Kaname Tatara has loved the Toku show Jackman for as long as he can remember. He has trained tirelessly every day in hopes of taking up the role himself. Unfortunately for him, his devilish appearance and tendency to mumble when he's nervous gets him stuck as the monster instead. As if that wasn't enough, he constantly lives in the shadow of his younger twin brother Koshiro, a mechanical wizard who made massive advancements in robotics and engineering. No matter how hard he tried, he was never able to one-up his brother before Koshiro died suddenly when they both turned 17.
Frustrated, Kaname only has his Childhood Friend Cheena to turn to, but even then it's clear that he could never make her smile the way Koshiro could. Things take a sudden turn when Kaname receives texts from Koshiro seemingly from beyond the grave as a giant robot lumbers towards Tokyo Tower. Then a truck pulls up as Koshiro tells him to put on a suit of Powered Armor to take the fight to the robot. Although he's unsure of what's going on, Kaname willingly puts it on and manages to beat back the robot with Jackman's signature Rocket Punch. As a crowd of onlookers roars with applause, Koshiro reveals that somehow, his consciousness is inside the suit. Thus begins their adventures as Jackman as they unravel the mystery behind Koshiro's predicament.
Zipman!! is a short-lived shonen manga written and drawn by Yusaku Shibata for Weekly Shonen Jump. It was serialized from December 2019 to April 2020 for 17 chapters.
Zipman!! provides examples of:
- Always Identical Twins:
- Inverted. Kaname and Koshiro are twins who look and act nothing alike, surprising people who learn that they're related. It's even discussed by the judges who turned down Kaname for the role of Jackman."His last name... Tatara."
"You mean like that Tatara?!"
"Could he be his brother?"
"No, I doubt it. They don't look alike..." - In chapter 4, in a side-to-side face scene, their faces are symmetrically shaped but details such as their hair color, Kaname's scars and how he grins are the parts that make them seem wildly different.
- Inverted. Kaname and Koshiro are twins who look and act nothing alike, surprising people who learn that they're related. It's even discussed by the judges who turned down Kaname for the role of Jackman.
- Artistic License – Awards: Koshiro is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry a week after his death. The Nobel Prize cannot be awarded posthumously unless the recipient was nominated before his or her death. An announcement also says that he's the first to receive both, when that honor actually goes to Linus Pauling.
It's also extremely odd that someone noted to be a mechanical prodigy would get a Nobel Prize in Chemistry rather than Physics. - Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Downplayed. Kaname is a Nice Guy and a bit of a musclehead who compensates for his lack of books smarts with his prodigious athleticism. Koshiro is a Jerkass to him but is considered a world-class mechanical prodigy who made massive advancements in engineering and robotics.
- Clothes Make the Superman: The zip kigurumi/mascot costumes.
- Cut Short: The manga was cancelled after only 17 chapters due to low volume sales.
- Dumb Muscle: Koshiro calls Kaname a musclehead and doesn't bother explaining his predicament at first because it would just fly over Kaname's head. Kaname also isn't always good at expressing himself, but he makes up for his lack of genius with his prodigious abilities as an athlete and stuntman.
- Logical Weakness: Because the characters costumes are full body suits, the human wearers are vulnerable to heat.
- Mega Manning: By using the Zipheads of the other kigurumi/character costumes, Zipman can use the powers of them.
- Perpetual Smiler: The way Koshiro is smiling at his wake is how he always smiled when he was alive.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Kaname is an incredibly athletic Nice Guy who gets no respect thanks to his fiendish looks. Meanwhile, his brother Koshiro is a Child Prodigy turned Teen Genius with a gentle face that everyone admires, but is incredibly rude to his twin brother in private. Even their color schemes are opposite: Kaname is known for having wild white hair that gets him labeled "White Demon", Kaname's hair is normal and black. The English blurb even refers to them as this word-for-word.
- Rescue Romance: Both Kaname and Koshiro became infatuated with Cheena after she rescued them from bullies when they were kids. Since then, both of them strive to make her happy in any way they can, fueling their Sibling Rivalry.
- Show Within a Show: The Jackman and Cutie Charm series.
- Sibling Rivalry: Kaname and Koshiro ended up in one after they meet Cheena over who could make her smile. To Kaname's chagrin, Koshiro came out on top every time, and Kaname was never good at bringing smiles to anyone's faces. After discovering that Koshiro's mind is in inside the Jackman suit, Kaname grows irritated at Koshiro's constant attempts to get him to go away, so he starts doing pull ups on one of Koshiro's inventions. He goes on to say that the fourth version of his pull up bar is better than this robot arm, infuriating Koshiro.Kaname: [doing pull ups on a robot arm] Ha ha ha! This ain't too bad! But it's nothing compared to my version 4 pull up bar!
Koshiro: No way! The arm I invented could never be inferior to something of yours! - Sibling Triangle: Kaname and Koshiro to Cheena.
- Systematic Villain Takedown: During the Dragungarde Arc, Hero forces Zipman to go through the 4 layers of his castle, defeating one member of his party on each floor, to finally rescue Cheena.
- Time Skip: An unknown time passed between chapters 10 and 11.
- You Are Not Alone: Kaname had to be reminded of this by Koshiro's two employees and Cheena in chapter 13.
