Anime Profile: Android Kikaider: The Animaton

The anime is about an ultimate robot machine, Jiro or Kikaider, created by the Doctor Komyoji, who is a reluctant assistant to the evil Professor Gill. Jiro, though a robot, has something called the Gemini system, which is like his heart. But the Gemini has a problem telling good orders from ones, and that is dangerous. The Gemini is a powerful and threatening system, and so Gill sends out robots to destroy Jiro.

Komyoji is not really an employer of Professor Gill but was forced to work and build robots for some unknown reason. He was so stuck in his work, that he neglected his family.

Later, Komyoji's daughter, Mitsuko, seeks out for the Gemini's blueprints to fix it. When she finally finds Jiro, and brings him inside her house, she tries to find another way to fix him, but her database in her computer tells her that the only way to help him is destruction. Jiro and her have a talk outside and after an arguement and hurt feelings, Jiro saves Mitsuko from another robot that was after him and leaves her, knowing little of the real world, himself, and what to do, since a robot has no home, no one to protect, or has no one to love.

Jiro, after he leaves, arrives in the city and encounters another robot made by the same creator, and they fight. Mitsuko hires a detective to find Jiro and the detectives, along with his assistant look for him. The detective finaly finds him but sees him as a robot, not a human image. After being saved by Kikaider, the detective demands the true idendity of Jiro from Mitsuko.

The series continues with Jiro running from Mitsuko and trying to find a way to become human. Mitsuko realizes that she is the only one who looks at Jiro as a human, and though she despises robots for causing lonliness, she has developed feelings for Jiro which she refuses to accept. Jiro runs away constantly from Mitsuko because he is ashamed of being a robot, and he loves Mitsuko and doesn't want her to see him as a monster and a mad machine. They find one another from time to time, but other robots always bring them apart.

Later on in the series, another robot similar to Jiro confronts him. They are like brothers of the same kind. His name is Ichiro, and they team up to defeat Professor Gill.

The main objective of this anime is Jiro defeating Professor Gill's plans and trying to become a real human. I haven't seen the end, but I think its a great anime with a sad plot of romance and determination.

Kikaider was invented by Dr. Komyoji, to protect him and his daughter from Professor Gill, a mad android-creator who wanted to kidnap Dr. Komyoji's brain and steal all of his android info. After Gill got Dr. Komyoji, he stole his brain and killed him.

Before Dr. Komyoji died, he created Ichiro, then Jiro, and finally Rei, making up the three Kikaiders. Jiro was the first android to have Dr. Komyoji's prototype chip, which gives Jiro emotions like that of a human. Jiro fends off some of Prof. Professor Gill's evil androids from getting Dr. Komyoji's daughter. After that, Jiroe sets out with Prof. Gill's ex-girlfriend (who's really an android the Prof. created) and Gill's son (who has a secret implanted in him) to protect them from Gill.

In the end, Jiro and his brothers are captured. Professor Gill plants a weird, evil chip in Jiro. Jiro then gets out of his restraints and goes after Gill, filled with artificial anger. Professor Gill had also planted this chip in Ichiro and Rei. When Jiro walks in the room with Gill in it, Gill sends Rei and Ichiro (against their will) after Jiro. With the evil chip, Jiro gained enormous powers and crushed both his brother's heads with one blow each, killing them instantly. He then grabbed Professor Gill (who transferred his brain into a android to make him stronger and live forever) and squeezed it until Gill lay dead, brain blown up inside the fishbowl-like glass casing. Jiro then says, in a semi-evil voice, that he is now human, because he has the powers of evil (from Professor Gill's chip) and good (from Dr. Komyoji's chip) fighting in his heart.

Android Kikaider is based on a short-lived sentai series (a genre made famous in the US by The Power Rangers) in the 70's based on a manga created Shotaro Ishinamori (creator of Cyborg 009). The anime follows the manga instead of the live-action show with a more darker and introspective vision. The story revolves around Jiro (a.k.a Kikaider), an android created by Dr. Komiyoji for the terrorist organization DARK, led by Dr. Gill. But unknown to Gill, Komyoji implanted The Gemini Circuit, which gave Jiro a heart and made him an amnesiac who disguises himself as a guitar playing wanderer. A couple of weeks later, Komiyoji's daughter, Mitsuko, and her little brother, Misaru, began searching for her father, who was missing at the time. Then she discovers Jiro, who was wandering around town, and takes him in her mansion. However, Gill knows of Kikaider's existence and sends a robot after him. A battle ensues, in which Jiro transforms to Kikaider (his amnesia made him forget he was an android) and freaks out and runs away, but not before destroying the robot. Mitsuko distrusts Jiro because he is a robot, but she tries to comfort him. Dr. Gill, however, uses a special flute to control Jiro and almost made him kill Mitsuko until they found out it only effects him as Kikaider. Jiro, horrified of his actions, runs away. Mitsuko hires a detective agency, Hattori Hanpei and his assistant, to find Jiro while she and her brother seek out their father and the blueprints for Kikaider.

The rest of the series is basically Jiro wandering around Japan, futily trying to help people while avoiding Hanpei, Mitsuko, and Gill's robots. Eventually, their path's cross when Mitsuko is kidnapped by Golden Bat, a bat robot in the guise of vampire/Dracula type person; he was also given the Gemini Circuit, but chose to ignore it and follow Gill. He takes her to the Komiyoji's old estate, where Mitsuko grew up. There she finds out a horrifying secret: Mitsuko had an older brother, who died during the creation of Kikaider and her mother (who left the family when she was young) was actually a spy for Gill, sent to observe and collect data on Komyoji as his wife; even going as far as giving birth to Mitsuko and Misaru to keep her cover! Soon, Jiro finds Mitsuko and fights Golden Bat while refusing to turn into Kikaider. Mitsuko convinces Jiro to transform and tries to reform Golden Bat. In the end, Golden Bat sacrifices himself for Mitsuko after one of his traps inadvertently fires at her. But before he said good-bye, he reveals that the blueprints are inside Jiro's guitar but was shot by a leather-clad biker with a yellow scarf. That biker is Saburo a.k.a Hakaider, Jiro's evil "younger brother".

Jiro and company then find Mrs. Komiyoji, who has turned cruel and bitter towards Mitsuko. She is then ordered to kill Jiro and friends with a robot. But wanting Kikaider for himself, Saburo interferes and kills the robot and then sends Jiro on a rampage with a special whistle. Mrs. Komiyoji considers the evils she has done in life and commits suicide in front of her kids. Meanwhile, Kikaider tries to fight Saburo's influence while causing mayhem in town. He retreats to an old junk pile, where Mitsuko confronts him in a very intimate moment. He rids himself of Saburo's command and fights him. Saburo transforms into Hakaider and reveals his trump card: inside Hakaider's head lies the disembodied brain of Dr. Komiyoji and destroying Saburo kills the brain. Losing the fight, the gang goes after Saburo who proceeds to beat Jiro and shoots off his arm. Suddenly, the brain of Komiyoji takes over Hakaider and pleads with Jiro to help him against Gill. He fixes his arm and then asks Hanpei to take his frozen body. They team up to fight Gill and his swarm of robots, which includes an army of duplicate Hakaiders. Soon, Komiyoji loses control and Saburo returns, but is decapitated by the Hakaiders because Gill finds him ineffective. The gang takes Komiyoji's brain and splits while Jiro stays to fight Gill. Gill was about to destroy Kikaider, but suddenly, the headless Saburo starts choking Gill and killing him. The base is destroyed, leaving Mitsuko to think Jiro is dead. The brain is put back in Dr. Komiyoji's body and the Komiyojis begin to get back to their lives...but unbeknownst to Mitsuko, Jiro is still alive, still wandering. I'll discuss the OVA, Android Kikaider 01, in that section.