Episode 01 – 「アイアンマン、来日」(Aianman, Rainichi)
“Ironman Comes to Japan”
Today, I get to see not only the first of the new series from the collaboration between Marvel Animation and Madhouse studio (a.k.a Marvel Anime project), Iron Man, but the show itself is also one of the first shows to air this fall season of 2010. So, what’s the verdict of this show directly based on Marvel’s Comic franchise? Well, I gotta tell you it’s pretty damn good, and it could be one of the must-watch shows for the fall season, if Madhouse gets it right. To be honest, I think this show definitely has more potential than Highschool of the Dead from the previous summer season.
On the surface, this is essentially the same good-ol’ Iron Man from Marvel Comics that you may or may not know. The only twist here is that this is drawn by a Japanese animation studio, Madhouse, and the story involves Tony Stark (voiced by Keiji Fujiwara), the protagonist of the show who pilots the “original” red Iron Man, visiting Japan. Supposedly, he came to Japan to finish the “Arcstation” project which would provide Japan with an unlimited amount of energy without releasing a single gram of Carbon Dioxide. (If he can really do that, I’m sure the Japanese people would vote him as the President or something. Haha) In addition, another purpose of his visit is to show off the mass-production version of the Iron Man suit, called “Dio”, and to announce his retirement from his “Iron Man” career that had made him famous in the United States, primarily by fighting against criminals.
The main story in this episode tells of how the test pilot of Iron Man Dio goes berserk (probably remotely manipulated by an antagonist) and gets spanked by the original red Iron Man for causing havok in his facility. At the end, there is a mysterious robotic monster “Scorpion” which suddenly ambushes Tony Stark, and the KOed pilot is stripped off his Iron Man Dio suit, indicating that someone might have stolen it using Scorpion as a distraction. The story itself is a pretty straight-forward Hollywood-style story, which means it did not distract me from enjoying the great CG scenes as well as the Marvel-Comics-style rock as the background music. On a side note, I enjoyed watching the side character, Nanami Oto (voiced by Shizuka Itou), a Japanese female journalist, being flirted with by playboy Tony Stark. I have a strong feeling that she will be the main heroine in the series. 🙂
The first episode of Iron Man showed a great example of what a typical “Madhouse production quality” (it definitely looked like a high-budget show to me) is like, while distinguishing itself from the rest of the fall season of anime by fusing American-style drawing into its work (or fusing Japanese-style production into Iron Man franchise, whichever you prefer to describe it). I think I’ll definitely continue to watch this series as long as Madhouse can keep the storyline interesting and the production quality the top-notch.
Here’s my favorite quote from this episode: “Only Iron Man can stop Iron Man!” – Tony Stark
First Impressions: 8.0/10
Screenshots and OP theme are later in the post.
OP01 – Download Here
Next Episode’s Preview
Episode 02 – 「消えた核を追え」(Kieta Kaku o Oe)
“Chase the Missing Nuke!”
Distant Paradise 
