Writer Masumi Kaneda was a writer on the Japanese version of the Transformers TV series and supervising producer on Transformers: The Movie, so he tied the manga in strongly to the show’s continuity. It turns out that maybe I should’ve remembered the target audience. I’ve always been curious about a uniquely Japanese take on the franchise that started there, was reworked by Americans, then thrived in Japan, even cranking out toys years after the original Generation 1 line dried up in the US.

I wasn’t ready to catch it, dropped the leader of the Autobots on the thinly-carpeted concrete below, and cried for hours when his leg snapped off.Īfter I found out that Viz was finally bringing stateside a translation of the original ‘80s manga, I jumped at the chance to do the review. To a point, it was almost too much – I’m still haunted by the time I took Optimus Prime to kindergarten show and tell, only to have a classmate toss him back to me. It imbued the toys with so much depth that you couldn’t help but bond with each one. Each character had multiple paragraphs of combat history, special weapons and personality quirks. I loved the duality of the toys – one minute, you’re making Sideswipe and Bumblebee drag race across your living room floor, but when Starscream comes flying in to cause trouble, change them into their robot modes and start the throwdown! On top of that, though, they did an incredible job of bringing depth to the characters, thanks to Hasbro’s collaboration with Marvel when they designed the line. But the one that hit me the most was Transformers. I’m definitely a child of the ‘80s, and loved all the toyetic series aimed at young boys at that time. But that love for giant robots has to start somewhere, and for me, it began 4 million years ago on the distant planet Cybertron. I’ve only branched out from there, whether it’s older series like Gunbuster and The Big O or newer ones like Gurren Lagann and SSSS.Gridman.

The first anime I dove into full-bore was Gundam Wing. When it comes to anime genres, I’ve always leaned heavily towards mecha.

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