I used to see these Japanese shows when I was young. You know the type, evil doers send giant monsters on the attack and some guy has the power to turn into a giant robot or something and fights them. So when I saw a bunch of series like that at Wal-Mart I figured I would buy them seeing as how they were relatively cheap for complete collections of shows. I also got one called "Super Robot Red Baron" and one I have heard of quite often "Ultraman". Well I watched this one first and I did not get quite what I was expecting from reading about the show on the back of the box. Instead of the usual, it was quite different. The show follows Gentaro and Goro as they are always after these bad guys who through most of the series used giant robots and later turned into space insects. Gentaro was the lead guy often fighting the giant beings himself. Goro would later turn into Iron King and proceed to hold off the enemy until Gentaro defeated the dude with the remote. Other times, Iron King would simply get his butt kicked by the bad guys. I think he finally got to take out his first bad guy in episode 16 as he for some reason gained more power and was able to shoot lasers he never did in the first episodes. The show was interesting as it had these two guys walking the countryside trying to find the bad guys, first some strange guys in helmets called I believe the Shuruni clan. They used giant robots that looked like the bad guys off a Mega Man game. Then they took on the Phantom Militia who used giant robot dinosaurs that at some points sounded like air being let out of a balloon. Then finally they fought the Titanias an alien race that wore capes and hats and seemed to get short changed as the show must of been canceled as their part in the show seemed a bit rushed. There was a gal in the first six or so episodes that was sort of a main character, but then she departed, then it was nearly a new girl every show with no girl coming on more than two episodes. All the ones featuring the Titanians though had the same girl, her name being Tenko as she worked for the same security force as the main two characters. All in all it was rather fun and the story interesting. I just can not believe Gentaro could never figure out that Goro was Iron King. I mean at one point even the bad guys figured it out.
5 Reviews
Classic Japanese TV series far better than the later Power Rangers
peternepstad15 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
A Japanese superhero program that ran for 26 episodes from 1972-73. Similar to ULTRAMAN, each episode featured a guest giant monster that must be defeated by the heroic Iron King. Sounds tiresome, but the format is redeemed in the details: The hero, Gentaro Shizuka (Shoji Ishibashi) does not become the giant Iron King, instead, his goofy sidekick Goro Kirishima (Mitsuo Hamada) does. And not only that, Iron King doesn't defeat the giant monster all by himself: usually Gentaro must come along, and using only his "Iron Belt", which transforms into a very long whip or a sword, and a handful of grenades, Gentaro must finish off the monster himself, in action set-pieces that defy all known laws of physics and have terrible problems with scale. But the leads are such fun that it is hard not to be swept along with the show.
The 26 episode series is basically broken into three stories, or three groups of villains that Gentaro and Goro must face. First up is the Shiranui Clan, who control giant robots and want to conquer Japane as "revenge against the Yamato Clan", to whom they feel a "2,000 year old hatred." Heady stuff for a kids show, the bad guys are basically terrorists, and in some episodes a relative of one of the villains tries to plead for them to leave the evil group, and come back to their family, with predictably dire consequences.
The second batch of villains is perhaps a bit less serious, the Phantom Militia, who wear primary-colored outfits topped by white Bedouin head scarves. They are still mad terrorists, though. They control a group of not just robots but monster-robots, making the giant battles a whole lot more interesting. The third and final batch of bad guys are the Titanians, a group of aliens from outer space who dress like Zorro and wear white face masks. Come to think of it, a bit of V FOR VENDETTA, really. According to the comprehensive and interesting liner notes included in the DVD set, compiled by the ever-reliable and authoritative August Ragone, the show switched to aliens because the kiddies were getting a bit confused about the villains being altogether too human. Not sure if that helps, though, because the aliens immediately start "body-jacking" innocent villagers, women, and children, and fighting Gentaro and Goro while in those human forms.
Too bad that Japanese children's programming from the 70's is not exactly what you might call politically correct. Sometimes, Gentaro is a complete bastard. He ignores people in peril to focus on defeating the main villains, puts people in danger as bait to draw the bad guys in, and generally lacks compassion - maybe just outwardly, but still. In one episode, he kisses a nun just so she would leave them alone. Goro acts as his conscience, though, and the two strike a good balance.
Still, in an era when Sesame Street releases old episodes of its TV show but labels them inappropriate for kids today, and Whoopie Goldberg provides a disclaimer at the front of Looney Tunes boxed sets to warn that a few of the cartoons may have inappropriate stereotypes, a little more warning of the politically incorrect bits would have been nice. The worst moment was in episode 12, when Gentaro finally takes a little break from his adventures -- previously he and Goro were always out in the woods, camping, living off the land, and fighting the bad guys. He is depressed, and next thing you know he is sitting at a hotel bar swigging some booze and smoking up a storm. I could hear an audible gasp from the chair next to mine -- and the wheels turning, trying to reconcile the hero with this new vice. (At least, he doesn't start smoking again until episode 24). Parents watching with their kids who are not interested in promoting an interest in smoking might wish to skip those episodes. If you would rather avoid bad language, that's much harder, as outbursts of "Bastards!" and "Damn it!" are quite common, but I thought relatively harmless.
Parents may also want to be prepared for the introduction of the Titanians at the end of Episode 18. They say nothing, they just laugh, in their immobile white masks, then suddenly their shadows stretch out and grow into the sky. In other words -- pure nightmare candy. I still remember a dream I had when I was six years old about shadows very similar to those cast by the Titanians in that moment. Watch it early in the day, perhaps, or follow up right away with the next episode, which largely de-mystifies the Titanians and makes them just another bad guy group in need to of a good smack-down.
Despite these flaws, IRON KING is great fun and compares quite favorably with the classic original ULTRAMAN. In IRON KINGs favor, the two leads are really great, and I'm a sucker for regular human beings fighting against giant monsters, which I find much more interesting than the monster vs. robot wrestling matches almost every episode of every Japanese superhero series eventually devolves to. In ULTRAMANs favor, each episode has a unique self-contained story. I understand that IRON KING is more the norm in this respect, but I do find it a bit tedious when episode 1 features 10 bad guys, and the leader says, "Bad Guy #1, go!!!!", and next episode, they face #2, and so on through 10 episodes. Happily, the stories get increasingly complex in IRON KING as the series progresses.
The 26 episode series is basically broken into three stories, or three groups of villains that Gentaro and Goro must face. First up is the Shiranui Clan, who control giant robots and want to conquer Japane as "revenge against the Yamato Clan", to whom they feel a "2,000 year old hatred." Heady stuff for a kids show, the bad guys are basically terrorists, and in some episodes a relative of one of the villains tries to plead for them to leave the evil group, and come back to their family, with predictably dire consequences.
The second batch of villains is perhaps a bit less serious, the Phantom Militia, who wear primary-colored outfits topped by white Bedouin head scarves. They are still mad terrorists, though. They control a group of not just robots but monster-robots, making the giant battles a whole lot more interesting. The third and final batch of bad guys are the Titanians, a group of aliens from outer space who dress like Zorro and wear white face masks. Come to think of it, a bit of V FOR VENDETTA, really. According to the comprehensive and interesting liner notes included in the DVD set, compiled by the ever-reliable and authoritative August Ragone, the show switched to aliens because the kiddies were getting a bit confused about the villains being altogether too human. Not sure if that helps, though, because the aliens immediately start "body-jacking" innocent villagers, women, and children, and fighting Gentaro and Goro while in those human forms.
Too bad that Japanese children's programming from the 70's is not exactly what you might call politically correct. Sometimes, Gentaro is a complete bastard. He ignores people in peril to focus on defeating the main villains, puts people in danger as bait to draw the bad guys in, and generally lacks compassion - maybe just outwardly, but still. In one episode, he kisses a nun just so she would leave them alone. Goro acts as his conscience, though, and the two strike a good balance.
Still, in an era when Sesame Street releases old episodes of its TV show but labels them inappropriate for kids today, and Whoopie Goldberg provides a disclaimer at the front of Looney Tunes boxed sets to warn that a few of the cartoons may have inappropriate stereotypes, a little more warning of the politically incorrect bits would have been nice. The worst moment was in episode 12, when Gentaro finally takes a little break from his adventures -- previously he and Goro were always out in the woods, camping, living off the land, and fighting the bad guys. He is depressed, and next thing you know he is sitting at a hotel bar swigging some booze and smoking up a storm. I could hear an audible gasp from the chair next to mine -- and the wheels turning, trying to reconcile the hero with this new vice. (At least, he doesn't start smoking again until episode 24). Parents watching with their kids who are not interested in promoting an interest in smoking might wish to skip those episodes. If you would rather avoid bad language, that's much harder, as outbursts of "Bastards!" and "Damn it!" are quite common, but I thought relatively harmless.
Parents may also want to be prepared for the introduction of the Titanians at the end of Episode 18. They say nothing, they just laugh, in their immobile white masks, then suddenly their shadows stretch out and grow into the sky. In other words -- pure nightmare candy. I still remember a dream I had when I was six years old about shadows very similar to those cast by the Titanians in that moment. Watch it early in the day, perhaps, or follow up right away with the next episode, which largely de-mystifies the Titanians and makes them just another bad guy group in need to of a good smack-down.
Despite these flaws, IRON KING is great fun and compares quite favorably with the classic original ULTRAMAN. In IRON KINGs favor, the two leads are really great, and I'm a sucker for regular human beings fighting against giant monsters, which I find much more interesting than the monster vs. robot wrestling matches almost every episode of every Japanese superhero series eventually devolves to. In ULTRAMANs favor, each episode has a unique self-contained story. I understand that IRON KING is more the norm in this respect, but I do find it a bit tedious when episode 1 features 10 bad guys, and the leader says, "Bad Guy #1, go!!!!", and next episode, they face #2, and so on through 10 episodes. Happily, the stories get increasingly complex in IRON KING as the series progresses.
A different approach to the Japanese Giant 70's Hero formula
Serpent-57 December 2002
Now those familiar with the giant Japanese hero formula of the early 70's was that the hero had the ability to turn big, he joins a Science Group in charge of saving earth from the invaders/bad guys, he turns into the giant hero when all else fails and saves the day and his team members. Well IRON KING is completely different.
The basic premise as Shôji Ishibashi as Gentarô Shizuka, a loner type who in the first chapter (episode 1 thru 10) tries to stop the Unknown Clan from taking over Japan, as they are a clan thats been suppressed for 10,000 years and is now is their destiny to rule Japan, as they have 10 sub-bosses, each with a remote control to control a giant robot. Their leader is played by Shinzo Hotta, who was memorable as Tokageron (lizard man) in Kamen Ryder, and as General Monster in one of the new Kamen Riders and as Arigaban's controller in Aka Kage. When Gentaro is in trouble, his tag-along, Gorô Kirishima, unknown to Gentaro, transforms into IRON KING.
But here is the difference, IRON KING proves to be super weak as he has no special powers whatsoever, as he is easily defeated by the evil robot, so in the end Gentaro saves Iron King's butt by using his steel metal whip (??!!) usually destroying the robot, unfortunatly, the method he uses in destroying the robot actually contradicts with the NEXT episode! Like for example, in the first episode, Gentao destroys Vaccumila by fighting the sub-boss/controller of Vacuumila, who them jumps up to his robot, but drops the remote control, so Gentaro throws the remote control to the robot, making the robot blow up! In episode 2, he steals the remote away from the guy controlling Jairocket, so he somehow knew how to operate the remote, and controls Jairocket, who just beat up Iron King, as Jirocket picks up his master, and squeezes him, killing him causing the robot to blow up! Then in episode 3, he destroys the remote for Double Satan, so it and the boss runs, so when it appears again, beating up Iron King, Gentaro sees a opening in Double Satan, so he throws a gernade in it, blowing it up, BUT in the next episode, he whips the guy controlling Devil Tiger, so the guy drops the remote, which makes Devil Tiger blow up, falling on the controller!
Now if thats possible, why didnt Double Satan Blow up? Or why didn't Black Knight, whos master got killed by Gentaro, blow up as well? the reason Iron King was so weak, and Gentaro was the one finishing off the robots was at the time, Shôji Ishibashi was a popular Tv star with the girl viewers, so in order to make him look good, and to appeal to the girl viewers, he was the one who kill the baddies. This went on until in episode 11, when a new bad group, the Mirage Army, took over, with their remote controlled Dinosaur robots, which again, had Gentaro saving Iron King and destryoing them, usually by using his whip to catch a missile shot out by the dinosaur robot, and he threw it back at them! and from episode 9 to 18, they had the "it" girl of the moments, usually japanese Tv actresses to singers, making guest appearences, as the show to me seem to really wanted to distance itself away from the usual Japanese kid show audiences.Even the cool end credit theme was like a cool "kakoii" theme song, like a regular top 40 hit.
But I guess someone must have said enough is enough, as on episode 16, Iron King FINALLY gotten some weapons (unlike other super heros, he had no weapons whatsoever) and even gotten a "finisher" to kill the monsters. Also when episode 18 started, those 2 was finally revealed to be working for a science organization, as a new leading lady regular was added, as they faced Titanians, 10 aliens who had the power to turn into a giant bug monster (but only 6 turned into a monster, I guess they didn't plan on ending the show at episode 26?)
Still it is a very enjoyable and fun show, and still holds up today, thanks to it being so unique and different from the typical shows of that era (like the Tsuburuyara shows like FIREMAN and JUMBORG ACE).
The basic premise as Shôji Ishibashi as Gentarô Shizuka, a loner type who in the first chapter (episode 1 thru 10) tries to stop the Unknown Clan from taking over Japan, as they are a clan thats been suppressed for 10,000 years and is now is their destiny to rule Japan, as they have 10 sub-bosses, each with a remote control to control a giant robot. Their leader is played by Shinzo Hotta, who was memorable as Tokageron (lizard man) in Kamen Ryder, and as General Monster in one of the new Kamen Riders and as Arigaban's controller in Aka Kage. When Gentaro is in trouble, his tag-along, Gorô Kirishima, unknown to Gentaro, transforms into IRON KING.
But here is the difference, IRON KING proves to be super weak as he has no special powers whatsoever, as he is easily defeated by the evil robot, so in the end Gentaro saves Iron King's butt by using his steel metal whip (??!!) usually destroying the robot, unfortunatly, the method he uses in destroying the robot actually contradicts with the NEXT episode! Like for example, in the first episode, Gentao destroys Vaccumila by fighting the sub-boss/controller of Vacuumila, who them jumps up to his robot, but drops the remote control, so Gentaro throws the remote control to the robot, making the robot blow up! In episode 2, he steals the remote away from the guy controlling Jairocket, so he somehow knew how to operate the remote, and controls Jairocket, who just beat up Iron King, as Jirocket picks up his master, and squeezes him, killing him causing the robot to blow up! Then in episode 3, he destroys the remote for Double Satan, so it and the boss runs, so when it appears again, beating up Iron King, Gentaro sees a opening in Double Satan, so he throws a gernade in it, blowing it up, BUT in the next episode, he whips the guy controlling Devil Tiger, so the guy drops the remote, which makes Devil Tiger blow up, falling on the controller!
Now if thats possible, why didnt Double Satan Blow up? Or why didn't Black Knight, whos master got killed by Gentaro, blow up as well? the reason Iron King was so weak, and Gentaro was the one finishing off the robots was at the time, Shôji Ishibashi was a popular Tv star with the girl viewers, so in order to make him look good, and to appeal to the girl viewers, he was the one who kill the baddies. This went on until in episode 11, when a new bad group, the Mirage Army, took over, with their remote controlled Dinosaur robots, which again, had Gentaro saving Iron King and destryoing them, usually by using his whip to catch a missile shot out by the dinosaur robot, and he threw it back at them! and from episode 9 to 18, they had the "it" girl of the moments, usually japanese Tv actresses to singers, making guest appearences, as the show to me seem to really wanted to distance itself away from the usual Japanese kid show audiences.Even the cool end credit theme was like a cool "kakoii" theme song, like a regular top 40 hit.
But I guess someone must have said enough is enough, as on episode 16, Iron King FINALLY gotten some weapons (unlike other super heros, he had no weapons whatsoever) and even gotten a "finisher" to kill the monsters. Also when episode 18 started, those 2 was finally revealed to be working for a science organization, as a new leading lady regular was added, as they faced Titanians, 10 aliens who had the power to turn into a giant bug monster (but only 6 turned into a monster, I guess they didn't plan on ending the show at episode 26?)
Still it is a very enjoyable and fun show, and still holds up today, thanks to it being so unique and different from the typical shows of that era (like the Tsuburuyara shows like FIREMAN and JUMBORG ACE).
One of the best tokusatsu shows in my opinion
pokemonmasternikki14 March 2014
Iron King is one of those tokusatsu shows that are just underrated, but I really do like it. So, as many know, this show has Gentaro Shizuka, a cowboyish dude with a whip, and Goro Kirishima, the guy who is Iron King. Iron King, the hero of the show, is nothing really special. Just a giant Ultraman-esque guy who runs on water. I do have a favoring for him, though. He just is a very interesting hero and it is probably one of the coolest toku heroes out there. For the first 10 episodes, they fight the Shiranui Clan. The guys in the clan have these black helmets (some you could see their full face the others you just see their eyes) and these apron like thingies that are black for the normal ones, white for the commanders, and gold for the leader. The monsters that they bring out are very human-like robots. Goro and Gentaro fight the Phantom Militia from episodes 11-18. They look very Arabian and have different colored bodysuits. They bring out saurian monsters. Finally, from 19-26, they fight the Titanians. They are white faced aliens with fedoras and capes on and are just pure nightmare fuel. They send out insectoid monsters. Anyways, this show is very enjoyable, and it has a good amount of drama, comedy, and sci-fi all mixed into one! I'm not going to spoil this amazing show for you, so go and buy the DVD and watch this awesome show for yourself!
The Adventures Of Gentaro And Goro
crossbow010610 June 2011
This was a Japanese TV show about two guys who fight over 26 episodes three separate and distinct factions that want to take over everything. This is really for teens, so I am not the target audience, so the review is based on that. The two guys are kind of immature, again something that would appeal more to teens. Women in this series do not fare well, most of them end up dying or ignored. The special effects are, at times, pretty bad in that buildings are obvious toy models. Okay, but here are some good things: In the good versus evil category, the series teaches trust, resolve and friendship. The Iron King of the title is a giant superhero, conjured up when Gentaro needs someone to help him in his attempts to thwart the enemy. Those sequences are fun. If you watched this as a child/teen then, you'd smile, especially realizing how advanced special effects have become. Adults can skip this, its pretty much a young person's show. My review of 6 is mixed. Kids up to 16 or so may rate this higher.
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