Anime 1678 Cyborg 009 The Cyborg Soldier

I don’t understand why people focus on small things like it’s a show for adults or kids, there are some peeps who keep their kid side even though they’re older. This is a show that is for everyone as it conveys good messages to lil jimmy's and adults (It’s an universal underrated masterpiece ). This show have some crazy adult themes with no sexual content, so It's a safe show to watch with the family. What I like is that It's a show that is smartly done and both the younger and older peeps can enjoy it.

Back in the day saying that you like anime ... is like literally a death sentence for your social life, so I had some fun with that stuff for a while until it began slowly but surely to change later on thankfully. And cyborg 009 is a great example of a show that gives output on how great animation can convey special emotions to the audience. It isn't mainstream by any means but It stays as a true classic that delivers whenever you watch it.
I have many memories with Cyborg 009 as I watched some parts randomly on tv long ass time ago, while being a kid I felt different things at the moment like sorrow, fun, cool heroes, they work as a group complementing each other’s abilities, staying true to themselves, missing their countries, fighting back against evil entities and never giving up when the situation became dire.

This is a rare anime that you could watch with anyone be it young or old which is F*king amazing… They talk about disasters, poverty, war, homelessness, greed, culinary, love, family, unity and much more. It didn't matter to see blood. I didn’t even feel like it was needed to be shown as we have cyborgs here so you can understand when they’re in pain, the way they convey it through little details is easy to understand and follow. It's a smart choice made by animators.
This series is really old by today’s standards and I understand that, it may not appeal to you graphically (visually). however, For me
It's a timeless series that goes beyond the test of time which is powerful.

The cyborg’s as you know have different backgrounds and different personalities so they clash more often with each other on the decision-making side of things, I find it interesting to see the humans side of them which brings up the tension and mindless arguments that make them hate the opposite side without listening nor give a chance to understand situations , find solutions to the matter as an example which is relatable to me. Working with a group of people is always is a hassle and a pain in the ass.
They get emotional when they are forced to kill robots, and they sympathies with them despite knowing that it's needed to be done for peace even if it's painful. Cyborgs 009 and 003 for instance shows it a lot throughout the story.

The SAKUGA parts are extremely well done overall whereas you kind of see the small details , the little bits of creativity sprinkled here and there that display an outstanding art that transcends the usual tropes and barriers between animation and some themes in real life. It has one of the best fight choreographies I’ve seen in anime. I wish to see that kind of dedication on the battle genre as it lacks this level of detail.

The music is powerful! and what I mean by that is It's used carefully. While listening either to the opening, ending or sound tracks. I tend to sing along with it and get hyped up a lot whenever I start anew episode. Additionally, they chose precise moments to use nothing but silence which elevates the emotions & experience altogether. But yeah, the sound design of this show is a great 2nd layer to the animation which despite its antiquity, it still holds the overall atmosphere really well in my eyes. VA’s performance is good for its time, nonetheless it didn’t ruin the experience although I would still welcome a full remaster of the whole show. I still listen to the anime's battle Ost’s, the op's and ed's are fun to listen to, at the same time the action scenes have the best ambiances but also the emotional moments.

The main group of characters have a lot of depth to them apart from 2, 006 and 007, although 007 have a solid background story I still find his role is limited in the show to being a comedy relief character and they got forgotten rather quickly where we focus more on cyborg 009.
The characters design is a matter of opinion so I don't really nitpick too much. I find it good enough, It works well with the shows themes and story.
The different cultures displayed throughout the anime is really outstanding as you get to see different cities around the world which had reminded me of Lupin III franchise, every episode after the death of Skull are small arcs, I find it hella interesting to see every character’s connection to the world through those events. After the incidents with black ghost, they kept visiting countries all over the earth scared that he may get to be revived, searching for clues and solving issues like war and helping humanity as much as they can.

Black ghost is like a mixed representation of all human villains which can be interpreted as a lot of entities throughout human history. As he keeps popping up in different shapes and forms Because people are evil by nature, I think that's one of the most important view points that came across and stuck with me while viewing this anime.
The misuse of robots is a topic that I really love about this show because it may happen in the near future (in real life) that’s why I always feel that it's a timeless masterpiece on steroids, I may have had exaggerated a little but personally as a kid back then and as an adult now there's different perspectives to catch and dive in with which brings out different meanings to the world and conflicts as a whole, also the deeper side of human emotions materialized by the created cyborgs that initially were human as well, although tempered with by scientists to create emotionless instrument. Adds a lot of substance to the main cast, as a result there's a whole package of different personalities that gives the feel of unity. Moreover it's a beautiful message to indulge in.

In my childhood I looked at it in a simpler way, seeing it like "super heroes saving the day", but now I see it as a way to represent our world in the future like Climate change or lack of application of human rights in some countries, the endless wars that still ravages this planet since humans put foot on it etc...
I personally love how they made this show close to home like for an example when they went to Africa where people were fighting for their life to free their countries of tyrants, bad leaders. by contrast when they've gone to an another world with some kind of Aliens looking like children where they tried teaching them on what it means to be a man, stand up for yourself and fight back.

If you pick this show though, watch it in Japanese because it's just better than the dubs imo. Back in the day the translation wasn’t the same as the original script because they tend to change everything to fit their narrow mind thus making it seem look like dumpster fire. I hated how they’ve done that and thanks to these individuals behind the dubs they fucked up any chance this show had to be successful, they love to censor everything sadly.

All in all, This masterpiece will always get negative reviews about its ways of representing things or because it isn’t violent enough or it shouldn’t be recommended to anyone… On the contrary! I believe that This show should be given a chance mainly being an enjoyable ride minding the time it came out of course. But at the end of the day, It's great to share the experience I love about anime using this series as an example and many other classics to bring the medium closer to all people.

‘It’ll always have a special place in my heart.’

Cyborg 009 has, in my opinion, one of the greatest endings out of any anime. It also has some of the best stand-alone episodes such as "Frozen time" but this is also mixed with filler. The music and art designs are some of my favourites, especially when the cartoony art contrasts with the dark themes. Each character has a unique backstory and are based from around the world. Some characters are serious while others are usually comedy relief (they can be serious and reliable when called upon) so there is a good variety. This anime has it all: heroism, rebellion, mystery, a great story and ... fight scenes.

Story 6/10

To tell a great superhero story, a great hero needs a great villain to fight, but that's where this show's problem lies.

Black Ghost is a great villain; he's ruthless and doesn't even care if his own henchmen get killed. He's also smart and devious which are all great qualities in a villain, but the problem is, despite being the main antagonist, Black Ghost only appears in a handful of episodes leaving all the other episodes just feeling like filler.

The cyborgs do fight other villains besides Black Ghost with some cool fight scenes, but the other villains are all just forgettable with nothing ... that interesting about them.

Characters 6/10

While all the cyborgs do have some cool powers (009 having super speed, 006 breathing fire, and 007 being a shape shifter) that doesn't make them great characters.

It's not that I don't like any of the MC's, but they just all feel like tokens with 009 being the token leader and 003 being the token girl and 007 being the token comic relief character.

It doesn't help that the characters don't have the best chemistry either or demonstrate the best teamwork. Good team members should compliment each other and work together, but whenever there's a fight it's like everyone splits up and does their own thing.

Art 5/10

The fight scenes are well animated and I do like this 1960's SciFi aesthetic they use for things like the ray guns and giant robots. However, the character designs are another story.

There are some characters that look fine like 009 and 003, but then there are other characters like Dr. Gilmore and 007 that just look plain ugly. Gilmore's nose is the size of a watermelon and 007's eyes are way too close together.

I understand that this what the characters looked like in the 1968 version, but, in my opinion, they just look ugly.

006 is even worse, however. I understand that 006 is Chinese and anime artist like to draw Chinese people with weird looking eyes like Brock from Pokemon, but seriously, what are those things? Those aren't eyeballs! They look more like little mouths!

I know it may seem like I'm making a big deal about it, but it's an understood rule of character design that it is extremely important that you get the eyes right because, as they say, the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Sound 5/10

I don't want to use the word robotic to describe the voice acting, but I does sound like the actors aren't putting much emotion behind their words which really hurts the characters.

Also, I can't really explain it, but I feel like there's too much silence in each episode. What I mean is there's too many moments where there are no characters talking and no background music playing or a character is talking, but with no background music. I know that may seem like a nitpick, but I do think it hurt the quality of the show.

Overall 6/10

I'm glad I watched Cyborg 009, if only because it's such a classic anime in the same way Astro Boy is, but I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone. If you want to watch some good superhero anime, One Punch Man and My Hero Academia would probably be a better choice.