Stan Lee, artist, writer, long time Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief, iconic legend. Studio Bones, a hot topic, maverick anime studio responsible for some of the hippest, coolest, anime product to come out in the last 10-12 years (Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain). Shonen Gangan Monthly, one of Japan’s premier comic/manga compilations (primarily for young male audiences) and a top publication seller on the Japanese manga market.
What do these three have in common for this time? None other than one of the coolest, and most prospective joint ventures of American Comic creators and Japanese manga and anime producers. On this feature, we showcase part ONE of our “West meets East” industry overview, we shine the spotlight on Lee’s recent release, Heroman.
Heroman is a sci fi action hero piece and is the brainchild of Stan Lee and produced by Studio Bones President Masahiko Minami. (Author’s note: Minami is responsible for some of hottest titles, old school and recent in anime series history, including City Hunter 2, Vision of Escaflowne, Raxephon, and Full Metal Alchemist.)
hHMMMmmm…LET’S HAVE A LOOK! =)
With a manga release date of September 2009 and an anime premier in April 2010, Heroman has now gone on to become a well-known yet surprisingly modest sensation.
By accounts made in various online resources such as Animenewsnetwork and other wikis, Heroman has all the makings of pure Marvel/Stan Lee “Underdog hero” genius.
Heroman basically entails the story of a young Orphan boy named Joey Jones living with his grandmother in Central City. Luckless and living a day to day life going to school and working at a restaurant at night, he catches note of a new Robot Toy called Heybo. While he is unable to afford the robot, Joey’s wishes are to still one day have this Robot to make his life better; making it a hero protector for his friends and family.
His luck turns around when one day, the school bully abandons his own broken down Heybo and Joey finds it. He names it Heroman, and takes it home hoping to fix it, that with little success. Things take a huge turn when suddenly the Heybo gets struck by lightning and turns into a giant robot. From then on, the robot and Joey are Earth’s only protectors against alien forces invading the earth.
The show appears to have feel of a show that will appeal to those love anime in the vein of Giant Robot shows and to the feel of “boy/girl and pet sidekick” shows like Pokemon. The story premise for Joey and other characters plays out in a “high school underdog becomes superhero sensation by accidental energy/mutation” style. One, much like the classic premise for Lee’s most iconic
character creations, Spiderman and the Hulk.
Yet like most to all manga to anime adaptations, this story has differences to each other as well. All in all, this series looks like it is worth a serious glance or two as it is made by Lee the legend, Studio Bones (anime), and MOnthly Shonen Gangan (Manga).
If you have yet to see the preview set of the show from Crunchyroll’s streaming releases, check out this bit of the show.
The following is a video sample of the show’s opener. Enjoy!
Heroman OP
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See you next time when we shift focus on Part TWO to the slight re-adaptation of two of Marvel’s legendary heroes to the magic of Japanese Anime Studio sensations MADHOUSE.
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Tags: Animation, anime, Cartoon, DocBBanner, Heroman, Japan, Kid, Manga, Marvel, Robot, Stan Lee
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