Tekkaman Blade
A reimagined 1992 anime about armored warriors fighting alien Radam.
Space Knight Tekkaman Blade is a 1992 Japanese anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Production and Sotsu Agency. Directed by Hiroshi Negishi and written by Mayori Sekijima and Satoru Akahori, it follows the Space Knights and their war against the alien Radam, aided by Takaya Aiba, who can transform into the armored warrior Tekkaman Blade. The series was released internationally, including a heavily edited English dub titled Teknoman.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Adventure
- Mecha
- science fiction
- superhero
- science fantasy
- Creator
- Tatsunoko Production Planning Office
- Executive producers
- Ippei Kuri
- Director
- Hiroshi Negishi
- Producer
- Mutsuo Shimizu (TV Tokyo)
- Hidenori Itahashi (Sotsu Agency)
- Motonoki Ueda (Tatsunoko)
- Developer
- Mayori Sekijima; Satoru Akahori
- Music
- Kaoru Wada
- Company
- TV Tokyo
- Sotsu Agency
- Tatsunoko Production
Facts from the source article.
Plot
In the United Earth Year 192, Earth is attacked by the alien Radam, composed of bug-like monsters and armored warriors called Tekkamen. Their spaceship lies dormant on the dark side of the Moon, awaiting repair. Opposing them is the Space Knights, a defense force led by Commander Heinrich von Freeman, with members Noal Vereuse, Aki Kirasagi, Milly, Levin, and Honda. Before the invasion, the exploration ship Argos discovered the Radam ship in Saturn's outer rings. The crew were captured and converted into Tekkamen. Takaya Aiba, partially converted, was freed by his father Kozo, placed in an escape pod, and his father activated the Argos self-destruct. The Radam crashed on the Moon and attacked Earth. After six months drifting, Blade escaped his pod, fought Tekkaman Dagger, and crashed on Earth, where Noal and Aki found him. Initially hostile, Blade later respects the Space Knights and develops romantic interest in Aki. When his transformation crystal shattered, Levin built the robot Pegas to house the shards, enabling Blade to transform again and kill Dagger. General Colbert, obsessed with Tekkaman armor, attacked the Space Knights' base but withdrew under presidential order. He sent spy Balzac Asimov to infiltrate, who acquired data for Earth's military to create their own Tekkamen armor, worn by Balzac and Noal. Colbert was killed by Blade when he tried to use a weapon harmful to both Radam and mankind.
Production
The series was conceived as a re-imagining of the 1975 anime Tekkaman: The Space Knight, also by Tatsunoko Production. Initially called "Space Knight Tekkaman Cyber" and tentatively "Tekkaman Cyber" in anime magazines, planning was done by Kouki Narishima and Mitsushige Inagaki, with Motoki Ueda as producer for Tatsunoko. The main sponsor, Bandai's hobby division, wanted a series with name recognition, so Tekkaman was chosen over other Tatsunoko properties like Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, partly because Gatchaman was difficult to make into model kits and Ueda preferred the original Tekkaman. Initial plot plans had the protagonist's family members as enemies, later changed to his brother, a plot point taken from Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato, where the main character fought his brainwashed best friend. Coincidentally, Takehito Koyasu, who voiced Gai in Shurato, later voiced Shinya Aiba in this series. Shurato's white-and-red armor and Gai's black-and-red armor likely influenced Blade and Evil's color schemes. Shurato was popular with female viewers but had poor plastic model sales, so this series targeted males with model kits, with Shinya as the only female-appealing element. Character designs were by Hirotoshi Sano and Tomonori Kogawa (credited as TOIIIO). Due to a busy schedule, Sano only drew the main protagonist, heroine, and three female characters. Kogawa, originally asked to direct, was instead asked to design and drew the remaining characters, also serving as animation director under the pseudonym Aiba Kouu.
Episodes
Tekkaman Blade aired on TV Tokyo from February 18, 1992, to February 2, 1993, totaling 50 episodes. In 1995, Saban Entertainment produced an English dub for UPN Kids titled Teknoman, with a new theme and background score by Shuki Levy and Ron Wasserman. This version was heavily cut from 50 to 43 episodes. It also aired in Australia on Network Ten's Cheez TV in 1995 and 1997. Media Blasters Entertainment licensed the series in 2006 through its AnimeWorks label, releasing separate boxsets for Teknoman and Tekkaman Blade. Rights to the edited Saban/UPN Kids dub are owned by Disney Enterprises through BVS Entertainment, while Media Blasters/AnimeWorks owns the international dub rights. Character names were altered for the English dub: Blade's nickname "D-Boy" became "Slade" in the edited version, and his full name "Takaya Aiba" became "Nick Carter". Other changes include Commander Jamison, Ringo Richards, Star Summers, Tina Corman, Maggie Matheson, and Mack. The Radam became Venemoids, and their leader Omega became Darkon. In January 2016, a remastered Blu-Ray boxset was released in Japan containing all 50 episodes, the 6 OVA episodes, laserdisc specials, an unreleased episode "Virgin Memory", and a new interview with Toshiyuki Morikawa.
Merchandise and other media
Bandai released model kits in Japan during the show's run, and B-Club produced models for the second series. Orange Cat Industry, a Chinese company, acquired rights to produce model kits, re-released in Japan by Wave Corporation. A Super Famicom video game by BEC, released in 1993, is a shoot-em-up with 2D fighting boss battles. A Game Boy platformer by Yutaka was released in 1992. In 1994, Matrix published and developed a real-time strategy game for NEC's PC-9801 titled Tekkaman Blade: Orbital Ring Dakkai Sakusen. Tekkaman Blade appeared in Super Robot Wars J (2005) for Game Boy Advance, causing controversy due to the series having only one robot (Pegas) while most characters use powered armor. It returned in Super Robot Wars W (2007), also featuring the second series. Tekkaman Blade was a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (2010) for Wii; Tekkaman Evil was planned but scrapped. On November 26, 2021, a collaboration with the mobile game Iron Saga was announced.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created Tekkaman Blade?
Tekkaman Blade was created by Tatsunoko Production Planning Office.
Which network aired Tekkaman Blade?
Tekkaman Blade aired on TXN (TV Tokyo).
How many episodes of Tekkaman Blade are there?
Tekkaman Blade has 49 episodes.
More in Japanese Children's Animated Science Fiction Television Series
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced