Skull Man

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.

“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.