Ryusei Ningen Zon

Toho, the film company that made the Godzilla movies, also made this 26 episode TV series. Godzilla makes appearances.

Firstly, this review is coming from an adult in his 50s who made his first viewings of Zone Fighter in 2023. With that in mind, this review might be a little different from other reviews of this series. After Ultraseven (1967), this would have to be one of the very greatest Japanese TV shows ever made. The only thing going against it (for me) is that a couple of the fighters are little children which is a bit of a struggle for someone of my age to look at. But other than that, this series wonderfully captures mid-1970s Japan (the cars, the fashions, etc).

I am a massive fan of Godzilla and the goofy way he was shown in the 60s/70s movies. Well, this is THAT Godzilla, so basically 50% of the appeal is Godzilla. As a lover of old cars, it is great to see the villains drive around in a black 50s car (a 70s show with a bit of the 50s) and the heroes drive around in a flying white/red vehicle. The great looking cars are big characters in this series and they are well filmed chasing each other on interesting Japanese roads.

Other fun things to look at include retro blinking light hardware in the hidden Zone base and red. If you like red like I do there is a lot of red in this show. From the Zone car to the clothing to the creatures - RED everywhere!

Don't be turned off by the subtitles. The plots are very simple and the show is very visual, so if you miss the odd subtitle you can still follow the plot without any problems.

At the time of this post, several full length episodes of Zone Fighter can be found on the internet (with subtitles).