Forgotten Toons: Marvel's Monster of Frankenstein (1981)

 Mary Shelley's creation by way of Marvel and then Japan.

This is Monster of Frankenstein, an Anime adaptation of the Marvel Comic.  It's not a one-to-one Adaptation, which is probably for the best.

To give a brief summary, between his regular adventures, the Monster met Spider-Man, fought Iron Man, was sent to the future by Kang and later ran an underground City full of Monsters.

Let's stick with a loose adaptation of the Story, shall we?

It also takes many cues from the Universal one, including the neck bolts and inhuman looking skin.  This Adam is also not a judgmental guy and he's also not ever called Adam.

To find out what they changed and what they didn't, read on...

The Film wastes NO time as Dr. Frankenstein and his Assistant- not Fritz OR Igor- try to make a new kind of man.

Initially, it fails, but then lightning strikes and super charges it to life.

It goes a bit crazy, scares them and flees.

The Doctor makes his Assistant go after the Creature, but he's maimed in the process.

The Doctor leaves like nothing happened.

His creation is indeed on the loose and it isn't friendly.

It eventually finds its way through the Woods to where the Doctor and company live.

The Doc won't spill his secret, but the Creature seems to want him to as it kills his bird, his dog and then wrecks his garden.

Revenge kind of petered off there at the end admittedly.

The Assistant tries to blackmail the Doctor and was apparently behind the killings and/or scare tactics.

He's confronted by the Creature and killed in self-defense.

The Inspector- who's a bit like the one from Lupin the Third- works the case, especially as more bodies show up.

The Doctor is no help.

Things take an interesting turn (or three) as we learn that the Doctor is the SON of the original Frankenstein.

The Creature shows up at the Dad's Home while he's with the Grandkids.  While they're gone, the Creature greets the Dad...who is the blind guy from the Story- most famously played by Gene Hackman in Young Frankenstein.

He befriends the Creature and the Daughter soon does as well.  Nothing can go wrong!

Yeah, everything goes wrong.

The Doctor's Wife dies, the grandkid dies, the Creature jumps to its death and the Doc kills himself.

It's...wow.  Alright then.
The End.

A Film that is honestly pretty good...and then suddenly really dark.  This one...takes a turn.

The Art Style is typical Toei Animation and very similar to the Dracula Anime.  All of the tropes are there- that kid and her giant head- and the usual dramatic shots too.

This Frankenstein Monster is mostly just the Universal one, since he never wears the fur coat that the Marvel version is more famous for (and yes, it was in a later Universal Film too).
In the Comics, he kills a bear and makes it.

In this one, he kills a bear to save the girl...and that's it.

A bunch of random changes- like the Grandpa being the blind guy- and more are to be expected.  Even Frankenstein: The True Story changed details.

The big thing here is absolutely the tonal whiplash in the final 20 minutes or so.  You think things are setup for Sequels- like the Mom being blue like our Creature- and then 'Nope!'

This one is hard to recommend to anyone but fans of Frankenstein that want something a bit different and aren't afraid to suddenly feel depressed.

No matter how much Japan change/tweak things, it's hard to get weirder than the first Live-Action Creature...

Made by Edison's Studio and NOT HIM.

Next time, I return to my digital library for more scary stuff.  No more Universal Monsters...probably.  Stay tuned...