is a Japanese ''

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, war, fantasy, or horror media featuring such technology but is someti ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

series. A

Kyodai Hero is a television subgenre in tokusatsu that involves Japanese superheroes or robots either with the ability to grow to immense heights to fight giant monsters or who are originally giant as a part of their lives. The Kyodai Hero is the mainstre ...

programme, featuring the titular hero growing to immense size and fighting similarly sized monsters. Originally broadcast as 138 five-minute segments as part of the children's

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a com ...

'' Ohayo! Kodomo Show'' on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed ...

, it was produced by

Tsuburaya Productions is a Japanese special effects studio founded in 1963 by special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and was run by his family, until October 2007, when the family sold the company to advertising agency TYO Inc. The studio is best known for producin ...

. ''Redman'' was initially aired between April 3, 1972, to September 8 of that same year. In 2016, Tsuburaya Productions uploaded the series to its official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

channel. It is similar in many ways to Tsuburaya Productions' other Kyodai Hero programmes, particularly the

Ultra Series ''Ultraman'', also known as the , is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad monsters. Debuting with ''Ultra Q'' and then ''Ultraman'' in 1966, the series is one ...

, with all of Redman's foes being reused Ultra Series monsters. The titular hero, described as a peace-loving alien from Planet Red in the Red Nebula, has a reputation among fans for the level of aggression he displays in fights, earning the fan nickname of . Redman's original premise, similar to that of various other Tsuburaya Kyodai Heroes, is that he is an incorporeal alien being who, upon escaping the destruction of Planet Red, bonds with Officer Sakomizu of the Scientific Investigation Agency (SIA) and must protect Earth from evil spirits that are able to revive fallen monsters from the dead.

Comic book

A comic series titled ''Redman: The Kaiju Hunter'', written and illustrated by Matt Frank and Gonçalo Lopes, began in Japan in November 2017. An English-language trade paperback collecting chapters 1-5 was published by Night Shining, Inc. in August 2018. The second volume, collecting chapters 6-10, was published in February 2019. The third volume, collecting chapters 11-15, was published in April 2020. The comic series adheres to the popular fan interpretation of Redman as an aggressive killer, featuring the titular hero wandering a desolate world populated by monsters and framed as a television show controlled and narrated by a mysterious entity. The comic also features the "Monster of Justice" , who is based on one of the early concepts for what would eventually become

Ultraman ''Ultraman'', also known as the , is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad monsters. Debuting with '' Ultra Q'' and then '' Ultraman'' in 1966, the series is ...

known as

References

''Redman''
at the Japan Hero Encyclopedia. 1972 Japanese television series debuts 1972 Japanese television series endings Tsuburaya Productions Nippon TV dramas Ultra television series {{Japan-tv-prog-stub