VIEWTIFUL JOE

VIEWTIFUL JOE
(TV Tokyo, October 2, 2004-September 24, 2005 JAP
The WB, November 5, 2005-May 20, 2006 US)
 
Group TAC, Medianet, TV Tokyo, Capcom, Geneon Entertainment

  

MAIN CAST:

Tomokazu Seki (Japanese) & Jason Palmer (English) – Viewtiful Joe/Joe Black

Natsuko Kuwatani (Japanese) & Philece Sampler (English) – Silvia Lumière/Sexy Silvia/Go-Go Silvia

Banjou Ginga (Japanese), Bob Papenbrook (as John Smallberries, episodes 1-21) & Paul St. Peter (as George C. Cole) (English) – Captain Blue/Almighty Leader/King Blue

Makoto Tsumura (Japanese) & Katie Leigh (English) – Captain Blue Jr./Junior

Mayumi Asano (Japanese) & Wendee Lee (English) – Sprocket

Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese) – Alastor

Milton Lawrence (as Ross Lawrence) (English) – Alastor, Gran Bruce

Terrance Stone (English) – Biankies, King Charles III

  

In the late 80s and early 90s, Nintendo enjoyed a monopoly on the video game home console market; their original NES being responsible for reversing the slump of the video game industry after the crash of 1983. This allowed Nintendo to be very selective with third-party developers (one of the underlying causes of said crash), and to compel them to make exclusive content for their systems on their schedule. Nintendo’s restrictions were forced to relax a bit in regards to the SNES when Sega’s Genesis console became a legitimate competitor. However, everything was turned on its head when Nintendo decided to retain a proprietary cartridge-based system for their next console, the Nintendo 64. Turned off by the limited memory and added expense of manufacturing and stocking enough of the cartridges, third party developers turned their attentions towards the disc-based PlayStation that allowed them to avoid those issues.

The GameCube was Nintendo's hope to turn their fortunes around.

The N64 proved popular and performed strongly in its launch year. However, the cartridge format was said to have contributed to a diminished release schedule and higher price point than its competition. Although it continued to outsell the Sega Saturn, it would soon fall behind the PlayStation in the United States. In Japan it was a different story, as the small game library turned off consumers resulting in low sales. Nintendo tried to correct these mistakes with their next system, the GameCube, which had powerful hardware and a disc-based system (although still a proprietary one using mini-discs).

The four surviving members of The Capcom Five.

Unfortunately, the system had its own problems. For starters, the console didn’t offer DVD playback or internet connectivity like its contemporaries. Once again, third-party support was lacking, which meant it didn’t have a wide variety of games available to play at launch. And there was new competition in town as Microsoft had released their Xbox just three days prior. As a result, the GameCube only sold 4.7 million consoles in its first year. Looking to boost sales, Nintendo entered into a partnership with Capcom to produce five exclusive games for the GameCube; a deal Nintendo would hastily announce in November of 2002. Known as The Capcom Five, these games were futuristic third-person shooter P.N.03; shoot ‘em up Dead Phoenix; action-adventure shooter Killer7; the next entry in the hit survival horror franchise, Resident Evil 4; and Viewtiful Joe.

Joe and his super alter-ego.

Viewtiful Joe was developed by Team Viewtiful, a subgroup of Capcom Production Studio 4, directed by Hideki Kamiya and produced by Atsushi Inaba. Originally known as “Red Hot Man” until copyright conflicts arose because of the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, the game was inspired by 1960s and 1970s Japanese costumed tokusatsu programs such as Kamen Rider and Ultraman and combined with the concept of superheroes found in American comic books. The characters were designed by Kumiko Suekane.

Joe taking on Hulk Davidson.

Players took on the role of the protagonist Joe (Dee Bradley Baker), an ordinary guy from Earth who loved movies, comics and action figures. While attending a film starring the aging superhero Captain Blue (Gregg Berger) with his girlfriend, Silvia (Cristina Pucelli), the film’s antagonist seemed to have defeated Blue and then proceeded to kidnap Silvia into the film and into Movieland. Joe was then taken after her by Blue’s giant mecha, Six Majin (or Six Machine), in order to defeat the organization of villains known as Jadow and their Almighty Leader to rescue her. Blue gave him a device known as a V-Watch that allowed Joe to transform into a superhero when he said the word “henshin (transform)”, coming up with his own catchphrase “Henshin-a-go-go, baby!” Joe proceeded to battle through members of the Jadow through various Movieland locations with Blue’s guidance, and came to learn that Silvia was abducted as the Jadow needed “the DNA of the creator” to escape to Earth and avoid forever being forgotten when celluloid becomes obsolete. It was then revealed that Blue was Silvia’s father who had become trapped in his own films and was the real mastermind behind the whole plot, becoming the final boss: a giant robot named King Blue. Upon his defeat, Blue came to his senses, reunited with his daughter, and told Joe he would need to save the world two more times. Silvia requested a V-Watch of her own and together the two of them set out to be heroes.

Joe and his new partner, Sexy Silvia.

Viewtiful Joe was a traditional 2D platform side-scrolling beat ‘em up that was intermixed with 3D cel-shaded graphics to create “stunning visuals and fluid gameplay”. Joe had the ability to double jump, punch, kick and dodge, the latter of which caused enemies to become dazed when performed successfully. He also had three special abilities called Viewtiful Effects (VFX) Power used to combat enemies and solve puzzles: “Slow”, which slowed time and increased Joe’s strength and reflexes; “Mach Speed” allowed Joe to move faster and unleash a flurry of attacks as well as envelope him in a temporary heat shield that protected him from attacks and set enemies on fire; and “Zoom In”, which brings the camera to focus tightly on Joe and granted him more power for his normal attacks, a new set of attacks and paralyzed weaker foes nearby—however, it also meant the amount of damage he took increased as well. Using a VFX Power caused the VFX gauge to drain and revert Joe to his non-super self, leaving him weaker for a time until it refilled over time or by picking up bottles of VFX Juice. Any two VFX Powers could be combined and their gage temporarily expanded by collecting a number of V-Films in a stage. Hamburgers could also be collected to replenish health.

Captain Blue: Hero? Villain? Absentee father?

Each stage was broken up into several interconnected missions, or scenes, which Joe must complete before moving on to the next. Between each stage, players had the chance to purchase upgrades for Joe using V-Points, including abilities, weapons, health items and health increases. V-Points were earned several ways: by collecting coins that appeared when defeating enemies; while using special attacks earning V-Marks or Viewtifuls, which could be converted to V-Points; using combos and long chains of attacks, particularly while using Slow, and increasing the multiplier called X-Bonus; and the player grade at the end of the stage that tallied up the number of V-Points earned, the amount of time past, and how much damage Joe took. Completing the game on various difficulties unlocked new playable characters such as Silvia, Captain Blue and one of the bosses, Alastor (Mikey Kelley), as well as Dante (Drew Coombs) from the Devil May Cry series.

The game was released in Japan on June 26, 2003, with North America getting their release that October. The game was well-reviewed and earned a number of awards and nominations from various magazines, game sites and award shows. Unfortunately, that didn’t translate into sales as only 275,000 copies were sold worldwide. However, as the game was made on a small budget, it ended up being relatively successful commercially enough to warrant a sequel. Team Viewtiful was spun off into its own semi-autonomous production company, Clover Studio, to begin work on it and develop other new intellectual properties for Capcom. This was done in part because of the tensions between Capcom and Shinji Mikami after the console exclusivity of Resident Evil 4 that Mikami touted was undone. The Capcom Five ended up not being as exclusive as Nintendo believed and Capcom seemingly backed-up—a mistake they blamed on poor communication with their parent company—with only one of the four games actually produced, P.N.03, remaining solely on GameCube. The other games, including Joe, were eventually ported to other consoles.

Sexy Silvia getting her licks in this time around.

Viewtiful Joe 2 (given the subtitle Secret of the Black Film in Japan) picked up where the first game left off: with Joe and Silvia (now with the alter-ego of Sexy Silvia) setting out to fend off an invasion of Movieland by the alien organization called Gedow. Their leader, the unseen Black Emperor (Keith Szarabajka), desired to claim the Rainbow Oscars: seven statuettes that contained the power of the happy ending, with Blue being turned into the blue one. The Emperor ended up being Jet Black, Joe’s father, who worked as Captain Blue’s cinematographer and obtained a Black V-Watch after being twisted into evil when he found a cursed piece of celluloid known as the Black Film. While similar to the original game, this time around players could choose between Joe and Silvia and switch between them during gameplay using the “Viewtiful Switch”. Both characters shared health and VFX Power. Instead of Mach Speed, Silvia had the VFX Power “Replay”, which allowed her to record and repeat an event three times in succession but had the same benefits and cost as Joe’s ability. They also had a team-up attack utilizing the Six Machine, in place of an initially-teased co-op feature. An additional gameplay mode, the “36 Chambers of Viewtiful”, was a series of stages designed to test the player’s skills to accomplish set goals.

The Black Emperor.

The game released in Japan on November 18, 2004, with North America’s landing on December 8^th. This time it was directed by Masaaki Yamada as Kamiya had signed on to direct Ōkami; although Kamiya contributed to the storyline scenario in order to maintain continuity. Reviews were once again generally positive, but the game still didn’t make a strong impact on the sales charts; selling 270,000 copies in North America and 80,000 copies in Japan, and failing to chart at all in the United Kingdom.

To coincide with the sequel, Clover commissioned the creation of a manga published in V Jump magazine and an anime based on the games. Produced by Group TAC, the anime largely followed the same plot of the games. Joe (Tomokazu Seki & Jason Palmer) had been largely neglectful of his girlfriend, Silvia (Natsuko Kuwatani & Philece Sampler), until she was abducted into the movie screen where they were watching the film of his idol, Captain Blue (Banjou Ginga & Bob Papenbrook until his death, then Paul St. Paul). Joe was brought into Movieland by Captain Blue and his mech (renamed Machine Six in the English dub) and given the V-Watch, turning Joe into a superhero of his own. He set out to rescue Silvia in his own bumbling fashion, dealing with members of Jadow he encountered along the way. Silvia was shown to be proactive while waiting for Joe to rescue her; using her charms on her captors to keep herself somewhat comfortable while she actively looked for a way to escape.

The bad guys (from top): Alastor, Gran Bruce, Charles III, Fire Leo, Hulk Davidson and Another Joe (an alternate form for Alastor).

All of the villains from the game were featured, including Blade Master Alastor (Shinichiro Miki & Milton Lawrence), who wasn’t really loyal to the Jadow cause so much as looking for the ultimate battle, becoming an admirer of Joe’s skills and declaring him his rival (and ultimately gave Joe the “Viewtiful” part of his name when Joe misheard him say “beautiful”); Iron Ogre Hulk Davidson (Akimitsu Takase & Jamieson Price [as Joe Cooker]), a rhino-like strongman who loved to collect motorcycles and sing (badly); Dark Fiend King Charles III (Mitsuru Ogata & Terrence Stone), a bat-like being that spent his time napping in a coffin in his haunted temple; Inferno Lord Fire Leo (Yōji Ueda & Jonathan Lipow), a flaming lion with sharp talons that got annoyed by Joe constantly thinking he’s a dog; Aquatic Terror Gran Bruce (likely named after the animatronic shark featured in Jaws, voiced by Shouto Kashii & Lawrence), a humanoid shark wearing scuba gear with an inability to finish sentences and a limited intellect; and the Biankies (Stone), the legion of faceless, nameless, brainless minions that comprise the bulk of the Jadow’s forces. Biankies came in various forms: the helicopter or jet-powered Verdy, the ballerina Prima, the sword-wielding Red Leader, the elite Jokester, and the cowboy Bianco Billy.

Joe, Silvia and Junior in his eventual powered-up form.

New characters created specifically for the anime included Sprocket (Mayumi Asano & Wendee Lee), the second-in-command of the Jadow who was from Earth as well and was pulled into Movieland with Blue; Captain Blue Jr. (or just Junior, voiced by Makoto Tsumura & Katie Leigh), a fanboy of Captain Blue who was meant to become his successor but instead joined Joe on his quest; and Jefferson Buik, another member of Blue’s film crew who was sucked into Movieland and stumbled upon the Jadow’s plans, making him the most wanted man in the land.

Gran Bruce gets a little over-inflated.

Viewtiful Joe debuted on TV Tokyo in Japan on October 2, 2004. Geneon Entertainment (now NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan) would distribute the anime to The WB on the Kids’ WB! programming block on November 5, 2005. The anime retained the overall cel-shaded look and feel of the games as Inaba and his team provided Group TAC their designs, plus designed the new characters for the anime. Yukiko Oohashi was also credited as a character designer, with Nobuaki Nagano handling the Mecha designs. Animation was done by AniVillage, BUZZ, Digital Engine, EASIA, Hayashi, Hiryu Animation, Meta Studio, Studio Sign and Triple A. The English dub maintained one of the two theme songs performed by SaGa, “Brighter Side”. The rest of the series’ music was composed by Takehiko Gokita and Yuusuke Hayashi.

Sprocket zipping up.

The original anime was translated by Yurika Dennis with Grant Moran writing the new scripts, and Darlene Waddington writing the ADR scripts for the new voice recordings at phuuz entertainment. As with other anime imports, Joe was edited for content deemed a bit to risqué for American audiences. Some of those changes included editing out Joe’s middle finger during his transformation sequences; the amount of cleavage Sprocket displayed and her constantly zipping up her jumpsuit; and Sexy Silvia being renamed Go-Go Silvia. A new sense of comedy was infused by giving the various villain characters over-the-top personalities and filling Joe’s dialogue with a lot of outdated “cool dude” slang. Additionally, jokes about Blue’s weight were frequent. For whatever reason, the first episode aired of the dub was the 5^th episode, “Howdy, Partner!”, which introduced Junior. The actual first episodes wouldn’t air until the following month.

Promo art for Red Hot Rumble, featuring some of the season 2 characters.

The anime actually ran for two seasons, however only the first was ever dubbed in English. The series was dropped from the network once it made the branding changeover to The CW, but did air in its entirety in other territories like China and Latin America. As with the second game, the second season focused on the Gedow invasion led by Joe’s father, Jet Black (Jȗrôta Kosugi & Carlos Vitale in the Latin America dub), after he was corrupted by the Black Film and gained his own Black V-Watch. When not under the influence of the Evil King possessing him, Jet would actually aid Joe and his crew, unaware of his role as their foe. Junior gained a transformation of his own by being given V-Yo-Yos, while Blue was turned into a hammer with magical properties. The heroes would chase the Gedow through various film parodies to prevent them from ruining their happy endings, which would allow the Evil King to escape into the real world and control humanity’s dreams. Instead of the Rainbow Oscars from the game (likely for legal reasons), the heroes had to find the White Film—one of the first shot with Captain Blue and imbued with the power of justice.

The new bad guys (clockwise from top): Frost Tiger, Rachel, Dr. Cranken, Flinty Stone, Big John and Cameo Leon.

Along with the former minions from the Jadow, the Gedow came with new foes in the form of Drill Sergeant Big John, a Tyrannosaurus Rex clad in army gear; Blizzard Hazard Frost Tiger, the icy brother of Fire Leo; Cyber Phantom Cameo Leon, a humanoid chameleon capable of turning invisible; Ancient Guardian Flinty Stone (likely a play on The Flintstones), a narcoleptic sentient stone with an Aztec motif; Serial Killer Android Miss Bloody Rachel, an android built with all the data of Joe and Silvia and the ability to turn into other members of the Gedow, but managed to develop a heart and turn against her programming; Dr. Cranken, a squid-like mad scientist that was the Gedow’s second-in-command and responsible for creating most of their weaponry and minions; and Flaties, the foot-soldiers of the Gedow.

Joe drooling over Captain Blue merch while Silvia tries to have a serious discussion with him.

Unless you watched this season as it aired, it’s very hard to come by. It only aired in Japan once, and Cartoon Network, where it was carried in Latin America, aired it during the late-night hours. It also never saw release on home media, with only a few episodes of the Chinese subs, poor-quality recordings of only a few of the early Japanese episodes, and fan-recordings of the Spanish dubs preserving that version in its entirety popping up on video hosting sites on the internet.

The DVDs.

Geneon released the first season across 8 DVDs and UMDs between 2006-07. In a partnership with Kids Foot Locker, copies of the DVDs were included with purchases at the retailers. SaGa released two CD singles of their songs from the anime in 2005, both came with a DVD featuring a music clip while the singles for “Brighter Side” and “And You” featured the opening and ending cinematics with those songs. A full soundtrack of the series’ music was made available on CD, and also packaged with a special edition of the first DVD collection along with a lenticular cover. Using screenshots from the anime, Capcom published five manga-style film books in 2005. In 2006, Jazwares released a single wave of action figure 2-packs featuring Joe in both forms, Captain Blue, Junior, Charles III and a Bianky (however, they were packaged together randomly rather than in any set combination, making it difficult to get a complete set without duplication).

Joe knocking around Captain America on Spider-Man's stage in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Although Viewtiful Joe 2 ended with an allusion to another direct sequel, one has not yet been produced. Instead, two spin-off games were released in 2005. Red Hot Rumble, a mission-based platform fighter similar to Super Smash Bros., featured established Joe characters as well as the new characters and footage from the anime; however, the regular game actors reprised their respective roles, with Tara Strong taking over Junior and Vanessa Marshall the additional female roles. Double Trouble!, a Nintendo DS exclusive, was a 2D side-scroller that utilized the console’s touch screen mechanic and introduced Joe’s sister, Jasmine (Hynden Walch), who offered Joe support during gameplay. Clover was shut down in early 2007 after the departures of Kamiya, Inaba and Mikami from Capcom, effectively putting an end to the Joe franchise. Joe, however, has appeared as a playable character in the Wii version of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars in 2008 and both versions of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in 2011. Joe-inspired costumes also appeared in Dead Rising 4 as part of the Capcom Heroes mode, giving protagonist Frank West several of Joe’s moves, and in Street Fighter V Arcade Edition for the character Rashid.

       

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“Just a Dude Named Joe” (10/2/04 JAP, 12/16/05 US) – Silvia is kidnapped into Movieland by minions of Jadow, and Joe is given powers by Captain Blue to rescue her.

 

“What’s-His-Name to the Rescue!” (10/9/04 JAP, 12/16/05 US) – Joe tracks Silvia and her captor down and eventually defeats him, but she ends up abducted again before they can reunite.

 

“Dude, Did You Say Viewtiful?” (10/16/04 JAP, 12/16/05 US) – Silvia is dropped into a new prison while Joe is made to face off against two foes on a deserted island.

 

“Tutus to You, Too” (10/23/04 JAP, 12/23/05 US) – Silvia begins to comfortably adjust to life as a prisoner prompting Sprocket to break her spirits by showing edited footage of Joe losing his fights.

 

“Howdy, Partner!” (10/30/04 JAP, 11/5/05 US) – Joe comes across the home of Captain Blue and defends it from a motorcycle gang, ending up with the Captain’s former protégé in tow.

 

“Junior Sucks it Up” (11/6/04 JAP, 11/12/05 US) – Joe summons Captain Blue’s flying machine in order to deal with Jadow’s aerial assault.

 

“Attack of the Slugoon Platoon” (11/13/04 JAP, 11/19/05 US) – A hot new kid’s product ends up being a ploy by a Jadow goon to take over their minds and turn them into a personal army.

 

“Fire on the Mountain” (11/20/04 JAP, 11/26/05 US) – Joe and Junior encounter and battle Fire Leo as Alastor watches on, curious as to what Silvia sees in Joe.

 

“Roamin’ Holiday” (11/27/04 JAP, 12/3/05 US) – Joe and Junior come across a town with no food, and after a girl gives Joe some bread he ends up promptly arrested.

 

“No Kidding” (12/4/04 JAP, 12/10/05 US) – Charles III, Hulk Davidson and Gran Bruce come together to create an invincible robot to take out Joe.

 

“When Pigments Fly” (12/11/04 JAP, 12/17/05 US) – Joe and Junior must reclaim and restore a town’s color from two Jadow agents.

 

“Dude, Where’s My V-Watch?” (12/18/04 JAP, 1/7/06 US) – Joe gets fooled by a shapeshifting Jadow agent who disguises themselves as Silvia to steal his V-Watch.

 

“The Fugitive From Beyond the Screen” (12/25/04 JAP, 1/14/06 US) – Jefferson Buik stumbles upon the Jadow’s plans and looks for a hero to tell, but he ignores Joe entirely in favor of Junior.

 

“Jadow Greatest Hits Collection” (1/8/05 JAP, 1/21/06 US) – The Jadow agents disobey a direct order and head into the editing room to alter their footage to make themselves look better.

 

“To Have and to Hold Captive” (1/15/05 JAP, 1/28/06 US) – Not only must Joe free a town from Jadow, but he must stop the wedding of Silvia and Alastor!

 

“A Fairy’s Tale” (1/22/05 JAP, 2/4/06 US) – Joe and Junior decide to stick around when they discover a mysterious girl being extremely protective of a mystic flower.

 

“Captain Blue vs. the Squid of Inescapable Doom” (1/29/05 JAP, 2/11/06 US) – Joe and Alastor spar to cheer up a sick kid, but Jadow agents make the show a difficult one.

 

“V-Watch Out!” (2/5/05 JAP, 2/18/06 US) – Joe’s V-Watch ends up in the wash and may not make it through intact.

 

“V is For…Veggie-Burger?!” (2/15/05 JAP, 2/25/06 US) – Entering a new city ends up putting Joe and Junior on the hunt for a runaway girl.

 

“Express Train to Yesterday” (2/19/05 JAP, 3/4/06 US) – Joe, Hulk Davidson, Charles III and Gran Bruce all mysteriously end up on a train bound for Toyland.

 

“Bianco Billy Rides Again” (2/26/05 JAP, 3/25/06 US) – Junior ends up separated from Joe and finds himself forced to deal with a new foe on his own.

 

“Cleanliness is Next to Escape-liness” (3/5/05 JAP, 4/22/06 US) – Silvia discovers some footage from her childhood in the Jadow base, as well as a possible means of escape.

 

“Crush Hour” (3/12/05 JAP, 4/29/06 US) – Joe and Junior save Silvia from a clock tower, but before they can celebrate Alastor challenges Joe to a fight.

 

“Hero Takes a Fall” (3/19/05 JAP, 5/6/06 US) – Joe and Junior must save a town from Hulk Davidson, Gran Bruce and Charles III.

 

“In the Belly of the Jadow Beast” (3/26/05 JAP, 5/13/06 US) – Joe gets help from an unlikely ally in rescuing Silvia from Fire Leo and discovers the true identity of Almighty Leader.

 

“It All Comes Down to a Dude Named Joe” (4/2/05 JAP, 5/20/06 US) – The support from his friends allows Joe to defeat Blue and Silvia is given her own V-Watch to become Joe’s sidekick.

 

Season 2 (aired in Japan only):

“The New Enemy! Gedow’s Invasion” (4/9/05) – The Black Emperor seeks to ruin the happy endings of movies and turns Captain Blue into a hammer.

 

“Junior’s Transformation, Henshin a Yo-Yo” (4/16/05) – Junior gains his own power and joins the heroes while Blue’s former minions join Gedow, currently invading a dinosaur movie.

 

“Silvia and the Woman Who Summons Storms!” (4/23/05) – Gedow corrupts a robot and has her unleash tornadoes on her own film while Silvia comes across a depowered Alastor.

 

“Wild Wild Kick!” (4/30/05) – Gedow spoils a sports movie by making a kids’ soccer team so good that they no longer need their coach for motivation.

 

“The Alien Next Door” (5/7/05) – Joe joins up with a pair of men in black suits to stop a group of aliens the Gedow changed from being peaceful.

 

“Fierceness! The Cannon Race” (5/14/05) – Joe must stop Gedow from sucking the passion out of the racers in a film to save it.

 

“A Lot of Heroes!” (5/21/05) – Joe and his friends must find a way to bring back all the supervillains to a superhero film.

 

“Reclaiming the Black Diamond!” (5/28/05) – Gedow tries to make off with a diamond that will ruin the end of a heist movie, but Joe and his friends are ready to stop it.

 

“A Kind, Mysterious Person from Gedow?!” (6/4/05) – Rachel uses the Blue Hammer to turn a killer robot good, but it calls on Joe for help when the people still fear it.

 

“The Target is Joe!” (6/11/05) – Joe and his friends confront Rachel, who has used Captain Blue to suck all the electricity from a city.

 

“Burning Metal Heart!” (6/18/05) – After defeating Joe and his friends, Rachel suddenly stops taking orders from Gedow and rescues them from their enemies.

 

“Revived lack Wings!” (6/25/05) – Alastor seeks to restore the power to his alternate form while Joe and his friends try to save a town from perpetual Halloween.

 

“Enemy is Captain Blue!” (7/2/05) – Joe and his friends enter the Black Film to investigate appearances of Captain Blue, and discover him within acting very strangely.

 

“Movieland Crumbles!” (7/9/05) – The Black Emperor’s machinations causes Movieland to break and fissure apart.

 

“Courageously Engraving the Earth!” (7/16/05) – Joe and his friends get help surviving in the desert by a man and his son, who happen to be on the run from some knights.

 

“Raw Hook-up! Joe VS Junior” (7/23/05) – Joe and Junior end up on a television show where they’re forced to fight each other.

 

“Sprocket’s Love for Glasses!” (7/30/05) – Sprocket seeks to steal Silvia’s glasses to use them to lead her to the white negative.

 

“The Flaming Lion Returns!” (8/6/05) – Frost Tiger intends to destroy the castle of the ice princess Fire Leo has become infatuated with.

 

“Gedow’s Romantic Operation!” (8/13/05) – Silvia becomes annoyed with Joe ignoring her on their boat trip and then comes across a mysterious object that makes people fall in love.

 

“Rachel’s Trasured Item” (8/20/05) – Dr. Cranken tricks Rachel into accepting a heart that will reawaken her dark side.

 

“Actual Records! Gedow’s Battle is Confirmed!” (8/27/05) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

 

“Fierce Battle! Eternal Rival!” (9/3/05) – As Joe and his friends prepare to leave Movieland, Alastor takes his chance to engage his rival in one final battle.

 

“Triumph! Gedow Destroyed” (9/10/05) – Joe and his friends are joined by their old Jadow enemies in the real world to take on the Black Emperor.

 

“Exhibition! Viewtiful Film Festival” (9/17/05) – Jet is revealed to be the host of the Black Emperor, but he begins to fight back against his darker side.

 

“Tomorrow’s Hero is You!” (9/24/05) – The heroes, rendered powerless, find new power in the first film shot of Captain Blue brimming with the power of justice.