''Messenger of Allah'', known in Japan as is a Japanese

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, fantasy, or horror media featuring such technology but is som ...

superhero TV series produced by

Toei Company () (also styled TOEI) is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution and video game developer and publishing company. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan (all but two of them operated by ...

starring a young

Sonny Chiba , known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience. Born in Fuku ...

, at the time known as Shin'ichi Chiba. It was created by writer Yasunori Kawauchi, who was also responsible for creating ''

Moonlight Mask (a.k.a. ''The Moonbeam Man'') is a superhero appearing in Japanese tokusatsu and anime television shows and movies since his TV debut in 1958. The six theatrical films were made (between 1958-1959) in black and white/ToeiScope format. Created by ...

'' and ''

Seven Color Mask is the name and title character of a tokusatsu TV series, later called . It was created by Kōhan Kawauchi, who also created ''Moonlight Mask''. This B&W TV show was the first superhero TV series by Toei Company Ltd. It was broadcast on NET (n ...

''. The series ran from July 7, 1960 to December 27, 1960 on

NET Net or net may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence * Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2 * Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...

(now TV Asahi) for a total of 26 episodes.

Development

After ''New Seven Color Mask'' ended its run, Shin'ichi Chiba continued on to star in Yasunori Kawauchi's swashbuckler adventure ''Messenger of Allah''. The series was inspired by creator Kawauchi's conversion to Islam in 1959. The title character was the basis for ''

Warrior of Love Rainbowman is a tokusatsu series created by Kōhan Kawauchi. This was the first superhero TV series produced by Toho Company Ltd., and was broadcast on NET (now TV Asahi) from October 6, 1972 to September 18, 1973, with a total of 52 episodes. Mitsuru ...

'', which Kawauchi also created and wrote for, and also aired on NET. The film for the first episode is all that exists, which can be found on the Toei Tokusatsu BB website. ''Messenger of Allah'' was sponsored by the Kabaya Foods Corporation. The Kabayan Kingdom, His Imperial Highness Coconut and Mammy were named after the sponsor's products "Kabaya Caramel Coconut" and the "Mammy" brand bisquits from

Morinaga & Company is a confectionery company in Tokyo, Japan, in operation since 1899. Their products include candy and other confectioneries. Morinaga has had Ayumi Hamasaki and Mao Asada appear in their commercials, and in the past has used stars such as the C ...

Story

The setting takes place in the fictional in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

His Imperial Highness His/Her Imperial Highness (abbreviation HIH) is a style used by members of an imperial family to denote ''imperial'' – as opposed to ''royal'' – status to show that the holder in question is descended from an emperor rather than a king ( ...

Coconut, the heir to the throne, and his sister Mammy are searching for hidden treasure, guided by a map. When Coconut and Mammy are attacked by the , the white turban-wearing ally of justice, known as the "Messenger of Allah", appears. The Messenger of Allah's secret identity is Goro Narumi, a private investigator.

Cast

* Shin'ichi Chiba: *Kaneko Akio: , successor of the Kabayan Kingdom. *Yumi Ichijo: , Coconut's sister. *Hitoshi Ohmae: *Junorio Kozuka: *Arima Shinji: *Etsuko Sakurai: *Koji Matsuyama:

Episode list

Staff

Theme song

Opening: *Lyrics: Yasunori Kawauchi *Composer: George M. Reed *Song: Toshiba Children's Chorus Ending: *Lyrics: Yasunori Kawauchi *Composer: George M. Reed *Song: Yuji Mine

Manga

The manga version by Ippei Kuri was serialized in ''

Bōken Ō ''Bōken Ō'' (冒険王, "Adventure King") was a monthly magazine for youth published by Akita Shoten between 1949 and 1983. It was among the first generation of children's comic magazines after World War II and was initially focused on publis ...

'' magazine, and the

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

was published in 2010.

Notes

Bibliography

References

{{reflist 1960 Japanese television series debuts 1960 Japanese television series endings 1960s Japanese television series TV Asahi original programming Toei tokusatsu Transforming heroes Television series set in fictional countries Television series set in the Middle East