Yoru no Yatterman is quite an eccentric anime that appeared this Winter season. So basically it's a reboot or rather a side story to an anime not very popular, but familiar among some of the fans it has. When I first encountered this title, the synopsis didn't quite match as to what I was seeking about the basics of the premise of the anime, and thus decided to give it a go knowing that it has connections to a couple of series that I'm totally unaware of.
Yoru no Yatterman begins with a woman in her thirties, soon to give birth to a baby. She lives with her two "associates" Voltkatze and Elephantus. It's described in the anime that the three are the successors of the late "Doronbow" gang which consists of Doronjo the head of the group and their two associates Boyacky and Tonzra. The story mostly kicks on from there as Dorothy gives birth to a baby girl and names her Leopard. Although it's expected that not a whole lot of time is spent on a 12-episodes show on the growth of Leopard as a baby to an adolescent girl reaching her teenage. Soon however, Dorothy gets ill and is needed to be treated as soon as possible, thus sending the three in a quest to find medicines from "Yatter Metroplis" which is ruled by "Yatterman." They are soon denied entrance to the Yatter Metroplis by the Yatter soldiers thus making Leopard question the justice and help that Yatterman had to offer to the people who are suffering. Yatterman is displayed as a warrior supposed to help people in the books and the various stories told by Dorothy to Leopard. This makes the young Leopard go against Yatterman and seeks to punish him with a fore-head flickering. This begins the journey of an unlikely trio of misfits, as they take the personality of their long gone descendants; The Doronbow gang.
Yoru no Yatterman revolves around the trio and the two couples; Galina and Alouette, who offer the trio shelter when they get beaten by the Yatter Soldiers. Leopard is our main protagonist of the show and who takes on the name of Doronjo to avenge Yatterman. Voltkatze, who becomes Tonzra and then Elephantus, who takes the name of Boyacky. Leopard is a girl past her tens, and doesn't have that much of a talent compared to the other two and mostly just fools around ordering them. Tonzra has the talent in making weird machines out of trash which at times helps them get away from danger. Boyacky is the strength of the gang and is the strongest character in the show. They rely upon him to beat down the Yatter Soldiers with brute force. Oh and they have a Pig they call the "Honorable Oda" as a pet, or rather as a friend who travels with them wherever they go. The next two couple are Galina and Alouette. Alouette is a blind woman who has the personality of a kid and is a happy-go-lucky character. Galina is the one who mostly is there to protect Alouette from any danger. Since Alouette's father was forcedly taken away by the Yatter Soldiers, Galina is the only one left to look after her. Galina is often pronounced as "Gatchan" by both Doronjo and Alouette. While not of much help in the start, once he joins the gang he gradually learns techniques from Boyacky and Tonzra and is one of the main characters in show as there's an episode dedicated to him where he saves the trio from being captured and kept in prison forever. Other than these five there are no other characters frequently used other than the General Goro who is out to capture the Doronbow as they continue to defy Yatterman. Hints are given in the show as he's the father of Alouette, who has lost all of his memories once he was rebuilt as a robot to work for Yatterman but at times he gets little fazy memories of Alouette as he speaks her name or sees her. The art is done by Tatsunoko Productions, and nothing is really that special but the characters are all well drawn and colors for the background of what seems like an isolated wasteland fits in pretty well. Even for the Yatter Metropolis most of the details are done beautifully thus I have no complaints regarding the art.
Yatterman has quite a lot of perverted moments for a kids show for example the breast-feeding scene of Dorothy to Leopard and scenes of Alouette taking a shower as Tonzra and Boyacky try to sneak up on her. The weirdest one was probably the guy from the 7th episode who has a fetish for sea animals like Fish and Tortoise! At times it doesn't even make any sense and is mostly annoying. As for the sound aspect of the show I think the opening Shooting Star is a very joyful and a pleasant intro for the show. The ending can be said more of the same and it's dedicated to Galina and Alouette in terms of the visual. Other than that the soundtracks weren't anything out of order or special. The voice acting of everyone was done pretty well but the only annoying thing was the voices of the Yatter Soldiers who literally know only to scream "Yatter! Yatter! Yatter!" and nothing else. I'd like to mention the voice of Leopard is exceptionally well done as it suits really well for her childish and a talkative personality. Some of her famous taglines from the show are "Pure, Honest and Beautiful!" and "As long as there is Doronbow evil will cease to exist in the world!". Both are exceptionally well-voiced and is a joy to the ears.
As a package filled with goods and bads, it's the bad side that gets the better of it. There is little to no characterization in the show with Leopard remaining the same annoying kid who in a moment of time grew as a baby to a teen. Tonzra and Boyacky may have some talents but yet they keep fooling around all the time and don't mature a lot. Perhaps the redeeming quality when it comes to characters is Galina. While he is depicted as a shy boy at the start and doesn't seem to be much of a help to the gang, he does play a very important role in the show both for Doronbow and for Alouette as well. It's also seen that Doronjo aka Leopard showing her feelings towards Gatchan. Overall Yoru no Yatterman is a mediocre show that does promise an exciting turnout but instead fails to deliver in all aspects. Even if you're a fan of the older series I don't see how this could be any enjoyable addition to that and since won't recommend to anyone.
