Also goes by the name of Science Squadron Dynaman
Air Dates: February 5, 1983 to January 28, 1984... there was a total of 51 episodes plus one movie
Aired on TV-Asahi at 7:30 pm Saturday nights until episode ten when it began airing at 8:00 pm... Subs done by Metallic Subs.... Episodes lasted a little over 24 minutes and of those two were for the opening/closing credits. **** In episode ten the length of an episode was shortened to twenty minutes. This was the seventh show in the Super Sentai series, the first aired from 1975-77 and was titled "Himitsu Sentai Gorenger". Shows such as Ultraman and Kamen Rider aren't considered to be Sentai though all are from the same family.
The ultra cool rockin' opening song was "Science Squadron Dynaman", the closing tune was also an upbeat rocker titled "Dynaman, Make Your Dreams Come True" and both were by the groups Mojo and Koorogi '73, they did so many songs together for Animes and Sentai series.
Was able to find the ratings and of all places it was at an American site, Ja.wiki pages usually have them but didn't for this series. The average rating for all 51 episodes was 10.6% and did do something different beginning for the third recap. Which is having all of the ratings here instead of just the current show, for today have the first ten episodes. Will keep adding ten more in every tenth recap so it will be updated three more times as this series goes along. The first show had the highest rating and you will notice it quickly dipped but remained somewhat steady for a while. Until the fourteenth show as for the first time the rating fell below 10% and for now can't give a reason for that... hope it's not because of the show's quality! **** Updated this section for the fourteenth episode, some of those ratings for the shows after the 23rd one were kind of pitiful.
Episode one: 16.9%.... Episode two: 14.4%.... Episode three..... 13.8%
Episode four: 14.6%.... Episode five: 13.9%.... Episode six:12.0%
Episode seven: 11.5%.... Episode eight: 12.1%.... Episode nine: 10.6%
Episode ten: 12.9%.... Episode eleven: 11.6%.... Episode twelve: 11.3%
Episode thirteen: 11.0%.... Episode fourteen: 9.0%.... Episode fifteen: 8.1%
Episode sixteen: 8.9%.... Episode seventeen: 9.3%.... Episode eighteen: 9.6%
Episode nineteen: 7.3%.... Episode twenty: 9.8% .... Episode 21: 8.3%
Episode 22: 6.7% .... Episode 23: 10.7% .... Episode 24: 8.5%
Episode 25: 7.0% .... Episode 26: 6.9% .... Episode 27: 6.8%
Episode 28: 4.7% .... Episode 29: 8.7% .... Episode 30: 9.9%
This is the first Sentai/Tokusatsu series I've reviewed in quite a long time but have been viewing many other older ones as I do have quite a DVD collection of these older shows. Though it's fun viewing these on my laptop much prefer kicking back and just watching shows on my TV. Think the longest series I have ever finished recapping had a total of 28 episodes though I'm thinking there may have been one with 32. As you can see in the heading this series has 51 episodes plus a movie so will I somehow complete the recaps for this ultra long series? Excellent question and won't answer that yet, have watched many of these shows that had 50 or so episodes but it's much different kicking back to watch a long series on your TV.... much more enjoyable as I don't have to take screenshots or notes!
Am beginning this intro section after viewing the first episode, will finish it off after watching the second. So much took place in the first episode and not sure where to begin, it's no exaggeration saying I have never viewed a show with so much info and action thrown at you. More took place in 22 1/2 minutes than does in a two hour movie which means the pace was frantic and also fun but it was hard keeping track of everything. Sure the action will slow down a bit as we go along in the series and also the amount of new things we learn.
Don't think I'll have to edit the bios for the main characters but will be adding new ones in, also as we go along will be adding in more weapons, gadgets and vehicles/ships our five heroes use. Most of these Sentai/Tokusatsu shows have five main characters to protect the Earth(!), this series is no different as there's four male and one female to protect us! Will add in that the female Sayoko Hagiwara who plays Rei Tachibana is one ultra cutie and close to being the most attractive gal I've seen in one of these shows. Maybe by the end she will move up to #1 and that position is currently held by Rei Maki from "Super Robot Red Baron". In an odd twist am watching currently it again for at least the fifth time as it is my top series in this genre.... well, that was considered to be a Tokusatsu series.
The main storyline and brief overview of this series revolves around the five members, sometimes six, of the superhero team Dynaman and why wasn't It Dynamen? The sixth person is an esteemed professor named Yumeno Kyutaro and operates the Yumeno Invention Center. In the first episode he formed the team and none of the five had known each other but had briefly met while heading to the professor's lab. Kyutaro's real name is Toyama, fifteen years ago at the age of 21 his girlfriend was killed by an unknown race of people called Jashinka, it's a combination of the words for Evil and Evolution in Japanese. More about this race of people a bit further down and that section will include their three main villains. After they had killed Toyama's girlfriend which was because of an potion he was working on, the man went underground, changed his name and had secretly been working solo to avenge the death of his unnamed girlfriend.
Yumeno can't battle this fierce group of people by himself and the Jashinka Empire has grown much more powerful over the last fifteen years and their main plan is to conquer Japan.... then the rest of Earth! So because of this impending war Yumeno assembled this team, all are superb fighters and masters at so many forms of Martial Arts. Those talents plus all of the inventions and weapons Yumeno has created should be enough to take down this evil empire but as in most series you ask yourself.... five superheroes against thousands or even millions of soldiers? The Jashinka race resemble humans but are green skinned and have tails, some more than one. Thousands of years ago a meteor had fallen to Earth and it had contained the seeds of that species who have evolved since then and mainly live underground. Plus over thousands of years the numbers of the Jashinka race have increased where there could be millions and they now want to live above ground, that the professor Yumeno will let happen! Will edit a bit of this above part as the series goes along and as mentioned will have more info about the Jashinka race a bit further down. Their leader Emperor Aton is in the second screenshot below.
Main Characters
Did say not much editing may be needed but sure some will be done plus I know there will be new characters added in. **** This is such an important section, it's perhaps even more key to the series than the recap themselves! Do try to give as much info as possible about the characters along with some other tidbits about the story so this is a good section to get info from. Also very important are reading the prior recaps if you missed an episode and that section will be added in for the third episode. The top five characters will be the Dynaman Team, their proper name is Science Squadron Dynaman, and the sixth person down will be their leader Yumeno. Then will have a section for the team's weapons, gadgets and vehicles, following that will be the section for the Yashiken Empire. That's Yumeno in the below screenshot, he somehow had been keeping tabs on the five and felt they were the best in the world to.... save the World! It being a Super Hero series of course stunt doubles are used in most of the action scenes but the voices are still of the actors.
Satoshi Okita as Hokuto Dan/Dynaman Red.... The leader of the team of five who is 22 in age and maybe their best fighter though all are close to unbeatable! Hokuto hails from Hokkaido, besides being so superb at fighting he also has some brains as his dream is to become a scientist. Hokuto is also an ace motorcyclist, he grew up without a mother and his main fighting skills are in Kendo and Karate as he holds a black belt.
Junichi Haruta as Ryu Hoshikawa/Dyna Black.... Like the above man is 22 in age and could give the team's leader Hokuto a run for his money as far as who the best Dynaman fighter is. Ryu is a descendant of the Igaryu Ninja clan and has their mysterious skills such as being able to leap twenty feet high. Ryu is a firm believer in aliens and has kept trying to communicate with them though with zero luck but is working on inventions to do so! When he transforms into Dyna Black his Ninja skills are even greater, especially with acrobatics.
Koji Unoki as Yosuke Shima/Dyna Blue.... At 18 in age is the youngest of the team and hails from the island of Ishigaki. Yosuke loves the ocean and is trying to develop gills which will allow humans to breath better underwater, that dream came about from supposedly seeing a Mermaid! Yosuke is skilled at Kung Fu and is the best swimmer of the Dynaman team, he's also quite agile but then again so aren't all five and especially in their suits.
Yuu Tokita as Kosaku Nangou/Dyna Yellow.... From the city of Kagoshima which is on the island of Kyushu. Kosaku is twenty in age and loves farming, also American Westerns as he often wears cowboy hats and similar clothing. Like his four teammates Kosaku is an aspiring inventor and having such dreams is why their leader Yumeno selected them to be a Dynaman. Kosaku has been working on ways to crossbreed plants and to improve how fruits and vegetables grow, he's the best horse rider and gun shooter on the team and while not the best fighter is the strongest of the five. In the fourth show we did learn that Kosaku loves Ramen and has been trying to invent a machine that will fully cook a bowl in a matter of seconds.... but his attempts have always failed!
Sayoko Hagiwara as Rei Tachibana/Dyna Pink.... She has quite an interesting bio and also had used the last name of Nonomiya.... have you noticed how so many females in these shows use the color of Pink?! She too is eighteen in age like her mate Yousuke though in real life Sayoko was two years older and turned 21 while the series was airing. Rei is the best communicator on the Dynaman team, such as using sign language and is also a skilled ham radio operator She thinks that she can talk to an extent with animals(!) and is trying to invent a device to allow her to talk with them better. Rei is a master at Fencing and is also a superb swimmer plus Rei is an excellent fighter and is close to being as good as her males counterparts.
Junshi Shamada as Yumeno Kyutaro.... Leader and founder of the Dynaman team aka Science Squadron Dynaman. Yumeno previously had the last name of Toyama but changed it at the age of 21 after his girlfriend was murdered. Which was by the enemy in this show, Jashiken, as Yumeno was working on a formula named Retrogenes to destroy the race who at the time wanted to conquer the world. They still do and have grown much stronger over the years, Yumeno is now 35 in age. Besides being a brilliant inventor and scientist Yumeno is also skilled at Kendo. He does act a bit goofy at times but it's mainly to fool his opponents into taking him lightly, Yumeno is an extremely serious man who wants to avenge his girlfriend's death and of course prevent the Jashiken Empire from conquering Earth.
The Science Squadron Dynaman Team.... their weapons, vehicles and gadgets.
Have never done a section like this before but then again have never seen so many of those items listed above in a show! Most of the inventions were created by the above man Yumeno before the Dynaman team was founded. Then some of the five members gave the professor ideas for new weapons and the five also created some of their own. Besides their unbeatable fighting skills the five were chosen for they too wanted to invent new things though not for War but to improve the quality of life for the human race. Will keep adding to this section but they'll just be screenshots as there's not enough room or time to give details of everything below. But most things should be self explanatory such as what the weapons do and in the recaps will be talking about some of them.
More will be introduced in each show and bet there's close to 200 weapons and gadgets. Not as many vehicles and the main one is the inside of their ship which is the third screenshot below. The two above that are from a vehicle called Macha and we'll be seeing that often as it's smaller and faster than the team's main base ship which fires many weapons. The Macha can combine with three other smaller ships to form a Grand Slam ship which is the huge one in two below screenshots, it's official name is Dyna Robo. The weapons are too numerous to name but there's plenty of them below and this section could end up having 200 screenshots(!) but may will stop adding to it before then. The suits also have gadgets to them such as mini engines in their boots which allow the Dynaman to fly or leap about forty feet in the air. Those suits also enhance that person's main powers, for instance if they're skilled at acrobatics that ability will be doubled from the suit's powers. Like every other section will keep adding to/editing this part, most of this was all thrown at us viewers in the first two episodes! For recap #13 added in the top screenshot, to get from the ground to the DyJupiter ship the five heroes an teleport if they're all linked together. Learned that in the twelfth episode and for some reason didn't add the ship's name until now.
The enemy of the Science Squadron Dynaman Team.... the Jashinka Empire
According to the leader and founder of the Science Squadron Dynaman Professor Yumeno the Jashinka Empire has evolved from a meteorite that crashed into the Earth tens of thousands of years ago. Jashinka is combination of the words for Evil and Evolution in Japanese, think it may have been coined by Yumeno. For all these thousands of years the race of Jashinka have lived underground and it's hard to believe they haven't been noticed, least I think they haven't but have only viewed two episodes. Like most of these Sentai shows the evil leaders have an endless army of fighters but ones who are often inept such as those in the first screenshot right above. However other monsters can be created and think we'll be seeing a new one in each show, right above is from the first episode where the creature was a gigantic Crab! These monsters are called Evolution Beasts and are quite powerful, even the Dynaman will have their hands full with them! Added in a section below the character bios explaining much more about the Beasts.
The race of the Jashinkas are a mixed breed, they look slightly human but their skin is green and and don't know how yet but seems they breeded with a species of Salamanders. All Jashinkas can grow TAILS, they look down on races or creatures who can't grow them which is one reason for attempting to take over the Earth! The amount of tails a Jashinka has determines the class they're in or power they have. Those soldiers above are the lowest ranked of the race as they have only one tail. edit: Learned in the fourth episode the soldiers are called Tail Soldiers. But the powerful leaders all have more than five tails, the ultimate leader of the Jashinka Empire Emperor Aton has nine(!) and as of now have no idea why some are born with only one while others may have five. Tails can also withdraw into the body of a Jashinka if they need to disguise themselves.
For most of this series there will only be three main Jashinka characters which is enough as there's six on the Dynaman team and an episode is 22 1/2 minutes long once you take away the opening/closing credits. The only key bit of info I don't know yet are how old the Jashinka people(?) are, could they all be a thousand or more years old? Guess that's possible and there's plenty of time for that and other details about this species to be revealed, not positive but they seem to be about the same height as humans. While they are an advanced race they do fight many of their battles the old fashioned way, with horses and their fists! So in a way those soldiers are good fighters but not against the Dynaman team has so many hi-tech weapons at their disposal but those Evolution Beasts are kind of an ace in the hole for the Jashinkas. Those beasts are some sort of lifeform that was created over time which does prove the Jashinkas are an advanced race, like the above there will be much editing to this section.
Takeshi Watanabe as Emporer Aton.... That's him right above and also below, he's the leader of the Jashinka Empire which has been around for thousands of years and is growing more powerful by the day! The Emperor usually stays at his underground(spaceship?) HQ but will leave at times to check out battle conditions. He has Nine Tails, the more the better for this species so having that many is what made him the leader. Emperor Alton is skilled with a sword and can shoot a beam from his left eye, to date he hasn't used it yet. What's unknown at this point is if and how a Jashinka can grow another tail?! For the Emperor's dream is to reach ten tails which would grant him immortality.
Masashi Ishibashi as General (C)Karr.... Don't know why but this is my current favorite character though that could change. General Karr seems to be second in command to the Emperor or at least he thinks so, he's such a ruthless soldier yet is very smart as he's also a scientist. The General has had a hand in developing the Evolution Beasts and has also been tutoring the Emperor's son Meggido. In combat General Karr can shoot beams from his sword and also his helmet which he only wears in battles. The General has Seven Tails is why he has such a high ranking in the Jashinka Empire but I'm thinking there has to be more than tails which determines where one ends up working, living, etc.
Takeki Hayashi as Prince of Megiddo.... Son of Emperor Aton and for now don't what Meggido is or if he has a regular name, don't think he does so may refer to him as Prince and/or Meggido. The Prince is a very capable fighter and especially with a sword, he's also a master at riding horses. Which is odd seeing for the Dynaman have ships and high tech weapons while the Prince rides a horse(?)! He's been tutored in fighting by General Karr though still has much to learn but the Prince is so avid and loyal to his species. When the series began Prince Meggido had five tails, he's now down to four as in the first episode he got into a scrap with Dyna Red who cut one off!!!! But being the son of Emperor Aton means the Prince is still a high ranking officer but he desperately wants to grow another tail and to avenge that incident by eliminating Dyna Red!!!! That sword is powerful, usually in a fight the Prince will come out on top and he's often the officer who leads the Jashinka troops in their battles which always happen on the Earth's surface.
Mari Kono as Princess Chimera.... She was introduced to the series in the eighth episode, added in this bio for the ninth show. The Princess is quite an alluring woman and has such special powers so hope to see quite a bit of her. Chimera is the cousin of the above Prince, Chimera's mother is the younger sister of Emperor Aton. Chimera has four tails, the more the better for one of the Jashinka species. That special power mentioned is because of her Red Wand which can do so many different things. Such as transport the Princess from one spot to another at the snap of a finger, it can also create a lethal whip and also shoot out a paralyzing beam!
**** A very important tidbit about the Evolution Beast which is why this is separate. When a beast has been defeated and is dying the monster enters a stage called Big Bang Process. It's remaining cells regenerate rapidly and the beast grows to a size larger than it had been, this newer version is called Super Evolution Beast. In most shows the beast does go through this process because of being beaten by the Science Squadron Dynaman team but those battles are getting tougher with each show. What I'm not sure of is how long the life span of this new creature is for it's always lost a second time after regenerating.
Previous recaps
Have said in many recent dramas that at times it could be a wise idea to wait until many episodes have been recapped and then come to this section. For the way Blogger is built you can't out the shows in order from one to fifty or whatever which I can understand and all Blogs or sites are that way. So for instance if this was the recap for the eighth episode you could just come here and start reading the recaps from the first episode and to me that makes it so much easier, know I would do that if other blogs were set up this way but doubt if many are.
Whew, that took a while but least from here on out just a bit of editing will need to be done and mainly just every other recap. But do know that one more character will be added into the Dynaman bio section and also one more for the Jashinkas, there was a major character added in for episode eight. In the fifth episode added in the below video which is such an ultra terrific one and will leave it here for a while as it's by far the best for this series! A fan collected all of the mini previews and put them together in one post plus has a few other scenes, the huge key is that it's subbed in English! After the video will have a screenshot that shows the title of the episode that's being recapped..... will start a countdown ala beer bottles(!).... only 36 more episodes plus a mini movie to go!
It is difficult finding photos or details of many things that took place forty or more years ago, especially for dramas, movies and actresses that were just medium sized as far as popularity goes. Had wanted to find more pics from Sayako's photobook but those are far and few between, if you want to buy a used copy of that book be prepared to take out a second mortgage! So will have one final set of her pics for today though of course you'll see many screenshots of her as Dyna Pink aka Rei Tachibana. Two above pics are from a magazine and let me try to find other spreads or promo pics from this series. The bottom two are from her book which did include many nude photos, as you can tell had to crop the second to last one and will say that Sayoko was one terrific looking woman which was hard to tell with the outfits she wore in this show.
This was another solid episode but perhaps the weakest to date, it may have been the oddest one so far also. For the first time the Evolution Beast that's created by the Jashinka Empire's military leader General Karr and his scientists wasn't much of a factor in the story. As a matter of fact this beast was kind of a lame one but we did get to see a lot of the yummy and alluring Princess Chimera 😍 so I'm as happy as a clam! Junichi Harata who plays Ryu Hoshikawa aka Dyna Black is above on the right, he seems to get more screentime than any other character besides Dyna Red but has never been the focus of an episode's story but in this show sort of was and what an busy career Junichi has had.
When this series was filmed he was 28 in age, this past March he turned seventy. Junichi in this series did many of his own stunts, even the ones while wearing his Dyna Black uniform. He was in so many of these 1980's/90's Sentai/Tokusatsu shows, at first mainly as a stuntman but his roles evolved into being a regular actor. As the years went on of course Junichi's action roles of course diminished but not how many dramas he appeared in, I'm shocked how many things he's been in and it would take days to type all of them up! Let's get to this recap, no editing was done to the above section and as mentioned while the Evolution Beast wasn't much of a factor in this show we did see much more of Princess Chimera, seems when she has a lot of screentime the episodes tend to be slightly better.
Ryu Hoshikawa aka Dyna Black will be in many more of this post's screenshots than usual, he's in four above ones. Ryu is the most agile and athletic of the five Dynaman, he claims to be a descendant of an old Ninja clan and seems those centuries old traits have been inherited by him. When this episode opened Ryu was taking a nap on a high tree's limbs(!) when he was awoken by the screams for help from a little boy. Ryu leapt down about forty feet and while these deft Ninja moves may be minor compared to action scenes I think they're so fun and exciting to watch. In that first screenshot above you can see that little boy trapped by the inept Jashinka Empire's Tail Soldiers, the screenshot below that shows Ryu had quickly jumped into action. It may have been ten to one against Ryu and even those odds aren't enough to defeat him! Ryu grabbed the boy from the arms of a Tail Soldier, after that he used many of his Ninja secrets to thwart the Tail Soldier's attacks such as a smoke bomb(!) which gave him time to hide in the ground along with some other devious tricks. Ryu could have fought the mini army and probably won but had that little boy with him so the objective was to just keep him safe. Eventually Ryu's tricks of hiding frustrated the Tail Soldiers so much they left, also at the scene was the Jashinka's new Evolution Beast Gecko, it was no factor in the fight and more on it later. With the soldiers gone Ryu finally had a chance to talk with this boy whose name was Wataru Fuuma, he was so impressed with Ryu's Ninja skills and asked his savior if he wanted to be his Attendant!
For Wataru says he's also a descendant of a Ninja clan, the Fuumas, who at one time were such a powerful group. He was in the forest looking for his family's hidden Fuuma Treasure and even showed Ryu a map of it's location. A Ninja Attendant is someone who stays by the side of his master helping out anyway possible, after a bit of thinking Ryu said yes to Wataru's plea to be his attendant and that was to keep close tabs on the youngster who was about twelve in age. Of course Ryu's main purpose in life is being a member of the Science Squadron Dynaman team, all they have to do is protect Earth from all hostile Alien attacks! But knowing the Jashinka Empire was after Wataru meant he needed protecting and Ryu took that upon himself, he did bring the brattish boy back to the Dynaman HQ but Ryu's four mates weren't too fond of this boy as he could be so annoying. Soon it was back to that forest to hunt for the supposedly valuable Fuuma Treasure and there was someone in that forest waiting for the pair. Who was the very alluring Princess Chimera and though we haven't seen too many of the Jashinka leaders in battles Chimera has and she seems the toughest of them all. She has somehow learned of this Fuuma Treasure and vowed to obtain it for the Jashinka Empire leader Emperor Aton. No one has a clue on what the treasure is but seems to Princess Chimera it could be extremely valuable. In what I thought was a humorous line Emperor Aton said if the treasure chest was packed with gold and cash it could help fund his war effort and I thought.... how? That encounter in the forest only lasted twenty seconds, Chimera has a red wand which contains so many weapons and she used one on Ryu. That's in the bottom screenshots above and she had shot a dart containing of some sort paralyzing agent in it, Ryu was hit in the chest and tumbled from the cliff of a small waterfall!!!!
The treasure was easy to find with Wataru's map and how did it remain hidden for so long(?), it may have been centuries! On a rock was the Fuuma Family insignia, below it was a black chest and this scene is in the screenshots right above. Once Chimera saw the chest her act as a Ninja ended and she snatched it from the arms of Wataru, it appeared the boy was going to be killed though not 100% sure. It didn't matter as swooping in was Dyna Black aka Ryu, he survived the fall off the waterfall and it would take more than that to kill such a warrior like him! Ryu had spied on what was taking place, he wanted to let Wataru show Chimera the treasure chest before swopping in for the kill! Which is easier said than done for Princess Chimera is such a ruthless fighter and that red wand has so many lethal powers. This is also right above, Chimera shot another dart into Ryu's chest that stunned him for a few seconds, that was all Chimera needed to set the ground around Ryu on fire! Any other human would have perished but not Ryu who once again showed us viewers why he could be considered a modern day Ninja! With a special spell Ryu was able to douse the fire, he dashed over to Wataru so the pair could flee but Chimera was still there, also at this forest location was now the massive lizard Gecko and some Tail Soldiers. The problem for Ryu was if he transformed into Dyna Black and fought these evil creatures he couldn't protect Wataru, Ryu would probably win but the wanna-be-Ninja Wataru would have been whisked away. Luckily Ryu didn't have to make a decision for arriving at the scene in the nick of time were his four Dynaman teammates, now it was time for this episode's final showdown!
Which is their Dyna Robo, when the five are on their huge DyJupiter ship they can combine four smaller vehicles into this massive Robot. When the process is about complete the team yells in unison 'Combine! Grand Slam!' and the Grand Slam part was because this was supposed to be a Baseball Sentai series and that would have been a unique show. The Jashinka Beasts have getting stronger as the series has gone on and have been giving Dyna Robo all it could handle but not this weakish Gecko as it was defeated in about thirty seconds. So once again the Dynaman keep their unbeaten streak going against the Jashinka Empire and they better beat these heroes at least once in an upcoming episode. With less than thirty seconds to go the Fuuma Treasure chest was unsealed and think Wataru was expecting a fortune! So he was quite letdown when all it contained were some ancient rocks with words on them along with some scrolls on the art of training to be a Ninja! Wataru didn't realize it but bet those scrolls could be worth a fortune in the future. This was just an okay show, still decent but could have been the worst to date. Naturally the alluring Princess Chimera kept my eyes glued to the screen and the story was solid but the Evolution Beast added nothing to this episode. The next post has the recap for show #16 and haven't viewed that yet, still undecided how many more recaps there will be until I take a brief(?) hiatus from this series.
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