Go! Go! Ackman

Go! Go! Ackman (Japanese: ゴーゴーアックマン, Hepburn: Gō Gō Akkuman) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was published irregularly in V Jump for 11 chapters from July 1993 to October 1994. Go! Go! Ackman is a humorous series about a demon child named Ackman who harvests souls for the Great Demon King. It was adapted into an animated short film and several video games.

Go! Go! Ackman
Cover of Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater Vol. 3, featuring Go! Go! Ackman
ゴーゴーアックマン
(Gō Gō Akkuman)
Manga
Written byAkira Toriyama
Published byShueisha
MagazineV Jump
DemographicShōnen
Original runJuly 7, 1993 – October 1994
Anime film
Directed byTakahiro Imamura
Produced byKozo Morishita
Written byTakao Koyama
StudioToei Animation
ReleasedJuly 28, 1994
Runtime15 minutes
Game
Go Go Ackman
DeveloperBanpresto
PublisherBanpresto
GenreAction
PlatformSuper Famicom
ReleasedDecember 23, 1994
Game
Go Go Ackman 2
DeveloperBanpresto
PublisherBanpresto
GenreAction
PlatformSuper Famicom
ReleasedJuly 21, 1995
Game
Go Go Ackman 3
DeveloperBanpresto
PublisherBanpresto
GenreAction
PlatformSuper Famicom
ReleasedDecember 15, 1995
Game
Go Go Ackman
DeveloperBanpresto
PublisherBanpresto
GenreAction
PlatformGame Boy
ReleasedAugust 25, 1995

Story

The first chapter begins when Ackman, a short demonic child without a nose, wakes up after a fifty-year nap. Ackman's parents and sisters explain that the family kills people and sells their souls to the Great Demon King. The only major character in this chapter is Godon, a red bat-winged creature that serves Ackman. His main purpose is to gather the souls of people Ackman kills in a jar.

In the third chapter, the introduction to Ackman's main nemesis, Tenshi-kun, a Cherub-like angel. Having thought that Ackman was dead he is shocked to find him out and killing again. Tenshi tries to kill Ackman throughout the rest of the chapter but fails miserably. One example is Tenshi tries to hit Ackman with a missile, but misses and hits a school bus full of school children.

The rest of the series revolves around Ackman killing more people, Tenshi hiring various agents to do his job for him, sexual jokes, etc.

Characters
Ackman (アックマン, Akkuman)

Voiced by: Megumi Urawa

A 200-year-old demon child, who has just awoken from a 50-year nap.
Gordon (ゴードン, Gōdon)

Voiced by: Bin Shimada

A bat-winged creature that accompanys Ackman.
Tenshi-kun (天使くん)

Voiced by: Yōko Teppōzuka

Ackman's angel rival.

Publication

Published irregularly between July 1993 to October 1994, Go! Go! Ackman is written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. The manga is eleven chapters long, with each chapter being five pages long. When printed in Shueisha's V Jump magazine, all of the pages were in color. When collected in Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater Vol. 3 on August 4, 1997, they were greyscaled.[1] The series would receive another reprint in Akira Toriyama Mankanzenseki 1 on August 8, 2008.[2]

Adaptations

Anime adaptation

In 1994, the series was adapted into a fifteen-minute animated film shown at V Jump Festa. The film managed to retell the first few chapters involving Ackman's bouts with Tenshi-kun and the first two hired thugs. A few frames from the later chapters were used during the closing credits.

Video game adaptations

The manga has been adapted into a series of three console based platform video games for the Super Famicom. The first of these was more closely based on the comics. The second pitted Ackman against an angelic rock group called the Metal Angels. The last saw Ackman face a flamboyant police officer, and saw Ackman teaming up with his longtime rival Tenshi-kun. Both characters were playable and could be switched between. These games were action platformers like most licensed games of the day, with gameplay vaguely similar to Mega Man. There was also a handheld game for the Game Boy that was a maze chase game like Pac-Man.

Appearances in other media

Ackman is briefly seen in several Toriyama-related works. He is seen in The Brief Return of Dr. Slump, in the background of an episode of Dragon Ball Z, in Dragon Ball SD and in the fourth chapter of Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission.

References
  1. Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater Vol. 3, ISBN 4-08-872053-9 ISBN 978-4088720531
  2. Akira Toriyama Man-Kan Zenseki 1, ISBN 4-08-618772-8 ISBN 978-4086187725
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