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Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc Anime Reveals 5 New Cast Members

The staff for the Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Hen (Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Arc, or literally, Kinnikuman Perfect Chо̄jin/Superhuman Origin Arc) anime revealed five new cast members on Tuesday:

Takeshi Kusao as Nemesis

Junichi Suwabe as Grim Reaper

Yoshihisa Kawahara as Marvelous

Shinobu Matsumoto as Jack Chi

Takashi Matsuyama as Polarman

The Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Hen anime premiered on July 7 on CBC, TBS, and 26 other affiliated networks with episode 0, which recaps older scenes with new animation. The anime runs in a new "Agaru Anime" programming block, which airs every Sunday at 11:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. EDT) with the theme of presenting anime from Nagoya to the rest of Japan and the world. Pony Canyon describes it as a "12-part" series. Netflix started streaming the series on July 7 (or July 8, depending on region).

The arc is named after the 2011 revival manga's arc of the same name. Pony Canyon describes the story:

Prince Kinnikuman, who came to Earth from Kinnikusei, a planet at the end of the universe, was always ridiculed by humans as a useless Chojin. However, by chance, he was given the right to participate in the Chojin World Cup, a tournament to determine the world's best Chojin, and by a miracle, he won the championship. The following year, he even won it again!

Since then, he has become a central figure among Seigi Chojin who protects the peace of the universe. He has managed to defeat the raging forces of the enemy, including Akuma Chojin who plans to rule the world, and Perfect Chojin who aims to wipe out the weak Chojin on Earth, with the power of friendship with his friends, including Terryman and Robin Mask.

In recognition of his achievements, Kinnikuman wins the "Survival Match for the Kinnikusei Throne," the final test of his career, and is crowned the 58th Great King of Kinnikusei! He returned to his home planet from Earth, got married, and said goodbye to eight years of fighting. About a year and a half later, the entire universe was supposed to be at peace...

Akira Sato (Release the Spyce) is directing the anime at Production I.G. Makoto Fukami (Psycho-Pass, 2016 Berserk) is in charge of the series scripts. Hirotaka Marufuji (Lupin the 3rd Part 6) is designing the characters. Yasuharu Takanashi (Naruto Shippūden) is composing the music. Yasuharu Takanashi×FLOW perform the opening theme song "LOVE & JUSTICE." Kinnikuman, as voiced by Mamoru Miyano, performs the ending theme song "Chōjin" and a new rendition of the original "Kinnikuman Go Fight!" song for the series' Episode 0.

The new anime commemorates the 40th anniversary of the original television anime, which premiered in April 1983.

The manga creator duo known as Yudetamago resumed their original Kinnikuman wrestling manga as a free web manga in 2011. The creators went back to their first 1979 Kinnikuman storyline and continued where they last left the story in 1987. The original manga has inspired various television anime series and films. Yudetamago previously published a Kinnikuman one-shot manga in Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine in 2015, and then published a one-shot in Weekly Shonen Jump for the first time in 11 years in June 2019. The manga's 86th compiled book volume will ship in Japan on October 4.

Toy figures of Kinnikuman were imported into the United States under the "M.U.S.C.L.E" brand name in the 1980s. Viz Media then released Takashi Shimada and Yoshinori Nakai's Kinnikuman Nisei Second Generations manga sequel in North America as Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy, and 4Kids Entertainment broadcast the anime adaptation on television.

Source: Press release