is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written by

Takao Saito was a Japanese manga artist, although he rejected the term and considered his work gekiga. He was best known for '' Golgo 13'', which has been serialized in ''Big Comic'' since 1968, making it the oldest manga still in publication. ''Golgo ...

. The original story was serialized for about a year from 1970 in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's . It was available online in English through

JManga JManga was an American website and international online community focused on the promotion, distribution, and monetization of digital comics (specifically manga) as well as the development of other manga related services. Founded in December 20 ...

. In 1972, the manga was adapted into a TV

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...

series titled by Toei, and broadcast by

Yomiuri TV JOIX-DTV (channel 10), branded as , is the Kansai region flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned by the subsidiary of the eponymous Yomiuri Shimbun#Yomiuri Group, Yomi ...

every Sunday 19:30–20:00 from April 2 to November 26. In this TV series, the original story and character designs by Saito were widely changed. During the airing seasons of the tokusatsu series; due to the naming of the villain character , a German child studying in Japan with a similarly sounding surname was bullied by native schoolmates - which was led to be mentioned in the newspaper in August 25 (four months later from the airing of the first episode) and also led the series to be aired further with the notice; "The fictional character Doruge has no relation with living people." An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

version was created and broadcast from December 2002 to March 2003 by AT-X. In this version the plot and story were also changed from its original version.

Plot

One night, a monster comes out from a lake and starts attacking Takeshi Kido and Kentaro Shiratori, childhood friends who were born on the same day. When the monster is about to kill both of them, a being called Kopu calls and tells them that they are the chosen ones to protect the world from the evil creature Doruge. Kopu gives a radar to Kentaro and Takeshi and the ability to transform into the powerful monster Barom-1 by joining their hands. Now both boys must destroy the monsters possessed by Doruge.

References to ''Barom-1'' in other media

In ''Battle Royale'' manga during

Yumiko Kusaka The following is a list of characters that appear in Battle Royale (novel), the novel, Battle Royale (manga), manga and Battle Royale (film), film versions of ''Battle Royale''. Primary characters Shuya Nanahara * Assigned weapon: Knife, Army ...

and

Yukiko Kitano The following is a list of characters that appear in Battle Royale (novel), the novel, Battle Royale (manga), manga and Battle Royale (film), film versions of ''Battle Royale''. Primary characters Shuya Nanahara * Assigned weapon: Knife, Army ...

's flashbacks in the second volume ( Shuuya Nanahara illustrates a point by mentioning the two main characters of the story). After having their bodies swapped, Excel and Hyatt from ''

Excel Saga is a manga series written and illustrated by Kōshi Rikudō. It was serialized in '' Young King OURs'' from 1996 to 2011, and its individual chapters were collected and published in 27 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Shōnen Gahōsha. The series fol ...

'' return to normal after Nabeshin's instructions to fuse themselves as a monster that is very similar to Barom-1 (even Excel says she wanted to be Takeshi).

References

External links

* * 1970 manga 1972 Japanese television series debuts 2002 anime television series debuts AT-X (TV network) original programming Japanese television dramas based on manga Kodansha manga Nippon TV original programming Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation original programming Shōnen manga Takao Saito Tokusatsu television series Toei tokusatsu {{Manga-stub