"Dengeki!! Strada 5": 1974 Tokusatsu series, episode seven 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, a good example 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 the 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 were high between the two but began to cool off in the fourth episode. 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 posing as a detective at the time but had never been an official one. There was zero Tonomura could have done to prevent the death by the Big Nova group and the younger Hotta shouldn't be blaming him but both will defend each other in their battles to save the Earth! Tonomura's undercover job is working at a hospital lab, he's also 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: Did say that 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 and often uses a special Rosary as a weapon.

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. He developed the Image Vision device which allows Andromeda to see her telepathic visions more clearly and accurately. 

 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. But by the fifth episode Luna had developed a device which allows Andromeda and others to see those visions more clearly.... by video!!!!

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. If the subleader is a woman will refer to her as Maki, if a man it will be Abe. For this seventh episode the man didn't have a name but twice was called Tokyo Number Seven by Mr. Asmodeus. That's because it is episode seven and will use that name and won't refer to him too often, like all others was eliminated at the end by the Big Nova leader!

                               

                               

 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. It also seems in each episode we see another new gadget but one that's only used once.

 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. 

 

Previous recaps

 It wouldn't affect the view counts and it's something that has been mentioned before which would help you viewers follow a series better. Which is that after reading the first 2-3 recaps and you find out it's a series you would want to read all of the recaps it could be better to wait until I have finished recapping the entire drama. If you wait until the end you can click on the bottom links to read the posts in order which would make following the series so much easier and you would also understand that took place much better.

Episode one .... Episode two .... Episode three .... Episode four

Episode five

 The above woman was the main guest star for this show though we didn't see much of her until the ten minute mark. Her name is Erika Wada in real life, she played the character of Rieko in this episode. She has a face I have seen in a few films but couldn't find out more info or get any other photos for her, that happens on occasion when what you're hunting for is fifty years old. Couldn't find another decent video to add into the above section either so not a good start to this recap, then when you add in that the Dengeki Strada 5 commander Jupiter didn't make an appearance in this episode what else could go wrong? Luckily nothing and as has been the case for every show the story was solid though at times the ending can be a bit rushed so wish there were another 3-4 minutes in a show. Can't think of anything else to add in so let's get to the action with the main story being of what is in the top screenshot.

 We're just past the halfway point of this series but still have no clue about the background of Mr. Asmodeus who is in two screenshots above, the man wearing a mask. He's the leader of the criminal organization Big Nova who do get defeated in each show by the Dengeki Strada 5 team though often put up a fierce battle. Many plans of Mr. Asmodeus have to deal with raising money for his criminal group so they can of course rule the Earth(!), the story in this one did feature that aim to an extent. For what Big Nova had been doing is flooding the market with fake diamonds, the ones you see in the top screenshot. The diamonds are artificial ones that are being smuggled into the Tokyo area from Hong Kong, leading the mission is the Big Nova subleader in the third screenshot who is Tokyo Number Seven. With so many fake diamonds circulating in the Tokyo market who could tell which ones are real or fakes? Because of that Mr. Asmodeus felt the Tokyo economy would collapse, then shortly after the whole Japanese economy with the final stage being of Big Nova swooping in to control the entire Japan economy! Bit of a far fetched plan to me but most from Mr. Asmodeus are, more on him and the plan coming up.

 Did say zero is known about the mysterious Big Nova leader Mr. Asmodeus, not even the heroes from Dengeki Strada 5 know anything about him. But one sharp private eye has been working on his background and seems to have hit pay dirt, it's the man in a brown suit above. We only saw him for two minutes at the most and his name was Gordon Murakami, he's known for his undercover work and has brought down many Yakuza gangs. At the time Murakami was telling his secretary about Mr. Asmodeus, he's been working on the case for a long time and the next day the private eye will be releasing his findings.... and the possible identity of Mr. Asmodeus! Who of course could not allow that to happen and ordered his subleader Tokyo Number Seven to eliminate this threat. Who in turn assigned the case to the man above dressed in a pilot's cap and his name was Jouji. He had stopped at Murakami's office for a quick visit and said he had just arrived back from Hong Kong which was true, he had waited until the secretary had left the room for a few seconds and we learned why later. While in Murakami's office Jouji switched lighters and how could Murakami not have noticed that? Shortly after he left the office and when Murakami tried lighting his cigar in his car the lighter blew up for it was a bomb, Murakami was a goner but his secretary who was nearby did survive. In the bottom two screenshots above are the Dengeki Strada 5 team who of course had been assigned the case, with Jupiter away Orion became the temp commander but no major decisions needed to be made. 

 With Murakami killed in that explosion the identity of Mr. Asmodeus will remain a secret but there was one loose end to clear up. Which is that just before the bomb went off Murakami's secretary Rieko saw the man who had switched lighters so could possibly ID Jouji as the killer. In the top screenshot above the Big Nova subleader Tokyo Number Seven, on the left, was telling Jouji this woman must meet the same fate as her boss but Jouji seemed very reluctant to take on the assignment, we'll soon learn why. The bomb blast did injure Rieko but not too severely, she's in the hospital and could be released soon. But the problem keeping Rieko in the hospital wasn't a physical one but it was that she had Amnesia which was caused by the bomb blast. So Rieko couldn't recall one thing about what happened to her boss but worse than that she can't remember one thing about her entire life! Guarding Rieko in case her memory should return was of course the Strada 5 team but that didn't stop Big Nova from attacking her.

 The first attempt involved a bouquet of flowers sent to Rieko's room, that aroused the curiosity of the only female team member Andromeda and for good reason as the flowers soon spewed off a spray of knockout gas! But an alert Luna was able to avert the gas and protect Rieko, the culprit fled the room but Luna was in hot pursuit. It was an exciting car chase scene, Luna was able to trap the driver who was Jouji and it appeared he would reveal some key Big Nova secrets. But another henchman had been following the pair and fired at Luna a few times, that allowed Jouji to escape but in the process he had dropped a locket. In it was a photo of Jouji and.... Rieko(!) which is right above, the two are brother and sister so of course Jouji was so reluctant when ordered to kill Rieko! But looking at that photo didn't bring back Rieko's memory, her brother was still unknown to her. Luna had an idea to get her memory back, to me he is the smartest of the Strada 5 team and what he proposed to Rieko could be a bit dangerous. Luna's plan never got that far but you can see what he was going to do in the bottom screenshot above and would that bring back someone's memory? Above that screenshot Jouji had once again been ordered to kill his sister but this time did put his foot down and say no. Of course that infuriated the Big Nova subleader Tokyo Number Seven who had a drug injected into Jouji which would make him obey all orders but just as the shot was to be injected he had grabbed a small metal vial. Jouji had it hidden in his hand while he was getting that shot so he had crushed the vial which did draw some blood and it appeared the pain of his act stopped the drug from being 100% effective.

 Final segment, what took place is in the above screenshots plus the first four below. The reason Luna wasn't able to do that dangerous experiment on Rieko to help regain her memory is because arriving on the scene to break things up was her brother Jouji and would the drug shot into him be powerful enough for him to kill his sister???? NO for he had retained his senses as explained above and had fooled Tokyo Number Seven into thinking he was doped up enough to kill Rieko, that would be with a grenade he was given. But after encountering Rieko and Luna Jouji advised them to run away for he took off the pin and tossed the grenade twenty or so feet away.... have no clue how but the explosion still hurt Jouji badly. So severe was the wound that he didn't have much time to live and that shocked me, with his dying breaths Jouji told Luna of what he had been doing. Jouji was a pilot for Pacific Airlines and often flew the Hong Kong-Tokyo route, of course there were many other pilots. Who Big Nova had also drugged and in their dazed state had been ordered to smuggle a vast amount of fake diamonds on each flight. When the plane arrived in Tokyo the artificial gems were taken via a helicopter to another location and never once had there been a snag. Until now that is for a dying Jouji told Luna that day a plane would be arriving at the smaller Itami Airport, once again the diamonds would be picked up by a helicopter and brought to a quarry.

 So Jouji and the other pilots were not to be blamed and with his last breath Jouji may be a hero.... that is if Luna and Rieko can make it to the quarry to intercept this new arrival. Which they did and were able to easily snag the fake diamonds, is that the end of the case? Not by a long shot as Tokyo Number Seven and many Big Nova thugs arrived at the quarry for they were supposed to pick up the fake diamonds and an all out battle ensued. Making things much more even was the fact Luna's Dengeki Strada 5 teammates showed up to do battle, Big Nova often wins a small fight during the show but the final match always goes to the Strada 5 heroes! Which happened again and these battles are entertaining even though no huge and powerful weapons are used. Of course failing at a mission always means a penalty of Death for a Big Nova subleader, that happened with Tokyo Number Seven in the second screenshot below. The one after we heard that message from Mr. Asmodeus which almost brought us to the end of the show. There were abut thirty seconds left at this point, sadly Luna and Rieko met to exchange their goodbyes and you could really tell both had fallen for each other in such a short amount of time. Down to six episodes to go and hopefully can wrap this up in about ten days though two weeks is more like it.