Android Kikaider: The Animation

Android Kikaider: The Animation (人造人間キカイダー THE ANIMATION), the anime adaptation of the Japanese superhero Kikaider, was produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment Visual Works (now Aniplex) and Ishimori Entertainment, and animated by Radix (later Radix Ace) and Studio OX. The series was broadcast on Kids Station from October 16, 2000, to January 8, 2001, with a total of 13 episodes. The anime followed more of the manga, with a darker nature of Jiro's reason to exist.

It was followed by the OVA 4-episode sequel called. Kikaider 01: The Animation (キカイダー01 THE ANIMATION).

An OVA special came with the Kikaider 01 DVD called The Boy with the Guitar: Kikaider vs. Inazuman (ギターを持った少年 -キカイダーVSイナズマン-) which teamed Kikaider with Inazuman, another superhero created by Shotaro Ishinomori. It was based on the manga chapter of Inazuman called The Boy with the Guitar (ギターを持った少年).

An English dubbed version of the anime and OVA aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block in the United States, with the exception of episode 8, which was a recap episode. The final OVA special (Kikaider vs. Inazuman) was never dubbed or released outside of Japan.

Android Kikaider
Dr. Kohmyoji creates Jiro (Kikaider) but an explosion occurs. When Dr Kohmyoji's kids, Mitsuko and Masaru, their father was nowhere to be found, Jiro wandering aimlessly in a remote area eventually meets Mitsuko. Mitsuko teaches Jiro to go into his robot form and about the GEMINI system inside him. The two grow closer together but the relationship development halts when a mysterious flute playing causes Jiro to attack Mitsuko, which causes her to believe he is a mad machine. Jiro inevitably leaves Mitsuko and Masaru in fear of being destroyed. Mitsuko then hires Hanpei Hattori and his apprentice Etsuko Sarutobi to find Jiro and bring him home. Throughout the story, Jiro encounters robots and learns more about Professor Gill and the evil organization DARK. A reoccurring android named Hakaider causes Jiro out of control by whistling (similar to Gill's flute). The more Mitsuko encounters Jiro the more she falls in love with him. When Mitsuko and Jiro reunite, they search for Mistuko's mother who is revealed to be in love with Professor Gill but could not bare the pain of being away from her children and gives them the location to Professor Gill's headquarters right before she killed herself. After they discover the location, Jiro attempts to fight Hakaider alone and also discovers the brain inside Hakaider's head is that of Dr. Kohmyoji's. Dr. Kohmyoji overtakes Hakaider's body before Hakaider could destroy it and infiltrates the headquarters. Once Professor Gill discovers Dr. Kohmyoji is in control he sends his robots to attack them. Jiro was able to give the brain to Hanpei in order to put it back into Dr. Kohmyoji's body. Professor Gill attempts to control Jiro with his flute, but Jiro to is able to overcome it. Hakaider then attempts to kill Professor Gill for betraying him and destroys the place along with Gill. Hanpei, Mitsuko and Etsuko able to escape, but didn't see Jiro escape with them. In the end, Mitsuko has hope that Jiro will return to them.

Kikaider 01
These four OVAs directly follow the conclusion of the 13 episode TV series. Jiro is now battling to save Akira, the son of Professor Gill who survived and transplanted his brain into Hakaider. Gill-Hakaider, supported by the Hakaider Squad and later SHADOW, targets Akira to power his giant-robot Armageddon Lord. Jiro meets his two "older" brothers Ichiro (Kikaider 01) and Rei (Kikaider 00), who lack Jiro's GEMINI system, and are joined by a SHADOW gynoid Bjinder. In the end, Gill successfully captures Akira, and uses the Armageddon Lord to devastate the city from the previous series. Gill plants a submission chip inside Jiro and his android allies. But it unexpectedly subdues Jiro's GEMINI circuit rather than enslave him, making Jiro more human as he ends up destroying his brothers and kills Gill as the Armageddon Lord's generator explodes. Jiro leaves Akira in the hands of a monk scientist that raised Ichiro and reactivated Rei. Afterwards, Jiro then proclaims that having now committed such horrible acts that he is now human and that his heart will forever be in "eternal conflict" as he walks alone into the sunset.

The Boy Who Carried a Guitar: Kikaider vs. Inazuman
Set sometime after Kikaider 01, the cast of the Inazuman manga have a run-in with Jiro after one of their psychic adversaries possesses him in an attempt to murder Saburo, the protagonist of the Inazuman story. As the fight spirals out of control, Jiro's fight for inner peace comes to a head via Saburo's telepathy. The climax of the battle results in Jiro's definitive answers to the questions posed by his autonomy.

Japanese Cast

 * Jiro/Kikaider: Tomokazu Seki
 * Ichiro/Kikaider-01: Shotaro Morikubo
 * Rei/Kikaider-00: Kazuhiko Inoue
 * Mieko/Bijinder: Mitsuko Horie
 * Mitsuko Kohmyoji: Yui Horie
 * Masaru Kohmyoji: Yumiko Kobayashi
 * Dr. Den Kohmyoji: Shōzō Iizuka
 * Etsuko Sarutobi: Etsuko Kozakura
 * Rieko: Sayaka Ohara
 * Futen: Ichirō Nagai
 * Akira: Madoka Akita
 * Saburo/Hakaider: Juurouta Kosugi
 * Chigusa Sakamoto: Minami Takayama
 * Prof. Gill/Gill Hakaider: Shinji Ogawa
 * Green Mantis: Masahiro Ogata
 * Carmine Spider: Masashi Hirose
 * Orange Ant: Jin Yamanoi:
 * Yellow Jaguar Nobuyuki Hiyama
 * Golden Bat: Norio Wakamoto
 * Kuya & Kaito: Hisayoshi Suganuma
 * Red Hakaider: Hidenari Ugaki
 * Silver Hakaider: Kouichi Toochika
 * Blue Hakaider: Takuma Suzuki
 * Shadow Knight: Takeshi Watabe
 * Saburo Kazeda/Inazuman: Kappei Yamaguchi
 * Myoppe: Sayuri Yoshida

English Cast

 * Jiro/Kikaider: Dave Wittenberg
 * Ichiro/Kikaider-01: Derek Stephen Prince
 * Rei/Kikaider 00: Crispin Freeman
 * Mieko/Bijinder: Wendee Lee
 * Mitsuko Kohmyoji: Lia Sargent
 * Masaru Kohmyoji: Barbara Goodson
 * Dr. Den Kohmyoji: Christopher Carrol
 * Hattori Hanpei: Kirk Thornton
 * Etsuko Sarutobi: Melissa Fahn
 * Rieko: Peggy O'Neal
 * Futen: Simon Prescott
 * Akira: Brianne Siddall
 * Saburo/Hakaider: Steven Blum
 * Chigusa Sakamoto: Carolyn Hennesy
 * Prof. Gill/Gill Hakaider: Michael Gregory
 * Carmine Spider: Lex Lang
 * Orange Ant: Peter Lurie
 * Yellow Jaguar, Shadow Knight: Bob Papenbrook
 * Golden Bat: Michael McConnohie
 * Kuya & Kaito: Anthony Pulcini
 * Red Hakaider: Skip Stellrecht
 * Silver Hakaider: Eddie Frierson
 * Blue Hakaider: Steve McGowan
 * Zaddam: Peter Spellos

Android Kikaider: The Animation
English airdates are from its first English dub broadcast on Adult Swim in the United States.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack for the first animated series of Kikaider called Android Kikaider: The Animation Original Soundtrack (人造人間キカイダー ― THE ANIMATION オリジナル・サウンドトラック) was released on December 6, 2000. It was composed by Akira Mitake and distributed by SME Visual Works.

Another Soundtrack called Kikaider 01: The Animation Original Soundtrack (キカイダー01 THE ANIMATION ― オリジナル・サウンドトラック) was released on March 6, 2003. Music was composed by Kaworu Wada and distributed by SME Visual Works.

Reception
On Anime News Network, Zac Bertschy gave the first DVD an overall grade of B.