tkdguy Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 When I was a kid, one of the shows I enjoyed was an import from Japan. I knew it as Watari, but its actual title is Kamen no ninja Akakage (Masked Ninja: The Red Shadow). It had ninjas and monsters galore. Has anyone heard of this show? I know it's pretty old, but maybe someone has seen the new version. The main characters: Akakage (The Red Shadow): The most skilled fighter among the trio. He is a deadly swordsman, and he can fire a ray beam from his mask. Shirokage (The White Shadow): The oldest of the group. While not as powerful as Akakage, he is still a formidable and experienced warrior. Aokage (The Blue Shadow): The kid. He's still learning the trade, so he makes mistakes from time to time. He has a lot of potential, though. The actor who played him was famous for the lead in another flick called Watari, which is why it was known by that title in the Philippines. Here's a link (warning, the looped soundtrack of the opening theme can get old really quickly): http://incolor.inetnebr.com/stuart/akakage/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage There are all sorts of weird, wacky and wonderful things on that site. Like the Japanese version of Spider-Man from 1978 (I'm not kidding!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted September 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage Another chidhood memory: http://incolor.inetnebr.com/stuart/goranger/ This was called as Star Rangers in the Philippines. It appears to be an early precursor to the Power Rangers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage Legendary sieyuu Megumi Hayashibara wes a hug4e Goranger fan growing up. In megumi-Toons, the manga she wrote (but did not draw) about her life, she cited an incident in which she threw one of her mother's earrings in emulation of the Pink Ranger's earring m=bombs, lost it, and got chewed out by her mom. I don't recall if she ever played a ncharacter like the Pink Ranger, but she did get to play such heroic females as Lina Inverse, Faye Valentine and the female form of Ranma Saotome. And Lina Inverse did actually use a variation on the expldoing earring trick in an epsidoe of Slayers NEXT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UltraRob Posted September 14, 2005 Report Share Posted September 14, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage Another chidhood memory: http://incolor.inetnebr.com/stuart/goranger/ This was called as Star Rangers in the Philippines. It appears to be an early precursor to the Power Rangers. As someone who knows far more about this subject than I probably should... In the 1970's Toei made a deal with Marvel Comics which was a kind of exchange: Marvel got the rights to the Toei super robot cartoons (remember Shogun Warriors anyone?) and Toei basically got to use the American superhero characters in their shows. (although the only one they actually used was Spiderman to produce the infamous Tv show...) The first experiment in "american style" superheros they produced was a show called GoRangers, about a team of multi-coloured cyborg heros from different backgrounds who were banded together by a mysterious goodguy organization to fight against an evil badguy group determined to rule the world. (By the way, no Giant Robots here.) Long story short, it was godmassively popular and ran for 3 years before finally concluding. But of course, they couldn't let a golden goose fly away, so they cloned this particular goose and made JAKQ! JAQK (Joker, Ace, Queen, King) was a 4 man cyborg hero team who battled gangsters and drug dealers instead of evil supervillians in a story that was closer to real Marvel comics. (As you might imagine, no Giant Robots here either.) And you know what? The kid hated it, the ratings were dismal, even when they lightened it up towards the end of it's run. So, Toei decided to produce a more kid-friendly show based loosely around the Avengers! It was called Battle Fever J! Featuring Battle Japan, Battle Cossak (from Russia), Battle Kenya, Battle France and Miss America! (All played by Japanese, with the exception of Miss America, who was played by 2 half-American half-Japanese actresses during the series) They again were cyborged up heros working for a SHIELD-like organization and fighting an evil badguy organization. The first couple episodes were actually about a running battle over the building of a new superweapon (you guessed it, a Giant Robot) for the heros use to battle the evil giant cyborg monsters the badguys had.... (The very first Sentai giant robot...) Anyways, because there was a giant robot this became the first Super Sentai series (the previous two were just plain ole Sentai because they didn't have a cool robot.) and is the one that set the formula for pretty much every Super Sentai series to come after it. (And of course, Power Rangers.) Pics and more info can be found here: http://www.japanhero.com/sentai%20image%20pages/simages.htm Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted September 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage You gotta love the way the Rangers killed off their enemy with a soccer ball that changed color to the guy who was kicking it! Alas, JAKQ really wasn't very good. I know, I watched it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage GoRangers was some kick *** old school stuff. Everybody and their brother had a crush on Pink Ranger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted September 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage GoRangers was some kick *** old school stuff. Everybody and their brother had a crush on Pink Ranger. God knows I did; I just wouldn't admit it to anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage God knows I did; I just wouldn't admit it to anyone. You just did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted September 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 Re: Kamen no ninja Akakage You just did. It's easier to do it years after the fact when nobody cares anymore than when people will tease you mercilessly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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