Yatterman (1977)

Yatterman
Production
Director	Hiroshi Sasagawa
Producer	Tatsunoko Productions
Music	Masayuki Yamamoto Masaaki Jinbo
Airdate	January 1, 1977 – January 27, 1979
Episodes	108
Chronology
Preceded by	Time Bokan
Followed by	Zendaman

Yatterman (ヤッターマン,, Yattāman Foze) is the second anime in the Time Bokan series as well as the most well known in the franchise. It ran for 108 episodes from January 1, 1977 to Jan 27, 1979 making this also the longest Time Bokan series. It has spawned a 2008 remake, live-action film and a 2015 sequel.

Plot

A mysterious gem called the Skull Stone is said to be able to reveal the location of the largest vein of gold in the world. This legend has entranced many people who wanted to get their hands on fame, power and wealth, including the trio of villains in this show: the Doronbo Gang. However, their hunt for the Skull Stone is not as easy as they imagined, mainly due to the faulty information they receive from their leader; and most of all, by a justical duo of pursuers called the "Yatter Riders"!

How each episode goes

1. The Dorombo Gang uses the money earned from the bogus business, to make a mecha named after the business.
   • Fake business stores always have the gang's trademark skull mark. There is a mechanical factory in the basement.
   • The price when selling things in a bogus business is generally fixed at 100,000 yen. In rare cases, there is also an auction-style business, and among them, in episode 14, it earned 170 million 35 yen. If the price of the product (service) to be sold cannot keep up with about 100,000 yen (such as a car), it may be 1 million yen. They also claimed to be cheap or free at first, and later demanded a large fee.
   • Depending on the situation, as in Episodes 28 and 39, Dokurobei may provide financial support. Conversely, in the 19th episode, a large wad of money robbed by Dorombo was confiscated, and in the 78th episode, most of the sales proceeds were confiscated.

   As the episodes progressed, they sometimes did classic bogus business, such as "Cattail Oil" in Episode 75 and "Crying Sale" in Episode 98.

2. Gan Takada (Yatterman No. 1) and Ai Kaminari (Yatterman No. 2) (occasionally, one member does this) sniff out the bogus business and are convinced by the red skull mark in the store that it is the work of the Dorombo Gang, and then go undercover to obtain information about the Skull Stone.
   • The entrance to the underground mecha factory may be visible from the outside or camouflaged, but no matter how well it's camouflaged, they will always find it.
3. The Dorombo gang set out in search of the Skull Stone based on Dokurobei's dubious information. Yatterman then tracks it down.
   • In many cases, it explodes after he issues the information, and the clothes of the gang get tattered. However, in the early days, tapes and films often simply disappeared.
   • In many cases, the mecha destroys the fake store after they launch, but depending on the time, it will not be destroyed, and the building will crack cleanly and jump out from between them.
4. The Dorombo gang, who arrive first, take advantage of local troubles, collude local villains and distorted minds, and defraud Yatterman of what he thinks is the Skull Stone.
5. Yatterman, who escaped the crisis with either sincerity or ability, and the Dorombo gang, engage in combat. Yatterman gets overwhelmed, then they battle with their mecha. The Dorombo gang get the upper hand at the beginning of the mech battle, but the situation gets reversed with the surprising dokkiri mecha (Zoromek) created by Yatterman's "mecha base", and the Drombo mecha then gets destroyed by a surprise dokkiri mecha and exploded, or blown up with a suicide switch, with a skull-shaped mushroom cloud. Finally, Yatterman strikes a victory pose. There are three types of victory poses: early, middle, and late.
6. Local troubles based on misunderstandings are successfully resolved with the success and defeat of the Dorombo gang. It turns out that the target recaptured is a fake Skull Stone, and the causers with the Dorombo gang are either converted or taken care of by the local police. The real Skull Stone was finally found in the 14th and 34th episode, and although it was secured by the Yatterman in the latter episode, it was unfortunately stolen by the Dorombo gang in the 84th episode!
7. While the Dorombo gang are riding on a three-seater bicycle (called the "Discipline Tricycle"), Dokurobe's "scarier punishment time" begins. When Dokurobe calls "music", the intro to Beethoven's "Destiny" flows as a fanfare. and immediately afterwards the punishment happens. The main types are "attacked by animals", "shot by missiles and bombs", "underneath rocks and meteorites", "locked in cages", "boiled or burned at the stake", and "dropped into water or sand". In the 95th episode, when escaping, Doronjo gets chased by Keyser's army who broke his promise in the play. Then, the gang strikes a punishment pose, and the decisive line is "Dokupontan".
8. Yatterman makes a triumphant return with narration.

Main Characters

• Gan Takada
• Ai Kaminari
• Omotchama
• Yatter-Wan
• Doronbo Gang
  • Doronjo
  • Boyacky
  • Tonzura
  • Dokurobei

Mechas

• Yatter-Wan
• Yatter-King
• Yatter-Pelican
• Yatter-Angler
• Yatter-Phant
• Yatter-Bull
• Yatter-Dozilla
• Yatter-Panda

Episodes

1. "Yatterman's Rolling Out"
2. "The Pugyptian Water-Selling Girl!"
3. "The Great King of Flodari Beach"
4. "The Arctic Seal!"
5. "The Kingdom of Irock's Treasure"
6. "Protect the Tonca Temple!"
7. "The Reo Carnival"
8. "The Snowman of the Imalayas"
9. "The Afrishan Expedition!"
10. "Nassie of Loch Nass!"
11. "The Mysterious Triangle!"
12. "The Secret of Toaster Island"
13. "The Daunting Damazons!"
14. "The Phantom Thief, Don Pan!"
15. "Peidi, Girl of the Nopes!"
16. "The Queen of Yametai!"
17. "Meet the Beatalls!"

Summary

Ep.No	Yatter mecha	Doronjo mecha	Skull Stone found?
1	Yatter-Wan	Kitchenbot	no
2	Yatter-Wan	Cakebot
3	Yatter-Wan	Umbrellabot

Licensing

Anime Sols

The streaming site Anime Sols streamed English subtitled episodes of the original Yatterman each week and was accepting crowd-funding to get the series released on DVD in North America. The subtitles lasted up to 17 episodes before being dropped due to not meeting the crowdfunding goal for a DVD release.

Trivia

• This is the final series in the franchise to be produced by Tatsunoko founder Tatsuo Yoshida prior to his death.

External Links

• Wikipedia
• Anime News Network
• MyAnimeList
• AniDB