Denkou Choujin Gridman: The Demon King's Counterattack

Denkou Choujin Gridman: The Demon King's Counterattack (電光超人グリッドマン 魔王の逆襲) is a series of photo novels from Shogakukan Televi-Kun, running from May to November 1994. It is the spin-off of Denkou Choujin Gridman and features the little brothers of Gridman and Khan Digifier, Gridman Sigma and Neo Khan Digifier respectively.

Conception
"The toy sales for Gridman were good, but due to production troubles, it was forced to end with 39 episodes. However, since I wanted to make a sequel as a matter of fact and continuing Gridman's popularity, I organized a magazine project called "Denkou Choujin Gridman: Mao no Gyakushu (The Demon King's Counterattack)" with Shogakukan. The redeemed Takeshi becomes a new hero named Gridman Sigma, but this idea already existed back in Gridman. Back then, Takeshi would planned to become the evil Khan Knight before reforming into the hero of justice Grid Knight and becomes the protagonist of the following year. Since Gridman is a hero whose toy is armed with various parts, therefore we can't arrange both Thunder Gridman and King Gridman side-by-side at the same time. So I would like to make two giant heroes appear of sorts."

- Kazumitsu Akamatsu, former in-charge of Gridman department in Takara.

The original planning of Denkou Choujin Gridman supposed to end with not more than 30 episodes, but due to its sudden popularity, it gains more succeeding episodes. Unfortunately the original show managed to reach 39 episodes as a result of production troubles.

Wanting to find a way to continue Gridman's popularity, Kazumitsu Akamatsu proposes a photo novel plan as a sequel work for Gridman. The only returning actors are Masaya Obi and Tsuyoshi Sugawara, who reprise their characters Naoto and Takeshi as photos. The former antagonist character Takeshi Todo bonds with Gridman Sigma and assisted Gridman/Naoto Sho in against Neo Khan Digifier's army of monsters.

This kind of plan however existed back in the original show. In the third quarter of the series, Takeshi Todo was meant to steal Gridman's data and becomes Khan Knight (カーンナイト), a rival character and Khan Digifier's servant before redeeming himself as Grid Knight (グリッドナイト). Additionally had the original plan took place (coupled with the lack of production trouble), Grid Knight would star in a sequel season. As revealed in an old magazine named Denkou Choujin Gridman 2 Great Determination: Great Monster Encyclopedia (電光超人 グリッドマン2 たいけつ!かいじゅうだいずかん), there was a design of a second Gridman, whose themed after European Knight. Leftovers of Khan and Grid Knight eventually went on to become Gridman Sigma. In real life, Sigma is designed by Hideo Okamoto (岡本 英郎), known for the Mobile Suit designs in Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam.


 * First picture: Grid Knight - The white armor parts is inherited from Gridman and is meant to represent silver/metal.
 * Second picture: Khan Knight - Aside from its black colored body, Khan's identical feature to Grid is their black and purple undersuit.
 * Third to fifth picture: Gridman II, the designs of a new Gridman, who bears resemblance to a knight.

For appearing monsters, the least requirement of budget allows the production team to create them as claw models. The models' heights were around 50 cm to 1 m. The only exception goes to Neo Metallus (whose represented by a slightly altered version of its original suit) and Geist Digifier (represented by a plastic model).

Hyper Agents

 * Gridman - The titular hero, whose at the brink of defeat when Neo Khan Digifier commences attack on human world before being aided by Sigma.
 * Thunder Gridman
 * Gridman Sigma - The younger brother of Gridman, who comes to aid him at the height of Neo Khan Digifier's invasion. He bonds with Takeshi Todo.
 * King Gridman Sigma - A combination of Gridman Sigma and King Jet. Kazumitsu Akamatsu saw the photo novel as an opportunity to bring both Thunder Gridman and King Gridman at the same time.

Human Characters

 * Naoto Sho - Gridman's host
 * Takeshi Todo - The former assistant of Khan Digifier who had since reformed. While he was still starting to befriend Naoto, Takeshi bonds with Sigma after seeing this as a way to redeem himself from his past actions.

Assist Weapons

 * God Zenon
 * Dyna Dragon

Villains

 * Neo Khan Digifier (ネオカーンデジファー) - The younger brother of Khan Digifier, he prepares to invade the human world in place of his late brother and brings along an army of monsters.
 * Geist Digifier (ガイストデジファー) - Neo Khan's final form after absorbing his deceased monsters.
 * Neo Metallus - Neo Khan's first vanguard, a variant of the old Neo Metallus with different limbs. He appears in the May issue.
 * Flame Monster Magma Giras (火炎怪獣 マグマギラス) - A monster which can emit 300,000 degree flames and shoot plasma bullets from its horn.
 * Deep Sea Monster Glavas (深海怪獣 グラバス) - An octopoda/crustacean hybrid that can spew flames, turning Tokyo Sea Bay into a sea of flame.
 * Gunman Monster Mad Texas (ガンマン怪獣 マッドテキサス) - A western-themed dragon with a jeans-like trouser on its lower waist, its weapons are a pair of guns that can decimate mountains.
 * Fortress Super Beast Gorgoberos (要塞超獣ゴルゴべロス) - A monster whose large even surpasses average buildings. Its body is loaded with multiple cannons.
 * Demon Eye Monster Devilight (魔眼怪獣デビライト) - An eye-themed monster that revives Gilarus, Stealgan, Shinobilar and Neo Metallus as its servants.

Impact on later works

 * The 2015 anime short Denkou Choujin Gridman: boys invent great hero uses The Great Demon King's Counterattack as a reference, hence the appearance of Takeshi and Gridman Sigma. The mirage monsters that Sigma would face are Gorgoberos, Magma Giras, Glavas and Devilight.

Trivia

 * Masaya Obi, the actor of Naoto Sho had Gridman Sigma's version of Acceptor.
 * According to Kazumitsu, the Neo Khan Digifier prop was made in Takara. His head is 15 cm and the the wires linked to his mask were made from sponges.