| Tekkaman Blade | |
DVD cover of Teknoman |
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| 宇宙の騎士テッカマンブレード (Uchū no Kishi Tekkaman Burēdo) |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure, Science fiction, Drama and Romance. |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Negishi |
| Studio | Tatsunoko Production Sotsu Agency |
| Licensed by | Saban (Censored Version) (1995-1996) Media Blasters (Recent, Uncut Version.) |
| Network | TV Tokyo |
| English network | Network Ten UPN |
| Original run | February 18, 1992 – February 2, 1993 |
| Episodes | 49 |
Tekkaman Blade (宇宙の騎士テッカマンブレード Uchū no Kishi Tekkaman Burēdo, lit. "Space Knight Tekkaman Blade") or Teknoman is an anime series, released in 1992 and 1995 in both Japanese and English language versions.
Contents |
| Japanese version (name) | English version (name) |
|---|---|
| Balzac Asimov | Balzac Saint Jaques |
| Tekkaman | Teknoman |
| Sol Tekkaman | Teknosuit |
| Honda | Mac Mackelroy |
| Levin | Maggie Matheson |
| Noal Vereuse | Richard 'Ringo' Vereuse/Ringo Richards |
| Miyuki Aiba/Tekkaman Rapier | Shara Carter/Teknoman Rapier |
| Takaya Aiba/D-Boy/Tekkaman Blade | Nick Carter/Slade/Teknoman Blade/Blade |
| Aki Kisaragi | Star Summers |
| Milly | Tina Corman |
| Heinrich Van Freeman | Commander Jamison |
| Barnard O'Toole | Miles O'Rourke |
| General Colbert | General Xerxes Galt |
| Kengo Aiba/Tekkaman Omega | Conrad Carter/Darkon |
| Feng-Li/Tekkaman Sword | Catherine Aiyana/Teknoman Sword |
| Shinya Aiba/Tekkaman Evil | Cain Carter/Teknoman Sabre |
| Fritz Von Brown/Tekkaman Dagger | Fritz Heidenreich/Teknoman Dagger (Gunnar) |
| Goddard/Tekkaman Axe | Grant Goddard/Teknoman Axe |
| Molotov/Tekkaman Lance | Kengo Moroto/Teknoman Lance |
| Radam | Venomoids |
During United Earth Year 192, the Earth is under attack from an extraterrestrial enemy known as the Radam; parasites that take humans as hosts. The Radam forces comprise of grotesque bug-like monsters that are led by armored soldiers known as the Tekkamen. Surrounding the Earth is an enormous man-made ring-shaped structure known as the Orbital Ring System. The Orbital Ring was a space station that once served as a launch point into space and was constructed well before the arrival of the alien invaders. It was thus the first human structure attacked and occupied by Radam, with its human inhabitants having either fled or been killed. Now it serves merely as a battle ground for the military against the aliens.
Fighting against the Radam and their Tekkamen are the Space Knights. Led by Commander Heinrich von Freeman, the Space Knights are a special defense force and Earth's last hope for defeating the Radam. The Space Knights consist of Noal, the pilot of the Space Knights' ship "Blue Earth"; Aki, the Blue Earth navigator; Milly, the communications operator; Levin, computer mechanic; and Honda, mechanic and repairs. The Space Knights have been unsuccessful at repelling the aliens until the arrival of D-Boy, a young man who has the ability to transform into an armored warrior known as Tekkaman Blade.
Commanding the alien forces is Tekkaman Omega, a Tekkaman general who leads the alien invasion of the planet Earth. Omega's base is located on the dark side of the Moon, where he waits for the moment to gain enough strength to raise his spacecraft from the Moon's surface, along with his Tekkamen soldiers, preparing for their conquest of the planet Earth and the universe.
Also commanding the Radam armies are other Tekkamen. Once ordinary humans, the Tekkamen were captured and transformed by the Radam to assist in the takeover of Earth. They are endowed with impenetrable armor, super-human strength, and quantum energy weapons. The Tekkamen transform using power drawn from their System Box crystals that are unique to each holder. Blade is one of a handful of Tekkamen. Unlike the others, he fights to defend Earth and for the most part, is free of the brainwashing influence which the Radam imposed over their captives to make them subservient.
Before the arrival of the Radam there was a deep space exploration ship called the Argos. It was the Argos that first encountered the Radam probe ship. Aboard the Argos were the Aiba family: Blade's family and their ship crew. Whilst exploring the outer rings of Saturn, the Argos' radar picks up an unusual gravitational disturbance. Going to investigate, the crew discover the disturbance to be an alien ship, and as they get closer, they are drawn in by a tractor beam. Excited at the prospect of encountering alien life, the crew board the vessel and discover the Radam.
Radam "Tek System" plants rain down upon the crew, beginning the process of turning them into Tekkamen. All of the crew aboard the ship were put into Tek System pods, though only the most ideal humans could become Tekkamen. While this occurred, the Argos was slowly being assimilated into the Radam spacecraft. Over time, Takaya Aiba's father was rejected by the process and uses what little time he had left to free one member of his family; Blade, who was the only one still not brainwashed by the Radam. It is through the crew of the Argos that the Radam discovers the planet Earth and plan their invasion. On his last legs, Blade's father helps him into the escape pod and before activating the Argos' self-destruct sequence, he casts Blade off into space telling him that the fate of the Earth rests in his hands. Upon the explosion, the Radam spacecraft crash lands on the dark side of the Moon.
Takaya Aiba travels back to Earth for six months, in the confines of his tiny pod, alone with his thoughts. By the time he arrives, the Earth is already under heavy attack from the Radam. Fueled by his hatred for the Radam, Takaya bursts free from his pod and begins to attack them. The attack draws the attention of a Tekkaman called Dagger. The two fight and Blade is sent hurtling towards Earth, however, his armor protects him and he crash lands on Earth without sustaining serious injury. His arrival attracts the attention of two Space Knights, Noal Vereuse and Aki Kisaragi who discover a naked and bleeding Takaya walking out of a crater, and take him back to their headquarters.
In the beginning, Takaya is mysterious and hostile towards the otherwise helpful Space Knights, however, he has no memory of anything before the battle on the orbital ring with Tekkaman Dagger as time progresses, he begins to respect and admire them for their dedication in even the toughest of situations, and eventually develops a relationship with Aki.
The Space Knights, with the help of Takaya is given the nickname of Dangerous-Boy ("D-Boy") by Noal because of his dangerous ideology, slowly begin to repel the Radam troops until, during a battle with Tekkaman Dagger, Blade's crystal is shattered, rendering him unable to transform again into Tekkaman Blade. Takaya gives up hope, however Levin technically develops a battle robot, who later takes the name Pegas. Pegas contains the shards of Blade's crystal and amplifies its power, allowing Blade to transform once more. Pegas and Blade develop a close friendship, despite Pegas being a robot. In his first transformation using Pegas, Blade challenges Dagger and easily overpowers him, destroying him with a blast from his shoulder cannons known as the Voltekka.
Eventually more Tekkamen arrive on Earth to challenge Blade, led by Tekkaman Evil, Blade's twin brother; Tekkaman Lance, Tekkaman Axe, and Tekkaman Sword, are all keen to destroy him. Blade's sister, Miyuki, also arrives on Earth. However, like Blade, she is not under the control of the Radam. After pulling herself free from Omega's base, she arrives very ill and is given a blood transfusion from Takaya and Aki. Evil, Lance, Axe and Sword attack the Space Knights' base, attempting to kill Miyuki. Although outnumbered, Miyuki strikes back and fights them, eventually self-destructing (in the form of her own Voltekka) in a vain attempt to destroy the other Tekkamen. Blade, now left without a family, is strengthened by these events and resolves to destroy the Radam. He manages to kill Lance and Axe and later gains the power to take on the Blaster transformation mode, but at the expense of having worse effects on his brain and body. Evil is given the same ability to serve as the final line of Omega's defense, while Sword is killed by Balzac as they both burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, preventing the Blue Earth from reaching the Moon.
Towards the end of the war, Blade and Evil meet for one last time to fight. They battle and eventually Blade kills Evil. As he dies, Evil is freed from the Radam parasite's control and hands Blade his crystal, instructing him that he will need its power to reach Omega's base on the Moon. Evil also tells Blade that despite all the events that has led to his death, he is glad to have fought his own brother on equal ground for the first time, and that he is glad that he became Tekkaman Evil.
Blade takes off on Pegas whilst falling further and further into the depths of his rage. He finally arrives on the Moon and confronts Omega, who reveals the whole Radam plan and that he is Kengo, Blade's eldest brother. Omega has begun to resurrect the alien mothership, to descend upon Earth. Blade attacks Omega, who proves too powerful and easily defeats Blade. Omega is about to kill Blade when Pegas sacrifices itself for Blade, stepping in front of the killing blow. Pegas' last words are a farewell to Blade.
The destruction of Pegas sends Blade over the edge and he erupts, transforming him into Blaster Tekkaman mode for the last time. Before striking the final blow of the first Radam War, Blade says to his brother, "Come on, let's go home now." His spaceship explodes; as parts of the spacecraft fall to Earth, so too does Blade, stripped of his armor and crash landing. The series ends with Blade and Aki watching a sunset and Noal recalling what a miracle it was that himself and Blade had survived the war. However, prices were paid, as their comrade Balzac dies during his battle with Sword and Blade is paralyzed and wheelchair-bound, can barely speak and is almost completely amnesiac.
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Paul Schrier (English)
Blade finishes his transformation and destroys Lance with a Blaster Voltekka in his upgraded form. Lance is capable of shooting darts out of his shoulder as well as being able to cling onto walls and hang from ceilings.[1]
She is a bright and young Space Knight, and seems to be the one that Blade trusts at first, he certainly confides in her the condition of his 30 minutes time limit in a more compassionate way than he does to anyone else, even Aki. She looks like Blade's younger sister, Miyuki, a coincidence not left unused. When Blade exceeded his 30 minute time limit and became a Radam warrior, she was the only one who could bring him back and he reverted back to his normal state, horrified at what he had done.
Voiced by: Hirotaka Suzuoki (Japanese), Michael Forest (English)
A strong, tall commander, who leads the Space Knights well. He is extremely concerned with the safety of his military squad, as shown by his absolute unwillingness to force Blade into battle, or to undergo the evolution process. He is the one who discovered the information on the Argos, prompting Blade to fill in the rest of the gaps. Freeman seems to suffer from a form of albinism: he has red eyes and white hair, although his skin is not unusually pale.
A wide, caring mechanic. He designed Pegas with Levin's help. He is brave and will not step down from the line of Duty. After the attack on the Space Knights HQ, he chose to stay with Freeman and build the new command center rather than travel with Aki, Noal and Levin to destroy the Tekkamen.
Levin is a transsexual and a highly skilled mechanic.[3] Levin also fantasizes about Tekkaman Blade's armor calling him "Sexy" in earlier episodes, to have herself brought back to reality by Honda. She is extremely talented in mechanics, cooking, and history. She chooses to travel with Aki and Noal in the land vehicle, the 'Green Earth'.
The mobile support unit used by Blade to transform into Tekkaman Blade after his crystal is shattered. Pegas has a deep, bland strong voice which is easily recognizable. He can be activated by voice command, or by remote from the Space Knight Central Command. He was named "Pegas" from the beginning in the original version, but the dubbed versions instead state that O'Toole named him "Pegus" after the mythological flying horse Pegasus. His trademark is singing a soldier's song The Irish "Danny Boy", a tune which O'Toole always sings; to Levin's annoyance, O'Toole saves the song in Pegas' memory banks, although Blade requests that it be left in, much to the surprise of the other Space Knights.
The leader of a special commando unit, who was stranded on the Space Ring. At first, he didn't believe in Tekkaman Blade's abilities until he was saved by him. He teaches Blade about how soldiers have lives too. When O'Toole loses three of his soldiers, he asks Blade how the families of those lost soldiers would feel, which made Blade realize that he can put trust in others, specifically the Space Knights. In addition, he taught Pegas to sing the song "Danny Boy". Unfortunately, he is killed by Lance in order to give Tekkaman Blade the time needed to upgrade into Blade's Blaster form. He was buried in the flower field hidden deep under the Antarctic Space Knight Base.
An arrogant soldier who was a spy for the military commander, General Colbert, who maliciously taunted Blade and the Space Knights. Freeman intentionally gave him the data of the Tekkaman, implying that the Space Knights will need all the help they can get, leading to the creation of the Sol-Tekkaman suits, with Balzac piloting the first one. He led a strike team on the Space Ring thinking it was the main base; however, it wasn't and fell into a trap set by Evil, who proceeded to annihilate Balzac's military squad. Balzac escaped the massacre and returned to Earth where he was saved by a woman named Rachael and her young brother Rick. For several months, he stayed with Rachael and Rick, finally understanding what it feels like to have people care for him, but also seeking revenge for the death of Marlou, his best friend. He ends up helping the Space Knights, giving extra firepower to the team, which already had Blade and Noal. He and Noal still show rivalry towards each other, but without a sense of grudge against each other unlike before. Near the end, both he and Noal take on Tekkaman Sword. Balzac used Noal's suit to use a special cannon designed by Freeman to negate the Tek Set. He managed to kill Sword in battle, however, she grabbed Balzac at the last moment, taking him along with her. As they descended, Balzac thought of Rachael one last time before shooting her in the chest. As they both plummeted towards Earth, Balzac burns to death on his entry towards the Earth's atmosphere, with Sword burning up along with him. In the dub, Balzac survived in the final battle.
| Japanese version (name) | English version (name) | Height (m) | Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sol-Tekkaman 1 (Original and Custom) (Balzac Asimov) | Tekno-Suit 1/Balzac Saint Jaques | 2.30 | 181 |
| Sol-Tekkaman 2 (Noal Vereuse) | Tekno-Suit 2/Richard 'Ringo' Vereuse | 2.30 | 181 |
| Miyuki Aiba/Tekkaman Rapier | Shara Carter/Teknoman Rapier | 1.95 | 70 |
| D-Boy/Takaya Aiba Tekkaman Blade |
Nick Carter/Teknoman Blade | 2.32 | 81 |
| Blaster Blade | Super Teknoman Blade/Teknoman Plus | 2.38 | 87 |
| Kengo Aiba/Tekkaman Omega | Conrad Carter/Darkon | 2.41 | 108 |
| Shinya Aiba/Tekkaman Evil | Cain Carter/Teknoman Sabre | 2.36 | 90 |
| Fritz von Brown/Tekkaman Dagger | Fritz Heidenreich/Teknoman Dagger (Gunnar) | 2.40 | 89 |
| Goddard/Tekkaman Axe | Grant Goddard/Teknoman Axe | 2.32 | 90 |
| Molotov/Tekkaman Lance | Kengo Moroto/Teknoman Lance | 2.42 | 86 |
| Feng-Li/Tekkaman Sword | Catherine Aiyana/Teknoman Sword | 2.20 | 70 |
| Pegas | Teknobot/Pegus | 2.70 | 6500 |
A Tekkaman is a human who has been biologically altered by the Radam's "Tek System" plants. Not all humans are biologically compatible with the "Tek System" plants. Incompatible candidates are eventually ejected from the plants and die shortly afterwards.
Those that do survive gain the ability to transform into a powerful armored form. The armor is capable of self-propelled flight, functions as an environmental suit, and is virtually invulnerable to most forms of attack, Blade withstood a nuclear explosion at ground zero without apparent ill effect.
All Tekkamen transform into their armor by use of a crystal that is stored in their bodies while not in use, known as a System Box. Blade's crystal is shattered early on by Tekkaman Dagger and he is forced to use Pegas to transform. In addition, the crystal is capable of enabling the Tekkaman to travel through space at high speeds (without his crystal, Blade is Earth-bound without the assistance of the Blue Earth).
The armor also has a number of built-in offensive systems. First, physical strength is enhanced considerably. (Tekkaman Lance also demonstrated extraordinary strength in human form, lifting a man of the ground one handed, and throwing him hard enough to crack concrete). For melee combat, a Tekkaman uses a spear-like weapon called a Tekk Lancer (テックランサー Tekkuransā). The lances wielded by some Tekkamen had special abilities: Dagger's could double as a bow capable of firing energized arrows, Blade's had launchable boomerang blades, and his and Evil (could generate an electrical charge in addition to being used as a throwing star. Blade also had a grappling spike that could be fired out of the right wrist of his gauntlet as was shown at the end of episode three when he tows the Blue Earth. Miyuki and Evil are later shown using similar tools.
Most Tekkamen have access to Voltekka (ボルテッカ Borutekka), massively powerful energy cannons. Evil is capable of using his blasters to power a controllable "ball lightning" blast known as a "Psy-Voltekka", and Blade is later able to boost the power of his blast using Pegas' expansion to create the "High-colt Voltekka" attack.
Blade and Evil later evolve into a Blaster Tekkaman. During battle, they can change their armor into an enhanced form which boosts their Voltekka weapons and speed considerably, and in Blade's case, he is able to perform variations of the Voltekka such as the "Lancer Voltekka" where he throws a Voltekka charge using his Tekk-Lancer (a technique also used by Axe) and the powerful "Blaster Voltekka", where the energy is built up in front of Blade before he unleashes it in the same manner as his original Voltekka attack. This form is temporary, as they are shown reverting to their original armors either when they don't need the boost in power anymore, or when they simply lack the strength to uphold it. This enhancement also has serious neurological effects for both of them, especially Blade as he was suffering from excess fatigue and strain before he even gained this ability.
Blade had a technique called Crash Intrude (クラッシュ イントルード Kurasshu Intorūdo) in which his armor generated a bird-shaped aura of green energy, allowing him to destroy enemy targets by crashing into them. Miyuki is also shown using this technique.
There have been a total of three video games based on the Tekkaman Blade anime series. The first one was on Game Boy and is a simple scrolling action game. The next Tekkaman Blade game was on Super Nintendo and is a side-scrolling action game mixed with player vs. computer fighting scenes. The final game was released on the Japanese home computer system the PC98 and is a strategic game.
The Tekkaman Blade characters have been incorporated into the Super Robot Wars video game series, a long-running series of turn-based strategy games operating under the premise of a crossover between various mecha anime. Tekkaman Blade has been featured in the Super Robot Wars Judgement and Super Robot Wars W games.
Both Tekkaman Blade and the original Tekkaman: The Space Knight (which the series is based on) appear as playable characters in the game Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars. A Tekkaman Blade themed stage, based in the Cargo Bay of the Space Ring, is featured as well.
Openings
Endings
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