Toei Ltd., Saban Entertainment, And A History With Spider-Man

 

I guess Marvel does have a huge cycle, right? A bit of research will tell us Toei Ltd. once had a Marvel license, later Haim Saban acquired a Marvel license before getting a license from Toei, Disney later bought Marvel and later the Power Rangers brand, and then it's a weird cycle. Nothing's really completely original at all. I could go ahead and praise Haim Saban for doing Knights of Tir Na Nog though it's clearly not all that original. Heck, Toei Ltd. does seem to have a habit of making fun of a lot of stuff. One such case was when Japanese Spider-Man or Supaida-Man was created. Sure, I expected it to be somewhat alike yet different. Instead, it's very different.

The hero Yamashiro Takuya meets an alien who's the last of his kind. Yamashiro loses his father to the Iron Cross Army. Later, Shinji meets a Garian who gives him spider powers. Shinji Todo was famous for playing several villains such as General Hedder from Denji Sentai Denziman and God Neros' human form in Chojinki Metalder. Yet, no one can deny that Shinji played a Spiderman that wasn't really what you'd think of Spiderman. Instead of making a Spiderman-inspired character - Toei somehow decided to get Marvel's permission to make their own Spiderman.

The archenemy is basically Toei's blatant character copy of Doctor Doom known as Professor Monster. Professor Monster heads the Iron Cross Army. The Iron Cross Army was responsible for the destruction of Garia. Okay, this Doctor Doom would be more demented than the actual Doctor Doom he's based on if that's the case! An interesting note is that the late Mitsuo Ando played the Black Cross Fuehrer for the first 55 episodes of Himitsu Senti Goranger. Yes, that time when the Megazord wasn't introduced yet.

One of the weirdest things was that Toei Ltd. even gave the first Megazord to... JAPANESE SPIDER-MAN? Sure, Battle Fever J was when Super Sentai would get its first Megazord. Every monster Doctor Doom ahem Professor Monster sends would enlarge. Fortunately, this format hasn't been used ever since for most human-sized heroes. Although, there were times when the Great Leader of Kamen Rider would show up the size of a Megazord. 

Eventually, Toei Ltd. no longer renewed the Marvel license. A strange twist of fate (or not) is that Haim Saban would get permission to adapt Marvel Comics. There was X-Men: The Animated Series which was a major hit. I may not like Power Rangers but I think Saban did a good job with Marvel adaptations than Disney. 

Toei Ltd. would later get inspired instead of adapting Western superhero concepts

After the Marvel license ended, some ideas still remained intact. Dengeki Sentai Changeman presented Star King Bazoo as Ego the Living Planet and Chikyu Sentai Fiveman presented Galactic Beast Vulgyre as Galactus. These concepts were clearly inspired by Marvel. What could also be more blatant was this...

Robocop would later inspire two Metal Hero series namely Kidou Keiji Jiban. After Jiban, the Knight Rider and Automan TV shows inspired Tokkei Winspector. In 1993, we also had Tokosou Robo Janperson. The difference was that Jiban is a human turned cyborg (who could don his former identity as a disguise) while Janperson is fully mechanical. Still, one can't deny that Janperson is a show full of references from Robocop and Jiban.

After Metal Hero got canceled (but NOT forgotten) - we had Kamen Rider. I think Kamen Rider Drive was blatantly calling back to the canceled Metal Hero franchise. It was said Takahito Oomori was inspired by Knight Rider which was in 1982. This makes me wonder why we don't have a Kamen Rider series based on Spider-Man or Robocop yet. Did Toei forget that? 

Then we get another hit show from Saban namely...

In 1994, Saban decided to adapt Spider-Man and created who I'd call Saban Spider-Man. Saban was still on a contract with Toei Ltd. Heck, Toei Ltd. even complied with Saban's request for the Zyu2 footage and gave Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers another season. Unlike Japanese Spider-Man, Saban decided to stick more or less with the comics with some necessary censorship. Saban's adaptation was a modernization of other American Spiderman cartoon adaptations Yes, we have Peter Parker all over again in the 1990s setting.

I could say that Power Rangers and Japanese Spider-Man are alterations. It can be noted that Mighty Morphin' deviates much from its source material Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. Most of the Power Rangers do that in order to fit American audiences. The Japanese Spider-Man is an alteration since we don't have a Peter Parker and what in the world is a Megazord doing there? I just wonder if Saban watched the Japanese Spider-Man at some point before getting a contract with Toei Ltd.?  

Pretty much, it was a relief that Saban didn't choose to localize Toei's strange adaptation. Instead, it was making animated footage from scratch. I wish Saban chose to focus on this one but I guess the greed is always there, right? Still, I really enjoyed Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Sure, it does deviate from the comics to suit the PG-7 rating. However, it can be an enjoyable rewatch. 

I still think it was good Saban Entertainment chose to use Kingpin, not Doctor Doom, as the main antagonist. Sure, I'm a big fan of Doctor Doom. However, it'd be too blatant if Doctor Doom was made the recurring antagonist instead. Doctor Doom only had a few appearances in the show since he was the Fantastic Four's main antagonist. Speaking of which, I was also a fan of the Marvel Action Hour which was also by Saban.

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What are your thoughts on this strange web?