Iterations: Other Places Gatchaman Has Appeared

Fame Has Its Benefits

Thanks to the ongoing popularity of Gatchaman, Battle of the Planets, G-Force, and Eagle Riders, the characters continue to appear in products, OVAs, games, and parodies. Here we hit some of the highlights.

2000: NTT East Commercials Featuring SMAP

In 2000, the NTT telephone company produced a series of short commercials to promote their ISDN services. The ads featured the popular J-pop band SMAP dressed up as the Gatchaman characters; there were two animated ads and two live-action ads. The characters were redesigned especially for the commercials, and some fans refer to the ads as "Gatchaman 2000" or "live-action Gatchaman." The commercials are available all over the web, try Google Video.

2001: Tatsunoko Baby

In the future, six aliens (the team and Baby's version of Nambu) crash to earth and must raise enough money to fix their spaceship. The web-based project showcases the characters' adventures. The site is in Japanese, but you can click around for pictures and animations.

2002: Time Bokan

Time Bokan was a late 1970's action/comedy series featuring the mecha/sentai concept. In the OVAs, villains from various Tatsunoko series are pitted against one another so Tatsunoko heroes can save the day (and get lampooned in the process). Just a few of the cameos include Casshan, Tekkaman, Speed Racer, and of course the Gatchaman team.

2004: Nurse Witch Komugi

Komugi is a not-so-impressive cosplay idol, but a goddess gives Komagui magical powers to help save the world. In Nurse Witch Komugi, Vol. 1 - A Vaccine for Humanity, Komugi dresses up as the Gatchaman team during her adventures. (The characters all look surprisingly good in Komugi's signature rabbit ears.)

2006: Gatchapin

Gatchapin is a Gatchaman parody developed for Fuji TV Kids featuring the team as...well, at first glance they looked like inchworms to me, but after poking around the Gatchapin site, I've decided they look like turtles. I read someplace that they're supposed to be dinosaurs. And Dr. Nambu (renamed Dr. Mukkun) looks disturbingly like Gossamer from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. More information at Fuji Television Kids (English) or Gatchapin.com (Japanese).