Review: The press release for the latest Kikaida volume opens with the following:

"He was a bad dude (cyborg, actually). He wanted to knock off Kikaida...Hakaida, Kikaida's archenemy, makes his long-awaited debut in the upcoming eighth volume of the nine-volume Kikaida DVD series."

So what makes this enemy more special than the countless drones before him? Why the hype from Generation Kikaida? Hell, I couldn't even stop myself from mentioning Hakaida in an exclamatory burst at the end of the volume seven review. Rest assured, once Hakaida blasts on screen with his barrel spinning and yellow scarf flowing, you'll know the answer.

Hakaida is the antithesis to all of Kikaida's skills, the evil-veined bloodlust mojo to his stalwart compassion and humble demeanor. But one thing Hakaida isn't is one-dimensional. Unlike most of Professor Gil's Destructoids, Hakaida doesn't blindly follow the whim of his master. In what seems to be a side effect of being programmed as the essential Kikaida killer, Hakaida swallows this as his own personal agenda, regardless of the wayward tactics assigned to him. His [evil] circuit is the counter-action to Jiro's conscience circuit. While Jiro's flaw is the incomplete state of his chip, Hakaida's is his dependence on regular blood transfusions from Dr. Komyoji.

After all, Hakaida was made using the brain of Dr. Komyoji, who just recently began to recall who he really was. Since he was created by Komyoji under the forced watch of DARK, Hakaida is technically Kikaida's younger brother. Kikaida can't kill Hakaida or Komyoji dies, and if he doesn't fight back he'll fall victim to the tenacity of his enemy.

These are the kinds of dillemmas that this series sets up so well, regardless of how simplistic they may seem now. Much like the Gold Wolf episode in volume three, this portion of the series triggers a new string of moral dilemmas for the red and blue wonder.

Juji Mayama joins the cast in this volume as Hakaida and his human form Saburo (though Hakaida's actual voice was performed by Shouzou Iizuka). Saburo is determined and passionate about what he has to do, but he's not evil across the board. He won't use Jiro's loved ones as hostages or stoop to other typically low brow techniques commanded by his master. Wearing black leather and a flowing bright yellow scarf, Saburo looks like a suave biker in a civilized knife fight. It's the walking of the line between nasty and respectable that help make him the best part of the series hands down.

This clash of the titans spurs vicious action and warranted sweat drops on Jiro's brow. There's something about the way Hakaida aims his revolver in full costume and spins his massive Crocodile Dundee knife as Saburo that's mesmerizing. In one of their first encounters they leap at each other in a mid-air moment much like Tom Cruise and Dougray Scott's in M:I 2, but surrounded by a far less lame premise.

What else is there to say about the eighth volume? The other Destructoids are some of the most wack yet, consisting of Starfish Purple, Angler Brown, and Grasshopper Gray. Nevertheless, this is without a doubt the best volume of Kikaida. Things are starting to wrap up and the tension is building for the final volume. It's amazing what a fantastic villain can do for a superhero show, and Hakaida is a testament to that.