Last time I hinted that the next entry would be a Go Nagai story, which turned out to be wrong. I was looking at an outdated chart and for that, I apologize. There's one more tokusatsu show to cover before that.
Iron King was produced by Nippon Gendai and Senkosha, and aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) starting on October 8, 1972 and running for 26 episodes. A spiritual follow-up to the previous Silver Kamen show, both shows had former Tsuburaya Productions employees working on them. Iron King's design in particular resembles a bunch of Ultraman designs, particularly Ultra Seven.
The plot revolves around secret agent Gentaro Shizuka of the National Security Organization, who dresses like a singing cowboy (this makes some sense because pop singer Shoji Ishibashi played him) and his sidekick Goro Kirishima (who's dressed like a mountain climber) investigating terrorist threats. These threats take the form of the Shiranui Clan, descendants of a race of nomads that were exiled 2000 years ago by the Yamato Clan, the ancestors of the modern Japanese people. The Shiranui Clan are back and they want REVENGE. To that end, they deploy armored ninjas who can summon and control giant robots to overthrow the government.
Naturally, to stop a giant villain you need a giant hero; in this case the titular Iron King, a 45 meter (148 ft) tall red and silver cyborg who can can brawl and produce energy blasts and beams. Surprisingly, its not the heroic Gentaro who transforms, but rather the goofy Goro, who activates the transformation by touching the medals on his hat and shouting “Iron Shock!”
The Iron King form is powered by water, and Goro can only maintain that form for about a minute before becoming dehydrated. Human form Goro is incredibly thirsty as a result. Gentaro isn't helpless against the giant enemies, and wields the Iron Belt, which can turn into a sword or a whip, and is capable of damaging giant enemies.
After the Shiranui Clan are defeated, a new threat arises in the Phantom Militia, who use dinosaur-themed giant robots, and subsequently the alien Titanians, who can assume giant insect forms.
The most obviously robotic enemies were the Shiranui Clan's, with names like Vacumira (who has a powerful vacuum hand), Jairoges (who has a cutting hand), Silver Rider (who's got wheels instead of legs), and Double Satan (who can make duplicates of itself).
Yes. DOUBLE SATAN.
While the show was one of many, many tokusatsu series from the 1970s, it managed to see two video releases in the west. First in 2007, from BCI Eclipse, and a 2010 release from Mill Creek Entertainment.
Next time on Shin Super Robot Sunday: Crabsticks.
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