Viewtiful Joe (anime)

Infobox animanga/Header
name = Viewtiful Joe


caption =
ja_name = ビューティフル ジョー
ja_name_trans = Byūtifuru Jō
genre = Action, ComedyInfobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Takaaki Ishiyama
studio = Group TAC
network = flagicon|Japan TV Tokyo
network_other = flagicon|United States Kids' WB!
flagicon|United Kingdom Jetix
flagicon|Israel Jetix
flagicon|Brazil Cartoon Network, RedeTV!.
flagicon|Chile Cartoon Network
flagicon|Mexico Cartoon Network
first = 2 October 2004
last = 24 September 2005
episodes = 51

nihongo|"Viewtiful Joe"|ビューティフル ジョー|Byūtifuru Jō is an anime series based on the video game series of the same name.

The series follows a similar plot of the games, but there are many differences. The series was shown every Saturday on the Japanese TV station TV Tokyo from October 2004 until October 2005 (where it was replaced by Idaten Jump). It has been licensed by anime distributor Geneon, and once aired in the United States on Kids' WB. The Kids' WB block transferred to the The CW, however, there is no anime planned for the schedule, leaving this show's American future in question. On September 9 it was replaced by "The Batman". The anime debuted in the UK on Jetix on the 2nd of July 2007, where it occupied a 7.30pm time slot before being replaced by Naruto. Whether the change is permanent or not is unknown.

toryline

Following the games' storyline, movie lover Joe and his girlfriend Silvia enjoy a seemingly normal trip to the movies to see an action flick starring Joe's idol, Captain Blue, when suddenly the leader of the evil Jadow force reaches out of the screen and takes Silvia into the movie. Joe is forced to follow her by Captain Blue's mecha, Six Majin (renamed "Robo Six" in the English anime, and "Six Machine" in the Spanish dub), and meets Captain Blue in the flesh who grants Joe the power to become an action movie hero in his own right, Viewtiful Joe.

Characters

Principal

* Joe: The hero, a superhero fanboy who gets to live his dream as Viewtiful Joe while he saves Silvia from the Jadow. He assumes his superhero outfit via the catchphrase "Henshin-a-Go-Go, Baby!!", although all that's needed for him to transform is the word "henshin". He is often distracted by cheese burgers and doesn't take a lot of things seriously.
* Silvia: The heroine, she was abducted by the Jadow for their evil plan to succeed. After Jadow's defeat, Silvia obtained a V-Watch from Captain Blue so she can team up with Joe as Sexy Silvia (in the English anime dub Go-Go Silvia) instead of being the "damsel-in-distress".
* Junior: Another self-proclaimed hero worshipper like Joe, only younger. He lived in Blue Town, which was named after Captain Blue, serving as its protector Captain Blue Jr. Despite his jealousy for Joe being Blue's successor, Junior decided to become Joe's sidekick and offered his knowledge of Movieland as a helping hand. As the series progresses into the Gedow arc, Junior received the V-Yoyos from Captain Blue, assuming his new superhero outfit via the phrase "Henshin-a-Yo-Yo, Baby!!"
* Captain Blue: Joe's idol and guru. He gave Joe the V-Watch which enables him to use his VFX powers. In Season 2, he was transformed into the "Captain Blue Device" by the Black Emperor, which GEDOW uses to create monsters. The Black Emperor gave him the scar on his face.
* Alastor: An agent of the Jadow that uses the nicknames "The Midnight Thunder Boy" and "Blade Master." Though he was helping the Jadow, Alastor doesn't care about their goals, but instead seeking out the ultimate battle, and can be considered an "anti-hero" to an extent. He considers himself Joe's rival, despite questioning Joe's methods. Alastor was also the one who gave Joe the inspiration for his "hero name." During Fire Leo's fight with Joe, Alastor restrained Fire Leo as they both fell into the void that surrounds Jadow headquarters, but Alastor promised to survive so he and Joe can finally settle their rivalry. Following the event Alastor lost his demonic powers and could only restore them by a solar eclipse. During the time his power was lost, he appears in his normal form giving the heroes advice and sometimes help in fights. His power is restored to him during the solar eclipse of episode 38.
* Detective (5, 9, 16, 25, 31, 34, 36): A recurring character who refers to Joe as "Partner". Most of the time he gives Joe a choice to cut the red wire or the blue wire. In episode 31 he was a member of the Alien Administration Bureau partnered with Q.
* Syrus Brown (6, 16, 21, 25): An old farmer who was a big fan of Captain Blue, he kept SIX Machine safe until Joe arrived, though at first he believed Junior to be Blue's successor.

JADOW

The mysterious evil organization of season 1, led by the mysterious figure its member refer to as "Almighty Leader".

* "Almighty Leader": The leader of Jadow, who is a disembodied voice. Code-named "Omnipotent". When Joe managed to get into Jadow headquarters, he found Silvia, only to see her abducted by the evil leader. Once Joe got to the stadium, "Almighty Leader" was revealed to be none other than Captain Blue, who attempted to break Joe's spirit and thus devastated Joe mentally before destroying him physically. But the words of those Joe had befriended in his adventures enabled Joe's confidence to return and fight Blue back. Piloting the King Blue giant robot, Blue was defeated by Joe in Six Majin.
In the dub version of the show, his voice actor was credited as "?????".
* Coordinator Sprocket: Coordinator of Jadow and 2nd in command of the organization. She is one of the few characters who is actually from the real world, being brought to movieland by the same incident as Jefferson Buik. She is annoyed with the antics and incompetence of Charles, Hulk, & Bruce. When Jadow was no more, she along with Charles, Hulk, & Bruce joined up with Gedow .
* Fire Leo: The strongest member of Jadow, codenamed "Inferno Lord." He was sent to fight Joe after the incompentence of the other agents. He developed a grudge on Joe for being referred to a dog when he is clearly a lion, and his fiery mane extinguished in his first defeat by Joe. He's one of few Jadow members to question Alastor's loyalties. When Joe arrived to Jadow HQ, Fire Leo wanted to kill Joe and overpowered him. At the last second, Fire Leo was restianted by Alastor as they fell into the void that surrounds Jadow headquarters. He is later found to have been brought to a land of snow ruled by the ice princess, whom he falls in love with and acts as her knight. There he confronts his brother, Frost Tiger, and they reach a stalemate. After the battle, Fire Leo decides to stay with the ice princess, and protect her.
* Charles the Third: A bat-like agent of Jadow, codenamed "Dark Fiend." Arrogant and snobbish with a French accent, Charles is full of tricks and has feelings for Sprocket, revealed when he attempted to make a love potion for her. Before being hired by Gedow and after being fired by Jadow, Charles opened a small vegetable stand.
* Hulk Davidson: A rhino-like agent of Jadow, codenamed "Iron Ogre". He scarred Capt. Blue during a previous battle they had. Wields a battle axe and wears a horned helmet. Also sings and collects motorcycles. After being defeated by Joe in the second episode, Hulk attempted to cover his weakness (his toe); at first he attempted to cover it by wearing iron boots. However, the boots severely impeached his movement. He later created a metal guard to encase his weak toe in, giving him no known weak point. After the fall of Jadow and before he was hired by Gedow, Hulk owned a small meat stand.
* Gran Bruce: A shark-like agent of Jadow, codenamed "Aquatic Terror." Is considerably lower on the intelligence scale than most of the other Jadow and speaks in an Australian accent (as perceived by Americans). He, Hulk Davidson, and Charles the Third were fired for their incompetence after several attempts to do away with Joe and were later hired by Gedow. In the time between being fired by Jadow and hired by Gedow, Bruce had a small stand that sold fish.

"Minor JADOW members"

* Rotten Jack (7): A jack in the box-like agent of Jadow who posed as a clown while selling his brainwashing Slugoons "(Suragon)" to children in a plan to recruit the preteen youth (including Junior) to Jadow's cause. Codenamed: Toxic Toybox
* Almighty Big-Mask (9): A stone-face agent of Jadow sent to adbuct a princess under the guise of the Big Mask of Truth.
* Bruce Davidson The Third ("Grancharulk") (10): A robot created in a joint project by Charles the Third, Hulk Davidson, & Gran Bruce to take down Joe. Bruce Davidson the 3rd combines the attributes of his three creators (Charles' flight, Hulk's strength, etc. It swaps heads also, between its own and one looking like Charles', one looking like Hulk's, and of course one looking like Bruce's), which at first seemed a good move. But each attribute canceled the other two out (its weight disabled its ability to fly, its axe got caught on the wings, and when it went underwater, only the Bruce head was able to breathe; so the robot was not really a threat. After being swallowed by it, Junior disassembled it from the inside, causing it to malfunction. A newer model of the robot was intoruced later in the series. This model was much bigger, being the size of a building, and instead of having 3 heads it had 6 arms. It was destroyed by Rachel after breaking her programming to obey Gedow.
* Whiteout & Blackout (11): The two Monochromataloids Jadow sent to steal Digicolor Town of its color. They use their devices called "pigment neutralizers" to suck up color.
* Fake Silvia (12): Posed as Silvia to steal the V-Watch from Joe. Her true form is a chameleon like woman whose other forms are a homage to the Jedi from the Star Wars movie series, and spoofs of Robocop and Kill Bill.

"Biankies"

The standard Jadow grunts, these robots can do anything from fighting Joe to helping Silvia redecorate her cell. Biankies come in different models. Among those Biankie models are:

* Joker (1): An Zorro-esque Bianky and agent of Jadow and Joe's first opponent, he speaks with a Spanish-accent. He has a rapier and wields two revolvers as his weapons. In the English anime dub, his name was altered to "Jokester".
* Bianco Billy (5, 21): A cowboy-themed, pistol-wielding Bianky who attacked Blue Town, overpowering Junior until Joe saved the day. He habored a grudge against Junior since and attempted to get his revenge while he was separated from Joe. The dub had him using laser-pistols rather than the six shooters he usually uses like in the games. He is one of few biankies who can speak English.
* Verdy Copters (6, 24): Charles' personal grunts, Biankies remodeled for flight. (Verdy Jets, Verdy Copter's more powerful counterparts, made only two appearances in the anime.)
*Red Leader: A high ranking Bianky who wields a sword in the games. (His more powerful counterpart Black Leader has yet to appear in the anime.) He can also speak English. His first appearance was in "The Fugitive from Beyond the Screen".
*Bianky Primas (4): Biankies outfited with tutus and the ability to spin at incredibly fast speeds. When they are all stacked on top of each other while spinning they create a giant tornado referred to as the "Prima Tornado"
*Metal Leos: Though not actually Biankies, Metal Leos wear the same belt buckle and have the same eyes as a Bianky. They are Fire Leo's personal robots. They only make one appearance in the anime.
*Gelbies: Though they are never seen fighting, the Gelbies guard Silvia's room. They are much larger and more muscular than the other biankies and wear yellow striped suits as well as gas masks.
* (Note: Several Biankies were cut out of the anime. They are Rosetta Biankies, which fight like Captin Blue in the games, Astro Biankies, which are just Biankies refitted for space scences, and Boxer Biankies, which wear a football helmet and use a pair of spiked boxing gloves.)

GEDOW

The GEDOW are the invading alien organization of season 2 (which has yet to be seen in English). Gedow's goal is to use their various monsters and footsoldiers to corrupt a movie and alter the ending, causing the film to radiate with darkness. Its members are:

* The Black Emperor: Leader of the GEDOW. Pilots a battle machine. The Black Emperor is a super hero called "Jet Black", Joe's father, owner of the Movie Studio and Captain Blue's best friend. He turned evil by the Black V-watch and the black film. He was freed from the black film corruption by Joe and Silvia. He is described as being the one who gave Captain Blue his scar.
* Dr. Cranken: The Black Emperor's right-hand man and Mad Scientist. He appears to be a half-human, half-squid being who head is half machine.
* Miss Bloody Rachel: A golden "Serial Killer Android" created by Dr. Cranken. At mid season, she becomes an ally for Joe.
* Big John (28): A Tyrannosaurus Rex-like agent of the Gedow who is codenamed "Drill Sergeant." He is created by the conversion of the Captain Blue Device on a small baby Tyrannosaurus in a prehistoric movie. His debut served to introduce Captain Blue Junior's "true henshin."
* Cameo Leon (34): A Chameleon monster created by Dr. Cranken, codenamed "Cyber Phantom." Speaks incredibly quickly and appears to be rather simple-minded (in other words, he talks faster than he thinks).
* Frost Tiger (44): A tiger-like agent of Gedow codenamed "Blizzard Hazard." He is the brother of Fire Leo and fashioned himself after archetypal samurai characters. He bears no grudge against Joe unlike his brother, but wishes to fight him to see if Joe is a worthy opponent.
* Flatties: The standard Gedow grunts.

Episodes

Whilst it is not noted in the list, the Japanese names of each episode had "Episode!" (の巻; "no Maki") at the end of their titles (for example, episode one's full name was "The Man Named Joe! Episode!"). This is a trait that anime shows occasionally pick up; "Sgt. Frog", for example, has "De arimasu" attached to the end of each episode title while "Tenchi Universe" had each episode title (bar the "Space and time adventures" miniarc) begin with "No need for...".

This trait has not been picked up in the US televised broadcast of the show (mostly because the episode card is cut for each episode). In addition, the U.S. broadcast began with episode 5 (likely to introduce Captain Blue Junior), with the first three episodes not being shown until a month later. Episode 4 was intended to be broadcast June 17, 2006, but the schedule was altered two weeks ahead of time. [http://tv.tribune.com/whatson/kids/0,1181,wbdc-18,00.html]

# Just a Dude Named Joe ("The Man named Joe") (December 16, 2005)
# What's-His-Name to the Rescue! ("I Got It! The Legendary Special Attacks") (December 16 2005)
# Dude, Did You Say "Viewtiful"? ("I am...Viewtiful Joe!") (December 16 2005)
# Tutus to you, too ("Silvia S.O.S!") (DVD only; was not broadcast in the U.S. for unknown reasons)
# Howdy, Partner! ("Introducing: Capt. Blue Junior!") (November 5 2005) (first episode to air in the U.S.)
# Junior Sucks It Up ("Come On, Six Machine!") (November 12 2005)
# Attack of the Slugoon Platoon "(Fear! Suragon's Appearance)" (November 19 2005)
# Fire on the Mountain "(What? Our Hero is Disqualified?)" (November 26 2005)
# Roamin' Holiday "(Large Disturbance! The Hero of the Festival!)" (December 3 2005)
# No Kidding "(Super Robo Grancharulk!)" (December 10 2005)
# When Pigments Fly "(The Day the World Loses its Color)" (December 17 2005)
# Dude, Where's My V-Watch "(The Stolen V-Watch)" (January 7 2006)
# The Fugtive From Beyond the Screen "(Jadow's Fugitive)" (January 14 2006)
# Jadow Greatest Hits Collection "(Actual Records! Jadow's Battle is Confirmed)" (January 21 2006)
# To Have and to Hold Captive"(The Plan of Wedding Bells)" (January 28 2006)
# A Fairy's Tale ("The Pine Tree Peninsula and the Fairy Flower") (February 4 2006)
# Captain Blue vs. the Squid of Inescapable Doom?! "(Captain Blue Returns)" (February 11 2006)
# V-Watch Out!"(The V-Watch Panic)" (February 18 2006))
# V Is For… Veggie-Burger?! "(Chin Up, You'll probably Walk!)" (February 25 2006)
# Express Train to Yesterday "(It's Not Time to Play Around!)" (March 4 2006)
# Bianco Billy Rides Again "(Junior: Crisis Attack!)" (March 25 2006)
# Cleanliness is Next to Escape-liness "(Silvia's Big Escape)" (April 22 2006)
# Crush Hour "(Climactic Battle! Joe VS Alastor!)" (April 29 2006)
# Hero Takes a Fall "(Revival! Six Majin)" (May 6 2006)
# In the Belly of the Jadow Beast "(Decisive Battle! Infiltrate Jadow's Base!)" (May 13 2006)
# It All Comes Down to a Dude Named Joe "(We Still Have Tomorrow!)" (May 20 2006)
# The New Enemy! Gedow's Invasion
# Junior's Henshin
# Silvia the Storm-Calling Woman
# Wild, Wild Kick!
# The Alien Next Door
# Fierceness! The Cannon Race
# A lot of heroes!
# Reclaiming the Black Diamond!
# A kind mysterious person from Gedow?!
# The target is Joe!
# Burning Metal Heart!
# Revived Black Wings!
# Enemy is Captain Blue!
# Crumbling! Movieland
# Courageously engraving the Earth!
# Raw hook-up! Joe VS Junior
# Sprocket's love for glasses!
# The Flaming Lion Returns!
# Gedow's Romantic Operation!
# Rachel's Treasured Item
# Actual Records! Gedow's Battle is Confirmed!
# Fierce Battle! Eternal Rival!
# Triumph! Gedow Destroyed!
# Exhibition! Viewtiful Film Festival!
# Tomorrow's Hero is You!

Cast

Unlike the games (which feature English voices even in the main Japanese releases), the English cast for the anime is entirely different, since it is a non-union operation. However, Kevin Michael Richardson, the voice of Fire Leo and Hulk Davidson, provides his voice for the commercial breaks." The Japanese version of the anime uses the same cast from the Japanese-dubbed version of the games.The Brazilian Portuguese voices are only for the anime version, since the game wasn't dubbed in Brazil.

Theme songs

"Japanese"

*Openings
# "Brighter Side" by SaGa (Ep 1-26)
# "Brighter Side" V.2 by SaGa (Ep 27-38)
# "Spirit Awake" by SaGa (Ep 39-42)
# "Spirit Awake" V.2 by SaGa (Ep 43-51)

*Endings
# "And You" by SaGa (Ep 1-19)
# "And You" V.2 by SaGa (Ep 20-38)
# "Shangri-La Village / Tougenkyou" by Amasia Landscape (Ep 39-51)

"English"

*Opening
# "Brighter Side" V.2 by SaGa

*The name of Joe's flying machine, Six machine was renamed in the English dub to Machine Six. There is speculation that it was renamed because its original name sounded close to the phrase "Sex machine". Also Six Majin was renamed to Robo-Six. As of this writing, there is no conclusive information as to why these changes were made.

*In the English dub of the first episode, Captain Blue tells Joe that to transform he must say the words "Henshin-a-go-go". This is inconsistent with the video game, in which Blue tells Joe simply to say the word "Henshin" (As Captain Blue himself does to transform). In the game, Joe himself made up the 'a-go-go, baby' moments before his first transformation.

*Unlike in the games, Joe can actually block in the anime.

*Alastor's wedding outfit from episode 15 bears a resemblance to the attire worn by Sparda in the video game Devil May Cry.

*There is a pair of characters who parody the Men in Black, and episodes that parody Captain Tsubasa and Speed Racer. One episode even features characters who parody Charlie's Angels.
*Although the Gedow arc is loosely based on the events of Viewtiful Joe 2, Dark Hero Jet Black and Dark Kaizer never appear.

*In the American version of the Anime, Joe's middle finger was edited out in his henshin transformation sequence and most other times the signal is used, this slightly impacts on the meaning of the hand signal as Joe's signal is supposed to look like the letters "VJ" and now looks more akin to a "Hang-Loose" or "Call me" sign. It is not clear why the hand signal was edited from the dub, and in fact Joe can be seen briefly doing the correct hand signal twice during the third episode. Once when taunting Bruce and again at the end while posing.

*This anime is the first anime on Kids WB to retain its Japanese opening song and lyrics (as opposed to Sailor Moon which had the opening song but different lyrics), however, the song is cut for time to reflect the shorter time for its American created opening (something that, curiously, didn't happen with Sailor Moon, whose English dub also had an American opening).

* In the English dub Silvia's super hero alter ego is renamed from "Sexy Silvia" (which was also used in the games) to "Go-Go Silvia". This name may or may not have been chosen because of the phrase "Henshin-a-Go-Go, Baby!". While it is widely assumed that the change was made because of the "suggestive" nature of the name, there is no conclusive information as to the official reason for the change.

* In the English dub Sprocket's jumpsuit is always zipped up completely, though it was originally unzipped (showing large amounts of cleavage) and one of her signature moves was to zip it up. This move was eliminated in the dub by cutting out the scenes, resulting in Sprocket having much less screen time than in the original.

*In Brazil and Latin America, the show was aired completely uncut, but strangely, some names changed, like Alastor becoming Arastoru (which sounds like the Japanese pronounce) and Sprocket becoming Supu Rocket. Also, "Henshin a Go-Go Baby" was translated to "Transformación! , Vamos Baby!" (Transformation!, Let's go Baby!)and in Portuguese "Transformação! Chegou a hora, Baby!".

*The opening sequence of the first three Japanese episodes depict Captain Blue Jr. as having red hair. This was changed by the fourth episode, where he had blond hair. Junior himself was not featured until the fifth episode.

*Many of the episodes in the second season makes references to several movies such as "Men In Black", "Charlie's Angels" and "The Wizard of Oz".

External links

* [http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/vj/ TV Tokyo Website]
*Tv.com show|id=33897|title=Viewtiful Joe
*imdb title|id=0464782|title=Viewtiful Joe