| Manga |
Gilgamesh (ギルガメッシュ Girugamesshu) is a manga by Shotaro Ishinomori, serialized in Weekly Shonen King from 1976 to 1977.
Plot[]
Humanity was once given civilization by aliens who were like gods, but the Earth was taken over by the invasion of the UFO tribe. In order to defeat the UFO tribe who are controlling humanity from the shadows, the psychic boy Tatsuya En fights alongside the Gilgamesh, who are half alien and half human.
Characters[]
- Tatsuya En
- Kiyoko En
- The Gilgamesh Brothers (Ichiro, Jiro, Saburo, Shiro, Goro, Rokuro, Shichiro, Hachiro, Kuro, and Juro)
- Noriko En
- Daruma
- Peperumoko
- Kidou En
- Keiko Kimura
- Saburota
- Reiko
- Yuki
Serialization[]
- Weekly Shonen King: August 2, 1976 (#32) to October 10, 1977 (#42)
Anime[]
Although the anime adaptation shares some common themes such as sibling love, genetic technology, and so on, the content is very different. This was because the director Masahiko Murata and series composer Akio Satsukawa decided to make the series more of an homage to the original Gilgamesh than an outright adaptation.
Produced by Kansai Television Network (KTV), it was broadcast on all Fuji Television affiliates from October 2003 to March 2004. It was also KTV's first in-house produced anime in 29 years since Zero Tester in 1973.
Related Works[]
Delinquent Planet[]
Tatsuya's design is re-used from that of Ryu Todoroki, and the kanji of "Tatsu" can also be read as "Ryu", leading to the joke that Gilgamesh can actually be the 4th Ryu series by Ishinomori.
Cyborg 009[]
Besides Kiyoko resembling 003, the Gilgamesh brothers' design is recycled for Baldr in the "Edda" arc. The "Ishtar's Dragon" arc also has a group of hostile cloned young men named Enkidu who act similar to the Gilgamesh, and general themes of forbidden cloning.
Reiko's design was later part of the inspiration being Mii in the 2001 anime adaptation (who was already loosely based on Mii of the manga), though Naoyuki Konno had Rei from Genma Wars: Eve of Mythology as the first in mind. Konno also admitted to basing Joe's baby design on Noriko.
The Stranger[]
The sudden death of Lilith, and her baby being a super-powered being to outlive her and be pivotal in the rest of the series, is comparable to the early twist with Kiyoko and the birth of Noriko.
Genma Wars: Eve of Mythology[]
Reiko's design, somewhat modified, was re-used for the similar blind young woman character of Rei.
Genma Wars: Rebirth[]
The Gilgamesh brothers' likenesses are recycled for the character of Damien Vlad, as well as Gil and the Cloud People.
Trivia[]
- In a preview illustration for the series, Tatsuya and Kiyoko had somewhat different designs; Tatsuya looked younger and more in line with Ishinomori's prolific "Sabu" (Saburo Kazeta) character, while Kiyoko had black eyes and a design somewhat reminiscent of Rina from Blue Zone. It is believed Kiyoko in particular was redesigned to resemble 003 to draw in more readers, even if she would not last long in the series.