Metal Hero Series

The Metal Heroes or Metal Hero Series (メタルヒーローシリーズ, Metaru Hīrō Shirīzu) is a metaseries of tokusatsu superhero TV series produced by Toei for Japanese television.

Metal Hero Series
Created by	Toei Company ∟ Saburō Yatsude Susumu Yoshikawa
Original work	Space Sheriff Gavan
Films and television
Film(s)	Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie Space Sheriff Sharivan: Next Generation Space Sheriff Shaider: Next Generation
Television series	See below
Games
Traditional	Rangers Strike
Video game(s)	The Space Sheriff Spirits
Miscellaneous
Toy(s)	Souchaku Henshin Series S.H. Figuarts

The protagonists of the Metal Hero Series are mainly space, military and police-based characters who are typically either androids, cyborgs, or humans wearing metallic armored suits. Henceforth, most of the Metal Heroes are also referenced as another example of the "Henshin (transforming) Heroes" genre. Usually, the genre revolves around a technological theme where technology, in the right hands, can be used for the greater good.

The shows were produced by Toei from 1982 through 1999 in conjunction with their other Tokusatsu superhero shows, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. Initially only 1993 Janperson and the series released between 1985 and 1989 (Juspion, Spielban, Metalder, Jiraiya and Jiban) were considered part of the Metal Hero franchise while Gavan, Sharivan and Shaider were part of the Space Sheriff franchise and Winspector, Solbrain and Exceedraft were part of the Rescue Police franchise. It was only in late-1990s that Toei Company incorporated the Space Sheriff and Rescue Police trilogies as subseries of the Metal Hero. Blue SWAT, B-Fighter, B-Fighter Kabuto, Kabutack and Robotack were also incorporated into the franchise afterwards.

In addition to Japan, they are also popular in France, Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. During the 1990s, Saban Entertainment used some of the shows to produce programs similar to their Power Rangers series. Some of the Metal Hero Series even spawned such sequels which followed the continuity of the previous shows, resulting in the genre developing sub-categories based mainly on space, military and police-related characters.

List of Metal Hero Series

#		Year	Title	Full title		Originally aired		No. of episodes	Subseries	American counterpart
				Japanese	International	First aired	Last aired
Showa era
	1	1982	Gavan	宇宙刑事ギャバン Uchū Keiji Gyaban	Space Sheriff Gavan	March 5, 1982	February 25, 1983	44	Space Sheriffs
	2	1983	Sharivan	宇宙刑事シャリバン Uchū Keiji Shariban	Space Sheriff Sharivan	March 4, 1983	February 24, 1984	51
	3	1984	Shaider	宇宙刑事シャイダー Uchū Keiji Shaidā	Space Sheriff Shaider	March 2, 1984	March 1, 1985	48 + 1 sp.		VR Troopers
	4	1985	Juspion	巨獣特捜ジャスピオン Kyojū Tokusō Jasupion	Mega-Beast Investigator Juspion	March 18, 1985	March 24, 1986	46
	5	1986	Spielban	時空戦士スピルバン Jikū Senshi Supiruban	Dimensional Warrior Spielban	April 7, 1986	March 9, 1987	44		VR Troopers
	6	1987	Metalder	超人機メタルダー Chōjinki Metarudā	Super Android Metalder	March 16, 1987	January 17, 1988	39
	7	1988	Jiraiya	世界忍者戦ジライヤ Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya[a]	Olympic Ninja Jiraiya	January 24, 1988	January 22, 1989	50
Heisei era
	8	1989	Jiban	機動刑事ジバン Kidō Keiji Jiban	The Mobile Cop Jiban	January 29, 1989	January 28, 1990	52
	9	1990	Winspector	特警ウインスペクター Tokkei Uinsupekutā[b]	Special Rescue Police Winspector	February 4, 1990	January 13, 1991	49	Rescue Police
	10	1991	Solbrain	特救指令ソルブレイン Tokkyū Shirei Soruburein[c]	Super Rescue Solbrain	January 20, 1991	January 26, 1992	53
	11	1992	Exceedraft	特捜エクシードラフト Tokusō Ekushīdorafuto[d]	Special Rescuers Exceedraft	February 4, 1992	January 24, 1993	49
	12	1993	Janperson	特捜ロボジャンパーソン Tokusō Robo Janpāson	Robot Investigator Janperson	January 31, 1993	January 23, 1994	50
	13	1994	Blue SWAT	ブルースワット Burū Suwatto	Blue SWAT	January 30, 1994	January 29, 1995	51
	14	1995	B-Fighter	重甲ビーファイター Jūkō Bī Faitā[e]	Beetle Fighter	February 5, 1995	February 25, 1996	53	Beetle Fighters	Big Bad Beetleborgs
	15	1996	B-Fighter Kabuto	ビーファイターカブト Bī Faitā Kabuto	Beetle Fighter Kabuto	March 3, 1996	February 16, 1997	50		Beetleborgs Metallix
	16	1997	Kabutack	ビーロボカブタック Bī Robo Kabutakku	B-Robo Kabutack	February 23, 1997	March 1, 1998	52	Metal Herotack
	17	1998	Robotack	テツワン探偵ロボタック Tetsuwan Tantei Robotakku	Ironclad Detective Robotack	March 8, 1998	January 24, 1999	45

Staff

#	Title	Series director	Head writer	Music composer
	Gavan	Yoshiaki Kobayashi	Shozo Uehara	Chumei Watanabe
	Sharivan
	Shaider	Shinichiro Sawai
	Juspion	Yoshiaki Kobayashi
	Spielban	Makoto Tsuji
	Metalder	Takeshi Ogasawara	Susumu Takaku	Seiji Yokoyama
	Jiraiya	Makoto Tsuji	Akira Nakahara	Kei Wakakusa
	Jiban	Michio Konishi	Noboru Sugimura	Chumei Watanabe
	Winspector	Shohei Tojo		Seiji Yokoyama
	Solbrain	Masao Minowa		Kaoru Mizuki
	Exceedraft	Kaneharu Mitsumura
	Janperson	Michio Konishi	Junichi Miyashita	Kei Wakakusa
	Blue SWAT	Makoto Tsuji
	B-Fighter	Shinichiro Sawai		Eiji Kawamura
	B-Fighter Kabuto	Shohei Tojo
	Kabutack	Taro Sakamoto	Takashi Yamada	Katsunori Ishida
	Robotack	Katsuya Watanabe		Kei Wakakusa

Theatrical releases

• 1984: Uchuu Keiji Shaider: The Movie
• 1984: Uchuu Keiji Shaider: Pursuit! The Strange Kidnappers!
• 1987: Choujinki Metalder: The Movie
• 1989: Kidou Keiji Jiban: The Movie Great Explosion at the Monster Factory of Fear
• 1993: Tokusou Robo Janperson
• 1994: Blue SWAT: The Movie
• 1995: Juukou B-Fighter: The Movie
• 2012: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie
• 2012: Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie
• 2013: Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z

V-Cinema releases

• 1998: B-Robo Kabutack: The Epic Christmas Battle
• 1999: Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack and Kabutack: The Great Strange Country Adventure
• 2014: Space Sheriff Sharivan: The Next Generation
• 2014: Space Sheriff Shaider: The Next Generation
• 2017: Space Squad: Gavan vs. Dekaranger
• 2017: Girls in Trouble: Space Squad Episode Zero
• 2018: Uchu Sentai Kyuranger vs. Space Squad

Televi Magazine Super Video/Special DVD

• Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Beet Buster vs. J
• Space Sheriff Gavan Special DVD

International adaptations

United States

During the 1990s, Saban adapted Metal Hero Series shows for American audiences; stock footage from Metalder, Spielvan and Shaider was used in VR Troopers (1994–1996), and footage from both B-Fighter series was later used in Big Bad Beetleborgs. Both shows ran for two seasons. As of 2018, Discotek Media has licensed Juspion for release marking the first release of the Metal Heroes in the US. Both Jiraiya and Gavan were used for the Power Rangers franchise with Jiraiya as Sheriff Skyfire in Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel and Gavan as Captain Chaku in Power Rangers Beast Morphers.

Philippines

Zaido: Pulis Pangkalawakan was greenlighted by Toei as a sequel to Shaider, with characters who are descendants of those in the original series.^[1] Toei later halted production, instead authorizing a spin-off series set 20 years after the end of Shaider.^[2]

Current status

Other similar heroes, such as Nebula Mask Machine Man, Kyodai Ken Byclosser, Lady Battle Cop, and Choukou Senshi Changéríon, were also produced during the time that the Metal Hero Series were on the air, but are not included as part of the Metal Hero Series for various reasons. Machine Man and Byclosser were created by Shotaro Ishinomori, while Changéríon aired on TV Tokyo. It is unknown if Lady Battle Cop is part of Toei's shared universe.

Currently, the Metal Hero Series is one of Toei's defunct properties, as the company rather favors the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider Series of shows, allegedly due to the passing of Shotaro Ishinomori. However, many of the traits of the series have been adopted into the newer installations of the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider shows. Today, the present versions of this type of heroes are also merged in with the "Henshin Heroes" description.

Some Metal Heroes have also made cameo appearances. In 2004, a special Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger stage show had a special appearance by Gavan, who assisted Hurricane Red from Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger and Aba Red from Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger in battling various Alienizer monsters from Deka Ranger.

In 2005, Toei released some Uchuu Keiji trilogy merchandise. Later that year, Bandai released a "Souchaku Henshin" figure of Gavan, followed by "Souchaku Henshin" figures of Sharivan and Shaider in early 2006. In May 2006, a PlayStation 2 video game titled The Space Sheriff Spirits was released. The game featured Gavan, Sharivan and Shaider all teaming up to battle past enemies from their series. In early 2008, the trading card company Cardass announced a new, Metal Heroes based expansion to their Rangers Strike card game, entitled Special Metal Edition, featuring characters and vehicles from the various Metal Hero Series for use within the game.

Despite no more television series having been made, the Space Sheriff Series re-emerged in the 2010s with feature films, including new actors portraying successors to Gavan, Sharivan, and Shaider. Some of them are stand alone entries, while others feature crossovers with other Super Sentai and Kamen Rider characters.

Notes

1. Lit. trans. "Jiraiya of the World Ninja War"
2. Lit. trans. "Special Police Winspector"
3. Lit. trans. "Special Rescue Command Solbrain"
4. Lit. trans. "Special Investigators Exceedraft"
5. Lit. trans. "Heavyshell B-Fighter"