Cyborg 009

SYNOPSIS
     A young man wakes up and finds himself in a strange room, and a smal voice in his head telling him to escape. He finds 8 others waiting for him on the outside, all with unique gifts, all with mysterious pasts, all affected by Black Ghost. They are no longer who they used to be, they are half man, half machine, Cyborgs.

STORY
     Only 8 out 51 episodes of this amazing series came to the US, and I bang my head against the wall every time I think about that fact. Cyborg 009 is a series showcase of a golden era of manga. When it reflected a sorta Super hero image, shounen is much different now, and  not altogether a bad thing but at the same time not altogether a good thing either. Its an element that has slowly died out, the element of child like wonder. Now most Shounen manga have gone for an element of realism, or the "beat em up" genre that Fist Of the North Star and Dragon Ball Z belong too. But Im getting off topic.
Cyborg 009 is th3 3rd anime rendition of Shotaro Ishinomori's legendary manga. It contains the amazing tales of 9 Cyborgs gifted with amazing gifts fighting evil, sounds like a simplistic story right? Wrong. Though dressed in a "Tezukian" (Im sooooooo coining that phrase!) Sci-fi backdrop, It shows raw human emotion and struggles found in such gripping shows as FMA and Macross. Now I'm not saying 009 is a Bosom brother to these shows, but it shares a emotional link to the more down o earth serise while still retaining a youthful, classic design. Now is it worth the watch, being only 8 released episodes, with no ending for an American audiance? Heck yes!!! This is one you have to see at least once, to get the feel of such a beautiful and clssic serise. I highly suggest it! (plus if you leave in Australia, you could just watch the whole serise since they got it, AND WE DIDNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

PRODUCTION
       Avex Entertainment andJapan Vistec are responsible for this piece, now mind you this about when cel animation was dropped and we adopted the whole "EVERYTHING MUST BE DIGITAL!!"
state of mind. Now if you have ever seen an early digital only anime, such as Saiyuki or Rune Soldier, you may know how odd and sometimes choppy the animation can get. Luckly, this choppyness rarely shows on any of the released episodes of 009. Thou there are a few times were one can look at the animation and go "man, they really haven't mastered there programs yet." but this isn't so bad as to affect the show. The Music is awsome with both OP and ED preformed by J-Trance group GLOBE.
And with faithful directing by Masayuki Akebi ( who is a 009 veteran since he directed the '79 serise)
this show really pulls together nicely.

DUB
    The dub is altogether so-so, some preformances abit over the top but there are a good amount of gems in this serise. Joshua Seth (of Digimon fame) plays a great hero as 009, Kirk Thornton plays the the hot headed and big nosed 002, And Dorothy Elias-Fahn gives a terrific preformance as 003. and I would hate not to mention Richard Epcar as the haunting leader of black ghost, Skull!

CONTENT
     Nothing really to worry about except violenec and maybe a little language.

EXTRAS
       Sadly nothing really, except trailers and some weblinks (weblinks?!)

OVERALL
Though Toonami fans ignored the serise wanting a more  "DBZ" like serise, Cyborg 009 is a diamond in the rough of the toonami a block, a must see!
3 2/4 out of 5