Apocalypse Zero

Apocalypse Zero, known in Japan as Encouragement of Resolve (覚悟のススメ, Kakugo no Susume), is a manga series written and illustrated by Takayuki Yamaguchi. It was serialized in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion from July 1994 to August 1996.

Apocalypse Zero
Cover of Apocalypse Zero volume 1 as published by Media Blasters
覚悟のススメ
(Kakugo no Susume)
GenreAction, post-apocalyptic[1]
Manga
Written byTakayuki Yamaguchi
Published byAkita Shoten
English publisher
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Champion
DemographicShōnen
Original runJuly 1994 – August 1996
Volumes11
Original video animation
Directed byToshiki Hirano
Produced byHiroshi Kato
Shin'ichi Hirai
Shirō Sasaki
Written byAkiyoshi Sakai
Music byTakashi Kudō
StudioVictor Entertainment
Ashi Productions
Big West Advertising
Tomy
Licensed by
Released October 23, 1996 – December 18, 1996 (cancelled)
Runtime45 minutes (each)
Episodes2 (10 were planned)
Manga
Exoskull Zero
Written byTakayuki Yamaguchi
Published byAkita Shoten
MagazineChampion Red
DemographicShōnen
Original run2010 – 2015
Volumes8

The manga was adapted into a two episode original video animation in 1996, animated by Ashi Productions and produced by Big West Advertising, Victor Entertainment and Tomy.

Plot

Kakugo and Harara are brothers trained by their father Oboro to fight the monsters roaming in a post-apocalyptic 21st century Tokyo that has become severely damaged as a result of an earthquake. To aid them, Kakugo and Harara are entrusted with "Fortified Armor Shells", cyborg exoskeletons forged from the souls of deceased warriors by their grandfather Shiro Hagakure, a scientist for the Imperial Army of Japan during World War II. However, Harara succumbs to a mysterious evil within his armor and becomes a female human demon bent on destroying mankind to help Earth recover from contamination.

Years later, Kakugo moves to the Reverse Cross High School in one of the ruined districts of Tokyo, near the castle where Harara commands an army of demons. Now it is up to Kakugo to defeat his sibling.

Characters

Main
Kakugo Hagakure
Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese); Tomokazu Seki (Manga Video version); Yuichi Nakamura (Exoskull Zero Drama CD); Lex Lang (English)
The main protagonist of the series, owner of the Zero armor. Unlike Harara, Kakugo stuck to his duty to protect innocent citizens in trouble. This leads to several encounters with the monsters that inhabit the city and finally Harara himself. He is stern and humorless, and wears glasses and a white uniform inspired on the reglementary Imperial Japanese Navy one. Under his clothes, his body is equipped with four special Steel Balls that allow him to turn most of his body in metal.
His armored form resembles a red-eyed tokusatsu superhero with a long scarf similar to the Kamen Rider series.
Capcom artist Kinu Nishimura had said that Kakugo was the main inspiration for Cyberbots protagonist Jin Saotome.
Kiyotaka Ishimaru from the Danganronpa franchise bears resemblance to Kakugo.
Harara Hagakure
Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese); Akira Ishida (Manga Video version); Mona Marshall (English)
Kakugo's older brother and the main antagonist of the series. Harara received the Kasumi armor, but it turned him into an evil hermaphrodite who killed their father and defeated Kakugo in their first battle. Believing humanity responsible for the death of the environment, he has become determined to destroy all humans, with the aid of created beings known as "Tactical Evils."
After Kakugo defeats all of Harara's Tactical Evils, Harara possesses the defeated form of Eikichi in an attempt to finally destroy Kakugo. In the ensuing battle, Kakugo manages to emerge victorious over his sibling, leaving Harara on a coma for most of the manga.

Reverse Cross High School
Tsumiko Horie
Voiced by: Mitsuko Horie (Japanese); Sherry Lynn (English)
A girl at the school Kakugo attends. She is constantly described as unattractive, but in turn is kind and bold. She falls in love with Kakugo after witnessing him destroy the city's monsters. She was later kidnapped by Chidokuro and turned into a Tactical Evil, thus forcing Kakugo to fight her, until he kisses her, thus reverting her back to normal. Series creator Takayuki Yamaguchi had named her after Mitsuko Horie (who he is a fan of), and her name can be an anagram of the name Mitsuko. Horie herself would voice Tsumiko in the OVA.
Hiroshi Haoka
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese); Hiroshi Nagano (Manga Video version); Doug Stone (English)
A feared delinquent at the school, he is a childhood friend to Horie and resents anyone who goes after her. Haoka initially dislikes Kakugo, but eventually comes to respect him. In the OVA, he is injured by Eikichi after managing to carry the case containing Kakugo's Zero armour to the battle, but appears alive at the finale.
Ponta Takada
Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi (Japanese); Mari Devon (English)
One of Haoka's friends, usually seen with Ponsuke. He is attacked Dogumakuro's Flower, but saved by Kakugo. He is also good at drawing, as shown in Volume 4 where he drew a rough sketch of Chidokuro when the school guards asked him to identify Horie's captor.
Pyonsuke Fujii
Voiced by: Hiro Yuki (Japanese); Lenore Zann (credited as Zan) (English)
Haoka's other friend. Generally seen with Ponta. He often carries a sword for protection.
Aoki
Voiced by: Sara Nakayama (Japanese); Jessica Gee (English)
A friend of Horie. She is distinguished by the bandages she always wears over her face; it is never revealed why she wears them.
Hoshino
Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu
A senior student, leader of a group of volunteers for the school's protection.
Mr. Zenigata
Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba (Japanese); Steve Kramer (English)
One of the teachers at the school. He doesn't take his job seriously, to the point that he usually drinks alcohol at the school and sleeps through his classes while playing a recording to do his work. He is also constantly dismissive and seems to have little worry for his students, but he is secretly supportive of them.
School Principal
Voiced by: Kenichi Ogata (Japanese); Bob Papenbrook (English)
The head of the school in New Tokyo. He is a stalker, even having wired Tsumiko's uniform to spy on her, but he really cares for his students. After Tsumiko is kidnapped by Chidokuro, he and other students rush to try to rescue her unsuccessfully. He sacrifices his life to save them all from one of Harara's demons, though later reveals himself to be alive, only badly burnt.
Kazu Shimada
Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese); Dave Mallow (English)
A student at Kakugo's school, he falls victim to Hamuko. After having his face sucked off, he is devoured by her and later regurgitated in a partially-digested state during Hamuko's battle with Kakugo, dying shortly afterwards. His body is later cremated by Kakugo after the fight.
Hiroko Uchiyama
Voiced by: Yuka Imai (Japanese); Michelle Ruff (Credited as Georgette Rose) (English)
Shimada's girlfriend, she was killed by Hamuko right in front of him.

Harara's lieutenants
Tomohisa
Voiced by: Yuzuru Fujimoto (Japanese)
Harara's adviser. He later gains the ability to transform into a winged lion.
Kagenari
Voiced by: Kenichi Ogata (Japanese); Terrence Stone (English)
An executive at Harara's fortress. He is responsible for reporting the threat of Kakugo to him.
Bolt
Voiced by: Kunihiko Yasui (Japanese); Derek Stephen Prince (English)
Harara's Security Chief. A former old human who tried to defeat Harara, he was turned into a samurai armor-clad demon. He later dons a special Fortified Armor Shell to fight Kakugo.
Rai
Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (Japanese); Doug Stone (English)
Harara's Security adviser, a musclebound human who tried to defeat her before being converted to his cause. He delivers fighters for Harara to kill at his fortress. His body is equipped with the same Steel Balls as Kakugo.
Chidokuro
Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba (Japanese); Tony Pope (English)
The general of the Tactical Evils, a cowardly mustachioed man who wears a dark helmet based on Berserk's Femto. He manages to transform Kakugo into a Tactical Evil, only to killed by Kakugo when he reverts back to human form.

Harara's Tactical Evils
Hamuko
Voiced by: Masako Katsuki (Japanese); Melodee Spevack (Credited as Sonja S. Fox) (English)
A large, obese monster with clown-like features and the first Tactical Evil Kakugo encounters. She enjoys killing females outright and consuming the men they were with. She also wears the face of her most recent victim as a pasty. Although initially attempting to simply subdue her, Kakugo finally kills her after disabling her powers.
Dogumakuro
Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (Japanese); Derek Stephen Prince (English)
The second Tactical Evil encountered, Dogumakuro is a mutant rock star capable of electrocuting his opponents with his tongue. He can also deploy a microphone from his groin that emits powerful music waves. Kakugo manages to overcome his techniques and defeats him by shattering his skull and evaporating his body.
Eikichi
Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (Japanese); Steve Kramer (English)
An elderly Tactical Evil who is sent to attack Kakugo. He can solidify his saliva and form weapons with it, and his penis is a dragon head with the same skill. Though he manages to gain the upper hand against the unarmored Kakugo, he is quickly defeated once Kakugo gains his Zero armor. His body is then possessed by Harara and perishes along with her when Kakugo defeats him.
Megumi
Voiced by: Yuko Miyamura (Japanese); Melissa Fahn (English)
Taking on the form of a nurse, Megumi is a Tactical Evil who attempts to seduce men before killing them. In her monster form, she has large breasts that serve as tentacles, and is capable of full regeneration. Kakugo kills her by fully dismembering her.

Others
Oboro Hagakure
Voiced by: Hidekatsu Shibata (Japanese); Tessho Genda (Manga Video version); Tony Pope (English)
The father of Kakugo and Harara who was responsible for their training. Harara ended up turning on him and killed Oboro during a fight.
Shiro Hagakure
The grandfather of Kakugo and Harara, who created the Fortified Armor Shells and the Tactical Evil technology for Japan to win the Pacific War. He was said to be executed by the Japanese government to cover up his experiments, but he secretly survived thanks to his science.
Mei Inukai
A nurse working for Shiro Hagakure, wife to a Japanese Imperial soldier named Shinobu Inukai. Both of them were murdered to use their son Tamataro for the creation of the Kasumi armor, but Mei's grudge reached the armor and infused it with hate towards humanity. It was only dissipated after Kakugo destroys the armor and Tsumiko redeems Tamataro's spirit through her love.

Media

Manga

The Apocalypse Zero manga series was written and illustrated by Takayuki Yamaguchi. It was originally serialized in the Akita Shoten magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion from 1994 to 1996. A total of 11 tankōbon (chapter collections) volumes were published by Akita Shoten.[2][3] An English translation of the manga was published as a graphic novel in the US by Media Blasters beginning on January 19, 2005. The manga was sold shrink wrapped, presumably due to the large amount of violence.[4] Only six of the original 11 volumes were translated and released, as Media Blasters chose to cease publication of the series in early 2007.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

The manga was published in Italy by Dynit, flipping it in a left-to-right format.

From 2010 to 2014, Yamaguchi wrote Exoskull Zero, a reboot of Apocalypse Zero featuring a similar protagonist. It was published in Akita Shoten's Champion Red magazine.

OVA

The Apocalypse Zero anime OVA was co-produced by Victor Entertainment, Tomy and Big West Advertising, it was animated by Ashi Productions and directed by Toshihiro Hirano. It was released in Japan in two volumes from October 23, 1996, to December 18, 1996, on VHS and Laserdisc. The OVA was planned to have ten episodes, but was canceled after the completion of the second episode. The reasons for the OVA's cancellation are currently unknown. The anime was released in Italy in 1999 on VHS, licensed by Dynit. The US license for Apocalypse Zero was acquired by Media Blasters who created a dubbed English language version of the anime translated by Takashi Sakudo and produced by Bang Zoom! Studios. The two VHS volumes were released from June 20 to August 22, 2000.[12][13] A DVD release containing both episodes was released on August 28, 2001.[14]

A Region 2 DVD of the series with both episodes was released in Japan by Toshiba in 2003.

Video game

A video game based on Apocalypse Zero was released on the PlayStation on March 21, 1997, exclusively in Japan by Tomy.[15] The game is a standard 3D fighting game allowing the player to go head-to-head against the CPU or against another player. It features seven characters to choose from based on both the anime and manga, and animated cut scenes taken from the OVA.

Reception

Due to the use of gratuitous violence and repulsive imagery, critical reception to Apocalypse Zero in the west has been largely negative.[16][17][1][18] John Oppliger of AnimeNation called the Apocalypse Zero OVA "the most viscerally violent and gruesome anime" he has seen and "arguably the most grotesque anime ever made".[19] Animerica called Apocalypse Zero the "Best Anime Splattervision" in its "Best of the Best" awards. "When a 45-minute video features a scene where someone's face is sucked off, and that's not even the most shocking thing in the video," the magazine proclaimed, "you know you'll be getting your horror-show money's worth." [20]

Despite this, the manga was well received and popular in Japan. Apocalypse Zero managed to be one of the finalists for the 1997 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, losing out to Doraemon by Fujiko Fujio.[21]

Context

The Japanese title is an allusion to Fukuzawa_Yukichi#An_Encouragement_of_Learning (Gakumon no Susume) from Yukichi Fukuzawa, an important early Japanese advocate during Meiji Restoration.

gollark: I am counting that.
gollark: Can I secretly introduce backdoors?
gollark: No, you did... I think three?
gollark: I wanted to emphasise that.
gollark: No. I accepted a PR today. So they're highly welcome.

References
  1. Ross, Carlo. "Apocalypse Zero". THEM Anime Reviews. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  2. 覚悟のススメ 第1巻 [Apocalypse Zero Volume 1] (in Japanese). Akita Shoten. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  3. 覚悟のススメ 第11巻 [Apocalypse Zero Volume 11] (in Japanese). Akita Shoten. Archived from the original on 2005-03-16. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  4. "Level C Uncut but..." Anime News Network. November 24, 2004. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  5. "Apocalypse Zero Vol. 1 (v. 1)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  6. "Apocalypse Zero Volume 2 (6) (v. 2)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  7. "Apocalypse Zero Volume 3 (6) (v. 3)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  8. "Apocalypse Zero Volume 4 (v. 4)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  9. "Apocalypse Zero Volume 5 (v. 5)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  10. "Apocalypse Zero Volume 6". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  11. "Media Blasters pulls out of Seinen / Older Shounen Market". Anime News Network. March 14, 2007. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  12. "Apocalypse Zero Battle 1". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  13. "Apocalypse Zero Battle 2". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  14. "Apocalypse Zero - Battle 1-2". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  15. 覚悟のススメ [Kakugo no Susume] (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  16. Santos, Carlo (August 27, 2005). "Apocalypse Zero GN 1 - Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  17. Beveridge, Chris (September 25, 2001). "Apocalypse Zero". Mania.com. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  18. "Apocalypse Zero Vol. 1.(Brief Article)(Book Review)". Publishers Weekly. December 20, 2004. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  19. "Ask John: What is the Most Violent Anime Ever?". Anime Nation. 2004-12-17. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  20. "Best of the Best". Animerica. Archived from the original on 2004-06-11. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
  21. The Road to Glory: Manga Awards - Tezuka Cultural Award
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