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The Golden Bat

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The Golden Bat
黄金バット
(Ōgon Batto)
Anime television series
Original networkYomiuri TV, Nihon TV
Original run April 1, 1967 – March 23, 1968
Episodes52

Ōgon Bat (黄金 バット, Ōgon Batto, lit. "Golden Bat"), also known as Phantaman or Phantoma, is a seminal Japanese superhero created by writer Ichiro Suzuki and illustrator Takeo Nagamatsu in 1930. Ōgon Bat is considered to be the first Japanese superhero.[1] Some sources say that the character first appeared in a pulp novel,[citation needed] while others say that he debuted in Kamishibai, a traveling show in which a sequence of pictures is narrated by a storyteller.[2] He was popular enough to survive the decline of kamishibai following World War 2, being translated into manga and anime form.

A live action movie was filmed in 1966, starring Sonny Chiba. A 52 episode anime series was produced a year later.

Ōgon Bat was golden, had a skeletal face and muscular body. He wore a high collared black and red cape and carried a pointed scepter that was able to conjure lightning and cause minor earthquakes. His appearance would be heralded by a little golden bat flying in, followed by a spooky, reverberating laughter that seemed to come from everywhere.

Ōgon Bat was actually a protector from Ancient Atlantis, who was put into suspended animation in an Egyptian-like sarcophagus (probably hinting at the pseudoscientific rumor that Atlanteans were the originators of Egyptian civilization), to be awakened in the future to fight the forces of evil.

In modern times, Ōgon Bat had been discovered by Prof. Yamatone's family and a little orphan girl called Marie in a tomb in modern Egypt. The tomb's inscription described him as a “god of justice and protector of the weak”. When Yamatone's family was threatened by Mazo (マゾ), Dr. Nazō's main henchman, Marie started to cry and beg for help. Her tears fell on Ōgon Bat's body and re-animated him. From then on, he would come whenever Marie would ask for his help.

His main antagonist was Dr. Erich Nazō (ナゾー), the leader of a crime syndicate bent on world domination. Nazō wore a black mask with Batman-like ears and had 4 different colored cat eyes which could each fire a different deadly beam. He also had no lower body, and hovered around atop a mini-flying saucer. Nazō also had a metal pincer in place of his right hand and had a habit of booming the name “LOMBROSO”.

Ōgon Bat's other great villain was Kurayami Bat (暗闇バット Dark Bat), a somewhat darker version of himself who he was supposedly created to fight.

Ōgon Bat was known as Fantasmagórico in most of Latin America, Fantomas in Brazil, Fantaman in the Italian dub and Phantoma in Australia. Dr. Nazō was called "Dr. Zero", and Kurayami Bat was called "Dr. Death".

In Brazil, the series arrived without an intro and one was quickly spliced together by Cinecastro using scenes from an episode and the theme from another cartoon, Journey to the Center of the Earth. This was also the case for at least 2 other anime series: Shadow Boy and Paaman (Super Dinamo).

Inspiration

In their anime iteration, both Ōgon Bat and his dark counterpart Kurayami Bat bear a striking resemblance to "Skull-Head" Kathulos, an Atlantean sorcerer that is awakened from a state of suspended animation within a case in Egypt during modern times in a tale written by Conan's creator Robert E. Howard. The story was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, October–December 1929.[1]

"– but, oh God, the face! A skull to which no vestige of flesh seemed to remain but on which taut brownish-yellow skin grew fast, etching out every detail of that terrible death's head. The forehead was high and in a way magnificent, but the head was curiously narrow through the temples, and from under penthouse brows great eyes glimmered like pools of yellow fire."

List of episodes

  1. The Birth of Golden Bat
  2. Mammoth Killer
  3. Ge-Georg
  4. Crisis
  5. Man Eating Plants
  6. In Pursuit of the Melon Bombs
  7. Monster Sand Beronya
  8. Space Monster Alligon
  9. Worm Monster Gaigon
  10. The Battle of Uranium Island
  11. Mysterious Finkhamen
  12. Singer's Poison Mushrooms
  13. Mutant 5
  14. Atomic Black Cat
  15. Nero the Destructor
  16. Ghilton, The Man of Stone
  17. Galgar the Monster
  18. The Star of Polynesia
  19. Bat vs. Bat
  20. The Land of the Blue Flame
  21. The Queen of Heart Sigma
  22. The Mysterious Volcano Peron
  23. Black Mask the Thief
  24. The Devil's Ruby
  25. The Robot City
  26. Rayman Bolt
  27. The Eye of Tarangé
  28. Sword of the Axis
  29. Mystery of the Space Bat
  30. ESP Cyborgs
  31. The Ghost Tower
  32. The Devil's Statue
  33. The Invisible Monster Glassgon
  34. The Great World Flood
  35. Underground Monster Mogurā
  36. The Great Explosion
  37. Two-Headed Monster Gegera
  38. The Dinosaur Trap
  39. The Skeleton's Pilotage
  40. The Day of Darkness
  41. The Indian Princess
  42. The Witch Monster Hīdoro
  43. The Cyclops in the Mine
  44. Revenge of the Liger Man
  45. The Death-Bringing Woman
  46. The Bat Hag and The Monster Shelgon
  47. The Mysterious Gerontium 90
  48. Rock Monster Gildon
  49. Mysterious Vampire Men
  50. Circus Monster Gablar
  51. The Resurrection of Dark Bat
  52. The Crumbling of the Nazō Empire

http://www.marumegane.com/seiyu/anime_data/1967/bat.html

Notes and references

References

  1. ^ s:Skull-Face/Chapter 7
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