Babel II

Babel II (バビル２世) is a 1971 manga series by Mitsuteru Yokoyama.

Yokoyama's manga has been animated three times: in 1973 as a television series, in 1992 as an original video animation series, and in 2001 as a 13 episode television series.

Yokoyama also wrote a sequel manga located in a parallel universe, His Name Is 101 (その名は101).

Common plot
The series follows Koichi, a Japanese schoolboy who learns he is the reincarnation of the alien entity "Babel". As such, Koichi is entrusted with Babel's powers and joined by three protectors: Rodem, a shape-shifting black panther; Ropross, a Pteradactyl-like flying creature; and Poseidon, a giant robot that always rises from the depth of the ocean when summoned. The boy hero commands his new found powers and companions to defend the Earth.

Characters

 * Babel II
 * His real name is Koichi Yamano (His family name is different respectively in the anime version like Furumi, Yamano, Kamiya). Koichi lives an ordinary junior high school life, but one day the computer of the Tower of Babel authorizes him as a master of the tower. Koichi is actually a distant descendant of the space alien Babel, who cast ashore on Earth 5000 years ago, and he inherits his abilities (superhuman intellect and physical strength, various supernatural powers). He leaves the Tower of Babel with three manservants following him and with their help he confronts Yomi for disturbing the world peace.


 * Yomi
 * Yomi is a vicious monarch who conspires to rule over the world. He is a distant descendant of Babel like Babel II, and has supernatural power equivalent to Babel II. He owns secret bases in many parts of the world, and is accompanied by miscellaneous subordinates, such as scientists, engineers, psychics, and cyborg agents. Because Yomi sends each country remodeled men as VIPs in the government, he can manipulate many nations at will. He produces various robot weapons to counter Babel II's three servants and challenges him to a fight. He had been invited to the Tower of Babel as a candidate for heir-apparent of the tower before. However, since the computer judged that he does not suit as successor, this memory was erased from him.


 * Yumiko Furumi
 * Yumiko is a daughter of Dr. Furumi and a classmate in Koichi's junior high school. In the anime version (1973), she is Koichi's cousin, and since Koichi lost parents when he was young, Dr. Furumi, his uncle, took him in.


 * Igarashi
 * He is a head of National Security Bureau. The supporter of Babel II.


 * Igano
 * He is a skilled investigator of National Security Bureau.

Three Servants

 * Lodem
 * Lodem is an intellectual living thing of the indeterminate form. It can transform itself into various form, but usually likes black panther's figure. It also often chooses a female figure.


 * Ropross
 * Ropross is a huge bird-type monster robot. It can fly in the sky at supersonic speed, and has a rocket launcher and the Supersonic Wave Generator in its mouth.


 * Poseidon
 * Poseidon is a huge human-shape robot. It has laser gun in a finger and a torpedo launcher in its abdomen. Poseidon shows its ability most in the sea, but it can be active and powerful on the land as well.

Yomi's weapons

 * Baran
 * Combat robots swinging an iron ball with a chain around.

Plot
There was a boy called registration number "101" (one-zero-one) in the secret laboratory which CIA administered. The boy was Koichi Yamano who was once called Babel II and saved the world. Koichi was told that his blood makes the cure-all which saves dying sick persons and wounded persons, and he provided the laboratory with his blood after fighting with Yomi.

However, he has noticed that the laboratory transfused his blood into subjects and produced supermen like him artificially. He escaped from the lab and decided to exterminate supermen born by his blood scattered all over the world.

As a result, the enemy sends espers to fight him one after another. Unfortunately, the three servants of Babel II, Lodem, Ropross and Poseidon, are confined in an underground nuclear test site by the CIA, so Koichi is forced to fight alone.

Influence

 * Mangaka Hirohiko Araki said that he paid homage to "Babel II" by letting Jōtarō Kūjō wear a Japanese school uniform in "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" Part 3.
 * Video game developer Yu Suzuki of Sega says Babel II was his main inspiration in the creation of the arcade game Psy-Phi.