(13 episodes + a few OVAs)
What’s it about ?
Remake of a manga/tokutatsu show by the creator of Kamen Rider. 70s nostagia ahoy !
Characters
Dr Komyoji is the kind of robotics engineer who has a laboratory in the middle of woodlands and lives estranged from the scientific community. Admittedly, the main representative of those is an obviously evil rival who try badgering him into selling his research. Cue totally not suspicious fire in said laboratory leading to the death of the old professor.
Mitsuko, his adult daughter, is trying to uncover why her father died. (Also, taking care of her little brother.) The hidden blueprints she’s discovered (and is savvy enough to interpret) hint that he was working on an android far more advanced than anything else currently available… Did he actually build the thing ?
Jiro, a guy who wakes up as a amnesiac nearby with a guitar on his back… oh, come on, this is totally the title android. Which is confirmed soon after when he transforms to face the baddies hunting him down.
Production Values
Wow, retro character designs ! Most of those people wouldn’t feel out of place in the Star System. Fortunately, we’ve got modern animation quality ; this looks quite good and has some decent atmosphere.
Overall Impression
Nice ! We’re dealing with well-worn archetypes here, with actual explicit references to Pinocchio just to drive the point home… but it’s actually quite fun ; both Jiro and Mitsuko turn out to be pleasant characters to follow. It’s clearly a nostalgia piece, but with enough heart to be watchable by people without much knowledge of the original.
I’m strongly considering coming back to it at a later point.
Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 12
