Metal Hero Series

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Template:Short description Template:Italics Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox media franchise

The Template:Nihongo is a metaseries of tokusatsu superhero TV series produced by Toei for Japanese television.

The protagonists of the Metal Hero Series are mainly space, military and police-based characters who are typically either androids, cyborgs, or humans wearing metallic armored suits. Henceforth, most of the Metal Heroes are also referenced as another example of the "Henshin (transforming) Heroes" genre. Usually, the genre revolves around a technological theme where technology, in the right hands, can be used for the greater good.

The shows were produced by Toei from 1982 through 1999 in conjunction with their other Tokusatsu superhero shows, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. Initially only 1993 Janperson and the series released between 1985 and 1989 (Juspion, Spielban, Metalder, Jiraiya and Jiban) were considered part of the Metal Heroes franchise while Gavan, Sharivan and Shaider were part of the Space Sheriff franchise and Winspector, Solbrain and Exceedraft were part of the Rescue Police franchise. It was only in late-1990s that Toei Company incorporated the Space Sheriff and Rescue Police trilogies as subseries of the Metal Hero. Blue SWAT, B-Fighter, B-Fighter Kabuto, Kabutack and Robotack were also incorporated into the franchise afterwards.

In addition to Japan, they are also popular in France, Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. During the 1990s, Saban Entertainment used some of the shows to produce programs similar to their Power Rangers series. Some of the Metal Hero Series even spawned such sequels which followed the continuity of the previous shows, resulting in the genre developing sub-categories based mainly on space, military and police-related characters.

List of Metal Hero Series

# Year Title Full title No. of episodes Subseries American counterpart
Japanese International
1 1982 Gavan 宇宙刑事ギャバン
Template:Small 		Space Sheriff Gavan 44 Space Sheriffs
2 1983 Sharivan 宇宙刑事シャリバン
Template:Small 		Space Sheriff Sharivan 51
3 1984 Shaider 宇宙刑事シャイダー
Template:Small 		Space Sheriff Shaider 49 VR Troopers
4 1985 Juspion 巨獣特捜ジャスピオン
Template:Small 		Mega-Beast Investigator Juspion 46
5 1986 Spielban 時空戦士スピルバン
Template:Small 		Dimensional Warrior Spielban 44 VR Troopers
6 1987 Metalder 超人機メタルダー
Template:Small 		Super Android Metalder 39
7 1988 Jiraiya 世界忍者戦ジライヤ
Template:SmallTemplate:Efn 		Olympic Ninja Jiraiya 50
8 1989 Jiban 機動刑事ジバン
Template:Small 		The Mobile Cop Jiban 52
9 1990 Winspector 特警ウインスペクター
Template:SmallTemplate:Efn 		Special Rescue Police Winspector 49 Rescue Police
10 1991 Solbrain 特救指令ソルブレイン
Template:SmallTemplate:Efn 		Super Rescue Solbrain 53
11 1992 Exceedraft 特捜エクシードラフト
Template:SmallTemplate:Efn 		Special Rescuers Exceedraft 49
12 1993 Janperson Template:Nowrap
Template:Small 		Robot Investigator Janperson 50
13 1994 Blue SWAT ブルースワット
Template:Small 		Blue SWAT 51
14 1995 B-Fighter 重甲ビーファイター
Template:SmallTemplate:Efn 		Beetle Fighter 53 Beetle Fighters Big Bad Beetleborgs
15 1996 B-Fighter Kabuto ビーファイターカブト
Template:Small 		Beetle Fighter Kabuto 50 Beetleborgs Metallix
16 1997 Kabutack ビーロボカブタック
Template:Small 		B-Robo Kabutack 52 Metal Herotack
17 1998 Robotack Template:Nowrap
Template:Small 		Ironclad Detective Robotack 45
18 2026 Gavan Infinity Template:Nowrap
Template:Small 		Super Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity

Staff

# Title Series director Head writer Music composer
Gavan Yoshiaki Kobayashi Shozo Uehara Chumei Watanabe
Sharivan
Shaider Shinichiro Sawai
Juspion Yoshiaki Kobayashi
Spielban Makoto Tsuji
Metalder Takeshi Ogasawara Susumu Takaku Seiji Yokoyama
Jiraiya Makoto Tsuji Akira Nakahara Kei Wakakusa
Jiban Michio Konishi Noboru Sugimura Chumei Watanabe
Winspector Shohei Tojo Seiji Yokoyama
Solbrain Masao Minowa Kaoru Mizuki
Exceedraft Kaneharu Mitsumura
Janperson Michio Konishi Junichi Miyashita Kei Wakakusa
Blue SWAT Makoto Tsuji
B-Fighter Shinichiro Sawai Eiji Kawamura
B-Fighter Kabuto Shohei Tojo
Kabutack Taro Sakamoto Takashi Yamada Katsunori Ishida
Robotack Katsuya Watanabe Kei Wakakusa
Gavan Infinity

Theatrical releases

V-Cinema releases

Televi Magazine Super Video/Special DVD
  • Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Beet Buster vs. J
  • Space Sheriff Gavan Special DVD

International adaptations

United States

During the 1990s, Saban adapted Metal Hero Series shows for American audiences; stock footage from Metalder, Spielvan and Shaider was used in VR Troopers (1994–1996), and footage from both B-Fighter series was later used in Big Bad Beetleborgs. Both shows ran for two seasons. As of 2018, Discotek Media has licensed Juspion for release marking the first release of the Metal Heroes in the US. Both Jiraiya and Gavan were used for the Power Rangers franchise with Jiraiya as Sheriff Skyfire in Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel and Gavan Type-G as Captain Chaku in Power Rangers Beast Morphers.

Philippines

Zaido: Pulis Pangkalawakan was greenlighted by Toei as a sequel to Shaider, with characters who are descendants of those in the original series.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Toei later halted production, instead authorizing a spin-off series set 20 years after the end of Shaider.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Current status

Other similar heroes, such as Nebula Mask Machine Man, Kyodai Ken Byclosser, Lady Battle Cop, and Choukou Senshi Changéríon, were also produced during the time that the Metal Hero Series were on the air, but are not included as part of the Metal Hero Series for various reasons. Machine Man and Byclosser were created by Shotaro Ishinomori, while Changéríon aired on TV Tokyo. It is unknown if Lady Battle Cop is part of Toei's shared universe.

Currently, the Metal Hero Series is one of Toei's defunct properties, as the company rather favors the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider Series of shows, allegedly due to the passing of Shotaro Ishinomori. However, many of the traits of the series have been adopted into the newer installations of the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider shows. Today, the present versions of this type of heroes are also merged in with the "Henshin Heroes" description.

Some Metal Heroes have also made cameo appearances. In 2004, a special Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger stage show had a special appearance by Gavan, who assisted Hurricane Red from Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger and Aba Red from Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger in battling various Alienizer monsters from Deka Ranger.

In 2005, Toei released some Uchuu Keiji trilogy merchandise. Later that year, Bandai released a "Souchaku Henshin" figure of Gavan, followed by "Souchaku Henshin" figures of Sharivan and Shaider in early 2006. In May 2006, a PlayStation 2 video game titled The Space Sheriff Spirits was released. The game featured Gavan, Sharivan and Shaider all teaming up to battle past enemies from their series. In early 2008, the trading card company Cardass announced a new, Metal Heroes based expansion to their Rangers Strike card game, entitled Special Metal Edition, featuring characters and vehicles from the various Metal Hero Series for use within the game.

Despite no more television series having been made, the Space Sheriff Series re-emerged in the 2010s with feature films, including new actors portraying successors to Gavan, Sharivan, and Shaider. Some of them are stand alone entries, while others feature crossovers with other Super Sentai and Kamen Rider characters.

On November 18, 2025, official Japanese trademark filing for Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity was reported.<ref>https://tokusatsunetwork.com/2025/11/super-space-sheriff-gavan-infinity-trademark-revealed/</ref>

Notes

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References

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Template:Metal Hero Series

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