Marvel Comic's website is now offering a look at Spider-Man not seen by many on this side of the Pacific, with a Japanese television show from the 1970s.Taking an American superhero and blending him with the traditional motifs of Japanese children's TV produces a bizarre mix -- like tossing a hot dog and sushi in a blender set to frappe.
Rather than take on the Green Goblin or Electro, The Land of the Rising Sun's version of Peter Parker defends precocious Japanese kids from guys in rubber suits, ala Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
And, while he's just as able to "spin a web, any size," our hero "catches thieves, just like flies" with the use of a gigantic Spider-Man themed Voltron-ish robot.
While a kick to watch, the show highlights a couple things. First, there's no limit to the number of superheros you could stuff into this Japanese premise. And, it's amazing how little Japanese kids TV has evolved over the last couple decades.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-12-2009 @ 12:17PM
CMart said...
I wonder if this version has any relation to the CBS show here around the same time; his web-making contraption (on one hand no less -- just like the American version)and his climbing abilities looked very similar to the one they showed back here.
Perhaps CBS (or the production company that made the show here) also produced the same show in Japan at the same time and wanted it to be more identifiable to the Japanese viewing public than simply re-dubbing the American version in Japanese?
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6-13-2009 @ 6:36AM
forzaq8 said...
its funny how you say
" ala Mighty Morphin Power Rangers "
when it was the first live action show with Robots and some consider it the father of Power Ranger craze
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