TRANSFORMERS: THE MANGA VOL. 3

"VICTORY" | "ZONE"
"THE BATTLE STARS" | "OPERATION COMBINATION"
Story by Masumi Kaneda | Art by Ban Magami

Now we get to TRANSFORMERS: VICTORY, which represents the largest schism between the American and Japanese Transformers continuities. You'll recall that HEADMASTERS, the first of the Japan-exclusive series, was a direct continuation of the three seasons of the original TRANSFORMERS cartoon. It featured characters from the third season alongside new charaacters, and aside from the Trainbots, there were really no characters unique to Japan in that series.

Then came SUPER-GOD MASTERFORCE, which, while ostensibly still a sequel to the prior series, seemed to move so far past and away from what the Transformers had previosly been, that it felt like a brand-new thing (notwithstanding occasional references to Optimus Prime and manga-exclusve appearances by a few characters from prior series). The MASTERFORCE roster was comprised of many characters who were released in the United States (albeit with different names), along with a number of Japan-exclusive characrers, like Godbomber and Overlord.

Now it's on to VICTORY, a series whose cast seems to be composed entirely of characters/toys who were never released in the United States! In 1989, when VICTORY was broadcast in Japan, the American Transformers line was still producing Pretenders and was introducing Micromasters. But it appears the Japanese line was more focused on new combiner teams (Brainmasters, Breastforce, and Dinoforce), along with a few larger-scale figures: the new Autobot leader, Starsaber, and the new Decepticon emperor, Deszaras. (Note: I'm more familiar with these names parsed/translated as "Star Saber" and "Deathsaurus", but I will abide by Viz's versions for the remainder of this post.)

TRANSFORMERS: THE MANGA VOL. 2, PART 2

"SUPER-GOD MASTERFORCE"
Story by Masumi Kaneda | Art by Ban Magami

Now we plunge into an era of Japanese Transformers mythology with which I'm mostly unfailiar, aside from reading articles about it on the Transformers Wiki. Though I own the SUPER-GOD MASTERFORCE series (and its follow-up, VICTORY, whose manga tie-ins we will examine next week), I have never watched it. So, with that said, here we go!

The MASTERFORCE manga appears to begin in the future at some point, during an era where the Transformers have become legends on Earth, believed by humanity to have been gods who walked the word years ago. But when the Decepticon Pretenders appear, a clandestine group of Autobot Pretenders stationed on Earth reveal themselves. Following from some of the nomenclature oddness from HEADMASTERS, in this go-round, Viz has elected to present all the characters with their Japanese names -- so the Decepticon Pretenders, known in the U.S.A. as Bombburst, Skullgrin, and Iguanus, are referred to consistently in the manga as Blood, Dowlos, and Gilmer. Likewise for the Autobot Pretenders, the "Junior Headmasters" on both sides, and all the other Transformers presented here.

Personally, I don't really like this choice. I mean, I kind of get why they did it: MASTERFORCE is its own thing. It is not the American continuity. One need look no further to confirm that, than the fact that the character we Americans know as Powermaster Optimus Prime is a completely different character in Japan; an Autobot named Ginrai who was built to resemble Optimus. And while the early manga chapters were set in the American Generation One universe, telling "side stories" of that continuity, everything from HEADMASTERS on is more of a parallel universe. So it makes sense, even if I would rather be reading the American names I remember from my childhood.

TRANSFORMERS: THE MANGA VOL. 2, PART 1

"THE HEADMASTERS"
Story by Masumi Kaneda | Art by Ban Magami

The second volume of TRANSFORMERS: THE MANGA delves into the Japanese-exclusive series, beginning with HEADMASTERS. The story opens up with Optimus Prime dead again, and Rodimus Prime back in charge of the Autobots, leading them from their new base on the planet Athenia. The HEADMASTERS cartoon remains the only one of the Japan-exclusive series that I've seen (though I bought all three, HEADMASTERS, MASTERFORCE, and VICTORY, when Shout! Factory realeased them on DVD in the United States a decade or so back). My recollection is that it was somehow simultaneously more juvenile and more mature than the original American cartoons. It had no qualms about killing characters off and serializing its story, two things the first series never did outside of the tie-in movie. But at the same time there was a lot of humor clearly aimed at small children, and some of the story premises felt extremely simplistic.

The manga, meanwhile, continues to be its own thing, advertising characters via huge chapter-length battles rather than telling stories of any great depth. This time around, we get the Autobot and Decepticon Headmasters, the Trainbots (a Japan-exclusve combiner team), Sixshot the Decepticon ninja, and so forth. Strangely, the translated manga has kept the Japanese names for some of these characters, which it had not done previously. I.e., in past stories, Optimus Prime was called by his original American name, rather than his Japanese appelation, Convoy. There was never any point in the early chapters where a Japanese name jumped out at me. But here for example, the Decepticons known in the U.S. as Mindwipe and Skullcruncher are referred to consistently by their Japanese names, Wipe and Skull. It's a little weird.

Here, the Autobot and Decepticon Headmasters introduce themselves via an extra-long first chapter on Planet Beast, a world which also featured in the HEADMASTERS cartoon. Beast is an oddity, featuring the Takara-owned "Battle Beasts" characters in a crossover with the Transformers. In the manga, the good and evil Battle Beasts are referred to as being Autobot and Decepticon beasts, which I don't think I recall being the case in the anime. But anyway -- the Decepticon beasts team up with Predaking and a huge fight ensues, with the Autobots coming out victorious. Oh, and the Headmasters meet a human kid named Kane, who was raised among the Autobot beasts and fights alongside them.

In subsequent chapters, the Headmasters battle it out in Alaska, the Trainbots' combined form of Raiden heads into the sea to beat up a bunch of Sharkticons (shown here to serve the Decepticons rather than the Quintessons as in the cartoon) and a giant robot squid which seems to be based on a smiliar beast from planet Quintessa in TRANSFOMERS: THE MOVIE, the Headmasters battle the Decepticon Headmaster Horrorcons and then save Christmas, and finally the Autobot and Decepticon Targetmasters (including Artfire and Ricochet, Japanese-excluse characters who were repaints of Inferno and Jazz, respectively) all appear.

TRANSFORMERS: THE MANGA VOL 1, PART 2

"THE STORY OF THE SUPER ROBOT LIFE-FORMS: THE TRANSFORMERS"
"THE GREAT TRANSFORMERS WAR"
Story by Masumi Kaneda | Art by Ban Magami

And just like that, we move twenty-five years into the future, to the far-flung world of 2010. After the second season of the TRANSFORMERS animated series ended, TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE released in American cinemas, followed immediately by the cartoon's third season. The movie was set in 2005, and season 3 in 2006. In Japan, however, things went a little differently. For convoluted reasons, TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE didn't reach Japanese shores for a number of years, but they did import and localize the third season. However in Japan, the season was presented as, essentially, a new series titled TRANSFORMERS: 2010 -- and that's the continuity these next stories cover.

I'm not sure why the Japanese writers decided to bump the timeline up five years. I don't think it has anything to do with missing TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE. Maybe they just thought 2010 sounded cooler than 2006. Though it's notable that, at least according to these manga chapters, TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (which did happen in the Japanese continuity even if they hadn't yet seen it), was still set in 2005. There's an explicit line by Rodimus Prime in one of these stories where he discusses Megaton vanishing during the "Unicron Wars" of five years ago.

It's actually an interesting moment in the manga, as the Autobots speculate on what actually happened to Megatron. Some think he died. Some think Galvaton is Megatron in disguise. I don't believe the cartoon -- or at least the original American version -- goes into this at all. It's pretty much accepted by all characters that Galvatron is Megaton, the end. To the point that when Optimus Prime eventually returns in the season 3 finale, he talks about Galvatron and Megatron as if they're the exact same person, even despite Galvatron's clear personality differences.

TRANSFORMERS: THE MANGA VOL. 1, PART 1

"FIGHT! SUPER ROBOT LIFE-FORM TRANSFORMERS"
Story by Masumi Kaneda | Art by Ban Magami

The Transformers manga was serialized in Japan's TV Magazine around the time the original series debuted. Ostensibly, at least from the start, it exists in the same continuity as the TV show, though it was clearly produced with a Japan-centric mindset, unlike the cartoon, which -- while inspired by Japanese toys -- was conceived, written and produced in the United States, with only the animation outsourced to overseas companies, including Japan's own Toei studio.

It's a little jarring at first, I'll admit. From the manga's start, the Autobots hang out almost exclusively in Japan. It's established that the Decepticons have a strong interest in conquering Japan for its energy resources, so the Autobots regularly patrol the country. It makes sense though, when you stop to think about it. After all, this manga was produced for kids as a tie-in to a cartoon series they were watching on TV. The cartoon was set basically entirely in the United States, so the manga creators likely wanted to give their young readers something a little more familiar.

I will say, though, that the series is "Japanese-centric" in more ways than simply the setting. There are a number of anime/manga tropes on display here that never showed up in the cartoon. In the first chapter, the Autobots befriend a young boy named Kenji. Somehow, this lad is a tactical genius, making suggestions to the Autobots on how to defeat their enemies, to the point that Optimus Prime names Kenji an "honorary Autobot" and provides him with a special helmet he can use to contact the Autobots the next time the Decepticons make trouble in Japan.