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Zone Fighter

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Zone Fighter
GenreTokusatsu
Kaiju
Superhero
Science fiction
Developed byToho
Written byKoji Amemiya
Jun Fukuda
Juro Shimamoto
Tomoyuki Tanaka
Susumu Takeuchi
Shozo Uehara
Directed byIshirō Honda
Jun Fukuda
Kengo Furusawa
Akiyasa Kikuchi
Masao Minowa
Kohei Oguri
Country of originJapan
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producerTomoyuki Tanaka
Running time22 minutes
Original release
NetworkNippon Television

Zone Fighter, known in Japan as Ryūsei Ningen Zone (流星人間ゾーン, Ryūsei Ningen Zōn, lit. "Meteor Human Zone"), is a tokusatsu science fiction superhero television series. Produced by Toho Company Ltd., the show aired on Nippon Television from April 2 to September 24, 1973, with a total of 26 episodes. This was Toho's answer to not only the popular Ultra Series, but the Henshin Hero phenomenon started by shows like Kamen Rider and Android Kikaider. The previous year, Toho had just made their successful first superhero show, Rainbowman. The series was also notable for its guest appearance by Toho's own Godzilla, as well as two other Toho monsters, King Ghidorah and Gigan. Supplementary materials published by Toho have confirmed Zone Fighter to be part of the Showa-era Godzilla series, taking place in between Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Characters

Sakimori/Zone family

The Sakimori/Zone family resembles a normal Japanese family, but they are an alien family that came to Earth after their home planet, Peaceland, was destroyed by the evil Garoga aliens. To stop the Garoga army's invasion on Earth, the Sakimori family's three children, Hikaru (the oldest son), Hotaru (the teenage sister) and Akira (the young boy) transform into the superheroes Zone Fighter, Zone Angel, and Zone Junior. Their transformation code (associated with a "henshin" pose) is "Zone Fight Power".

  • Hikaru Sakimori/Zone Fighter is the oldest of the siblings. He works as a test driver for cars. As Zone Fighter, upon uttering the command "Zone Double Fight", he can also grow to giant size (with a streamlined metallic head) to fight the Garoga's Fearbeasts. His killing attacks are the "Meteor Missile Might", where he shoots a monster with missiles mounted on his wrists, and the "Meteor Proton Beam", which he fires from his head crest to destroy tougher monsters. Just like Ultraman, he can only become giant sized for a limited time, and the meter light on his belt buckle changes from blue (normal) to yellow (caution) to red (danger). He was played by Kazuya Aoyama.
  • Hotaru Sakimori/Zone Angel is the second oldest of the siblings. She attends high school. She was played by Kazumi Kitahara.
  • Akira Sakimori/Zone Junior is the youngest of the siblings. He attends grade school. He was played by Kenji Sato.
  • Bird Zone
  • Yoichiro Sakimori is the father of the three children. He is the proprietor of the Toy Research Institute, which explains the family's penchant for toys. He invents the gadgets and vehicles used by the Zone siblings to fight the Garoga army. He was played by Shoji Nakayama.
  • Tsukiko Sakimori is Yoichiro's wife and the mother of the three children. She was played by Sachiko Kozuki.
  • Raita Sakimori/Zone Great is Yôichirô's father and the grandfather of the three children. When his grandchildren are in a terrible predicament, he uses the Great Raideki satellite to get them out of trouble. He was played by Shiro Amakusa.
  • Godzilla, the King of the Monsters himself, is Zone Fighter's occasional ally in fighting the Garoga Terro-Beasts. He is usually called forth by the Zone Family to assist Zone Fighter when he is outmatched or injured, and as the series progresses becomes a close friend to Zone Fighter. The Zone Family even built a "Godzilla Cave" for the mutant dinosaur to live in and come out of when needed for an emergency (however, he was seen using it only in episode 21). Godzilla appeared in Episodes 4, 11, 15, 21 and 25 in the series. He was played by Toru Kawai and Isao Zushi. Zushi would play Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla in 1974 and Kawai would don the Godzilla costume for 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla.

Zone arsenal

  • Mighty Liner is Zone Fighter's car. Transforms from his racecar Skyline GT. It can also fly.
  • Smokey is the mini-aircraft Zone Angel and Junior ride. So named because it resides in a cloud until called upon. Zone Angel and Junior can recharge Fighter's energy with an emergency battery that comes with the aircraft.
  • Bolt Thunder/Great Raideki is the cloud controlled by Raita Sakamori from the control panel in the family's house. Shoots destructive lightning bolts that can damage a Terro-Beast.

Garoga army

The Garogas are a race of space aliens from the planet Garoga. They have red, black, blue and yellow bodies, along with the same colors for the eyes and faces and floppy antennas. Their appearance seems very similar to the aliens that appear in the film Mars Attacks!. They operate in a huge satellite in space.

  • Gold Garoga - He is the leader of the Garoga Army. He wears a cape to signify his authority. He is sometimes known as "Baron Garoga." He was voiced by Munemarou Kouda who would later play Dr. Man in the 1984 sentai series Choudenshi Bioman and Gorma Emperor XV in the 1993 Sentai Series Gosei Sentai Dairanger.
  • Silver Garoga - They are the Garoga henchmen.
  • Red Garoga - They are the Garoga generals. When there is a pack of henchmen, they act as the leaders of the packs.
  • White Garoga - They are the Garoga scientists. They create the Terro-Beasts that fight Zone Fighter.
  • Garoga X-Agents - They are a squadron of Garogas that were highly trained for any situation. They were the last weapons sent to kill Zone Fighter. During the series finale they merge to create the monster, Grotogauros.
  • Terro-Beasts are the various giant monsters sent by the Garoga army to attack the Earth. They are sent in various ways:
    • They are launched to Earth from the Garoga satellite via a Terro-Beast missile.
    • A Garogan transforms into a Terro-Beast while spying on Earth.
    • A certain group of Garogas can merge to become Terro-Beasts in desperate times.

Terro-Beasts

  • Red Spark (Episode 1)
  • Jikiro (Episodes 1, 22, 25)
  • Destro-King (Episodes 2 and 12)
  • Dorola (Episode 3)
  • Wagilar (Episode 4)
  • Spyler (Episodes 4 and 12)
  • Dragon King (Episodes 7 and 12)
  • Gilmoras (Episode 7)
  • Gellderah (Episode 8)
  • Garoga Spider (Episode 9)
  • Goro-Gorilla (Episode 9)
  • Spider Uros (Episodes 9 and 25)
  • Jipudoro (Episode 10)
  • Shadorah (Episode 10)
  • Barakidon (Episode 12)
  • Garoborg (Episodes 13 and 25)
  • Dedragon (Episode 14)
  • Zandolla (Episode 15)
  • Moguranda (Episodes 16 and 25)
  • Barugas (Episode 17)
  • Gondargilas (Episodes 18 and 19)
  • Goramu (Episode 20)
  • Jellar (Episode 21)
  • Kastam-Jellar (Episode 21)
  • Bakugon (Episode 23)
  • Needlar (Episode 24)
  • Kabutoji (Episode 25)
  • Grotogauros (Episode 26)
  • King Ghidorah appeared in Episodes 5 and 6. In these appearances the space dragon was discovered being controlled by the Garogas. He is also the only monster in the series (excluding Godzilla) that didn't die in the series.
  • Gigan appears in Episode 11. The cyborg has lost the ability to fly or use his buzzsaw, but has been given the power to cause explosions with his scythes. He fights and is briefly defeated by Godzilla, but after reviving he is killed by Zone Fighter at the end of the episode.
  • "SciFi Japan Zone Fighter Series Guide". An indepth article about the series
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