Jump Super Heroes: Tsuukai!! Comedy Heroes: Not Enough Stars & Exclamation Points, I'd Say

Even though battle manga is the backbone of Weekly Shonen Jump, right behind it in overall importance & popularity is comedy manga.  Go Nagai made his debut with the semi-erotic comedy Harenchi Gakuen, one of the very first hit manga Jump ever had, and while battle titles like Ring ni Kakero, Fist of the North Star, Dragon Ball, & One Piece were carrying the magazine on their shoulders, assisting them in keeping Jump a cultural icon were comedies like Dr. Slump, Sexy Commando Gaiden, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, & Gintama.  And that's the theme of this last entry in the Jump Super Heroes Special Collection DVD series: Comedy.  Anime comedy can be a tough thing to do, though (and that's all the more evident when you consider the fact that only one of the titles on this DVD has ever been licensed, whereas all the other DVDs had at least two), so does this line-up end the series on a high note, or does the punchline fall flat?

You may boo.

This is the only title that doesn't have eyecatch...  Early-80s, afterall

I Love Strange Faces.  Come Forth! Kimen Flash
1982-1987's Highschool! Kimengumi was the sequel to Motoei Shinzawa's original San-nen/Third Year Kimengumi from 1980-1982, but the anime looks to start from the beginning of San-nen.  Whereas earlier comedy hit Dokonjo Gaeru was more of a traditional comedy title, Kimengumi went straight for being absolutely weird for its comedy, making it a definite precursor & innovator to the modern gag manga, which arguably started with Sexy Commando Gaiden.  The plot focuses on transfer student Yui Kawa, who immediately becomes friends with Chie Uru as well as five boys (Rei Ichido, Go Reietsu, Jin Daima, Dai Monoboshi, & Kiyoshi Shusse) who together call themselves the Kimengumi/Funny Face Club.  The Kimengumi essentially love being weird & odd for the sake of making others laugh...  But the major focus is that they're all weird.

No, really, Kimengumi is simply weird.  The opening footage itself is a joke, making it look like some sort of story about Yui & her ambition to make it through school with a happy life (kind of like a "Ganba! Ganba!" thing), but in reality the show is simply about the Kimengumi, with Yui & Chie in tow, just being weird & downright unexplainable.  For example, at one point Rei, the leader, is being chased by the others because he has food they want, but Jin catches him by breaking through a wall like it was simply paper.  After they catch Rei they all tie him to a small tricycle & take him outside (by walking through another wall like its paper), where they decided to drag Rei around & torture him.  Really, there's no discernible reason why they're torturing Rei, at least from what I can tell without any subtitles, and while Shigeru Chiba does an amazingly zany performance as Rei it all just comes off as simply odd, with maybe a few laughs here & there.  And don't get me started on the Kimen Flash itself, where the five form a face-like combination & get hit with lightning.  Overall, I can't really call Highschool! Kimengumi bad, mainly because I'm almost 100% sure that most of the jokes were lost on me without any sort of translation, but I can definitely say that it certainly made an impression on me.
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Take that however you want.

I swear, Madoka is giving everyone the lazy eye for no reason...

Transfer Student! My Humble First Love
At one point in the 90s, & maybe even early-2000s, I am 100% sure that Kimagure Orange Road was the title everyone thought of when they were asked "What's anime?"  Izumi Matsumoto's 1984-1987 manga was already nearing it's end when the TV anime adaptation debuted (there was a pilot made back in 1985, alongside the Kochikame pilot), but it definitely became a favorite of many anime fans in North America during the 90s & early 00s, when AnimEigo released the TV series, movie, and OVA & ADV released the 1996 sequel movie, Summer's Beginning.  Really, KOR has become one of the biggest names when it comes to romantic comedies that ran in Jump, and even though the comedy isn't in full-effect in this first episode it's easy to see the appeal this show had back in the day.

Kyosuke Kasuga & his family move to a new town, and while checking out the area he runs into a nice girl who he quickly gets into a silly argument over.  On his first day of school he soon finds out that the girl was Madoka Ayukawa, a jazzy delinquent, and he also meets Hikaru Hiyama, Madoka's fiesty friend.  After school Hikaru gets into a fight with some older students, and Kyosuke wonders if he should interfere until Madoka comes in to save the day.  Upon seeing Madoka act Kyosuke realizes that he's in love, but Madoka acts like she never met him before.  Unfortuantely, much like Madoka, Kyosuke is also hiding a secret: The entire Kasuga family has psychic powers, like super-speed, levitation, etc.  KOR's first episode does a really good job introducing the major characters, their personal traits, & setting up the eventual love-triangle that obviously happens between Kyosuke, Madoka, & Hikaru.  I've heard complaints that the whole "psychic powers" element isn't really necessary, and I do agree to a point for this episode, but at the same time I don't see it being a hindrance in any way.  If anything, it helps give KOR a nice identity for itself, and while I wasn't exactly sold on it right away I ended getting somewhat more interested in watching Kimagure Orange Road.  If it ever gets license rescued I might pick it up & give it a go.

Farewell Mountain Days! Brother of the Big City
Much like Hareluya II BØY in Volume 4 there has never been a DVD release for 1988's Moeru! Onii-san, based on the 1987-1991 manga by Tadashi Sato, making this the first time it's been featured on a DVD of any sort.  Also like Hareluya II BØY, it's pretty sad to know this, because Moeru! Onii-san is really, really funny.  It's a variant on the whole "Long-lost person meets up with his family" idea, but it's the execution that really sets it apart from some other titles of this ilk, making it something I hope gets a proper DVD release soon.  The Kokuho family was enjoying a simple picnic by a river one day, when the father accidentally dropped the son, Kenichi, into the river; naturally, they thought Kenichi died & they continued to raise their daughter Yukie.  In reality Kenichi was picked up by Cha Genmai, a martial-arts hermit who lives in the nearby mountains, while fishing & he took Kenichi in and raised him for the next 13 years as a super-strong martial-artist.  As a kid Kenichi saw the bright lights of the city & at 13 he decided to finally head out; Gensai decided it was time to finally reveal the truth, while also revealing that his "sister" Kaede isn't actually Gensai's daughter either, which made Kenichi all the more determined to find his family.  Luckily, it doesn't take much to find Yukie...  He just ended up having the entire city's police force & riot squad after him at the same time.

Onii-san works because it embraces absolute audacity & ridiculousness; after learning the truth Kenichi wonders if his name is even the real one, but Gensai assure him it is because the clothing he found Kenichi in had his name on it (and Gensai never really cared to simply return Kenichi to his family).  Kenichi's lack of knowledge of modern technology, combined with his insane strength, also results in some good comedy, like when he walks in the middle of the road, almost getting hit by a truck, and when he sees a woman crossing the street he thinks she's going to die so he attacks the vehicles that have stopped at the red lights, followed by him easily flipping a police car after they try to stop Kenichi.  Even the next episode preview shows some great promise, especially when one of Yukie's classmates has an eternal devil face & challenges Kenichi to a fight, because all Kenichi wants to do is make his true family proud of him.  Yeah, its absolute silliness, but it really works well, and combined with a few other visual & audio jokes (the police chief looks a little like Nintendo's Mario & Kenichi's dog is named Flipper), as well as a hilarious performance by Kazuki Yao as Kenichi, Moeru! Onii-san defintely makes it impact felt.

I am a Great Magician
To many people, Tatsuya Egawa's legacy in the anime & manga industry is Golden Boy, the story of a genius college drop-out who decides to journey across Japan, meeting all sorts of women & experiencing all sorts of perverse adventures.  But everyone has to start somewhere, and for Egawa it was in the pages of Shonen Jump in 1989-1992's Magical Taruruuto-kun; literally, Egawa went straight from finishing Taruruuto-kun to starting Golden Boy.  Much like Dokonjo Gaeru before it Taruruuto-kun was the story of a boy who gets a partner/friend who helps him out in his everyday life, but Taruruuto-kun differs in that it adds a magic element.  Honmaru is your everyday boy: He goes to school, has trouble with a bully-of-sorts, Jabao, has a rival-of-sorts in the girl Rui Ijigawa, and he has a crush on the lovely Iyona Kawai, but can't really show his feelings.  After a rough encounter with Jabao leaves him beaten up, Honmaru heads home and tries asking his dad, who apparently knows a thing or two about "magic", for help.  Dad is asleep, but Honmaru sees a seemingly-useless book; Honmaru then wishes he had someone to help him, and he accidentally summons a small kid named Taruruuto.  Taru is the son of a demon (who happens to look like Demon Lord Dante), and after showing Honmaru his powers the two become friends.

Taruruuto-kun's first episode is a nice intro to the series, introducing the immediate recurring characters, and showing how Honmaru's life might not be ideal, but it's not like it sucks.  In fact, Iyona obviously sees Honmaru as a friend right away, so it's not like she's out of his reach...  He's just that shy.  Also, it's going to be obvious that most of Honmaru's troubles are going to be brought about by own silly ideas or by Taru's innocent attempts at helping.  In a nice twist, though, Taru isn't a secret that's kept to Honmaru, because he's introduced to Iyona & the others really fast; if anything, the fact that Taru is a "great magician" is a secret, but it probably won't be for long.  Taru has an odd habit in this episode of growing his tongue out and licking people, not to mention at one point he repeatedly slams the giant Jabao around like it's nothing, and the climax has Taru makes Honmaru's remote control helicopter into a real helicopter to help drive away the biker gang that they, accidentally, tried messing with...  Only to have the air force shoot Honmaru down (literally, they don't even ask who's piloting the helicopter; it's simply shoot to kill).  Overall, Magical Taruruuto-kun gives a really good first impression, and it would be interesting to see what kind of silly & crazy predicaments Egawa would send his characters into.

Mantis Alien is Lucky!
Popular manga can be adapted into anime at a varying amount of time, but usually the ideal is to do it as soon as it seems doable, with around three years (or about 150-200 chapters) being a rough average.  Well, 1993-1997's Tottemo! Luckyman by Hiroshi Gamou likely holds the record for shortest amount of time between manga debut & anime debut, not including series that were originally planned to be both an anime & manga (like Mazinger Z), because when the first episode debuted on April 6, 1994 the manga was only on its 29th chapter!  That means that Luckyman was a gigantic hit right from the start, and the first episode does a great job showing why that was likely the case.  Yoichi Tsuitenai is probably the unlukiest person in the world: When his alarm goes off he pulls the wrong cord & gets electrocuted, when birds tease him they also drop poo so big & heavy that he falls off his balcony & injures his head, and when he tries to give a love letter to his crush Miyo (Mi-chan for short), who hates Yoichi because he's so unlucky, he somehow accidentally gives it to Desuyo, the absolutely ugly girl who's in love with him.  Oh, and there's the fact that a UFO just crash landed on him, killing him.  Fortunately, "friend of justice" Luckyman, the luckiest superhero ever, arrives to stop the Praying Mantis-like alien from killing people...  But he's also running late for his part-time job at a Planet Lucky supermarket, so when given the chance to protect Mi-chan Yoichi agrees to take Luckyman's spot, becoming a new Luckyman!

Luckyman is probably the final link between old-school gag manga & modern-day gag manga, because it has elements of both.  Like older gag manga the comedy comes from cause & effect situations, but like modern gag manga there are a few moments that are absolutely silly & ridiculous (not to say that modern gag manga doesn't work like older ones, but there is generally an obvious difference in execution).  For example, Luckyman's superpower is that he has seemingly-infinite luck, so attacks like Lucky Punch & Lucky Kick are extremely slow & weak, but the end result still is a success; for Lucky Punch Luckyman accidentally ends up grabbing the alien's genitals and squeezes them & for Lucky Kick the alien simply runs away until he accidentally runs into the stretched-out foot of a random stranger.  It's all very silly stuff but it's also highly entertaining, and even the animation seems to be part of the joke, because when Yoichi is himself his mouth animates like everyone else, but when he's Luckyman his mouth never animates...  It's simply a giant, gaping hole of a mouth.  What helps seal the deal, though, is a hilarious performance by Mayumi Tanaka (a.k.a. the voice of Krillin & Luffy), who brings about a gigantic amount of energy to Yoichi/Luckyman.  Unfortunately, Luckyman was Hiroshi Gamou's only hit manga...  At least, under that name.  Supposedly, there are indications that Gamou has two other popular mangas under his belt, specifically Death Note & Bakuman.  Yeah, apparently Gamou might actually be the real identity of Tsugumi Ohba, whose identity is a giant secret.  How is this possible?  Well, Bakuman.'s main character has an uncle who was a one-hit wonder managaka with a gag superhero manga, much like Gamou & Luckyman, and apparently there are storyboards drawn by Ohba that look almost exactly like the style of Luckyman.  Well, regardless, Tottemo! Luckyman definitely deserved to be animated as soon as possible if the rest of the show is this funny.

Surprised to be Born!
And coming in to finish up this DVD series is Midori no Makibao, the 1995-1998 race horse comedy manga by Tsunomaru.  Yeah, that's right...  That ugly white thing is a horse, and he's the main character.  In fact, not one character in this title is exactly a looker, except for Midoriko, Makibo's mother, and she's a horse!  One night, on the ranch where he she lives, Midoriko gives birth to a son, a nameless white colt (or foal, if you prefer) with the face of a mule.  Very quickly, though, Midoriko realizes that her son is naturally fast & strong, making him an ideal race horse.  Unfortuantely, the colt is also strongly against running & just wants to be with his mother, especially since the other horses make fun of his looks, but when Midoriko is injured & taken away, the colt decides to leave the ranch & go after her, especially after one of the horses seemingly tells him where his mother went ("beyond the mountains").

Interestingly enough, Makibao's first episode is surprisingly dramatic; hell, Makibao doesn't get his name in this episode (he's simply called "Chibi" by the ranch owner's son, Masaru).  Sure, there's comedy in the episode, but almost all of it is based around the characters & not gag-based.  The ranch owner never seems to realize Makibao's true ability, even when Masaru tries showing his father, he somehow sees a UFO instead of looking at his horses, and the UFO joke is actually the reason why Midoriko trips & injures her leg!  I can easily tell that most of the comedy in this series is going to come from the eventual career Makibao will end up taking by being a race horse that's about 1/4 the size of every other race horse, but I must admit that I actually liked the dramatic turn this first episode took.  I had absolutely no idea how this show would work going into this episode, and if the rest of show is able to mix together comedy & drama then I would love to watch more of this one day.  Just like Makibao himself you can't judge a book, or horse in this case, simply by the cover.

Tsuukai!! Comedy Heroes ends up being a great bookend to the Jump Super Heroes Special Collection DVD series, with all of these titles being fairly different from one another & none of them were boo-worthy; remember, I'm almost positive that Highschool! Kimengumi is something that absolutely requires a translation to fully understand.  This DVD showcased a nice range of comedy, from gag titles to romantic comedy to even dramatic comedy (or would that be comedic drama?), and it really helps showcase how comedy is easily #2 in the history of Weekly Shonen Jump, if action/battle is #1.  Another thing to bring up is that this DVD showcases what Studio Pierrot tends to really excel at, and that's comedy.  Two-thirds of the titles on this DVD (KOR, Onii-san, Luckyman, & Makibao) are Pierrot productions, with the other two being split between Toei & Studio Comet (I told you that Pierrot would return).  Even though Pierrot would enter the 2000s focusing more on serious Jump anime, like Hikaru no Go, Naruto, & Bleach, in 2011 the studio returned to Jump comedy with Level E & Beelzebub, so there's always the chance that they'll do more comedy in the future.

As a whole, this entire DVD series was well worth the purchase, as it really let me check out a great amount of Jump anime that I have never seen anything of, and it let me re-watch the first episodes of titles that I already loved.  Sure, there aren't any subtitles on these DVDs, but a great appeal to Jump anime is that they tend to be easily-accessible for people to at least check out.  Even if you might not get any Japan-focused references, jokes, & puns Jump has a worldwide appeal for a simple reason: The titles they end up being so well-known for are the ones that have an appeal not just to Japan but to the world; even if they are focused on Japanese concepts there are still enough parts for people to want to watch.  Plus, it's always fun learning about other cultures & the like.  Considering that for me to get Volume 5 I had to be put on a waiting list over at Amazon Japan, I'm going to take a guess and feel that this DVD series has been a success for Shueisha over in Japan.  If that's the case then I certainly hope that we get more volumes in this series, because there are still plenty of titles to use, not to mention some that still don't have a DVD release.

Jump Super Heroes: Koufun!! Miracle Heroes: Because "Unique Heroes" Would Have Sounded Silly...

When it comes to these Jump Super Heroes DVDs Volume 4 is really the big question mark: What exactly is the theme here?  What does "Miracle Heroes" mean?  The cover emphasizes the idea of "Unique Characters", but I still don't get what the "miracle" portion of the name is there for.  Anyway, this DVD's focus seems to be on Jump anime of the mid-to-late 90s, where Weekly Shonen Jump was exiting its "Golden Age" with the end of Dragon Ball and Slam Dunk & for the magazine to keep going it needed some interesting ideas, which it did to an extent.  But before we actually look at the 90s, let's take a detour into the early 80s...  For whatever reason.

The Girl!? is an Idol!
Let me start off with this disclaimer: The first episode of Stop!! Hibari-kun! isn't a bad episode.  This was the 1981-1983 manga by Hisashi Eguchi (probably now known mostly in alternative manga circles for being the founder of Comic Cue magazine), following the end of his highly successful debut title, the baseball manga Susume!! Pirates.  It may not have been as successful as Pirates (Hibari-kun only lasted four volumes, also making this the shortest Jump manga represented in this DVD series), but it did have an interesting concept behind it: The main character, Kosaku Sakamoto, moves to live with the Oozora family (a yakuza family) after the death of his mother; head of the family Ibari Oozora was an old boyfriend of Kosaku's mother.  Upon moving Kosaku sees a beautiful girl and falls in love...  So imagine his shock & horror when Ibari reveals that the girl, Hibari, is actually Ibari's only son!  It's explained that since Hibari grew up with three sisters Hibari simply grew up like a girl and is even registered in school as a girl.  Unfortunately, Hibari looks to be smitten with Kosaku, so not only does Kosaku have to handle living with a yakuza family but he also has to keep Hibari at bay.

To the show's credit, it certainly has an interesting sense of humor to it, especially when it comes to Ibari Oozora; the man threatens Kosaku with a grenade just so he could see pictures of Kosaku's mother, when he gets drunk he sees a white alligator & needs to be sedated before he gets out of control, and even his yakuza group seems more silly than threatening.  If there is one thing that doesn't work (for me, at least), though, it's Hibari's whole shtick of being a guy who looks & sounds like a girl.  The whole idea behind it isn't what doesn't work for me (in fact, it's neat to see the "trap" be the main character & not simply a comical side-character, like it generally is nowadays), but what I can't really shake off is how the show both sexualizes Hibari while also making you wonder how no one in school can tell he's a guy.  Really, the show does a lot in trying to make Hibari look pretty enough for young boys to find attractive, which gets a fair bit awkward, but then you have moments where Hibari is being (playfully) rough with a suave schoolmate, like putting him in a headhold & punching him across the hallway, and it really makes you wonder how no one can tell that Hibari is a guy...  Not to mention how none of the girls can tell when Hibari's in the bathroom with them, but this idea never happens in this episode so I'm just thinking too hard about it.  But, really, why is this show on this DVD?  I guess it does fit the whole "Unique Characters" idea, but considering how all the other titles on this DVD are like Stop!! Hibari-kun! just feels really out of place.

Hareluya II BØY does have an eyecatch, but not every episode uses it

Kiyoshiro Okamoto
If there is one really cool aspect of this DVD series it's that it allows series that have never been given a DVD release the chance to get some sort of DVD penetration for the first time, and that aspect starts here with Hareluya II BØY.  Haruto Umezawa's 1992-1999 manga of the same name debuted during the "Golden Age", and kept going well after it ended, running alongside legends such as Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Rurouni Kenshin, & even One Piece.  It didn't get an anime adaptation until 1997, though there is an animated short for BØY that was made alongside a supremely-obscure "Super (Hi/Secret) Video" that I can't find a year for.  The TV series adaptation came out during the early days of "modern-day" late-night anime, making it the first late-night Jump anime, but I don't think that's the reason why the BØY anime never received anything more than the original VHS & LD release.  Regardless, I've already reviewed this anime, and the first episode is a great start for the series.

In a similar fashion to titles like Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, & Saint Seiya, BØY's first episode doesn't show off all of the main characters, but instead introduces the most essential, in this case lead Hareluya Hibino, side-kick (of sorts) Kiyoshiro Okamoto, & bully (-turned-friend) Shozou Momiyama.  It tells a nice little story where you find out about Kiyoshiro's dream to be a painter, Hareluya's infamy from his first day in school, & how tough Momiyama thinks he is up until he meets Hareluya & his dream of "World Domination".  This anime also marks the only time beloved director/writer/series composer Yasuhiro Imagawa has ever worked with a Shonen Jump property, and with Imagawa writing the script for this first episode he tosses in a couple of nods to his other work, specifically G Gundam, such as when Momiyama grabs Kiyoshiro's head & one of his grunts calls it "Momiyama's Death Blow: Shining Finger!"  And, don't fear, the blatant music promotion for SPYKE is intact, with the ending footage still being nothing but footage of the group performing their song Words of Free.  Considering how tough it can be to get this show complete on VHS & LD (I've never seen LDs 5-7 [i.e. episode 14-25] for sale anywhere), it's great to see BØY on DVD in some form and hopefully this inclusion will lead to an actual DVD release for the show in the near future.  Hey, if Galvion can finally get a DVD release then why not Hareluya II BØY?

Fusuke the Young (Rat) Ninja!
For something so short, compared to most other popular Jump titles, Ninku certainly was able to make an impact.  Running from 1993-1995 and lasting only nine volumes Koji Kiriyama's story of ninjas & their battle against an evil empire became very popular, but Kiriyama's constant breaks resulted in the manga going on hiatus in 1995 until it came back in the pages of Ultra Jump under the title Ninku -Second Stage- Eto Ninhen/Chinese Zodiac Ninja Chapter, where it ran from 2005-2011.  Even with that 10-year break, though, Ninku was able to get a 55-episode TV anime series made, plus a 1996 movie that was actually released in North American by Media Blasters as a double-pack with one of the Yu Yu Hakusho movies; FUNimation has since re-released that Yu Yu Hakusho movie with a new dub, but the MB release is still worth keep for that original dub plus the Ninku movie.  Oh, and Ninku was also a gigantic inspiration for a man named Masashi Kishimoto, who would go on to create a manga called Naruto...  I think I've heard of that title.

Fusuke is on an adventure to search for his mother, who was kidnapped in front of him by the Imperial Army when he was younger.  Along with Hiroyuki, his penguin friend, Fusuke arrives in a town with a hankering for food, but gets hung from a tree as punishment when Hiroyuki steals bread.  A little girl gives him food & Fusuke quickly learns that the village believes that the Ninku, a ninja corp that fought against the Imperial Army in the past, are nothing but evildoers, supported all the more when a group of thugs invade the town & kidnap the girl, claiming to be lead by a commander from the Ninku Corps.  Fusuke decides to go and rescue the girl, proving that the Ninku are actually heroes...  Because Fusuke himself is the commander of the Ninku First Division.  Ninku's first episode is essentially all about introducing Fusuke & Hiroyuki, and the end result is a big success.  Fusuke may look dimwitted (it doesn't help that he loves sticking his tongue out at random), but he is in fact very smart & noble; he combines the dedication of the ninja with the friendliness of a young boy perfectly.  Hiroyuki, believe it or not, is also dangerous by way of his gigantic farts...  Which actually work out well in this first episode.  Another neat aspect of Ninku is its world, which is seemingly a mix of European-influenced environments with the mystical ninja ideals, helping to give it a world that is all its own, where it's seemingly the imperialistic European-style empire going against the scrappy-but-tough Asian-style warriors.  Combine that with Kiriyama's character style, which utilizes simplistic looks in a way that makes them look original, & it's easy to see from the first episode how Ninku was able to be so impactful in such a short time.

This eyecatch is more about the cool animation, so a still doesn't do it justice

The Terrifying New School Term! The Mysterious Demon Hand
Sho Makura & Takeshi Okano's Jigoku Sensei/Hell Teacher Nube is probably the closest thing there is to a Jump equivalent of Great Teacher Onizuka.  That said, Nube is still very different from GTO for one simple reason: Nube has a horror motif.  Meisuke Nueno, Nube for short, is a fifth-grade teacher who has a legend behind him: Supposedly, Nueno is also a professional on the supernatural and once fought a demon; after the battle the demon decided to share his power with Nueno, turning his left hand into a "demon hand".  Of course, his new students test him out, and all he does is accidentally take the hair off of a supposedly-possessed doll.  But when a student, Hiroshi, becomes the home to a lizard-like spirit that can slowly torture him by squeezing his heart, it's up to Nube to show what he can truly do.

Hell Teacher Nube's first episode is a great introduction to this series, mixing together a nice sense of comedy with a really neat horror vibe.  Granted, the horror here isn't used for scares, but rather gives it an original style & execution from other teacher-focused series.  Still, that doesn't mean that there isn't a real sense of dread, since Hiroshi's heart being squeezed by the spirit still is enough to give some people some uncomfortable feelings.  Simply adding to this is a great performance by Ryotaro Okiayu as Nube, who shows off his silliness & seriousness in a great mix; nowadays, Okiayu is known mostly for his serious characters, like Toriko, Byakuya Kuchiki (Bleach), Scar (FMA 2003), Jun Kenzaki (Ring ni Kakero 1), & Kunimitsu Tezuka (Prince of Tennis).  Also great are the opening & ending themes done by FEEL SO BAD & B'z, respectively; hey, if a show got a B'z song then you know it was popular.  Too bad we never got this show over here, though I doubt it could have really sold going up against the likes of GTO.  At the very least, seeing Nube makes you want to be as much a "Rippin' Roarin' Greatest Number 1" kind of guy as Nube himself.

If I remember correctly, future episodes actually show something for the eyecatch

Taikoubou, You've Been Awarded the Hoshin Project
Ryu Fujisaki's 1996-2000 Hoshin Engi (his debut work) can be considered an odd mix.  The story is based on Feng Shen Yan Yi, one of the Four Great Classic Novels of Chinese literature (which includes Sangokushi, Suikoden, & Saiyuki), but mixes in many shonen battle manga elements & is also highly anachronistic.  Still, it is a well-regarded manga for it's comedy, epic styling, & use of a main character that utilizes highly thought-out strategy rather than the usual "bravery & guts!" mentality.  The anime adaptation from 1999 by Studio Deen, released by ADV under the name "Soul Hunter", is generally thought to be a highly lesser work, mainly because it only adapts roughly the first seven volumes of the manga, and even then it skips over a fair amount of material from those volumes.  Still, the anime adaptation makes a fine introduction to the series, and also marks a bit of a milestone in Jump anime by being one of the first titles to utilize CG & digital animation.

China is in the Yin Dynasty Era (1600-1046 BC), but there is trouble forming; Emperor Chou has been seduced by the evil fox spirit Dakki, who now controls Chou like a puppet.  Seeing the trouble this could bring about for both the Human & Sennin Worlds, the leader of the Sennin, Genshitenson, sends his student Taikoubou down to Earth with Supushan, a spirit beast, to start the Hoshin Project: Taikoubou will seal away all of the dangerous spirits & non-human beings, including Dakki, in order to protect both worlds.  Hoshin Engi starts off in an interesting way, showcasing Taikoubou as lazy & impatient (his first decision is to go straight to Dakki and end this right away), but after a confrontation with the dangerous Shinkouhyo you see the first twinkle of Taikoubou's strategic ability.  Overall, it's a slower-paced episode that's meant to introduce the major players & set the plot into motion, and it certainly succeeds in doing so.  The use of CG in this episode is for a variety of moments, such as any attacks done by the weapons used by the characters, called Paopei, or for scenes where the "camera" moves throughout environments.  Those moments looks fine, but at the moments where digital animation are used are blatantly obvious, mainly because the second you go back to the cel animation you see all of the grain & elements that are common in cel animation, while the digitally-animated moments are very crisp & clean.  Still, this was an early use of such technology, and was essentially the beginnings of how anime is made now, and for that the Hoshin Engi anime deserves some credit.

The Mysterious DB (Dragon Balls) Appear!!  Goku is a Child!?
Why is this here?  Honestly, why is Dragon Ball GT in this DVD series, let alone this very DVD itself?  I can accept having both DB & DBZ, since they are both based off of the pages of the Dragon Ball manga, but GT has nothing to do with Akira Toriyama's original manga.  Sure, he might have been involved in the first few episodes of GT, mainly for character designs, but this inclusion simply reeks of nothing but Shueisha shoving Dragon Ball down fans' throats.  Yes, Dragon Ball is one of the biggest titles in the history of Weekly Shonen Jump, but the fact that GT, a 100% non-canon story (not to mention generally regarded as nowhere near as good as the previous two series), is in this DVD series instead of something more deserving, like Rurouni Kenshin, Ayatsuri Sakon, or even the Toei-produced Yu-Gi-Oh! anime from 1998, is just sad.  This is, by far, the most unneeded inclusion in the Jump Super Heroes Special Collection DVD series.

Still, to be fair, GT's first episode isn't all that bad.  Sure, it relies on some really heavy contrivances (Pilaf coming out of nowhere, the sheer existence of the Black Star Dragon Balls, & the time limit until Earth is destroyed), but at the very least it actually has a fair amount of stuff happening, which is somewhat different from DB & DBZ's first episodes.  For fans of the original DB anime it's neat to see Pilaf again for one last time, seeing the well-known DBZ cast 10 years older is neat, & even Pan gives off an okay first impression (though her shirt definitely looks a bit too small for her, but oh well).  Also, as much grief as I give regarding its inclusion in this DVD series, I am not saying that there is nothing good from GT; the idea of going back to Dragon Ball's roots by having the first portion of the show be a DB-esque adventure title, complete with Goku as a kid, is perfectly fine and even when it goes back to being a DBZ-style story there are some good points (I am one of those people who actually kind of likes the Baby Arc).  Dragon Ball GT isn't exactly a bad show, but it's inclusion in this DVD series is completely unnecessary.

Koufun!! Miracle Heroes is pretty much as hard to describe as its "theme" is.  Yeah, the whole thing about "Unique Characters" fits, as each of these main characters are unlike one another, but at the same time, even if by accident, another theme is noticeable from this DVD: A focus on the 90s.  Unfortuantely, Stop!! Hibari-kun! kind of ruins that whole theme, though Shueisha could have simply switched Hibari-kun with Midori no Makibao from Volume 5 & both would have still fit the other's theme.  This DVD succeeds in finally bringing Hareluya II BØY onto DVD in some form, yet also fails for shoving a third Dragon Ball anime in whereas there were many other titles that could have been included; who knows, maybe licensing issues resulted in Shueisha having to rely on their old standard.  Overall, Miracle Heroes is still a solid inclusion in this DVD series, and up next is the end of this series, where we look at another popular part of Jump history: Its comedies.

Jump Super Heroes: Kandou!! Legend Heroes: An Oddysey of Old-School, with Some Catchy Tunes

Volume 3 of the Jump Super Heroes Special Collection DVD series strays away from a genre theme & instead focuses on a timeframe: The 70s & early 80s.  While it isn't exactly the most inclusive look at the earliest Jump animes, it is really, really close to being it.

[NOTE: Eyectaches seem to be a less common thing in anime from the early 80s, even less so from the 70s, so only two of the titles on this DVD have eyecatches; every other title is using the title splash]

The Pyonkichi is Born Story/The Being a Flat Frog is Heart-Breaking Story

Dokonjo Gaeru has a very important place in the history of Jump animes; while it's only the second Jump anime ever made (third if you to count the Kurenai Sanshiro anime, which ran in Jump but didn't debut in it), Gaeru is the first long-running Jump anime.  From 1972 to 1974 the show ran for 103 episodes and was the first comedy anime from the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump.  The basic plot is simple: One day Hiroshi tried fighting his "rival" Gorillaimo and fared very badly...  So badly that he fell on top of a frog that was watching the fight.  Luckily (or unluckily, depending on whose perspective you're looking at), instead of dying the frog ended up being embedded on Hiroshi's shirt (his favorite one, no less), and no amount of washing will clean him off.  Calling himself Pyonkichi, the frog "follows" Hiroshi around and "helps" him out with his everyday life, alongside Hiroshi's best friend Goro, his crush Kyoko, & even Gorillaimo.  Unfortunately, while Dokonjo Gaeru was a gigantic hit both in manga & anime form (the manga ran from 1970-1976, while the anime returned as Shin Dokonjo Gaeru from 1981-1982 for another 29 episodes), creator Yasumi Yoshizawa never had another hit manga.

As for this first episode, the first story does a nice job at introducing the main characters, the extremely simple way Hiroshi & Pyonkichi meet (they never even bother to wonder how or why Pyonkichi is stuck to Hiroshi's shirt), and get some good comedy in; Pyonkichi isn't a simple conscience for Hiroshi but rather can actually do things, like pull Hiroshi around, bite things, and even swim.  The second story is, surprisingly enough, a more serious bit about Pyonko, a female frog that Pyonkichi really likes, and how, after saving her from being turned into frog soup by Gorillaimon, Pyonkichi ignores her until she leaves.  Pyonkichi purposefully does this because he knows that in the situation he's stuck in effectively means that he can never have a normal life with Pyonko again.  Even though it's still comedic, it's actually very honest in its execution and ends the episode off in a slightly somber way, though Goro punching Hiroshi in the gut while they're all crying keeps the end slightly comedic.  Overall, it's a simple but enjoyable start to what seems to be a, likewise, simple but enjoyable title.  In fact, Yoshizawa's style gives off a big Hanna-Barbera vibe, and I can honestly say that if Hanna-Barbera was to have licensed this anime back in the 70s, they could have outright lied by calling it their own creation...  And no one would have doubted them.

An eyecatch in early 70s anime looks to be a rare delicacy.

Howl, Banba Ban

Samurai Giants was the creation of writer Ikki Kajiawara (of Ashita no Joe fame) & artist Ko Inoue (this being his biggest work), and it really has some of that Joe influence.  Remember how Joe Yabuki was cocky, brash, & tough, but knew little to nothing about boxing?  Well, Samurai Giants' lead, Ban Banba, is everything that Joe was, but with the knowledge & skill of playing baseball, making him even more dangerous that Joe was at the start; unfortunately, his strong pitches have no control to them & his general attitude makes him scary to go up against.  He's so impressive & has so much potential that he's even scouted by the captain of the Yomiuri Giants, who feels that the team needs someone with the "blood of the samurai", which Ban definitely fits the mold of.  To think that this ran alongside Astro Kyudan from 1972-1974 (Giants ended in 74, while Astro ended in 76)...  Fun Fact: Masami Kurumada got his start in the manga industry by being an assistant to Ko Inoue during the serialization of Samurai Giants.

Honestly, this first episode is great solely because of Ban, whose attitude is always entertaining to watch, especially since he can back up his claims (and, hell, if all else fails Ban will [accidentally?] simply beanball everyone on the other team until there's no else left to bat against).  He's completely open like a book, to the point where his infatuation with the young woman Rika Minami might be abused by Minami herself., and that's what makes Ban such a fun lead, no doubt helped by an amazing performance by the late Kei Tomiyama.  The fact that, when offered the chance to join the Giants at the end of the episode, Ban says no, claiming that his goal is to defeat all "giants" & "monsters" that stand in his way, it makes for an interesting cliffhanger, especially since Ban looks to be a part of the team in the opening footage.  Combine all of this with an amazingly addictive opening theme by Ichiro Mizuki, and an interesting use of an actual Giants game that then transitions into an animated take on the game, & Samurai Giants definitely caught my interest.  Too bad it's without any sort of English translation.

Burn Up! Sunboy

Anyone remember Gun Blaze West, a wild-west manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki (creator of Rurouni Kenshin)?  That title ended after three volumes, making it seem like manga & westerns could never mix, but in fact the two did mix just fine back in the 70s with Koya no Shonen Isamu, which ran from 1971-1974 & was the creation of writer Soji Yamakawa (not known much outside of Japan) & artist Noboru Kawasaki (who just came off of drawing the legendary baseball manga Kyojin no Hoshi/Star of the Giants at the time). Unlike Gun Blaze West, though, Isamu went for a more realistic & dramatic western feel than GBW's more traditional shonen elements.  Much like Ginga -Nagareboshi Gin- this makes the first episode of Isamu feel a fair bit different from most of the other first episodes on these DVDs, but it's also the first to end with a bit of a real cliffhanger.

Isamu is a Japanese boy living in the wild west & is being trained in gunslinging by Wingate & his brothers Ned & Rett, the three of which are hardened outlaws who have no problems with killing people & setting saloons on fire (Isamu doesn't seem to know that his mentors are bad guys).  Unfortunately, while Isamu is extremely talented at gunplay he also values life and does not want to kill anyone or anything, which all comes to a head when Rett challenges Isamu to shoot a random passerby in the desert; when Isamu doesn't he gets beat up & the next morning he tells Isamu to kill the small puppy he had just befriended the previous day.  Isamu once again says no, but when Rett is about to kill the puppy Isamu purposefully shoots the ground, scaring the puppy, but when the puppy's mother appears to get her pup Rett kills her...  And this pisses of Isamu, who shoots the gun out of Rett's hand is looks ready to kill finally.  The episode ends here, and that's really annoying because, while the episode was definitely a slow burn at times, it really let you understand Isamu & absorb the wild west atmosphere.  While there are western-influenced creations in anime & manga, such as Trigun, actual "western" anime & manga is rare, and that helps make Koya no Shonen Isamu a true original.

The Captain is Born
And now we move from the 70s to the early 80s, with more baseball.  While Tetsuya Chiba's work on drawing Ashita no Joe made him a legend in manga, he wasn't the only one from the family to make a mark in the industry.  His younger brother, Akio Chiba, showed his chops in two ways with baseball.  In 1972 Chiba debuted Captain in the pages of Bessatsu Shonen Jump, which would then become Monthly Shonen Jump.  One year later Chiba debuted Play Ball, the sequel to Captain, in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump...  While still doing Captain at the same time.  In fact, Play Ball ended in 1978 while Captain ended in 1979, and Chiba received the Shogakukan Manga Award for Shonen for both mangas in 1977.  Confused?  Well wait, because it gets better.  When Captain finally was adapted into anime it didn't go straight to a traditional TV series, but rather had a TV special first in 1980.  After that came a movie adaptation in 1981, and then in 1983 it finally became a TV series.  This makes Captain the only entry in this DVD series to be based on a Monthly Jump series rather than a Weekly Jump series.  Unfortunately, on September 13, 1984, Akio Chiba ended his own life due to issues relating to bipolar disorder, ending a career short.

So how is Captain's first episode?  Well, it's kind of odd but at the same time interesting in a simple & honest fashion.  Takao Taniguchi transfers to a new school after one year at Aoba Junior High School, which has a prestigious baseball team.  Naturally, everyone assumes that Taniguchi is an amazing player, but in reality Taniguchi is barely average, though he has sparks of amazing ability.  Taniguchi doesn't take this lying down, though he isn't exactly a positive thinker, and decides to train at home with his father, who builds a homemade pitching machine/cannon.  The captain sees Taniguchi's determination, and when the new team line-up is announced Taniguchi not only gets the third base position but also becomes to new captain of the team.  Really, this first episode gives off a similar feel to that of Big Windup!'s first episode, right down to Taniguchi's love for the sport but low esteem when it comes to his "credentials" from being a part of a prestigious school's team.  That said, Big Windup! introduced a great personal feeling with that pitcher/catcher relationship, but in Captain there is none of this.  Overall, Captain's first episode isn't bad by any means, but it's definitely a rough start.  Granted, the overall idea of Captain, where when Taniguchi graduates the new team captain becomes the new main character (rinse & repeat for a total of four captains/main characters), is really interesting so Chiba definitely had something going on here.  It also makes me want to check out Play Ball, which did get two 13-episode TV series in 2005 & 2006, which is probably the record for longest stretch between manga debut & anime debut for Jump (32 years!).

Awaken! Psychogun
All right, this is almost unfair.  I have to say this right at the start: Space (Adventure) Cobra's first episode is easily the best one on this DVD.  Osamu Dezaki's personal style just mixes in perfectly with Buichi Terasawa's futuristic world of wonder & lights, creating a title that is entrancing & amazing right from the beginning.  Sure, in many ways this title also outright screams "1980s!!!!", even though the manga debuted in 1978, but one cannot deny the style that Cobra's first episode simply oozes.  Everything about it is simply awesome.

But, to be fair, let me explain what works.  Cobra's origin story is about a normal salaryman called Johnson who decides to get a Trip Movie, a type of specifically-programmed dream, for the fun of it.  In his dream he thinks he's a legendary space pirate called Cobra who traversed the galaxy with his android girl Armaroid Lady until he became a wanted man by the Space Guild (a.k.a. the "Space Mafia").  When he wakes he's told that the dream he had wasn't what they programmed, but Johnson doesn't think about it much and goes to a casino...  Where he wins big and meets the owner, who looks exactly like the Guild member Cobra nearly killed in his dream.  Long story short, the owner's men try to kill Johnson, who accidentally kills them with the Psychogun, a gun hidden in his arm that Cobra had.  Johnson then realizes that he is in fact Cobra, who changed his face & blocked his memories so he could hide, and that the dream he had was simply his old memories coming back.  It sounds very much like Total Recall, though it predates that movie & was likely inspired by the same short story, and it's a really cool origin story for the anime.  What helps seal the deal, though, is the amount of visual glory this episode has.  Everything looks like "the future", but it's a colorful future that you simply wish you were in, and Dezaki's directing style, complete with "postcard moments", varying shot perspectives, & impeccable flow, just matches this world like no other.  Combine that with an excellent performance by the late Nachi Nozawa, & Cobra is impossible to beat on this DVD.  I'm so happy that Right Stuf will be releasing this TV series late this year!

You're a Sexy Thief
Before filling the pages of WSJ with the sweeper missions of "City Hunter" Ryo Saeba Tsukasa Hojo made his debut in 1981 with Cat's Eye, the story of three sisters, Rui, Hitomi, & Ai, who run a coffee shop called "Cat's Eye" during the bright of day & work as master phantom thieves during the dark of night.  Always on their tail is Detective Toshio Utsumi, who is also in a bit of a relationship with Hitomi, not knowing that she's one of the girls he's after professionally.  In 1983 the manga was adapted into anime with two TV seasons, ending in 1985, the same year the manga ended.  I will admit here that while Cobra is the best first episode on this DVD, Cat's Eye certainly puts up a great fight.

This episode is a fun intro to the main characters & what seems to be the general pattern the show likely follows: The girls have a valuable item to steal, Toshi is ready to catch them, and the Cat's Eye girls have to use their skills to get the item.  Even though this is Hojo's debut title, you can already see the thing he likes drawing the most, and that's sexy women.  All three members of Cat's Eye do their thieving in skin-tight leotards, and both the opening & ending footage loves showing off their curves; hell, the ending footage is essentially the anime version of "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John, but with women everywhere!  Toshio even comes off as a prototype-of-sorts to Ryo Saeba, except that he's a cop instead of a sweeper.  If there is one odd thing, though, it's that these girls are ballsy as hell.  I mean, come on, they named their coffee shop after their thief name, & Toshio is a common patron!  Hell, Toshio even calls them out on this in the first episode, and they just talk it off as sheer coincidence.  Luckily, this show utilizes Superman logic (i.e. Clark Kent can't be Superman, because Clark wears glasses!), so no one's the wiser.  The show's style works really well for it, and I can easily understand why this was chosen as one of the (only) three titles released by imaginAsian TV during their short-lived "TMS Anime Classics" DVD line; too bad we only got the first season, not to mention that these DVDs were burn-on-demand & are now uber-rare (glad I bought Orguss!).  If Cobra is the best first episode, then Cat's Eye is the second, maybe tied with Samurai Giants.

Kandou!! Legend Heroes is a really cool entry in this DVD series, and it does a great job at showcasing the kinds of titles that were running in Shonen Jump (both Weekly & Monthly) during the 70s & early 80s.  While not all of these first episodes are perfect (Captain is a little rough & Isamu has that annoying cliffhanger), they certainly do their job in showcasing their eras of Jump.  The fact that, up until yesterday, only one of these titles had been licensed for release in North America, specifically as a super-limited release at that, only showcases most of their obscurity, but their importance shouldn't be lessened by that.  Probably one of the bigger things that this DVD showcases is that, before Toei entered the Jump anime business with Dr. Slump Arale-chan (unless you want to count Mazinger Z), the main force supporting Jump was TMS; this DVD features five TMS titles, with Captain being the odd-man out (Captain was produced by Eiken, not to be confused with the manga breastacular of the same name).  Oddly enough, once Toei took the reigns in the 80s TMS seemed to back down after Cat's Eye, with their sole 90s Jump anime being Karakuri Zoushi Ayatasuri Sakon (a 1999-2000 mystery title based on the manga drawn by Takeshi Obata).  In the 2000s, TMS would do Buzzer Beater (a Monthly Jump basketball title by Takehiko Inoue) & then one long-running Jump anime in the form of D.Gray-man.  It's just odd how TMS was the force behind 70s Jump anime, while Toei took over from the 80s on.

If there is one thing that does annoy me, though, it's the simple fact that there is an important title missing: The very first Jump anime.  Shonen Jump debuted in 1968, and less than a year into its life it had a hit manga that received an anime adaptation: 1968-1973's Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho by Hiroshi Motomiya (his debut work), who would later create Salaryman Kintaro.  Running from 1968-1969 it was the only Jump anime from that decade (unless, once again, you include Kurenai Sanshiro), so it would seem to be a natural inclusion for a DVD that's all about the earliest Jump animes.  Unfortuantely, from what I can find out the Gaki Daisho anime never received a home video release, not even on VHS; with Chou Kosoku Galvion finally getting its first home video release this summer, Gaki Daisho can now take that claim as being one of the "rarest anime ever".  In fact, the only footage I can find of it is the opening footage, so that is probably what kept it from getting on the DVD.  Still, Legend Heroes certainly makes it mark as one of the more interesting entires in the Jump Super Heroes Special Collection DVD series.  Up next is Volume 4, where we go in the opposite direction & see what the mid-to-late 90s offered in terms of Jump anime, as well as a short detour to the early 80s, oddly enough.

Jump Super Heroes: Nekketsu!! Battle Heroes 2: Five Cats (One's a Dog!) & a Clown Enter a Bar...

If there is one thing Shonen Jump (& shonen in general) is known for more than anything else, it's battle manga.  Lots of action, drama, blood, & fighting are in the pages of Jump, & that's why it's the only "theme" in this series of DVDs to actually get two releases.  Whereas Battle Heroes 1 focused on the biggest names from the pre-2000 years of Jump, Battle Heroes 2 focuses on titles that certainly were highly influential & revolutionary, but of the six titles represented on this DVD only two of them have seen a North American release.

Shining Youth
The inclusion of Ring ni Kakero 1 is an interesting one for the Jump Super Heroes Special Collection DVD series.  On the one hand, the original manga from 1977-1981 was unlike a lot of what was being made at the time & set the groundwork for a lot of the cliches/tropes/ideologies that are now standard in shonen manga, so it's kind of essential that it gets included in a DVD series that covers the history of Jump anime.  Also, the inclusion of RnK1 makes Masami Kurumada the only other mangaka, alongside Akira Toriyama, to have more than one representative anime in this DVD series, showing how important his works have been in the history of Jump.  On the other hand, Ring ni Kakero 1 wasn't animated until 2004, and therefore it comes from a somewhat different era of anime than most of the titles in these DVDs, the biggest difference being that this is (from what I can tell) digitally animated whereas everything else is cel animated.  Still, as a fan of RnK1 I am extremely happy to see Shueisha include this title in this DVD series.  But, anyway, how is the first episode?

I have not seen a full episode of Season 1 since I first watched it back in 2005/2006, mainly because I want to re-watch it via an official English release, so therefore it was neat to see the very first episode in full again. Like I mentioned in my review of Season 1, the anime does start a bit into the story, but at the first time the first episode covers the immediate backstory that you should know right away via flashbacks that happen throughout the episode; from Ryuji Takane & his sister Kiku leaving home to the introduction to Jun Kenzaki to the climax of Ryuji & Kenzaki's first fight is covered in this episode, all the while their third fight (the final match of the regional Jr. boxing tournament) is going on, with neither side backing down.  This episode is simply a fight episode; it decides to introduce the characters & the story through battle, and I commend the show for getting straight to the point right at the start.  Yeah, the animation does cheat a bit here & there, especially when there are fast flurries of punches going on, but overall this first episode still looks good and it does a very nice job at getting newcomers up to speed on what they need to know at the beginning.  There's always something going on and it definitely gets one interested in wanting to see how the fight ends.  Toss in a fun cameo by Masami Kurumada himself in the beginning, and this is a perfectly fine first episode.

The Bikini Girl Who Fell From the Sky
When it comes to Masakazu Katsura there are two things he is known for: Superheroes & fanservice-y love stories.  Well forget Zetman, Video Girl Ai, D.N.A.^2, & I"s, because if you want Katsura at his most concentrated then there is his debut work, Yume Senshi Wingman.  From this first episode you get introduced to both the superhero element, with Kenta Hirono becoming Wingman by the power of a magical book, called the "Dream Note", that grants the person who uses it whatever he/she draws in it, as well as the love story element, with Kenta having both the potential affections of his schoolmate Miku as well as the mysterious Aoi who fell from the sky (onto Kenta) & dropped the Dream Note.  See a similarity to a very popular manga about another boy who finds a mysterious book?  Yeah, Death Note essentially took Wingman's premise, made the Dream Note deadly, and changed a love interest into a cynical shinigami.

In terms of first episodes, Wingman's is easily the "origin story" if you want to talk in terms of superheroes.  Kenta is a superhero fanatic, who even dresses up like one in class, who accidentally gets the ability to turn into the actual hero he made up, and now it's up to him to fight off evil, while also juggling his school & love life.  Overall it's a solid origin, with some good-old 80s fanservice, i.e. bare boobies are shown, but I do have one big problem, and that's how Katsura handles his love of superheroes.  In normal life, a kid who dresses up like a superhero & disrupts class by doing his whole "I'm a superhero!" shtick would be ridiculed & considered crazy, but in Wingman Kenta's antics are loved by his classmates & his teacher doesn't do anything about it; in fact, it's another teacher who is willing to put the book to Kenta('s head) and set him straight.  Look, I can understand that Masakazu Katsura wanted to put his love of superheroes in a very positive light, but the way he handled it in Wingman's beginning is just so absolutely ridiculous that the teacher who's meant to look like the bad guy honestly just comes off as the level-headed one here.  Luckily, the rest of the episode is enjoyable enough that it recovers from that awkward start.  If this show had an English translation I would certainly keep watching it, as I'd love to see how Kenta handles his new identity & love (?) interests.

Gin, The Small Hero, is Born!
Now here's an interesting change of pace: Among all of these human leads, there is a non-human, and he is Gin the Bear Dog.  Yoshihiro Takahashi loves dogs, so it's only natural that he made a manga that stars dogs.  It's definitely different from the usual kind of battle manga out there, and that originality helped lead Ginga -Nagareboshi Gin- to a 21-episode anime adaptation in 1986, which became outright iconic in Scandinavia!  Literally, this anime was a gigantic in Norway, Denmark, & the like, and I can see that from the first episode.  This first episode is a drama-filled & highly engaging start to the story, and the dogs never even say a word.

The focus on this episode is not only on the birth of Gin, but also on Gin's father, Riki.  Riki's father, Shiro, was the first to take on a gigantic bear that was a terror to the people of Futago Pass, but he died in the batle, but not before his owner shot out one of the bear's eyes and Shiro forced it off a cliff.  The bear survived, but now has a giant red mark on its head & back, giving it the name Akakabuto/Red Helmet.  Shiro's owner wants nothing but the death of Akakabuto so he takes Riki with him on a new hunt, but when the two go missing, Daisuke, a boy who loves Riki & named Gin, goes after them with Gin in tow.  It's interesting to see that the first episode focuses just as much on the humans as it does the dogs, so much so that the dogs don't talk once to each other, instead telling their feelings solely through visuals.  The battle between Riki & Akakabuto is told excellently solely through the animation & their natural animal cries, and there's a great dramatic feel to this first episode.  Combined with an excellent opening theme that is likewise dramatic, and it's easy to see that Ginga -Nagareboshi Gin- not only had an original concept to it but is also very good, if this first episode is any indication.

Freedom & Youth? This is the Rumored Otokojuku
Momotaro Tsurugi has enrolled himself into Otokojuku, a.k.a. the "Men's School".  Here so-called male delinquents are taught to become men that will properly represent Japan, but simply surviving a day of school is hard.  On the way to different buildings there are deathtrap-filled paths that students must take, and the food for them to eat is both exquisite (escargot, for example) & crude ([dead] frog soup).  If you try to break curfew & leave the premises you better not be found, because punishment comes in the form of torture with gigantic wood oars.  Momo, though, simply finds all of this just as he expected.  Sakigake!! Otokojuku is both a true "MANime" as well as a parody of that very type of anime, but the way Otokojuku handles its comedy is what makes this first episode a great watch.

Instead of outright making fun of everything for obvious laughs, Otokojuku goes for more subtle comedy, where the more you're familiar with titles of the "manly" ilk the more hilarious it is.  Every person enrolled is a big, muscular-looking young man, but very few of them are actually tough...  In fact, some wear underwear with little elephants on them.  Others are outright pansies when faced with a dangerous situation.  But the ones who live up to their tough exteriors, like Momo & classmate Genji Togashi, naturally are the leaders, ready to help their fellow classmates in surviving Otokojuku's crazy traps, rough teachers (who look like they belong in China's Three Kingdoms era, naturally), and downright imposing headmaster, Heihachi Edajima (I am the headmaster of Otokojuku, Heihachi Edajima!!!!!).  There is plenty to like about this first episode, and it certainly sets the mood & feel of this series right away.

Mini-Goku is Precious! I'm Gohan.
There really isn't much that I can say about Dragon Ball Z that isn't already known: It's a worldwide phenomenon, still sells amazingly well to this very day, & features iconic characters, story arcs, and opening themes.  That said, it is also notoriously slow-paced, to the point where people still make "Coutdown to Namek's Destruction" jokes to this day.  When I finally saw the first episode of Dragon Ball, I was surprised by how little actually happened in it, but DBZ's first episode makes DB's first episode look fast & exciting.  Literally, all that happens is that Gohan gets lost in the woods & then caught in a raging river, and it's up to Goku to save him...  Oh, and Raditz arrives, kills the well-known "Farmer with Shotgun", and makes Piccolo look pathetically weak.  Really, compared to DB's first, which had at least three or four things happen, DBZ only has two real things going on, & Raditz's stuff only amounts to maybe two or three minutes.

That said, it's still entertaining to watch.  Seeing Gohan in his debut, where he's ready to cry at the drop of a hat (almost literally), reminds you of how much the character grows during the course of the story, and Toei does a great job at making everything look neat & inviting.  From the perspective of only the first episode there's nothing here that really would get you hooked on DBZ, but let's face it...  Just about everyone has seen DBZ.  And, if you want to be picky, this inclusion gives Akira Toriyama three represented series in these DVDs...  Even if DBZ is still technically the same series as DB.

Surprised to be Dead
And now, after eleven straight titles, the grip that Toei has seemingly had on this DVD series has finally loosened, and Studio Pierrot comes in to take it!

Admittedly, it takes guts to start your manga off by killing your main character, but Yoshihiro Togashi pulls it off with perfection in Yu Yu Hakusho.  The first half deals with Yusuke Urameshi trying to understand what just happened and why he's floating in the sky after seeing his body put into an ambulance by recapping what he did that day.  The second half deals with Yusuke realizing his death by meeting Botan, a shinigami, and seeing with his own (dead) eyes that the people that annoyed him the most were the ones who cared for him the most, "It's a Wonderful Life"-style.  This first episode really gets you interested in what can happen next, even if the "battle" aspect is barely apparent in this episode; the most that happens is Yusuke beating up his "rival(?)" Kuwabara with no trouble.

With all of that said, much like Slam Dunk in Battle Heroes 1, this entry does feel different from the others in this DVD, partially because this is a 90s property and partially because it's completely different studio in work here.  The Pierrot style is noticeably different from the Toei style, and it really just feels like if Toei had handled Yu Yu it might not have ended up as good as it did via Pierrot.  Overall, this DVD marks the end of Toei's dominance in terms of Jump anime that's being represented here; sure, Toei will still get represented in two of the other three DVDs, but nowhere will they be near the dominance they had in these first two.

Nekketsu!! Battle Heroes 2 might not be filled with as many instantly-noticeable names as Battle Heroes 1 (out of them all, only DBZ & Yu Yu have ever been licensed in North America), but at the same time every one of these entries fit in with the "battle" theme, even if the first episode didn't necessarily showcase that right away (i.e. Wingman, DBZ, & Yu Yu Hakusho).  This DVD in particular not only showcases how big of a force battle titles are to Jump, but it really does showcase how big of a role Toei has when it comes to Jump anime, something that stills holds true to this day with titles like One Piece, Toriko, Beet the Vandel Buster, & Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, among many others.  Also, we see the first sign of Studio Pierrot, who would also make a name by being a big Jump manga adaptation studio, like with Baoh, Bleach, Naruto, & others we'll get to in the other DVDs.  But now with the "battle" theme done with, Volume 3 of the Jump Super Heroes Special Collection DVD series is going to go back to the 70s & early 80s to celebrate some of Jump's earliest anime adaptations...  Where TMS was king.