Tetsujin 28

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes / 25 minutes
Year
2004

Tetsujin 28 Volume 1: Monster Resurrected

By otaku_kei
23rd Mar 06

When this title dropped through my letterbox a few days ago I have to admit it came as quite a surprise as I had no idea anyone was set to release it. In all honesty I had no idea that the Gigantor series of the mid 60's had been remade at all, but here it is. So how many of you have seen Giant Robo? Released in the 90's by Manga Entertainment it was a phenomenal series that followed the actions of a twelve year old boy and his giant robot as they fight against the evil organisation Big Fire in its quest for world domination. The steampunk imagery and retro stylings of this show along with the scope of the story and emotionally charged character arc's made quite an impact, and has left Giant Robo widely well-regarded. Tetsujin 28 comes straight from the creators of Giant Robo and shares much of the same stylings and plotlines as Giant Robo, but will it be able to recapture the same excitement and popular appeal as the earlier show?

In the aftermath of WW2, Japan is rebuilding and restructuring. Trying to put all of the horror of the past behind it and move on to a better future but not everything that should have died in the war has. During the war Professor Kaneda and his protege Professor Shikishima were working on a weapons program for the Japanese, Building giant robots for use as weapons of mass destruction. Unable to accept his work being used to deal further death and destruction, Kaneda leaked the location of the lab to American forces in the hope that they would destroy the work before it is activated. Kaneda warned his friend and protege Shikishima, in enough time to get clear of the destruction. Years later Professor Shikishima is still working on the development of giant robots, but this time to be used for economic growth, but some people never learn.

Professor Kaneda's son Shotarou has grown up without a father. But under the watchful eyes of Professor Shikishima and police Chief Otsuka, Shotarou has grown into a precocious 10 year old, genius boy detective that regularly sticks his nose into other peoples business. Unaware of the truth of his father's wartime activities, Shotarou is about to get a rude awakening when the 28th model of the Tetsujin series robot suddenly comes crashing into Tokyo and starts rampaging through the streets! Finally seeing what his father had been working on before his death Shotarou is shaken to his core, but something must be done to halt the destruction. Will Shotarou, Shikishima and Otsuka find a way to stop this giant robotic menace?

Luckily for Tokyo, Shikishima has a working giant robot with which to try to contain Tetsujin 28. But can Shotarou and co find another solution to this mess? Of course they can, or this would be a rather short-lived 'boy & his giant robot' show. It is not long before Tetsujin 28 is under the control of the powers of good, but the troubles are not going to end there. Evidence comes to light that Professor Kaneda was not the only scientist working on Tetsujin weapons projects!

It looks like Japan was not only involved in the development of giant robots as weapons, but also in the development of reanimated monsters sourced from the war dead. These undead experiments were then to be thrown into the frontlines of the war as unstoppable soldiers. But much like Professor Kaneda, the leading researcher into this science, Dr Franken, could not accept what he had done in the pursuit of his work. Constantly haunted by the sin of using his own son's body in the experiments. When one of these biological monsters gets free it falls to Shotarou and his giant robot to stop the beast, whilst Shikishima tries to track down Dr Franken, and find out just what mission he had programmed this creature to undertake...

So is this show any good, and just how does it measure up to the quality of the creative teams previous effort Giant Robo? What can I say - I loved this show! The retro look of the mecha and city designs is reminsiscent of Giant Robo's art direction, and the character designs seem to take their cues from Tezuka's stylings eg. Metropolis. For me this worked great, but I am aware that for many people out there this look really did not sit well with you. The story and action also swept me along, old school all the way. Very simple narrative moving the show forward, with a lot of moralising about the evils of war, as well as a lot of navel gazing about how Japan had been hard done by in the aftermath of WW2. And with giant robots slugging it out in the streets of Tokyo the action scenes are everything that you are going to want, but only for those of you who would love the old mecha shows. The fights do not have the vitality or pace of anything you've seen in Eva so do not expect these robots to be racing through the streets, leaping from building to building. These fights look more like two heavyweight boxers squaring up to each other and just laying in the blows until one drops.

There is also quite a lot to enjoy for the Giant Robo fanboys out there, as some of the characters and themes from the earlier show are regurgitated here. First up are the obvious comparisons between Shotarou and Daisaku. Both are pre-teen boys, whose fathers worked to create giant robot weapons before becoming disillusioned with what their work would be used for. Both of these characters wear the exact same clothes which simply reinforces the obvious connections between them. The robots themselves have their own connections, most notably being the use of the same roar whenever Tetsujin or Giant Robo received an order. When I first heard this sound it sent a little tingle down my spine and really got me into the mood for watching this show. Bizarrely though, some of the characters from Giant Robo appear here. Kenji Murasame, who in Giant Robo was one of the agents of justice who worked with Daisaku, but here he is a common criminal who is used to voice the disapproval of the creation of all of these weapons of mass destruction. And I'm sure for the fans of Giant Robo you can already guess who else has made an appearance, that is right Dr Franken is in fact the infamous Franken von Folger! Using the exact same character design, it looks as this genius is never going to escape the mold of mad scientist! All nice touches but just quite odd that these characters have been included.

But there is still something wrong with this show, and for me that comes from the subtext of wartime victimhood that this show promotes. Throughout these episodes there is regular mention of how the Japanese suffered during the war, and how the looming prospect of defeat drove forward the creation of these weapons programmes. From a historical perspective I find this cultural, and historical revisionism of Japan's actions in WW2 rather disturbing. This was a country whose push towards militarism and nationalism, as well as aggressive foreign policies led to the invasion and conquest of a large proportion of South-East Asia. During the ensuing occupation many atrocities were committed all across Asia, and that has left a lasting legacy on foreign relations across that geo-political region.

Now it is true that mainland Japan suffered heavily during the closing stages of the war, and Tokyo faced many firebombing raids, whilst everyone knows what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the tragic loss of life caused by the atomic bombs. But these tragedies do not justify the culturally embedded attempts to rework what happened during the war. I know that Japan never tried to build giant robots, or reanimate the dead, but weapons development cannot be justified as Japan being pushed to it. Attempts to posit Japan as if they were the defenders, rather than the aggressors during that conflict colours how Japan looks at itself, as well as then looking forward into what it could be. This argument has been a regular issue in intellectual circles in Japan, but has come up against the entrenched attitude of the political system that Japan were the victim of the war.

So that may just be me feeling that this show has at least one major failing on an intellectual level, it still did not stop me from enjoying this show for the fun that it is. For anyone who found themselves enjoying Giant Robo (for those of you lucky enough to have seen it), then this show offers a lot that you will enjoy. Mecha fans, and anyone who has enjoyed the retro anime of recent years, will probably also come away from this show thoroughly entertained. With the moral message as well about the horrors of war this show would also be suitable for a younger audience, but the very young should be supervised as there are some mild horror elements to the show. Personally I am really impressed by this show, whilst it may not be as immediately engaging as Giant Robo, or even particularly groundbreaking, it is packed full of fun and excitement! Go, Tetsujin!

Tetsujin 28 Theme Song

OK, this just needed its own little section as I found it really amusing. The opening credit sequence looks great, with lots of Tetsujin and Shotarou fighting the forces of evil. The theme song that goes with it this sequence was just superb. Completely fitting with the retro look of the show, this song sounds as if it has just come from the period setting. But when I switched on the subtitles I could not stop laughing at the bizarre lyrics:

Sometimes he's defender of the good
Other times he's the instrument of the devil
Whether he's good or evil
Is down to the remote control

I have to say, that I regularly find myself laughing at lyrics to Japanese songs as they use far too literal phrases to get across the songs message. This is yet another example of this songwriting method. Just remember:

Lets go hand-in-hand defender of the good
Lets overcome the instrument of the devil
Don't let the enemy
Get hold of the precious remote control

R2 DVD Notes

Features: Japanese Language 2.0; Japanese Language 5.1; Japanese Language DTS; English Language 2.0; English Language 5.1; English Language DTS; English Language Subtitles; Textless Opening; Tetsujin 28 Trailer; Manga Entertainment Trailers

Release information: Coming Soon - 24th April 2006

Notes: Pefectly good release here from Manga. Just listened to the stereo soundtracks and sampled both English & Japanese, both sound fine. The subtitles are well timed, and are a clear white text against the generrally dark, industrial background of the show. The extras are nothing that you will come back to more than once though. A selection of trailers that highlights all the new releases that Manga has in store for us.

-- otaku_kei 23rd Mar 06