Zone Fighter Episode 3: Divorces, Dimensions, Disguises and Dorora

Like I mentioned in my introduction, Zone Fighter was created by the premiere staff of Toho's special effects department, Toho Eizo. Because of the intense time constraints in television production, it would be next to impossible for a single person to handle every single episode without burning out. Not only did this apply to live action directing, but to special effects directing as well. Thus, special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano handed the reins over to one of Toho Eizo's senior staff, and episode 3 would mark his special effects directorial debut. That man was Koichi Kawakita, who would later be responsible for the entire Heisei Godzilla series following Nakano's retirement as well as '80s sci-fi epics Sayonara Jupiter and Gunhed. So how does his first directing job hold up? Let's take a look...

Zone Fighter Episode 2: The Greatest TV Episode Ever?

After years of waiting to finally get Zone Fighter into my eyeballs, it was disappointing to say the least when the first episode turned out to be so underwhelming. I'll even admit that after watching it, I was worried I wouldn't be getting much entertainment out of this show.

Well, episode 2 quelled all of those fears. If the rest of the series is as colorfully bonkers as this episode was, this could be one of my favorite tokusatsu shows of the 1970s. Now, let's jump in to:

ZONE FIGHTER

Zone Fighter: An Introduction and Episode 1

INTRODUCTION:

It's 1973. Movie attendance across the world has plummeted. While America was working its way through the New Hollywood phase, Japan's box office was immensely struggling. By 1971, Daiei Studios, producers of several successful film series like Gamera and Zatoichi, had filed for bankruptcy. Toei was surviving through its Toei Manga Festival programs for kids and violent crime dramas for adults. Nikkatsu had begun almost exclusively producing softcore pornography. Shochiku was able to get by solely on the successful "Tora-san" romantic comedy film series. Finally, Toho was able to put out the occasional massive event film like Submersion of Japan while cutting back budgets on every other production, especially the Godzilla series which had become exclusively aimed at children.