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Space Adventure Cobra
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is a space opera manga series by Buichi Terasawa of studio Black Sheep. Cobra was originally serialized in the Japanese shonen manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from May 45, 1978 to May 48, 1984. The individual chapters were collected and published in 20 tankobon volumes by Shueisha. The series follows the adventures of Cobra who lived an ordinary life until enemies started hunting him down. Cobra surgically altered his face and erased his own memory to hide from his enemies.
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is a space opera manga series by Buichi Terasawa of studio Black Sheep. Cobra was originally serialized in the Japanese shonen manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from May 45, 1978 to May 48, 1984. The individual chapters were collected and published in 20 tankobon volumes by Shueisha. The series follows the adventures of Cobra who lived an ordinary life until enemies started hunting him down. Cobra surgically altered his face and erased his own memory to hide from his enemies. Cobra starts to regain his memories and unites with his old partner Lady Armaroid and his ship Tortuga. Later in his adventures, Cobra meets the Royal sisters whose map-tattoos lead to treasure.
The Cobra manga has also spawned nine sequel series and one-shots that were serialized in Super Jump and Monthly Comic Flapper. The manga was adapted into a feature length film, a 31 episode anime series that retells the film's story, and two original video animations.
Short stories from the series have been licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media, who released them their Viz Select Comics imprint. The full series was published in France by Daibex and later Taifu Comics, in Sweden by Epix Förlag and in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing. The series has received mixed reviews from critics.
Characters
is the main protagonist and titular character of the series. His signature weapon is the "Psycho-Gun"—a cybernetic arm-laser connected directly to his brain and capable of targeting enemies without having a line-of-sight. After extended use, it drains Cobra's mental energies. He also carries a "Python 77 Magnum" revolver as a backup weapon. In the anime adaptation, Cobra is voiced by Nachi Nozawa. In the North American English dub, he is voiced by Dan Woren.
is Cobra's long-time partner in adventure, Lady represents the serious half of the duo. She and Cobra share an unspoken but deep trust, and each always comes through to the other's aid in times of need. Lady is a top-class Armaroid, a mechanical being whose manufacture was based on advanced technology recovered from the ancient lost civilization of Mars. She possesses superhuman strength but does not carry a weapon and is rarely involved in direct physical combat. When Cobra is off on adventure, Lady typically supports him as the pilot of their spaceship Tortuga. Lady Armaroid is voiced by Yoshiko Sakakibara in Japan and by Joan-Carol O'Donnal in the United States.
is a part of the Milky Way patrol of the Royal sisters. Jane was born from Captain Nelson along with her other triplets. The royal sisters have maps tattoo'd on each other, leading to treasure. Jane has a tattoo of a butterfly on her back, a piece of the treasure map. She is voiced by Toshiko Fujita in Japan and by Barbara Goodson in the United States.
is a part of the Milky Way patrol of the Royal sisters. Dominque is very strong and has great cooperation with Cobra. She is voiced by Gara Takashima in Japan and Wendee Lee in the United States.
is also part of the Milky Way patrol and the third of the Royal sisters. She is voiced Yuko Sasaki in Japan and by Mari Devon in the United States.
is Cobra's archenemy. He sees Cobra as the only man worthy of being his adversary. Crystal Boy is a humanoid cyborg with a golden skeleton made from indestructible glass. He works for the mysterious "Guild", lead by Lord Salamander. Crystal Boy's signature weapon is a claw he can attach to his right hand. It can crush anything, and he also uses it for slitting his victims' throats. The claw has a built in laser gun, can be used as a grappling hook, or fired as a projectile. Crystal Boy was voiced by Kiyoshi Kobayashi in Japan.
is the captain of the Snow Gorillas and the spy of the Milky Way patrol. Sandra is very ruthless and cold-hearted. Sandra is voiced by Reiko Tajima in Japan and by Catherine Bettistone in the United States.
is is a deep voiced man dressed in a samurai's armor and is enigmatic both in name and in personality. Having singlehandedly united the Pirates' Guild under his command, Salamander's unquenched ambitions lead him to strive toward absolute control over the galaxy. He rarely appears in person, but demonstrates powerful telekinetic abilities when he does. While never revealed in the anime series, his true identity comes to light in his climatic showdown with Cobra in the manga.
is Cobra's personal robot butler.
Media
Manga
The Cobra manga was originally serialized in the Japanese shonen manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from 1978 through 1984 by Shueisha, and was released under the magazine's Jump Comics line in tankobon format. Cobra was also released in some additional aizoban editions under Jump Comics Deluxe, entitled Cobra: Space Adventure. The manga series was never technically released in the United States, however short stories of the series were released in comic book issues with a dialogue adaptation by American comic artist Marv Wolfman. The comic book issues that were released by Viz Media, then known as "Viz Communications" were put under their Viz Select Comics line. The real manga was published in several other countries. In France, the manga was published by Dybex in 1998, however they finished the series in 1999, their rights expired, and the manga was collected and reprinted by Taifu Comics. The manga was also published in Sweden by Epix Förlag, and in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing.
Cobra was also released in kanzenban form by Shueisha, entitled Space Adventure Cobra: Handy Edition which included volumes one through ten. Shueisha later created three kanzenban magazine series off of the Cobra manga under their Shueisha Jump Remix line: which spanned two volumes, which spanned two volumes, and which spanned three volumes. The magazines were issued in 2002 and 2003. Media Factory, in addition to the publication of Magic Doll for the manga's 30th anniversary, also released a kanzenban magazine off of Cobra, simply called . Cobra was even adaptated into a e-book, , however for only a limited time.
The series is said to have received a Hollywood film offer, however this is unsure and Buichi Terasawa stated that the idea seems "off-the-record." Cobra 30th anniversary whiskey bottles were sold by Charassyu for a limited time.
Sequels
Several follow-up series of Cobra were also published in the seinen manga magazine Super Jump. The first was entitled , which was serialized in the magazine in 1986 back when it was off-shoot special issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, and published in a single tankobon by Shueisha in 1988 under the magazine's Jump Comics Deluxe line. The manga was reprinted in Japan by Media Factory in 2008 for the series' 30th anniversary. Cobra: Seinaru Kishi Densetsu was also published in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing. Later, , a fully colored "computer graphics" manga, was serialized in Super Jump in 1995 and was published in a single tankobon under the same line. Another "computer graphics" follow-up called was also serialized in Super Jump in 2000. Space Adventure Cobra: Magic Doll was also re-serialized in the Monthly Comic Flapper magazine by Media Factory and put under their MF Comics line. The manga was retitled to for the release. After the re-release of that manga, Media Factory published a single volume follow-up to the previous, Media Factory went on and published several more Cobra one-shots: , , , and , all of which were also under MF Comics.
Anime
The manga was adaptated into a movie entitled Cobra: Space Adventure (not to be confused with the previously mentioned aizoban) by TMS Entertainment which was adapted in English as Space Adventure Cobra by Urban Vision Entertainment, translated by the original Japanese comapany and released by Manga Entertainment. The movie was released in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, in France by Déclic Images and in Brazil by Flashstar. Footage from the movie was used in Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend music video. The series was later adaptated into a anime series, an alternate retelling of the movie. The anime adaptation, began airing by TMS Entertainment in 1982, the same year the anime was announced. The anime was directed by Osamu Dezaki and produced by Tatsuo Ikeuchi. The Space Cobra anime was released in box-set form, sub-titled "Perfect Collection". In 2000, the series was released in a DVD box set. In addition to the movie, Space Cobra was released in English by Urban Vision Entertainment under the same title as the film. Space Cobra was licensed into French by Olivier Constantin and into Spanish by Roberto Alexander. Also, the series has spawned two follow-up original video animations and one TV series which were put under the Cobra the Animation line. The first of the series was , a remake of the original anime series, followed by its sequal OVA , followed by the upcoming anime series . All three of the anime were made for the series' 30th anniversary.
Cobra's ground vehicle, the Psychoroid, was included in the Japanese Machine Robo toyline by Popy and Bandai, where it was given the ability to transform into a robot. It was later exported to the United States as part of the Super Gobots toyline under the shortened name "Psycho", designed by Murakami Katsushi.
Video games
The success of the series also led to some arcade and video game adaptations. The first video game developed in 1989 was set for the PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16 in America) entitled . This was followed by , also for the PC Engine, which was released in the United States for the Sega CD as The Space Adventure - Cobra: The Legendary Bandit. In 2005, Namco Bandai Games developed a video arcade game based on the series, Cobra the Arcade. Recently in 2008, many games were developed for the mobile phone by WorkJam based off the Cobra storyline: , , , , and . Pachinko developer Newgin created a Cobra-based pachinko game called CR Cobra, and for the 30th anniversary has made a sequal called . Cobra, Crystal Boy, and Lady Armaroid served as newly included support characters in Jump Ultimate Stars published by Nintendo.
Artbooks
In addition to the Cobra manga, it has been made into two artbooks. Concept designs of the manga were added to a Cobra artbook entitled Cobra Wonder: Concept Design Arts of Cobra World. An artbook focusing on the female characters of the series was released as under Super Jump's Jump Comics Deluxe line.
Reception
Ivevei Upatkoon of EX magazine praised the Cobra manga series as a "rich fantasy" that mostly no one could find equal to any other. He felt the main character took "after James Bond, albeit somewhat on the silly side, and the costumes and bizarre worlds are but a shade shy of plagiarizing Barbarella. He was impressed that the series "is surprisingly devoid of the sexual innuendo and exploitation that anime fans have come to associate with decorative female characters" in that it avoid the sterotypical random beautiful women, and instead creates his own "extreme" world that features "superhuman strength, superhuman senses, fantastically grotesque monsters, inhumanly powerful villains and gorgeous sidekicks." On the downside, having reviewed the title in 2000, Upatkoon notes that modern readers might find the manga so dated they would be discouraged from reading it, despite a growing improvement in artistic quality as the series progresses.
The anime film has received mixed reviews from many critics. Anime News Network of Australia gave the film adaptation a generally positive review with an overall B-rating. Tim Henderson praised the English-translated film for staying very true to the 1978 manga series and "holding its own with a modern audience." Tim stated that the series carries a "love as a power beyond compare" theme to it, which battles with the main character's playboyish air. On the upside, Tim Henderson said that the dub and the original Japanese voices are almost like a history lesson when compared. Overall, Tim said the movie remains a masterpiece and classic that is worth sitting to get to know the mediums foundations. The online Sci-Fi Magazine of the Sci-Fi Channel gave a fair review for the film. Tasha Robinson of Sci-Fi praised the movie for its phychadelic imagery and its energetic plot and she praised the movie even more for its visual weight and texture. On the downside, Tasha said that the characters are nothing more than shallow stereotypes. Tasha went on and said, just like the previous reviewer, "magical-energetic-power-of-love" does not work with the movie, but however it is a "classic head trip" and "the surface is only what matters."
Charles Packer of Sci-Fi Online gave the film adaptation a negative review with a "5" rating. Charles said the the plot is overall, pure nonsense. He explained that the animation looks like that of a saturday morning cartoon. On the upside he said that the animation also crosses between that of a old anime and a new one, complete with interesting "psychedelic moments." He said the dialogue is almost laughable, however the the voice actors are decent in both languages. He complained the disc contained no extras except for trailors, one of which looked as if it came from a bootleg. Matt of the Sci-Fi-London Film Festival website gave the film a very positive review. Matt explained that he should seriously hate the movie but however he states the movie has a "cheesy, easygoing charm" that makes him smile. He states that the movie has a very straightforward plot and screams “cliché” to him, and is old enough to have invented some. Complimenting the film, he said that the main character is like the "animation equivalent of Han Solo" with a similar personality. He praised the dubbing of the film and the animation.
External links
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