Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
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| Science Ninja Team Gatchaman | |||
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| 科学忍者隊ガッチャマン (Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman) |
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| Genre | Adventure, Science Fiction | ||
| TV anime | |||
| Director | Hisayuki Toriumi | ||
| Writer | Jinzo Toriumi | ||
| Studio | Tatsunoko Productions | ||
| Licensor |   A.D. Vision |
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| Network |  Fuji TV |
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| Original run | October 1, 1972 – September 29, 1974[1] | ||
| Episodes | 105 (List of episodes) | ||
| Anime and Manga Portal | |||
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (科学忍者隊ガッチャマン Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman) is a 5-member superhero team which comprises the main characters in several Japanese anime created by Tatsuo Yoshida and originally produced in Japan by Tatsunoko Productions and later adapted into several English-language versions. It is also known by the abbreviated name Gatchaman. The original series, produced in 1972, was eponymously named Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman and is most well-known to the English-speaking world as the adaptation titled Battle of the Planets (or alternately G-Force, not to be confused with the subsequent 1980's English adaptation of Gatchaman, known as G-Force: Guardians of Space). Tatsunoko also uses the official translation Science Commando Gatchaman, as shown in numerous related products and media.
A second feature film version of Gatchaman is being produced by Imagi Animation Studios for release in 2011. The first feature film was released in 1978.
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[edit] Description
The original 1972 Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman series was followed by two sequel series, Gatchaman II (1978) and Gatchaman F (1979). In 1994, the original series was remade as a condensed OVA series. Additionally, the original and sequel series were adapted and translated into several English-language versions, with the most well-known being Battle of the Planets. Because the English-language versions are notoriously inconsistent not only with one another but also with the original Japanese series, viewers most familiar with the English versions often experience some confusion upon re-examining the series after a long hiatus.
Created in the wake of the hugely successful Henshin boom started by Shotaro Ishinomori's Kamen Rider in 1971, this series was notable as being one of the most successful anime attempts to emulate the American superhero genre with many of its conventions such as colorful costumes, powers and secret identities. It also established the convention of the five member hero team that has been emulated in later series, most notably the successful tokusatsu Super Sentai franchise (which was adapted into English as the Power Rangers franchise many years later); in fact, the Sentai series Choujin Sentai Jetman was in many ways an homage to Gatchaman. [2][3][1]
[edit] Plot and character summary
Best described as a sci-fi action anime, recurring themes of Gatchaman involve conservation of nature, environmentalism, and responsible use of technology for progress and advancement. The series is centered around five young superhero ninja in the employ of Dr. Kozaburō Nambu of the fictitious "International Science Organization" to oppose a group of technologically advanced villains, known as Galactor, from trying to take control of the Earth's natural resources. The operational leader of Galactor is an androgynous masked antagonist, Berg Katse, who is later revealed to be a shape-shifting intersex mutant acting on the orders of an alien superior, Leader X. The most common recurring plot involved Gatchaman opposing giant monster mecha dispatched by Galactor to steal or control various natural resources (water, oil, sugar, uranium, etc). These Mechas were often animal based.[2] The Science Ninja Team is often aided by a mysterious squadron of combat pilots lead by the enigmatic Red Impulse, who is later revealed to be Ken's father.
The main characters featured always wore either teen fashions with numbered T-shirts showing their rank in the team, or caped battle uniforms styled after various birds.[4]
Most of the team were in their late-teens, apart from Jinpei who was about eleven. They included: Ken Washio, the team leader; Joe Asakura, his second-in-command; Jun, the team's electronics and demolitions expert; Jinpei, the youngest and reconnaissance expert, brother of Jun; and Ryu Nakanishi, the ship's pilot.[5]
The Gatchaman team employed an unique style of highly violent and effective martial arts, developed by Dr. Nanbu, that drew from their physical abilities to enable them to perform superhuman feats, akin to their avian namesakes, such as high-speed run and flight, high jumping, silent movement/attack and the like. This fighting system was known as Science Ninja Arts (科学忍法 Kagaku Ninpō)and it is mentioned in the original Japanese lyrics of the Gatchaman theme song. They also used various signature weapons and mecha style vehicles which each had a more mundane looking disguised form. To change modes, each member is equipped with a special wrist device that, aside from being a communicator and tracking device, enabled the change when the proper gesture and voice command, "Bird Go!", is given. Their vehicles are docked in the team's main vehicle, the GodPhoenix, a supersonic plane capable of underwater travel and minor space flight as necessary. The GodPhoenix is armed with an unspecified but large (roughly 30+) number of BirdMissiles that are fired from a rack system mounted atop the center section. After the original GodPhoenix was destroyed by an octopus-based mecha, an improved version carried a pair of Super BirdMissiles in twin drop down pods from the bottom center section, which can be fitted with either a warhead for attack, or a manned capsule to carry a passenger for a boarding operation when it successfully impacts into an enemy vessel. The ship also can have an energy beam weapon that is deployed by sliding opening the nose doors for the weapon apparatus that is mounted on the same frame holding Joe's car, but its solar power source is unreliable due to its sensitivity to any interfering cloud cover. In addition, when necessary, the plane can temporarily transform into a massive bird of flame like the legendary Phoenix to escape danger or as a powerful attack, although the process itself endangers the team.[6]
[edit] Adaptations and changes
The original series was shown in Japan. Later, it was exported to other countries. In Taiwan beginning in 1977, it was known as "Ke Xuei Xiao Fei Xia" (Scientific Flying Fantasy Warriors), then on American television in 1978, in heavily edited form, as Battle of the Planets (BOTP for short). The series was shown again on American television in 1986 and 1995 in a newly translated form as G-Force: Guardians of Space; while this version cut out much less of the original, and had a much more faithful translation, the voice acting and the background music (not to mention the Americanized names chosen for the characters) were widely panned. The two sequel series, Gatchaman II and Gatchaman F were combined into one and translated as Eagle Riders in 1996, with yet more changes to audio and character names.
ADV Films released the uncut version of the series with an all-new English 5.1 dub, on DVD starting June 14, 2005. This release includes all 105 episodes, with all footage left in. The dub aims to be a faithful translation, without attempts to sanitize the show for younger viewers (meaning there is profanity and utterances of the word "kill"). All violent scenes have been left in as they were in the original Japanese broadcast.
In 2007, Sandy Frank's long term contract with Tatsunoko (owners of the "Gatchaman" franchise) for complete US rights of the first Gatch series (along with all spin-offs and dubs) lapsed, and now both BotP and "G-Force" are officially in limbo, leaving only the uncut version by ADV Films (long since out of print) on the market . ADV's sub-license with Sandy Frank that allowed then to release their uncut dub during 2005-2006 has also expired. Plans are afoot for a possible live action television series of Gatchaman.[7]
[edit] Team variations across different versions
| Gatchaman (and sequels) | Ken Washio | Joe Asakura | Jun | Jinpei | Ryu Nakanishi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle of the Planets | Mark | Jason | Princess | Keyop | Tiny Harper |
| G-Force | Ace Goodheart | Dirk Daring | Agatha June | PeeWee | Hoot Owl |
| Eagle Riders | Hunter Harris | Joe Thax | Kelly Jennar | Mickey Dugan | Ollie Keeawani |
| OVA (Dub) | Ken the Eagle | Joe the Condor | June the Swan | Jimmy the Falcon‡ | Rocky the Owl |
| Rank | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | G5 |
| Bird Uniform | Eagle | Condor | Swan | Swallow | Owl |
| Weapon | Razor boomerang | GUN | Yo-yo | Bolo | Pistol |
| Mecha | Airplane | Race Car | Motorcycle | Dune Buggy | God Phoenix |
| Japanese seiyū (also applies for sequels) | Katsuji Mori | Isao Sasaki | Kazuko Sugiyama | Yoku Shioya | Shingo Kanemoto |
| Japanese seiyū (OVA) | Masaya Onosaka | Kōji Ishii | Michiko Neya | Rica Matsumoto | Fumihiko Tachiki |
| Voice actor (BOTP) | Casey Kasem | Ronnie Schell | Janet Waldo | Alan Young | Alan Dinehart |
| Voice actor (G-Force) | Sam Fontana | Cam Clarke | Barbara Goodson | Jan Rabson | |
| Voice actor (OVA Dub) | Eddie Frierson | Richard Cansino | Lara Cody | Mona Marshall | Richard Epcar |
| Voice actor (Eagle Riders) | Richard Cansino | Bryan Cranston | Heidi Noelle Lenhart | Paul Schrier | |
| Voice actor (ADV Dub) | Leraldo Anzaldua | Brian Jepson | Kim Prause | Luci Christian | Victor Carsrud |
‡Although he was obviously the Swallow, Jimmy called himself the Falcon.
[edit] Other character variations across different versions
| Gatchaman | Battle of the Planets | G-Force | Eagle Riders | OVA (Dub) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Kozaburo Nambu | Chief Anderson | Dr. Benjamin Brighthead | Dr. Thaddeus Keane | Dr. Kozaburo Nambu |
| ISO Director Anderson | President Kane | Anderson/Cmdr. Todd (some episodes) | Anderson | Director Anderson |
| Red Impulse / Kentaro Washio |
Col. Cronos | Red Impulse | Harley Harris | Red Spectre |
| Berg Katse | Zoltar | Galactor | Lukan | Solaris |
| Sosai (Leader) X | O Luminous One / The Great Spirit |
Computor | Cybercom | Lord Zortek |
| Galactor | Planet Spectra | Planet Galactor | Vorak | Galactor |
| Gel Sadra (Gatchaman 2) |
Mallanox |
[edit] Other notable changes
| Gatchaman Identity change command |
Battle of the Planets Identity change command |
G-Force Identity change command |
Eagle Riders change command | OVA change command (English) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bird, Go! | Transmute! | G-Force Transform! | Eagle Mode, NOW! |
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[edit] Gatchaman (OVA)
A series reboot, it used updated character designs and altered backgrounds.
[edit] Gatchaman movie
[edit] In popular culture
- In 2000, a parody involving Gatchaman in Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog series' Sonic Super Special #12 was known as "Sonicaman: Chaos Ninja Team".
- In 2000, NTT East produced two animated and two live-action television commercials for their ISDN service featuring a more updated version of Gatchaman, featuring members of the J-Pop boy group SMAP.[8]
- In 2003 this anime series was aired in Taiwan which the opening song was performed by famous hip pop boyband Energy.
- Gatchaman became the inspiration of Choujin Sentai Jetman in the order, except that, in the latter, the swallow is a female, and the eagle is replaced by a hawk (however, an eagle enters the team's formation in the Jetman epilogue manga, albeit in the place of the condor, who had died at the end of the TV series). Before that, it seemed to have inspired the idea of Goranger.
- The opening credits of Gatchaman began with the five heroes' silhouettes flying across the screen at high speed. At the beginning of each episode of The Powerpuff Girls the three titular heroines dart across the screen in a similar manner before that episode's title card.
- On the Gachapin website, the character can be seen dressed in the outfit of Eagle.[9]
- On The Simpsons December 14, 2003 couch gags - The couch is a street bench in Japan, and everyone is a famous anime or tokusatsu character: Homer is Ultraman, Marge is Jun from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Lisa is Usagi Tsukino, the protagonist from Sailor Moon, Bart is Astro Boy and Maggie is Pikachu from Pokémon. The episode was called "'Tis the Fifteenth Season".
- In episode 2 of Nurse Witch Komugi, Komugi battles her rival by dressing up as the entire Gatchaman force.
- Tatsunoko Fight and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars are two games where characters from the show make special appearances.
- Megas XLR had two episodes involving a Gatchaman parody known as the "S-Force".
- In Teen Titans TV show, Robin uses a glider and helmet to fly after villains which resemble Gatchaman. His birdarang is almost identical to Ken's razor boomerang as well.
- In the "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" episode "The Color of Revenge", the adult Robin, who is the guardian of Bludhaven City, makes a dramatic appearance on his motorcycle (seemingly evoking the Kaneda character from Akira) and leaps to the ground very much looking like a member of Gatchaman with his pointed helmet visor and cape (another point of the reference being that Robin's namesake is that of a bird, much like the Gatchamen were based on birds).
- The character Waka from the video game Ōkami has an outfit who resembles very much the Gatchaman's.
- Gatchaman is obviously parodied in episode 213 of the Bleach anime series. In it, the character known as Karakura Riser and his team's costumes and poses have an almost direct resemblance.
[edit] Episodes list
[edit] References
- ^ "科学忍者隊ガッチャマン サブタイトルリスト". Tatsunoko Productions. http://www.tatsunoko.co.jp/works/gatchaman/gatchaman.html. Retrieved 2008-07-20.(Japanese)
- ^ a b "GATCHAMAN! The story of Tatsuo Yoshida and his greatest creation". Comic Book Resources. 2008-05-11. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16367. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
- ^ "New from Japan: Anime Film Reviews". Animation World Network. http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=battle+of+the+planets&article_no=938&page=2. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
- ^ "Tatsunoko Pro". Tatsunoko Productions. http://www.tatsunoko.co.jp/english/box03.html#1. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
- ^ "科学忍者隊ガッチャマン". Tatsunoko Productions. http://www.tatsunoko.co.jp/works/gatchaman/chara.html. Retrieved 2008-07-20.(Japanese)
- ^ "科学忍者隊ガッチャマン". Tatsunoko Productions. http://www.tatsunoko.co.jp/works/gatchaman/digest.html. Retrieved 2008-07-20.(Japanese)
- ^ "Yatterman, Gatchaman Live-Action Movies Green-Lit". Anime News Network. 2008-07-10. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-04-10/cite-yatterman/cite-cite-gatchaman/cite-live-action-movies-green-lit. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
- ^ "GATCHAMAN!". Internet Archive. http://web.archive.org/web/20060305021248/http://www.ntt-east.co.jp/GOGO/. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
- ^ "ガッチャピン公式サイト". Gatchapin.com. http://gatchapin.com/. Retrieved 2007-08-18.(Japanese)
[edit] Further reading
- G-Force: Animated (TwoMorrows Publishing: ISBN 9781893905184)[2]
[edit] External links
- Gatchaman - Home of the White Shadow
- Gatchaman,BotP, G-Force
- Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman at the Internet Movie Database
- Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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