Supaidāman
(Spider-Man)
May 17, 1978 - March 14, 1979 (41 episodes)
Opening Theme
Produced by Hirayama,
Tōru & Yoshikawa, Susumu
Written by Uehara, Shouzou
Music by Watanabe,
Michiaki
| Character |
|
Actor/Actress |
| Yamashiro, Takuya |
|
Todo, Shinji |
| Spider-Man |
|
Koga, Hirofum |
| Professor Monster |
|
Ando, Mitsuo |
| Amazoness |
|
Kagawa, Yukie |
| Yamashiro, Shinko |
|
Ooyama, Idzumi |
| Yamashiro, Takuji |
|
Yabuki, Yoshiharu |
| Sakuma, Hitomi |
|
Miura, Rika |
| Mamiya, Juzo |
|
Nakaya, Noboru (ep. 11, 12, 14) |
| Rita |
|
Rie Rinehart (ep. 35-41) |
| Bella |
|
Tina Margo (ep. 35-38) |
| Bella |
|
Wanita Somaborudo (ep. 39-41) |
| Narrator |
|
Ōhira, Tōru |
When I was a kid and
we lived in Hawaii my favorite super heroes were Kikaida, Kamen Rider
V3, and Rainbowman. After we moved back to Nebraska my favorite
superhero was Marvel Comic's Spider-Man as seen in reruns of the
original 1960s cartoon. So decades later when as an adult I redicovered
Japanese superheroes I was pleasantly suprised to find out that Toei
had produced a Spider-Man series of its own.
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The evil "Iron Cross Army" (Testsu-Jyuuji-Gun)
murders Yamashiro, Hiroshi and attempt to kill his son Takuya (Todo,
Shinji). Yamashiro, Takuya''s live is saved by Garia, an alien who
came to Earth in the spacecraft Marveller, 400 years after his planet was destroyed by the Iron Cross Army. Garia injects Spider Extract into
Takuya which not only heals his wounds but also gives him super
strength, the ability to climb walls and a special sense of danger (ie
"Spider-sense").
Yamashiro, Takuya
wears a special bracelet which contains the "Spider Protector" costume. To become Spider-Man, he presses
a button on the bracelet which releases the costume. Apparently "Spider Protector" can only be removed by Spider-Man because in episode 31 when Amazoness tries to unmask him she just finds another mask each time she tries to pull of his mask. The Spider-Bracelet is also a monster detector, if Spider-Man suspects someone of being a Machine Bem or Ninder or other cyborg in disguise he can use the Spider-Braclet to see their true form.Yamashiro, Takuya or Spider-Man has to choose to use the bracelet as a monster detector by pointing the red sensors on the bracelet at the suspects.
Spider-Man gets his web shooting ability from the Spider Bracelet, which is
also a communications device used to summon Marveller.
From the Spider Bracelet he shoots "Spider String", a rope he uses for climbing and lassoing the monsters and "Spider Net" to capture the Ninders.
Supaidāman
was the first series in which the hero uses a giant robot to defeat
giant monsters. After Spider-Man beats up on the human sized monsters
they turn into giants. Spider-Man then calls "Marveller" to fire missles
at the monster and then transform into the giant robot "Leopardon".
Leopardon uses various
weapons to kill the monster. This concept proved so pupular that Toei
added it there third Sentai series "Battle Fever J", which was
originally planned to be "Captain Japan", based on Marvel's "Captain
America". Leopardon's main killing blow is "Sword of Vigor" in which it hurls a sword at the giant monster as if firing a missile. As the series progresses the monsters appearances get shorter and shorter as Iron Cross Army depends more and more on human looking cyborgs, the Ninders, to do most of the actual dirty work. Leopardon's battles with the giant Machine BEM's qet shorter as well.
This Spider-Man drives
a car, "Spider Machine GP-7" which he uses to transport himself to Marveller before transforming Marveller into Leopardon. Spider Machine GP-7 is armed with machine guns and missiles launchers under its hood.
The best thing about
this Spider-Man is the way he actually moves like a spider, especially
when climbing walls.
Unlike most
Japanese super heroes who henshin (transform) in front of the monsters
Yamashiro, Takuya puts on the Spider-Man costume in secret.
Yamashiro, Takuya has a younger sister, Shinko (18) a brother Takuji (7) and a girlfriend Sakuma, Hitomi (20), none of whom know he is Spider-Man, which causes problems for him as he has to pretend to be dumber, weaker and less brave than he actually is when around them. He also doesn't spend as much time motorcycle racing which was how he made money before becoming Sider-Man. All this causes friction in his home.
Unfortunantly Yamashiro, Takuya doesn't know that his girlfriend, photgrapher, Sakuma, Hitomi is working for Amazoness an agent of the Iron Cross Army (until episode 15). Of course she doesn't know her boss at "Women Weekly" is really Amazoness either. Once Spider-Man discovers the truth about the editor of "Women Weekly" she simply never returns to her job leaving the staff wondering what happened to her.
Yamashiro, Takuya has an uncany knack for finding fatherless children. If there is one in Tokyo at any given time Yamashiro, Takuya will find him (sometimes her but mostly him) and befriend him. Which of course leads to that child meeting Spider-Man although the child doesn't usually make the connection. In one episode a dog brings Spider-Man the glasses Yamashiro, Takuya lost earlier. The boy involved has a father and neither of them realize the dog brought the glasses to the right person.
Yamashiro, Takuya rides a motorcycle Sakuma, Hitomi is constantly demanding he drive her to the location of a breaking news story, which of course means into danger, if his "Spider Sense" is triggered he puts her off and drives on without her,
The Iron Cross Army does not know who Spider-Man is. However in episode 10 the monster figures it out but doesn't tell them. In the movie and in episode 11 of the series an Interpol agent Mamiya, Juzo learns that Yamashiro, Takuya is Spider-Man and recruits him to work with Interpol. Juzo provides Takuya with a radio (not portible) so he they can stay in contact. Episode 12 guests stars Ban,
Daisuke as a government agent protecting someing the Iron Cross Army wants to steal. In episode 14 another Machine BEM suspects Yamashiro, Takuya is Spider-Man but his scheme to prove it fails. By episode 17 Amazoness is convinced Yamashiro, Takuya is Spider-Man but can never be certain until the final episode.. Altough Mamiya, Juzo only appears in the movie and episodes 11, 12 and 14 of the series, Yamashiro, Takuya still keeps in contact with Interpol via radio and sometimes in person with other agents. The movie and episode 11 have the same meeting between Yamashiro, Takuya and Mamiya, Juzo but what happens after the meeting are different, and there are two different Machine BEM.. In the movie Mamiya, Juzo (who has mustache) has to be rescued by Spider-Man. In the television episode Mamiya, Juzo (who does not have a mustache) needs help in saving Yamashiro, Takuya who has been poisoned. The movie takes place on a ship, which has signs up reading in English "Maindeck", no other languages are on the signs. The scene in the movie of Ninder in a helicopter shooting at Spider-Man on the ground is used in epidode 21.
Just as Kamen Rider(1971) and (Kamen Rider V3 (1973) had The Boys' Kamen Rider Squad, Spider-Man (1978) has the Boys' Detective Group, introduced in episode 28. When they first meet Yamashiro, Takuya the mistake him for an Iron Cross Army cyborg, sabatoge his motorcyle and shoot him in the backside with a slingshot. Later when rescued from Ninders by Spider-Man they tell him about the kidnapping of three girls by the Iron Cross Army. The girls who bullied the boys at the beginning of the episode are seen at the end of the episode with the boys, wearing the same badges. And Spider-Man is seen weating a "BD" medal around his neck. (In 1980 Kamen RIder Super-1 will have the Junior Riders Team, which allows girls in.) The Boys' Detective Group isn't seen again until episode 36 in which there are four of them 3 boys and 1 girl and they now have bicycles.They're not wearing the badges and I'm not even sure its the same three boys. When Spider-Man is captured they follow the evil alien to its lair. Of course all they can do is offer Spider-Man moral support. The Boys' Detective Group returns in episode 38, however at the start of the episode there is only one member who still cares about it, he even wears the badge. The others have lost interest so he recruits a new member, a girl, who's father has been targeted by the Iron Cross Army. When the two of them are captured they bend the corners of their badges, apparently a distriss signal, and drop them out the car window. Spider-Man who finds the badges takes them to five former memebers. After a series of flash backs showing the kids playing and camping together the five realising their leader and newest recruit are in jeaporday the other boys (three) and girls (two) retrieve their badges and show Spider-Man how to find a message hidden by their leader. This leads him to the secret medicine capsule the Iron Cross Army has been looking for, which the girl took from her father and Boys' Detective Group leader hid. Although the episode ends with the kids all friends again this is The Boys' Detective Group's final episode as there are only three episodes of the series left.
Miyauchi,
Hiroshi
guest stars in episodes 31 and 39, as Tachibana, Go a private detective who dresses like Hayakawa, Ken (same black leather incuding the hat), his guitar is not white however. (He does NOT become Kaiketsu Zubat or Kamen Rider V3 despite the publicity photo shown above). In episode 31 he travels with his son, Takeshi, and after he beats a bady up he has the boy look at them. Instead of looking for his best friend's murderer (as in Kaiketsu Zubat) he's looking for his wife's murderer whom he never saw. Of course the murder turns out to be another foul dead of the Iron Cross Army. And the boy regains his voice. In episode 39 Tachibana, Go is in town for an extreme sporting event, which of course the Iron Cross Army decides to target. After murdering most of the athletes they take the one not Tachibana, Go captive and when Tachibana, Go tries to go rescue him, Spider-Man figuring its a trap (it is) subues him and goes in his place, which of course is what the Iron Cross Army hand in mind, as its Spider-Man who is their real target. But of course Tachibana, Go shows up in the end to help Spider-Man. (Its Hayakawa, Ken his character from Kaiketsu Zubat he copies when he plays the guitar not Jiro from Jinzo Ningen Kikaida.) Tachibana, Go''s guitar has a machine gun built into it so if he doesn't have his rifle he's still armed.
The opening
and ending themes to Spider-Man were recorded by
Hide,
Yuuki, probably best known for his recording of "Go Go Kikaida"
the opening theme to Jinzo Ningen Kikaida.
Ando, Mitsuo
(Professor Monster) had previously played Professor Gill in Jinzo
Ningen Kikaida (1972), President Geisel in Inazuman
Flash (1974) and Black Cross President in Himtsu
Sentai Gorenjaa (1975). Todo, Shinji (Yamashiro, Takuya)
would go on to play the chief villain in Chōjinki Metalder
(1987).
Supaidāman
was one of the few series produced by Hirayama, Tōru which featured
characters that were not created by Ishinomori, Shotaro.
Episode Titles
Ending Theme
The series ends with Spider-Man watching the sun set. And he does something he's never done before on camera,
he removes his mask so he can speak to his dead father as Yamashiro, Takuya not Spider-Man,
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Last modified Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Spider-Man © 1962 Marvel Comics,
licensed to Toei Co.,
Ltd. 1978.
Title screen provided
by "Shin Hyata"