I just finish watching the first episode of the skullman and I have to say I am interested where this rabbit hole will lead to.
Pretty interesting start so far. A bit slow, but certainly intriguing. Iāll need to see more to get a more solid opinion on it though. Production is pretty nice, as to be expected from a Geneon and BONES production.
Some interesting surprisesā¦
I thought this was going to be a series about Skull Man as some sort of vigilante saving the world, heh. Rather itās a story, so far about a journalist and a photographer and their pursuit of the truth. This could be quite interesting.
Looking forward to seeing episode 2, which I guess will be in some weeks since this is a very early sneak peak preview before the DVD comes out.
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Extremely pleased with the first episode. The show seems to have a totally different vibe and style in which IMO is needed in the R1 market. This is a must buy come March.
awesome Iām glad itās hooked you guys. Goon, the aspect of it you noticed is what really really draws me to this story. The absolute lack of heroes. This element is even more prominent in the original story, where the protagonist is a detective (itās Kamen Rider, remember) and heās not a very likable or competent hero, and never actually does anything heroic. What we have here is one of the most brilliant uses of a hero character as a foil to obscure a more realistic character architecture where there are no actual heroes, just self interested parties with varying degrees of acceptable collateral damage.
If you guys are into this, maybe we should undertake a more in depth look at some classics by the giants, Ishinomori and Tezuka. Iām sure most of you have seen the staples of this dynasty with Astroboy, Black Jack, Legend of the Forest, Kikaider, etc etc, but itād be pretty cool to get into some of the other works with some people. I canāt tell if anyone else is as interested in this stuff as I am. =)
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD TEZUKA INVENTED BIG EYES IN ANIME CHARACTERS!! ISHINOMORI INVENTED THE CONCEPT OF SUPER SENTAI!! Sorry I get excited when I actually have an excuse to talk about these guys.
Tommy I approve of your enthusiasm. 
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I popped this in, to see the OP for Maria-Holic, and I have to say a few things about it. Sentai gave this a pretty great release. The artwork they chose is amazing, as weāve all seen from the cover art. BTW, it was picked anime DVD cover of the month over at Mania.com. But the art on the back of the release and spine are also great. The discs themselves look awesome as well.
I think my favorite touch is the on screen menus. There donāt have any motion, or anything fancy like that. But the art that was chosen for both discs is creepy and absolutely perfect. They even threw some splatters of blood on the screen, and wrote the episode numbers and menu options in blood. The music they chose also sets the mood just right.
GREAT JOB SENTAI!
Can you take a screen capture of the screen menus, on your computer? Curious to see the menu.
No rush though. Thanks man!
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I honestly have no idea how to do that. :unsure: If anyone knows how to do it on a Mac, and can share with me, I would be more than glad to. 
Hmm, no idea, I use a PC. On PC we hit the print screen button on our keyboard when the DVD is playing.
Maybe on google type āDVD Screen capture YourOperatingSystemā
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I found a neat little program that lets me do it!
Here are the main menus:
There is also nice artwork that popped up when I hit stop on my PowerBook.
Woah, very cool.
Thanks cody!
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No problem! Now, Iām just curious to know if my other Sentai releases have artwork like that. Iāve never had any DVDās where it popped up like that. Itās rather interesting.
A pretty good show. A bloody, violent show when it was called for. Not overly gratuitous, but on the spot. Has a very film-noir feel to it, a retro feel and look to it, like something out of the 70ās. Itās also one of those show you canāt wait for a second season for, but then I remembered:
The Skull Man is a pseudo-prequel to Cyborg 009. Sort of like how Legends of the Dark Kings is to Fist of the North Star. There are some inconsistensies between each seriesās prequel/sequel pair, but enough to get the point and story connections across.
I just finished up the DVDās for this the other night, and I have to say I was impressed with this the whole way through. The show was dark and gritty and at times very dramatic and powerful. It even managed to sew some interesting mysteries and throw a few curve balls at you. Also, the ending was great! It suited the show perfectly.
Also, after the end credits on the last episode there is a bit more story to be told, however, it does have an open ending, albeit a very interesting one.
This is a show I can find myself easily recommending.
The first manga is a fairly direct prequel, even the point of having the Skull Man taking his place as the CEO of the corporation he fought to bring down, becoming the evil that he had fought to destroy.
Also, if you read other Ishinomori works, there are clues as to the progression of this sub-plot and how it ripples out through the rest of his works at the time. He loves taking existing characters from his other works, changing their hat and clothes, and having them show up in another doing the exact same crap they always do. Or, in some cases, seeking redemption for roles in his other stories. I really love when he does this with Jet Link, who seems to me to be his closest direct reflection in character. I love that even the good guys are dark and troubled, if you can figure out who the good guys are at any point =). Itās one of the things that really draws me to his writing style. These stories would make just as amazing movies or live action series as they would anime because the stories are amazing (Kikaider is a good example of this).
Some day, some forward thinking Anime distributor will buy some of those classic Cyborg 009 movies and series, translate them and release them on DVD. Those are definitive early works in science fiction anime.
Skull Man showed up unannounced on the free VOD list today.
Well, actually it might have been announced but we wouldnāt know since the April schedule is not up yet.
THANK YOU AN!!!
this show is on my VOD today too!
im hella excited about this oneā¦
yoka
It was noted on the email TAN sent out about the new simulcast. It listed the new shows at the bottom that are coming to VOD and Online in April, including The Skull Man and Glass Mask.
This guy looks like itās going to be interesting.
I have a Cyborg 009 DVD set, a cheap thing I picked up and have yet to watch, sounds like after this series has run might be a good time to look at that?