"Dengeki!! Strada 5": 1974 Tokusatsu series, episode two of thirteen recap

 

 Air Dates: April 5th until June 28, 1974 on NET-TV(now Asahi-TV), Fridays at 7:30 pm

Series subbed by Big Nova Subs, Dengeki can mean Lightning in Japanese but there is no word in the language for Strada though in Italian means Road.

One thing you can always count on in a Sentai/Tokusatsu series is an opening theme song which is such an upbeat one. Will leave this video up at the top for all of the recaps which features the opening song plus a bit of dialogue from the narrator who was Eiji Maruyama, the song was sung by Charlie Choi and Young Fresh.

 

 

 This was just a thirteen episode series but does have quite a bit of history behind it. At first the show was scheduled to be 26 episodes as most were back then but the original filming had to be put on hold in August 1973 because of various problems. So when the cast assembled again none had the time to film an entire 26 show series so it was cut in half and though not as well known as most other older Sentai or Tokusatsu shows it does seem to have a cult following. I have noticed many toys, comic books, models and such for this show so it may have been popular while it aired. These days Super Hero shows usually air on Sunday mornings but back from the 1960's to 80's they often aired in prime time, this one did at 7:30 pm on Friday nights. This was also scheduled to be a semi-sequel to the "Wild 7" series but in the end run never was, that's a show which looks interesting and while I have found the entire series it was never subbed.

 An episode lasts for 24 minutes yet this may be one of the larger intro sections, longer than for dramas where the episodes are twice the length! After the character bios will also have more info plus such things as the cars the Heroes drive, those are right above. Did call this a Tokusatsu series in the title and will continue to do so though it's not officially one of them nor a Sentai show either. Tokusatsu means a show or movie that has a lot of special effects such as a monster shooting lasers from his eyes, a Human transforming into a creature five times his size, etc. This series will have very little of that but is very similar to those kinds of shows. It's also similar to a Sentai show, in those the main characters use special guns, have unique powers and the like, good examples of that would be a Kamen Rider or Dekaranger series. In this show there's a little bit of both as humans are the Heroes and do use weapons to protect the Earth from being taken over, sure most who are reading this know what I'm talking about. After the character bios will have a mini section with the weapons and vehicles they use.

 Have only viewed the first two episodes so of course there will be some changes to the stories and it was nice going into a show not knowing too much of what will be taking place. A nice bonus was having Jo Shishido as the leader for the Strada 5 group, he's one of my all time favorite actors. He was very popular but after the 1960's TV became more of the 'in thing' to do instead of going to the Cinema so Shishido and others had to take roles such as this though nothing wrong with being in these kinds of shows. He still appeared in many movies but just not as many, bet he just filmed his scenes in 2-3 days and then they were inserted into the thirteen episodes. Let's get to the characters, there's five on the Strada 5 team along with their commander and the one enemy who is Mr. Asmodeus. He's the leader of the evil group Big Nova and think he will have a different person in each show carry out his orders to destroy the world so those seven should be it for characters. Each show will have it's own title, that is the first screenshot below which I will change for every episode and it also has it's air date....

**** The members of Dengeki Strata 5 all have numbers, will go in order from one to five. They also have civilian names so will list them and also the names which they use when fighting as a team. Each member also has a unique ability which is why there were chosen to be on the Dengeki Strada 5 team, will say what those strengths are in their bios. You have to chuckle now and again at things such as that, these five have such powers that only they can defend the Earth and none of the world's super powers can assemble a larger or more powerful force? The five work for an organization named the International Police, nothing else is known about them.

Toru Okazaki as Kansuke Hotta aks Pegasus.... The son of a detective who of course was also named Hotta. He was murdered by the Big Nova group at the beginning of the first show, naturally Kansuke wants revenge and will usually use Hotta when referring to him. Hotta is often paired up with the next character who had been his father's partner and did witness the man dying. So Hotta felt his father's murder could have been prevented which wasn't the case, the tensions are often high between the two but will slowly cool off. Hotta is a bit of a hothead but also a very skilled fighter plus is an ace marksman, when he's not saving the planet Hotta is a race car driver!

 Takeo Chii as Genjiro Tonomura aka Orion.... Is only a few years older than the younger Hotta above so don't why Tonomura had been working with his father. Tonomura had been a detective and as of now don't think he still is after watching the elder Hotta get killed by the Big Nova group. There was zero Tonomura could have done to prevent the death and the younger Hotta shouldn't be blaming him but both will defend each other in their battles to save the Earth! It appears that Tonomura quit being a detective and now works at a hospital lab, he's an expert at disguises. **** Takeo became even more popular as the years went on, have seen him in a few other movies. In future posts will talk about him more along with a few of the other main characters. EDIT: Not sure yet but have the feeling Tonomura wasn't a FT detective and actually may have been on a Strata 5 assignment with the elder Hotta. If so that may mean he too was with the team and hope that gets explained later on.

 Tatsuto Go as Kazunen Takenaka aka Apollo.... Is a Monk who oversees a small temple and does have quite a sense of humor. Takenaka was chosen to be on the team for his powerful strength as he is one very strong man but also has the best deductive abilities.

Shinya Ono as Tadashi Takagi aka Luna.... Works as a car mechanic when not on the team but is even more skilled than that. For Takagi was chosen for being a master at defusing bombs and deciphering codes, because of those he could be the most key member of Dengeki Strada 5.

 Yuri Yamashina as Kaori Hoshi aka Andromeda.... The only female on the team and that's often the case in shows such as this one. When not helping the team Kaori works as a fashion model and why not as she is ultra attractive! Kaori's biggest strength is her Telepathic powers, she can see tragic events in the future and almost all are evil acts done by Big Nova. However Kaori cannot often decipher what she has seen, that's where the deductive skills of the Monk Apollo come in handy.

Jo Shishido as Terujiro Takamura aka Jupiter.... Will always refer to him as Jupiter and as mentioned what a famous actor he was. Many of the team call him Chief, Jupiter is the commander of the five that he chose personally to defend the Earth and know zero to date about his background. Jupiter drives around in a truck named Headstrong, in the back is the HQ of Dengeki Strada 5 where he meets the members and is also the place where Jupiter makes contacts with his superiors who are the International Police.

Goro Hayakawa as the physical Mr.Asmodeus, the voice was done by Shozo Izuka.... Don't know why the man donning the suit couldn't have also been the voice. Mr. Asmodeus is the leader of he evil organization Big Nova, in every show he creates a foolproof plan to destroy the world or at least Tokyo but none of those plans are ever foolproof! Mr. Asmodeus always wears a mask to make him appear to be an alien but is he one? We only ever see Mr. Asmodeus in his secret lair and he never does any of the fighting. That he assigns to a different subleader for each show, failure is not acceptable and if that leader fails Death is what awaits them, that may happen in each episode! It appears the HQ for Mr. Asmodeus is very advanced, he can send videos of himself to any spot and often does to Strada 5 warning them of their demise! Mr. Asmodeus is in the top screenshot, the leader for this episode is in the second. She had no name or at least one was never said so will refer to her as Maki, will use that name for all of the female leaders.

 As far as weapons go the Heroes don't have powerful ones that you will see in other series. They all have Shotguns but no laser guns but do use Flamethrowers, Grenades and a Baton that has a built in Knife. Unlike Sentai shows where the heroes will say a special command and change instantly into their costume the Strada 5 carry their weapons and uniforms in a case so have to change into them, always right after the action begins. The five also wear a special red pendant around their necks which doubles as a radio transmitter, the female Andromeda uses it often to tell her mates of what doom is impending.

 Though there's five members of the team there's only four vehicles, the fifth is the Headstrong HQ truck driven by their commander Jupiter. Below are the four vehicles the team uses along with Jupiter's truck, to date it doesn't appear any of the four used in combat are anything special though all are very speedy. The four are Flying Pesagus used by Hotta aka Pesagus, Tri-Shark used by Tonomura aka Orion, Red used by Takagi aka Luna and Ladybird which is shared by the Monk Apollo and the only female Andromeda. **** This is a long intro section but also helps you out immensely as you can refer back to this for so much info about everything, I use it often too. 

 Falling a bit behind with posts so will skip having this section contain a lot of trivial facts about a cast member. But will have some coming up and definitely for Yuri Yamashita who plays the only female in the series who is Kaori aka Andromeda. What an interesting career she had as Yuri did appear in many Pinku/AV films and now I'm very curious about her so let me try to find one of her older movies, can't believe how many she appeared in. Let's get to the action and just like the first episode this had plenty of that, also thought the story may have been a bit better. After this post have one more for the series which is for the third show and is the next post.

 Didn't realize it until right now but there was really only one major scene in this episode so of course it was quite long. Every show will have another new plan to take down the world by the fiendish Mr. Asmodeus 😈 and his group Big Nova. They're not an inept organization like most others you see in these types of series but sure they will be defeated in each show though will never give up! That's Mr. Asmodeus in the second screenshot above, the first belongs to a subleader of his whose name is Maki. Mr. Asmodeus does not accept any failures from his subleaders, when a plan doesn't pan out it's those leaders to blame and their penalty is Death! For no good reason will call all of these subleaders Maki as none will be named but think most will be women and darn good looking ones too! For this show the plan Mr. Asmodeus devised wasn't to conquer the world or at last not yet, he does realize that Japan needs to be under his control first and that won't be an easy task with teams such as Dengeki Strada 5 to battle! So in that first screenshot Maki was saying the testing for a new bomb was successful, right after Mr. Asmodeus said to begin Operation X-3!!!!

 Which was to detonate a powerful bomb in the heart of Tokyo but it's more complicated than that, sure most(all?) shows will be set in Tokyo. Learning of this diabolical plan was the woman in the third screenshot, she's on the Strada 5 team and her name is Kaori. Her quasi 'superhero' name is Andromeda and her unique talent is having Telepathic powers, Andromeda can see future possible tragedies. But the vision doesn't give her all of the details plus much of what she sees is a bit hazy, to solve the riddle of what she sees the other four members of the Dengeki Strada 5 team are there to help her out. Especially the monk Takenaka who when fighting crime is known as Apollo, he's the best at deducing Andromeda's visions. The team is led by the older man Jupiter in the middle screenshot above, what he and the team has learned is that the Big Nova group will be blowing up a tanker truck but which one? All Jupiter could find out is that the license plate begins with the numbers 63, there are five such trucks that day which will make deliveries in Tokyo and the team had better hurry for they also don't know when the bomb will explode. The pair of Pegasus and Orion seem to have hit pay dirt with their theory, a truck with a 63 plate number has just departed from the Tokyo Atomic Energy Institute, the pair quickly made it to the building but were unable to stop the truck from departing.

 Pegasus aka Kansuke Hotta still has some animosity towards his partner Orion aka Tonomura for he felt Orion could have prevented his father from being murdered by the Big Nova group in the first show. All of the details are in the first recap and in the section above but the pair do seem to work well together. Though they arrived at the Institute on time to stop the delivery truck from leaving the Big Nova group led by Maki were there first, there was a mini battle between the good and bad guys which lasted long enough for the truck to leave, the driver had no clue what was happening. There had been a few other trucks that had bombs planted in them which had resulted in some deaths and destruction. Those were mainly tests to see how things would pan out, this one here will be a major league level operation! For this truck will be carrying some Atomic Waste to a disposal site, if a bomb were to explode in the truck it could mean the end of Tokyo and its inhabitants! The third screenshot above shows the truck which wasn't a large one but Atomic Waste is so powerful just a few handfuls could create an immense tragedy. After that brief skirmish at the Institute Pegasus and Orion resumed their hunt for this truck, it didn't take them long to locate it but now what?

 **** There is a very key detail about the bombs which have blown up those previous trucks and that will also be the case for this current bomb. It's detonated when the truck's speed falls under 30 km/h which is close to 19 mph, luckily for now the truck is on a highway but what will happen when it enters city traffic? We all know what will happen but the question is how to stop it, Orion was able to enter the truck's cab and alert the driver of this danger. When the Dengeki Strada 5 don their uniforms they have one semi special power which is that they are very agile and can leap close to twenty feet in the air, it's how Orion was able to get in the truck. Joining him on the delivery truck carrying the Atomic Waste was Orion's partner Pegasus but he leapt on the rear of the truck to search for the bomb. Which he did find but it was held on by a powerful magnet, Pegasus couldn't detach it nor could he deactivate the bomb. There is an expert on the Dengeki Strada 5 team who is a master at defusing bombs, that's Takagi aka Luna. He's usually an auto mechanic and was notified to dash asap to the delivery truck as it would soon be leaving the highway and the speed would dip to less than 30 km/h. However Maki and her Big Nova henchmen knew this would happen, they located Luna and shot him in the shoulder so would that prevent him from defusing the bomb? Because of that Orion and Pegasus weren't that confident their mate could make it in time, they decided to head to Cape Fudou and by now the truck driver had been thrown out of the vehicle.

 Final segment, what took place is in the above screenshots and first five below, there were about 6-7 minutes to go in the show. After hearing that Luna was shot Orion thought heading to Cape Fudou would be their next best option in case Luna wasn't able to arrive and defuse the bomb. The cape jutted out into the ocean so if worse came to worse Orion would drive the truck containing the Atomic Waste into the water. That would prevent the atomic particles from floating into the air so an explosion wouldn't be too damaging but there was yet another snag with a Strada 5 plan. Which is that the truck's fuel gauge was nearing E, if that should happen the speed would drop to less than 30 km/h and the bomb would explode however the truck is outside of Tokyo so perhaps the damage would be minimal. Luckily we never did learn if that would be the case for the hero at the end turned out to be Luna, even a gunshot wound couldn't stop him! Though the Big Nova thugs were still on his tail he was able to elude them thanks to Andromeda and Apollo battling the group allowing Luna to reach the truck and attempt to defuse the bomb. That fight scene with Andromeda and Apollo going against Big Nova was fairly exciting and there are two screenshots above from it. While the Dengeki Strada 5 team doesn't have unique hi-tech weapons they do have powerful pistols, grenades and even use flamethrowers!

 The truck was nearing the end of it's fuel supply and would the speed drop below 30 km/h? It would have but Orion had reached an incline, going down it increased the speed ever so slightly which gave Luna a few extra precious seconds and he was successful at defusing this potentially fatal bomb! Think most of the time Pegasus and Orion will be the Heroes but Luna showed why he was chosen to be a Strada 5 member for thanks to him Tokyo and Japan were saved! Actually this was a true team effort as all five made a major contribution at defeating Big Nova. Which of course infuriated the Big Nova subleader Maki who was about to order her troops to attack again. But as mentioned the main leader Mr. Asmodeus will not accept any failures, out of nowhere came a poisonous dart/mini arrow that struck Maki and led to her death, least she didn't reveal the secret location of Big Nova when pressed about it. Right after that the Strada 5 team heard the voice of Mr. Asmodeus though they were in some sort of gravel pit. Don't know how he does it but Mr. Asmodeus can communicate with anyone regardless of where they are, once again he warned the Dengeki Strada 5 team their efforts will end up being futile as soon Big Nova and Mr. Asmodeus will rule the world! That won't be(!) and though not many scenes thought this was a better show/story than the first episode. This will be no classic series but there's nothing wrong with that for I have enjoyed these first two episodes quite a bit. The next post has the recap for the third show which I haven't viewed yet and below are many more screenshots from what took place.