MegaBeast Investigator Juspion
MegaBeast Investigator Juspion, also known as Space Wolf Juspion or simply Juspion, is a Japanese tokusatsu television series and part of the Metal Hero Series franchise. Produced by Toei Company, it was originally broadcast from 15 March 1985 to 24 March 1986, running for 46 episodes. For distribution purposes, Toei refers to this television series as Juspion.
Plot
While reading the Galactic Bible, the space hermit Edjinn learns of a shocking prophecy: When the dark god Satan Goth awakens, the universe will be ravaged by giant monsters filled with rage. After Satan Goth appears and the prophecy is set in motion, Edjinn orders Juspion, who Edjinn has been tutoring, to stop him and combat the corrupted MegaBeasts. Juspion travels with his friends Anri the android and Miya the alien across the galaxy in his battleship Daileon to confront Satan Goth and his army. Eventually, Juspion lands on Earth, which, it turns out, is a prolific source of MegaBeasts, and many of them are still asleep in various locations.Amongst Juspion's arsenal is his suit of armor Metal Tech, made of a very rare mineral called Edjinium and equipped with a visor called Sensor Eye that can scan the environment with x-ray and night vision. He also wields a Plasma Blazer Sword, which he can contract for storage and infuse with plasma during combat, and a Beam Scanner Gun. His warship Daileon also houses the Super Planetary Combat Tank Garbin, which doubles as the Garbin Jet, and a motorcycle called Super Planetary Machine Iron Wolf. Daileon itself can transform into a giant robot called Super Planetary Battle Giant Daileon. Daileon is frequently Juspion's final and most devastating tool to be used against MegaBeasts.
Characters
Daileon crew
Based on the silver Super Planetary Battleship Daileon, Juspion travels across worlds to pursue Satan Goth. When facing a rampaging MegaBeast, Juspion converts Daileon into the Super Planetary Combat Giant Daileon to defeat MegaBeasts with its Cosmic Crash double punches.JuspionThe main hero of the series, Juspion is an orphan raised by Edjinn, until he embarks on his quest to fight the MegaBeasts and defeat Satan Goth. Juspion travels between planets to stop Satan Goth until he arrives on Earth. His Metal-Tech suit is made from the very rare galactic mineral Edjinium and grants superhuman capabilities to its owner. The name "Juspion" is a portmanteau of "Justice" and "Champion"Anri
An android created by Edjinn, she is Juspion's companion in his journey. Being a machine, Anri is immune to evil powers.Rare-Beast Miya
A baby alien creature found by Juspion and Anri on planet Beezee when her parents were killed saving them from the native hunters. Soon after, Juspion adopts Miya as a pet. She is very friendly, intelligent, sociable and an excellent cook. She originally doesn't speak, sometimes only repeating her name, until Anri teaches her to speak properly beginning in episode 22.
Vehicles
Super Planetary Machine Iron WolfJuspion's silver motorcycle.Super Planetary Combat Tank Garbin
Juspion's silver tank, which splits into the Garbin Tank with twin drills and the Garbin Jet.
Allies
EdjinnA space hermit and scientist, Edjinn is the descendant of prophets who defended the Galactic Bible for millennia. While raising Juspion, he serves as Juspion's spiritual guide and mentor. He sacrifices his own life at the end of the series by confronting Satan Goth alone to give Juspion the time he needs to find the "Galactic Tarzan".Boome-Run
After his older brother, an Interpol investigator, was killed by Satan Goth's forces, this medical student vowed revenge and became an International US Marshal, fighting with his twin boomerangs. The name "Boome-Run" is a portmanteau of "Boomerang" and "Home Run".The Nanbara Family
Photographer Kenichirou Nanbara, his older daughter Kanoko Nanbara and his younger son Kenta Nanbara became closely linked with Juspion when Kenichirou took a photo of the Golden Bird. It turned out that Kanoko was one of the five children chosen by the Golden Bird to house its power until the time came.Gary and Hannah
Juspion's biological parents, they worked for the health of animals across the galaxy. Gary was an animal caretaker for the Galactic Federation while Hannah was a zoologist. They were both killed when their wrecked spaceship, attacked by Zampa, fell on Edjinn's Planet. They both reappeared as spirits to help Juspion defeat Zampa.The Golden Bird
The guardian phoenix god of the galaxy, a manifestation of the energies of righteousness. The bird scattered itself into seven lights that choose Juspion, Kanoko, along with four other children, and a baby born from the light to serve as its vessels until all seven are brought together so that Golden Bird can leave their bodies and become whole again for the final battle with Satan Goth, turning itself into a Golden Sword used by Daileon to slay Super Satan Goth.Tarzan
A baby mentioned in a prophecy in the Galactic Bible born from one of the seven lights of the Golden Bird, he landed on Earth, sleeping in a life support pod, as the sole survivor of a spaceship attacked by pirates. Juspion saw himself in the baby and named him Tarzan, adopting the child after Super Satan Goth's defeat.
MegaBeast Empire
Satan GothA being born of the negative energy of the cosmos, the great god-demon whose revival was foretold in the Galactic Bible with the power to enrage the creatures, turning them in vicious monsters. Satan Goth's objective is to create a MegaBeast Empire in the galaxy and rule it from the Planet of the MegaBeasts. Originally a giant pupil stage resembling a cross between Darth Vader and Megatron, in the endgame arc, Satan Goth reaches the peak of his power and molts to become Great Satan Goth, possessing a Cthulhu-like appearance and the power to bend nature to his will, turning cities into forests overnight. He was defeated by the Daileon Cosmic Harley attack where Daileon brandished a Golden Sword created by the Golden Bird in the final episode.Madgallant
The son of Satan Goth and his heir to the MegaBeast Empire. Juspion's antagonist throughout the series, he is capable of fighting him with his sword and with his black VTOL 6-legged insectoid walker/plane. He wears a reminiscent black Metal-Tech suit similar to Juspion's and can take on human form. Madgallant is destroyed once by Juspion in episode 29, but is soon resurrected by Gilza; in the penultimate episode of the series, he has a climatic final battle with Juspion. After being badly injured by Juspion in this battle and furious by refusing to admit that a "mere human" could be stronger than a super life-form, he turns himself into a giant Satan Goth for a few moments, similar to his father's first form, and tries to attack the hero, but due to being previously wounded he returns to his original form and dies right after.Amazonesses
Two revived Amazon women created under Madgallant's rule in order to locate the long-extinct Pirazar and revive it as a weapon against Juspion.The Four Evil Warlords
The hirelings of Madgallant.
- * Ikki
- * Zampa
- * Brima and Gyol
A sea coral-shielded seal-faced undead samurai warrior who lived deep in the sea since his imprisonment 900 years ago - in a flashback explaining that time, under his real name Tokifusa Unno, Zamurai planned to kill respected general Minamoto no Yoritomo for the Heikei in exchange for a huge reward, but he was defeated by Minamoto and was imprisoned in the sea, bringing forth his current story; back to present day, he and Madgallant worked on a plan to create dolphin missile-launchers to destroy submarines and battleships around the world in exchange for control over the MegaBeast Empire's dolphin farm. Zamurai fights with a spear and hidden swords and is practically immortal thanks to leeching off of his MegaBeast Seablur's life force.Girarist
A mariachi-looking space murderer. He lured Juspion into a cave to study all of the hero's weapons and powers in order to kill and entomb him forever. Girarist was the only villain in the whole series not to die at Juspion's hands.Enchantress Chikita
Brima's teacher of dark arts, she placed a curse on Kanoko to try to discover where the Golden Bird is. She had many supernatural abilities, including powers of illusion and shooting spider webs from her hands to entangle Juspion. She also used her pet giant Spida to attack Juspion, aiding it by using her illusions to make it impossible for any enemy to detect her true location. Juspion later discovered that Spida was an illusion made by Chikita and fired his Daileon Beam at it.Gasami brothers
Space mercenary brothers who pillaged and destroyed several planets. Gasami the Younger is first terminated by Juspion; in a devilish attempt to avenge his brother, Gasami the Elder tackles the hero and gets destroyed as well.Cutie Girls
A trio of young evil women composed of Cutie Ace, Cutie Heart and Cutie Queen. They kidnapped young people and turned them into bestial creatures under Madgallant's control by draining their essence. Their true form is the Cerberus-like Triple-Faced Bestial Warrior.AI-GER Man
An android with a western face who extensively studied Juspion's and Daileon's attributes in order to predict their attacks. He and his MegaBeast AI-GER could only be defeated when Juspion performed a new fighting move unknown to AI-GER Man, causing the latter's downfall.Galactic Witch Gilza
An alien witch who was responsible for bringing Madgallant back to life when he was first defeated in battle by Juspion. Gilza is precisely an expert in curses and general dark arts. Gilza had successfully removed Juspion's soul with a potion but it was returned to him shortly after. She had with her an enchanted knife that was her focus in battle and used it to try to remove Juspion's soul during the last fight. Her knife was the only thing that could harm her and Juspion used it to weaken her and finally defeat Gilza with the Cosmic Halley attack.Silk, Genga, and Zauru
Three yakuza-styled mobsters, hunted down incessantly by Boome-Run for provoking several wars in the world. They allied with Madgallant in a double, menacing plan of kidnapping several children and demanding a ransom in the form of gold bars stolen from the Japan National Bank. This plan, however, was to divert Juspion and US Marshal Boome-Run's attention while Madgallant worked on his plan: to sink Japan's islands into the ocean by nuking them with small nuclear warheads. Silk is perhaps the only human in the entire series to be defeated by Juspion's Cosmic Halley attack, perishing along with his two bodyguards.Chip
An old alien scientist from Planet L who sells Helper Robots on Earth that are really lethal weapons working for Satan Goth to rig bombs to people's appliances.Alien Braggle
a reptilian-looking alien specializing in culinary arts, he created an evil duplicate of Miya in order to lure Juspion into a devious trap involving poisoned food. Braggle can fire small powerful energy orbs and fights with a rapier.Gilmaza
The "Specter Queen" of the Dark Galaxy and Gilza's elder sister, debuting shortly after Gilza's death. In order to receive some of Satan Goth's evil power, Gilmaza infiltrated several planets across the universe and slowly caused the extinction of these civilizations through futile strategies - such as, in Planet Zabos, by prophesizing the youth to the Church of Satan Goth, corrupting them and causing the planet to spiral into crime; or, in Planet Sweet, by cleverly manipulating the leaders of East and West, leading them ultimately to nuclear war disguised as a sorceress. She died with Madgallant's foot soldiers after Satan Goth was killed and the energy he released vaporized them all. She has her Space Ninjas as her top soldiers.Space Ninjas
Gilmaza's top soldiers created through her black magic, they wear suits of black armor differing only in the color of their forehead plates. They all have two "default attacks" and one peculiar fighting "special technique". They only revealed their true forms after having their heads split open by Juspion's Plasma Blazer Sword.
- * Space Ninja Fire
- * Space Ninja Wind
- * Space Ninja Earth
- * Space Ninja Water
- * Space Ninja Wood
A bounty hunter whose reputation reached the Dark Galaxy that was brainwashed by Gilmaza to kill his best friend Juspion.
- The MegaBeast Empire also is shown to have a rather diverse troop of unnamed foot soldiers.
MegaBeasts
- MegaBeast Marigos
- MegaBeast Hanedar
- MegaBeast Tetsugoth
- MegaBeast Namagerath
- MegaBeast Gaios
- Unnamed MegaBeast
- Gelgon
- MegaBeast Iwagorilla
- MegaBeast Onideviler
- MegaBeast Kidamar
- MegaBeast Pirazahl
- MegaBeast Gamagorath
- MegaBeast Kabegonta
- MegaBeast Umiking
- MegaBeast Portsanky
- The Dymanian
- MegaBeast Head-Dreamer
- MegaBeast Umiblur
- MegaBeast Hakaburn
- MegaBeast Magnadar
- MegaBeast Kumorda
- MegaBeast Shishion
- MegaBeast Mok
- MegaBeast Donges
- MegaBeast Boga
- MegaBeast Sodomon
- MegaBeast AI-GER
- MegaBeast Gasler
- MegaBeast Balloom
- MegaBeast Deathchillas
- MegaBeast Mazin
- MegaBeast Phodon
- MegaBeast Jimushi
- MegaBeast Ebizohl
- *"Miya's MegaBeast Form"
- MegaBeast Aquarocky
- MegaBeast Diagorath
- MegaBeast Destran
- MegaBeast Badorgez
Episodes
On January 6, 1986 the show later aired on Mondays instead of Fridays.- Planet of the Giant Beasts: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Yoshiaki Kobayashi
- Tragedy of the Super-A.I. Planet Sakura: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Yoshiaki Kobayashi
- Protect this Galactic Boy's Dreams!: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Set Course for the Third Planet: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Look! That's Your Dad's Star: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- The Child Beast and the Children: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- Super-Powered Rock-Gorilla's Massive Counterattack: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Shining Smiles Over Green Fields: Lott and Sachi's Flight: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- A Certain Tree's Tale: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Makoto Tsuji
- The Female Spies and the Ancient Mystery Fish: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Makoto Tsuji
- Ribbit! The March of Tsukuba's Giant Frog: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Satan Goth fears the Divine Prophecy: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Assistance from Space: Rampage of the Four Evil Warlords: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- Break up the Japanese Islands! Operation: Attack Lake Hamana: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- Dream or Illusion? The Golden Bird Takes Flight: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Is this the Future of Humanity? The Fearsome MegaBeast Empire: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Rushing Through a Sea of Love and Tears: The galactic Tarzan: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- The Unstoppable, Red-Eyed Combat Android: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- The Cursed Sea-Dweller Laughs: S.O.S. From the Sea of Dolphins: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- My Daughter! My Son! This is Our Last Chance!: written by Haruya Yamazaki, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Courage is One Boy Pitching a 160 kph Fastball : written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- The Girl Becomes a Demon: Sorceress Chikita's Terrible Curse: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- The Forces of Evil Behind the MegaBeast Show of the Century: written by Haruya Yamazaki, directed by Makoto Tsuji
- Beware the Hundred-Million-Yen Salary!: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Makoto Tsuji
- Save Tokyo from Disappearing! Deathmatch of Good vs. Evil: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- The Land Roars! Daileon's Furious Counterattack: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Sprint Down the Singing, Swinging Road of Youth!: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- The Cyber-Beast's Deadly Data: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- The Death of Madgallant! But Wait, Gilza is...: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Red Balloon, Blue Balloon: Balloon Panic: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Help Me, Mom! The Live Broadcast of Terror: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- The Helper Robots' Night Job: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- Even the Bullied Kids Dance: The Great Magical Battle: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Break Through the Iron Fortress! The Love Between Father and Son: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- The Bible is Found! Now, for a Frightening Truth...: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Makoto Tsuji
- The Radiance of a New Life that Summons Forth a Miracle: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Makoto Tsuji
- The Full Course of Fear! Would You Care for an Infernal Cuisine?: written by Haruya Yamazaki, directed by Michio Konishi
- My Sister is Acting Weird! The Strange Pin Plan: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Michio Konishi
- Mio's Kiss Has One Million Horsepower: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Shohei Tojo
- The Rich Man Plan! Mystery of the Diamond Meteor Shower: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Shohei Tojo
- Time to Duel: The Justice of the Deadeye Gunman You Summoned: written by Haruya Yamazaki, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Friends from the Stars: Pippi and Hiroshi's Story: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Alice saw Satan Goth's Wonderland: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Shohei Tojo
- You Survived? The Ancient Haunt Emerges: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Shohei Tojo
- I Am the Son of Satan Goth: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
- Humanity All Across the Galaxy Joins Hands: written by Shozo Uehara, directed by Takeshi Ogasawara
Cast
- Juspion
- Anri
- Miya
- Edjinn
- Boome-Run
- Kenichirou Nanbara
- Kanoko Nanbara
- Kenta Nanbara
- Kumiko
- Lott
- Sachi
- Satan Goth
- Madgallant
- Brima
- Gyol
- Zampa
- Ikki
- Gasami the Elder
- Gasami the Younger
- Gilza
- Gilmaza
- Narrator
Songs
;Opening theme- "I am Justice! Juspion"
- *Lyrics
- *Composition and Arrangement
- *Artist
;Ending theme
- "Space Wolf Juspion"
- *Lyrics
- *Composition and Arrangement
- *Artist
Broadcasts, Home Video & Streaming
- In its home country of Japan, the series originally aired on TV Asahi and other ANN affiliates starting on March 15, 1985. The first 34 episodes aired on Friday evenings at 7:30PM JST until December 27th of that year. The last 12 episodes then aired on Monday evenings at 7:00PM JST starting on January 5, 1986 until it concluded on March 24th, of that year. Then later, the series got released on VHS by Toei Video between November 1990 and January 1992. Only six volumes were released as each volume contains three episodes, with episodes 1 through 18. They had the episodes listed in English, below the title, "Space Wolf Juspion". This has created some confusion and has led some to believe that is the actual title of the series and translation of "Kyojuu Tokusou." The Space Wolf name is simply one of Juspion's nicknames much like the "Galactic Tarzan" in order for him to have a title to introduce himself by. Also, immediately after the show ended, a compilation video was released entitled "I am Justice! Kyoju Tokusou Jaspion Video Special", which included some newly filmed scenes. Due to a policy change Toei made where they would only release full home videos of their most recent works, they stopped releasing episodes on VHS there. It would be given a DVD release in 2003 between May 21 and November 21, where the full series would be released for the first time. There are four volumes in total, each containing 2 discs and 12 episodes each, while volumes 2 and 4 contain only 11 episodes. The newly filmed scenes taken from the compilation video is included as a bonus feature on the Volume 4 DVD.
- In Thailand, the series was broadcast on three different channels over the years there. It first aired on Channel 5 in 1985. Then it aired a second time on Channel 7 from 1987 to 1988 and aired every Sunday at 10:00AM. Then in 2000, it aired with a new Thai dub on MCOT handled mainly by Nirun Boonyarattaphan and his team and was shown under Space Fox Juspion. Video Square also distributed this Thai dub onto home video.
- In France, the series aired as Jaspion with a French dub licensed and produced by AB Groupe with the dubbing work by Studio SOFRECI. It aired on the Club Dorothée block on TF1 on August 31, 1988. When it originally aired, only the first twenty episodes were broadcast mainly because it was competing against its successor being Jikuu Senshi Spielban. Because it was also being shown around the same time and on the same channel, it caused the series to suffer. But later on, the other episodes would eventually air in due time after. It also received a VHS release in the late 1980s part of the Club Dorothée Collection by Dagobert Video.
- In 1990, it was aired on GMA Network in the Philippines with a Tagalog dub.
- In South Korea, Daeyoung Panda acquired the rights to sell VHS tapes of the series with a Korean dub and was first available on April 20, 1999 under Invincible Jaspion.
- During Otakon 2018, Discotek Media announced that they had licensed the show for a one-disc SD on BD release in North America. The SD Blu-ray was released on August 27, 2019. And in 2021, the complete series was streaming on Crunchyroll, making the first tokusatsu from Toei to be streaming on the service. Episodes of the show has since been added to YouTube's Toei Tokusatsu World Official channel as well.
Popularity in Brazil
The series has had a huge popularity in Brazil for decades. Toshihiko Egawara himself bought the series over to the region under the name "O Fantástico Jaspion" and it was readily available on VHS throughout Mid-1987 with all 46 episodes dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese and sold throughout several volumes. Once it was proven to be a big success through that market, it then made its full big premiere on Prime Time in the region on the now-defunct Rede Manchete on February 22, 1988, with all episodes aired in due time. This was after several television networks had turned down to air the series. It premiered in Brazil on the same day as another Toei Tokusatsu series Dengeki Sentai Changeman which aired as Esquadrão Relâmpago Changeman on the same channel. This series was a huge hit and has enjoyed unprecedented success in that country. It was the first Metal Heroes series and the very first Tokusatsu series to be made in the 1980s to ever air in the region at a time when mostly re-runs of 1960s and 1970s tokusatsu programs were airing. Not only did more Metal Heroes series get shown, but also other tokusatsu and even anime television series later eventually aired on TV in Brazil. Years later, Focus Filmes gave the series a full DVD release with all episodes included with both the original Japanese audio with Brazilian Portuguese subtitles and the Brazilian Portuguese dub included. The series' successor Jikuu Senshi Spielban which has no connection to this series, was localized in the region under Jaspion 2: Spielvan. However, the main hero was still called Spielvan in the Brazilian Portuguese dub.In February 2018, it was announced that Juspion would get a remake movie produced by Brazilian company Sato Company, with Toei's endorsement and approval. The movie's cast was expected to be announced in 2019, with the film set initially to be released in the early 2020s. And then in 2020, the Brazilian publisher JBC launched a comic book in manga-style titled O Regresso de Jaspion , with the approval of Toei. The story follows the end of the TV show.
A representative at Toei speculated about the popularity “I think that the Brazilians, who have an easy-going national character, were curious about the clear and futuristic drama and accepted it.”