Back in August of 2008, Marvel Entertainment announced that they were partnering up with the well known animation studio Madhouse to create some new series based on Marvel Comics characters. Specifically for the Japanese market. The series were to be re-done, redesigned, and rewritten in a way that fit more into what would be better accepted as anime properties. So we knew that a lot of familiar story or design elements that the comics fans are familiar with wouldn’t be there anymore, and so we sort of put this idea on the shelf and looked forward to the live action movie adaptations of Wolverine and Iron Man.
Well, it’s almost a year later, and there are trailers ready.
Take a look at Iron Man and Wolverine – anime style.
“Iron Man”
We’re way partial to Iron Man, as the attention to detail and mecha design is exactly what you’d hope for in an Iron Man anime. And…is that War Machine as an enemy? Lovely. All this needs is some Yoko Kanno music (get rid of the cliche score they are using here) and you have a potential classic on your hands. Be careful, Sony. You’re onto something.
“Wolverine”
Now, the Wolverine anime…we’re not feeling so much. We knew it would be a departure in design, but we didn’t think it would be THIS far a departure. Logan’s character design is a little too much “Vampire Hunter D” for us to get into. It’s also really early, so we can’t say for sure if we hate it, but it’s not as hot as Iron Man. Hey, it’s a rough year for Wolverine!
Both of these anime will be available next year, so we’ve plenty of time to debate it! They are scheduled to make their debut on Animax, the 24 hour anime network. What that means to us in the states, not sure yet. But we think this could make a really great intro to anime for the uninitiated in a way that the Marvel Manga series doesn’t deliver. There’s action here, and is the stories are compelling , this could be the “gateway drug” that gets people looking for more. If SyFy is smart, they’ll snatch the rights up for US TV. It would give their AniMonday programing instant cred and, possibly, some increased interest from advertisers. If not, wouldn’t mind watching this on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.
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