Battle Fever J!



History | Story | Site | Episode Guide | Characters | Gokaigers
Torrent | Wallpapers | MP3s | Videos | CD & DVDs | GX-30

History 

If you were a kid growing up in Hawaii in the late 70's-early 80's, you were lucky enough to get all of the good TV series from Japan.  After all, Hawaii has such a strong Japanese influence.  You grew up watching shows like Kikaida, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Go Rangers, and many others, all in their original Japanese and subtitled for best effect.  Anyone who grew up here at that time remembers all of these shows, and they were thus integrated into our pop culture.

Then in 1979, Marvel Comics wanted to do joint venture series with Toei Productions and TV Asahi.  They had already created one successful series in the Japanese Spiderman a few years earlier (who was a cross between Peter Parker and Kikaida).  This new series would be a spin off from Capt. America.  They mixed the theme with the Go Rangers style, and Battle Fever J was born!  It was then aired in Hawaii a couple of years later, subtitled by JN Productions, on then KIKU channel 13.  It quickly became my favorite TV show.  My dad recorded every epsidode for me on his brand new VCR gadget (Beta not VHS), and it is something I treasure to this day.

Battle Fever J, was actually the first series of the Super Sentai franchise.  If you look at early Sentai picture books, or watch the TurboRangers 11 Sentai Special, Battle Fever is called the first Super Sentai team.   Later, Toei decided to retroactively add its predecessors, Go Rangers and JAKQ to the franchise making Battle Fever the 3rd series (kind of like adding Alan Scott or Jay Garrick to the Green Lantern and Flash continuities).  However Battle Fever was still the first to have a giant robo mecha, so it gets featured in all the anniversary specials.  Of course this all took place a good 2 decades before Saban Entertainment completely butchered the genre into those American Power Rangers.

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Story

The Battle Fever saga begins when FBI agent Diane Martin is sent to Japan in pursuit of an assassin.  There she encounters the help of Japan's Ministry of Defense special task force, lead by Kurama Tetsuzan Shogun. He and Diane's father, the FBI director, unveil that the assassin is a member of a secret cult known as Egos.  The Egos cult, under the leadership of their evil war god, Satan Egos, had already ravaged the Western Europe and the Americas, and was now spreading into Japan.  Diane's father makes arrangements for her to stay in Japan and expose the evil cult, but he is killed before he can return to the US.  Heartbroken, she joins the special task force, Battle Fever J.

Tetsuzan Shogun outfits the team with special battle suits that enhance all of their natural fighting ability, which they learned in the different countries that they were previously stationed.  Each team member is a master of a different martial art which becomes even more powerful as the suits and their bushido discipline focus their ki energies.  Additionally, a giant battle mecha, the Battle Fever Robo is constructed to combat Ego's evil weapons.

Each week, Satan Egos would use the monster making capsule, to create a kaijin to lead a sinister new plot.  Battle Fever would be sent to investigate the scheme, which usually targeted the children of Japan.  They would flush out the evil kaijin, and destroy it using their special weapon, penta force.  Before dying the kaijin would summon it's younger brother, a 300 ft tall clone of it to wreak havoc.  The Battle Fever Robo would then be dispatched to deal with it using it's electric sword.  Battle Fever became the protectors of Japan's children.

Egos plots would frequently promote the moral corruption of society, emphasizing such traits as greed, avarice, and sloth.  Many storylines included very faustian deals with Egos, in exchange for personal gain (usually at the expense of a rival), and they were portrayed in such a way that you could always feel the temptation and lure of the "dark side".   It is the strength of character that Battle Fever's members portrayed, never giving up, never taking the easy route, constantly training and improving themselves, concentrating and working hard, that would win the day.   These were the virtues that I always took away from watching Battle Fever, and they very heavily influenced my personal work ethic and therefore who I am today.

As the series progressed, each member of the team would each be challenged, their characters developed, and their backgrounds more colorfully recounted. Many episodes featured serious elements, such as old friends, or family members of young children, or others they would meet who would die because they were too late to save them.  Even the members of the Battle Fever team were not invulnerable.  Along the way, Diane is seriously wounded by blood loss.  Her friend Nagissa Maria must take her place, as she returns to America to rest.  Another member, Shiraishi Kensaku is even killed in the lined of duty, and his friend Jin Makoto avenges his death and replaces him.  But despite their losses, Battle Fever triumphs in the end...

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Site History 

February 1999 marked the true 20th anniversary for Battle Fever and the Super Sentai genre.  I thought it was only fitting to finally create a website dedicated to the heros of my past; a hyperlink to my early childhood.

2001 - This page has a new home on my own web server at the Cyber Tea Club.  With all of the added web space, I now am able to post CD quality mp3s of the Battle Fever Music!

2004 - Okay, I walked into Collector's Maniacs on Waialae, and I saw they had a Battle Fever video for rental. When I looked at the case, they had MY screencaptures all over it.  The must've taken the ones I made for my website.   When I went to complain about it, they just brushed me off.   So I haven't really frequented Collector's Maniacs anymore.  It also made me kinda upset and not want to maintain my site anymore.  Look, I don't mind if you want to borrow my images or anything, but it's just common courtesy to ask my permission first.  I worked hard on this website, and you should give credit, where it's due.  Nothing on this site is Freeware, it's all Alohaware, so if you like something drop me line to say mahalos!

2007 - I really wanted to meet up with Ban Daisuke when he was appearing at Shirokiya, to ask if he would do an interview for this site.   But unfortunately I couldn't make it, and I don't speak Japanese anyway, so I'm not quite sure how I would conduct an interview.  But if anyone knows how to get in touch with him, I'd like very much like to interview him for the site.   Also, I've been trying to get in touch with the people at Generation Kikaida, to see if they would want to release Battle Fever to DVD.   Since they've released all of Kikaida and Inazuman, it only makes sense that they would release Battle Fever as well (following Ban Daisuke's career).   Plus since Toei has released a clean copy of Battle Fever to DVD, and I still have the JN Productions translations from the original broadcast, I figure it would be easy for them.   But I havent' been able to get a hold of them... 

2008 -  Whoa... This site is almost 10 years old. It hasn't been up in several years. The net has changed a lot since then... But it's back, and I actually own the battlefever.com name now! These are golden days now, my friend. You can actually buy Battle Fever J on DVD from Japan now. Plus Bandai has released the AWESOME Soul of Chogokin GX-30 Battle Fever Robo!! So I've decided to reopen my site, redesign it to take advantage of today's bandwidth, and revisit the favorite superheroes of my youth.

2009 - I can't believe it!   Ito Yukio, the actor who played the first Battle Cossack, Shiraishi Kensaku, actually wrote me an email!  He said that he came across my website, and wanted to express his happiness and appreciation that someone remembered his work even after 30 years.  Kensaku was one of the greatest heroes of my childhood, especially since he was killed in the line of duty.   So the fact that the actor who portrayed him actually found me and emailed me, was the thrill of a lifetime, and made all the work putting up this site completely worthwhile.

2013 - In 2011, Japan was hit with one of the biggest natural disasters the world has ever seen, an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown all in one.   It was like they were actually attacked by Godzilla in real life.  On the flip side, it was also the year of the 35th anniversary Super Sentai series, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.  To celebrate, the Gokaigers got the power to transform into any ranger team in history, including Battle Fever J.   It was like a dream come true for me, to see Battle Fever's team and robo in glorious High Definition with beautiful CGI special effects.   Visit my new Gokaiger page to learn more!    I also decided to have some fun with my Soul of Chogokin GX-30 Battle Fever Robo, coupled with my wife's incredibly prodigious Photoshop skills, and there are some new BattleFever.com exclusive, Full HD wallpapers in my wallpaper section, that you just have to see!



History | Story | Site | Episode Guide | Characters | Gokaigers
Torrent | Wallpapers | MP3s | Videos | CD & DVDs | GX-30
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Maintained by: Justin Goo