Hello again. As I said before, one of
the anime I wanted to cover that I didn't last year
was of the Iron Man anime. All that I
was waiting for was the right time, which is now upon me.
This past Mother's day, I saw Iron Man
3; and I for one, loved it. Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
is off to a great start. The film contained a darker storyline of
Tony Stark
dealing with post-traumatic stress
after the events of The Avengers, a haunting rendition
of the Mandarin by Academy Award
winner Ben Kingsley, and enough intense action scenes
and swaggering skullduggery from
Robert Downey Jr.; fueled by new director Shane Black.
The film has been met with largely
positive reception; and has recently passed $1 billion worldwide.
So, as you can imagine, it put me in
just the mood I needed to be in to recap the first
episode of this anime. It is indeed
very good, but there is also a lot to make fun of as well.
As it happens, it turns out Iron Man
is one of the few American comic book superheroes
to break out in Japan; the country
where manga originated and thus reigns supreme. It helps
that Iron Man has a lot of
similarities to the mecha genre as well as the long-running tokusatsu
series Kamen Rider. So, let's open up
“Enter Iron Man”.
The opening is sort of a condensed
treatment of how Tony Stark became Iron Man. For
the sake of argument, I'm putting on
the Black Sabbath song. I know it's not about the hero,
but as implied by the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, Tony is the type of person that would likely
adopt it as his theme song
anyway.
It turns out this was
written by Warren Ellis, who has written a lot of comic book
storylines, notably the Extremis storyline (which was part of the
basis for Iron Man 3). Ellis
has also done a fair amount
of TV writing, such as writing the script for GI Joe Resolute.
The series was animated by
Madhouse, a very distinguished animation studio; doing
quite a lot of film and TV
work. Some of their credentials include Aeon Flux and Ghost in the
Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
One last thing before the
anime proper begins: the copy I'm using to write this recap
is from a G4 airing of the
show. In the waning days of the channel before it became a division
of men's fashion magazine
Esquire, anime was added to the channel in an attempt to boost
declining ratings. Other
series that aired included the Wolverine anime (which will be
recapped
around the release of The
Wolverine); Cromartie High School (I'm working on that one, what
I have seen of it is very
funny), and Colorful, a series about underwear. I'm not kidding. I
personally find underwear jokes to be one of the most overused
tropes in fiction, to the point
where they're a pet peeve
of mine. Jokes about hats and shoes, however, are proof that God
has a sense of humor.
We open on a plane in
flight, and one of the instruments detects something off the port
stern. The pilot radios the
control tower; who informs him it was the private jet of Stark
Industries. It's typical
that most Iron Man adaptations establish Tony Stark this way. Many
different comics, TV shows,
video games, and movies have tackled Tony's ego in different ways;
and you'll see how it's handled throughout this recap.
Tony sees Mt. Fuji from the
window of his jet, with a glass of wine in his hand. He
dryly remarks that it all
begins in the land of the rising sun. The character design is very
nicely done, with Tony's
anime design being both recognizable and distinct at the same time.
Tony lands and is greeted
by Dr. Tanaka. Tony is surprised that the head of Lab 23 and
his right hand man are
female. Well, I can definitely say that they've got Tony's reputation
as
a womanizer down. Dr.
Tanaka tells Tony that he has a meeting with the Japanese Minister of
Defense. Tony then asks the
doctor on a date. The doctor does her best to remain professional,
despite Stark's advances.
Tony is greeted by the
Minster of Defense, then taken to the arc reactor station that he
commissioned. A common use
of the arc reactor is to provide free clean energy, but one of the
most obvious ones is to
power the Iron Man armor. Tony is honored that the US and Japan
are working together, as
well as the fact that he could build an arc station there.
The minister asks Tony if
it's true that he's retiring Iron Man. Tony says yes, and he plans
to put a new Iron Man called Dio in his stead. Tony mentions that Dio
will be put into
mass production and
replacements will be trained. Also, he's already signed off on the
figma
and the cosplay equipment,
so we need to get some exposure. This just asks for Holy Diver.
The next morning, Tony
supervises the arc station being started. Dr. Tanaka remarks
it's 90% complete. Dr.
Tanaka is concerned at how the Japanese public will react. Tony
tells her not to worry, as
the prospect of free clean energy is upon them. Dr. Tanaka replies
that the Japanese might not
see it that way. She tells Tony the Japanese appreciate humility.
Tony is surprised at the
concept. Yeah, you're talking to the wrong person if you want
humility.
He's quick to tell you that
even though his armor is now hanging in his house like a trophy,
he's still a “genius,
billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”
Tony looks at his armor in
his Japanese home, with his co-worker and on-and-off-again
girlfriend Virginia
“Pepper” Potts on the phone. Pepper informs Tony that Dio is
ready, and the
first candidates are on
their way to Japan. Tony is pleased to hear this. Tony is even more
pleased that the Japanese are reacting positively to the arc
station.
We cut to the office of
the Tokyo Journal, where a young reporter named Naname is
being yelled at by her
superior; who looks and sounds a lot like an anime J. Jonah Jameson.
The editor-in-chief is not
pleased with Naname's story. He hands her a paper with Tony Stark
on the front page, which
surprises Naname. He tells her to get on this story. I'm serious, it
would
not be out of place for him
to ask for a picture of Spider-Man, with or without his giant robot.
Tony addresses the first
batch of candidates and introduces them to Dio. He shows them
the prototype and says it
will go into mass production as soon as it passes inspection. I must
also point out that this
anime uses a lot of CGI. I admit it sticks out against the
traditional animation, but it is better than the CGI of Iron Man:
Armored Adventures.
The trials for Dio begin
on a US military shooting range. The suit takes a blast from
a tank and it's not even
scratched. Tony decides it's time for a flight test, to show off his
$1.5
billion suit.
As per usual, Tony is
hounded by reporters asking about the arc station being a front
for weapons manufacturing.
Tony snarks that reporters in America ask him similar questions.
Tony then states that the
arc station will supply free clean energy, with the press wondering
how
that's possible. Tony then
goes on to mention Stark Industries' history as a defense contractor,
then says that's behind
him. The press then asks about Iron Man. Tony says he's retiring.
Naname steps forward to
ask Tony a question, trips, and lands in Tony's arms. Well,
He has that effect on
women. Tony then tries to hit on Naname, which gets him slapped
across
the cheek in true anime
fashion. And he liked it.
Tony begins his
demonstration of Dio. What do you know, the helmet of Dio opens
to reveal Tony after all!
He just can't resist a chance to flaunt one of his armors.
Both Dio and some jets have
been flying to form a pattern of Tony's arc reactor.
Dr. Tanaka remarks that
humility has gone out the window. Then, Dio starts malfunctioning.
Tony crashes Dio near
Naname. At least it's not as bad as that time he got soused on his
birthday
and started screwing around
in his armor.
 | ||||
| Last time I have the Dr. Pepper and Jack before flying! |
Dr. Tanaka radios Tony. Tony
says he's all right, but the crash has wrecked Dio's mechanical
systems. Tony then asks Naname for a ride. She accepts on the
condition that they
have an interview en route.
Naname starts with a question about the retirement. Tony says that's
the last time he'll don the
Iron Man armor. Tony makes another pass at Naname, then runs the
rest of the way back to Lab
23.
That night, Tony runs
diagnostics on Dio to determine what went wrong. Tony wonders
if this flash of light has
while he was flying Dio has anything to do with its malfunction.
Dr. Tanaka is having the
team run further diagnostics. Dio seems to be working fine, but
then it traps one of the
trainees inside! The suit then rights itself and its eyes glow red!
The suit
attacks the other two
trainees! Dr. Tanaka tries to seal off the compound, but Dio blows
through
the blast doors!
Tony then dons the Iron
Man armor again to stop Dio. Iron Man clashes with Dio, with
Tony dismissing Dio as a
“knockoff.” As Dio lies in a crater, Tony goes over to get it.
Then,
all of a sudden, Tony is
ambushed by a mecha named Scorpio of the Zodiac. Tony makes short
work of Scorpio. Tony finds
the trainee, and notices Dio has disappeared.
“Enter Iron Man” is a
solid first episode of the land of the rising sun's take on Iron Man.
The animation and voice
acting are very strong, and the distinct interpretation of the comic
book series is great. The
little quirks of anime are a perfect fit for Iron Man. I would very
much
like to see more of this
anime. It's only 12 episodes long, so it should be fairly easy to get
through.
As for what I'll do for my
next recap, I'm not sure. One Piece has started on Toonami,
so I'm going to spend a lot
of time this week catching up (I'm currently on episode 161 as of
this writing, Toonami is
starting with episode 207). I'm also going to try and finish some of
the series I started in
2011, which include Myself Yourself and Tiger and Bunny. I also
started
Clannad, which is pretty
good so far (I've watched the first couple episodes). Also, I tried
watching IGPX, but I'm afraid I don't like it. See you space cowboy.
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