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Old School Anime Review - Kekko Kamen

How do I describe this one...?

By Greg SeebregtsPublished 2 years ago 5 min read
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This one's going to be very weird (Otaquest

This might be the shortest entry into the Old School Anime Reviews series.

Kekko Kamen is a 4 episode OVA series that ran from 1991 to 1992. It's based on the manga of the same name. The manga was written by Go Nagai as a joke and parodies Moonlight Mask (Gekko Kamen), a popular Japanese superhero that was on TV at the time. Nagai put it together as a joke and sent it to his editor thinking they'd have a good laugh and move on.

Instead, his editor loved the idea and the series ran in Monthly Shonen Jump from 1974 to 1978 and then collected into 5 volumes from 1976 to 78.

I reviewed the manga about four years ago and I figured that I'd revisit the manga and the anime and do a more in-depth review and comparison. This time, however, the review is focused on the anime adaptation.

A Weird Plot

A weird superhero if ever I saw one (CBR)

The series is set at the Spartan Institute, a boarding school ruled over by the headmaster, Big Toenail of Satan. The school is known for the brutal methods used to educate students. The students in question, live in isolation; away from their families and any form of help from the outside world. They have ridiculous schedules for classes and bad grades result in severe punishment - torture. The school's reputation for putting out students into top-ranking universities and the isolation of the facility allows them to get away with things that would get any normal school shut down.

Unfortunately, like any villainous scheme or activity; there's always a fly in the proverbial ointment. This fly is Kekko Kamen, a mostly naked female vigilante who appears whenever the students are being abused. Oh, and if you think I'm kidding about the 'mostly naked' bit; I'm not. Apart from a mask, gloves, boots, and some sort of scarf thing; Kekko Kamen is parading around in her birthday suit. The teachers are, of course, total perverts and greatly appreciate this fact.

That 'appreciation' is something that Kekko Kamen uses to her advantage; distracting her villain of the week with her beauty before knocking their lights out!

This is probably the hardest plot synopsis to give while keeping a straight face. The series is basically: 'practically naked superhero uses her skills to fight evil teachers.' It's not easy to describe this series with a straight face - not when you're talking to people who aren't fans of anime.

The Good, the Bad, and the Very Freakin' Weird!

So what, if anything, actually works in this series?

Well...the concept's interesting and there is a fair amount of potential for greatness.

Goofiest villains ever (Anime Asteroid)

The voice acting is decent and the artwork is...nice - sort of. As far as the comedy aspect goes...it's...okay, I guess. Okay, you know what? I think that's a good place to kind of move into the bad stuff.

I said the comedy aspect was 'okay' and that's because it falls flat most of the time. Why is that? Well, because most of the jokes make absolutely no sense! Look at it this way, when a comedian tells a joke they typically set the joke up first. They'll tell some sort of story or make some or other statement that leads to the punchline and provokes laughter from the audience. You see where I'm going with this?

Inappropriate, Nonsensical 'Humor'

In Kekko Kamen, it feels like there is no setup to the jokes; just a lot of punchlines without context. Compounding matters, most of the jokes are...well...I guess 'inappropriate' and, maybe, 'weird' would be good words to use.

As an example, let me share some quotes with you. In the first episode, where Ben and Toenail meet in the school's faculty room and the headmaster is seemingly propositioning two female students - and, oh, how I wish I was joking. Believe it or not, it gets worse!

The Spritle of the series (Twitter)

Ben shares a plan to capture Kekko Kamen with him. This leads to the following exchange:

Big Toenail of Satan: "Well, teacher Ben...you're pretty perverted, aren't you?

Ben: "Oh, thank you; but you're the biggest pervert of all!"

Big Toenail of Satan: "Yep, that's true; being a pervert has its privileges!"

What possible privileges come from being a pervert? This joke makes no sense at all! Now, would it have made more sense if we'd heard the plan? Yeah, maybe but even then the last joke still makes no sense; there's no reason for that line about privileges to exist! It's just a wildly awkward and inappropriate joke that makes no sense.

Source Material: Surely the Manga is Better?

At least he cares about his students doing well...sort of... (Tumblr)

Usually, you turn to the source material for answers to the mysteries from the adaptation. In this case, that's not an option. Why? Because the manga is just as bad, as adaptation.

It's much the same as the OVA, the only real difference is that the manga is violent...very, very violent. The artwork is mostly the same but there are instances of nightmare fuel illustrations. The humor is still nonsensical punchlines without the setup and wildly inappropriate at times. If anything the OVA toned things down quite a bit - which is saying a lot!

With that said the manga has more actual funny humor - where the joke is actually set up first and then executed - which I appreciated. Even with that said, it's not a manga that I'd recommend.

Anime vs. Manga: Which is Better?

This is something of a loaded question because everyone's going to have a different opinion. The anime, for all its flaws, is easier to get through than the manga. On the other hand, the manga contains more detail and world-building which gives more context to some of the humor (not that it helps). Overall, it depends on what you're looking for but I'm not sure if I'd recommend this one to anyone outside of very close friends.

It may not be perfect, but there's no denying that Kekko Kamen has left quite a legacy that will probably continue for a good while. I hope everyone enjoyed the review, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!

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About the Creator

Greg Seebregts

I'm a South African writer, blogger and English tutor; I've published 1 novel and am working on publishing a 2nd. I also write reviews on whatever interests me. I have a YouTube Channel as well where I review books, and manga and so on.

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