Uchû Tetsujin Kyôdain (Space Ironmen Kyodain) is a series that's suddenly gotten a little more attention in recent months, due in large part to Kamen Rider Fourze. The design for Fourze himself takes after one half of the heroic duo (especially so when it comes to Cosmic States) and his movie will be featuring a couple of characters who bear more than a passing resemblance to today's Ishinomori heroes. So what's the deal with the red & blue robot guys, anyway? Let's once again dive into the TV series & accompanying comic world of...
By early 1976, Kamen Rider had wrapped up with Stronger, and Himitsu Sentai Goranger had taken its place as the flagship series for Toei's TV Tokusatsu (TTT™) presence, doing excellently with viewers across Japan. 1976 also saw the conclusion of Ishinomori's Akumaizer-3, a show I plan to cover next year along with its '76 sequel Chôjin Bibyun. Trust me, they need to be covered back-to-back. The year would also see the rise of non-Ishinomori series The Kage Star and Ninja Captor, as well as today's subject.
Kyôdain was originally titled Tetsujin Kyôdai Sukaiburazaa (Iron Man Siblings Sky Brothers) but a desire to have a more "Japanese" name led to the creation of its current title. We saw the same thing happen with Kikaider (formerly "Zero Diver", etc.) Kamen Rider (too many to name, including "Cross Fire", "Masked Angel" and "Maskman K") and as we now know, Goranger ("Five Ranger" and so on.) Of course, the amusing thing about all those is that the finished versions still make use of English words.
In this case, Kyôdain is a play on the world Kyôdai (siblings) as well as Kyô Dain, which roughly means "Ten Quadrillion Dynes". A dyne is a unit of force, by the by, and the ending theme song lyrics reference this. Although in another funny bit of trivia, that latter pun only makes sense if you use an alternate reading of the kyô character (which is normally read as "kei" in this case... it's complicated, but humorously this show really did lead to an entire generation of Japanese kids screwing up on their kanji tests.)
And you can tell. Kyôdain is a very wacky show, considerably lighter in tone than its more straight-laced contemporaries, full of tongue-in-cheek humor, over-the-top visual gags and surrealist imagery. In more than just design, it really is a spiritual relative to Fourze, with weird, outlandish scenarios and almost cartoon-style humor. And much like the current Rider, it all still works because it knows when to play it straight and when to goof around (and sometimes successfully manage both at the same time.)
Kyôdain has a great overarching story, with genuinely lovable characters and some pretty good series-spanning mysteries. The episodes range from done-in-ones to multi-parters, occasionally weaving in and out of the bigger ongoing plot, making it one of the most uniquely-constructed Tokusatsu series I've seen. It's not super-duper-deep and won't change the way you think about the meaning of life or something, but for a goofy little show about robots punching each other, it, much like the other shows I've covered on here, tells a pretty good story as well.
The TV series opens with a birthday party for the youngest of the 3 Hayama siblings, Kenji. He celebrates along with his older brothers Jôji & Ryûji, and their father, the brilliant robotics expert Doctor Hayama. Sounds innocent enough, right? Well things quickly turn sour when the family is attacked by robotic aliens from the planet Dada (no, not that one!) and the good goctor and his two eldest sons are kidnapped. The aliens want the doc because his brilliance combined with their technology will allow for the creation of even more advanced and destructive weapons and robots. Because, of course, they want to take over the world! And a bunch of other worlds, while they're at it.
One year later, the, uh, Dadaists return, armed to the teeth and ready for some serious destruction. The Earth Defense Forces, led in Japan by the strong-willed Colonel Marui and his bumbling sidekick Sergeant Hosoda, are severely outgunned. Things go from bad to worse when the sketchy Lieutenant Colonel Heinkel turns out to be a traitor, feeding vital information to the invaders and hamming it up like no tomorrow. Heinkel by the way is played by an actor named Ulf Georgii-Hemming, back then billed as Ootsuki Ulf (or sometimes "Wolf"!) You may also know him as the kindly Doctor Henry in the pilot of Kamen Rider Super-1. Remember him, I'll be bringing him up again later in Ishinomori Week.
Fortunately, the earth gets some help from a pair of mysterious robots who arrive in one of the wildest looking UFOs ever. They are Skyzel and Grounzel, and together they are known as Kyôdain! Along with their sidekick robot Gombess (whose head is itself a detachable UFO) they join forces with the Earth Defense... er, Forces, particularly bonding with consulting engineer lieutenant Shirakawa Etsuko, former assistant of Doctor Hayama and surrogate sister to Kenji. For you see, Kyôdain know him, even if he doesn't immediately recognize them.
That's the basics of the TV show plot, but how about the Ishinomori comic version? Well, it's pretty similar. Almost the same, if abbreviated. The Uchû Tetsujin Kyôdain comic debuted almost simultaneously with the series, running in Monthly Shônen Magazine for a considerably shorter amount of time than the series. Yep, it's like Goranger again, though while that one still basically sticks to everything the TV show did (from what I know, anyway) this one feels like a stripped-down version, with a much simpler plot if you can believe that.
There's fewer characters, though the majors are mostly there. Kenji, the Kyôdain boys & Gombess (his true brothers and father never actually appearing in person.) Etsuko turns up, but she's just one of Kenji's friends, and there's no sign of the Earth Defense Forces. The Dada aliens are even more mysterious, only appearing a few at a time and being more abstract in how they operate. There's a particularly strange one that hides out in a church, and the final enemy is... well, I'm not sure how to explain it! It's ostensibly a giant robot, but not quite...
The characters themselves are a little different. The Kyôdain duo are a bit more aloof, but then Kenji also seems slightly older. Or maybe it's just that the robots in the comic all look really, really tall! There's still a sense of brotherhood among them though, which the show delivered in spades. The final double-page spread is classic Ishinomori awesomeness. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about our leading men (er, cyberoids) on TV.
The Kyôdain sound like Kenji's brothers, they act like them, and they can even split open their faceplates to reveal video screens with virtual versions of the guys when they need to get more personable. The rest of the time though, it's Robot Detective-style 24/7 suit action (for part of the series, anyway.) Also much like K, they're robots, but with real personalities, programmed to have all the same emotions as the actual versions they're based on. Being more light-hearted fare, Kyôdain doesn't get too deep into the philosophical implications of being a machine with a soul or any of that stuff, but they do touch on the fact that our heroes are basically fill-ins for some other guys, and over the course of the series we see how they really develop into beings of their own, particularly when the story starts to draw to a close.
Skyzel is the oldest brother, and true to his name is based on an airplane. The younger of the older brothers (making him the middle brother) is Grounzel, and if you haven't figured it out yet, his name is a play on "Ground" and he's patterned after a car. The vehicular theme extends to the brothers' fighting styles, with Skyzel preferring air-based attacks (like a wicked flying punch) while Grounzel sticks to the ground, literally; one of his signature moves is to slide along the ground knocking people's feet out from under them.
Kyôdain's pretty infamous for pulling out new moves whenever they feel like it, no matter how crazy, but always cool. They don't so much have a dedicated finisher as a variety, depending on the situation. Of course they have some good combo attacks, putting them somewhere between the Double Riders, the Kikaider Brothers and ByCrosser on the epic Ishinomori tag-team map. They also have the incredible power of editing on their side, but more on that later.
After the initial few episodes, we don't see this power utilized all that much, which is too bad because these scenes are a ton of fun. Considering the mixture of miniatures and puppetry, I imagine they were costly and time-involving to shoot, since they necessitate a lot of shots plus building a whole secondary form for the monsters every time one of these happens. There really are few things more enjoyable than watching a talking rocket puppet with giant spinning fists plow through a huge tank with cartoon eyes and blow it to bits though.
Being made by the people that used to make Rider, the guys drive around on spiffy motorcyles (SkyMachine and GrounMachine.) Later in the series (episode 15) they're able to create virtual copies of the brothers (called "Cyber Graphis") to give the actors more stuff to do and provide a sort of pseudo-henshin ("Into the Skyzel! Into the Grounzel!") Let's talk about those actors.
Skyzel/Jôji is played by Natsu Yûsuke, who doesn't have a whole lot of Tokusatsu credits to his name, but nonetheless was a prolific actor with many TV, screen and stage credits throughout his career. He sadly passed away in 2010, which was way too early for a guy who hadn't even reached 60 yet. He's one half of a solid team in this series, and it's too bad we never got to see more of him in Tokusatsu. Fortunately, his bro is still with us...
Grounzel/Ryûji is played by none other than Sasaki Takeshi, Kamen Rider 2 himself! This is his other major Tokusatsu role, and according to legend he wasn't even originally up for consideration. Sasaki in real life was actually older than Natsu (unlike their characters on the show) and after his stint in Kamen Rider, he was rarely struggling to find parts. However, he became very good friends with Hirayama and particularly some of the stuntmen of the Ono Ken-Yukai, which is part of why Sasaki's always turning up again in the older series (appearances in X, plus he comes back more than anybody else in New Kamen Rider.) So he signed on easily, and the show got a little star power boost. I do think it's pretty funny that once again, he's playing the tougher, more physical half of a team. But this Sasaki we're talking about; he's a real-life badass so it's only natural he plays one on TV.
I also need moment to talk about the Kyôdain suits: I love 'em! Yes they are some of the most outlandish Toei heroes of all, making even their '75~76 contemporaries look conservative by comparison. But it so totally fits with the feel of the show. They've got a great dynamism between them, looking similar enough to be part of the same thing, yet individually distinct. The belts alone are wickedly intricate, and Skyzel's eyes (which, up close, are full of electronics) are really cool. Like all costumes, they're of their time, and Kyôdain was a great time indeed.
Alright, so the battle between Kyôdain and the forces of Dada rages on for 48 episodes, and along the way our heroes take on some pretty zany monsters. The early Dadaroids are based on various weapons (tanks, bazookas, and so on.) There's also legions of robot henchmen, the Dada Soldiers. Like I said, in the comic, they only appear a couple at a time and are pretty creepy, though the robotic brothers also smash through them pretty easily, even more so than on TV! In the comic, Kyôdain don't even need any fancy powers or anything. They just tear everything to shreds with their bare hands, or blast 'em with their finger beams. Hell their debut in the comic is smashing hapless henchmen like it's no big deal.
However on TV? I'm pretty sure that by the end of the series, Kyôdain trash their foes in just about every way possible, including literally cutting them out of the finished reel. Here's where I need to talk a little about the directing and editing in this show.
Takemoto has something of a reputation as the "pilot guy", often directing episode 1's. Having worked on Toei Tokusatsu series since the 60's, throughout the next decade he was one of the go-to guys, the man who'd always get it done, so even if he wasn't slated to handle that many more episodes (as with Rider) he was still there for the beginning. All in all, he directed nine different first episodes, including Goranger's and every Sentai up to and including Taiyô Sentai Sun Vulcan. I think Uchû Tetsujin Kyôdain was probably one of his favorites to work on though. Just a hunch.
Kamen Rider episodes 1 & 3 are notable for some of the show's trippiest visuals, with use of time-lapse, removed frames, weird camera angles and reversed footage to create an almost unearthly feel to the fights. In Kyôdain, Takemoto goes to town, giving us some of the most bizarre battles you'll ever see in a Tokusatsu series. The editing is intentionally disorienting, with the robots' strange entrances and physically incomprehensible movements intercut with repeated head-turns, sudden speed-ups, impromptu use of stock explosion shots and more. I defy you to watch the forest battle in episode 3 and tell me what the hell just happened. I also love how he inserts random shows for seemingly no reason. At the end of the same episode, it keeps cutting back to Etsuko as she watches Skyzel and Granzel run to meet each other. Why? Dunno!
Despite all that though, it works. Maybe it's just the humorous nature of the show, or maybe I think he was just some kind of mad genius, but you can't dislike what Takemoto (and other directors) do here, creating an almost balletic show with the battle scenes. In a show where the villains are named Dada, it's somehow oddly fitting. There's plenty of more traditional action and Kyôdain kicking mass amounts of evil rear end, but if you're a big fan of those two early Rider episodes, you owe it to yourself to check out this show, at least Takemoto's episodes (1~3, 7~8, 32~33, 42~43, & 45~46.) It's a true tour-de-force.
Alright, so as fun as things are, the bad guys decide to stop screwing around as of episode 26 and bring in the big guns. Enter the Deadly Five, a squad of elite Dada commanders, each one representing a finger of Gaburin, the dark general of the Dada forces, who is a literal giant robot hand. These guys are awesome, and they do battle with the Kyôdain boys all the way until episode 39, undergoing a brief resurrection in 32 after each is taken down in turn. This point also marks the introduction of arguably the true arch-enemy of Kyôdain, Gaburin Queen.
She has some REALLY crazy powers, and the Takemoto-directed battle with her in 45 is pure madness (the episode also involves the villains' evil motorcycle army.) There's one other famous foe that confronts our heroes towards the end of the series: Black Knight, probably the closest Kyôdain gets to a Hakaider or Udespar-type villain. He's pretty hardcore, and beating him requires the good guys to fight fire with fire (or well, sword with a sword of their own.) The final battle comes in episode 48, and it's actually a pretty emotional finale! Our robotic heroes solve a few final mysteries, meet their inspirations at last, and we learn a bit more about the villains' motivation. The last scene's a kicker.
As for the comic, it's ending is a little more unusual. Our heroes defeat a giant robot after inexplicably getting destroyed (well, okay... it's complicated) while Kenji destroys the leader of the villains in this version (a giant computer) and it's a happy enough ending. Overall, the Kyôdain comics feels like something Ishinomori just knocked out between designing villains for the TV series version. It's certainly not bad, but given how little I've talked about it, I think you don't need me to tell you that the TV version is where it's at. That's where you really get to see the master at work for this story; if you're going to check out Uchû Tetsujin Kyôdain, watch the show first, then read the comic if you're interested in seeing a more serious, low-key take on it. It does at least feature Grounzel vs. a bunch of evil replicant schoolgirls, which is pretty funny.
Also, the collected volume I have features a few other interesting Ishinomori comics. They're not related to any of his Tokusatsu work, but are sort of thematically linked to Kyôdain (which, despite that "happy enough ending" does kind of involve a pretty destructive last act.) All of them feature UFOs, robots, or end-of-the-world stuff; admittedly fairly common Ishinomori themes, so I'll have to do a more comprehensive explanation of this one. I'll hold off on going into details for now, since eventually I'm gonna run out of super heroes and Ishinomori Week will have to be made up of Japan, Inc. and this stuff. Not for a while though!
It also features Amamoto Hideyo (Doctor Shinigami...the Rider one!) as Doctor Kaidô, a fairly important character later in the series. Interestingly, there is an old fansub of Kyôdain, or at least there was. It was one of the first fansubbed TV shows I bought, way back in the VHS days, and only the first four episodes. I have no clue who did it and if they ever did any more, as the tape's likely buried somewhere in the basement, but maybe someone else will pick it up some day (if they haven't already, I'm not very good at keeping track of these things.) If you like 70's Toei, you'll probably like this one.
Okay, the part everyone was waiting for: While Kyôdain returned to the stars in 1977, they are sort of making a return in the upcoming Kamen Rider Fourze movie, which features new characters heavily inspired by the originals:
The Space Ironmen Groundain & Skydain (does that mean their collective name is Kyôzel?) They look to be antagonists in the film, and Skydain is also femmebot. I think it's kinda weird to be making them the villains, but technically they're new characters. And who knows if they'll be villains the whole way through...
Because, well, there's a certain Black Knight showing up as well! Also, a character named Inga Blink, or Inga Burinku in Japanese. Given Fourze's penchant for anagrams, see if you can work that one out. It's got me interested already! The film will also feature another "character" based on an Ishinomori property, but we'll get to him soon enough.
And you just gotta love how Kyôdain's version of "Toh!" is "Kyô!"
I enjoyed this, possibly because KYODAIN is one of the harder shows for me to wrap my head around. It's just...really strange, with the kind of overboard hyperactivity you'd expect from a child. It really makes other shows seem almost sedate in comparison.
ReplyDeleteRemember him, I'll be bringing him up again later in Ishinomori Week.
I officially know which show is being covered on Friday!