Cyborg 009 VS Devilman

DocJangarly★ 9

Cyborg 009 vs Devilman is the latest offering in both the Cyborg 009 and Devilman franchise. Some background first: A young Go Nagai (Devilman) initially worked with the creator of Cyborg 009, Shotaro Ishinomori as an assistant for about 2 years before his own professional debut. As such, Nagai had high respect for the legendary artist. This collaboration is born out of genuine love for both series. On the surface, this might seem to be just a simple crossover between Cyborg 009 vs Devilman, but it's more than that. It actually involves a plot involving high teens cyborgs (Cyborgs that were made after 0013) thatare unleashed upon our heroes by Dr. Adams. Add Devilman and co to the mix, and you have a completely original story with completely original characters, and yet the OVA still manages to insert itself into both manga's canon, without hurting each other. The art and animation is crisp and clear as day. It has a few QUALITY moments, but overall, the production value was good. Sound was good too. The opening by JAM Project is particularly a joy to watch and listen to, , but the marvel-like ending was amazingly done. It was essentially a montage of scenes taken directly from the source material (The manga of both Cyborg 009 and Devilman). This was one of my highly anticipated anime of the year, and I wasn't disappointed. However the only negative thing I could think of is that this series was made for the fans of the original comics, and its appeal might be lost on newcomers to both franchises. That said, if you've never read Cyborg 009 or Devilman, I still suggest you do give it a try if you can find a subbed copy. (Unfortunately, the anime still is not subbed as of 2015)

GJN7★ 6

As a fan of the Cyborg 009: The Cyborg soldier -series, I found this quite hard to watch and enjoy. Overall the movie itself looks good, however, it does look a little bit funny when the two art styles collide - they don't quite go together. The characters unfortunately lack character and are just there to make you feel nostalgia - "oh my god! it's the whole crew!". It just didn't feel right; they all just pull off a move or two and then their role is pretty much done. So, character development is non-existing. It was also disappointing, that the whole voice crew (at leastthe 009 side) was totally a re-cast and some of the voices didn't match the faces. The plot itself seems forced and lacks surprises. The ending was quite underwhelming as well. And to those who liked the last fight I say: that was some silly shit. I MUST SPOIL THIS! The last move Joe/009 pulls off should have killed him, since it pretty much is the same thing that gets him dead in the cyborg soldier -series. I would let it slide if this was taking place in another universe, but it isn't; The movie clearly takes place between the Mythos arc and the last arc of Cyborg Soldier (with the human clones, Zattan/Zartan etc.), which brings me to another weird point. For some reason this movie takes the original characters from the Mythos arc and Artemis is not present at all and is replaced with the original Helena; However they used the same model which is used as the design of the 5 cloned sisters in the CS series so it got me confused a little bit, since during the arc that takes place after the movie should include all the cloned sisters, that look exactly the same as Helena (though she shouldn't be confused with Helen in CS). Thus this movie can and can't be placed in between those arcs. They should've used another design for her since most of the other characters (including her brother Apollo) got their appearance re-touched - it could have saved some people from the confusion, if they haven't seen or read the versions before CS. In short, it was disappointing not to see Artemis, since on my opinion she is a lot more interesting character than her original counter part Helena. Overall it was fun to look at but it doesn't give me the impression to encourage other fans of the series to watch this. A good try, but nope.