''Force Five'' is an American adaptation of five different

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 ...

television series. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, this series was primarily shown only in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, though it did make brief appearances in other markets, such as

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

on KICU-TV 36. It was also shown in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada on CFMT channel 47 and in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Star Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, ...

during the 1990s. It was produced by Jim Terry and his company American Way, and it consisted of five imported Japanese giant robot serials (originally produced in the mid-1970s by

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' ''GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' ''Mazinger Z'', ''Galaxy Express 999'', ''Cutie Honey'', ''Dr. Slump'', ' ...

) in response to the popularity of the Shogun Warriors toy collection.

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

was one of the sponsors of the series. In an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

style, the five shows were broadcast simultaneously with one episode of each serial assigned a specific weekday. Additionally, all of the shows were edited into two-hour movies and marketed on video tape by

Family Home Entertainment Family Home Entertainment (FHE) was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California. History The company was founde ...

. In the UK, Krypton Force released several of these programmes but under different series titles.

''Force Five'' series

''Force Five'' consisted of the following five series: Originally, ''

Great Mazinger is a Japanese manga comic book and anime television series by manga artist Go Nagai. The story is a sequel and direct continuation of '' Mazinger Z'' series after its initial success. The series was aired on Japanese television in 1974, ...

'' was meant to be among the five shows, but at the last minute was swapped out for ''

Starzinger , known as ''Spaceketeers'' in the United States, is an anime series produced by Toei Animation. It is a sci-fi remake/adaptation of Wu Cheng'en's fantasy novel ''Journey to the West''. It was directed by Yugo Serikawa and written by Leiji ...

''.

External links

Absolute Anime profile Force Five Television show
{{Animated television series created for syndication 1980 American television series debuts 1985 American television series endings 1980s American animated television series 1980s American anthology television series American children's animated anthology television series English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Mecha anime and manga American television series based on Japanese television series