Through the decades, homages and parodies to Cyborg 009 have cropped up in other series, in either Ishinomori's own works or other creators paying tribute to the franchise and its characters.
Ishinomori's Works[]
As with Osamu Tezuka and some other manga authors, if Ishinomori didn't completely reference a given series, its characters would be repurposed for other roles as an in-joke, treating them as actors (this practice is referred to as the "Star System" in Tezuka's works).
There are also many themes and visual motifs that can be seen reflected through different Ishinomori series, of which Cyborg 009 is only one of many, though it did provide the origin for some particular themes and character archetypes in his work.
009-1[]
See article 009-1 for more information
As a more adult-oriented cyborg and spy manga, the series contained a few visual shout-outs to the 009 series, most notably in its earlier chapters.
The anime adaptation would also share some of the staff from Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier and include further references, down to including Nine Number Group members specifically designed and modeled after the 00 Cyborgs.
Agartha[]
009's design was essentially de-aged and recycled for the young boy character Yu, while the protagonist Remi Tachibana initially bears a resemblance to 003, which is strengthened in how her design appears in the "Age of the Great Dinosaurs" animated film.
And Then There Were None...[]
In the 1967 Weekly Shonen Magazine short story, five different comics' plots unfold simultaneously, all linking up at the end when a nuclear bomb drops, destroying everything.
In the final splash page when the bomb explodes, various panels of different Ishinomori manga characters are shown being shredded apart by its impact. 009 and Helen can be seen in a cameo in one panel, while another Helen (or perhaps one of her sisters) appears in another.
One of the five stories within the story centers around an East German couple named Heine and Belle, who are on the run and attempt to escape to West Germany. However, the story ends in Belle dying, with Heine realizing that freedom is meaningless if he can't share it with her. He then perishes in the nuclear blast. While the couple do not resemble Albert and Hilda, the story idea of a failed escape to West Germany and a lost lover seemed to be an influential theme.
Android V[]
In 1965, Ishinomori introduced this series, aiming it at a somewhat younger audience than Cyborg 009.
Joe/009's design was re-used for the title character V, while 004 was re-used for Android K and the villain Sukiku. 002's design appeared as a brief nameless villain, with a mustache and in a leopard print suit.
The series did not last long, though the 009/V design would be recycled once more for another short-lived series, Angel 2, and the character of Angel 1.
Cyborg-chan[]
Due to the popularity of the kid version of 007 in the 1960s animated works, Ishinomori introduced a gag series for children that utilized the design, with the protagonist being a bald little boy with the ability to shapeshift by pressing his navel.
Future Rescue Team Earth Guard 7[]
In this series of short comics serialized in Gakken's science and learning magazines through 1974-1976, 009 and 003's designs were sourced for the characters of Ken Manabu and Romi O'Hara, the only human cyborgs on a team that also consists of mutant cyborg animals and a robot.
However, there were different versions of the comic geared towards each elementary school grade (from 1 to 6), and very few of these comics were drawn by Ishinomori himself, with the rest being handled by his assistants.
Ishinomori's renditions of Ken and Romi can be seen in the "1st Grade" version of the comic, published through April 1975 to March 1976 (with Shinichi Suzuki having handled previous issues). He also illustrated the "2nd grade" magazine version, which ran through April 1974 to March 1975. The multiple versions of the comic were due to the fact that it was used as learning material for science classes, so each grade would require different information that would be relevant to the curriculum.
The series has yet to ever be reprinted, due to the fact that several of the comics were drawn by artists other than Ishinomori.
Genma Taisen[]
Ivan/001 shows up among a group of espers at the end of the first series, as they prepare for their battle against Genma.
Genma Taisen: Rebirth[]
In this posthumous sequel not written by Ishinomori but illustrated by his assistant Masato Hayase, Ivan Whisky is given further role and his backstory is delved into.
Hayase illustrates the manga origin in his updated style, and a slight alternate universe bend is shown, as shortly after Ivan and Dr. Whisky are taken by the Black Ghost men, he uses his powers to create a plane crash. Dr. Whisky is shown to have died as a result.
Glacial Warrior Guyslugger[]
Ishinomori helped develop this 1977 anime series for Toei Animation. Besides the setting of the team being cyborgs, there is some clear recycling of some characters:
- Ken Shiki bears some resemblance to 009, though his hair is styled slightly differently. He is the leader of the team.
- Kaya Mito physically resembles 007, though he has a ray gun built into his right arm, also providing some similarity to 004. In addition, the tie-in manga by Yoshiki Tsuchiyama that ran in TV Magazine depicted him with a blank-eyed, long-mouthed face, furthering the 004 inspiration.
Guy Punch and Ann Doll[]
In chapter 2 of the gag manga series, a group of invited guests at a party are modeled after 002, 004, 006, 007, and Dr. Gilmore. Each man is named after a type of alcohol:
- 002= Mr. Tequila
- 004= Mr. Johnnie Walker
- 006= Mr. Awamori
- 007= Mr. Cognac
- Dr. Gilmore= Mr. Rum
While most of the men have their designs directly lifted from their 009 counterparts, Mr. Tequila has a beard.
Iron Mask Cross[]
A villain known as the Golden Destroyer is stated to have lost his right arm in a war, and has had it replaced with a golden machine gun. He bears a physical resemblance to an aged 004, with blank eyes and wrinkles.
The Golden Destroyer tends to conceal his face with a mask that is similar to Thor of the "Edda" arc. While the eyes are usually depicted blank, a close-up panel reveals him to have very pale irises and pupils.
Japan Inc.[]
In a story in volume 2, Dr. Gilmore and the members of the 00 cyborg team (save for 001) can be seen attending a party in Germany for the "Centennial of the Automobile", with all dressed in formal wear.
Jun (Fantasy World Jun)[]
A woman bearing a great resemblance to 003 appears in various chapters, acting in the role of an innocent girl.
Magical World of Jun[]
In an alternate series utilizing a younger version of the Jun character, a younger version of 003's design appears as one of Jun's two wicked step-sisters.
A character known as the Blue Knight also appears, resembling 004 in blue protective armor.
Kamen Rider Black[]
In the manga, 007's design is re-used for the Australian character of Jean Kirk, nicknamed "Corki" for short.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past[]
002's design was recycled for the character Roam, who also happens to be able to transform into a bird.
Message from Space[]
In the manga adaptation of the film, Prince Hans is given 004's design while 005's design is recycled for Urocco (minus the tattoos).
Mutant Sabu[]
In the second and better-known version of the series that began in 1965, 003's basic appearance was re-used for Sabu's girlfriend Mari, but with darker hair.
In chapter 4, "The Beast Town", an unintelligible boy named Gen appears, with 0013's design re-used for him. Gen is able to speak coherently through telepathy, which Sabu uses to converse and reason with him through.
Peeping through a Fusuma[]
004 makes a cameo appearance in the "Cyborg Soldier" chapter, when the protagonist Amemiya winds up encountering him in a battle on a distant planet, in which the cyborg and another warrior have been chosen to battle. The cyborg is blown up by an alien spacecraft, and left mangled and dying.
A similar planet was later shown in the "Deep Space" arc of Cyborg 009, with 004 facing off against an enemy in a dream sequence, only winding up surviving while his enemy is blown up instead.
The "Cyborg Soldier" story was reprinted in the Shotaro World and MF Comics tankoban releases of the Cyborg 009 manga due to the 004 cameo, but is not included in the Complete Works edition due to it being from an entirely different series.
The Starbow[]
In the 1978 sci-fi manga, parts of 004's design and his other aspects were recycled for the character of General Hakenrich, a military commander who had lost his family to a bombing. He is an extensively remodeled cyborg, to where his brain is the sole organic part left. In contrast to 004, Hakenrich's entire body appears visibly robotic and metallic, with his brain encased in a glass dome shown on top of his head. However, the shape of the dome does bear resemblance to the bowl-cut hairstyle 004 had from 1964 to 1975, and Hakenrich's facial features and blank eyes show clear resemblance.
005's design is also re-used for the centaur character Ketarus.
The Way of Ryu[]
009's design is referenced and used for the young boy Jimmy Henderson, while the 003 design is recycled for his older sister Maria. During the time that Ryu was published, 003's hair was drawn to be short like Maria's style, in the "Angels" arc. In turn, the knobs on Maria's headband were later carried over to 003's character design in 1976.
Ryu Shibata also has a hair style with slight resemblance to 009's,though both his eyes are uncovered, and he initially wears a futuristic military uniform that has large shoulder pads and oversized buttons.
004's nihilistic attitude and machine gun abilities are also sourced for the ancient cyborg known as "God", although God's physical appearance is incredibly different.
In the 1967 prototype pilot story for Ryu, titled "The Story that Begins at the End", the lead female character was named "Mary" and more directly referenced 003's design, particularly how the character appeared at the start of the "Monster Island" arc.
Other Anime and Manga[]
City Hunter[]
In the volume 2 chapter "The General's Trap", the villain The General is revealed to have a machine gun for his right arm.
After the muscles connecting what remains of his arm to the gun are cut by Ryo Saeba and after he's stabbed in the head, the General reveals that his right leg is a missile-firing cannon. The General is defeated via Saeba firing a bullet into the cannon, causing him to explode.
Cyber Nao-san[]
In volume 3 of the Naoki Karasawa manga, the Yomi and Angel arcs are parodied in a feature called "Cyborg OS9".
Digimon[]
The character Rinkmon references 002 in being a cyborg-type Digimon, having a long scarf, oversized buttons, and wild hair. He also bears the title of "The Jetstream of Friendship".
His name is a double pun, not only referencing a skating rink but Jet's surname, which can be rendered as "Rink" (though the modern, official spelling used by IshimoriPro is "Link").
Kekko Kamen[]
As Go Nagai had been an assistant to Ishinomori in his younger years, Cyborg 009 was one of several classic manga to wind up parodied in the series.
In chapter 15, the "Seamstress 009" (Saibohu 009) group appear as a group of villains that Kekko Kamen must fight after their leader Shimamura had attempted to impersonate her for the purpose of committing crimes.
Each member of the group references each one of the 00 Cyborgs, although 001 is depicted as a short woman (or child) as opposed to being a baby. Shimamura attempts to fight Kekko Kamen with her Acceleration Mode, but is defeated and then cries out "I'm sorry, Shotaro Ishimori!".
King of Braves: GaoGaiGar[]
The Zonder known as Pizza is a shout-out to 002, and the reference becomes even more blatant once his true identity is revealed to be Soldato J-002. Sunrise, the company responsible for GaoGaiGar, had co-produced the 1979 anime adaptation of Cyborg 009.
J bears the large nose and gravity-defying hair seen on 002, although his hair is green with orange fringe. His eyes are revealed to be blue, ala 002's, in the GaoGaiGar FINAL OVA.
Lupin III: Dead or Alive[]
Joe/009 appears as one subject on a multi-screen TV, dressed in the trenchcoat he wore in the "Battle with the Gods" arc.
Naruto[]
In one crowd scene in the manga, a ninja with Joe's signature hairstyle can be seen, with one eye obscured by his bangs.
Powerpuff Girls Z[]
The second opening to the series features a parody of the 1979 Cyborg 009 opening, with the Gangreen Gang member Ace acting as Joe, while the other members of the Gang float by mimicking poses of the other 00 Cyborgs.
The Rose of Versailles[]
009 makes a cameo in a crowd scene in the final volume, as Riyoko Ikeda had adored him as one of her favorite manga characters.
Third Year Kimengumi[]
In Motoei Shinzawa's manga series and its sequel High School Kimengumi, the leader of the Class 4 Delinquent Gang, Yo Nihiruda (似蛭田 妖, Nihiruda Yo, "I'm a nihilist"), loosely parodies 004 in his physical appearance, as well as having the delinquent element of 002. His eyes, when rarely shown, are also shown to be white and blank.
Although, when it comes to color images by Shinzawa, Nihiruda is often colored with light or dirty blond hair while the anime adaptation colors it pale green.
Towards the Terra[]
Keiko Takemiya had once worked as one of Shotaro Ishinomori's assistants, and had modeled the character of Soldier Blue after Joe/009 in homage to her mentor and the character. Soldier Blue resembles 009 in hairstyle, though the hair color is a white/light blue shade.
Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life[]
In episode 8, there is a gag with Wooser dressed as Cyborg 009, using his "Acceleration Mode". This is an in-joke to the fact that Mamoru Miyano voiced both 009 in 009 Re:Cyborg, as well as Wooser.
Light Novels[]
Murder Iron, Absolute Steel (マーダー･アイアン ―絶対鋼鉄―)[]
In the 2006 sci-fi light novel by Shinichi Tatatsu, a war between Japan and the United States happens when the USA's famous "Undead Heroes" cyborg troop clashes with the android Takeru-01. The plot takes place in 2036, where the setting is meant to be futuristic, yet with a dark depiction.
In the foreword, Tatatsu stated that he deliberately modeled the "Undead Heroes" after the 00 cyborgs, as a tribute to Ishinomori. The team consists of:
- Ivan, a baby with great esper powers
- Link, a young man with super-speed flight
- Maretta, a clairvoyant young woman and the only female member of the team
- "God of Death" Dreyse (full name: Captain Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse), a man whose entire body is filled with weapons
- "Iron Man" Leo, a super-strong man
- "Fire Dragon" Chang, a fire-breather
- "Chameleon" Kathy, a shape-shifter
- "Sea Man" Martin, who can breathe underwater
- "Lightning Flash" Norman, who can run at super-speed due to his accelerator
Dreyse also happens to have had his backstory based in East Germany, where he had lost his lover Hilda to a shoot-out when they attempted to escape.
The novel also contains a shout-out to the infamous line of "Joe, where do you want to fall?" spoken by Jet/002 at the end of the Yomi arc.