History Manga / SkullMan

The Skull Man was originally Tatsuo Kagura, the adopted son of a {{Yakuza}} family. He was actually the son of a mad scientist and his wife, secretly mutants, who performed experiments on him and his sister, Maya. Fearing the consequences of the experiments, Tatsuo's grandfather killed his parents and tried to kill Tatsuo. However, Tatsuo was saved by a shape-shifting mutant called Garo, who later raised him. Now, Tatsuo as Skull Man commits serial murders in his attempt to find the killer of his parents. And when he does... (The anime's storyline is [[AlternateContinuity significantly different]].)

** Not to mention that at the end of the 2007 anime, the main character, who has done all he can to do the right thing, [[spoiler:saves the world from being annihilated, dies...and is brought back as ''BLACK GHOST''. As in, the world dominating, cyborg creating, terrorist Black Ghost of ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}''. How's that for a shocker?]]

* LukeIAmYourFather: In the 2007 anime Hayato becomes [[spoiler:Black Ghost]] as well as [[Manga/{{Cyborg 009}} Joe's]] father.

* {{Prequel}}: It isn't obvious until near the end, but the 2007 anime is actually a prequel to Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}. [[spoiler: Hayato becomes the Skull, leader of the Black Ghost organization, and Kiriko gives birth to Joe Shimamura in the epilogue.]]

* ScarfOfAsskicking: [[{{Cyborg 009}} Joe Shimamura]] in the 36th Chapter and [[KamenRider Detective Tsuyoshi Hioka]] in the last chapters of the 1998 manga.

** [[spoiler: It's also reminiscent of the Acceleration Ability featured in ''{{Cyborg 009}}'']]

** Not to mention that at the end of the 2007 anime, the main character, who has done all he can to do the right thing, [[spoiler:saves the world from being annihilated, dies...and is brought back as ''BLACK GHOST''. As in, the world dominating, cyborg creating, terrorist Black Ghost of ''{{Cyborg 009}}''. How's that for a shocker?]]

* LukeIAmYourFather: In the 2007 anime Hayato becomes [[spoiler:Black Ghost]] as well as [[{{Cyborg 009}} Joe's]] father.

* {{Prequel}}: It isn't obvious until near the end, but the 2007 anime is actually a prequel to {{Cyborg 009}}. [[spoiler: Hayato becomes the Skull, leader of the Black Ghost organization, and Kiriko gives birth to Joe Shimamura in the epilogue.]]

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: The opening song is changed in the R1 DVD. Since the record label for the band Tokio ([[KodomoNoOmocha sound familiar?]] ) wouldn't allow their music to be used.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Skull_Man_5885.jpg

!!''SkullMan'' features examples of:

** To be fair, it's all but stated(at least in the anime) that the mutants become insane the moment the transformation begins, with his partners seemingly being the sole exceptions.
With the woman in question, it's clear although she transformed to protect someone she cared about, she was also becoming severely delusional with every passing second. Essentially the options are either kill them with a heavy heart, do nothing and hope they don't go on a rampage or be used as weapons by the government,
or turn them in so they can be used as weapons by the government.

Originally seeing the light of day in a 1970 one-shot manga, ''Skull Man'' was created by ShotaroIshinomori as his own version of the concept that would become ''KamenRider''. It was revived in 1998, shortly after Ishinomori's death, by Kazuhiko Shimato using Ishinomori's notes. A TV Anime debuted in 2007.

* NamesTheSame: Not to be confused with the [[VideoGame/MegaMan Robot Master]].

Not be confused with a [[VideoGame/MegaMan different Skull Man.]] [[Series/KamenRiderDouble or Skull the Kamen Rider, for that matter.]]

* AntiHero : Type V in the SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes.
** Scaled back to Type III in the 1998 manga.

Not be confused with a [[VideoGame/MegaMan different Skull Man.]]

* TallDarkAndBishoujo: Maria in the 1998 manga.

* CuteShotaroBoy: How could we ever miss that Tatsuo Kagura/ Ryuusei Chisato aka The Skull Man could be such a cute boy?

* TheAtoner: Tatsuo Kagura who later on became Ryusei Chisato in the 1998 manga regarding about his action from his *see the Villain Protagonist and Heroic Sociopath below* to a real deal hero.
** Same goes to his sister Maya Chisato.
* TallDarkAndBishoujo: Maria in the 1998 manga.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Skull Man is played in the anime by HiroshiTsuchida.

* CoolMask: Tatsuo Kagura wears one and how much more is the new one?
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Too many to count especially in the 1990's manga. Added further in the anime adaptation.

* ShoutOut: The Skull Man's final blow against the BigBad in the 2007 anime brings to mind [[JojosBizarreAdventure a certain time-stopping ability.]]

* TransformationTrinket: Worn by [[spoiler:members of the White Bell Cult]]. Combined with BodyHorror and HighOctaneNightmareFuel.

* VillainProtagonist[=/=]HeroicSociopath: The Skull Man's entire goal is to just kill anyone he thinks is a bad person. (Most of them aren't.)

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Kogetsu Chisato is an extreme target to this. In the English translated version of The Skull Man manga of the 1998 he gets a "Toratsuki Chisato" instead of Kogetsu. This is the fault of the translation as both Kogetsu and Toratsuki are written in the same kanjis "虎月 ".

Not be confused with a [[Game/MegaMan different Skull Man.]]

* NamesTheSame: Not to be confused with the [[Game/MegaMan Robot Master]].

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: The opening song is changed in the R1 DVD. Since the record label for the band Tokio ([[KodomoNoOmocha sound familiar]]? ) wouldn't allow their music to be used.