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Kamui Gaiden was an excellent watch. You'd have to have been Izuna dropped on your head to dislike it. This show feels like Samurai Jack but as a 60s anime. Kamui travels from place to place just trying to live a normal life but is constantly put in horrible situations, usually due to his pursuers seeking to kill him for abandoning his ninja clan. The three episode arc from episodes 18-20 where Kamui befriends a ninja dog who like him abandoned his ninja dog clan is one of my favorites but also the saddest. My man can't catch a break. RIP Aka. There's also episode ... 5 where Kamui slams a teen assassins head into a tree and knocks 50 points off his IQ. His sisters sacrifice is so sad that was the moment I knew I would love this series. Great show, go wild cats, looking forward to checking out Sasuke later this year.

The Skull Man is more than just an adaptation. It adapts the story of the original manga, weaving in themes and characters from Ishinomori's greatest works from Kikaider, to Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider, Robot Detective K, the Flying Phantom Ship and many more. When I first saw the Skull Man I was curious and intrigued by its dark subject matter and mystery elements. When I learned of its connection to Kamen Rider and Cyborg 009 I began digging into the works of Shotaro Ishinomori. The more I dug the more I loved this series and I can confidently say that Yutaka Izubuchi and the staff ... at Bones deeply understand the soul of Ishinomori. Moral ambiguity is a key theme of many of Ishinimori's works and the Skull Man embodies these ideas. Someone with a nature for good but falls for dark temptations or someone who does evil in the name of justice is a cornerstone of Ishinomori's works. I'm reminded of Joe's final fight with the Black Ghost, the Black Ghost brains says that Black Ghost can never be destroyed because evil resides in the heart of all humans. Joe says that this is true because even he has darkness and malice in him, but like him, there are still men who will choose good over evil, and they will always fight against those consumed by the dark. This idea of the never-ending war between those who choose good and those who choose evil is captured perfectly by the White Bell Society whose action are an extension of the atrocities of the Pacific War, an ECHO if you will.

Anyway, I don't usually write reviews, but I thought this page was lacking and it's one of my favorite anime, so I figured I'd say a few nice things. I think people get a little lost because there are so many characters but watching it a second time especially after reading several Ishinomori manga where we get to meet those characters its because very straight forward and you'll appreciate all the littler reference and easters used to conveys Ishinomori's themes and ideas. 10/10.

I watched God Sigma after having completed the original Robot Romance Trilogy and Beast King Go Lion but it doesn't compare to either of them. For starters the heroes are unbelievably bland here with the most interesting characters being Minako Martino and the villains Terral, Gila and Leitz. The conflict doesn't have the initial impact as the Robot Romance Trilogy or GoLion and this is because Terral, Gila and Leitz are meant to be sympathetic villains with Terral eventually joining the good guys. While this makes Terral a much more interesting character it makes the conflict early on feel somewhat toothless. Once the new villains ... are introduced around episode 30 the series becomes far more interesting though this is only on the villain's side with the heroes still feeling unremarkable. I felt this is one area where God Sigma did a little better than its predecessors as it tries to kill off its old villains for new ones similar to Combattler V but it does so in a way that they aren't just killed and forgotten, Terral lives and harbors resentment towards them. The animation hurts the show as most of it was outsourced to Taiwan and Korea. The director said the Taiwanese animators hated working on it and used to draw straws in the form of chopsticks to determine who would have to animate the more complicated scenes. He mentions an episode that was made hastily due to a fire destroying many animation cells and I suspect this was episode 3 which hands down has the worst animation in the entire series (missing in-betweens, wrong characters mouths moving while another character is talking, cells placed on incorrect layers, ect). Overall I only recommend God Sigma if you feel compelled to watch it, I did it for the bragging rights of being able to say I've seen every shows in the Saburo Yatsude/Popy production line that followed Nagahama's Robot Romance trilogy. If You want a better combiner mech anime I recommend Combattler V or Voltes V and if you want a better time travel mecha story I recommend Baldios.

In the New Testament, we are told the fate of Dismas, a thief sentenced to death and crucified beside Jesus. Dismas is penitent for his crimes and as such, upon his death, he is welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven. Groizer X is a penitent thief of sorts. Produced by Knack, the acclaimed studio behind Astroganger and Chargeman Ken, the series features similar production values that have made those series stand the test of time. Groizer X is about a group of aliens from planet Gaira who arrive on Earth but are frozen under ice in the Arctic. They wake up and decide to invade ... but Dr. Yan, a Gairan scientist, tries to escape with the aerial bombing super robot Groizer X. Dr. Yan is shot with a laser so his daughter Rita escapes and flees to Japan. In Japan she meets Joe and the pilots of the Tobishima Air Base. Together, Joe and Rita use Groizer X to fight against Gaira and protect Japan.

One of the most interesting aspects of Groizer X seldom discussed is the strange sense of nationalism throughout the series. Knowing Groizer X is hidden in Japan, Japan has become the target of their attack. There is an emphasis on protecting Japan and the heroes' love for Japan. At first it doesn't register as anything beyond simplistic writing as the show was intended for an audience of young Japanese children. However, these instances compound. For a "giant robot" anime there is a strange absense of giant robots as most combat is performed by way of dogfights. Its actually quite uncommon for Groizer X to transform probably performing this action 10 or less times throughout its 36 episodes. Because the enemies attack Japan with aerial bombers there's a lot of imagery invocative of the bombings of Tokyo from WW2. Reinforcing this imagery and creating an interesting continuity we have characters who show up recounted attacks from earlier episode and we see that these characters are both traumatized and suffering from illnesses caused by these attacks. The most notable is Masato-kun appears in a few episodes around the late 20s before his death said to be caused by an illness he contracted from the freezing attack done in episode 15. There is also the character Baku, a Zero fighter from WW2 who remembers the war quite romantically. He dies performing a Kamikaze attack that prevents the villains from stealing Groizer X. We also can't forget episode 32, where Joe and Rita sink into the ocean as they are fired on by Captain Golgo. Joe and Rita survive because the wreckage of a battleship sunk during WW2 protects them. Joe and Rita realize this and give the ship a moment of silence.

Some of the lore in this shows confuses me. The Gaira are humanoid aliens however while many like Rita and Dr. Yan are just straight up humans, others like General Dogos are cyborgs, clearly human with robot parts attached and then others like Emperor Ghelden are literal monsters. There is one instance where we're introduced to a character named Captain Dan. Dan is the son of General Dagger from episode 13 and is introduced alongside his brothers John and Gil in episode 26. John and Gil are killed in episode 26 but Dan survives and returns for revenge in episode 27. Strangely when he returns in episode 27 he seems to have morphed from a regular ugly man to a man with bug eyes and super-saiyan hair. I have no idea how this change occured, maybe I wasn't paying attention as I was grieving over the deaths of John and Gil. Speaking of inconsistent animation, there is another scene where Sabu, the Shiro (Mazinger) equivalent in this series, pilots the Groizer X. Instead of creating new footage of Sabu wearing the flight suit traveling towards the cockpit, his face is instead spliced over the pre-existing stock footage of the fully grown and muscular Joe creating a very odd image that disappears as soon as he actually reaches the cockpit.

In short, Groizer X is quite the ride. Having far less input from Go Nagai than advertised there isn't anything incredible in terms of the characters or action but the messiness of the production actually makes it quite enjoyable more so than some shows produced competently. I give Groizer X 5 golden yoshis out of 10. Thanks for watching.