Viewtiful Joe | |
![]() Viewtiful Joe Volume 1 DVD cover | |
ビューティフル ジョー (Byūtifuru Jō) | |
---|---|
Genre | Action, comedy, superhero[1][2] |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Takaaki Ishiyama |
Written by | GGB |
Music by |
|
Studio | Group TAC |
Licensed by | |
Original network | TV Tokyo |
English network | |
Original run | October 2, 2004 – September 24, 2005 |
Episodes | 51 (Japanese) 26 (English) |
Viewtiful Joe[lower-alpha 1] is an anime series based on the video game series of the same name. The series loosely adapts the first two titles in the series, Viewtiful Joe and Viewtiful Joe 2, while introducing several original characters and scenarios. The series, comprising fifty-one episodes, was shown every Saturday on the Japanese television station TV Tokyo from October 2, 2004, until September 24, 2005. The show was licensed by anime distributor Geneon Entertainment, with its first twenty-six episodes airing in the United States on Kids' WB.[3][4] It was taken off the air when the block was moved to The CW.[5]
Viewtiful Joe was later licensed for distribution in other parts of the world by MGM Television. The anime debuted in the United Kingdom on Jetix on July 2, 2007.[6] Viewtiful Joe premiered on Cartoon Network Brazil on July 3, 2006, and ran again in the country's RedeTV! in HD on November 27, 2006.[7][8] It aired in Mexico starting on July 4, 2006.[9] On June 23, 2008, the show began airing on Cartoon Network in other parts of Latin America.[10] In 2009, Viewtiful Joe became available on Crunchyroll's streaming service for its users outside Asia.[11]
Plot[]
Following the games' storyline, movie lover Joe and his girlfriend Silvia enjoy a seemingly normal trip to the movies to see an action flick starring Joe's idol, Captain Blue, when suddenly the leader of the evil Jadow force reaches out of the screen and takes Silvia into the movie. Joe is forced to follow her by Captain Blue's mecha, Six Machine (renamed "Machine Six" in the English anime dub), and meets Captain Blue in the flesh who grants Joe the power to become an action movie hero in his own right called Viewtiful Joe.[12]
Characters[]
- Joe: He is a fanboy of movies who gets to live his dream as Viewtiful Joe while he saves Silvia from Jadow. He assumes his superhero outfit via the catchphrase "Henshin-a-Go-Go, Baby!!" He is often distracted by double cheeseburgers and doesn't take a lot of things seriously.
- Silvia: Joe's love interest and partner. In the beginning of the series, she was abducted by Jadow for their evil plan to succeed. After Shadow's defeat, Silvia obtained a V-Watch from Captain Blue so she can team up with Joe as Sexy Silvia (in the English anime dub Go-Go Silvia) instead of being the "damsel-in-distress".
- Junior: Another self-proclaimed hero worshipper like Joe, only younger. He lived in Blue Town, which was named after Captain Blue, serving as its protector Captain Blue Jr. Despite his jealousy for Joe being Blue's successor, Junior decided to become Joe's sidekick and offered his knowledge of Movieland as a helping hand. As the series progresses into the Gedow arc, Junior received the V-Yoyos from Captain Blue, assuming his new superhero outfit via the phrase "Henshin-a-Yo-Yo, Baby!!"
- Captain Blue: Joe's idol and mentor. He gave Joe the V-Watch which enables him to use his VFX powers. In season two, he was transformed into the "Captain Blue Device" by the Black Emperor, which Gedow uses to create monsters. The Black Emperor gave him the scar on his face.
- Alastor: An agent of Jadow that uses the nicknames "The Midnight Thunder Boy" and "Blade Master." Though he was helping Jadow, Alastor doesn't care about their goals, but instead seeking out the ultimate battle, and can be considered an antihero to an extent. He considers himself Joe's rival, despite questioning Joe's methods. Alastor has the habit of watching over Joe during his adventures through Movieland and the two tend to act more like friends rather than enemies, becoming a perfect example of text-book frenemies. He was also the one who gave Joe the inspiration for his hero name. During Fire Leo's fight with Joe, Alastor restrained Fire Leo as they both fell into the void that surrounds Jadow headquarters, but Alastor promised to survive so he and Joe can finally settle their rivalry. Following the event Alastor lost his powers and could only restore them by a solar eclipse. During the time his power was lost, he appears in his normal form giving the heroes advice and sometimes help in fights. His power is restored to him during a solar eclipse.
- Sprocket: Coordinator of Jadow and second in command of the organization. She is one of the few characters who is actually from the real world, being a member of Blue's film crew who was pulled into Movieland. She is annoyed with the antics and incompetence of Jadow's henchmen Charles III, Hulk Davidson, and Gran Bruce. When Jadow was no more, she along with Charles, Hulk, and Bruce joined up with Gedow.
- Almighty Leader: The leader of Jadow, the antagonistic organization of the anime's first season. When Joe managed to get into Jadow headquarters, he found Silvia, only to see her abducted by the evil leader. Once Joe got to the stadium, "Almighty Leader" was revealed to be none other than Captain Blue, who attempted to break Joe's spirit and thus devastated Joe mentally before destroying him physically. But the words of those Joe had befriended in his adventures enabled Joe's confidence to return and fight Blue back. Piloting the King Blue giant robot, Blue was defeated by Joe in Six Majin.
- The Black Emperor: Leader of the Gedow, the invading alien organization of the anime's second season whose goal is to use their various monsters and foot soldiers to corrupt a movie and alter the ending, causing the film to radiate with darkness. Pilots a battle machine. The Black Emperor is a superhero named Jet Black, Joe's father, owner of the theater and Captain Blue's best friend. He turned evil by the Black V-Watch and the Black Film. He was freed from the Black Film's corruption by Joe and Silvia. In episode 50, it is confirmed he gave Captain Blue his scar with a swipe of his blade.
Media[]
Anime[]
Viewtiful Joe was produced by animation company Group TAC. The producer for the video game franchise, Atsushi Inaba, and his team gave Group TAC its character designs for the video games, as well as original character designs for the animated series.[13] The main cast includes Tomokazu Seki, Natsuko Kuwatani, Makoto Tsumura, Mayumi Asano, Shin-ichiro Miki and Banjō Ginga.[14]
The English version of the anime features voice acting by Jason Palmer, Philece Sampler, Mona Marshall, and Wendee Lee, among others. Bob Papenbrook, under the name John Smallberries, voiced Captain Blue for the show's first twenty-one English dubbed episodes. Papenbrook died on March 17, 2006, due to complications from a chronic lung condition, making Viewtiful Joe his final piece of work.[15] He was replaced by Paul St. Peter for the remainder of the dub.
The U.S. broadcast began with the fifth episode, with the first three episodes not being shown until a month later.[16][17] The show's pilot was localized in the United States by phuuz entertainment.[18] A few censoring edits were made to the English dubbed version of Viewtiful Joe. In Brazil and Spain, the show was aired completely uncut. In the English version, the name of Joe's flying machine, Six Machine, was renamed in the English dub to Machine Six. There is speculation that it was renamed because its original name sounded close to the phrase "sex machine". Also, Six Majin was renamed to Robo-Six. Joe's middle finger was edited out in his henshin transformation sequence. Silvia's super hero alter ego is renamed from "Sexy Silvia" (which was also used in the games) to "Go-Go Silvia". Sprocket's jumpsuit is always zipped up completely, though it was originally unzipped (showing large amounts of cleavage) and one of her signature moves was to zip it up. This move was eliminated in the dub by cutting out the scenes, resulting in Sprocket having much less screen time than in the original.
Episodes of the series have been released on both DVD and UMD.[19] In North America, Geneon partnered with Kids Foot Locker to promote the show by including DVDs with purchases at the shoe retailer.[20]
CDs[]

Cover of Viewtiful Joe CD soundtrack
The Japanese version of Viewtiful Joe features music composed by Takehiko Gokita and Yuusuke Hayashi. The show features two opening themes by the band SaGa. The song "Brighter Side" is used for the first thirty-eight episodes and the song "Spirit Awake" is used for the remaining episodes. "Brighter Side" is also used in the English version of the show.[21] The Japanese version also features the ending theme "And You" by SaGa for the first thirty-eight episodes, and "Tougenkyou" (also known as Shangri-La Village) by Amasia Landscape for the remainder. A 36-track CD was released by Geneon on February 7, 2006, and contains the anime's music, as well as the bonus track "Viewtiful World" from the first Viewtiful Joe game.[22]
SaGa released two CD singles of their vocal songs in Viewtiful Joe. The first one was released on March 30, 2005, and features both the Japanese and English versions of "Brighter Side" and "And You", as well as a DVD containing one music clip and the opening and ending Viewtiful Joe cinematics with the respective songs.[23] The second single was released on August 31, 2005, and features both language versions of the songs "Spirit Awake" and "Wonder", as well as a DVD music clip of the former.[24] In North America, a CD soundtrack was packaged with the first DVD volume.[25]
Film books[]
Five film books for the anime were released by Capcom in early 2005.[26][27] The books consist of manga-style panels of the show's storyline shown with screenshots.
Reception[]
Geneon's press release of the third North American DVD and UMD release of Viewtiful Joe in early 2006 showed that the anime was the top-ranked show in its timeslot for the ages 2–11 Nielsen ratings demographic.[28][19]
Reviews of Viewtiful Joe by various media outlets mostly agreed that the show is faithful to the video games on which it is based, but complained of its animation framerates and English localization. Matt Casamassina of IGN praised the Viewtiful Joe for staying true to its source material. He states, "[...] the episodes never stray too far from the original subject matter. As a result, anybody who played the Joe titles will have a sense of dējā vu as they watch these toons. Viewers who know the franchise's history will find no contradictions in these episodes - merely more back story, most of it entertaining." Despite his appreciation for its artwork, Casamassina was displeased with the show's lack of animation.[12] This was concurred upon by Zac Bertschy of the Anime News Network (ANN), who was also very critical of the show's English dub, giving the first DVD volume an overall "F". Specifically, he found that the localization's attempt to be hip with a nearly constant use of slang in order to cater to younger audiences resulted in a "insultingly bad dub".[21] Carlo Santos, also of ANN, had a similar opinion, and gave the second DVD volume an overall "D". He found fault not only in the voice acting, but the script writing as well. "Joe's vocabulary is all, like, totally, DUDE every time he opens his mouth, and when he's not hamming it up with unconvincing slang, he's spouting lines that are supposed to sound witty but aren't." Santos also noted the series as being too repetitive, but enjoyed the anime's character design, coloring, and visual style taken from the games.[29] Buzz McClain of Video Business asserted that the show is "clearly influenced by the animation style of Hayao Miyazaki", and that its use of narrative is much more linear and easy to follow than other anime.[30]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ "Viewtiful Joe on Kids'WB". Anime News Network. June 21, 2005. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Paul (June 28, 2007). "Jetix UK line up Viewtiful Joe for UK TV; starting in July". Anime UK News. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Cole, Michael (September 1, 2004). "Television is Viewtiful". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Baisley, Sarah (July 21, 2005). "Viewtiful Joe Comes To Kids' WB! This Fall". AWN. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "CW to Replace Kids' WB! Block with 4Kids on Saturdays (Updated)". Anime News Network. October 7, 2007. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Azure (June 23, 2007). "Henshin a-Go-Go baby! Viewtiful Joe on Jetix UK". Otaku News. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Lobão, David Denis (May 19, 2006). ""Viewtiful Joe" nas madrugadas de julho do Cartoon Network" . ohaYO!. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Takano, Andréia (November 27, 2006). "RedeTV! estréia novos desenhos" . Ofuxico. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "nos de anime en TV de Mexico en 2006" . Animexis. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "Cartoon Network estrena la serie Viewtiful Joe" . Pizquita. June 23, 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "Crunchyroll Anime Now on ANN". Anime News Network. April 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ 12.0 12.1 Casamassina, Matt (January 27, 2006). "IGN: Viewtiful Joe - Vol. 1 Review". IGN. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Berghammer, Billy (September 28, 2004). "TGS 2004: Atsushi Inaba Interview". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2005-11-04. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Viewtiful Joe . AT-X. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ DeMott, Rick (March 27, 2006). "Voice Actor Papenbrook Passes Away". AWN. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "Viewtiful Joe Episodes - Season 1-2". TV.com. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ DeMott, Rick (December 16, 2005). "Kids' WB! Throws Holiday Sock Party". AWN. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "phuuz entertainment - projects". phuuz entertainment. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ 19.0 19.1 GameSpot (January 5, 2006). "The Global Phenomenon Viewtiful Joe is Coming to DVD and UMD!". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Johannes, Amy (February 8, 2006). "Kids Footlocker Lures Consumers with DVD Incentives". Promo Magazine. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ 21.0 21.1 Bertschy, Zac (December 27, 2005). "Viewtiful Joe DVD - Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "Viewtiful Joe CD Soundtrack". Right Stuf. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "VIEWTIFUL JOE CD発売!" . TV Tokyo. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "VIEWTIFUL JOE CD発売!" . TV Tokyo. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ IGN DVD (January 5, 2006). "IGN: Viewtiful Joe". IGN. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "ビューティフルジョー オフィシャルフィルムブック vol.1 カプコンオフィシャルブックス (コミック)" . Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "ビューティフルジョー オフィシャルフィルムブック vol.2 (カプコンオフィシャルブックス) (単行本)" . Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ "VIEWTIFUL JOE, Vol. 3". Geneon Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 20, 2006. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ Santos, Carlo (June 16, 2006). "Viewtiful Joe DVD 2 - Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
{{cite web}}
: - ↑ McClain, Buzz (January 23, 2006). "Viewtiful Joe, Vol. 1". Video Business. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
{{cite web}}
:
External links[]
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Viewtiful Joe at TV.com
- Viewtiful Joe at the Internet Movie Database
- Viewtiful Joe (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
Viewtiful Joe series | ||
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Games | Viewtiful Joe • 2 • Red Hot Rumble • Double Trouble! | |
Related | Viewtiful Joe (character) • Anime (episodes) • Hideki Kamiya • Atsushi Inaba • Clover Studio • Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (Ultimate) • Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars |
Group TAC | |
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