G4 showed the debut of the anime version of Iron Man yesterday, and I was finally able to watch it tonight and this isn't the Iron Man that I know.
Tony Stark sets up an Ark Reactor lab in Japan to branch out his need to help other countries by giving Japan free energy to keep them going. Along with helping Japan with a better energy supply, it's giving Tony a chance to try out his new plan in which it involves him retiring as Iron Man and mass producing Iron Men and calling them Dio.
Dio - The mass produced Iron Man
While showing off his arrival in Japan while flying around in a Dio suit with three jets trialling behind him putting on a show for the civilians of Kyoto, something goes terribly wrong with the Dio suit. Tony looses control of the suit miles above ground and crashes right into the ground, the suit is then brought back into Lab 23 - the name for the Ark Lab - for analyzing.
So far, there are only three pilots and only one Dio that needs to be inspected before mass production. One pilot suits up and begins a practice run with the repulsion blasts, the Dio suit then malfunctions once again, but this time the human pilot is not in control. The Dio suit blasts through walls after walls until he gets out of the lab. Once Iron Man hears about this, he suits up in his infamous red and gold armor and flies off towards the renegade Dio.
After some tussling around, Iron Man eventually gets the best of Dio and pulverizes it into the ground. Right after he checks on the pilot still in the suit, Iron Man gets attacked by this scorpion/alien hybrid that calls itself Scorpio. Scorpio is talking about the "Zodiac", which seems to be what Scorpio is part of. Scorpio doesn't match Iron Man's strength though, he eventually uses his repulsion blasts and obliterates him.
Scorpio - Half scorpion half Alien
I really am not digging this adaption of Iron Man at all, nothing seems to be working for him except his charisma that woos the ladies; he still flirts with anything that has a figure and is a girl. His voicing is pretty bad, I can't dig it at all, it sounds too scruffy. Even how he's drawn could use some work, he looks like an evil creeper in some scenes. His actions also are extremely off; Tony would fight as Iron Man until the end and nor will he ever trust anyone in a Iron Man suit unless it's himself or Rhodie. Iron Man is his creation and his responsibility, of all the stuff he's been through with Iron Man, Tony wouldn't let anyone else take on the role. I will say though, the J.J.J. like character for Tokyo Journal was pretty awesome, it even sounded like him.
Creeper Tony trying to lay down some moves on Nanami
All in all, I'll give this episode about a 6/10, it seems to have potential, despite nothing of this screams "Iron Man" to me much. Hopefully the upcoming episodes will change my mind about the whole series. I'll bring you guys a review on the Wolverine anime once I get around to seeing it, I hope it's better than it looks.
