Gridman the Hyper Agent is a Japanese tokusatsu series produced by Tsuburaya Productions. The show ran from 1993 to 1994. It was the inspiration and source material for DiC Entertainment's Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad.
This series can be watched on Shout TV, Tubi, and Roku.
Production[]
Series of promotional posters.
In the late 1960s, the royalty income from character merchandise appearing in films and television series brought substantial profits to Japanese film and television companies. The producers realized the importance of using royalty income to offset the enormous production costs. However, at that time, the process for developing merchandise involved toy manufacturers, food companies, stationery manufacturers, and others obtaining commercialization rights only after project decisions were made. Starting in 1973, the tremendous success of robot anime led to an evolution in this process. It became necessary to establish specific mechanisms for the mechanical and character designs during the planning stages of television series to ensure the product development timeline. Consequently, in live-action hero projects, toy manufacturers began to participate earlier in the planning process, and sometimes program development even started based on the mechanisms developed by toy manufacturers.[1]
Under this trend, from the late 1970s to the 1980s, robot anime and live-action hero series saw improvements in precision across aspects such as character design and toy mechanisms, with increased refinement in transformation and combination routes. At the same time, the literary quality of television series also underwent a transformation.
From left to right: Cyberman, Bigman, and Gridman.
In 1988, Toho's Visual Division collaborated with Takahashi (now Takahashi Toys) to produce Dennou Keisatsu Cybercop, a series featuring life-sized sci-fi live-action heroes. This series made exquisite toy models the core of commercialization and attracted viewers through various weapon transformations. The series received some audience praise but ended after about three cours. As a follow-up, the massive hero concept Cyberman was proposed in 1989, with the hero equipped with auxiliary machinery. This project was planned by Takahashi's First Television Character Division but ultimately did not materialize and merged with another team at Takahashi working on the giant hero project Bigman . After the Cyberman team, including Akamatsu and Mitsu, consolidated the project plan, they adjusted the Cyberman mechanisms and Bigman concepts. Ultimately, as the leader in planning, directing, and special effects for the giant work, there was consideration of collaborating with Toho.[1][2]
However, due to Tsuburaya Productions's past good experiences in producing giant hero works, the production team ultimately chose Tsuburaya Productions to build the worldview and produce the series, with Yomiuri Advertising supporting as the agency and TBS confirmed as the broadcasting company. Although Tsuburaya Productions and TBS had business interactions at that time, due to conflicts with Ultraman 80, the cold war with management continued. The series was finally produced and broadcast with the full cooperation and assistance of Fujitsu. In the summer of 1992, these plans were integrated and organized under the title Bigman, designated as a series about heroes battling in the computer world.[3]
The project plan for Bigman was completed on October 27. The enemy was initially set as the monster "Shredder," and the story's starting point was that the princess of the computer world was kidnapped by "Shredder." During the scriptwriting phase, the name and other details were adjusted. Since the project was initiated by the business division, Tsuburaya Productions decided to have the business division and the First Production Division collaborate on the series. Kazuo Tsuburaya served as the chief producer, while Nobuyuki Koyama was responsible for the actual production. Naoyuki Eto from the planning department and lead writer Yasushi Hirano handled the literary content. Hirano wrote the scripts for episodes one and two.[3]
Although the name Bigman was originally intended to reflect the character's image, due to trademark issues, the name "Gridman" from the computer world setting was ultimately chosen as a secondary option. The series was also commemorated as Tsuburaya Productions' 30th anniversary work. The series is characterized by the involvement of the young protagonists in its creation. Despite having a technology-based worldview, the series maintains a relatable and intimate feel through its story setting, giving it a rare and delicate closeness. Gridman’s setting is not only reflected in the impact of monster destruction in the computer world on reality but also in the second episode, which visualizes the potential emergence of giant monsters in the real world. The story is primarily serious in tone but includes comedic elements through the diversity of its characters.[3]
In the initial planning phase of the series, the antagonist Takeshi Todo was set to transform into the villainous warrior "Kahn Knight" in episode 17 and into "Green Knight" to fight alongside Gridman in episode 26. Although there was a plan to produce four cours, production was reduced to three cours starting from January 18, 1993, which led to the shelving of plans to increase the number of characters. As a result, the series had to progress without significantly altering the basic settings of episodes one and two and had to coordinate the sci-fi elements without disrupting existing relationships, making it difficult to complete within three cours. To advance the human drama aspect, Takeshi's role was gradually increased in the third cour. As the story progressed, Takeshi's character development became richer.[2]
The most distinctive feature of this series is that the battles take place not in the real world but in the virtual space known as the "Computer World".
One of the features of Gridman the Hyper Agent is its return to traditional giant special effects. The filming, editing, and post-production continued the video shooting techniques used in Andro Melos, and for the first time in traditional giant special effects, video technology was employed. The D-2 digital video shooting method was used for the first time, and special effects director Kazuo Sagawa chose video shooting because, with the development of digital tapes, copying images during editing and compositing would not degrade the picture quality. Although video was not initially deemed suitable for high-speed shooting, which typically used frame-by-frame processing, advancements in video high-speed shooting technology had not fully resolved the issue, leading to somewhat rigid footage. However, Sagawa achieved smoothness and slow-motion effects 6 to 10 times better than film by adjusting the frame rate of high-speed video images. Additionally, a miniaturized pen-type camera was introduced to ensure the sense of scale, and a motion control system was used in scene depiction.[3]
Sagawa adjusted the lighting in the first four episodes to achieve a film-like visual effect. The initial concept for the computer world involved adjusting images based on episode numbers. Initially, the computer world was set to resemble a city, but the plan gradually shifted to mountainous and oceanic computer world scenes. However, due to budget constraints, this plan was shelved, and it was ultimately decided to create a new symbolic building for each episode to fit the theme.[3]
The monster costumes were produced by Kaimai Productions, with all 13 monsters in the first 13 episodes being newly made. From episode 14 onwards, the monsters were created by modifying designs from the special effects team's costume department.
Synopsis[]
Three computer-savvy kids from Sakuragaoka town, Naoto, Yuka and Ippei, create their own video game superhero, but then discover it is possessed by an inter-dimensional hero, Gridman. Pursuing an evil being called Kahn Digifer, he merges with Naoto and fights Kahn Digifer's digitized monsters created by social misfit Takeshi in order to prevent the computerized demon from wreaking havoc on the Human World.
Characters[]
Protagonists[]
Antagonists[]
Side Characters[]
- Daichi Sho: Naoto's younger brother.
- Kana Baba: Ippei's younger sister.
- Soichiro Sho: Naoto's father.
- Michiko Sho: Naoto's mother.
- Hideyo Inoue: Yuka's father.
- Yoshie Inoue: Yuka's mother.
- Yoshihito Inoue: Yuka's elder brother.
- Hiroshi Baba: Ippei's father.
- Ayako Baba: Ippei's mother.
- Police Officer Koganemura: The police officer of the town in which Naoto lives.
- Police Officer Amagasaki: The police officer who appeared instead of Koganemura.
Kaiju[]
- Gilarus
- Bamora
- Volcadon
- Stealgun
- Bagira
- Anosillus
- Flamelar
- Blizzalar
- Shinobilar
- Terragaia
- Metallus
- Magnegauss
- Generadon
- Imitation Anosillus
- Mummy
- Dazzlba
- Clowns from the dream world
- Plandon
- Venora
- Boranga
- Jubagon
- Teleboze
- Gyurunba
- Chidogerah
- Abumaru
- Goromaking
- Devil Phazer
- Khan Giorgio
- Skubone
- Takeshi Todo's computer (transformed)
Cast[]
- Naoto Sho : Masaya Obi
- Yuka Inoue : Jun Hattori
- Ippei Baba : Takeshi Sudo
- Takeshi Todo : Takeshi Sugawara
- Daichi Sho : Masahiro Iwaoka
- Kana Baba : Kanako Nakatake
- Soichiro Sho : Edo Yamaguchi
- Michiko Sho : Miru Hitotsuyanagi
- Hideyo Inoue : Naoya Ban
- Yoshie Inoue : Yumi Mitani
- Yoshihito Inoue : Masakazu Arai
- Hiroshi Baba : Goro Kataoka
- Ayako Baba : Yuko Tsuga
- Police Officer Koganemura : Shoichi Komatsu
- Police Officer Amagasaki : Daisuke Itsumori
- Narrator : Yuji Machi
Voice Cast[]
- Gridman : Hikaru Midorikawa
- Junk : Junko Shimakata
- Kahn Digifer : Masaharu Sato
Suit Actors[]
- Gridman (Normal, Thunder, King forms), God Zenon: Hiroyuki Okano
- Gridman (Normal, Thunder, King forms), God Zenon: Kunitoshi Endo
- Gridman (ep. 21): Akira Ohashi [4]
- Kahn Digifer: Takashi Enomoto
- Gilarus, Volcadon, Bagira, Anosillus, Flamelar, Shinobilar, Metallus, Mecha Bamora, Imitation Anosillus, Mecha Bagira, Mecha Flamelar, Dazzlba, Dyna Dragon, Boranga, Kung Fu Shinobilar, Jubagon, Gyurunba, Chidogerah, Abumaru, Devil Phazer, Khan Giorgio, Giant Kahn Digifer: Toshio Miyake
- Bamora, Stealgun, Bagira, Blizzalar, Terragaia, Magnegauss, Generadon, Shinobilar, Mecha Stealgun, Neo Metallus, Mecha Generadon, Plandon, Venora, Eyegangar, Teleboze, Goromaking, Skubone: Atsuya Nishimura
- Mecha Gilarus: Hiroshi Tanaka
Staff[]
- Directors: Kimiyoshi Soga, Shinichi Kamizawa, Hirochika Muraishi, Kyota Kawasaki, Kazuya Konaka, Yoshiki Kitamura, Teruyoshi Ishii, Toshiyuki Takano
- Series compositors: Naoyuki Eto, Yasushi Hirano
- Screenwriters: Yasushi Hirano, Mie Hirano, Hiroyuki Kawasaki, Isao Shizuya, Kazuhiko Goudo, Yoshichika Shindoh, Masakazu Migita, Toshimichi Okawa
- Special effects director: Kazuo Sagawa (all episodes)[5]
- Special effects supervisor: Koichi Takano
- Planning: Noboru Tsuburaya
- Producers: Kazuo Tsuburaya, Nobuyuki Koyama, Hiroshi Inoue (TBS)
- Character concepts: Japan Taps
- Music: Osamu Totsuka
- Music producer: Shizuka Tamagawa
- Art: Shu Yamaguchi, Yuichi Hatakeyama
- Cinematographers: Shinichi Ooka, Shinji Nakane
- Special effects cinematographers: Takehiro Kuramochi, Yoshihito Takahashi
- Assistant directors: Toshiyuki Takano, Zhang Jinzhong
- Assistant special effects directors: Susumu Matsushita, Hiromasa Mitsudome
- Action choreographers: Masahiro Inaba, Hiroyuki Hayashi, Daisuke Takeuchi
- Editor: Tomiyo Ohashi
- Production manager: Yuji Doi
- Production chief: Masaya Yamaguchi
- Assistant producer: Masato Oida
- Production: Tsuburaya Productions, TBS
Music[]
- Opening Theme
- "Yume no Hero"
- Lyrics: Akira Ōtsu
- Composition: Kisaburo Suzuki
- Arrangement: Masaki Iwamoto
- Artist: Norio Sakai
- Ending Theme
Denkou Choujin Gridman Ending Theme
- "Motto Kimi o Shireba"
- Lyrics: Akira Ōtsu
- Composition: Kisaburo Suzuki
- Arrangement: Masaki Iwamoto
- Artist: Norio Sakai
- Insert Song
- "Futatsu no Yūki"
- Lyrics: Atsushi Aida
- Composition & Arrangement: Osamu Totsuka
- Artist: Compoid Three
Home Media[]
VHS[]
- The series was first released as an 11-volume set by Victory Entertainment. Volumes 1-6 have 4 episodes each, while volumes 7-11 have 3 each.
- The "NON-STOP BATTLE ACTION" edition of the show is also released, containing only the fight scenes.
- The 13th episode is released in VHS as "Thunder Gridman Appears!".
DVD[]
- The "DVD+CD! HYPER COMPLETE BOX", released on January 26, 2005 by Avex Inc., comes with all 39 episodes and a new CD soundtrack titled "Gridman: More Original Soundtrack", containing the unreleased BGMs.
- From January 21, 2013, the series was released as 8 individual DVDs for the very first time with volumes 1-7 having 5 episodes each, while volume 8 has episodes 36-39.[6]
Blu-ray[]
- On December 20, 2017, the entire series was released as a "Blu-ray BOX" box set by Pony Canyon. The box set contains all 39 episodes and creditless openings and endings. Despite being labelled as a Blu-ray release, the episodes are entirely upscaled from the original 480p component masters.[7]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Gridman the Hyper Agent is the first series to be shot in interlaced 480i.
- This series would be Tsuburaya Productions' last non-Ultra superhero production before Bio Planet WoO.
External Links[]
- Gridman the Hyper Agent at Tsuburaya Productions' official website
- Tsuburaya Tokusatsu Hero Series page
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ultra Tokusatsu PERFECT MOOK vol. 16: Gridman the Hyper Agent, pg 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://magmix.jp/post/145247
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Ultra Tokusatsu PERFECT MOOK vol. 16: Gridman the Hyper Agent, pg 5
- ↑ https://x.com/As70HmOoM77vhBv/status/1172582396501188608
- ↑ Gridman the Hyper Agent Super Complete Works, pg 38
- ↑ https://m-78.jp/news/n-1542
- ↑ https://m-78.jp/news/n-4994