Eat-Man 98 DVD

Bolt Crank is the world's greatest explorer — which is to say, he is the world's greatest mercenary, operating in a world of extreme contrasts where cutting-edge technology coexists with poverty, fairy tale strangeness, and moral ambiguity. He speaks rarely, shows emotion even less, and takes only the jobs he finds morally justifiable. His singular ability: he can eat virtually anything — metal, weapons, machinery — and later reproduce those objects from his right hand on demand. Each job takes him somewhere new: a different city, a different crisis, a different client with a story worth hearing. He solves the problem. He moves on. Sometimes the solution is ironic. Sometimes it costs more than his client expected. Bolt doesn't explain himself.

Eat-Man '98 is the second 12-episode anime series based on Akihito Yoshitomi's acclaimed manga, and a deliberate course correction from the original 1997 series — which fans felt had strayed too far from the source material. Directed by Toshifumi Kawase and produced by Studio Deen, the '98 series returns Bolt much closer to his manga characterization: cooler, more enigmatic, and more in keeping with the anthology-style storytelling of the original comics. Each self-contained episode adapts a story from the manga directly, creating a series that reads like a collection of atmospheric short fiction — genre-blending vignettes somewhere between cyberpunk, western, and dark fairy tale. Originally released on DVD in North America by Bandai Entertainment, with two episodes receiving an English dub from Ocean Productions before the dub was cancelled; remaining episodes are subtitled only.

Notable Staff & Voice Talent

Director: Toshifumi Kawase
Original Manga: Akihito Yoshitomi
Studio: Studio Deen

Cast:
- Masashi Ebara as Bolt Crank
- Yasuo Iwata as Jonathan
- Tomomichi Nishimura as Robert
- Norio Wakamoto as DoMarc
- Kenji Hamada (supporting cast)

DVD Features

- Bandai Entertainment Previews

Spoken Languages: Japanese Audio, English Subtitles (Episodes 1–12); English Dub available for Episodes 1–2 only

Edition Details

Japanese Title: イートマン '98 (Itoman '98)
Runtime: ~260 Minutes (Complete Series, 12 Episodes)
Director: Toshifumi Kawase
DVD Release Year: 2005 (U.S. Release, Bandai Entertainment)
Original Release Date (Japan): October 8 – December 23, 1998
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment
Rating: TV-14
Region: Region 1 (U.S. / Canada)
Genre: Cyberpunk, Action, Episodic Adventure
Themes: Mercenary Wanderer, Anthology Stories, Dark Fairy Tale, Moral Ambiguity

Media assumed VG+ unless otherwise noted.