Skull Man

Otomo City: where freedom and justice have atrophied to the bone; where conspiracy rules the day and death stalks the night... Death in the form of the Skull Man, a literal Grim Reaper whose skeletal grin presages grisly mayhem and murder, even to the monstrous mutants that haunt the city's underworlds!

To investigate a bizarre slaying, journalist Minagami Hayato and photographer Kiriko Mamiya must stalk this ultimate predator, through a festering cadaver of a city where the corruption flows in rivers as deep and foul as the sins of the reigning elite, and unearth a secret so shocking that an entire city has been turned into a tomb to contain! In a nightmarish necropolis where nothing is as it seems, vengeance comes in the form of a living Death's-Head!

(Source: Sentai Filmworks)

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Adaptation:

Kaiki Romanesque Gekiga: Skull Man, Skull Man

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Characters & Voice Actors

SkullMan

Main

Tsuchida, Hiroshi
Japanese

Mikogami, Hayato

Main

Yasumura, Makoto
Japanese

Mamiya, Kiriko

Main

Kawasumi, Ayako
Japanese

Kanzaki, Yoshio

Supporting

Katou, Masayuki
Japanese

Tachigi, Kyouichirou

Supporting

Hori, Katsunosuke
Japanese

Shingyouji, Reina

Supporting

Neya, Michiko
Japanese

Kuroshio, Maya

Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko
Japanese

Kisaragi, Nami

Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko
Japanese

Shingyouji, Tetsurou

Supporting

Tasaka, Hideki
Japanese

Akira, Usami

Supporting

Yoshino, Hiroyuki
Japanese

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Staff

Yamamoto, Kouji

Producer

Mori, Takeshi

Director

Tsuruoka, Youta

Sound Director

Kyouda, Tomoki

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

1: "Hikari no Machi" by TOKIO

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Ending Theme

"Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru (明日は明日の君が生まれる)" by Chocolove from AKB48

Reviews

Jan 31, 2021

EggheadLuna

Recommended

The story of Skull Man is an oh-so important one, the character is not only one of the first anti-heroes in anime history, whose design would later be the inspiration for the titular hero in Kamen Rider, but this series contains crucial subtext about Japan's political affairs. Shōtarō Ishinomori's Skull Man is a tale for the ages, it has the same gravitas as some of the most profound literary classics, though, sadly, is not as known in English-speaking countries as much as it should be.

⚠️ This review of Skull Man will contain spoilers ⚠️

—Story/Characters

Until I watched this series, I had only seen Shōtarō Ishinomori's "Android ...

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Feb 5, 2014

KiraieAeterna

Recommended

The thing which initially drew me into watching this anime was the poster for it. The skullman kneeling in a pool of blood. When I first saw that glorious picture I thought to myself, "yes! this is going to be legendary!"...little did I know that this would be the hope which propelled me into watching the whole series and not to drop it half way through. Let me explain.

The anime starts by introducing the characters and setting the mystery at hand, which is good. It doesn't just drop you into the story without any explanation. However, as I continued to finish one episode and go ...

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May 7, 2020

Mugetsu-

Not Recommended

“Edgy Kamen Rider”? You wouldn’t be wrong, in fact, we’d be quite congruous. The concepts of Ishinomori Shotaro are what pushed what would become Kamen Rider forward and into the public eye. I can’t help but poke around and find this show very similar in many respects to the latest foot into the Samurai Jack franchise, both creators penned an idea that was censored and had its vision change to a different audience, and both made series afterwards that were more true to their original creation - Ishinomori has gone down and said this is the closest to the original spirit of his design. What ... does it do to separate itself from its nescient precursor? Quite a lot, and that’s not always a good thing.

The show itself, produced by studio Bones, is cold and roughly drawn in a dark, almost 90’s comic book-esque way, dim lightning, trench coats everywhere, minimalist animation and filled with so-so characters. Our main protagonist, Hayato Mikogami and Kiriko Mamiya are in a, what the show believes to be, thrilling cat and mouse game hunting a mysterious vigilante figure in this bordering dystopian town known as the: “Skull Man”, who fights those shadows prowling in the night, whether they be man, monster, and even other things entirely?

I say what the show “believes” to be a cat and mouse game because due to some odd pacing issues, it devolves into less of that and more of a slow and monotonous formula each episode until the last-fourth. While I admittedly came into this show with a conceived notion of seeing a fair bit of action, I love having expectations killed and hung dry in the place of an enjoyable subversion, but it’s less of this and more so of our forgettable cast interviewing and stalking around the city to get information about this mysterious figure. Which brings me to the big guy himself: Skull Man. . . he’s really boring. Don’t get me wrong, he’s amazing to watch on screen but it’s less of spectacularly-animated-action and badass character design that makes him enjoyable, but the fact that you don’t have to watch the bland cast anymore and can watch Bones tear something to hell, which to be fair is, once again, done spectacularly. There’s no reason to truly care about him other than getting a sigh of relief when he shows up because you ironically feel saved yourself when he gores something to shreds.

Granted, there are some cool elements to the world this show is set in and how the lore of the city itself is interlinked with this Skull figure, a great deal of time is spent setting him up, like a good puppet master or chess player the show is dedicated to meticulously hiding him in the shadows and making not just our protagonist but the viewer get dripples and rations of whatever information you can about him from other characters and scenes. This is by far the best aspect of the show. Furthermore, the show does have some fairly so-so tap dancing around its thematic throughlines, such as political corruption and religious zealotry but in my opinion; it’s less of a throughline and more of a poorly tackled aesthetic that much like the show itself accomplishes little to nothing by the end of it. I oddly find a strange connection with Kyouda, Tomoki who was the episode director who I have referred to as this: “Chess player” writing the show, this is because we have a very similar flaw when playing - we can both get ourselves into the perfect position to win the game - but don’t have the knowledge to execute it a lot of the time and end up a bust.

Indeed, the show does toy around with some interesting concepts and presents them in a reliable and fashionable manner, but what’s the point when your guides in this world are so cookie-cutter? There is no reason to get attached to these characters in the slightest, they feel like less of people who are obsessed with the Skull Man and more a cast riding his coattails, barely hanging onto his excuse to allow them to be in the show; that is to have them hunting him. Also, this show has an obsession with quoting and referencing philosophy and religion but once again, it’s poorly tacked on and is, in many cases, a non sequitur - no the Skull Man is not Lucifer or something cast down from heaven and attempting to cleanse the world of - please. Please spare me.

What if our main character was solo, and had a traumatizing memory of this figure as a child? What if they were truly, intrinsically linked together and bound to confront each other eventually? What if this memory drives him to become a detective and do some questionable things for information, all while slowly and surely making him become a target for the creature that he has been chasing after all along due to his moral code becoming corrupted? Doesn’t that sound a lot more fun to you?! Don’t mean to brag, but it sure as hell does to me. This really drives home the main problem with the show. We have the ONLY interesting element dancing in shadows and appearing for 5 minutes each time, and you know what? Even during the times he appears, is weak too. All the mystery about him begins to fade away and that badass image of him you saw on the cover of the show seems less cool and more of an artistic leniency with what is the true character - a generic superhero.

He’s not a gritty “Grim Knight” Batman and more and more like a cartoon character who can make the hilariously cliche and exaggerated monster of the week bleed and die.I’m super intimidated. The Skull Man overall is trapped in confusing juxtaposition and feels as if it cannot commit to any side of anything it is putting out to the viewer. Is it a methodical and well paced game of hunting a knight of the darkness? Nah, not really. Is it a corny monster of the week brawler with a nocturne paint job? No, because that’s only the last five minutes of every episode before the last three. Some okay voice acting, a dregging OST that doesn’t say or speak much to the tone of the show. Eh?

Why was this show made? What did it try to tell me about its cast, Kamen Ri- I mean Skull Man, or about politics, religion, etc? Quite honestly, I’d be far more satisfied watching a super sentai series that, while cheese-beyond-belief, does have a consistent throughline in its ideas that it longs to present to the viewer, like Jetman or some other variation. With this in mind, Skull Man fails at what it even set out to do - explore the more censored topics its precursor explored lightly, but didn’t fail at doing entirely like this show did. I cannot with good consciousness recommend it to those who are not prepared to endure a slogging battle of attrition to try and understand and grasp the “deeper” meanings this show plays around with. Hate to break it to you; but it’s not there. Many thanks for reading.

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Skull Man

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SkullMan

Mikogami, Hayato

Mamiya, Kiriko

Kanzaki, Yoshio

Tachigi, Kyouichirou

Shingyouji, Reina

Kuroshio, Maya

Kisaragi, Nami

Shingyouji, Tetsurou

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Skull Man

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