Remember that Time Centaur Man Turned Out to Be a Woman?
While we in the west have done pretty well getting translated Mega Man manga these past few years, it still doesn’t scratch the surface of all that’s been made in Japan. One of the earliest and yet most prolific original Rockman series was by Shigeto Ikehara. Starting in 1992, he wrote episodic manga covering Rockman 4 through Rockman 7, as well as the first three Rockman World titles, all appearing in the monthly Comic BonBon manga magazine.
I’m not super knowledgeable of Ikehara’s series, but I have to imagine doing the same old stories of Mega Man beating reprogrammed robots and stopping Dr. Wily got a little stale, so he started making things a bit interesting. In the story for Rockman 6, it seems that all of the Robot Masters have their own interests as well as serving Mr. X. Wind Man, in fact, is helping Mega Man out to toughen him up for the inevitable final battle. But the biggest twist of all wasn’t when Mr. X turned out to be Dr. Wily, but when Centaur Man turned out to be a woman.
Not only a woman, but Knight Man’s lover as well. In the story, Centaur… eh, Man, falls in love with Knight Man for his strength and chivalry. She fears for Knight Man in his fated battle with Mega Man, but at the same time respects his honor and lets him fight. However, when Knight Man is vanquished by Mega Man, Centaur Man doesn’t take it too well and angrily seeks our vengeance.
Up to this point, Mega Man has no idea that Centaur Man is a woman, despite her feminine tone (he is a little slow, you know). The light bulb doesn’t click until Mega Man breaks her helmet in battle, and her long, blond hair sweeps out. She curses Mega Man for destroying her dreams, and vehemently attacks him. But in the end, despite reluctance, Mega Man finishes her off… using her lover’s own weapon.
Even though the series has yet to be officially translated, some western fans have known about Centaur Man’s gender bend for a while. The really funny thing is, not having access to a lot of the resources we do today, many fans tried to argue that Centaur Man’s womanhood was actual game canon. I recall it being a matter of hot debate, and at times I wasn’t even sure myself. But sounder logic prevailed; namely Centaur Man’s clearly male voice in the Power Fighters.
At any rate, I am left to wonder what other interesting plot points lie within Ikehara’s old manga series. Perhaps some day, a certain noodle-loving comic company will show us. Let’s hope!
Tags: comic, Japan, manga, Mega Man 6, Mega Man Classic, Shigeto Ikehara
Filed under: Other News
“Remember that Time Centaur Man Turned Out to Be a Woman?”
Yes, it was around the turn of the “Centaur-y!”
OOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHHOOO!
I did read this series when I was young…ah good ol’ nostalgic memories
Honestly, I like the idea of Centaur Man being a woman despite canon. It adds more to the pool of female Robot Masters. There are too few of them as it is.
I love the looks of Ikehara’s Rockman manga. It’s like a kind of Tezuka meets Rockman style, which isn’t too surprising, Ikehara was one of Tezuka’s apprentices. Sure it’s very episodic, but I love the manga for its artwork. Very original in comparison to other Rockman manga, and I certainly hope that one day this manga will make it to the west.
My favorite thing about the manga is the Wily Man parody actually.
Excuse me while I puke.
Centaur Ma-errr…Woman looks MANLY compared to Zero though. First thing I thought of when you brought up the flowing blonde hair.
And geez, Mega Man beats her with Knight Crusher? I know that’s the right weapon, but talk about adding insult to injury.
Gross.
I agree with MurkMan on that. If Centaur is officially made into a female, Roll and Splash Woman won’t be the only female Robot Masters known so far.
I wouldn’t mind having the Rockman 6 manga translated either. :3
But uh, if she’s a woman, then why’s her name Centaur MAN?
I guess she should be renamed “Sagittarius” now.
@ HeatPhoenix
1. Hinding the fact that she’s a woman for some reason. (Why would a robot….?)
2. Gender issues?
3. Centaur or her creators might not have wanted the other fighters emotions to sque the results of the fights. So gave her the abilty to switch to a male voice and hemet.
Maybe he bumped into Tiresias.
Robots falling in love and having “lovers,” in my 20XX? How would that even wo… never mind.
And now I’m trying not to think about how anything specific would work. Yeah. If you know the internet you know what I mean. Sadly.
This is however, odd yet slightly interesting. But mostly to me since that’s my Horoscope sign.
And that’s the story of how Wily found the perfect scrap head to use when creating Zero.
Other interesting and fun Ikehara plot points?
The Blues Awakening book is an interesting story where Wily supposedly reforms, after a bot goes haywire at an expo, by turning the 1-3 RMs into robo-police. But it’s up to Blues and Rock to reveal the sham. Blues ends up getting heavily damaged by an evil Wily clone of himself.
His X manga intro back story where ironically X is the one in ride armor who gets blown up by fellow Maverick Hunter Vile. After first being on the receiving end of a Zero punch, it leads to Vile being locked up…temporarily.
And of course the funniest is what Dr. Jerk alluded to, in Vol. 3 of the RM7 manga, where Wily has a virtual video game sequence in which he dons a Skull/Bass hybrid armor, to battle the evil Light machine and his army of derpy-faced helper bots with whip-crackin’ Roll!
Wow, Mega Man’s a jerk.
@ Phaelin: And he did what he had to do.
But it’s okay. They’ll be back.
@Gamma Thumbs up.
But what the heck is that on Mega Man’s face in the first panel? Did he vomit at some point before?