(Isis): Greetings, welcome to another edition of Project Nitsuj, I am Isis.
(Chibi Isis): And I’m Chibi Isis, nice to meet you.
(Isis): You want to know how to throw people off about a well-known and well established series? Change everything!
(Chibi Isis): And when she says everything she means everything. Characters, story, theme, setting, morals, philosophies, anything that was in the original you take it and change it and that’s exactly what they did with today’s anime Yoru no Yatterman. Also known as Yatterman Night, this series came out in 2015 under the studio Tatsunoko Production (Ping Pong and Wake Up, Girls) a very old studio from the 60s that was one of the first animation studios to be established.
(Isis): But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. You can’t really talk about this series without first talking about its predecessor. You see Yoru no Yatterman is actually based off of the original series Yatterman an anime that came out in 1977 with a reboot in 2008. Now I’m sure a majority of you out there have no idea what Yatterman is and those who know about Yatterman only know about it from the Tatsunoko vs Capcom game. The story goes like this, a mysterious stone from space known as the Skull Stone is scattered across the planet. A gang known as the Doronbo Gang are searching for the skull because it holds the key to uncovering the largest deposit of gold on the planet however a young mechanic named Gen and his girlfriend Ai vow to stop their plans taking the names of Yatterman 1 and 2 and fight against the Doronbo Gang in their giant mech dog named Yatterwan and various other mechs. For its time the show was good it had good heroes who stood for justice, good comedy, action scenes, and did help define the mecha genre. It also gave us some of the first comedic villains following the orders of the shadowy and mysterious evil boss. If you wanted to know who the predecessors of Team Rocket from Pokémon were these are your guys.
(Chibi Isis): This series became one of Tatsuknoko’s most well-known animes and in order to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Time Bokan franchise which is where Yatterman came from an anime was created where they took risk and change everything to give it a fresh new start and feel.
(Isis): And today we’re going to check it out and see if the changes worked or not. The night is young and so are we, this is Yoru no Yatterman.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Chibi Isis): The opening for this anime is “Kyokugen Dreamer” by SCREEN mode. Hands down one of the best animes from 2015 as it just comes out blasting with energy. It’s very rare to hear a violin in a rock song but when used correctly it amplifies the song and makes it stand out more.
(Isis): The ending for the anime is “Jounetsu CONTINUE” by Sphere. It’s not a bad song but I could never really get into it. The singers are good and the instrumental is nice but I don’t know a part of me feels that the song doesn’t match up well with the anime given its premise and setting.
Episodes 1-4
(Chibi Isis): The anime starts off peacefully in modern times where everyone is going about their everyday life when all of a sudden a giant talking skull falls from the sky changing the world and replacing the moon with a skull (Isis: So this is how the world ends? Not what I was expecting but I can live with it). Years past and the world has changed drastically. The world has been united by the Yatterman under the kingdom named Yatter Kingdom and everyone not a part of the kingdom lives on the outskirts of the kingdom in poverty. In this poverty land Dorothy a descendent of Doronjo the original leader of the Doronbo Gang gives birth to a baby girl named Leopard voiced by Eri Kitamura (Cana from Fairy Tail). Helping her raise Leopard is Voltkatze voiced by Hiroaki Hirata (Sanji from One Piece) and Elephantus voiced by Kenta Miyake who are both descendants of Boyacky and Tonzra who along with Doronjo made up the Doronbo Gang (Isis: Doronjo was the beautiful leader, Boyacky the pervert and brains, and Tonzra the muscle. The basic formula for a group just like us. (Chibi Isis): Really? How so? (Isis): Well master is the leader, Mira the brains, Shizuku the muscle, Yin-Yang the assassin, Seras the intimidator and I’m the looks. (Chibi Isis): What about me? (Isis): Oh you’re the wild card. You do the unexpected which always gets us out of trouble. (Chibi Isis): And the Jack Brothers? (Isis): Let’s just say every team needs a useless comic relief character. Unfortunately, we have two). Dorothy never told Leopard the truth about her family heritage so she was raised on the belief that the Yatterman is good but one-day Leopard’s talking pet robot pig (strange but I’ll allow it) named Oda leads her to a painting of the original gang and Dorothy tells her the truth (you’re the descendent of thieves) about her family heritage and explains that the reason they live on the outskirts of the kingdom is because they’re being punished by the descendants of Yatterman (geez, let it go. Let bygones be bygones. (Isis): I really do admire your naivety Chibi). But Dorothy still holds on to the hope that Yatterman will forgive them and allow them to live within the kingdom (Isis: It’s been years. If they haven’t forgiven you yet chances are they won’t forgive you ever). Tragedy strikes on Leopard’s 9th birthday where Dorothy falls ill and if she doesn’t get the proper medicine she won’t live. Wanting to save her mother, Leopard, Voltkaze and Elephantus make a daring journey by boat to reach the Yatter Kingdom in the hopes that they’ll help only to get stopped midway by the Yatterman who open fire on them (what heck you’re they’re firing on a child? I thought the Yatterman were the good guys. (Isis): Like I said, take everything you know about a series and change everything). With no medical attention Dorothy unfortunately passes away (wow, first episode and it’s hitting us in the feels). Leopard vows revenge on the Yatterman and restarts the Doronbo Gang where their goal is to defeat the evil Yatterman (she’s gone Eren on us! Run) adopting the name of their ancestors as well as their costumes (Isis: The costumes need more work).
Episode 2 starts off with the newly formed Doronbo Gang trying to act like their ancestors (Isis: Then get ready to suffer humiliating defeat after humiliating defeat). After that they sneak into the Yatter Kingdom using an abandoned train tunnel (I would say that was easy but then I be stating the obvious. (Isis): You know; I was just about to say that. You’re really becoming your own person Chibi *pats Chibi Isis on the head as she blushes*). After making their way through the tunnel the gang goes up against a pair of Yatter soldiers (so is everything in this anime going to be- (Isis): Yatter? Yes. In fact, if you want we can get a drinking game going. (Chibi Isis): No thanks. (Isis): Spoiled sport) using their mech the Forehead Flicking Mecha (it looks as silly as it sounds). They manage to win but discover that the soldiers are robots (Isis: In an anime about robots fighting other robots what did you expect?). Soon more soldiers show up and destroy their mech with overwhelming force with them barely escaping (outnumbered and out powered. Not the best odds if you ask me). They come to a house they believe is empty and rest only to find out that the house belongs to a blind girl who mistakes Leopard as an angel.
(Isis): In episode 3 we find out that the girl’s name is Alouette aka Ally voiced by Shizuka Itō (Akeno from Highschool DxD). A sweet and innocent girl who is blind and taken care of by her childhood friend Galina nicknamed Gatchan voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino (Oritio from Is this a Zombie?) who secretly has a crush on Ally and suffers from low self-confidence to the point that he relies on a die to make decisions (make way for the new Batman villain Dice Hands. Your life depends on his roll). Despite being suspicious of the gang he doesn’t report them to the Yatter Soldiers and helps them hide when the soldiers come searching for them. He opens up and tells them that his parents along with Ally’s parents were taken to the capital years ago and forced to work in the mines where they all died in an explosion. While Gatchan has accepted the death of his parents Ally lives in denial believing that one day an angel will come and take her to the capital to see her parents (man not only is she physically blind but she’s mentally blind as well). The next day the gang leaves early not wanting to bring trouble to Gatchan and Ally but the Yatter Soldiers figure out that they were harboring the gang and give them 30 seconds to tell them where they are or they’ll kill them. The gang comes back in their new outfits created by Gatchan after he burned the old ones to erase evidence (Chibi Isis: These new costumes are a lot better) and help them escape using an explosive mech. They decide to bring Gatchan and Ally with them on their quest to give Yatterman a good forehead-flicking.
Episode 4 is a pretty dark episode. The gang arrives in a town where they befriend a pregnant woman named Mitchan and her husband Beene. After bathing in the hotsprings they see that the Yatter Soldiers are taking away villagers to work heavy labor in the capital for 35 years (Chibi Isis: And if they refuse, //youtu.be/TM_6tgVJb_o). Beene gets taken away by force but the gang save him and reunite him with Mitchan (normally this would be the happy ending but we won’t get that this episode). Goro a Yatterman General works out a deal with Beene saying he’ll pardon him from the labor if he tells him where Leopard and the others are and Beene wanting to be with his wife gives Leopard and the others away (Chibi Isis: Traitor). Goro overwhelms the group with his skills and mech thinking he’s defeated them once and for all but the group survived (barely). Goro goes back on his word and takes Beene away (//youtu.be/jsW9MlYu31g) leaving Mitchan devastated that she actually goes insane a little and doesn’t want any help from Leopard and the others out of fear. They leave defeated and beaten with Leopard feeling the worst out of all of them because not only did she lose again but she was powerless to save someone in front of her. Normally this would effect a hero slightly but we’re talking about a 9 year-old child here. This defeat shows her just how powerless she is in the face of Yatterman but despite this she’s willing to press forward and continue fighting.
Episodes 5-8
So after the dark tone of episode 4 they decide to be light-hearted in episode 5. The group arrives in a winter village where they meet and befriend a young sumo wrestler named Takeshi who has plans on entering the sumo wrestling tournament in the hopes of helping out his mom (Chibi Isis: Well he just made the list of people Leopard’s gonna help). He enters with Gatchan who also enters the tournament much to his dismay where they meet in the semi-finals and Gatchan loses easily. When he reaches the finals we see that his next opponent is a Yatterman mech meaning this tournament was rigged from the start with no one having a chance to win (Chibi Isis: Sort of like Monopoly at McDonalds). Despite Takeshi’s best effort he still loses and the gang decides to fight fire with fire and unleashes their mech to destroy the Yatterman mechs (hey their first victory. (Chibi Isis): They needed this after the events of the last episode). They become the champions and give all their winnings to Takeshi as they runaway while being chased by Goro (Chibi Isis: Oh hey the anime turned into Lupin III).
In episode 6 the gang is constantly being chased after Goro and his troops (Chibi Isis: Again, just like Lupin III). Voltkaze and Elephantus tell Leopard that they should give up on Yatterman not because they’re scared or have given up hope but just want to keep Leopard safe. Deep down Voltkaze and Elephantus are sad and mad at themselves that they couldn’t protect or save Dorothy and now they want to make up for it by keeping Leopard safe. Leopard says no and goes off on her own thinking they’ll follow after her but surprisingly they don’t (Chibi Isis: Just like you guys won’t go after me if I leave the system on my own. (Isis): We would give you a day or two to come crying back then we would start to worry). While separated both parties get chased by the Yatter Soldiers with Gatchan getting captured. Goro uses his public execution in the hopes of drawing the rest of the gang out but he gets saved by Leopard and the others who decide to keep going forward with Voltkaze and Elephantus promising to protect her every step of the way.
(Chibi Isis): Episode 7 is Gatchan’s turn to shine. In the previous episodes Voltkaze has been teaching Gatchman how to build mechanics which surprisingly he’s very good at, in fact, Voltkaze says he might be better than him someday (interesting foreshadowing). In the episode the group is hungry and come across a masochist fisherman named Ryu who has dreams of going out into the ocean and building his harem of fish (Isis: He’s a freak). Hungry and delirious the group gets tricked by Goro into saving a mechanical turtle which they believe will take them to the Sea God’s Palace from the folktale Urashima Tarō. They instead get taken to an underwater power plant where they open a box (now if they know the story why did they open the box?) and get knocked out by sleeping gas except for Gatchan and Ryu who wake up the others and Gatchan comes up with a plan for them to escape and get Ryu into the ocean. They escape their cell and use an octopus mech as a decoy to distract the Yatter Soldiers while they escape underwater in their squid mech to the wall where the Yatter Soldiers pursue them in their starfish mech (Isis: Just be thankful it doesn’t have Patrick’s stupidity). The gang rams themselves and the starfish into one of the fans jamming it and Ryu uses this opportunity to swim to the other side of the wall where with the help of his turtle friends (turtles~) he makes it and is now in the wide open ocean (Isis: May God help all the sea creatures that come across him).
In episode 8 the group stops and rest because Leopard has come down with a cold. Gatchan takes care of her where we see that she’s developed feelings for him (Isis: Eww! No offence but Leopard is 9 years old and Gatchan is 17 years old and obviously has a crush on Ally. By the time she reaches his age he’ll be in his mid-20s). Because of this Leopard acts all shy and embarrassed around him and wants to be spoiled by him. While that’s going on Ally is bathing by a river where she comes across Kussie (it’s the Loch Ness Monster) a sea monster who comes from Lake Kussharo-Dessharo not too far from their location. Kussie’s mother has been captured by Goro and the Yatter Soldiers who plan to build a factory on the lake and have the residents do hard labor. Even though she’s sick Leopard wants to help Kussie since she knows the pain of wanting to help your mother (she may have failed the first time but this time she will succeed). They arrive on the scene and get captured (well I was wrong) but once the mother Kussie sees her child in danger she springs into action and defeats Goro and the Yatter Soldiers (I was right). The mother and child are reunited and return to the lake to live peacefully.
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9, Goro is given one last chance to capture Leopard and the others (or face the consequences of, //youtu.be/TM_6tgVJb_o. (Isis): Didn’t we just use that clip? (Chibi Isis): Wild card baby! Yee-hah). He captures Leopard, Voltkaze and Elephantus thus it falls on Gatchan to save them (Isis: Well he had a good run last time. Let’s see if it was luck or just skills). In order to escape the Yatter Soldiers searching the area he and Ally hide away in a cabin where they discover. . .Speed Racer’s car? (Isis): Same studio that made this anime also made Speed Racer. Although if you want to get technical the car was used in the original anime under a different name. (Chibi Isis): They even find the car being guarded by a chimpanzee and after fixing the car up they escape to rescue the others in a pretty intense rescue scene (Isis: It couldn’t be that intense. They didn’t even do an Initial D parody when they had the chance). Goro had a chance to beat Gatchan but he sees Ally, gets distracted and falls off the cliff giving Gatchan the opportunity to save the others by crashing the car into the prison’s reactor causing the whole place to blow up and them getting blasted to safety (Isis: So it wasn’t luck or skills after all. It was all lucky skills). Goro gets imprisoned for his failure where he starts to remember his past and Ally has something to do with it.
(Isis): In episode 10 the group finally arrives in Yatter Metropolis (Chibi Isis: The obvious joke would have been Yatteropolis) the capital of the Yatter Kingdom. Their plan is to sneak into Yatterman’s tower and overthrow him but they have to defeat the 12 Yatter generals who overwhelm them with their numbers and power. Just before they can be publicly executed the gang they receive a letter from Yatterman asking to bring the gang to him. The whole gang is bought before Yatterman where we get the biggest twist the anime has to offer. Yatterman this whole time was Dokurobey (//youtu.be/kdhhQhqi_AE).
Okay so after that surprising twist in episode 10 (Chibi Isis: I don’t know what to think anymore Isis), episode 11 explains just what the heck is going on. So we all know the story of the original series. The Yatterman fought against the Doronbo gang who were trying to get the Dokuro Stones. But what we didn’t know was that the stones were actually the body parts of Dokurobey (Chibi Isis: The backbones connected to the- (Isis): If you sing the bone song I’m going to finger flick your forehead) who crash landed on Earth during the Big Bang and needed the stones in order to restore his body and return to space. He employed the help of the Doronbo gang to get the stones but every time the Yatterman got in their way (you know; this would make a good anime series. (Chibi Isis): I was thinking the exact same thing). After many years Dokurobey was able to restore his body and returned to space but he wanted revenge on the Yatterman so he came back to Earth and lost over and over again until finally he defeated the Yatterman in an all-out war. Despite his victory he wasn’t satisfied so he assumed the name Yatterman, created the Yatter Kingdom, and enslaved the world all while slandering the good name of the Yatterman and using their labor as his power source (he took the name of the world’s heroes and used it to enslave the world. Not going to lie that’s pretty messed up. Even I wouldn’t do something like that). As for the descendants of the Doronbo gang, Dokurobey was tired of their constant failure so he exiled them outside the kingdom where they’ve remained for generations. Dokurobey offers them a spot as generals but they refuse and get locked up. While they’re trying to figure a way out we see Goro remember his past where we find out he’s really Ally’s dad (//youtu.be/hbOjS0Ah7_o). Yep, after the explosion he was reconstructed as a cyborg to serve and remain loyal to Dokurobey. Oda gets out of the prison cell and grabs the keys freeing everyone and they try to escape but get surrounded by Yatter Soldiers where they get saved by Goro (Chibi Isis: The deus ex machina service is still in order) who gives his life so they can escape and on his last breath he cries out the name of his daughter as he self-destructs. The gang escapes in a Yatter mech but get shot down and fall into a lake.
In the final episode they survive the fall and come up with a plan to tell the masses the truth (also I would like to go on record and say that this episode is extremely lazy. I don’t know if they run out of money or whatever but this episode is lazy. They keep reusing the same clips from past episodes all throughout the episode. (Chibi Isis): What is this the 70s!? This is the 21st century, nobody does this lazy editing anymore. They’re making Mekkaucity Actors look expensive and we all know what that anime’s budget was. I mean come on, this is the last episode celebrating the anniversary of one of the shows that made your studio a household name and one of the animes that help start mecha anime and gave us some of the most influential villains in anime history. Show some respect! *Isis stares at Chibi Isis shocked* (Isis): Woah Chibi. You just went on a rant perfectly deconstructing the faults of this episode. I’m so proud of you *Isis hugs Chibi Isis*! I love it! You’re first anime rant! Oh I can’t wait to show everyone this). They decide the best thing to do is to tell everyone directly what’s going on but no one believes them (they’re the bad guys, nobody believes the bad guys not even the bad guys). Gatchan realizes that the only way to get through to people is to let them see Yatterman so he and Ally who has finally faced reality (Chibi Isis: She used her mentality) and regained her eyesight become the new Yatterman (and to my surprise they pull off the look amazing well) where they vow to bring a new dawn to the world however this means that this will be the last time that the gang will be able to work with Gatchan and Ally (Chibi Isis: It’s actually quite sad) since they’ll become the new heroes of the world while they remain as the villains. Leopard fights her emotions (not even a kiss) and instead of confessing how she feels to Gatchan she just wishes him good luck hiding her tears from everyone (Chibi Isis: If you wanted to confess that was it. Well, let’s put on a good show). The next day they set their plan into motion. Gatchan and Ally show up as the new Yatterman (again, they really do pull the look off quite well. (Chibi Isis): They look like the 2008 versions and everything) where they rally the people (know your rights as an employee) and head off to face Dokurobey who has turned into a giant (alright. Change the name of this anime to Attack on Yatterman. (Chibi Isis): Yatta, yatta, yatterman no jaeger). While they take on Dokurobey, Leopard and the others take on the generals, defeat them, and escape (using the animation from the last 20 seconds of the opening. (Chibi Isis): LAZY! (Isis): No, no, no. It’s alright Chibi, you did your rant. You already covered it. Here, have some orange juice. (Chibi Isis): *Takes orange juice and begins drinking it* I can’t stand laziness. (Isis): I know me neither). Gatchan and Ally defeat Dokurobey and bring a new dawn to the world where everyone is free. Leopard returns to her normal life with Voltkaze and Elephantus and lives the rest of her life out in peace. The end.
Final Thoughts
So that was Yoru no Yatterman and it comes across as meh to me. While I admit I haven’t watched the original or the predecessor I can tell this is a huge deviation from the original. The anime seems confused on the direction it wanted to go in. At first it seems like the anime is going to give us a dark story of a child facing against the hardships of the world but it quickly shifts gears and becomes somewhat of a light-comedy trying to capture the nostalgia of its predecessors. The story is good, many people didn’t like Leopard being child and felt it hurt the story but I think it works here. An adult would have accepted the state of the world but a child sees the world from an idealistic standpoint and says this isn’t how the world should be and someone needs to change it. That’s what Leopard does. She sees how messed up the world is and how wrong people are being treated and tries to change the world for the better and succeeds. The show has it’s sad and dark moments that pull at the heartstrings and for the most part they’re all handled rather well.
(Chibi-Isis): I found the story to be rather good as well. It’s by no means great but enough to keep your attention. Like you said I do like how Leopard sees how messed up the world is and wants to change it. She’s fully aware that she’s going up against a strong opponent who outmatches her in every possible way yet despite this she continues to fight not giving up and inspiring others to fight as well. You can tell she’s fighting through her emotions and trying to stay strong throughout her journey and because she’s a child it hits her even harder than it would an adult. She’s a good well-rounded hero and lead for this anime. Speaking of characters, the main cast was a rather enjoyable bunch. Voltkaze and Elephantus kind of serve as the comedic fathers of the group. Their loyalty to Leopard is respectful and admirable. Ally was the one character who I didn’t like all that much because of her delusional antics of thinking everything is right with the world. They manage to turn her around in the last episode but they really should of have worked on her character more. Surprisingly the best character of the bunch was Gatchan.
(Isis): Yeah surprisingly out of all the characters in the anime, Gatchan was the one who went through the most character development. He started off as a coward who couldn’t make a decision without rolling a dice to the new Yatterman who went on to save the world, a brilliant inventor, and saved the group twice in the course of the anime. While Leopard was the main character and we focus on her through a majority of the anime it’s clear that Gatchan was the MVP. On that note I would like to state once again that I’m glad the anime didn’t pursue a relationship between Leopard and Gatchan as it would have been rather disturbing. If she had been older I would have welcomed the romance but their current age gap is just too far apart for me to support.
(Chibi-Isis): The animation was alright with me up until the last episode where they completely go cheap on us. It matches up well with the world they’re trying to create but it really doesn’t standout all that much for me. While there are plenty of sad moments that pull at the heartstrings like Onee-chan mentioned earlier they’re not as impactful as they really can be except for one or two. This problem is mostly due to the music. It really doesn’t standout like the animation but at the same time it’s not bad just not worth mentioning or taking an interest in it.
Final Score
(Isis): My final score for Yoru no Yatterman is a 5/10. I found the anime pretty meh. The story and characters are decent but I was really looking for something a bit darker given the premise and setup of the first episodes.
(Chibi Isis): My final score is a 6/10. I thought the anime was okay. A good watch that tried to capture the nostalgia of its predecessors while also adding a dark spin to the series. It could have been handled better but for what we got it was an alright watch. You can take this anime or leave it, you won’t be missing much if you decide to watch it.
(Isis): And with these scores the official final score is a 5.5/10. It’s not the best anime but it’s not the worst anime either. If you want to check out a more faithful adaptation of the Yatterman series your best bet is to track down the 2008 reboot as finding the original is next to impossible. I’m sure you can find the reboot on Youtube or Kissanime. Than if you want to see the series in a more dark setting check out this anime. This was a series that tried to reboot a classic and while it didn’t pay off you have to respect their effort to add something new to the series.
(Chibi Isis): Well that’ll do it for us. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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