So on October 18, 2003, the week after Episode 51 debuted in English, Ultimate Muscle just kept going on FoxBox with the worldwide debut of "Episode 52", as though these new episodes always existed; more than likely, Toei produced these episodes throughout 2003, shortly after finishing Kinnikuman II-Sei. However, this situation of 4Kids commissioning Toei produce more 26 more episodes of Ultimate Muscle is more like what happened to Beast King Go-Lion when more episodes of Voltron were commissioned in the 80s, instead of what happened to The Big O II earlier in 2003, i.e. these episodes were made specifically for English release first. However, unlike those bonus Voltron episodes, these new episodes of UM would eventually get aired in Japan, with (most of) the original Japanese voice cast returning to reprise their roles, though in this case it would technically be considered a "Japanese dub". So on April 8, 2004, just as UM was seven episodes away from finally ending on FoxBox, the first 13 episodes of these new episodes started airing on TV Tokyo weekly, now under the title Kinnikuman II-Sei: Ultimate Muscle. Then, on January 5, 2006 (yes, nearly two whole years later!), the remaining 13 episodes finally started airing on TV Tokyo under the title Kinnikuman II-Sei: Ultimate Muscle 2. By this point, Yudetamago had moved on to 2004-2011's Kinnikuman II-Sei: Kyukyoku no Chojin Tag-hen/Ultimate Chojin Tag Chapter, which saw the New Generation go back in time & fight against/team with the Legends in the prime & featured a new logo for the franchise, one that UM2 (& the later DVD release for these two "seasons") adopted; I honestly prefer the old logo, but the later one's still good. However, where the original Kinnikuman II-Sei anime aired in prime time, these two new seasons aired in Japan as late-night anime (1:00 AM, in particular, both times around), and since neither got fansubbed back in the day some don't even realize that these even aired in Japan, thinking that the last 26 episodes of Ultimate Muscle were English-exclusive.
So, to finish off the 20th Anniversary retrospective of the original 2002 Kinnikuman II-Sei anime, let's jump ahead to 2004 & 2006 by taking a look at the Japanese version of these (4Kids-commissioned) final 26 episodes, and while they were aired separately in Japan, with a two-year gap in between, I'll just cover them together, since they tell a single overall story arc.
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| Mask stealing, really? Kevin Mask is such a detestable heel! |
With the defeat of the "Poison Six Pack", the Chojin World Grand Prix can continue on & the final 12 competitors have been decided: England's Kevin Mask, Germany's Jade, Japan's Mantaro Kinniku, Brazil's Ricardo, Russia's Ilioukhine (Comrade Turbinski), Iraq's Destruction (D-Struction), Croatia's Printman (Photo Pat, Purikuran in the manga), South Korea's Chijimiman (Jijimman), The Netherlands' Blocks (Legox in the manga), the United States' The Matenro/Skyscraper (Slyscraper), Sweden's Barrierfreeman, & the Ancient Incan Empire's Wash Ass (Hollywood Bowl). Pride & glory are on the line to see who can become the first Chojin to claim the top spot of the "Grand Final" in over 30 years, though there's extra pressure on Mantaro, since his father Kinnikuman was the last Chojin to hold the title, two years in a row at that(!), while CWGP co-runners Ikemen & Harabote Muscle have all of their hopes on Kevin Mask; after all, Kevin brings in the biggest bucks for their wallets. Meanwhile, the potential of brutal & harsh fights from these final 12 have also brought Jacqueline Muscle (Jacqueline McMadd), Harabote's beautiful daughter, out to see them for herself... All to the dismay of older brother Ikemen, since Jacqueline has always been one to steal his thunder.
Kinnikuman II-Sei: Ultimate Muscle 1 & 2 (which I'll just refer to as UM1/2, for simplicity's sake) adapts Chapters 140-210 (i.e. Volumes 15-21) of the original manga, and covers the remainder of the Chojin Olympics, renamed the Chojin World Grand Prix for the anime. This is done in the form of a 12-man tournament to crown a new champion, with UM1 covering the First Round & Quarterfinal matches, while UM2 covers the three matches that make up the Semifinals & Final Round. Because of this, there isn't all that much in terms of overall themes & the like, as it's all about the tournament arc, but there are still little bits here & there, and this time it's not just about Mantaro! In particular, this arc is best focused five around specific Chojin: Mantaro, Kevin Mask, Ilioukhine, Ricardo, & (to a lesser extent) Jade. We finally see Kevin Mask be given a notable & overarching spotlight, as he purposefully keeps himself out of a First Round bye in order to fully test his limits with each fight, whether its physically, mentally, or in showing just how far he'll go to win, all so that he can access his own form of Mantaro's "Fire", Maelstrom Power; there's also Kevin's mysterious second, the masked Khloe (Lord Flash), who has his own story behind him. Meanwhile, Ricardo (which in Japanese is technically "Hicardo", the way it'd be pronounced in Brazilian Portuguese) has a neat Jekyll-&-Hyde aspect to him: The "Good" human-looking "Submission Artist" who believes in fair fights, & the "Evil" monstrous "Lord of Darkness" who has no problems going all out & violent; there's also a "Born Evil, But Raised Good" aspect, as well. Then there's Ilioukhine (apparently named after Russian MMA fighter Mikhail Ilyukhin), a robotic Chojin who can transform his body into various forms of aerial vehicles, like jets, stealth bombers, & even helicopters. Meanwhile, Jade continues on his usual noble style & behavior, as seen during the Generation Ex Arc, as well as a focus on the bond he & Mantaro have as friends, with Jade's friendship being a major aspect for Mantaro in one later fight. Finally, Mantaro himself slowly has to learn to figure things out more on his own during fights, as while it's one thing for a second like Meat to assist him with the occasional idea, there's no pride to be earned in essentially relying solely on someone else in a friendly tournament like the CWGP.
That being said, the other competitors are memorable in their own rights. Chijimiman is a Taekwondo fighter based around South Korean food, though there is still an obvious influence by the likes of Bruce Lee to be found, especially in some kiai he screams out during battle. Printman is a literal photo booth-based Chojin who can take a photo of his opponent, but in doing so traps them within the actual photo frame, upon which Printman can do anything to them. True to his name, The Matenrou is a giant building-themed Chojin who can increase his height for especially impactful powerbombs. Destruction is probably the simplest overall design of all the new faces, being just a super muscular man with a tri-horned head, but said horns are super sharp can be opened or closed to capture his foes, and they have some other features, as well. Blocks is a fun Chojin, being a towering hulk comprised of (legally distinct) Lego blocks, which allows him to transform into various shapes & forms... including his own opponent in the ring. However, the true gems in these last 26 episodes would have to be Barrierfreeman & Wash Ass, both of which are featured in UM1. Barrierfreeman is actually a "Combined Chojin" made up of two beings: Nils, a pure-hearted soul who wishes for nothing more than to provide a "barrier-free" world for the elderly, so that they can do whatever they please; & Georgioman/Jiijoman, an extremely talented grappler from 200 years ago who had been sealed into a tree because of his extremely rude & lewd behavior. The two can swap who takes charge at will, with Nils becoming Georgioman's gut, while Georgioman becomes Nils' right arm; without a doubt, Barrierfreeman is one of the most bizarre & unique Chojin Yudetamago have created. Meanwhile, Wash Ass is literally a human with a toilet for an upper body, with his head housed within the bowl itself (& the head even has a bidet sticking out of it), while he has a roll of deadly toilet paper & can even tempt foes to relieve themselves on him using specific aromas & fragrances, before literally flushing them down his toilet. To no surprise, Wash Ass is actually the student of the late Benkiman/Urinalman (Mr. P), who once fought Kinnikuman by trying to flush him. Characters like Barrierfreeman & Wash Ass are the kind of absurdity that makes this series so enjoyable, personally.
As for new non-wrestling characters, we have the Muscle Family of Harabote, Ikemen, & Jacqueline, who aren't exactly "villains" in any way but do play their own thematic roles in the tournament. Ikemen & Harabote's distaste for Mantaro having made it this far results in them always giving his entire bracket the shaft when it comes to the pomp & circumstance of the CWGP, like having their First Round matches take place on the roof of a department store, or having Mantaro's semifinal match take place outside of the gigantic stadium that the other match happens in... all while it's a cold (& later snowy) day. However, Ikemen is also an absolute muscle-bound buffoon, with a face that not even his own father can love, constantly making a fool of himself in front of everyone, when no one's doing it to him directly. Meanwhile, Jacqueline is the beautiful younger sister who instantly becomes the real attraction to everyone, including Mantaro (sometimes to Rinko's annoyance), but is also absolutely interested in nothing more than rough, violent, & brutal fights, finding them to be some of the most beautiful & appealing things she can ever lay her eyes on. In fact, the two semifinal matches feature gimmicks conceived of by Jacqueline to please her urges: Punishment X, a giant metal X in the middle of the ring that electrifies on touch, & when a Chojin crashes into it with enough force it creates a C4-like explosion; & Skycube, a giant cube raised up in the air, with each surface being its own ring & a Chojin who falls off not only losing the fight but possibly also their life. Also, for those who know their pro wrestling, Ikemen & Jacqueline are blatant expys of Shane & Stephanie McMahon, to Harabote's Vince, and the idea of (one of) Harabote's children taking control of the Justice Federation is remarkably prescient today, after Vince McMahon "retired" from running WWE earlier this year, with Stephanie now the current chairwoman & co-CEO; Harabote even thinks that maybe his daughter should be in charge at one point, instead of Ikemen.
The fact that UM1/2 was made for specifically for 4Kids' Ultimate Muscle first is kind of imperative, because there are some things seen in these last two seasons that do differ from the original 2002 series. First, & importantly, there is next to no Japanese kanji, hiragana, or katanaka seen at all in any of the visuals, as per (more or less) traditional 4Kids practice, which does result in some oddities, like banners held by fans now being blank or extremely simplified. This also results in some alterations from the manga, like the giant pachinko machine used in the manga to place out 12 competitors into their tournament bracket slots being changed into a pinball machine, but this stuff is within reason. A bizarre change, though, is that no one's nationalities are ever brought up during the show, despite the original Japanese version of Kinnikuman II-Sei keeping that element intact for what little it did of this story arc. While I'm sure this was simply because 4Kids removed any & all hints of the "Chojin Crown" actually being a competition between nations (likely to get around acknowledging "Kid Muscle" as representing Japan), and there are no international flags seen anywhere in these 26 episodes, it is weird how the Japanese script doesn't even acknowledge where any of the final 12 come from, despite how simple it would have been for an announcer voice that doesn't require matching to any lip flaps. That's why I kept the nationalities for everyone in the synopsis above, as it helps give each of them some sort of "flavor"; also, you know, it's the Chojin WORLD Grand Prix.
However, 4Kids' arguably went a little too far with the whole "Remove everything Japanese" edict when it comes to the animation, because this also included something special... Meat's にく hiragana on his forehead. Meat has always had this mark on his foreheard as his form of the "肉/niku" kanji that's on Kinnikuman's foreheard, or appears on Mantaro's whenever he accesses "The Fire" (neither of which were removed by 4Kids, as they are plot relevant at points), ever since 1979, only for it to all come crashing down in 2004... which was also the 25th Anniversary of Kinnikuman itself; whoops. Now, to be fair, 4Kids had already been removing Meat's hiragana ever since the first English episode of Ultimate Muscle, as the higher ups allegedly felt that kids would start drawing symbols on their foreheads (yet it was fine for Terry Kenyon to have a "K" on his forehead...), so this was simply a case of taking advantage of a situation by not having to deal with it in the first place, which is understandable. In that case, it's utterly hilarious that Toei never bothered to simply add Meat's にく back in for the Japanese version, this was all digital animation so it would have been easier than if it was cel animation, and Yudetamago rightfully poked fun at this with the title splash for Chapter 277 of the manga. It's 4Kids being absolutely petty & inconsistent, since aside from Mantaro & Kinnikuman getting to keep their respective forehead kanji there's also some manner of very "Japanese" visuals seen in these episodes, like takoyaki/octopus balls being eaten by Mantaro, various bits of blatantly Japanese humor (especially that of the manzai variety), or Rinko & Meat often whacking someone (usually Mantaro or Nakano) with a harisen.
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| This is admittedly kind of hardcore for 4Kids to allow. |
As for the other thing that comes from this being made specifically for 4Kids, it comes down to how the episodes are formatted. In particular, every episode has a number of cuts that can feel somewhat sudden, and it's very easy to tell that these moments are where commercial breaks were meant to happen back when these episodes aired in English. This is because American broadcasting tends to require more commercial breaks during a broadcast than Japan does, as Japanese broadcasts (especially those of anime) tend to only require one commercial break in the middle (hence the ubiquitousness of the eyecatch), and then the time between the end of one piece of programming & the start of the next is nothing more than a giant deluge of commercials; Toonami actually did use this style during the 00s. While Toei did manage to disguise these sudden moments at points, they still generally are easy to notice (especially since there's often a second of no audio when they happen), though there is still one pair of eyecatches in each episode, somewhere near the middle. Also of note is that these episodes average to just 23.5 minutes, just shy of the usual 24-25 minutes for anime, as by removing the 3.5 minutes for the OP, ED, & next episode preview you get ~20 minutes of actual footage, which is roughly the actual length of a standard American half-hour broadcast. There's also less of a focus on showing the actual moment of contact when it comes to physical blows & the like in these episodes, obviously so that 4Kids wouldn't have to censor those bits (as they sometimes did for the original 51 episodes), though Toei still manages to make the fights flow well, and some of the most impactful holds & slams still come through intact. Another notable change is with Punishment X itself, which in the manga was originally laden with countless blades sticking out of it, but I imagine that would have changed for the anime, regardless; still, kind of wild that 4Kids managed to broadcast what's essentially an FMW-style C4 deathmatch on Saturday mornings. The last major change to point out is the direct end of the tournament itself, which does differ from the manga in regard to who actually wins the final match, but this is completely understandable as there was no intention to ever continue on to the manga's final story arc, the Demon Seed Arc, so the anime needed a definitive ending; plus, the anime shows off a move not seen in the manga until the Demon Seed Arc, which is a nice touch.
It is interesting to consider that, though these episodes were made for English first, they were more than likely made with the original Japanese adaptation concept in mind, from a scripting standpoint. I bring this up because the same writing trio return from the 2002 series (Akatsuki Yamatoya, Hiro Masaki, & Hiroyuki Kawasaki; now split 9-9-8, respectively), and the story told in these last 26 episodes are about as accurate to the original manga as possible (even referring to death or characters potentially dying), minus the previously mentioned changes; 4Kids' writers likely adapted their scripts from what this trio originally wrote. That said, it's obvious that 4Kids did have some mandates, like having "Mac Metaphor & Doc Nakano" become more of an actual comedy duo, as their appearances are now even more silly & gag-filled than ever, with Nakano in particular becoming a full-on gag machine (and the butt of almost every joke), whether it's him going through all sorts of visual jokes, or Yoshigai wanting to take his wig off becoming a super-recurring gag (almost to the point of becoming tired, honestly). In terms of overall pacing, this arc is probably the best across all 77 episodes in that regard, as 71 chapters of this tournament portion from the manga, all but the epilogue chapter, are adapted here, resulting in an average of ~2.73 chapters/episode, which is a good middle ground between how the 2002 series would range from as slow as 2 ch/ep to as brisk as 5 ch/ep. This does admittedly mean that the UM2 half of these episodes only cover three fights, with the final match itself taking 5 episodes to fully adapt, but at the same time I think that is fair, as these last three matches have the biggest stakes to them in terms of the tournament, and they were all similarly lengthier in the manga; still better pacing than Mantaro vs. Check Mate early on in the anime, to be honest. That being said, however, the final two episodes of UM2 combined only cover a little over 30 pages of the manga, as most of the final fight is covered in the three episodes preceding them, but by that point the need to stretch & pad out is OK, so as to make it to the altered finish.
As for the remaining staff, we also have essentially the same exact people in the major roles, so Toshiaki Komura is still director, Masaki Sato is still handling the character designs, & even Yuuji Hakamada (who I didn't bring up before) is still chief animation director. To no surprise, the end result is that these "bonus" episodes more or less look almost exactly like how the 2002 series looks, which is obviously by design; if anything, these episodes do look a tiny bit better, overall. In terms of censorship, I don't think the staff were really hamstrung any more than they were in the 2002 series (which itself was already notably censored, even in the original Japanese), outside of the little changes I mentioned earlier. The only truly notable bit I found amusing was that Printman & Destruction are now shown to be robotic (either fully or are least in part), due to both of them being mutilated in some form in the manga, so in the anime those moments are shown with robotic parts instead, which is kind of hilarious. That said, though, Ilioukhine having his chest being burst open is actually handled rather accurately (the benefit of him being essentially a robot Chojin), which still feels a bit shocking to know that 4Kids got away with that on Saturday mornings. The most interesting return for the staff would have to be Cher Watanabe for the music, and that's only because he barely "came back". The large majority of the music in UM1/2 is just the same exact score from the 2002 series, which does make sense, but there is a smattering of new music to be heard here. Unfortunately, though, that only really amounts to a new musical stinger for the eyecatch & an instrumental take of UM1's OP theme for the next episode previews in that half of these episodes; UM2's previews revert back to the instrumental version of "Hustle Muscle" from the 2002 series. There might be one or two new songs during some of the fights as well, but overall Watanabe barely contributes anything "new" for UM1, and looks to have contributed nothing for UM2, though he's still credited due to the usage of his music from earlier productions.
That said, though, each half of these episodes do feature their own OP & ED themes, which on the whole are all rather solid. However, all of the sequences simply use footage from the episodes themselves, with no real original animation, outside of UM2's title splash (& even that's only barely counts). Probably the "weakest" of them would be UM1's OP, "Believe" by The NaBs, but that's really only because it's a more subdued kind of song, as The NaB's aren't really a traditional "rock" group; as a song itself it's really good & catchy, but it just doesn't fully fit Kinnikuman II-Sei as a theme song. This is in stark contrast to UM1's ED, "Aka-iro Dance Hall" by Sui, which is just straight up hard rock & matches very well with the footage used for the ED sequence itself; it's a damn good song that I wish actually had original animation put to. As for UM2's theme songs, we start off extremely strong with OP "Trust Yourself" by Hideaki Takatori (an anisong singer best known for Sonic X's OP theme, alongside Hironobu Kageyama), which is an instantly catchy & addictive ska song that absolutely works as the perfect counterpoint to "Hustle Muscle"'s hard-hitting action vibe by fitting the more lively & upbeat aspects of Kinnikuman II-Sei. As for the final ED theme, we have "Chikai no Tsuki" by Kagrra, (the comma is actually part of their name), which is a slower-paced rock song but works well as a bit of a final reflection piece prior to the final match of the tournament.
As for the voice cast for this Japanese "dub", technically, we do see the large majority of the original 2002 cast return to reprise their roles, though there are two characters who are recast. Namely, Harabote Muscle is now voiced by Kenji Nomura (who also voices Destruction), replacing Masaharu Sato, while Ikemen Muscle is now voiced by Shinichiro Ota (Rex King & The Protector), replacing Toru Inada; Seiuchin's little sister Dorothy also saw a recast for only UM2, going from Ryo Hirohashi to Fumiko Orikasa (who still voices Rinko). While Harabote only occasionally speaks during these episodes, so Nomura now voicing him doesn't make a major difference in the long run, it is sad to see Inada unable to reprise Ikemen, as they scant few episodes he had as the character in the 2002 series really showed that he was a great fit. That being said, however, Ota does a great job in his own right as Ikemen, which lessens the sting of not having Inada around anymore. As for the characters that get spotlighted in these episodes, we have Eiji Takemoto (Ataru Kinniku, previously) as Khloe, who does a good job as the generally very serious & straightforward second to Kevin Mask. As for Kevin himself, now I can finally bring proper attention to Ryotaro Okiayu, as he just absolutely nails the character, with his naturally deep voice working well for the regal bad boy of the series; it's also amusing to hear Okiayu saying "Daddy" whenever Kevin refers to father, Robin Mask. Then there's Junko Noda as Jacqueline, who does a great job balancing her natural charisma with her penchant for wanton violence in fights.
We also have a fair amount of "double duty" performances here, as Kouichi Toochika (Check Mate), Takumi Yamazaki (Seiuchin), & Toshiyuki Morikawa (Terry the Kid) not only reprise their old roles but also portray proper CWGP entrants, namely Ilioukhine, Printman, & Ricardo, respectively, and I honestly didn't really notice that fact until I looked up the castings for this part of the review, so props there to them; also, in keeping with tradition, Takumi Yamazaki still voices all manner of background characters, as well as Benkiman. Finally, in terms of notable voices, Barrierfreeman is voiced by the duo of Bin Shimada (Georgioman) & Yasuhiko Kawazu (Nils), with Shimada seriously being perfect casting, while Wash Ass (& Chijimiman) is voiced by Takashi Nagasako, while also reprising The Nousonman, who becomes Mantaro's second for the final fight. Considering the massive amount of characters in this series, it actually is rather remarkable how all but two actors were able to reprise their roles, and that even counts for characters who barely appear or say anything in these episodes, like the No Respect trio at the end of UM2 or the Legends.
The final fight even gets ring introductions by legendary "Screaming" ring announcer Lenne Hardt (Pride FC, Rizin FF)... which is technically her reprising her cameo from 4Kids' English version! Yes, she's actually given a full on-screen cameo, and Ultimate Muscle straight-up acknowledges her as such in English (though her name doesn't appear in the credits, 4Kids?!), so it's neat to see Toei bring her back for the Japanese dub, even having her use her iconic cadence this time around, as she didn't use it in her Ultimate Muscle ring calls.
In the grand scheme of things, it is a very good thing that Ultimate Muscle wound up becoming enough of a success in English that 4Kids was actually able to commission Toei Animation to produce another 26 episodes so that this story arc could be adapted. In terms of the original manga, the Chojin Olympics really is the highlight, as it lessens the series' biggest potential albatross (the rather rigid focus on Mantaro as the only hope) & allows other characters to be given a spotlight, though you do wish that characters like Terry the Kid, Seiuchin, & Check Mate at least made it to the Grand Final tournament itself & were allowed to have at least one match. It's also great to see that, despite being made for international audiences & broadcasting standards, Toei still bothered to produce a version for Japanese fans after the fact, though why it didn't finish up until 2006 confounds me; sure, late-night slots likely made it impossible to air all 26 in one go in 2004, but why wait two years?! Regardless, much like how this very story arc is the apex of the Kinnikuman II-Sei manga, Kinnikuman II-Sei: Ultimate Muscle 1 & 2 is, by far, the apex of the anime adaptation, with the anime finally achieving a consistent pacing to it that allows everything to flow well, without needing to excise or skip over parts; even the final fight taking five whole episodes at least feels earned here, since it's the ending.
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| So Toei added in an "Oshimai/The End" for the final shot in Japan, but they couldn't give Meat back his forehead にく?! |
As of right now, while Discotek Media has announced that 4Kids' Ultimate Muscle will be getting a complete SD-BD release in the near future, they can't guarantee anything in regards to the original Japanese Kinnikuman II-Sei anime. In that regard, I am still glad that I took the past four months to go over all 77 episodes (& two movies) that this anime has to offer, as while it certainly has its flaws, especially during that original 2002 TV run, it is still a fun time to be had, for sure, & I'd love for people to able to experience the anime in its original form with a proper English translation.
Anime © 2004 & 2006 Yudetamago・Toei Animation
You didn't hear it from me but the Viz versions of Kinnikuman Nisei manga are now available online in full. Was a pretty interesting read and nice to see what happened after the point where the anime had finished.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm pretty sure Viz's release has been ripped & uploaded online, somewhere. However, that's not an official release, so I'm not going to promote that.
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