is a

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

multimedia franchise originally created 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 ...

and

Red Entertainment is a video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Japan. Originally founded in 1976 as (though it did not begin doing business until 1985), it was reorganized and succeeded by a new company on December 4, 2000, under its cu ...

. The first series aired on April 15, 1988, replacing the 17:00–17:30 timeslot used for '' Transformers: The Headmasters''. Sunrise credited "

Hajime Yatate is a pseudonym for the collective contributions of the Sunrise animation staff. Name "Hajime Yatate" is considered to be named after a quote of Matsuo Bashō's ''Oku no Hosomichi'': Credited series This collective entity is credited as the o ...

" for the storyline and Shuji Iuchi directed the series. The series employs a kinetic visual gag style, often employing characters running with their feet over their shoulders derived from Sunrise's previous Super Robot anime series ''

Choriki Robo Galatt is a comedy-science fiction anime series by Sunrise. It is also known as ''Super Robot Galatt'' and ''Change Robo Galatt''. It consists of 25 episodes and was originally broadcast on the TV Asahi network as well as some Fuji TV, Nippon TV a ...

''.

Story

The story is about a 9-year-old boy named who is magically transported to a magical realm by a magical dragon named Ryujinmaru (龍神丸, Dragon God Round) - this realm is known as , which he is supposed to save from an evil, magical, demonic ruler. The series incorporates many elements of RPG games including dungeon levels and quests for magical objects. Soukaizan itself is represented as a series of magical tiered platforms each floating magically above the one beneath it in a rough pyramid shape. In order to progress to the next tier where he will meet the series' ultimate magical villain, the show's heroes must complete some task on the one beneath. In addition to these, he has to defeat the magical ruler of each level along with his many magical henchmen. Each level he completes, rejuvenates one color of the magical gray rainbow over Soukaizan. In his quest to save the magical realm, Wataru manages to transform a clay sculpture into a somewhat autonomous and small magical Super Robot. He also befriends many of the magical Soukaizan natives, and forms some very strong friendship bonds. The term Sou-kai-zan can be broken down to its three parts: "Sou" (creation), "Kai" (realm, space, world, or universe), and "Zan" (hill or mountain), representing the pyramid shape of the magical world's level.

Cast

Mayumi Tanaka (born January 15, 1955) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator. She voiced Monkey D. Luffy in ''One Piece'', Ryunosuke Fujinami in ''Urusei Yatsura'', Koenma in ''Yu Yu Hakusho'', Pazu in '' Laputa: Castle in the Sky'', Krillin, Yajir ...

as Wataru Ikusabe (戦部ワタル ''Ikusabe Wataru'') (In ''

Keith Courage in Alpha Zones ''Keith Courage in Alpha Zones'' is a 1989 science fantasy platform game released by NEC for the TurboGrafx-16. It was the pack-in game for the console in North America. It was originally released in Japan by Hudson Soft on August 30, 1988 for ...

'', he is known as ''Keith Courage'') *

Megumi Hayashibara is a Japanese voice actress, singer, lyricist and radio personality from Kita ward in Tokyo and is affiliated with self-founded Woodpark Office. One of the most prominent Japanese voice actresses since the 1990s, Hayashibara is best known for he ...

as Himiko Shinobibe (忍部ヒミコ ''Shinobibe Himiko'') (In ''Keith Courage in Alpha Zones'', she is known as ''Nurse Nancy'') *

Tomomichi Nishimura is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator who works for Arts Vision. He is most known for the roles of the Narrator of ''YuYu Hakusho'', Tsuchikage Ohnoki (''Naruto''), Mitsuyoshi Anzai (''Slam Dunk''), Shibaraku Tsurugibe (''Mashin Hero ...

as Shibaraku Tsurugibe (剣部シバラク ''Tsurugibe Shibaraku'') (In ''Keith Courage in Alpha Zones'', he is known as the ''Weapons Master'') *

Kōichi Yamadera is a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and singer from Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University's economics school and is currently affiliated with Across Entertainment. Before that, he was affiliated with th ...

as Kurama Wataribe (渡部クラマ ''Wataribe Kurama'') * Kenichi Ogata as Genryūsai Shinobibe (忍部幻龍斎 ''Shinobibe Genryūsai'') *

Tesshō Genda is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator. He is employed by the talent management firm 81 Produce. When he debuted, he used his real name, . as artist name. Because he had experience with ballet, he was known by the nickname "Pirouette Gend ...

as ''Ryūjinmaru'' *

Kazue Ikura is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator who works for Aoni Production. She was previously affiliated with theater groups/production companies 劇舎燐, 俳協, Production Baobab and NABEYA. She is most known for the roles of Kaori M ...

as Toraoh (虎王 ''Toraō'') *

Urara Takano , known by her stage name is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator from Togane, Chiba. She is currently affiliated with and representative of REMAX. Her most prominent role has been in the ''Sakura Wars'' video game franchise, where sh ...

as ''Umihiko''

Episode list

Interpretations

The first section of the title's kanji is a pun: the super-deformed mecha of the series are called "Magic Gods" (Kanji: 魔神, Romaji: mashin) - while written with the

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

for "magic" being shortened from "魔法" (mahō) to "魔" (ma) and "god" (神, shin) ("Shin" is one of two spellings for "jin", one of two romaji for "god" - the second romaji is "kami"), "mashin" is also the romaji for the katakana writing of the ordinary English word "machine" (マシン, mashin). The kanji for "legend", 伝説 (densetsu) is shortened to "伝" (den) before being written alongside "hero" (英雄 Eiyū) Wataru and his friends Shibaraku and Himiko each represent different elements of ancient Japan: Wataru with his

magatama are curved, comma-shaped beads that appeared in prehistoric Japan from the Final Jōmon period through the Kofun period, approximately 1000 BCE to the 6th century CE. The beads, also described as "jewels", were made of primitive stone and eart ...

and association with dragons represents the pre-

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan. Japanese his ...

Watari clan. Shibaraku represents

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

. Himiko represents

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

Cultural impact

The

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 ...

series was a huge hit in Japan, later being imported into Taiwan, Mainland China, South Korea, France, Monaco and Hong Kong (the latter was shown on

TVB Jade TVB Jade (), or simply Jade, is a Hong Kong Cantonese-language free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) as its flagship service, alongside its sister network, the English-language TVB Pearl. Bro ...

). Chinese translations were provided. The show became one of the most famous Japanese anime shows in China during the mid-1990s.

Spinoffs

The franchise has spawned three TV series (''Mashin Hero Wataru'', ''Mashin Hero Wataru 2'', ''Cho Mashin Hero Wataru''), four radio shows, five OVAs, five novels, five video games, and assorted other merchandise. One of the video games was the original pack-in game for the

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, though ...

, and was renamed in the United States as ''

'' when localized on

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC, NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth genera ...

. The latest anime, Mashin Hero Wataru: The Seven Spirits Of Ryujinmaru was released online on April 10, 2020. On April 24, 2020, it was announced that the anime would be on a hiatus due to COVID-19. On June 12, 2020, it was announced the anime would resume on June 19, 2020. Wataru's success prompted Bandai to copy the super-deformed mecha and multi-tiered world concepts in a science fiction setting with Sunrise's 1989 '' Madō King Granzort'' TV series. A manga adaptation drawn by Hideaki Fujii began serialization in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

's ''Corocoro Aniki'' manga magazine in July 2020.

Staff

Director: Shūji Iuchi Additional Directors: Michio Fukuda, Masamitsu Hidaka, Nobuhiro Kondo, Katsuoshi Yatabe,

Yutaka Kagawa Yutaka is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yutaka can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *豊, "bountiful" *裕, "affluence" *穣, "fertile" *温, "warmth" The name can also be written in hiragana ゆた ...

Screenwriter: Yoshiaki Takahashi, Ryosuke Takahashi,

Hiroyuki Kawasaki is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Hiroki can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: extensive, good fortune, spacious. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . It is written in hir ...

Takao Koyama is a Japanese screenwriter and novelist focusing on anime productions. His name was written as until 1987. Career He graduated from Waseda University in 1972 and joined to Tatsunoko Production as a story creator and a screenwriter. He left from T ...

Hiroko Naka is a common feminine Japanese given name. Name meanings Hiroko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *裕子, "kind child" *弘子, "Beautiful child" *寛子, " small child" *浩子, "large child" *博子, "wise child" *� ...

Design:

Toyoo Ashida was an anime character designer, animation director and director. He was most notable for directing the original ''Vampire Hunter D'' anime, as well as for providing character designs for '' Vifam'', ''Mashin Hero Wataru'', ''Minky Momo'' and '' ...

, Kazunori Nakazawa Animator:

Music: Junichi Kanezaki,

Satoshi Kadokura , is a Japanese composer, arranger, producer, keyboardist. He graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts. He was a producer of Wink, Noriyuki Makihara, Southern All Stars , also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band th ...

Music

''Wataru'' * Opening: "Step" by achi-achi * Ending: "Achi-achi Adventure" by achi-achi ''Wataru 2'' * Opening 1: "Step by Step" by Takahashi Yumiko * Ending 1: "Kimi ni Tomaranai - MY GIRL, MY LOVE" by Takahashi Yumiko * Opening 2: "Fight" by Takahashi Yumiko * Ending 2: "Niji no Kanata" by Takahashi Yumiko ''Cho Mashin Hero Wataru'' * Opening 1: by

Hitomi Mieno is a Japanese singer and screenwriter. She has released 17 singles and 11 albums since her debut in 1994. Several of her songs have been used as openings and endings of anime and radio dramas. She has also written the screenplays of various anim ...

* Ending 1: "BOYS BE AMBITIOUS" by Hitomi Mieno * Opening 2: "POWER OF DREAM" by Hitomi Mieno * Ending 2: "Ganbatte" by Hitomi Mieno

References

External links

Official Website
(Archive)

(Archive)
Wataru Livejournal CommunityVAP
*
WATARU RAINBOW ISLANDWATARU IN CHINA/魔神英雄傳
(Archive) {{Sunrise OVAs 1988 anime television series debuts 1989 anime OVAs 1990 anime television series debuts 1993 anime OVAs 1997 anime television series debuts 2020 anime ONAs Adventure anime and manga Anime postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Anime productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Bandai Namco franchises Comedy anime and manga Fantasy anime and manga Nippon TV original programming Seinen manga Shogakukan manga Sunrise (company) Super robot anime and manga TV Tokyo original programming