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.

Original Japanese poster for Godzilla Vs. Megalon. Note its absolute gaudiness that only kids would love.

However, while movie theaters were suffering, TV was booming. During this period, Toei's bread and butter came from television production (in fact, several episodes of their hit TV shows would be repackaged as part of their Manga Festival programs). Tsuburaya Productions, made up of several former Toho employees, was also killing it with their hugely successful Ultraman franchise. With special effects programming drawing in massive ratings and, best of all, fantastic merchandise sales, Toho swiftly jumped in on the action.

After hitting success in late 1972 with Soldier of Love, Rainbowman which borrowed elements from the earliest Japanese superhero programs, and Go! Godman, which incorporated old Toho monsters for its hero to fight in short five-minute mini episodes, Toho commissioned longtime Godzilla producer Tomoyuki Tanaka to produce a new TV series combining elements of Kamen Rider and Ultraman while making use of their well known characters. Gathering much of the staff of the Godzilla series, including directors Ishiro Honda and Jun Fukuda as well as special effects directors Teruyoshi Nakano and Koichi Kawakita, the result is the action-packed giant monster battle series Ryusei Ningen Zone, translated as "Meteor Man Zone".

But it's best known worldwide under its international title: Zone Fighter.

MY HISTORY WITH ZONE FIGHTER:

Pictured: your inevitable DVD cover if this ever receives a US release

While shows like Ultraman and Kamen Rider were dominating the airwaves for Japanese children, Zone Fighter had to prove itself a worthy counter to those programs. Much like how Toho used Godzilla to sell their Toho Champion Festival programs year-round, they utilized the Big G in a similar fashion here.

Zone Fighter is the first and to date only half-hour live-action TV series to feature Godzilla. The series' entire 26 episode run was released between Godzilla Vs. Megalon and Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla. After the show's conclusion, Toho would later confirm that Zone Fighter is indeed canon to the original Showa Godzilla series.

Unfortunately for Western Godzilla fans, Zone Fighter has never seen an official release outside of Japan. For years, the best non-Japanese fans could do to satiate their hunger for more Godzilla was to download episode clips from sites like Tokyo Monsters to catch glimpses of this lost chapter in Godzilla's cinematic history.

Strangely enough, the series has never seen fan translations either. Considering the massive size of Godzilla's fanbase compared to Kamen Rider and Ultraman, it has always seemed strange to me personally that Zone Fighter wasn't one of the first Japanese superhero shows to be fansubbed. Between that and no chance of a physical release in sight (I'm willing to bet Toho is asking WAY too much for the license), Zone Fighter has long eluded me and thousands of Godzilla fans. Sure, I know some Japanese, but not enough to carry myself through an entire 26-episode series.

What's an overly obsessed fan to do?

Well, it seems that's finally been changed. It's Godzilla's 65th anniversary this year. Netflix released the third part of the anime trilogy this past January. A new Hollywood movie featuring Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Rodan came out in May. Criterion is unleashing their massive Showa Godzilla box-set this October.

And now, in August, Zone Fighter has finally been translated into English in its entirety with actual coherent subtitles.

Needless to say, I've downloaded the entire series. And now that I will finally get to experience this chapter of Godzilla's history for the first time, I wanted to share it with you all, episode by episode. Though I know the general outline of the series from the aforementioned clips and reading episode summaries, this will for all intents and purposes be a blind reaction.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts on episode 1 of Toho's long sought-after superhero series:

ZONE FIGHTER 

Henshin-a-go-go, baby

EPISODE 1: "DESTROY THE TERROR-BEAST MISSILE!"

Translation: Read what I just wrote in all caps, doofus

Written and Directed by Jun Fukuda
Episode Air-Date: April 2, 1973

The show begins with an incredibly abbreviated origin story of the Zone Family: an alien family from the planet of Peaceland who have come to Earth after their homeworld was destroyed by the evil Garoga Empire. The youngest members of the family can transform into masked superheroes who are capable of fighting against the forces of evil.

you don't say.jpg

After this very brief introduction and a kick-ass theme song courtesy of Masato Shimon (who sang well known tokusatsu songs like Kamen Rider's "Let's Go, Rider Kick!" and Godzilla Vs. Megalon's "Godzilla and Jet Jaguar: Punch! Punch! Punch!"), we are thrust right into the action. Hikaru Sakimori, the oldest son of the Zone Family, driving home when his car is buzzed by a giant flying red object that crashes nearby. The red object turns out to be a spacecraft belonging to three Garoga soldiers who have been sent by the Empire after they have discovered that the Zone Family is hiding out on Earth.

Hikaru, after returning home, informs the rest of his family. His father and grandfather, Yoichiro and Raita, determine it to be the Garoga. Hikaru's mother, Tsukiko, warns the family that the Garoga will surely target them, but they mustn't let the rest of Earth's population worry. This is their fight alone. Despite this, the family swears they will not let the Garoga destroy the progress they've made in assimilating on Earth, and vow to fight back.

The next day, while Hikaru decides to investigate the crash site, his younger brother and sister, Akira and Hotaru, decide to take the day to visit an indoor water park. They invite along Akira's friend and neighbor, Junichi, after feeling sorry for him due to his cold, uncaring parents. However, Akira and Hotaru notice that one of the guards is a Garoga soldier in disguise, given away by his webbed hands. When they decide to head home so that Junichi won't be involved, they are kidnapped by their taxi driver who also happens to be a Garoga soldier.

Meanwhile, Hikaru investigates the wreckage and confirms it to be a spaceship. However, he is ambushed and kidnapped by the third Garoga soldier. Stuffed in the back of the soldier's car, Hikaru is able to record a message in his mobile radio and, after being led to the secret base of the Garoga, sends it off to be intercepted by Raita.

It's made of the invaluable metal, space aluminum

When the message is received, Tsukiko and Yoichiro head off to rescue their children. They are accompanied by Junichi's mother who callously blames the family for his son arriving home late. However, they too are kidnapped by the Garoga. With the family all gathered and lined up for execution, Junichi's mother begs for her and her son to be spared. Knowing the two innocent bystanders will also be killed, Hikaru, Hotaru and Akira transform into Zone Fighter, Zone Angel, and Zone Junior. After the aliens shed their disguises, the six fight while Yoichiro and Tsukiko help Junichi and his mother to safety.

When the Zone Family gains the upper hand in the brawl, the three Garoga soldiers fuse and grow into the giant Garoga Terror-Beast Red Spark. Zone Fighter, in retaliation, transforms into a giant silver and blue hero and does battle with Red Spark. After easily dispatching Red Spark with his Meteor Missile Might attack, the Garoga launch a Terror-Beast missile containing the Magne-Terror Beast Jikiro.

Zone Fighter's first foe: Red Spark

Jikiro doing some Magne-Terrorizing

Already having expended his energy in the fight with Red Spark, Zone Fighter starts losing to Jikiro's destructive magnetic abilities. However, Zone Angel and Zone Junior summon the flying ship Smokey to help recharge Zone Fighter's energy. Meanwhile, watching from home, Raita remotely activates the Great Thunderbolt to deal severe damage to Jikiro. With the tides turned, Zone Fighter once again unleashes his Meteor Missile Might on Jikiro, destroying the monster.

The next day, Junichi's parents apologize for their behavior and promise to be better parents. Laughing once again, the Zone Family secretly prepares itself for a long private war with the Garoga Empire.

THOUGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS

Well, this show wastes absolutely no time jumping right into the thick of things. Whereas most contemporary superhero shows used its first episode or two to spell out the premise and introduce the characters, Zone Fighter gets that all out of its way within the first minute. As you may have noticed up top, this episode was written and directed by none other than Jun Fukuda himself. Fukuda had become Toho's go-to director for the Godzilla series, having directed four of the past seven Godzilla films and was fresh off of Godzilla Vs. Megalon, which was released less than one month prior to this episode's release. Most of his filmography is known for its breakneck pacing, so it's no surprise to see that carried over into Zone Fighter as well.

I hope you all like...

EGREGIOUS ZOOMS

Unfortunately, this episode is a solid 60-minutes shorter than most of Fukuda's films. As a result, the pacing makes the story almost completely incoherent. For example, the opening narration never establishes that Hikaru can transform into a giant hero. So when he does, it pretty much comes completely out of nowhere. Also, any moments of levity are incredibly short-lived, existing only to bridge one action scene to the next. When we are introduced to the Sakimori family, they spend most of the scene expositing. There's a brief attempt at comic relief when Akira bangs the table, causing a toy snake to pop out of a can but it falls completely flat. Fukuda's direction is simply lifeless, devoid of any of the energy he was injecting into his movies. He also seems to have trouble filming in the television aspect ratio, as his usual blocking results in characters getting partially cropped out of frame.

When the Zone children transform, their fight scene is astoundingly bad. The choreography is sloppy and the camera work is poor, far too zoomed in. To compensate, they seem to have sped up the footage in post and there are noticeable jump cuts in the middle of the action, but the result looks way more phony than intended. Instead of hiding the bad stuntwork, these tricks only give it away.

Honestly, the show doesn't really come alive until Zone Fighter transforms and fights the two monsters. This is what really set this show apart from its peers. With Toho's acclaimed special effects staff behind it, this fight is actually extremely entertaining. Despite its much lower budget than the already low budget movies, Teruyoshi Nakano still manages to work in his beloved pyrotechnics. The miniatures are also well detailed, and the monster designs stick out from most of what other Ultraman competitors like Super Robot Red Baron and Iron King were pumping out.

Hell yeah, Nakano. Blow that shit up good.

Finally, despite its obvious inspiration from Ultraman, Zone Fighter did some unique spins on the formula. The show really hinges on the family unit, as each member of the family supports each other. In some ways, Zone Fighter was a precursor to Super Sentai in how its team works together, For example, having Zone Angel and Zone Junior have the ability to recharge Zone Fighter mixes things up from this just being a standard Ultraman clone and his restrictive three-minute time limit.

So yeah, just from the lengthy monster fight at the end of the episode (it's about a third of this episode's length), I would have completely eaten this up if I were younger. It's not trying to be much more than an excuse to watch giant monsters getting beaten up on a weekly basis, and that's okay. I may not be in love with the characters, but I'm always down to watch more of Toho's giant monster action back when they did it better than just about anybody else.

NEXT EPISODE:

"ATTACK! DESTRO-KING"

Finally: this week's Zone Fighter Wisdom Missile Might