Live action prequel episode. Studio BONES has adapted Skull Man into a TV anime series which premiered on Fuji TV in April 2007. The series is directed by Takeshi Mori and written by Yutaka Izubuchi. A live action "Episode Zero" was shown on April 21st, titled "Skullman: Prologue of Darkness," staring Ami Suzuki and Kamen Rider Hibiki and Death Note's Shigeki Hosokawa. It was also set up to be a pseudo prequel of Cyborg 009. Unlike previous stories of Skullman past, the story closely focuses on a journalist name Hayato Mikogami who returns to his hometown at Otomo to investigate strange rumors of killings done by a man wearing a skull mask. Tailed tightly by a young photographer, Kiriko Mamiya, the two soon uncovers the many strings of connections between the victims, a local pharmaeccutical company, a mysterious new religious sect and strange half human, half animal creatures which roams the night streets out for blood.
