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)

Skull Man 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

Kisaragi, Nami Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Vogt, Van Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Kuroshio, Maya Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Akira, Usami Supporting

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Yamamoto, Kouji Producer

Mori, Yuuki Producer

Mori, Takeshi Director

Tsuruoka, Youta Sound Director

Reviews

Nov 8, 2007

Venneh

Recommended

Title: The Skull Man

Manga, Anime: The Skull Man was originally a 100-page one-shot story done by Shotaro Ishinomori (famous for Cyborg 008 and Kamen Rider), released in Shonen Magazine's 1970 issue, and is cited as one of manga's first anti-heroes. Ishinomori did a rework of it just before he started work on the live-action show Kamen Rider (translated as Masked Rider) in 1971, as Toei wanted to use it for the basis of the show, and it was just a bit too dark and gory for a kid's show. And then in 1997, just before his death, he contacted Kazuhiko Shinamoto with plot ... points for a remake that would have a continuing storyline and have more complex artwork than the original. This version was released by Media Factory, and ran from April 7th, 1998 to May of 2001. The latest version is the one that Tokyopop picked up Stateside; the seventh and final volume was released August 12th, 2003.

The anime itself was done by Studio Bones (famous for Fullmetal Alchemist and Ouran High School Host Club) and directed by Takeshi Mori (famous for the Gunsmith Cats and Otaku no Video OVAs, both of which you've probably never heard of) . It ran on Japanese TV from April 28th, 2007 to July 22nd, 2007, and has yet to be licensed at this point time.

Story: Mkay, so the episode kicks off with this guy on TV lecturing about how medicine and the military are becoming too closely entwined, even after the war, then cuts to woman being chased by these demon-dog-looking things, and a guy in a leather trench coat, a cravat, and a skull mask.

Turns out that she ends up murdered, and there's been other reports of incidents like this involving the dogs and the skull mask man in Ootomo City, and a newspaper reporter (Hayato) wants to go and investigate it. He ends up picking up a bit of an annoying brat named Kiriko, getting put under surveillance, and going back to his old hometown, which is just outside of Ootomo. After he gets kicked out of his house in the evening by Kiriko for accidentally seeing her naked, he sees a guy get attacked by the skull mask man and the demon dogs.

From there, the rest of the series is spent trying to find out who the Skull Man is, and what it is that he wants, which leads into all sorts of interesting things.

I was worried here, for a bit. Most of the series is spent building and building up the mysteries around the Skull Man and the involvement of various organizations within the town and conspiracy upon conspiracy upon conspiracy that I was afraid it was not going to touch on any of them, like Rozen Maiden, or would end up falling victim to poor pacing and try to use a deux ex machina to take care of things or be handled sloppily, like in Nishi no Yoki Majo: Astraea Testament. Luckily, I was wrong; things start coming together in the tenth episode, and are fully explained in the eleventh and expounded on further in the twelfth episode, which set everything up for the final episode, which wrapped things up perfectly.

You'll see a lot of elements of V for Vendetta and the Count of Monte Cristo in the story, and mentions of Nietzsche, Wagner, and Shakespeare. It's these elements, along with the way pacing was handled, that makes this such a good show.

It's not without its rough spots, though. It's hard to remember all the characters' names, and I usually ended up referring to them either by their job, or by their relation to the main characters if I couldn't remember their given names. They bring up some elements, toss them aside for a few episodes, and then bring them up again just as you forget about them, which annoyed me a bit. And it seemed all nice and resolved in the last episode, up until I watched the bit after the ED, which practically screams for a second season, or at least an OVA for explanation.

Art: The art for this is overwhelmingly dark in its tones. The designs for the monsters are very well done, too, even when they end up showing en masse later in the series. However, when CG is used, it stands out quite a bit, and ends up looking a bit unattractive.

Music: The OP is this awesome little rock piece, and seems more like something you'd hear in an older show, which is a nice touch, and very singable. The background music itself is very noir-ish, and in the case of some pieces, very dramatic at times, but not overly so. The ED is kind of... eh, as it's your typical wistful female JPop ballad.

Seiyuu: Fumiko Orisaka (who also did the voice work for Firiel in Nishi no Yoki Majo: Astraea Testament and Chise in Saikano) plays one of the main females names who I can actually remember, Maya, and Ayako Kawasumi (also known for her work as Saber in Fate/Stay Night) did the voice work for Kiriko, the other main female whose name I can remember. Also, Toshiyuki Morikawa (who was Sephiroth's seiyuu) did work for one of the main characters I can't remember for the life of me. Also, Hiroshi Tsuchida did the voice work for the Skull Man, which was absolutely outstanding, along the lines of Joji Nakata's work. So, overall, outstanding seiyuu here.

Length: Perfect. Any longer, and it probably would've had to resort to filler, which just wouldn't have fit, and any shorter, and it wouldn't have been able to play things out the way it did. I would like that sequel/OVA to explain that bit after the ED in the thirteenth episode, though.

Overall: An excellent story with elements of V for Vendetta, perfect pacing, excellent music and seiyuu, even if it's hard to keep track of all the characters. Let's hope they expand on that bit after the thirteenth episode's ED, though.

Story: 8/10
Art: 7/10
Music: 8/10
Seiyuu: 9/10
Length: 8/10

Overall: 40/50; 80% (B )

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 12, 2008

jmoriarty84

Recommended

This is based on an old manga by the legendary Ishinomori Shotaro, which would later pave way for Kamen Rider. Despite that, it is very much different from that series. The Skull man is a background character shrouded in mystery as well as why people turn into monsters. The anime is very slow if you don’t give it much attention, it isn’t really action oriented and emphasizes more on cracking the case, and yet defining what true evil is and covers a lot of philosophical and social issues on a local to international level such as corruption in relation to martial law and organized religion. ... It takes awhile to really develop the characters but the wait is worth it. Because some of the main characters are adults at a certain age, the only thing they have left to develop is a defining moment in their life that will define their respective careers or something like that. But if you give it your full attention, it will be fast and you will be fascinated at the plot twists and resolutions it delivers, and how it loosely connects to another creation of Ishinomori-sensei. Due to the nature of this anime being mystery and suspense, I really don’t want to give away much because I believe this is one of those things you really have to watch.

What kind of disappointed me about this anime is that very little of the character design is faithful to the style of Ishinomori-sensei like how the recent Cyborg 009 was, but there are some that obviously are faithful at specific times. He had this distinct way of drawing that further helped define what anime and manga is today, and I felt a large portion of that was absent and that a majority of the design didn’t really come across as distinguishing. Maybe it’s a modern day interpretation to his art style, I don’t know, but I felt that Ishinomori-sensei should have been owed that much. However, some of the design of later characters are also very unique and faithful to his art style, but once again, that’d be a spoiler and I don’t want to get into that too much since it relates to that other creation he did.

On the other hand, I loved the monster design and the design of the Skull man himself. You can easily tell that not only just story wise, but in an artistic sense, how this paved way for Kamen Rider such as his fondness of motorcycles, the scarf, and the martial arts action that is present in certain times. The action is exciting and intense and it picks up in the 2nd half of the series. It’s high octane but not excessively over the top or ridiculous, cliché, or cheesy like in tokusatsu. However, it is quite bloody, but not necessarily gory like in the recent Rambo film.

What I also found very unique is that even though some of the vehicles and the architecture are very modern, they still use some old fashioned items such as audio tapes and records to represent some feeling of the old school influence and to probably give the viewer a possible sense in time it could take place in. I also liked when they showed vehicles, it was in the cel-shading style that the recent Initial D seasons and Wangan Midnight uses and it blends very excellently.

One of the best traits this anime has is its soundtrack. I love the opening theme sung by the band Tokio. It is really intense as well as the scenery in the song. But I felt that because it is nearly 40 years old, I felt that some of the soundtrack could have been a little old school with the use of the instruments. But the music for the most part is very dark and eerie and gives a noir and horror like feel to the show. The ending theme I felt was kind of out place with this anime though it is a nice song. I felt it belonged more in a shoujo anime that a graphic and cerebral one like this. In the same way, I guess you can say it felt out of place like the ending theme in Elfen Lied though they are still good songs.

Hayato, the main character is played by Yasumura Makoto. I really don’t know much about him. But I thought he did a great job as a tabloid reporter who knows how to get his scoop. He can be funny, and he can be serious. And Kiriko is played by Kawasumi Ayako, who plays Natsuki in Initial D. Her voice in this role in comparison to Natsuki is more childish and higher pitched. In addition to these two, the cast has some pretty big names. Like Tomokazu Seki, who played a lot of roles such as Miyata from Hajime no Ippo and Kenichi from History’s Strongest Disicple Kenichi plays the detective assigned to follow Hayato. In comparison to his other roles, he sounds a whole lot more gruffy which I felt was awkward for his high pitched voice, but later got accustomed to it and further expands his talents. And further elaborating who is in this anime and who plays who is another spoiler which I don’t want to get into and feel you should watch it.

Even though this paved way for Kamen Rider, don’t expect Kamen Rider. In comparison, this series is much darker, gruesome, and more though provoking, but doesn’t really try to mess with your head. I really want to explain the nature of Skull man’s character, but it’s very difficult for me to say in this review because this is truly an anime I want you to see for yourself, and I hope you watch this with high expectations that this is truly something unique and distinctive. It is very engagingly philosophical with very effective unpredictability, and exciting action. It has many themes that everybody can relate to or reflect upon.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 11, 2017

Biogundam

Not Recommended

Warming this review may contain spoilers.

First impressions, so my first thoughts where that is was one of those anime remakes of a classic manga and it's sounds some what interesting based of its primise. So I thought this would be one of those anti hero story's which I am a big fan of.

Story, 3/10

Are story begins with main character hayato who has come back to his home town of otomo city,Which have become home for a mysterious cult and other dodgey dealings.
in order to investigate the mysterious the story's of monsters in the streets and a
Mysterious person known as the skull man who leaves ... a trail of body's in his wake.


So from what you can tell its one of those anti hero story's,
Which I am quite a big fan off.

The story in nut shell is main character is going around town looking for information about this skull man ,
Gets involved in shit that way over his head that involved some secret evil plan etc.
That pretty much the plot there really nothing much to it other than that,
I mean I could go into detail but I don't think it worth the my time and yours if I am being honest here.

Because this is probably one of the most boring, done to death anti hero story I have ever seen in my life,
It's just so predictable and soulless.

there really isn't much I can actually comment on about it,
There no themes, no message it's trying to tell us.
It just mindless action, a pointless mystery that I don't care about, and boring drama that you couldn't pay me to care about in the slightest.

It's almost like when writing this they couldn't come up with any interesting or good ideas so they like hay good writing why do we need this,
So they probably decided to look up some sort of check list for how to make the most bland anti hero story ever,
Ok we got evil cults, mutants, political corruption, a generic moral protagonist, and last and not an bad guy who is a bad guy just because.
Let's tick that of the list.

And I know this is one of those re telling of a classic manga series or somethings along Those lines.
And maybe that's why it kind of dated or bland,
But that's not an excuse for having a bad plot.

Like one example of a retelling of a classic Franchise done right,
Is Cassin sins which even if you didn't watch the original,
It still good even on its own and they actually used good and interesting ideas to mostly there full effect.

So bottom line that the main problem that no one gave a fuck about the story and everything else included as a whole,
So why should I waste my time or care about it.



Character, 3/10

Main character hayato is probably one of the most bland main characters I have ever seen.
His personality traits Are this,
He is just a good guy and that is literally his entire character.
There is Nothing interesting about him.
He pretty much the done to death mah morels type of character.


Side characters,
They all have the personality of dry toast.

Just like the main character there are bland as all fuck,
Nothing interesting or different about them.

It's just the one trait they have that makes up there there personality is there entire character.
So there not even characters there just cardboard cutouts.

So very bad characterization for the for the win I guess.

Also the skull man character himself Is also the most boring anti hero I have ever seen in my life.


Art, 5/10

Probably one of better things of this show.

The animation looks fine very passable,
Back grounds are kind of average.

Very boring fights that aren't animated well or have good fight choreography.

The style of the show which I would think try's capture this retro feel,
But Fails in that regard.
I don't really now what it is,
But it just has this feeling of very stiff felling to it.


Character designs are shit,
And most of the characters look the fucking same,
Half the time I didn't even know who who half the time.

But I kind of liked the design for the skull man outfit,
Because it kind of cool to me.

Sound, 5/10

The like the opening song,
Th ending for me is kind of boreing.

The ost is kind of boreing as well,
Like there really much I can actually comment on.

Voice acting for the sub is fine.
There is no dub.


Enjoyment, 3/10

I enjoyed the op and that about it,
Like a enjoyed a few of the fights.

But other that those things there really isn't much I could comment in the enjoyment sense of things.

It's just a very ber bones anime which doesn't have much going for it.



Overall, 3/10

If your new to anime and you have nothing else to watch,
Then don't watch this because it's not worth it.
You can find it what this show dose better else where.
If you like the skull man Franchise then maybe you would like it,
But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: The Skull Man Episode 13 Discussion MasterChief - Jul 25, 2007	36 replies	by Adampk »» Mar 29, 2022 8:24 AM
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