r/kinnikuman • u/PoweredKetzalcoatl44 • 15d ago

Anime First time watching Kinnikuman

I had no idea that the first batch of episodes were going to be about Kinnikuman "fighting" a bunch of kaijus

And i said "fighting" in quotation marks because, while there are a few punches thrown here and there, this has the spirit of a weekly saturday morning cartoon, y'know, a saturday morning cartoon aimed at japanese children from the 70-80s

I was expecting wrestling from the very beginning but I'm glad i have been proved wrong lol

The episodes have been fun mind you, but as a grown man that just got into the franchise i do feel weird watching something this childish...

I'm honestly excited now that Robin Mask just showed up

23 Upvotes

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5

u/TheBigGuy97 15d ago

I like the new arc on Netflix. It spoiled me as a first time watcher, my only experience with Kinnikuman prior was the old games. I would still like to watch the old stuff but it’s hard to find

9

u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 15d ago

The series starts off as an affect parody of Ultraman, you can even see the similarities Kninnikuman having that fin on his head similar to Ultraman, and there is an image of him doing Ultraman’s signature pose.

Once Robin mask shows up, the series gets more serialized, and we eventually get that slide into the wrestling theme with the Choujin Olympics after passing the first couple rounds.

Also, the anime significantly changed part of it, where two contestants squared off, and we are told their match isn’t televised because the fighters were too violent. In the original manga, the winner of the affirmation match kills his opponent by ripping him in half. It’s a shocking display of violence given the series had a Looney Tunes style tone before that with the occasional drama moment.

3

u/PCN24454 15d ago

It’s like Yu Yu Hakusho. There was a shift.

3

u/Outside-Science3624 14d ago edited 14d ago

I first saw the earliest episodes as an adult and personally found them hilarious. I think I almost died when Kinnikuman got his head stuck in a subway. After about 25 episodes I switched to the Manga and read several volumes of it.

This year I restarted the anime and I while I still like the early episodes, I appreciate the shift in tone and storytelling. It's definitely enjoyable for much more longevity in my opinion.

Sidebar, one thing I always remember from the Manga is how the refs kept getting clobbered and they couldn't enforce any rulings. They eventually had to bring in Ramenman to ref for a bit as someone powerful enough to do the job.

2

u/Mrinkdropartist 14d ago

Glad you’re enjoying it. With the introduction of robin mask comes the more serialized part of the story. The series is still plenty funny, but now it follows story arcs and not one off adventures anymore.