Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

After doing the Janperson review - I felt it was time to revisit a series that was literally Robocop Lite. That's the Robocop TV series that took place in 1994. It was a CANADIAN production where Robocop was given a new timeline. It was licensed from Orion pictures. Yeah, the original Robocop movie was never meant for children. This one tried to appeal to a younger audience in a similar fashion to how Conan the Adventurer pretty much lacked the brutality of Conan the Barbarian . I didn't watch more of this (and don't intend to rewatch it). Now, it's time to revisit a primetime show. Not surprisingly, ABC-5 aired Robocop TV Series before it aired Janperson. The tagline in Filipino was, "If America has a Robocop. Asia too has a Robocop! JANPERSON!" Obviously, Janperson's design was based on Robocop even if one can say that Robot Detective K had a greater amount of influence. Yeah, there were the Robocop TV Series toys. If I'm not wrong - there were also ...

Here's a bit of the original vs. the inspired, Robocop and Janperson both had their blueprints revealed... Here's Omni Consumer Products' blueprints of Robocop.... I think this was taken straight from the movie. Now here's the blueprints of Janperson which... HOW IN THE WORLD DID TATEWAKI KONZERN GET A COPY OF IT? Granted that Tatewaki Konzern is Janperson's own version of Omni Consumer Products, they may have had a copy of Janperson's blueprints all along which soon allowed Tatewaki to transcend into becoming the bio-cyborg known as Billgoldy a la the Robocop 2 Project, except a much more humanoid version. 

It's no doubt Janperson really completes the cycle - it's said Gavan's design inspired Robocop, then Robocop inspires Janperson. In spite of Janperson being purely a mechanical character in contrast to Robocop, the show doesn't fail to give tribute Robocop in several levels. Robocop 3 was screened in Japan during the broadcast of Janperson. It was during April 18, 1993 when Robocop was screened in Japan and on May 31, 1993 we have the character of Kaoru Saegusa making her first appearance in Janperson. Did the producers finally decided to give that shoutout? In Robocop 3, I thought that much of the enemies were pretty much inspired for the Neo Guild's operations. George Makebe ends up more like a Paul McDaggett for the rest of his series while having Cain's god-complex. In Robocop 3, Robocop challenges the robotic ninjas of Paul McDaggett. The ending of Robocop 3 somewhat parallels Makebe's ultimate fate in Janperson. So did Toei end up taking ideas fro...

When it came to Robocop and Janperson -- I thought two cast members really managed to carry out their parts as mentally unstable but dangerous gang leaders namely Kirkwood Smith and later, Shun Sugata. I always felt like Sugata was Japan's answer to Smith and believe me -- both villains wouldn't be the best to irritate. Looking at the first Robocop film, the film had Boddicker's gang hired by Dick Jones of Omni Consumer Products. What made this Boddicker guy so crazy was that, he really takes joy in blowing just everything up. Heck, he was even responsible for bloodily disposing off the show's main protagonist Alex Murphy who later came back as Robocop. I always thought that the Boddicker Gang really knew how to carry out their evil schemes and they weren't to be underestimated. Shun Sugata really manages to be Japan's very own answer to Kirkwood Smith and Tatewaki is really Japan's own version of Boddicker though in this case, he was a bit more complex...

The popularity of the Robocop films ended up creating Japan's first Robocop-inspired hero in Jiban which would later be followed by the more Robocop-like series Janperson (except the hero was purely mechanical) and Signalman as a Robocop parody in Carranger. Considering that I'm not really a huge fan of Jiban compared to Janperson, it'd still be wrong not to give tribute to Jiban, the very first Robocop tribute by Toei! Jiban's story is more typical to Tokusatsu, in short it's a hybrid of Robocop and your average Toku hero. The story is where Naoto Tamura a rookie detective gets killed in an incident with the Bioron Syndicate. Dr. Igarashi revives Naoto Tamura who was supposedly killed into the heroic Robocop-type character known as Jiban. It was because the accident in Dr. Igarashi's laboratory ended up creating Dr. Giba and the Bionoids as a result. He wanted to clean the mess he made so he created Jiban to destroy that mess.

The success of Robocop in America as a movie in 1987 would later create a phenomenon of Robocop influences with Toei.  So where do we start? In 1989, Toei responded to the success of Robocop by creating the monster-exterminating android known as Jiban.  Jiban was once a human being named Naoto Tamura but after being killed by the Biorons, he was revived as a cyborg to counter their evil organization.  Unlike Robocop, he would beat monsters-of-the-week and he could revert back to his human identity. By 1994, Toei spawned another Robocop type of character known as Janperson.  Compared to its inspiration, Janperson was a purely mechanical character, he was never human.  But like Robocop, he would fight against criminal groups that threatened Tokyo.  He was also introduced as " the new guy in town "... Robocop style.  I felt this was the true Asian Robocop.  If America has Robocop in the 80s, Asia has Janperson in the 90s.  I personally th...

Looking at Janperson's transformation of Ryuzaburo Tatewaki into the more sinister Billgoldy, I thought what if Omni Consumer Products decided to take Clarence's body parts and created him into a cyborg?  I would imagine the mayhem that would cause in the Robocop universe.  Too bad, the concept never happened in Robocop to Clarence.  I think he would have been a cool concept if Clarence Boddicker became another Billgoldy in some other version of Robocop. So let's just think what if Clarence Boddicker's body parts were fitted into a Robocop-type body and you get an evil version of Robocop?  In Janperson, they refined the Robocop 2 concept when Cain's brain was transferred into the new Robocop model.  I thought that the producers of Janperson imagined what if Clarence Boddicker underwent a transformation, turning him into a cyborg criminal?   I guess that's what the producers had in mind when Tatewaki became the more sinister Billgoldy who voluntarily had ...

Robocop was a 1987 film that later spawned a sequel in June 22, 1990 and in November 5, 1995.  Let's take a look at the possible circle of influence.  The Robocop movie was a popular hit and later, it spawned several series, cartoons and even Japanese inspired heroes. Toei in January 29, 1989 created a Robocop-like hero in Jiban.  Unlike Robocop, Jiban could revert to his human identity anytime even if he was a dead officer resurrected as a cyborg.  Also, Jiban fought monsters of the week which Robocop didn't do.  Jiban for me was not really much of a Robocop inspired hero. Janperson was Toei's more or less Robocop type show except that the hero was purely mechanical.  A lot of its elements such as violence, villains and characters were somewhat based on the first two Robocop movies.  I could start to think of the following parallelisms.  The show aired on February 1, 1993 and ended in January 24, 1994.  In between, Robocop 3 was also...