Copyright © 1999 Sunrise

There is not much horror anime out there. Actually, there is a lot of horror anime out there, however it all seems to follow a rather bland pattern. Most of the stories tend to throw the viewer right into the middle of the madness. There is little effort given to unfolding the events that make up the story. These stories end up being how much they can shock the viewer with little thought paid to a climax between good and evil at the end.
BETTERMAN is described as "science fiction/horror." It uses a bunch of common plot elements to construct the basic elements of every episode as well as some over done plot elements to set up the story.
The series starts out in a familiar fashion: Our hero, Aono Keita is dreaming. He is in a curious costume in the water near a beach. His costume is all torn up. As he looks towards the shore he sees a female in a similar costume that is also all torn up. She seems to be happy, almost crying, to see him. She begins to say something. Keita hears nothing, though. He can only see her lips move. Suddenly he is woken up by his alarm clock.
At school a new transfer student is introduced to Keita's class: Sai Hinoki. Keita immediately recognizes her as the girl from his dream. What is more, Keita also recognizes her as a close childhood friend that left when he was young. Hinoki also recognizes Keita but looks away.
Elsewhere the brand new amusement park "The Bottom of the World" had a disaster at its opening. Everyone there is dead. All we see are the chalk outlines of the victims. The authorities have no idea what happened. Two curious people arrive on the scene and immediately decide to call in Hinoki. Back at school Hinoki gets a mysterious call just as Keita attempts to re-introduce himself to her.
Keita, being clumsy, falls down a barricaded stairway on his way home. He finds himself in an abandoned entrance to the "Bottom of the World." As he wanders around we see buried in flowers the body of a dead guard. Keita has several narrow encounters before he stumbles on a control room van with a single person in it—young Sakura-chan. Keita attempts to free Sakura from her contraption but Sakura tells him that he should run away. She will be okay, but if he stays he will probably die.
Keita leaves reluctantly and in his attempt to escape gets deeper into trouble. He finally meets Hinoki inside of a giant robot called the Kakuseijin #1. It is a neuronoid machine and requires two "dual-kind" to operate it. However, Hinoki is alone in the Kakuseijin and thus can not make it move. Her partner, Cactus, has left the machine to look around and is now lost. Predictably Keita turns out to be a dual-kind as well and is able to help Hinoki pilot the machine. However, the two of them are not enough to defeat their strange enemy.
This is where the Betterman appears. He undergoes a curious transformation and manages to the save the day.
Sounds pretty trite and common overall. There is even a common plot pattern here that is repeated in a number of episodes: Hinoki and Keita are fighting in the Kakuseijin but only get so far. Then Betterman comes and saves them. However under all this is the mystery. What is this strange phenomenon that is occurring? How are people dying? What is a dual-kind? What is this "modie-warp" that is being studied?
As we watch the story the truth, which begins to be revealed later in the series, becomes more sinister. Betterman's power has many dread implications. Their enemy twists and defies being nailed down. Not a virus, not an animated force, not a being. On top of this there is the whole mystery of Hinoki's lost family and why Betterman looks like her lost brother even though she claims that he is not.
In truth the lure of the story is in the details. The common plot elements and setups are the skeleton upon which the real flesh of the story is written. If you can watch past the parts that may turn you off you will find a mystery, horror that draws you in. Just what is going on? Even worse, though, is when things do begin to get explained you start seeing things that you may not have expected at all.
The animation quality is pretty much on par with your middle-of-the-road anime TV series. There are some good elements but nothing really stands out. The character designs are curiously exaggerated and the monsters have an eerie feel to them. These give the story a fresh feel.
Overall, I recommend this series, but viewers who want more in a show may be disappointed by the early episodes, as the drama only starts to unfold later on.

Released by Nippon Victor / Victor Entertainment
50 minutes each volume (13 total volumes planned), ¥5800 each
Volume 1: LD:JVLA-58091, DVD:JVBA-58001, VHS:VVAS-1131
Volume 2: LD:JVLA-58092, DVD:JVBA-58002, VHS:VVAS-1132
Volume 3: LD:JVLA-58093, DVD:JVBA-58003, VHS:VVAS-1133
Volume 4: LD:JVLA-58094, DVD:JVBA-58004, VHS:VVAS-1134
Volumes 1-3 Available now in Japan
Volume 4 Available 22 November 1999
Where to buy