Zillion (anime)

Zillion
赤い光弾ジリオン (Akai Kōdan Jirion)
Genre	Adventure, Science fiction
TV anime
Directed by	Akira Watanabe
Studio	Tatsunoko & Production I.G
Network	NTV
Original run	April 12, 1987 – December 13, 1987
Episodes	31

Zillion, full title Red Photon Zillion (赤い光弾ジリオン, Akai Kōdan Jirion), is a Japanese anime television series that ran from April 12, 1987 to December 13, 1987 on Nippon Television in Japan and was produced by Tatsunoko Production and Sega. After the production of the anime, Tatsunoko Production and Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the producer of Zillion, established Production I.G to obstruct the dispersing of the excellent staffs of Tatsunoko branch which had done actual production. Therefore, Zillion is considered to be Production I.G’s first work. Five of the 31 episodes were dubbed into English and released on VHS in the United States by Streamline Pictures. This anime was featured in the music video for Michael and Janet Jackson’s collaboration Scream.

Plot

The story takes place on the planet Maris in the year 2387. Around this time, the Nozas started to genocidally kill all humans in order to lay eggs and reproduce on the planet. Three mysterious guns dubbed the “Zillion Weapon System” appear and three teens (JJ, Champ, and Apple) are chosen to wield them as the White Knights in order to fight back against the Nozas.

Adaptations

Two video games have been spawned with the story loosely based on the series with Zillion and Zillion II. An original video animation (OVA) movie titled Zillion: Burning Night has also been released after the success of the TV series. It also left a legacy of becoming the first anime to inspire a video game hardware, namely Sega Master System’s Light Phaser.

Despite the cult success of the video games, the Zillion anime received only a very brief release in the early 1990s in the United States. The first five episodes of the TV series, as well as the Burning Night OVA were dubbed and released on VHS by Carl Macek’s Streamline Pictures line.

In 1993, Eternity Comics published a comic book adaptation, written by Tom Mason, drawn by Harrison Fong, and lettered by Tim Eldred.

Characters

Name	Japanese Voiced by	US Voiced by
Champ	Kazuhiko Inoue	Kerrigan Mahan
J.J.	Toshihiko Seki	Doug Stone
Apple	Yuko Mizutani	Barbara Goodson
Amy	Chieko Honda	Wendee Lee

List of episodes

1. My Name Is J.J.
2. Attack the Enemy of the High Skies
3. 0.1 Second Chance!
4. Trap of the Shapeless Ninja Squadron
5. Apple Order Violation!?
6. Take Off, Tricharger
7. Struggle ’Til Death! J.J. vs. Ricks
8. Strike the Oceanfloor Base!
9. Stolen Zillion
10. Flames! Ricks’ Counterattack
11. Birth of New Zillion!
12. Attack! Triple Shoot
13. Angry Shutter Chance
14. Nightingale of the Battlefield
15. Life Or Death!? Confrontation of Fate—Part. 1
16. Life Or Death!? Confrontation of Fate—Part. 2
17. Tears! Let’s Search J.J.
18. The Beautiful Noza’s Challenge
19. Match! Let’s Throw the Coin
20. Kick with a Broken Heart
21. Clash! The Sniper
22. Great Victory from a Lie!
23. Terror! Demon’s Bio Weapon
24. Great Adventure! Warrior Opa-Opa
25. Gentle Fugitive Apple
26. Revenge Demon Ninja!
27. Extraordinary Rebel Ricks
28. Mystery!? Zillion Power
29. Heroic! Ricks dies!?
30. Planet Maris on the Corner!
31. Last Shoot for Victory

Music

Opening 

• “Pure Stone” by Risa Yuuki

Closing 

• “Push!” by Risa Yuuki (eps 1-20)
• “Rock Candy” by Risa Yuuki (eps 21-31)

Sega's involvement

Two games were made based on the series, both by Sega for the Sega Master System: Zillion, an action game similar in play style to Metroid and Impossible Mission and a sequel, Zillion II: The Triformation, which was a faster-paced game involving a powered armor mecha which transformed into a motorcycle.

A Zillion-based light gun.

The Light Phasers wielded by the characters looked the same as the Sega Master System’s light gun. A separate Q-Zar-like toy line also by Sega was also released in stores of Toys R Us; it was also released in Brazil by Tec Toy.

Opa-Opa, one of Sega’s early mascot characters (debuting in the 1986 arcade game Fantasy Zone), was a frequent minor character on the show. His frequent involvement with the show led many to believe that Fantasy Zone was actually a spin off series based on the character, but in reality Opa-Opa was around a year prior to the anime, and was a guest character from the start. The fact that he appears so frequently on the show is simply a testament to the character’s popularity in Japan at the time.

This is mainly due to the sponsorship of Sega in the beginning of the series. However, later in the series, Sega stopped sponsoring the show and the Light Phasers (though self-contradictory with the earlier plot which says the guns cannot be modified or changed) were changed to newer versions that do not look like Sega’s own light phaser that was supplied with the Master System.

External links

• Zillion Shrine
• The Domain of Krltplps
• Zillion (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia