Tekkaman Blade II
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is a 1992 Japanese
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series produced by
Tatsunoko Production and often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company. The studio's name has a double meaning in Japanese: "Tatsu's child" (Tatsu is a nickname for Tatsuo) and " sea dragon", the inspiration for its seahorse logo. Tatsunoko Production was e ...
and Sotsu Agency. The series was directed by Hiroshi Negishi and written by Mayori Sekijima and Satoru Akahori. The story follows an organization called the Space Knights and their war against aliens known as the Radam. The Space Knights are assisted by Takaya Aiba, who has the ability to transform into an armored warrior known as Tekkaman Blade. The first series, of 50 episodes (including episode 0), aired in Japan from February 18, 1992, to February 2, 1993, on
TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
(OVA) releases from July 21, 1994, to April 21, 1995. A video game based on the series, titled ''Uchū no Kishi: Tekkaman Blade'', was released in Japan on July 30, 1993. The original series was released internationally, including North America, and was dubbed in English as ''Teknoman''. In the English-dubbed versions, the series was heavily cut compared to the original Japanese version and shortened from 50 to 43 episodes.


Plot


''Tekkaman Blade''

In the United Earth Year 192,
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
is under attack from an alien race known as the Radam, which consists of bug-like monsters and armored warriors known as Tekkamen. The Radam's spaceship lies dormant on the dark side of the Moon where the Radam wait for it to be repaired. Fighting against the Radam is a special defense force called the Space Knights. The group consists of Heinrich von Freeman, the group's commander; Noal Vereuse, the pilot of the Space Knights' ship ''Blue Earth''; Aki Kirasagi, the ''Blue Earth''s navigator; Milly, the communications operator; Levin, a computer mechanic; and Honda, the group's mechanic. Before the start of the Radam invasion, the exploration ship ''Argos'' discovered the dormant Radam spaceship in the outer rings of
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
. While exploring the ship, the crew were captured by pods and converted into Tekkamen. Before he was fully converted, Takaya Aiba (Tekkaman Blade) was freed by his father and placed into an escape pod; his father then activated the ''Argos'' self-destruct. The Radam crashed on the Moon and began their attacks on Earth. After spending six months drifting toward Earth, Blade bursts free from his escape pod and attacks the Radam forces, entering into a fight with Tekkaman Dagger (Fritz von Braun). After the fight, Blade crashes on Earth and is found by Noal and Aki, who take him back to their headquarters. Blade is initially hostile towards the Space Knights, but as time progresses, he begins to respect them for their dedication and develops a romantic interest in Aki. With Blade's help, the Space Knights begin to repel the Radam until Blade's transformation crystal is shattered during a battle with Dagger. Levin develops a battle robot named Pegas which houses the shards of Blade's crystal and enables him to transform again. In his first transformation using Pegas, Blade challenges Dagger and kills him. Meanwhile, Earth's ambitious military leader, General Colbert, becomes obsessed with acquiring the Tekkaman armor for his own use. He attempts to attack the Space Knight's base during an emergency, but is forced to withdraw by order of Earth's president. He later sends in the spy Balzac Asimov, posing as a journalist, to infiltrate the Space Knights. Balzac acquires data on the Tekkaman armor system and Earth's military create their own Tekkamen armor, which are worn by Balzac and Noal. Eventually, General Colbert is killed by Blade when he tries to use a weapon that would harm both the Radam and mankind. Four more Tekkamen – Tekkaman Lance (Molotov), Tekkaman Axe (Goddard), Tekkaman Sword (Hun-Ri) and Tekkaman Evil (Takaya's twin brother Shinya) – arrive on Earth to challenge Blade. Tekkaman Rapier (Takaya's younger sister Miyuki) also arrives on Earth, but like Blade she is not under the Radam's control. Evil, Lance, Axe, and Sword attack the Space Knights' base and attempt to kill Rapier. Although outnumbered, Rapier self-destructs in an attempt to destroy the four Tekkamen. Blade manages to kill Lance and Axe and he later gains the power to attain Blaster Tekkaman mode, although he loses more of his memories whenever he uses it. Evil is given the same ability as the last line of defense for the Radam's leader, Tekkaman Omega. At the end of the war, Blade and Evil meet for the last time, where Blade kills Evil after a long fight. As he dies, Evil is freed from the Radam's mind control. Balzac kills Sword and they both burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Blade takes Pegas to the Moon, where he confronts Omega, who reveals that he is Takaya's older brother Kengo. Omega launches the repaired Radam spaceship and heads for Earth. Blade attacks Omega, who easily defeats him. Omega is about to kill Blade when Pegas steps in front of the killing blow and sacrifices himself. Pegas' destruction enrages Blade and causes him to transform into Blaster Tekkaman mode for the last time. Blade kills Omega and causes the Radam spaceship to explode. The remnants of the Radam spaceship fall to Earth along with Blade, now stripped of his armor. As a result, Blade is left reliant on a wheelchair and is completely amnesiac, cared for by Aki.


''Tekkaman Blade II''

This six-episode series is set ten years after the original series and a new group of Space Knights confront the Radam. The group features Yumi Francois, Aki, Natasha, David and their mysterious leader, D-Boy. Tekkaman Blade joins them to fight the sinister alien enemy, but things become complicated by the appearance of Dead End. He blames the Space Knights for the destruction of the Tekk-plant at
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
after it was conquered by revolutionary generic Tekkamen. See individual episode summaries below.


Production

The series itself was conceived as being a re-imagining of the 1975 anime, '' Tekkaman: The Space Knight'' which was also by Tatsunoko Production. During production, the show was initially called "Space Knight Tekkaman Cyber", and even when it was announced in anime magazines, it was tentatively called "Tekkaman Cyber". The planning for the series was done by Kouki Narishima and Mitsushige Inagaki while Motoki Ueda would serve as producer on Tatsunoko's behalf. The series' main sponsor which was
Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...
's hobby division wanted a series that had a lot of name recognition, so ''Tekkaman: The Space Knight'' was ultimately chosen amongst other works that Tatsunoko owned. Other potential candidates such as ''
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman is a Japanese animated media franchise about a five-member superhero ninja team created by Tatsuo Yoshida and produced by Tatsunoko Productions. The original anime series, which debuted in 1972, was eponymously entitled ''Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatc ...
'' were suggested, but Tekkaman was chosen because Gatchaman proved difficult to make into model kits and Ueda himself was more of a fan of the original Tekkaman. Initial plans for the plot were to have the main protagonist's family members becoming his enemies, but was later changed to have his brother be his enemy. This plot point was taken from a prior Tatsunoko anime which Ueda previously produced being '' Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato'', in which the main character fought against his best friend who was brainwashed by the main antagonists. Coincidentally,
Takehito Koyasu is a Japanese voice actor from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.Doi, Hitoshi"Koyasu Takehito" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011. He is affiliated with and representative of T's Factory, a voice acting agency he founded ...
, who voiced Gai in ''Shurato'', would later voice Shinya Aiba in this series. In another coincidence, Shurato had armor that was white and red, while Gai sported a set of black and red armor, which likely influenced Blade and Evil's color schemes in the final product. ''Shurato'' proved to be popular with female viewers, but the plastic model sales were not, so this series was created for males with model kits in mind, and the only element that would appeal to females was Shinya. Character designs were done by Hirotoshi Sano and Tomonori Kogawa (credited under the name TOIIIO in the opening and end credits), however, due to a busy schedule, Sano was only able to draw the main protagonist, heroine, and three female characters. Kogawa was originally requested to join as a director, but when he was invited, he was asked not only to direct but also to design and thus drew the remaining characters in place of Sano. Kogawa was also involved in the series as an animation director under the pseudonym Aiba Kouu.
Yutaka Izubuchi is a Japanese anime mecha and character designer, anime director, illustrator and manga artist. He was born in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in Yokohama. Izubuchi is also known for his manga and illustrations, but most of his fame comes from his de ...
was originally going to provide the Tekkaman designs, but due to him also being busy, he was only able to draw a couple of rough design sketches. The rough designs were then done by Yoshinori Sayama, an apprentice of Izubuchi's who had been working with Izubuchi to help make design materials to present to the series' sponsors and producers. When Ueda saw the rough designs, he was convinced that Sayama could do it, but Bandai couldn't decide whether they could sell the designs or not, so a competition was held among more than a dozen designers, which Sayama ultimately won. Sayama was not familiar with the original Tekkaman's design, but Ueda suggested that he work on it without looking at the original design, and would only gave him his impressions. Finally, Kaoru Wada, who was the composer, was told that he did not need to be familiar with the music from the original Tekkaman when composing the series' score.


Episodes


''Tekkaman Blade''

''Tekkaman Blade'' was broadcast in Japan on
TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Saban Entertainment BVS Entertainment, Inc., previously known as Saban Productions, Saban Entertainment and Saban International, is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Founded on April 24, 1980, as a music production company by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, it ...
for
UPN Kids ''UPN Kids'' was an American children's programming block that aired on UPN from September 10, 1995 to September 5, 1999. Airing on Sunday mornings, the block aired for one hour (10:00 to 11:00 am), then two hours the following year (9:00 to ...
, under the name ''Teknoman''. Their dub featured a new theme song and background score by
Shuki Levy Shuki Levy (; born June 3, 1947) is an Israeli-American music composer and television producer. Levy created soundtrack compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s, such as ''The Real Ghostbusters'', ''Inspector Gadget'', ''The ...
and Ron Wasserman (''
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ''Mighty Power Rangers'' (''MMPR'') is an American superhero television series that premiered on August 28, 1993, on the Fox Kids programming block. It is the first entry of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, and became a 1990s popular culture, ...
'', ''
X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...
'', ''
Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...
''). The American broadcast version was heavily cut compared to the original Japanese version and shortened from 50 episodes to 43. Saban's dub also aired in Australia during 1995 and 1997, on
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
's
Cheez TV ''Cheez TV'' is an Australian children's cartoon show hosted by Ryan Lappin and Jade Gatt that aired on weekday mornings on Network Ten. It began broadcasting on 10 July 1995 and it ended on 31 December 2004 with the presenters leaving. After ...
morning cartoon block. The series was licensed by Media Blasters Entertainment, through its AnimeWorks label in 2006, with separate boxsets for ''Teknoman'' and ''Tekkaman Blade''. The rights to the edited Saban/UPN Kids TV dub version of ''Teknoman'' was owned by Disney Enterprises thru
BVS Entertainment BVS Entertainment, Inc., previously known as Saban Productions, Saban Entertainment and Saban International, is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Founded on April 24, 1980, as a music production company by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, it ...
, after Disney acquired the Fox Family/Fox Kids Worldwide franchise in 2001, while Media Blasters/AnimeWorks owns the rights to the International dub of ''Teknoman'' in 2006, after they released this dub, along with the uncut ''Tekkaman Blade'' on Region 1 DVD. The character names were altered for the English-dubbed ''Teknoman'' release: Blade's "D-Boy" nickname was dropped in favor of "Blade" (in the edited UPN TV version, it was changed to "Slade") and his full name "Takaya Aiba" became "Nick Carter". Similarly, "Commander Heinrich von Freeman" became "Commander Jamison", "Noel" became "Ringo Richards", "Aki" became "Star Summers", "Milly" became "Tina Corman", "Levin" (an effeminate male in the original Japanese version) became the female "Maggie Matheson", "Honda" became "Mack", and "Miyuki" became "Shara". The "Radam" were now called "Venemoids" and their leader "Omega" became "Darkon". In January 2016, the series was released as a remastered Blu-Ray boxset in Japan. The set contains all 50 episodes of the first series and all 6 episodes of the second series, as well as the
OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
specials from the laserdiscs, an unreleased episode entitled "Virgin Memory", and a new video interview with Toshiyuki Morikawa.


Specials

These OVA specials were originally included in the ''Crystal Box''
laserdisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...
set and later included as special features for the DVD and Blu-Ray releases.


''Tekkaman Blade II''

is a six-episode
original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
(OVA) that was released in 1994 by Tatsunoko and serves as a sequel to the ''Tekkaman Blade'' anime series. The series was originally licensed by Urban Vision on VHS in 1998 and later released on DVD in 2001, before later being picked up by
Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. History Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retr ...
in 2012 for an uncut home-media release on DVD and Blu-Ray format, with English dubbing and subtitles as options. The series aired on
Starz Encore Starz Encore is an American premium television channel owned by Starz Inc., a subsidiary of Starz Entertainment Corp. (a namesake of the network) and headquartered at the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian, Colorad ...
's Action Anime programming block in 1999.


Merchandise and other media


Merchandise

Model kits based on the series released in Japan by
Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...
throughout the show's run, as well as model kits by B-Club, who also made models of the second series. Various ''Tekkaman Blade'' action figures have been made over the years, such as Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Evil receiving Figmas by Max Factory, a figure of Tekkaman Blade and Pegas was released by Bandai, as well as Bandai also making figure of the series under their Armor Plus line and more recently, Tekkaman Blade received a Riobot figure from Sentinel Toys, with Tekkaman Evil set to receive a Riobot figure at a later date. Orange Cat Industry, a company based in China acquired the rights to produce model kits based on the series and it was re-released in Japan by Wave Corporation.


Video games

In 1993, BEC published a video game based on the first anime for the
Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
(SNES) in Japan. The game has Blade going through various levels in a shoot-em-up-like style where Blade uses his Tek-Lancer to attack, while the boss battles (save for the last fight against Tekkaman Omega) have a 2D fighting game like approach to them. In the year prior, another game which published by Yutaka was a platformer for the
Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...
. In 1994, a real time strategy game based on the first series and sequel OVA for
NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...
's
PC-9801 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or simply , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit Personal computer, personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2003. While based on Intel processors, it uses an in-house architecture making it inc ...
entitled ''Tekkaman Blade: Orbital Ring Dakkai Sakusen'' was released. The game was published and developed by Matrix. In 2005, ''Tekkaman Blade'' debuted in '' Super Robot Wars J'' for the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
, an entry in the long-running ''Super Robot Wars'' series of crossover strategy RPGs involving various mecha franchises. However, its inclusion in the game caused controversy amongst fans as the show itself has only one proper robot in Pegas, while the title character and a majority of the cast don powered armor to do battle. The first series would later return in 2007's ''
Super Robot Wars W is part of the Super Robot Wars franchise and was published for the Nintendo DS by Banpresto. It is the first ''Super Robot Wars'' game released for the Nintendo DS. Like some DS games, special features can be unlocked by starting a new game wi ...
'' while also featuring the second series, the latter of which made its SRW debut. Tekkaman Blade would be featured as a playable character in 2010's '' Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars'' for the
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
as one of the five new characters added to the game's roster. In addition, Tekkaman Evil was also planned to appear in the game's roster, but was ultimately scrapped from the final game. On November 26, 2021, the series was announced to be making a collaboration with the game ''Iron Saga'', a mecha crossover game for mobile devices.


See also

* '' Tekkaman: The Space Knight''


References


External links


''Space Knight: Tekkaman Blade''
* * {{UPN Kids 1992 anime television series debuts Television about alien invasions Japanese children's animated space adventure television series Japanese children's animated science fiction television series Japanese children's animated superhero television series Adventure anime and manga Drama anime and manga Mecha anime and manga Mystery anime and manga Romance anime and manga Superheroes in anime and manga Tatsunoko Production Television series by Saban Entertainment Transforming heroes TV Tokyo original programming