MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release
November 5, 2008

NEW TOKUSATSU DVD RELEASE "INAZUMAN"

Riding on the success and popularity of the Toei tokusatsu (live-action) series of the 70's KIKAIDA, JN Productions and Generation Kikaida will release another action- packed Japanese superhero DVD box set INAZUMAN on November 21, 2008. Inazuman, the Fighter for Freedom, battles mutant monsters of the evil Bamba Empire who are threatening the world.

Watari Goro, a college student, saves two youngsters from the Neo-Human Empire's Fantom Army and brought to the headquarters of the Youth League, a group of pure-hearted young mutants with psionic powers. Their leader, Captain Sarra, awakens Goro to his own extrasensory abilities that allow him to transform—first into Sanagiman, then—into the mighty Inazuman. With the aid of the amazing flying car, Raijingo, Inazuman battles the evil forces of Bamba to liberate mankind.

All 25 electrifying episodes of Toei Company & Ishimori Productions' 1973 series INAZUMAN are packaged in a glossy four-disc box set—digitally remastered, completely uncut, and fully subtitled in English—for the first time anywhere on Region 1 DVD.

This exciting box set also includes an array of special features which include an interviews with series star, Ban Daisuke and Generation Kikaida fans from Japan and Hawaii, Inazuman Karaoke, interactive Trivia Quiz, Character Profiles, and detailed, behind-the-scenes Factoids The INAZUMAN Complete Series Box Set will be sold in Honolulu by Shirokiya at Ala Moana Center and through the Generation Kikaida website.

INAZUMAN
Region Code "1" NTSC/4:3
Japanese Language/English subtitles
Feature running time 10 hours 27 minutes
NOT RATED

MSRP $99.95 ($7 Domestic Shipping) and FREE "Kikaida 30th Anniversary in Hawaii" Tabloid with all orders! Pre-order your INAZUMAN DVD Box Set before November 20, 2008 and receive a FREE "Limited Edition" Inazuman Pose T-shirt—supplies are limited!

Go to http://www.generationkikaida.com for more details!

Nice to watch it with subtitles

I was hoping it'd be a little less, but there's no way I'm NOT getting this. Plus, there's always good extras. Thanks August!

Oh yeah, I'll be picking this up! I loved the Iron King set btw!

Hillsy11,
Unfortunately, licensing the rights to these shows aren't cheap--after Toei's deals with Saban and Village Roadshow in licensing POWER RANGERS over the last 14 years, they aren't going to lowball their other titles, even for a small label like JN Productions (with whom they've worked closely with over the last six years). Plus, the amount of work that JN Productions put into these (digitally cleaning up the masters Toei sends them, the sharp menu design and abundance of extras), blow away similar domestic releases--and don't forget that JN Productions' box sets are still half the price of the R2 DVD releases from Toei Video (which contain little or no extras and lack English subtitles).

(Thanks for the kind words on IRON KING, Redyoda! I think that SUPER ROBOT: RED BARON Is even better--and stay tuned for SILVER MASK from BCI next year!)

Finally! I'm looking forward to this so much.

Oh, don't get me wrong August...I greatly appreciate what you guys have done. You're right about it still being cheaper than the Japanese DVDs (very cost prohibitive) and I have heard that about Toei properties. Thanks for the efforts!

Very cool!

Please consider doing the same for Barom-1.
That would be so cool!

Silver Mask??? Yes!! Great news!

Great stuff! Thanks August!

Ditto for Silver Kamen!

Liquidsky,
I would love to do BAROM-1, one of my all-time favorite '70s superhero series (and I love the manga, too), so I'll be sure to lobby the powers that be at JN Productions!

Everyone,
Thanks for the positive reaction to INAZUMAN; Joanne Ninomiya or JN Productions is very excited (and surprised) by the amount of pre-orders that have come in since yesterday, which bodes well for future releases (although I am assuming that the next release for them will be INAZUMAN FLASH). The more we support these releases, the more likely that companies like JN Productions will want to risk the money to license more such shows, making the likelihood of BAROM-1 being released in the near future.

Thanks for all of understanding on the pricing and the support for quality releases from JN Productions!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Thanks for all your work in getting this stuff available. Inazuman has been pre-ordered.

PS: I picked up the Tsuburaya book about a month ago. Fantastic job on that.

good job August!

hey August, do you both read and write Japanese?

Awsome.I'm going through the Red Baron series now and I'm lovin it.You guys did a great job with these discs.

I'd love for Barom-1 and Spectreman to get the same treatment someday.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone--it's appreciated! But, the real thanks must go to Joanne Ninomiya of JN Productions and Cliff McMillan of BCI/Ronin Entertainment , who took the risk to license these series!

Chad, I only speak and read enough Japanese to get me into trouble.

>Cliff McMillan of BCI/Ronin Entertainment
is great

Every time I talk to him, I tell him what a good job you have done on the enclosed materials with the release.

August, I also talked you up at their SDCC booth so I hope they give you work until you can take no more! (which means they have to release more and more Japanese live-action hero stuff)

Chad,
Thanks for the kind words... I just missed him at SDCC (I was signing my book at the Chronicle Books booth), and didn't catch up to him... Anyhow, I would eventually like to see releases like old school anime titles such as JEEG OF STEEL too. Well, I can dream, can't I?

I'm going to order this as a christmas present to myself.

All of JNP's DVDs make great gifts!

Same here, i've been waiting too long for this!!!

Plus can't wait for Silver Mask!!

August, anymore hints you could drop for next year?

And Red Baron set is a must buy! You will not be disapointed!

JN Productions is hoping that sales are good for INAZUMAN, so that they can plan for their next release. So far, they are surprised with the amount of pre-orders--so keep 'em coming! So, I would imagine that they would want to wrap up the INAZUMAN story by releasing INAZUMAN FLASH, but who knows where they will go next (BAROM-1, perhaps?). Sony Home Video will be releasing a set containing three Toho sci-fi/monster movies owned by Columbia Pictures--the set will feature Ishiro Honda's THE H-MAN (1958), BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE (1959) and MOTHRA (1961). There is a possibility that the box set will also feature the more recent MOTHRA 3 (1998).

As for BCI, the only releases that are definitely in the pipeline are the killer 1974 martial arts series FIGHT! DRAGON starring Yasuaki Kurata (best known for his Shaw Brothers roles and fighting Jet Li in FIST OF LEGEND) and featuring such guest stars as HK superstar Bruce Liang and Yang Sze (aka Bolo Yueng)! This will be release by BCI in the Spring.

Then, there's SILVER MASK a sci-fi superhero series from 1971. In brief, the story is about the Kasuga siblings, who wander Japan looking for the clues to their late father's design for a lightspeed engine for interstellar exploration. A number of aliens do not want mankind to journey into space and spread our primitive violence into the universe. They kill Professor Kasuga and start to hunt down the siblings who are trying to unlock the plans their father bonded into their bodies. The middle brother, Koji, was also transformed into a cyborg to protect his brothers and sisters in their quest.

I love SILVER KAMEN. Good cast (Kameishi Seiichiro, Shiba Toshio, Natsu Junko, Shinoda Saburo and Matsuo Sheena), coupled with a great concept -- orchestrated by Jissoji Akio, designed by Ikeya Noriyoshi (Kodai Group) and written by Sasaki Mamoru (Oshima Nagisa's DEATH BY HANGING). The wonderfully odd and discordant soundtrack by Higure Masanobu is also a nice touch, foreshadowing his score for ULTRAMAN TARO (1973).

Some of the guest stars are great, too -- Toho character actor Fuyuki Murakami (Dr. Tanabe in GODZILLA) in Episode 1 as Professor Shitamura; Sasaki Isao as Nanjo Hayato in Episode 6 and so on... Of course, Shiba appeared as a lead in GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH (1971) and Shinoda was the star of ULTRAMAN TARO. Ikeda Shunsuke also appears in two episodes as a guest star.

After Episode 10, the series changed into an Ultraman-style format with a giant hero and giant monsters and aliens--it's still fun, though!

I was really, REALLY impressed with JN's Kamen Rider V3 DVDs. My favorite rider, to boot! The Kikaida was good, too.

I love to see someone bring over Zone Fighter. I saw a few eps raw. Good stuff.

The 26-episode ZONE FIGHTER would be great, and not as big of an investment as the 52-episode KAMEN RIDER V3--I'd like to see it happen. The V3 box set does kick all kinds of ass, if I must say so myself!

Zone Fighter is amazing from what I've seen of it. Weird monsters, crazy fights, roman candles, flame throwers, PLUS Godzilla and Ghidorah cameos!

Godzilla, King Ghidorah and Gigan, oh my!