| Dennō Bōkenki Webdiver | |
| Ja Kanji: | 電脳冒険記ウェブダイバー |
| Ja Romaji: | Dennō Bōkenki Webudaibā |
| Type: | tv series |
| Director: | Hiroshi Negishi (Chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa |
| Music: | Yuzo Hayashi |
| Studio: | Radix Nihon Ad Systems |
| Network: | TV Tokyo |
| First: | April 6, 2001 |
| Last: | March 29, 2002 |
| Episodes: | 52 |
is a Japanese mecha anime series produced by Radix and Nihon Ad Systems, in conjunction with toy maker Takara. The series is directed by Hiroshi Negishi and Naoyuki Tatsuwa and written by Mayori Sekijima. It aired on TV Tokyo from April 6, 2001, to March 29, 2002.
In the year 2100, children have become Web divers and uploaded their consciousness onto global computer networks. They play in a cyber park called the Magical Gate. One day, a mysterious computer virus appears and begins to destroy the Magical Gate. Programs called Web Knights were created to protect the children from the virus but it turned all the Web Knights against the children. The only Web Knight to escape is Gladion. Gladion seeks the help of Kento Yuki, a Web Diver who is in the fourth grade.
In the final battle, he received great damage in the first battle with Dark Gladion and was wrecked, and he lost his memory and was in danger of disappearing, but he was given the power of the mind by Kento who web dived and headed for his spiritual world. He regained his memory and was revived. In the final battle, together with Kento, he becomes a cyber datanoid resembling an angel with a long lower body without legs, and a real datanoid that mimics his past self equipped with a sword. After a deadly battle with Deletloss on the planet Couria, he got caught up in ensuing explosion, but survived safely.
Its true identity was a computer program accidentally created by a scientist on the planet Couria one million years ago. With a ruthless and despicable personality that believes absolutely in the power of evil, he is truly an incarnation of evil. After destroying the planet, he planned to eliminate his old enemy and only survivor, Gladion, and even evolved into a datanoid that could materialize in the real world, invading the Earth's cyberspace and destroy the entire universe. He can also utilize his Web Knight form under the name Dark Gladion. By uniting with Ryuto in the final battle and taking in the soul that resents himself drifting in the cyber world of Couria, he then gained another form resembling a long legless lower body and a monocular demonic cyber body datanoid with wings. It has evolved into a real datanoid in the form of Ryuto, who wears armor with a design and is equipped with a sword. When he's a cyber body datanoid, his weapons are energy waves emitted from his right hand and light bullets emitted from both hands. With its overwhelming fighting power, Gladion suffers, but is defeated by Gladion, who also became a datanoid after fusing with Kento. Deletloss was mortally wounded by Gladion's Break Zahn and was destroyed in an explosion along with the planet.
Dennō Bōkenki Webdiver is produced by Radix and Nihon Ad Systems, in conjunction with toy maker Takara for the toys. For the anime's 20th anniversary, series director Hiroshi Negishi, general director Shin Matsuo, animator Hideyuki Kachi and MODEROID development manager at Good Smile Company Yoshihiro Takagi shared their thoughts on the development of the series.[1] [2] [3]
The concept for Webdiver originated from one of Takara's recently released toy: the Plug and Play Karaoke toy eKara. As Negishi stated, he was inspired by the toy to create a different premise for the series, saying "Setting is nothing... First of all, Takara (now Takara Tomy) sent me a proposal on how to play with toys via Aeon (later We've, now FuRyu). I said that time "I want to release a product that uses a 'plug-it' function that works by connecting it to a TV." However, as with Borgman, I had the impression that it would be quite difficult to link TV and toys. In "Borgman", in order to link it with the toys, we played a high-pitched sound just before the broadcast code as a sound effect during the main story. That's why it's so unreasonable to use the plug-in function to link with a video game! That was the beginning (laughs). But the idea was really interesting. I was surprised to see that the controller was a deformed robot toy itself."[3] Negishi also said about the concept that "Yes. We didn't even have a toy design for the main robot yet, so we just had the general image of a "robot as a game controller." So I felt like I was given an explanation, including Mr. Kachi of Aeon."[3] Hideyuki Kachi also learned about the idea for the series and explained that "At the time, Takara was selling e-kara, a karaoke microphone that you can connect directly to a TV and play with, and there was a trend to release various toys that applied that system. There is also a robot toy project among them, can you make an animation using this? It was kind of a rough story. I had been working on an anime project that used the Internet as a theme, so I guess the starting point was to combine that with that." When deciding for the designs on Gladion and the other Web Knights, Kachi answered that "First, of course, Takara-san came up with the original design, and from there, we played catch with the anime side to finalize it. The number of Web Knights that appeared wasn't exactly 13 from the beginning, but it was more or less like "that's about it".[3]
As explaining the title, Negishi replied that "In the case of NG Knight Lamune & 40 and Mashin Hero Wataru, the main character is the boy in the title. In other words, "web diver" is the meaning of the main character, Kento Yuki. The story itself is about Gladion and Kento Yuki, and since it is also a story of meeting Gladion from the protagonist's perspective and fighting to lend him his power, the main character is a "web diver" in the sense of a young boy. I made it a title. Also, Takara wants to make a difference from other works. Also, back then, everyone liked the sound of the word “gladiator” (laughs). "Gladion" was a little over the top. I don't mind if it's a product name. I think there was also that side."[3] Negishi also came up with the subtitle "Dennō Bōkenki" explaining that "This is because "Bōkenki" was a concept similar to "Jugo Shonen Houryuuki" where children travel in a computer world and fight enemies that stand in their way. I didn't like that it looked like "fighting" was the main thing. For example, if it is "Cyber Senki", isn't it an image of fighting all the time? From the children's point of view, they fight for friendship. Because I wanted it that way."[3] Negishi also explained the VR World setting for the series: "It was 2000 when we started planning and decided on the setting. VR and so on are not common at all in the world. Personally, I simply didn't want to turn it into an RPG anime (laughs)." He also added regarding the concept of Magical Gate as a modern virtual SNS itself and the concept closer to the image of wearing an avatar than "boarding" that "For me, when I saw "Ready Player One", I thought, "This is exactly what I wanted to do with Web Diver!" At that time, there were budget problems and CG technology problems, so it was quite an impossible task (laughs)." and added that "At the time, it was a little difficult to express that. Also, even though you plug in and enter the computer world, your physical body is in the real world, so it had to be in the form of a simulated experience. I had a hard time justifying that. In the second half of the series, I went to the computer world normally instead of a simulated experience (laughs)."[3] Negishi also explained about the worldview of Magical Gate: "That has something to do with the composition of the series. First of all, as a product plan, Takara came up with a plan for how many robots he wanted to release in a year. About 3 of them are the deluxe specs that will be the main force, and Gladion is naturally that. In addition, Dragwon and Ditalion are also products with that specification, but toys have a big sales season in spring, summer, and winter, so in the spring we have the hero robot Gladion, in the summer we have Dragwon, and in the winter we have Ditalion for Christmas. The release schedule was decided in advance. The climax of the story is created accordingly. After all, the strongest enemy that comes at the very end is Ditalion. Before reaching there, a powerful rival, Dragwon, will appear. That's why Magical Gate is divided into three layers, with Ditalion at the farthest back and Dragwon in front of it. Every time you clear one layer at a time, enemies who are originally allies will appear, and Gladion will "wake up!" I thought about the world view in a way that matches the composition."[3] For the character and the Web Knight's designs, Kachi and Matsuo explained in detail regarding some of them having animal designs for their fighter modes. Kachi said "That's because it's linked to play as a toy. It was the anime side that came up with the rationale behind that." Matsuo also said that "I actually went to Takara at the time and talked to the engineers who were making toys there, and they seemed to be very particular about making them. He said, "Transforming a motif that other companies don't do into a robot." Moreover, he said that he was developing it so that it would be a proper locomotive, such as a sailing ship, rather than just changing the atmosphere. That's why the enthusiasm for "Web Diver" was amazing. A few years after the "Brave Series", I felt the spirit of creating a new series of robots for children with that kind of feeling when I talked with the engineers. I also talked about how it would be nice if that happened. Also, when I said, "For me, it's good to have proper eyes, nose, and mouth!", he was very happy (laughs). I like robots with black eyes."[3] For the human characters design and naming, Negishi recalled that "Naming seems to be difficult, but that's not the case. First of all, for Aoi, we have a rule within ourselves that says, "The heroine's name that starts with 'A' will make a hit" (laughs). Production manager Motoki Ueda worked for Apple on Zillion, and I worked on Anise for Borgman. Furthermore, I came up with Aki in Space Knight Tekkaman Blade and said that the heroine with "A" would definitely hit. So she became Aoi (laughs)." He also added regarding Kento and Kaito that "Yuuki Kento is simply a rhyme. Yuuki comes from "courage", so when compared to his younger brothers, it's easy to say and don't overlap, Kento and Kaito. I thought about the names of the other members in balance with those three names. Jean is the only child who lives overseas, so I gave it a slightly different sound."[3]
However, in regards to the CG in the series itself, Negishi said that "This was largely due to the circumstances of the drawing. After all, mecha drawing is difficult, and at that time I had already reached a certain limit. If we had a lot of animators draw in small cut units to reduce the burden, it would be difficult to standardize the details." He also added that "Mr. Yamaguchi, who was in charge of the CG director, started by reassembling the joints of the hands and feet of the CG model for action. In the beginning, there were parts where I couldn't keep up with the work, but as the number of episodes increased, the range of movement gradually expanded. Also, since the CG part of the main story was done in-house at Radix, I would tell them how it would look like, and the CG staff would point out things like, "It's like this in storyboards, but it's difficult in CG." That's what we were doing directly to each other. He did the best he could."[3]
Dennō Bōkenki Webdiver first premiered on TV Tokyo and other affiliate stations in Japan beginning April 6, 2001, until March 29, 2002, with a combined run of 52 episodes. R.A.M, a group formed by Hideaki Takatori alongside Akihiko Hirama and Sister MAYO performed both the show's opening themes: "DIVER＃2100" and "SO DIVE!" while KATSUMI performed the first ending theme "TOGETHER" and Hironobu Kageyama sang the second ending theme "Fighters". Yuzo Hayashi composed the music for the show.
Nippon Columbia released the series on both DVD and VHS during the show's run. Frontier Works released a 20th Anniversary Blu-ray Box Set on December 22, 2021, containing two discs with all 52 episodes, a limited edition Drama CD "The Return of the Web Knight", a special Soundtrack CD, illustrations and concept art for the show. The box set also includes the exclusive weapon parts "Holy Sword Granslayer" to be used for MODEROID Gladion.[4]
The series has now appeared in Bandai Namco Entertainment's long running Super Robot Wars series of games, starting with Super Robot Wars DD in 2023 as a limited event unit.[5]
Takara released several toys based on the mechas on the anime series during its run. Each toy has a special functionality to connect to the TV to replicate the "Plug-it" feature seen in the anime to play games. For the toy release of Gladion, the toy can link up with other Web Knight toys for it to power up, which affects the gameplay when connected.
For the anime's 20th anniversary, Good Smile Company announced that several of the mechs from the series will be added in the MODEROID line of plastic models, with Gladion and Dark Gladion released in December 2021[6] and Wyverion in March 2023.[7]