HONOO NO CHOJIN MEGALOMAN

メガロマン, Megaroman?) is the name and titular superhero of a tokusatsu SF/superhero/kaiju TV series. Created by Tetsu Kariya, the show was produced by Toho Company Ltd., and aired on Fuji TV from May 7 to December 24, 1979, with a total of 31 half-hour episodes. Since Episode 14, the show's title became The Flaming Superman - Megaloman (炎の超人メガロマン - Honô no Chôjin Megaroman).

Like Toho's Meteor Man Zone, the series mixes elements of the Kyodai Hero genre with those of the Sentai Series (Battle Fever J, the first "Super Sentai", had premiered on TV around the same time). This series features a superhero quintet similar to those seen in the Super Sentai Series, but just like in Zone, the team's leader/main character Takashi Shishidou transforms into a giant long-haired Ultraman-like colossus, Megaloman.

The Story

The planet Rosetta has been taken over by the Black Star Army led by Captain Dagger. Takashi Shishidou and his mother Rosemary escaped to Planet Earth after his father Gou was captured by Dagger, who is actually Takashi's evil twin brother Hiroshi! While living peacefully on Earth, Takashi attends a kung-fu school in Japan, and has four friends, who have had no idea that he was from another planet, a secret only his martial arts teacher Sougen Takamine knew. But when Captain Dagger initiates his invasion on Earth using his army of various giant monsters, Rosemary (who also goes by the civilian name "Mari Shishidou") gives Takashi the Megalon-Bracelets, with which he can transform into the giant long-haired warrior Megaloman to fight the evil monsters for the protection of Earth. In Episode 2, Takashi's four martial arts school friends, Seiji Kurogawa (a tough, Bruce Lee-like fighter), Hyousuke Yuri (the comedy relief), Ran Takamine (Master Takamine's daughter & Takashi's girlfriend) and Ippei Mashira (the little kid) discover his secret, which both Rosemary and Takamine share with them, and Rosemary invites them to join Takashi in battle. So she gives them their own Megalon Bracelets to transform into a quartet of multicolored martial arts super-warriors to fight alongside Takashi. In superhero forms, Takashi/Megaloman, Seiji, Hyousuke, Ran and Ippei are clad in red, blue, yellow, white/pink and green, respectively.

Staff

* Original Story: Tetsu Kariya
* Planning: Kimio Ikeda
* Producers: Kiichi Shitamura, Yoichi Manoda, Yoshio Yamamoto
* Music: Seiji Yokoyama (Conductor: Hiroshi Kumagai), Shozo Tozuka (theme songs)
* Lighting: Kunio Kishida
* Photography: Kazumasa Nomura, Yoshihiro Mori
* Art Director: Akihiko Takahashi
* Martial Arts Choreography: Junji Yamaoka (Japan Action Club)
* Special Effects: Koichi Kawakita, Yoichi Manoda

Cast

* Takashi Shishido/Megaloman/Captain Dagger: Yuki Kitazume
* Ran Takamine: Madoka Sugi
* Hyousuke Yuri: Pepe Hozumi
* Seiji Kurogawa: Jimmy Araki
* Ippei Mashira: Koji Hashimichi
* Rosemary/Mari Shishido: Yukiko Takabayashi
* Sougen Takamine Yoshio Inoue
* Berlock: Susumu Kurobe