The manga was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine and ran from 1963 to 1966. The anime series was produced by TCJ Animation Center (nowadays Eiken). It was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System and ran from November 17, 1963, to December 31, 1964, with a total of 56 episodes, as well as a "farewell" special episode, "Goodbye, 8 Man".
Plot
Detective Azuma is murdered by criminals and his body is retrieved by Captain Tanaka (in the manga), or Professor Tani (in the anime). In Tani's laboratory, Tani attempts to transfer Azuma's mind into an android body, an experiment that has already failed seven times. Azuma is reborn as the armour-skinned android 8 Man and is able to dash at impossible speeds as well as shape-shift into other people. He typically takes on the form of his former body, and keeps the fact that he is a super robot or 8man secret from everyone, even his secretary Sachiko and his assistant Ichiro. To rejuvenate his powers, he smokes "power" cigarettes that he carries in a case on his belt.[4]
In Japan, the character's origin varies between the original manga, the TV series, and the live-action movie. In the 1992 movie, 8man's name before being murdered was "Detective Yokoda", and he was given the new name "Detective Azuma" to cover up his death and revival. In the manga, Detective Azuma is trapped in a warehouse and gunned down, while the TV series has him killed when he is run over by a car. The manga has several origins for the name 8 Man, such as that this is Tani's seventh attempt to transfer a human mind, that the android body was given the designation "008" by the American military, or that there are seven regular police precincts in Tokyo and 8 Man is treated as a detective not belonging to any of them (thus, an unofficial eighth precinct).
The Japanese manga was presented as serial novella stories along with a set of one-shot stories. Many of these stories were edited down and adapted for the TV series. The novella stories were originally printed every week in Shukuu Shōnen Magazine in 16-page increments that consisted of 15 story pages and one title page. Ten additional one-shot stories were presented in seasonal and holiday specials of Shuukuu Shōnen Magazine. These stories were generally between 30 and 40 pages in length.
In the North American version of the series, the resurrected detective/android is known as "Tobor" - the word "robot" spelled backwards. Tani is referred to as "Professor Genius" and the sobriquet of 8-Man is slightly changed to "8th-Man," the name explained as he is the 8th attempt to be a super-robot. The story content was directed toward a wider audience of both young and adult viewers. As such, much of the violence was toned down for Western audiences.
The strip's artist Jiro Kuwata was imprisoned for possession of a handgun before the final 16-page serial of "The Demon Kozuma" was completed.[5] The final serial was drawn by Takaharu Kusunoki for the magazine version. Jiro Kuwata later redrew the final pages of the story himself by request of Kazumasa Hirai and Rim Publishing, so that they could publish a complete version of the final story.[citation needed] The publishers were not able to use Kusunoki's artwork, so the story was omitted or left incomplete in previous official releases[citation needed]
Short episode stories
死刑囚タランチュラ - The Condemned Criminal Tarantula
決闘 - The Duel
シャドウ・ボクサー - Shadow Boxer
復讐鬼ゴースト - Vengeful Demon Ghost
超振動砲 - The Super Vibration Gun
マッド・マシン - Mad Machine
サイボーグPV1号 - Cyborg Number PV1
殺し屋イライジャ - The Assassin Elijah
燃える水 - Burning Water
幽霊ハイウェイ - Phantom Highway
太陽衛星サンダー (単行本未収録) - Solar Satellite "Thunder" (unreleased story)
This was intended as a lead-in to a series of 23 manga stories adapted from the TV series.
Original Japanese TV series episode titles
エイトマン登場 - Introducing Eightman
殺し屋ゲーレン - Galen, the Hitman
サタンの兄弟 - The Satan Brothers
死刑台B3 - The B3 Gallows
暗黒カプセル - The Darkness Capsule
黄金ギャング - The Gold Gang
消音ジェット機 - The Stealth Jetplane
超小型ミサイル - The Ultra Micro Missile
光線銃レーザー - The Lazer Ray Gun
ロボット007 - Robot 007
まぼろしの暗殺者 - The Phantom Assassin
海底のウラン - The Undersea Uranium
人間パンチカード - The Human Punch Card
スーパーパイロット - The Super Pilot
黒い幽霊 - The Black Ghost
怪盗黄金虫 - Goldbeetle, the Mysterious Thief
超音波ドクター - The Ultrasonic Wave Doctor
台風男爵 - The Typhoon Baron
ゲーレンの逆襲 - Galen Strikes Again
スパイ指令100号 - Spy Directive No. 100
ロボットタイガー - The Robot Tiger
ゼロへの挑戦 - Challenge to Zero
ナポレオン13世 - Napoleon the 13th
サラマンダー作戦 - Operation: Salamander
超人サイバー - Cyber, the Superhuman
地球ゼロアワー - Zero Hour: Earth
大怪物イーラ - Eeler, the Giant Monster
バクテリア作戦 - Operation: Bacteria
人間ミサイル - The Human Missile
サイボーグ人間C1号 - Cyborg No. C1
幽霊ハイウェイ - The Phantom Highway
太陽衛星サンダー - Thunder, the Solar Satellite
人工生命ヴァルカン - Vulcan, the Artificial Lifeform
決闘 - The Duel
冷凍光線 - The Freeze Ray
バイラス13号 - Virus No. 13
悪夢の7日間 - The 7 Day Nightmare
怪人ゴースト - The Mysterious Ghost
まぼろしを作る少年 - The Boy Who Made a Phantom
透明ロボット・ジュピター - Jupiter, the Invisible Robot
エイトマン暗殺指令 - Order: Assassinate Eightman
女王蜂モンスター - The Queen Bee Monster
魔女エスパー - Esper, the Witch
世界電撃プラン - The World Blitz Plan
死刑囚タランチュラ - Tarantula, the Condemned Criminal
空飛ぶ魔人 - The Flying Devil
バブル・ボール作戦 - Operation: Bubble Ball
火星人SAW - SAW, the Martian
30億人の人質 - 3 Billion Hostages
怪像ジャイアント - Giant, the Mysterious Statue
狙われた地球 - Target Earth
人喰魚ピラニア - The Man-Eating Piranha
ムタールの反乱 - Moutard's Rebellion
シャークの掟 - Law of the Shark
超人類ミュータント(前編) - Superhuman Mutant (Part One)
超人類ミュータント(後編) - Superhuman Mutant (Part Two)
"Good-Bye Eight-Man" - a special look back at the TV series.
The U.S. syndicated version
In 1965, 8 Man was brought to the U.S. as 8th Man (sometimes called "Tobor the 8th Man," as in its English-language theme music), with ABC Films as its syndicated distributor. The original intro was replaced by a new American-animated intro.[6] Only 52 of the original 56 episodes were translated into English.
The characters were renamed as follows:
Yokota/Azuma/8 Man - Special Agent Brady/Tobor ("robot" spelled backward)/8th Man
Mental Brain Media released the first volume containing a few select episodes on February 25, 2019 under The Best of Tobor the Eighth Man.[8]
Reception
8 Man was ranked ninth in the Mania Entertainment's 10 Most Iconic Anime Heroes. The author of the ranking, Thomas Zoth, commented, "Before Cyborg 009, The Six Million Dollar Man, and RoboCop, there was 8 Man: The first cyborg manga and anime hero. Building on Astro Boy, 8 Man helped to shape the trajectory of robot and cyborg heroes for the next decade."[9]
Legacy
The 8 Man franchise was revived in the early 1990s with a live-action film, video game, and new animated series.
Video game
In 1991, SNK released a video game edition of Eight Man for the Neo Geo arcade and home video game system (both versions are identical), where the player took the role of 8 Man and his Robo-comrade 9 Man in a fight against an invading evil robot army. The game was released internationally. While the game stayed true to the concept of a crime-fighting super-robot, it was widely criticized for being tedious and relying too much on the gimmick of its speed-running effect.
In 2009, he appeared in the crossover Shonen Sunday & Shonen Magazine White Comic for the Nintendo DS.
Live action movie
In 1992, a live-action film version of 8 Man was produced in Japan. Titled Eitoman - Subete no Sabishī Yoru no Tame ni (8マン・すべての寂しい夜のために, lit. 8 Man - For All the Lonely Nights), it was directed by Yasuhiro Horiuchi and starred Kai Shishido as the title character and Toshihide Wakamatsu as Detective Yokota. Distributed in the United States by Fox Lorber video simply as 8 Man, the movie was widely panned for its choppy editing, mediocre direction, and low-budget feel. Many modern American viewers, unfamiliar with the older animated series, felt the movie was an inferior version of RoboCop, although the latter was a much more recent franchise.
8 Man After
In 1993, the mantle of 8 Man was taken up by Hazama Itsuru in the OVA series 8 Man After (エイトマン AFTER, Eitoman AFTER) . Animation was done by J.C. Staff with a total of four episodes.[10]
Existing in a world far more corrupt than that of his predecessor, the new 8 Man had no qualms about being extremely violent towards the cybernetic criminals who had murdered him previously. It was licensed by Streamline Pictures where it went out of print until being released on DVD by Image Entertainment in 2001. It has since been released by Discotek Media in 2016 with Japanese audio, featuring English subtitles for the first time.[11]
It's marketed for retail outside Japan by Enoki Films.[12]
8 Man Infinity
A manga sequel called 8 Man Infinity (8マンインフィニティ Eitoman Infiniti) is being authored by Kyoichi Nanatsuki under Kodansha with six volumes published from 2005 to 2007.[13] It was formerly serialized under Kodansha's Magazine Z.[14]
On July 25, 2024, Star Fruit Books reported that the manga is licensed for an English release.[15]
8 Man vs. Cyborg 009
A crossover between 8 Man and Cyborg 009 by Kyoichi Nanatsuki (script) and Masato Hayate (art), began serialization in Champion Red on July 18, 2020.[16]
^Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 303–304. ISBN978-1476665993.
