Betterman (Japanese: ベターマン, Hepburn: Betāman) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise's internal "Studio 7" and JVC. It is a spinoff of The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, produced under the direction of Yoshitomo Yonetani and writer Hiroshi Yamaguchi. It aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 1999 to September 30, 1999, and was the first anime to broadcast in widescreen, though it was letterboxed.
Betterman | |
ベターマン (Betāman) | |
---|---|
Genre | Action, horror, mecha[1] |
Created by | Hajime Yatate Yoshitomo Yonetani |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Yoshitomo Yonetani |
Produced by |
|
Written by | Hiroshi Yamaguchi |
Music by | Kohei Tanaka |
Studio | Sunrise |
Licensed by | |
Original network | TXN (TV Tokyo) |
English network | |
Original run | 1 April 1999 – 30 September 1999 |
Episodes | 26 |
In the year 2006, the world is affected by a mysterious disease dubbed "Algernon" that causes mass suicides and murders. Meanwhile, while preparing for the opening ceremony at the geofront underground amusement park "Bottom the World", a mysterious mass fatality accident occurs. Mayo Tsuko of the Algernon research institute Mode Warp, who came to investigate with the police, concludes that Algernon was the cause of the accident. At the same time, Keita Aono accidentally enters the closed Bottom the World. As he wanders, he encounters a gigantic humanoid mecha (or "neuronoid") called "Kakuseijin 01". In the cockpit is his childhood friend Hinoki Sai, who he broke up with when he was young, as a head diver.
Kakuseijin 01 was stranded after Hinoki's partner, the head diver Cactus Prickle, suddenly disappeared. Attraction robots that have gone out of control attack them. Keita suddenly gets into the cockpit of Kakuseijin 01, and along with Hinoki, uses Kakuseijin 01 to fight off the robots. In order to escape from Bottom the World, Keita cooperates with Hinoki and searches for the missing Cactus.
Betterman takes place in the same world as The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, predominantly before the events of The King of Braves GaoGaiGar FINAL, though only a few minor links are visually made within the series itself. The novel series King of Kings: GaoGaiGar VS Betterman fully explains the connection between two series and how both events overlap each other.
faced with the truth
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Storyboarded by | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "-DARK-" (Japanese: 闇-YAMI-) | Yoshitomo Yonetani | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Yoshitomo Yonetani | April 1, 1999 |
2 | "-VOICE-" (Japanese: 声-KOE-) | Takeshi Yamamoto | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Yoshitomo Yonetani | April 8, 1999 |
3 | "-SKY-" (Japanese: 宙-SORA-) | Akira Yoshimura | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Hiroshi Nishikiori | April 15, 1999 |
4 | "-WAKE UP-" (Japanese: 醒-MEZAME-) | Kunihisa Sugishima | Yuichiro Takeda | Kunihisa Sugishima | April 22, 1999 |
5 | "-HELL-" (Japanese: 冥-ZIGOKU-) | Yasuhiro Minami | Yuichiro Takeda | Akira Kusune | April 29, 1999 |
6 | "-SPIRIT-" (Japanese: 霊-KODAMA-) | Ikuro Sato | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Kazuyoshi Katayama | May 6, 1999 |
7 | "POWER -FORTE-" (Japanese: 力-FORTE-) | Akira Yoshimura | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Masamitsu Hidaka | May 13, 1999 |
8 | "-POISON-" (Japanese: 毒-DOKU-) | Takeshi Yoshimoto | Yuichiro Takeda | Takeshi Yoshimoto | May 20, 1999 |
9 | (Japanese: 海-AQUA-) | Ikuro Sato | Hiroaki Kitajima | Koji Masunari | May 27, 1999 |
10 | "-INSECT-" (Japanese: 蟲-MUSHI-) | Hirokazu Yamada | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Shinichi Watanabe | June 10, 1999 |
11 | (Japanese: 霧-NEBULA-) | Ikuro Sato | Yuichiro Takeda | Yoshitomo Yonetani | June 17, 1999 |
12 | (Japanese: 龍-DRAGON-) | Akira Yoshimura | Yuichiro Takeda | Masamitsu Hidaka | June 24, 1999 |
13 | "-NECTAR-" (Japanese: 蜜-MITSU-) | Sumio Watanabe | Hiroaki Kitajima | Takeshi Yoshimoto | July 1, 1999 |
14 | "-HEART-" (Japanese: 魂-KOKORO-) | Akihiko Nishiyama | Hiroaki Kitajima | Masamitsu Hidaka | July 8, 1999 |
15 | "-SHADOW-" (Japanese: 翳-KAGE-) | Akira Yoshimura | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Yoshitomo Yonetani | July 15, 1999 |
16 | "-REALITY-" (Japanese: 現-UTSUTSU-) | Hirokazu Yamada | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Yukio Nishimoto | July 22, 1999 |
17 | "-DREAM-" (Japanese: 夢-YUME-) | Ikuro Sato | Yuichiro Takeda | Mamoru Hamatsu | July 29, 1999 |
18 | "-HUNGRY-" (Japanese: 飢-KAWAKI-) | Atsushi Takada | Hiroaki Kitajima | Yasuchika Nagaoka | August 5, 1999 |
19 | "MIRROR -LIE-" (Japanese: 鏡-ITSUWARI-) | Sumio Watanabe | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Sumio Watanabe | August 19, 1999 |
20 | "-TRICK-" (Japanese: 罠-WANA-) | Akira Yoshimura | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Yoshitomo Yonetani | August 26, 1999 |
21 | "-DESTROY-" (Japanese: 亡-HOROBI-) | Ikuro Sato | Yuichiro Takeda | Yasuchika Nagaoka | August 26, 1999 |
22 | "RAW -OVERGROWN HEDGE-" (Japanese: 生-MOGAKI-) | Hirokazu Yamada | Yuichiro Takeda | Umanosuke Iida | September 2, 1999 |
23 | "OFFERING -MITSUGI-" (Japanese: 贄-MITSUGI-) | Atsushi Takada | Hiroaki Kitajima | Shinichirō Watanabe | September 9, 1999 |
24 | "DEATH -FAREWELL-" (Japanese: 死-WAKARE-) | Sumio Watanabe | Hiroaki Kitajima | Shinji Higuchi | September 16, 1999 |
25 | "BRAIN -MEMORY-" (Japanese: 脳-KIOKU-) | Akira Yoshimura | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Yoshitomo Yonetani | September 23, 1999 |
26 | (Japanese: -MU-) | Yoshitomo Yonetani | Hiroshi Yamaguchi | Yoshitomo Yonetani | September 30, 1999 |
Betterman is composed of 26 episodes, first aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 1999 to September 30, 1999. It was licensed and released in the USA (on DVD) by Bandai Entertainment. The series was dubbed by Ocean Productions at their Blue Water studio in Calgary, Alberta. The dubbed English version from this DVD release has also aired on the US cable network G4TV (Known as TechTV at the time of its airing) during the "Anime Unleashed" rotation, premiering on December 30, 2002. Following the 2012 closure of Bandai Entertainment, Sunrise announced at Otakon 2013, that Sentai Filmworks has rescued Betterman, along with a handful of other former BEI titles.[2]