Warrior of Love Rainbowman (TV 1972-1973)
| Kawauchi Trilogy series | |||||||
|
|
| |||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Warrior of Love Rainbowman (愛の戦士レインボーマン Ai no Senshi Reinbōman), originally aired as simply Rainbowman (レインボーマン Reinbōman),[note 1] is a tokusatsu series co-produced by NET and Toho which aired from October 6, 1972 to September 28, 1973. It is the first in a trilogy of unconnected superhero stories authored by Kohan Kawauchi, being followed up by Diamond Eye in 1973.
An anime adaptation of the series was also later produced in 1982 by Tsuchida Productions.
Plot
Takeshi Yamato was an undisciplined professional wrestler who fought frivolously in the ring, putting no care into how he won a match. After being kicked off of the team for being too violent, he traveled to India to train with a yogi saint named Deva Datta. He taught Yamato discipline and granted him the ability to transform into Rainbowman. Rainbowman battles magical monsters created by the witch Iguana, hired by Mr. K, a World War II veteran who abhors Japan. Together with Mr. K's terrorist army, the Die-Die Gang, they seek to destroy Rainbowman and the whole of Japan.
Episodes
Warrior of Love Rainbowman's 52 episodes are split across four story arcs, as noted by their DVD releases.
| Episode no. | Title | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Arc | ||||
| Operation Cat's Eye (キャッツアイ作戦編) | |||||
| 1 | 1 | "The Miraculous Holy Man" | Takeshi Yamada | Tsunehisa Ito | 1972/10/06 |
| 2 | 2 | "The Birth of Rainbowman" | Takashi Nagano | 1972/10/13 | |
| 3 | 3 | "Rainbow Dash 7" | 1972/10/20 | ||
| 4 | 4 | "The Macanese Murder Show" | Takeshi Yamada | 1972/10/27 | |
| 5 | 5 | "The Die-Die Gang Conspiracy" | 1972/11/03 | ||
| 6 | 6 | "5 Hours of Evil Have Come!" | Takashi Nagano | 1972/11/10 | |
| 7 | 7 | "Operation Cat's Eye Makes Landfall" | 1972/11/17 | ||
| 8 | 8 | "The Lonely Battle" | Takeshi Yamada | 1972/11/24 | |
| 9 | 9 | "Takeshi's Gone Mad" | 1972/12/01 | ||
| 10 | 10 | "Kill Them All!" | Takashi Nagano | 1972/12/08 | |
| 11 | 11 | "Spring the Trap!" | 1972/12/15 | ||
| 12 | 12 | "Critical Moment!!" | Takeshi Yamada | Yoichi Onaka | 1972/12/22 |
| 13 | 13 | "The Great Rainbow Operation" | Tsunehisa Ito | 1972/12/29 | |
| Operation M (M作戦篇) | |||||
| 14 | 1 | "The Horrifying Operation M" | Takashi Nagano | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/01/05 |
| 15 | 2 | "The Professional Killers" | 1973/01/12[note 2] | ||
| 16 | 3 | "Revenge of the Pro Killer Garuma" | Hiroyasu Sahara | Tsunehisa Ito, Koei Yoshihara |
1973/01/19 |
| 17 | 4 | "Witchcraft: The Human Fossil" | Takeshi Yamada | Yoichi Onaka | 1973/01/26 |
| 18 | 5 | "Hoshikko's Transformation" | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/02/02 | |
| 19 | 6 | "Race! The Flying Squirrel Technique" | Takashi Nagano | 1973/02/09 | |
| 20 | 7 | "Thwart Operation M!" | 1973/02/16 | ||
| 21 | 8 | "Defeat the Sparkman!!" | Takeshi Yamada | 1973/02/23 | |
| 22 | 9 | "Rescue One Hundred Million People!!" | Hiroyasu Sahara | 1973/03/02 | |
| 23 | 10 | "There's Their Base!!" | Takashi Nagano | 1973/03/09 | |
| 24 | 11 | "A Man's Promise" | 1973/03/16 | ||
| 25 | 12 | "By Dawn, the Witch Vanished" | Takeshi Yamada | 1973/03/23 | |
| 26 | 13 | "The Secret Base is Destroyed!!" | 1973/03/30 | ||
| Mograd (モグラート編) | |||||
| 27 | 1 | "Revenge of the Die-Die Gang" | Takashi Nagano | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/04/06 |
| 28 | 2 | "Search for the Subterrene Mograd!" | 1973/04/13 | ||
| 29 | 3 | "Demon Squadron DAC" | Takeshi Yamada | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/04/20 |
| 30 | 4 | "The Mograd Destruction Operation" | 1973/04/27 | ||
| 31 | 5 | "The Terrifying Explosions" | Hideo Rokushika | Takayuki Kase | 1973/05/04 |
| 32 | 6 | "Cyborg Pagora" | 1973/05/11 | ||
| 33 | 7 | "DACer Air Force, Sortie!" | Hiroyasu Sahara | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/05/18 |
| 34 | 8 | "The Hollow Tornado Technique" | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/05/25 | |
| 35 | 7 | "The Shadowy Black Hand" | Takeshi Yamada | 1973/06/01 | |
| 36 | 8 | "Your Lover is an Assassin" | Takayuki Kase | 1973/06/08 | |
| 37 | 9 | "The Zone X Destruction Order!!" | Hideo Rokushika | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/06/15 |
| 38 | 10 | "Detonate the ABCD Line" | Hiroyasu Sahara | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/06/22 |
| 39 | 11 | "The Last Day for Tokyo" | Takeshi Yamada | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/06/29 |
| The Cyborg Army (サイボーグ軍団編) | |||||
| 40 | 1 | "Operation Diamond Heist" | Hideo Rokushika | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/07/06 |
| 41 | 2 | "Face the First Cyborg" | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/07/13 | |
| 42 | 3 | "The Thousand Kilometer Chase!" | Takeshi Yamada | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/07/20 |
| 43 | 4 | "I Swear by the Sun and Earth!" | 1973/07/27 | ||
| 44 | 5 | "The Rainbow Combination Technique" | Hideo Rokushika | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/08/03 |
| 45 | 6 | "Doctor Borg's Obsession" | Tsunehisa Ito, Tatsuo Tamura |
1973/08/10 | |
| 46 | 7 | "The Cyborg Slave Force" | Takeshi Yamada | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/08/17 |
| 47 | 8 | "The Black Star is a Cursed Mark" | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/08/24 | |
| 48 | 9 | "Duel the Masked Devil" | Hiroyasu Sahara | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/08/31 |
| 49 | 10 | "Burn Up! The Decisive Match" | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/09/07 | |
| 50 | 11 | "The Wild Bullet!" | Susumu Kodama | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/09/14 |
| 51 | 12 | "Mission for the Cross" | Hideo Rokushika | Tsunehisa Ito | 1973/09/21 |
| 52 | 13 | "On a Rainbow He Soars, Warrior of Love" | Takeshi Yamada | Tatsuo Tamura | 1973/09/28 |
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Takeshi Yamada, Takashi Nagano, Hiroyasu Sahara, Hideo Rokushika, Susumu Kodama
- Written by Tsunehisa Ito, Yoichi Onaka, Koei Yoshihara, Tatsuo Tamura, Takayuki Kase
- Based on a story by Kohan Kawauchi
- Produced by Masayoshi Kataoka, Koichi Noguchi
- Music by Jun Kitahara
- Cinematography by Fumio Tajima
- Edited by Yasuo Hiraki
- Production design by Toshio Mamada
- Assistant directors Hideo Rokushika, Masami Masuko
- Director of special effects Sadamasa Arikawa
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Kunihisa Mizutani as Takeshi Yamato / Rainbowman Dash 7
- Shobun Inoue as Deva Datta, Indian sage
- Kanuko Motoyama as Tami Yamato, Takeshi's mother
- Eriko Ishikawa as Miyuki Yamato, Takeshi's sister
- Hiroshi Koizumi as Ichiro Yamato, Takeshi's father
- Junji Masuda as Kyuzo Yamato, Takeshi's grandfather
- Megumi Ito as Yoshie Mizuno, Takeshi's lover
- Masao Murata as Shozo "Wresky" Mizuno, Yoshie's father
- Takehiko Ono as Hotta, gas station worker
- Hajime Kurata as Yoshioka, wrestling team captain
- Junji Yamazaki as Iron Yappa, ex-gangster and oden shop owner
- Machiko Washio as Sakura, girl living in Macau
- Yoichi Sase as Roko, Sakura's younger brother
- Hiroshi Nagashima as Detective Kitamura, Josai Police Department detective
- Michio Kida as Genkichi Matsumae, man kidnapped by the Die-Die Gang
- Hiroaki Kaji as Mabo, Genkichi's grandson
- Moto Noguchi as Japanese cabinet minister
- Shiro Kuno
- Osman Yusuf as Daringer
- Takashi Asakura
- Rumiko Mori
- Akihiko Hirata as Mr. K
- Mayumi Yamabuki as Dianna
- Mieko Saegusa as Mitchy
- Yoko Takagi as Cathy
- Ritsuko Fujiyama as Olga
- Taeko Minagawa as Lolita
- Toki Shiozawa as Iguana
- Shuntaro Emi as Herodenia III
- Ulf Otsuki as L-Banda
- Machiko Soga as God Iguana
- Dai Sagasawa as Dr. Borg
- Enver Altenbay as Dr. Guld
- Hatsuko Wakahara
- Maria Mizuno as Malinda
- Mei Jun as Norma
- Chico Roland as Pagora
- Akira Yamauchi as DAC One
- Tetsu Nakamura as Calimos
- Asao Matsumoto
- Goro Naya as narrator (voice)
Appearances
Characters and monsters |
Vehicles, weapons, races and organizations |
Theatrical releases
Episode 15 of Warrior of Love Rainbowman was released theatrically on July 28, 1973 as part of the Toho Champion Festival, alongside Son of Godzilla, episode 1 of Ultraman Taro, episode 22 of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, episode 8 of Toy Shop Ken-chan, and episode 3 of Fables of the Green Forest.[1] It was the first of two Toho TV series to be given a theatrical run, followed by Flying Saucer War Bankid in 1977.
July 28, 1973 Toho Champion Festival billboard poster
July 28, 1973 Toho Champion Festival theater program
U.S. release
Warrior of Love Rainbowman was the first Japanese superhero series to be aired in Hawaii,[2] premiering on Honolulu station KIKU with English subtitles in February of 1974. It was not the first ever tokusatsu series to be broadcast there, however, as Tsuburaya Productions' Emergency Directive 10-4/10-10 beat it by five months in September of 1973.[3] The channel garnered much popularity for its special effects offerings, with Rainbowman becoming something of a favorite among the Hawaiian youth.[citation needed]
Video releases
|
DVD Toho DVD (2001) [Operation Cat's Eye]
DVD Toho DVD (2001) [Operation M]
DVD Toho DVD (2001) [Mograd]
DVD Toho DVD (2001) [The Cyborg Army]
TOHO Visual Entertainment DVD (2016) [Volume 1]
TOHO Visual Entertainment DVD (2016) [Volume 2]
TOHO Visual Entertainment DVD (2016) [Volume 3]
|
TOHO Visual Entertainment DVD (2016) [Volume 4]
TOHO Visual Entertainment DVD (2016) [Volume 5]
TOHO Visual Entertainment DVD (2016) [Volume 6]
TOHO Visual Entertainment DVD (2016) [Volume 7]
TOHO Visual Entertainment DVD (2016) [Volume 8]
|
Trivia
- Warrior of Love Rainbowman began airing on NET just one day after Go! Godman premiered on Nippon TV, thus being beaten as Toho's first tokusatsu television series.
- Manga writer and creator Go Nagai has stated that this TV series inspired him to create the super heroine Cutie Honey.[4]
Notes
- ↑ While the series' title card reads simply Rainbowman, it was often marketed on promotional material by the Warrior of Love Rainbowman title. The latter title was used on the endscreen of the show's finale and has been consistently in use since, including on DVD releases as recent as 2016.
- ↑ Released theatrically as Rainbowman: The Professional Killers on July 1, 1973.
References
This is a list of references for Warrior of Love Rainbowman (1972 series). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
|
| ||||||||||||||
Comments
Showing 3 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.
|
|
|
|
