Brave Exkaiser
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is a Japanese
animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...
produced by
Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology Al ...
. The series is directed by
Katsuyoshi Yatabe (born July 11, 1956) is a Japanese people, Japanese screenwriter, anime director and sound director born in Tokyo. He is most well known for directing the first three entries in Sunrise (company), Sunrise's ''Brave series'' and directing the fir ...
and written by Yasushi Hirano with both character and mecha designs done by Masayuki Hiraoka and
Kunio Okawara is a mechanical designer in the Japanese anime industry. Okawara was the first in the industry to be specifically credited as a mechanical designer. He designed mecha for the ''Gundam'' and ''Brave Series'' franchises, as well as those of numerou ...
respectively. It aired on
Nagoya TV JOLX-DTV, virtual channel 6 (UHF digital channel 22), branded as is the Chūbu region flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network, owned by the , with its headquarters in Nagoya. It is broadcast in Aichi Prefectur ...
from February 3, 1990, to January 26, 1991, compiling up to 48 episodes. ''Exkaiser'' is the first installment in
Takara Takara Co., Ltd. (株式会社タカラ) was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955. In March 2006, the company merged with Tomy Co., Ltd. to form Takara Tomy. The Takara motto was 遊びは文化」("playing is culture"). Products Toys In ...
and Sunrise's ''
Brave series The is a Japanese toy and anime franchise originally produced by Sunrise (now the primary division of Bandai Namco Filmworks), Nagoya TV, Victor Entertainment and Tokyu Agency, originally created by Takara (now Takara Tomy). The franchise ran fr ...
'' franchise, spanning up to 8 separate installments. It is generally one of the more influential anime in the 1990s, which revitalized the Super Robot genre in that time through both the series' reception as well as its toy sales. It would be later referenced and homaged in several other animated works.


Story

A group of space police led by Exkaiser are chasing after the Geisters, an evil gang of treasure thieves. Upon arriving on Earth, Exkaiser and his team, the Kaisers, house their spirits into vehicles all over Japan to create physical bodies for their energy-based forms. Exkaiser inhabits a car belonging to the Hoshikawa family and befriends a third grade boy named Kouta Hoshikawa. Exkaiser and his allies must unite their powers in order to fight the Geisters and prevent them from stealing Earth's artifacts.


Development

''Brave Exkaiser'' was a co-production between Sunrise and Takara, with the latter producing the toyline based on the series. Sunrise, who was assigned to animate the series, planned the show to be a solo series and will not have any spinoffs nor start a franchise. It was also aimed for kids at that time. Its premise was also based on one central theme: "Searching for One's Treasure",TARKUS編「PART 5  者たちの足跡アニメーション監督インタビュー 谷田部勝義」『大勇者伝説 サンライズ・ロボットトイコレクション 者・エルドラン編メディアワークス、2007年5月15日、、82 reflecting the value of important things that can only be understood after losing. This theme became the central point of the series's finale. While developing the mecha designs, Takara based the concept of the mechas from the ''
Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...
'' toyline, as the concept of Alien Robots coming from space, though depicted them as Super Robots that combine both sophisticated and simple designs in their various forms, something that is later passed to the Transformers franchise in its later incarnations. In addition, the concept of a boy befriending a robot, a concept seen back in ''
Transformers Victory is an animated series produced by Toei Animation. It is a Japanese-produced spin-off of the well-known original ''Transformers'' animated series, and the final complete animated series from the original " Generation 1" era. Development Follo ...
'' was implemented in the series as seen in the bond between Exkaiser and Kouta. Upon release of the anime, sales of the series' toys were among the highest in 1990 according to Takara, also describing it as their "best year" in sales. Though production narrowed down a bit due to the release of the ''
Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...
'' in Japan in that same year with the year-end sales being slow due to a large amount of inventory of toys. Keiichi Tanaka, stated that "(In Kansai), There was no inventory left because we made adjustments by transferring between wholesalers at the end of the year."田中圭一Twitter 2018年5月22日付
Takara foresaw the potential of the series as a franchise not as a toys franchise but as "a series with a compelling storyline and drama for older audiences", which paid off in Brave future installments.


Media


Anime

''Brave Exkaiser'' originally aired on
Nagoya TV JOLX-DTV, virtual channel 6 (UHF digital channel 22), branded as is the Chūbu region flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network, owned by the , with its headquarters in Nagoya. It is broadcast in Aichi Prefectur ...
from February 3, 1990, to January 26, 1991, replacing ''
Jushin Liger , better known as and later , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is the longest-tenured member of the NJPW roster, having wrestled for the company since h ...
'' on its timeslot. Hidemi Miura performed both the series's opening and ending themes: "Gather Way" and . The series' music was composed by Kohei Tanaka, who would later compose music for ''
The King of Braves GaoGaiGar is a Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise's internal "Studio 7" division alongside Tokyu Agency. It is the eighth and final installment in Takara's ''Brave series'' franchise. It is directed by Yoshitomo Yonetani, with Yosh ...
'', the final entry in the ''Brave'' series.


Video Games

Brave Exkaiser appears in the two '' Brave Saga'' games which were published by Takara and released on the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
in 1998 and 2000 respectively as well as appearing in ''Brave Saga: Shinsou Astaria'' for the
Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...
in 2001 and later ''New Century Brave Wars'' for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
in 2005. In 2019, Brave Exkaiser appeared in the ''Super Robot Wars X-Ω'' mobile game, making it the third ''Brave'' series to debut in the Super Robot Wars franchise, after GaoGaiGar's debut in '' 2nd Super Robot Wars Alpha'' and Might Gaine's debut in ''
Super Robot Wars V is a tactical role-playing game developed by B.B. Studio and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. Released as part of ''Super Robot Wars'' 25th anniversary, it is the eighth standalone entry to the ...
''.


References


Works cited

*


External links


勇者エクスカイザー
(Japanese) * {{Sunrise 1990 anime television series debuts Sunrise (company) Super robot anime and manga Brave series