Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier

After watching the both versions, original and English dub, it must be said that this is one of those unfortunate shows that got "dumbed down" or "softened" when it hit the air outside Japan; There are times when English dub adds dialogue that never took place in the original, English version has censorship when it comes to death (though no blood was shown in the original either) and so on. English version also sometimes changes lines completely. For example let's take the last scene in episode 21 [SPOILER FREE]: in the original version couple people of the cyborg group hear unfortunate news and 009 ponders ... to himself "what did we fight for?", then after a slow fade transition the scene shows some statues under a lighting storm to set up the next "adventure", if you can call it that. The English version made me cringe; The same scene goes 009 saying "Dr. Ross gave us an adventure we'll never forget. Meanwhile--" and then he goes on and on narrating about the statues and setting up the next ark when the original let the pictures talk for themselves. Changes like this are all over the series and make the characters way too undeviating.

What I mean to say is: watch the original version! The characters are more believable with their voice acting and the dialogue makes a lot more sense. But if you watch this with English subtitles, I'm almost positive, that you'll end up with the subtitles that are straight copied from the English audio. If you don't know Japanese and can't spot the differences in the general dialogue, then at least you'll notice the non-existing dialogue that according to the subtitles is taking place.

The sound design has become iconic to myself and if any of those sounds used in this show are used in any other installments, I will notice. Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier also has one of the best soundtracks I've come across and I even ended up purchasing the two albums.

I've watched this series 3 ½ times and gotta say, though most likely the suitable demographic is children, this series still holds a special place in my heart. However, it's nowhere near perfect and gets 7/10 from me. Favorite episode: 33 - Frozen time.

Cyborg 009 has, in my opinion, one of the greatest endings out of any anime. It also has some of the best stand-alone episodes such as "Frozen time" but this is also mixed with filler. The music and art designs are some of my favourites, especially when the cartoony art contrasts with the dark themes. Each character has a unique backstory and are based from around the world. Some characters are serious while others are usually comedy relief (they can be serious and reliable when called upon) so there is a good variety. This anime has it all: heroism, rebellion, mystery, a great story and ... fight scenes.

Story 6/10

To tell a great superhero story, a great hero needs a great villain to fight, but that's where this show's problem lies.

Black Ghost is a great villain; he's ruthless and doesn't even care if his own henchmen get killed. He's also smart and devious which are all great qualities in a villain, but the problem is, despite being the main antagonist, Black Ghost only appears in a handful of episodes leaving all the other episodes just feeling like filler.

The cyborgs do fight other villains besides Black Ghost with some cool fight scenes, but the other villains are all just forgettable with nothing ... that interesting about them.

Characters 6/10

While all the cyborgs do have some cool powers (009 having super speed, 006 breathing fire, and 007 being a shape shifter) that doesn't make them great characters.

It's not that I don't like any of the MC's, but they just all feel like tokens with 009 being the token leader and 003 being the token girl and 007 being the token comic relief character.

It doesn't help that the characters don't have the best chemistry either or demonstrate the best teamwork. Good team members should compliment each other and work together, but whenever there's a fight it's like everyone splits up and does their own thing.

Art 5/10

The fight scenes are well animated and I do like this 1960's SciFi aesthetic they use for things like the ray guns and giant robots. However, the character designs are another story.

There are some characters that look fine like 009 and 003, but then there are other characters like Dr. Gilmore and 007 that just look plain ugly. Gilmore's nose is the size of a watermelon and 007's eyes are way too close together.

I understand that this what the characters looked like in the 1968 version, but, in my opinion, they just look ugly.

006 is even worse, however. I understand that 006 is Chinese and anime artist like to draw Chinese people with weird looking eyes like Brock from Pokemon, but seriously, what are those things? Those aren't eyeballs! They look more like little mouths!

I know it may seem like I'm making a big deal about it, but it's an understood rule of character design that it is extremely important that you get the eyes right because, as they say, the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Sound 5/10

I don't want to use the word robotic to describe the voice acting, but I does sound like the actors aren't putting much emotion behind their words which really hurts the characters.

Also, I can't really explain it, but I feel like there's too much silence in each episode. What I mean is there's too many moments where there are no characters talking and no background music playing or a character is talking, but with no background music. I know that may seem like a nitpick, but I do think it hurt the quality of the show.

Overall 6/10

I'm glad I watched Cyborg 009, if only because it's such a classic anime in the same way Astro Boy is, but I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone. If you want to watch some good superhero anime, One Punch Man and My Hero Academia would probably be a better choice.