Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain

is a Japanese tokusatsu television series produced by Toei Company. It ran for 53 episodes from January 20, 1991, to January 26, 1992, on TV Asahi. It is part of the Metal Hero Series franchise; a sequel to ''Special Rescue Police Winspector'', it is the second installment in the ''Rescue Police Series'' trilogy.

For distribution purposes, Toei refers to this television series as simply ''Solbrain''.

Plot

After the Winspector police team leaves Japan to fight crime in France, Chief Shunsuke Masaki realizes he must create a new police team to defend Tokyo from crime. He creates Solbrain – a high-tech special rescue force, expert in missions requiring rescue and firepower. Its leader is Daiki Nishio, a rookie detective who can use the Plus Up command in his car to transform into SolBraver. Other members are Reiko Higuchi, also able to use the Plus Up command to transform into SolJeanne, SolBraver's female counterpart; and SolDozer, a yellow bulldozer robot. Later in the series, the Winspector team returns to Japan and teams up with Solbrain for a three-part story (episodes 21-23). From episode 34 on, Ryouma, the protagonist from Winspector, returns as a member of Solbrain, wearing a suit dubbed the Knight Fire.

The team

*: Daiki is Ryoma's successor. He wears blue armor, and his primary vehicle is SolGallop. He only can wear his solid suit, and his transformation call is . He is armed with Cerberus Delta (a triangular gun), which can transform into a rod or a sword.
*: Reiko is Junko's successor. She wears red armor, a black-and-white flameproof suit and a helmet without a mouthplate (so she can wear also an oxygen mask). Her primary vehicle is SolDrecker, which also carries Dozer. Her transformation call is also , and her weapon is a small gun.
*: Dozer is Bycle's and Walter's successor. He is a yellow heavy-duty robot (with design elements from a bulldozer, as the name implies) and can transform into a rescue machine.

Other members

*: A Solbrain member, unlike Daiki and Reiko he does not wear a solid suit; however, he is always in action.
*: Chief of Solbrain. Compassionate and dedicated, he usually goes into the battlefield to help his subordinates.
*: A machine expert, he is Nonoyama's successor.
*: A pilot of the mothership Solid States-I, he leads the mothership's operating team and is senior to Daiki.
*: Solbrain's Operation's team leader, she sees computer literacy as a main duty.
*: Winspector's former leader, he first reappears in episode 21 with the Winspector team (robots Walter and Bikel) chasing an android named Messiah. He later transformed into Fire and helped the team with Walter and Bikel. Later returns in episode 34 as Knight Fire, a new member of Solbrain, armed with Cerberus Delta and Pile Tornado. He is portrayed by Masaru Yamashita, reprising his role from the previous Metal Hero series.
*: Solbrain's supercomputer, and Madocks' successor.

Arsenal

*: Daiki, Reiko and Ryōma's armor.
*Proto Suit ( プロトスーツ, Puroto Suutsu ? ) The prototype of SolBraver's Solid Suit, steals the armor to destroy SolBraver, but the armor had a timeout, similar to the Crush Tector's 5 minute time limit. Sasamoto was known as a psychotic person who had no qualifications to become the SolBraver.
*: Daiki's car, based on the Toyota Sera
*: Reiko's car, sometimes also driven by Jun. Based on the Toyota Previa
*: Ryōma's car, based on the Mazda RX-7 FC
*Masaki's undercover car: Chief Masaki's car. Initially, a Third-Generation Mazda Luce seen on Winspector, but in mid-series changed to a Mazda Persona.
*: In the episode 21, when Ryoma chases an android, he drives this car, a tenth generation Cadillac Eldorado with all the equipment and transformation mechanisms installed inside the car.
*: the mothership (abbreviated ). S.S.-I takes off from in one minute.
*: SolBraver and Knight Fire's weapon. It has two operating modes: (used as a ray gun) and (used, as a sword, to break obstacles such as girders and fighting enemies armed with knives).
*: a tool which shoots a special carbon-fiber rope or a special bullet
*: Daiki and Reiko's police license
*: oxygen cylinder
*: emergency equipment used by SolJeanne
*: handcuffs
*: the only weapon Solbrain inherited from Winspector (see Tokkei Winspector for details).
*: SolBraver and Knight Fire's big gun, with three functions:
**: shoots a fire-extinguishing beam
**: shoots a special gelatinous, gluey, freezing bullet
**: a hail of 40 plasma-energy bullets per second, fired by Cerberus Delta. Its power is two times that of GigaStreamer's maximum mode (when SolBraver and Knight Fire fire it at the same time, its power is four times GigaStreamer's).

Episodes

# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Masao Minowa
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Masao Minowa
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Takahiko Masuda, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Nobuo Ogizawa, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Kyoko Sagiyama, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Takashi Yamada, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Junichi Miyashita, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Nobuo Ogizawa, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Takahiko Masuda, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Kiyoshi Arai
# : written by Takashi Yamada, directed by Kiyoshi Arai
# : written by Susumu Takaku, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Junichi Miyashita, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Kyoko Sagiyama, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Nobuo Ogizawa, directed by Hidenori Ishida
# : written by Takashi Yamada, directed by Hidenori Ishida
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Susumu Takaku, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Nobuo Ogizawa, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Kyoko Sagiyama, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Takashi Yamada, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Nobuo Ogizawa, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Nobuo Ogizawa, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Susumu Takaku, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Junichi Miyashita, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Junichi Miyashita, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Susumu Takaku, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Kyoko Sagiyama, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Takahiko Masuda, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Junichi Miyashita and Yasuyuki Suzuki, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Nobuo Ogizawa, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Junichi Miyashita and Yasuyuki Suzuki, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Nobuo Ogizawa, directed by Kaneharu Mitsumura
# : written by Kyoko Sagiyama, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Noboru Sugimura and Akiko Asatsuke, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Mayumi Ishiyama and Junichi Miyashita, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Michio Konishi
# : written by Noboru Sugimura, directed by Michio Konishi

Cast

* -
* -
**Reiko Higuchi (child - ep. 11): Miho Tamura
* - (voice)
* -
* -
* -
* -
* -
* -
* -
* -
* - Koji Matoba, Takeshi Ishida, Tokio Iwata, Emiko Takahashi and Kimiko Imai
*(voice)/ -
* -

Guest stars

*Dr.Inagaki (1): Shinya Ono
*Kazuo Inagaki (1): Hirofumi Taga
*Simulated Brain A320 (1 - voice): Yoshio Kawai
*Ryuzo Makimura (2): Katsuhiko Kobayashi
*Emi Makimura (2): Miki Takahashi
*Rumi Makimura (2): Masami Hosoi
*Yuka Mizusawa (2): Yoko Honna
*Dr. Shibuzawa (3): Toshimichi Takahashi
*Hatta (3): Koji Takahashi
*Jun Tashiro (3): Shiro Saito
*Kenta Tashiro (3): Mitsunari Hashimoto
*Yukio Sano (4): Ryosuke Kaizu
*Sano's minion (4): Kazuhiko Shimizu
*Aoyama Electric Officer (4): Daisaku Shinohara
*Aoyama Electric Researcher (4): Koji Imai
*Game Machime Monster (4 - voices): Toku Nishio, Kaoru Shinoda
*Koichi Ishikawa/Phanton Bond (5): Ritsuo Ishiyama
*Yasuhiko Kujo (5): Maroshi Tamura
*Naoto Yamaguchi (5): Shogo Kudo
*Naoto's mother (5): Noriko Ikeda
*Yumi Saiga (5): Mayumi Yoshida
*Shinichiro Ishimaru/Kinta Kinentei (6): Kintoli Sanyutei
*Shigeko Ishimaru (6): Sayoko Tanimoto
*Kumagai Family (6)
**Hanji Kumagai: Yutaka Oyama
**Teruichi Kumagai: Yuji Okada
**Tokuko Kumagai: Sayako Satake
*Jingoro Makino (7): Tadayoshi Ueda
*Masaru Makino (7): Kenzo Miyake
*Kasai (7): Hironobu Kasahara
*Saeki (7): Yuji Terada
*Katsuhiko Sakamoto/Proto Solbraver (8): Junichi Haruta
*Mamoru Okayama (8): Hiroshi Fuji

Suit actors

* Solbraver: Kazutoshi Yokoyama and Tokio Iwata
* SolJeanne: Emiko Takahashi
* Soldozer: Toshiyuki Kikuchi
* Knight Fire: Hiroshi Maeda, Jiro Okamoto and Tokio Iwata

Crew

*Original story by Saburo Yatsude
*Screenplay by: Noboru Sugimura, Nobuo Ōgizawa, Takahiko Masuda, Junichi Miyashita, Susumu Takaku, Takashi Yamada, Kyōko Sagiyama, Mayumi Ishiyama, Akiko Asatsuke
*Music: Kaoru Mizuki
*Photography: Susumu Seo, Takakazu Koizumi
*Assistant Director: Hidenori Ishida, Masashi Taniguchi
*Action Directors: Junji Yamaoka, Jun Murakami
*Special-Effects Director: Nobuo Yajima
*Produced by: Kyōzō Utsunomiya, Atsushi Kaji (TV Asahi), Nagafumi Hori (Toei)
*Directed by: Masao Minowa, Michio Konishi, Takeshi Ogasawara, Kaneharu Mitsumura, Kiyoshi Arai, Hidenori Ishida
*Production: TV Asahi, ASATSU, Toei

Songs

;Opening theme
*
**Lyrics:
**Composition:
**Arrangement:
**Artist:
**Chorus:
;Closing theme
*
**Lyrics: Akira Ōtsu
**Composition: Kisaburō Suzuki
**Arrangement: Tatsumi Yano
**Artist: Takayuki Miyauchi
**Chorus: Morinoki Jidō Gasshōdan

Video game

A video game for ''Tokkyū Shirei Solbrain'' was released in 1991 for the Famicom, published by Angel and developed by Natsume Co., Ltd. It was localized into '' Shatterhand'', which was published by Jaleco for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and Europe shortly after the Japanese release. The differences are mainly cosmetic (changing music and graphics) but there were also several substantial changes, such as which boss appeared in which area. In addition, the theme-park stage from the Famicom version was replaced with a nuclear-submarine stage in the NES version.

Philippine English voice cast

All 53 episodes were covered and were visually aired uncut. However, some of the characters had their first names changed to be more anglicized, while their surnames were kept. However, several characters have kept their Japanese full names completely intact. For example, Daiki Nishio, Reiko Higuchi and Jun Masuda were renamed to Corey Nishio, Rachel Higuchi and John Masuda respectively.

* Daiki Nishino/Corey Nishio/SolBraver - Earl Palma
* Reiko Higuchi/Rachel Higuchi/SolJeanne - Unknown
* Jun Masuda/John Masuda - Earl Palma
* Shunsuke Masaki - Earl Palma

International broadcasts and home video

*The series aired in Indonesia on Indosiar with an Indonesian dub in the mid-1990s produced by Erfas Studio. It also aired again in 2001.
*It also aired in Thailand on Channel 3 with a Thai dub.
*In Brazil, the series aired as ''Super Equipe de Resgate Solbrain'' on the now-defunct Rede Manchete in 1995 with a Brazilian Portuguese dub. This was the final Metal Heroes series to be released in the region with a dub.
*The series received a Latin Spanish dub dubbed in Mexico with its dub produced by Comarex dubbed by Larsa Studios, recorded and released in 1996. It aired as ''Super Rescate Solbrain.''
*This series aired in the Philippines with all 53 episodes dubbed into English by Telesuccess Productions, Toei's Filipino branch. This is the first and only entry in the Metal Hero series to ever receive an English dub. It first began airing on IBC 13 in 1997 with all 53 episodes dubbed in English and later Tagalog (Filipino), both versions being fully uncut. However, most characters in the English dub had their first names changed, but several characters had their names either slightly modified or fully kept intact. It also aired again on ABC 5 (now TV5) in 1999. The English dub was also released on DVD in 2004 and is reported to be the only Metal Heroes series to ever be released with an English dub. Later on, the series was bought back on the air in 2006 on GMA Network with a newly produced Tagalog dub of the series.

References

External links

*

{{Metal Hero Series

Fictional police officers
Japanese science fiction television series
Metal Hero Series
1991 Japanese television series debuts
1992 Japanese television series endings
Sequel television series
TV Asahi original programming
Television series set in 2000