Tekkaman Blade


Tekkaman Blade is a 1992 Japanese anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Production and Sotsu Agency. The series was directed by Hiroshi Negishi and written by Mayori Sekijima and Satoru Akahori. The story follows an organization called the Space Knights and their war against aliens known as the Radam. The Space Knights are assisted by Takaya Aiba, who has the ability to transform into an armored warrior known as Tekkaman Blade.
The first series, of 50 episodes, aired in Japan from February 18, 1992 to February 2, 1993 on TV Tokyo. This was followed by two specials. A sequel series called Tekkaman Blade II, which is set ten years after the first series and follows the events of the second Radam invasion, was a series of six Japanese original video animation releases from July 21, 1994 to April 21, 1995. A video game based on the series, titled Uchū no Kishi: Tekkaman Blade, was released in Japan on July 30, 1993. The original series was released internationally, including North America and was dubbed in English as Teknoman. In the English-dubbed versions, the series was heavily cut compared to the original Japanese version and shortened from 50 to 43 episodes.

Plot

''Tekkaman Blade''

In the United Earth Year 192, Earth is under attack from an alien race known as the Radam, which consists of bug-like monsters and armored warriors known as Tekkamen. The Radam's spaceship lies dormant on the dark side of the Moon where the Radam wait for it to be repaired.
Fighting against the Radam is a special defense force called the Space Knights. The group consists of Heinrich von Freeman, the group's commander; Noal Vereuse, the pilot of the Space Knights' ship Blue Earth; Aki Kirasagi, the Blue Earths navigator; Milly, the communications operator; Levin, a computer mechanic; and Honda, the group's mechanic.
Before the start of the Radam invasion, the exploration ship Argos discovered the dormant Radam spaceship in the outer rings of Saturn. While exploring the ship, the crew were captured by pods and converted into Tekkamen. Before he was fully converted, Takaya Aiba was freed by his father and placed into an escape pod; his father then activated the Argos self-destruct. The Radam crashed on the Moon and began their attacks on Earth.
After spending six months drifting toward Earth, Blade bursts free from his escape pod and attacks the Radam forces, entering into a fight with Tekkaman Dagger. After the fight, Blade crashes on Earth and is found by Noal and Aki, who take him back to their headquarters. Blade is initially hostile towards the Space Knights, but as time progresses, he begins to respect them for their dedication and develops a romantic interest in Aki. With Blade’s help, the Space Knights begin to repel the Radam until Blade's transformation crystal is shattered during a battle with Dagger. Levin develops a battle robot named Pegas which houses the shards of Blade's crystal and enables him to transform again. In his first transformation using Pegas, Blade challenges Dagger and kills him.
Meanwhile, Earth's military leader, General Xerces Gault, becomes obsessed with acquiring the Tekkaman armor for his own use. He attempts to attack the Space Knight's base during an emergency, but is forced to withdraw by order of Earth's President. He later sends in the spy Balzac, posing as a journalist, to infiltrate the Space Knights. Balzac acquires data on the Tekkaman armor system and Earth's military create their own Tekkamen armor, which are worn by Balzac and Noal.
Four more Tekkamen — Tekkaman Lance, Tekkaman Axe, Tekkaman Sword and Tekkaman Evil — arrive on Earth to challenge Blade. Tekkaman Rapier also arrives on Earth, but like Blade she is not under the Radam's control. Evil, Lance, Axe, and Sword attack the Space Knights' base and attempt to kill Rapier. Although outnumbered, Rapier self-destructs in an attempt to destroy the four Tekkamen. Blade manages to kill Lance and Axe and he later gains the power to attain Blaster Tekkaman mode, although he loses more of his memories whenever he uses it. Evil is given the same ability as the last line of defense for the Radam's leader, Tekkaman Omega.
At the end of the war, Blade and Evil meet for the last time, where Blade kills Evil. As he dies, Evil is freed from the Radam's mind control. Balzac kills Sword and they both burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
Blade takes Pegas to the Moon, where he confronts Omega, who reveals that he is Takaya's older brother Kengo. Omega launches the repaired Radam spaceship and heads for Earth. Blade attacks Omega, who easily defeats him. Omega is about to kill Blade when Pegas steps in front of the killing blow and sacrifices itself. Pegas' destruction enrages Blade and causes him to transform into Blaster Tekkaman mode for the last time. Blade kills Omega and causes the Radam spaceship to explode. The remnants of the Radam spaceship fall to Earth along with Blade, now stripped of his armor. As a result, Blade is left bound to a wheelchair and is completely amnesiac, cared for by Aki.

''Tekkaman Blade II''

See individual [|episode summaries] below.

Episodes

''Tekkaman Blade''

Tekkaman Blade was broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo and 50 episodes were aired between February 18, 1992 and February 2, 1993. It uses four pieces of theme music: two opening themes and two ending themes. The first opening theme is "Reason" by Yumiko Kosaka, which is used from the first through twenty-seventh episodes. The second opening theme is "Eternal Loneliness" by Yumiko Kosaka, which is used from the twenty-eighth episode onwards. The first and second ending themes are "Energy of Love" and "Lonely Heart" respectively, both performed by Kosaka.
The series was aired, dubbed in English, in the United States and Australia under the name Teknoman. The English broadcast version was heavily cut compared to the original Japanese version and shortened from 50 episodes to 43. The series was licensed by Media Blasters Entertainment, through its AnimeWorks label in 2006, with separate boxsets for Teknoman and Tekkaman Blade.
The rights to the edited Saban/UPN Kids TV dub version of Teknoman was owned by Disney Enterprises thru BVS Entertainment, after Disney acquired the Fox Family/Fox Kids Worldwide franchise in 2001, while Media Blasters/AnimeWorks owns the rights to the International dub of Teknoman in 2006, after they released this dub, along with the uncut Tekkaman Blade on Region 1 DVD.
The character names were altered for the English-dubbed Teknoman release: Blade's "D-Boy" nickname was dropped in favor of "Blade" and his full name "Takaya Aiba" became "Nick Carter". Similarly, "Commander Heinrich von Freeman" became "Commander Jamison", "Noel" became "Ringo Richards", "Aki" became "Star Summers", "Milly" became "Tina Corman", "Levin" became the female "Maggie Matheson", "Honda" became "Mack", and "Miyuki" became "Shara". The "Radam" were now called "Venemoids" and their leader "Omega" became "Darkon".
In January 2016, the series was released as a remastered Blu-Ray boxset in Japan. The set contains all 50 episodes of the first series and all 6 episodes of the second series, as well as the OVA specials from the laserdiscs, an unreleased episode entitled "Virgin Memory", and a new video interview with Toshiyuki Morikawa.
No. English title
Original Japanese title		Written byOriginal air date

Specials

These OVA specials were originally included in the Crystal Box laserdisc set and later included as special features for the DVD and Blu-Ray releases.
No.English title
Original Japanese title		Original air date

''Tekkaman Blade II''

Tekkaman Blade II is a six-episode original video animation that was released in 1994 by Tatsunoko and serves as a sequel to the Tekkaman Blade anime series. The series was originally licensed by Urban Vision on VHS in 1998 and later released on DVD in 2001, before later being picked up by Discotek Media in 2012 for an uncut home-media release on DVD and Blu-Ray format, with English dubbing and subtitles as options. The series aired on Starz Encore's Action Anime programming block in 1999.
No.English title
Original Japanese title		Original air date