Robot Keiji (Manga)

This article is about a manga in Robot Keiji.

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Robot Detective (ロボット刑事, Robotto Keiji) is a 1973 manga based on the television series of the same name, from Weekly Shōnen Magazine Issue 1 and serialize started about 3 months before the broadcast of the first episode of the live-action version, up to Issue 41 in the same year.

This manga is written by the show's creator Shotaro Ishinomori and published by Sun Wide Comics. Similar to Kamen Rider and Android Kikaider, it is a tie-in manga with the TV version, and the manga ended when the TV version was broadcast.

About this work Ishinomori took advantage of making a masked hero whose facial expression did not move, and like Kikaider, the theme was to reveal imperfections and stupidity of humans by letting machines approach them. Unlike "Rider" and "Kikaider", which were unable to keep up with the original theme due to changes in the TV version and changes in the leading role, the theme of this work is consistent.

Differences from the TV Series

K's Ray Gun

The Joker

• The story itself is different.
• K rarely undresses in battle. However, there were two scenes of fighting under the sea, in which case he took off his clothes and fought. It originally had a function equivalent to Blow-Up, but he was dared to seal it until he decided to live like a machine at the end.
• The organization name of the enemy is "R.R.K.K." (ロボットレンタル株式会社, Robotto Rentaru Kabushikigaisha, lit. "Robot Rental Corporation").
• The names of the Kirishima siblings are Reiko and Ryuji.
• K has a built-in artificial brain grown from brain cells of Reiko Kirishima's mother, and is a kind of cyborg reminiscent of Hakaider, not a robot. Reiko said to K, "Incorporating the three principles of Asimov... There was only a blueprint of a robot with the same brain.".

Characters

TBA

Notes

• Much like his mentor Osamu Tezuka, Shotaro Ishinomori would sometimes reuse and modify character models from his previous works.
  • In this case, some characters in the manga resemble characters from Cyborg 009 or Kikaider. (Ex. Shiba is Professor Issac Gilmore with shorter hair and a slightly smaller nose.)
• K's Ray Gun resembles The Needlenose Raygun from Cyborg 009.
• The Joker from the TV series is a modified Nissan Fairlady Z, while the manga version loosely resembles a 1970s European sports car with elements of the Fairlady on the front end.