: Birth, was aired in two parts on September 21 and 28, 2009.

Cast

Video games

Three video games based on the series were released only in Japan. One of them was an action platformer released for the Super Famicom by BEC in 1994, in which each level one of the eight adult cyborgs (001 is not playable) is selected as the leader of a strike force for a particular mission and the player is allowed to choose two others to accompany them. The other game (released by Telenet Japan's subsidiary Riot) in 1993 was for the Mega CD and is also a side scroller.

In 2002, Simple Characters 2000 Series Vol. 15: Cyborg 009: The Block Kuzushi was released for the PlayStation by Bandai.

International releases

The 1979 version aired in Italy and became popular with Italian viewers.

The 2001 version aired on MBC 3 several times starting from 2005 and became extremely popular with Arab viewers.

The 1967 movie was aired in Mexico, and years later, the 2001 Television series aired on Toonami in 2003, and was later replayed on Cadena Tres in 2007, and was quite popular with Mexican viewers.

North American releases

The 1979 series was broadcast with English subtitles on Japanese-language television in Hawaii, California, and the New York City area. The English subtitles were produced by San Francisco-based, Fuji Television, which did not broadcast the series as part of its Japanese programming on KEMO-TV.

The 1980 film was released stateside in 1988 by Celebrity Home Entertainment as Defenders of the Vortex with an edited version of a poorly received English dub that was commissioned through the Tokyo, Japan-based Frontier Enterprises. It later received an unedited direct-to-video English release in 1995 by Best Film and Video Corporation with the full version of the same dub.

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 in a late-night block before the show was dropped from the lineup. The first 8 episodes are currently available on DVD from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment in both an uncut bilingual and a dub-only "cut" broadcast version, though as of 2017, none of the other episodes have become available on home video. Japanese and Hong Kong releases remain the only way to see the entire series on DVD, while Madman Entertainment released the first 26 dubbed episodes to DVD in Australia.

The 2012 movie is licensed by FUNimation Entertainment (North America), Anime Limited (UK), and Madman Entertainment (Australia/New Zealand), with an English dub produced by NYAV Post, and a theatrical release in all three territories.

Legacy

Joe/009 makes an appearance in Chapter 36 of the The Skull Man manga, in a chance meeting with Ryuusei Chisato, the Skull Man. Both discuss the nature of evil and humanity over coffee, and meet again by chance when the Skull Man stops a dirty deal by politicians going on at the docks. The 2007 Skull Man anime was set up as a prequel of Cyborg 009, with many of the events in the series finale setting up Cyborg 009. The 1997 anime King of Braves GaoGaiGar, the character Soldato J is a tribute to Jet Link/002, sharing his love of flight, acceleration mode, and characteristic nose. J's number in the Corps to which he belongs is 002, further reinforcing this link. Shotaro Ishinomori later created Himitsu Sentai Goranger and J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, the latter series being especially similar to Cyborg 009 in terms of characters and premise. The Mega Man video game character Proto Man is also visually inspired by Cyborg 009.