| Centaurs | |
|---|---|
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Full Name |
Centaurs |
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Kanji/Kana |
ケンタウロス |
The Centaurs are a group of cyborgs modeled after the creature from Greek mythology, and are part of the enemy cyborg team that appears in the "Mythos" arc in the manga.
The Centaurs are referred to by letter, with D and K standing out most.
Appearance[]
True to their mythological inspiration, the Centaurs appear as average men from the waist up, but have the hindquarters of horses. They mostly have dark hair, though a bald centaur is also shown in one panel.
Personality[]
In their debut, the centaurs are shown to take joy in scaring a young shepherd and murdering his sheep "Blackie", so they can roast it for dinner.
It is shown that Centaur D is particularly reckless and impulsive, as he risked being seen by a human, and is considered a fool by the other Mythos cyborgs. Yet, he is also one of Gaia's most trusted cyborgs, and is initially sent out with the intent of attacking the 00 team in Vietnam.
Abilities[]
Due to their modifications, the Centaurs are able to gallop as horses would, and can even fly through the air. They are also revealed to have invulnerable skin, as evidenced when 007 attempts to bite Centaur D.
History[]
The Centaurs were utilized by Dr. Gaia and Dr. Uranus as one of their many types of Greek mythology-themed cyborgs. One in particular, Centaur D, was sent out by Gaia in an attempt to attack the 00 cyborgs, but was swiftly intercepted by Apollo, who had his pegasi trample D and knock him down into the ocean.
An angered Gaia would then take D away, with the intent of remodeling him to be even more powerful and not appreciating Dr. Uranus' attempt at foiling his plan.
After 009 had defeated Achilles, Centaur K had ambushed him, which forced him to shoot the centaur through the chest, killing him.
Centaur D would be responsible for recapturing 003 and Pan, who had attempted to escape Magma. He attempted to recapture Dr. Uranus and 007 as well, but failed, and is implied to have been killed by the dinosaur on the island.
Notes[]
- The Centaurs did not make the cut to the "Cyborg Soldier" anime adaptation, and they were also excluded from Naoyuki Konno's 2000 development trailer. However, one centaur was present in the planning materials for the never-produced 1980 adaptation of the Mythos arc that would have aired in the latter half of the 1979-1980 anime series. Centaur D's design is also used for the multiple "Centaurs" that appear as bit level enemies in the Mega-CD game.
- Though Tokyopop had used the English spellings of other Greek mythological names (eg: Apollo as opposed to Apollon), the Centaurs were referred to by the Latin spelling "Centaurus". Ishinomori himself used the Greek "Kentauros" (ケンタウロス), as the Japanese language uses it as a loanword to refer to the creature as well.