Michael is the servant of Gurjev and the public security commander of Jesus Town, leading the city's military police. It is a robot developed in place of Hakaider, which was abandoned, making him Hakaider's younger brother. It is an ultra-high performance combat robot that manages all security maintenance such as military and police. Because it is an advanced version of Hakaider, Michael far exceeds Hakaider in terms of specifications, and its ability can be glimpsed in the final battle. There is no function that changes it to human form like Hakaider, and the base color is white in contrast to Hakaider's black. Follow only Gurjev's orders, also believe in the justice he speaks and doesn't doubt.
While understanding the importance and preciousness of life, such as preventing criminals from committing suicide, Michael has the brutal side of executing heavy armed soldiers who survived the battle with Hakaider on the spot because they "fought and did not die". Also, in the final battle with Hakaider, Michael takes Hakaider Shot, pulls out a bullet, and then hits Hakaider with a barrel part of the weapon. Sometimes show various faces, such as showing rivalry to Hakaider. In the final battle, he fought a fierce battle with Hakaider and cornered him to the point of defeat, but Hakaider, whose specs rose rapidly due to feelings of anger, shot down his right arm with Arm Shot and tore the Angel Wing. Michael's neck is pulled out together with its spinal cord and destroyed.
After being decapitated by Hakaider twisting and ripping out his head, Gurjev activated a small tank which moved and attached Michael's head to become more powerful and deadly body, called as Michael Tank (ミカエル戦車,Mikaeru Sensha). In this form, Michael had his thoughts and free will suppressed, being manipulated by Gurjev's remote controller, transformed into a mindless killing machine who could not speak. Its shape is more like a bipedal tank than a small tank, depicted as a strange monster with a long neck.
"I am Justice...I am Justice...I am Justice...." Kikaider fans were naturally upset after seeing their childhood hero get disgraced in such a way.
While the killer machine had the upper hand at first against Hakaider with its massive size, weaponry and sheer brute force, the Michael Tank body was eventually destroyed by Hakaider, leaving Michael's head lying on the floor near Gurjev. After Gurjev died, Michael's still conscious head slowly faded away into "death" from the lack of a power source from a body to sustain him, repeating "I am justice..." over and over before deactivating.
Angel Claw (エンジェルクロウ,Enjeru Kurō): Michael is equipped with razor sharp claws that can be charged with glowing energy to allow his hands to pierce through solid metal, as seen when he pierced Hakaider's lower abdomen.
Angel Wing (エンジェルウィング,Enjeru Uingu): A bladed cutter wing attached to Michael's right shoulder. Michael uses this for surprise attacks, opening it to cut his opponents. However, it is limited in range and use due to it being attached to his body. When not in use, it acts as a cloak draped over Michael's shoulder. This weapon was ripped off of his back by Hakaider after Michael lost his arm taking damage from Hakaider's Arm Shot weapon.
Michael Tank
Michael Tank scan
Specs
Height: 5 meters
Weight: 40t
Maximum Output: 5 million horsepower
Equipment
Hell's Scissors (ヘルズシザース,Heruzu Shizāsu): A giant claw attached to Michael Tank's "left arm" that has incredible crushing power, as even Hakaider's own strength could not break free of it.
Hell's Cannon (ヘルズキャノン,Heruzu Kyanon): A quadruple set of energy cannons equipped on the "right shoulder" of Michael Tank. Fires 8 energy bullets per second, crushing the target in a blink of an eye. The projectiles of the Hell's Cannon were powerful enough to badly damage Hakaider and shot his arm off completely.
Hell's Saw (ヘルズソウ,Heruzu Sou): A high-speed circular saws mounted under the "jaw" of Michael Tank, used to grind enemies. It is used to cut through enemies captured by Hell's Scissors, but it is not shown in the movie.
Behind the Scenes[]
Portrayal[]
Michael was voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue (井上 和彦,Inoue Kazuhiko), and Toshiyuki Kikuchi (菊地 寿幸,Kikuchi Toshiyuki) portrayed as its suit actor.
Notes[]
Michael's head inexplicably changes shape entirely upon being attached to the Michael Tank machine, but is not seen actively transforming into its new design. The new head is largely assymetrical, with the right blue half appearing clean while the left red half appears deformed. Both sides also feature an enlarged chin. This new head is deliberately based on the original Kikaider design.
The revelation that Michael was possibly that world's Kikaider did not sit well with fans of the original series and thus was one of the resulting factors in the film's negative reception.
On his Kotobukiya model kit figurine,the characters name is mispelled as Mikael.
How Michael was destroyed differs from the two cuts of the film. In the Theatrical Cut, Hakaider quickly reaches for his severed arm and fires a fatal explosive shot at Michael's eye with the Arm Shot gun. In the Directors Cut, Hakaider activates his hidden weapon, the Destruction Gun, from his chest and fires it. The resulting explosion destroys Michael's body and half of the room they were in.
In the book "Definitive Edition Super Hero Best 100 Super Encyclopedia Action Hero Edition", it is explained that "Michael seems to be slightly superior (than Hakaider) in combat power"[1].
Micheal's name is a reference to the Archangel of the same name who in certain biblical accounts battled Satan and his armies of Darkness by leading the Angels in the War of Heaven. In keeping with the inverted perception of good and evil in the film, the angelic appearing android is the antithesis of the angel he is named after in being a servant of evil.
Kazuhiko Inoue, who was in charge of the voice, was requested to act with the image of a good person rather than a bad person, although he was an enemy[2].
The appearance of the Michael Tank was not announced until the movie is release.
Michael Tank's appearance can best be described as a twisted, monstrous version of Kikaider (A half red and blue body, two wheels attached to servo motor joints for walking and crushing its prey and an elongated neck with Michael's head on the end with buzzsaw blades underneath the chin.).
The Michael Tank is colored blue on the right side and red on the left side, similar to Kikaider, and on the contrary, S.I.C.'s Kikaider is close to this face.
References[]
<references>
↑Kodansha <TV Magazine Deluxe 178>. (2007). "Definitive Edition Super Hero Best 100 Super Encyclopedia Action Hero Edition". p. 48. ISBN 978-4-06-304580-2.
