Zillion (anime)

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Zillion
赤い光弾ジリオン
(Akai Kōdan Jirion)
Genre Adventure, Science fiction
TV anime
Director Akira Watanabe
Studio Tatsunoko Production (Production I.G), Victor Entertainment
Network Flag of Japan NTV
Original run April 12, 1987 – December 13, 1987
Episodes 31

Zillion, full title Red Photon Zillion (赤い光弾ジリオン Akai Kōdan Jirion?), is a Japanese anime television series that ran from April 12, 1987 to December 13, 1987 on Nippon Television in Japan and was produced by Tatsunoko Production and Sega. After the production of the anime, Tatsunoko Production and Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the producer of Zillion, established Production I.G to obstruct the dispersing of the excellent staffs of Tatsunoko branch which had done actual production. Therefore, Zillion is considered to be Production I.G's first work. Five of the 31 episodes were dubbed into English and released on VHS in the United States by Streamline Pictures.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The story takes place on the planet Maris in the year 2387. Around this time, the Nozas started to genocidally kill all humans in order to lay eggs and reproduce on the planet. Three mysterious guns dubbed the "Zillion Weapon System" appear and three teens (JJ, Champ, and Apple) are chosen to wield them as the White Knights in order to fight back against the Nozas.

[edit] Adaptations

Two video games have been spawned with the story loosely based on the series with Zillion and Zillion II. An OVA movie titled Zillion: Burning Night has also been released after the success of the TV series. It also left a legacy of becoming the first anime to inspire a video game hardware namely Sega Master System's Light Phaser. Despite the cult success of the video games, the Zillion anime received a very brief release in the early 1990s in the United States. The first 5 episodes and the Burning Night OVA were released on individual VHS tapes by Carl Macek's Streamline Pictures line. They featured dub-only, "Macek-ized" translations. The entire series was released, unofficially, on DVD in Brazil, as that country received the series on television as well as the games.

[edit] Characters

Name Japanese Voiced by US Voiced by
Champ Kazuhiko Inoue Kerrigan Mahan
J.J. Toshihiko Seki Doug Stone
Apple Yuko Mizutani Barbara Goodson
Amy Chieko Honda Wendee Lee

[edit] List of episodes

  1. Codename J.J.
  2. Attack the enemy of the high skies
  3. 0.1 Second Chance!
  4. Trap of the shapeless ninja squadron
  5. Apple order violation!?
  6. Take off, Tricharger
  7. Struggle till death! J.J. v.s. Ricks
  8. Strike the oceanfloor base!
  9. Stolen Zillion
  10. Flames! Ricks' counterattack
  11. Birth of new zillion!
  12. Attack! Triple shoot
  13. Angry shutter chance
  14. Nightingale of the battlefield
  15. Life Or Death!? Confrontation of fate - Part. 1
  16. Life Or Death!? Confrontation of fate - Part. 2
  17. Tears! Let's search J.J.
  18. The beautiful Noza's challenge
  19. Match! Let's throw the coin
  20. Kick with a broken heart
  21. Clash! The sniper
  22. Great victory from a lie!
  23. Terror! Demon's bio weapon
  24. Great adventure! Warrior Opa-Opa
  25. Gentle fugitive Apple
  26. Revenge demon ninja!
  27. Extraordinary Rebel Ricks
  28. Mystery!? Zillion power
  29. Heroic! Ricks dies!?
  30. Planet Maris on the corner!
  31. Last shoot for victory

[edit] Music

Opening 
  • Pure Stone by Risa Yuuki
Closing 
  • Push! by Risa Yuuki

[edit] Sega's Involvement

Two games were made based on the series, both by Sega for the Sega Master System: Zillion, an action game similar in play style to Metroid and Impossible Mission and a Sequel, Zillion II: The Triformation, which was a faster paced game involving a powered armor mecha which transformed into a motorcycle.

A Zillion-based light gun.
A Zillion-based light gun.

The Light Phasers wielded by the characters looked the same as the Sega Master System's light gun. A separate Q-Zar-like toy line also by Sega was also released in stores of Toys R Us; it was also released in Brazil by Tec Toy.

Opa-opa, one of the minor characters of the anime, had its own line of games, the Fantasy Zone series (which are still being made to this day through the Sega Ages range) and even became one of Sega's mascots throughout the 80's.

This is mainly due to the sponsorship of Sega in the beginning of the series. However, later in the series, Sega stopped sponsoring the show and the Light Phasers (though self-contradictory with the earlier plot which says the Guns cannot be modified or changed) were changed to newer versions that do not look like Sega's own light phaser that was supplied with the Master System.

[edit] External links

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