Special Rescue Police Winspector
With love of peace and faith in friendship, they protect innocent lives.
Special Rescue Police Winspector is a Japanese tokusatsu television series that inaugurated the Rescue Police Series trilogy within the Metal Hero Series franchise. It follows a specialized rescue police unit that handles crimes and emergencies beyond the capacity of ordinary law enforcement. The team consists of one human member clad in powered armor and two robotic assistants.
Quick Facts
- Runtime
- 25 minutes
- Country
- Japan
- Network
- TV Asahi (ANN)
- Episodes
- 49
- Genre
- Tokusatsu
- Superhero fiction
- Mystery fiction
- Science fiction
- Creator
- Saburō Yatsude
- Company
- Toei Company; Asatsu-DK
- Developer
- Noboru Sugimura
Facts from the source article.
Team
Ryoma Kagawa, aged 23, leads Winspector as its sole human operative and holds the rank of Police Superintendent. An orphan skilled in martial arts and fluent in five languages, he transforms into Fire by calling out "Suit up!" and wears the red Crush Tector armor, which boosts his strength and shields him from poison gas, gunfire, and oxygen deprivation but can only be worn for five minutes due to physical strain. His primary vehicle is the Winsquad car, and his standard weapon is an energy sword. Ryoma has a sister and later joins the Solbrain team as Knight Fire. Bikel and Walter are twin robots who assist him. Bikel, whose armor is yellow, travels by motorcycle or uses a wheel in his chest to land-surf; his weapons are twin lances that combine into a staff and can serve as motorcycle handlebars or coin bombs. He speaks in a Nagoya dialect, enjoys jokes, and often provokes Walter's anger. Walter, with turquoise armor, has wings for flight and loves children. Junko Fujino is an information G-man skilled with handguns. Hisako Koyama works undercover in a coffee shop; her father Masanobu Koyama was a colleague of Masaki killed in action six years prior. Shin'ichi Nonoyama serves as mechanic, developing rescue tools and maintaining Bikel and Walter, and enjoys chess. Madocks is the team's supercomputer, storing criminal data and performing instant analysis.
Arsenal
The GigaStreamer, the team's most powerful weapon, debuted in episode 31 against a reprogrammed robot cop named Brian. It has two modes depending on whether a drill or plasma minigun top is attached; its strongest attack, Maxime Mode, requires Fire to insert his MaxCalibur into the gun. The MaxCalibur is a sword-like gauntlet that also fires lasers. Bikel's BiSpear consists of two sticks that combine into a long rod and double as WinChaser handlebars. Walter's Dislider wings can transform into a shield and enable flight, sometimes while carrying Bikel. Every team member carries a Daytric M2 laser handgun that can also weld, stored in a right-leg holster. HandWapper cuffs are standard. Ryoma's WinBadge or FireBadge serves as his police license and turns white when he wears the Crush Tector. WinChaser is Bikel's Suzuki TS200 motorcycle, acquired in episode 13. WinSquad, Ryoma's Chevrolet Camaro, transforms into the red FireSquad when a blue SPCard is inserted. Masaki's undercover car is a white or brown Mazda Luce HC. Junko's undercover car is a red Mazda RX-7 FC.
International Broadcasts and Home Video
In Japan, Toei Video released the series on VHS across six volumes from April to December 1994, containing only 24 episodes. A full DVD release followed from May 21, 2010 to September 21, 2010, with ten episodes in each of the first four volumes and the final nine in the fifth. In Thailand, the series aired with a Thai dub on MCOT Channel 9 from 1991 to 1992 on Sunday mornings at 10:30 AM, and later on TV7 in the mid-1990s; TIGA Company currently licenses it there. Hong Kong's TVB Jade broadcast a Cantonese Chinese dub titled Future Special Police, with the first half in 1991 and the second in 1993. France aired it on TF1 from May 6, 1991, leading to broadcasts of other Metal Hero shows; only 42 of 49 episodes were dubbed in French, and the opening was sung by Bernard Minet. Italy aired all 49 episodes uncut on Italia 7 from February 24 to June 15, 1992, using an instrumental Japanese opening and one from the French dub. Germany broadcast all 49 episodes on RTL Television in 1992–1993 and again in 1994–1995. Spain aired a Castilian Spanish dub on TVE1 around the same time as Jiban. Brazil aired a Brazilian Portuguese dub on TV Manchete in 1994, where it was popular alongside other Metal Hero series. In the Philippines, the series debuted as Special Police Rescue Winspector on IBC-13 from 1993 to 1994 with a Tagalog dub renaming Ryoma to Gabriel and Junko to Carina, airing as a sequel to The Mobile Cop Jiban. Indonesia aired an Indonesian dub on Indosiar on January 12, 1995, making it one of the first programs on the channel, which launched the day before. Malaysia aired a Malay dub on TV3 in 1995.
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