Air Dates: May 17, 1978 - March 14, 1979
Head Director: Koichi Takemoto
Head Writer: Shozo Uehara
Special Effects Director: Nobuo Yajima (uncredited)
Music: Michiaki Watanabe
Producers: Susumu Yoshikawa, Hiroshi Ishikawa
Created by: Saburo Hatte (based on the Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)
Production Company: Toei Co. Ltd.
Starring:
Shinji Todo - Takuya Yamashiro/Spider-Man
Rika Miura - Hitomi Sakuma
Izumi Oyama - Shinko Yamashiro
Yoshiharu Yabuki - Takuji Yamashiro
Mitsuo Ando - Professor Monster
Yukie Kagawa - Amazoness/Saeko Yoshida
Hirofumi Koga - Spider-Man's Suit Actor
Voice-Only Roles:
Shozo Iizuka - Numerous Machine BEMs
Toru Ohira - Narrator
The year is 1978. At this point in time, Toei had been kings of TV tokusatsu for a while. Producing hit after hit with legendary shows such as Kamen Rider and its sequels, Jinzo Ningen Kikaider, Himitsu Sentai Goranger, and Inazuman; it was understandable that Toei wanted to become world renowned. At the same time, Marvel Comics had been struggling to create a live-action television series featuring their world-famous web-slinging hero: Spider-Man. A made-for-TV film was produced in 1977 to create interest, but the film was heavily criticized, with Stan Lee himself even calling it "juvenile". A series was made, but only 13 episodes that aired sporadically over the next two years.
Due to Spider-Man's popularity in Japan (he is one of the very few American superheroes that is successful over there); it was decided that Toei and Marvel would co-create a new TV series based on Spider-Man. Marvel Comics signed a 4-year contract with Toei, allowing the latter to use the former's properties as they saw fit. Susumu Yoshikawa and Hiroshi Ishikawa were brought on as producers and were ready to deliver the beloved hero's story with a Japanese twist. That is, until Bandai executives stepped in. In one of the strangest requests Bandai has possibly ever asked (which is saying a lot), the toy company wanted this show to feature the hottest trend in anime at the time: giant robots. With a giant robot toy to sell, Bandai would surely make a good amount of change. Since Bandai were also footing the bill, the producers begrudgingly accepted and began work on rewriting Spider-Man's origins so that him being acquainted with a giant robot could make any sort of sense.
The story follows Takuya Yamashiro, an up-and-coming motocross racer and aid to his photojournalist sorta-girlfriend Hitomi Sakuma. When his father is killed by the alien empire, the Iron Cross Army, he vows revenge on those responsible. He is granted powers when the peaceful alien from the planet Spider, Garia, injects blood from his people into Takuya; thus giving him super strength, a bracelet that shoots strings of web, the ability to climb on walls, and a new sense that allows him to detect danger. Equipped with his Spider Protector and the giant robot Leopardon, he fights the forces of Professor Monster and his first-in-command Amazoness as the defender of justice: Spider-Man!
Right from the get-go, it's incredibly clear that this is not going to be a typical tokusatsu series. By adapting Spider-Man in the most ridiculous way imaginable, the show instantly became legendary and is often spoofed or referenced by American pop culture, and even by Marvel Comics itself. As evidenced by an interview present on the R2 DVD set, Stan Lee himself enjoys the show for its absurdity and found the giant robot concept fascinating. But once you get past all the silliness of giving Spider-Man alien origins and a giant robot, how does the show really hold up?
There are plenty of solid elements to the show, and that surprisingly includes some of the acting. Shinji Todo has a good amount of screen presence and knows how to deliver very heroic sounding lines when he's costumed up. He seems very confident in front of the camera and does a strong job conveying pain or sadness; anger or goofiness. So as far as toku leads go, he does a solid job. The other performer worth mentioning is Yukie Kagawa, who plays the deliciously evil Amazoness. Considering that Amazoness appears in every single episode and usually has a solid amount of screentime, it's safe to say that Amazoness is the real second lead. As already mentioned, Kagawa's performance makes us love to hate her. She is constantly intimidating with her intense glares and commanding shouts, but when she is disguised she can fool you with her innocent behavior and soft voice. She makes for a very worthy foil to Spider-Man.
The rest of the acting sadly isn't as strong. Mitsuo Ando here plays Professor Monster, and his performance is constrained compared to his scenery-chewing role as Professor Gill in Kikaider. This is mostly due to the scripts not really giving him much to do, and he has to wear a very bulky outfit that restricts movement and makes him look goofy instead of menacing. Takuya's friends and family are pretty forgettable; Rika Miura plays Hitomi and while she does an okay job with what she's given, she's hardly ever given much at all. Her only storyline: she works for Amazoness under disguise as her editor, is abruptly dropped a little over halfway through the series and thus Hitomi is given almost nothing to do but complain at Takuya. Takuya's family fares far worse; Izumi Ozaya plays Takuya's sister Shinko and she never, ever does anything. Even when her father is killed, her reaction doesn't ring as true as Takuya's. Finally, Takuya's younger brother (aka: the token little boy) Takuji is played by Yoshiharu Yabuki and he, too, is never given anything to do except to "be THAT boy" you see in almost every single '70s Toei tokusatsu series.
On the other hand, the show makes up for some of these failed characters with a spectacular suit performance. Hirofumi Koga dons the suit and while the suit is obviously made out of basic fabric, the light material is necessary for the dangerous stunts Koga performs through the series. Lots of building climbing in all sorts of directions, plus fights centered more on stealth than going right in and using signature moves make up the suit action in this series. Therefore, it is always exciting to see Takuya put on the suit just so we can see how inventive the show can ACTUALLY be this week.
Emphasis on "actually" because this show gets very episodic very fast, and many of the episodes are completely forgettable and cliched. Go ahead, try and count the number of times Spider-Man helps out a scientist whose little kid is used as ransom. Or every time that Spider-Man has to use the help of a youth detective club (at least 3 different times with different clubs every time). Naturally, a bunch of the child actors used in these episodes (almost every episode shoehorns in a kid) range from terrible to surprisingly passable. The terrible child actors really stick out however, some of these kids either shout out all of their lines or look directly at the camera for cues. I get the series is a kids show, but does it really have to stretch itself thin to make itself "relevant" to children?
Take a look next time for part 2 of my retrospective of Spider-Man! I'll take a look at the giant robot action (or lack thereof), some of the best episodes of the series, a brief look at the movie, and my final thoughts on the series. Yes, this review will be one part shorter than my Choujuu Sentai Liveman series review...and yes, that is because I really don't have as much to talk about. Enjoy!
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