Mega Man
© Capcom/Udon
Mumbling Kitsune: Mega Man: The Future Brings the Past
By: Nadia OxfordDate: Sunday, May 18, 2008
The nice thing about anime fandom is how dependable it can be. Anime enthusiasts are often video game enthusiasts, and vice versa. Many of us got our earliest exposure to Japanese animation through the monster and character designs found in early Nintendo games; at the time, they seemed so exotic, and the association has stuck. In turn, video games have grown to adopt the detailed plots often found in anime and manga series.
This mutually-beneficial relationship will yield particularly interesting fruit for Mega Man fans at the end of May. Udon Publishing is releasing a translation of Mega Man Zero: The Official Complete Works, a detailed assembly of character and enemy information from the Mega Man Zero series. Mega Man Zero was made famous on the Game Boy Advance, though it's since been succeeded by the Mega Man ZX series on the Nintendo DS.
Though this information is pretty exciting for advanced fans of the series (so to speak), the hundreds of thousands of former NES owners are probably wondering what this means for the original incarnation of the blue big-eyed robot. Everyone over the age of twenty carries fond memories of pizza, Kool-Aid and many productive hours foiling the dastardly plans of the evil scientist, Dr Wily. The Mega Man series has spawned about half a dozen spin-offs since its start in the '80s, making the very name pretty intimidating.
Fortunately, the translation of Mega Man Zero: Complete Works bodes well for the original blue hero of justice. If the guide does well, there's a chance someone might notice and choose to translate some titles from the vast library of Mega Man manga over in Japan (where he is better known as Rockman).
America has already received a localisation of the Mega Man Battle Network manga from Viz, and in fact the very last volume was completed and released not so long ago. But the Battle Network series, much like the Zero series, reflects a “new” Mega Man. Is there any plain and simple original series manga that's worth a translation?
In a word, absolutely. Hitoshi Ariga, the manga-ka who is responsible for adapting The Big O into manga format, produced Rockman-related works that are full of adventure, humour and personality. In Ariga's mangas, Rockman predictably fights off Dr Wily's attempts at world domination (and it's worth noting that Ariga draws the evil scientist wearing sunglasses and a bitchin' skeleton tie), but a great deal of the manga is also spent on Rockman's home life. He's shown enjoying his downtime, as we all do. He plays games and sports, mingles with civilians and puts up with the humiliation of having his sister, Roll, drag him shopping.
In fact, Ariga's works are very obviously inspired by Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, wherein the robot-boy hero likewise enjoyed his homelife in addition to his “job.” Both series carry a cast of memorable characters and are a great deal of fun to read.
It's worth hoping that the translation of Mega Man Zero: The Official Complete Works will usher in good times for fans. For now, get equipped with Udon's latest on May 28th.
