is a

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

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, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

and

Red Company is a video game developer and 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 current moniker of Red ...

. 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 Bandai Namco Filmworks#Sunrise, Sunrise（Bandai Namco Filmworks） animation staff. Name "Hajime Yatate" is considered to be named after a quote of Matsuo Bashō's ''Oku no Hosomichi'': ...

" for the storyline and Shūji Iuchi directed the series. The series uses elements from both

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

and

Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of years of contac ...

, in terms of themes and settings.

Story

The story is about a 9-year-old boy named who is magically transported to a magical realm by a mystical

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

named Ryujinmaru (龍神丸, Dragon God Round) - this magical realm is known as , which he is supposed to save from an evil, magical and demonic ruler. The series incorporates many elements of contemporary

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s including

dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably derives more from the Renaissance period. An oubliette (fr ...

levels and quests for magical objects. Soukaizan itself is represented as a series of tiered platforms each floating above the one beneath it in a rough shape of a

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

. In order to progress to the next tier where he will meet the series' ultimate magical villain, the show's heroes must first complete some task on the tiers beneath the last one. In addition to completing these quests, he has to defeat the ruler of each level along with his many henchmen. Each level he completes, he rejuvenates one color of the 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 along with magical Super Robot. He also befriends many of the Soukaizan natives, and forms some very strong bonds of friendship. 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.

Cast

Mayumi Tanaka (born January 15, 1955) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator. She voiced Monkey D. Luffy in '' One Piece''; Krillin, Yajirobe and Uranai Baba in '' Dragon Ball; Ryunosuke Fujinami in '' Urusei Yatsura; Koenma in '' Yu Yu Hakus ...

as Wataru Ikusabe (戦部ワタル ''Ikusabe Wataru'') (In '' Keith Courage in Alpha Zones'', 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 ...

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'') *

Koichi Yamadera is a Japanese 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 the Tokyo Actor' ...

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

Tesshō Genda (sometimes credited as Tessyou Genda, Tetsuaki Genda, or Tetsusyo 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 h ...

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 Kao ...

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 s ...

as ''Umihiko'' (海火子)

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 logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, 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 and are ...

for "magic" being shortened from "魔法" (mahō) to "魔" (ma) and "god" (神, shin) ("Shin" is the

onyomi , or the Sino-Japanese reading, is the reading of a kanji based on the historical Chinese pronunciation of the character. A single kanji might have multiple ''on'yomi'' pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronunciations of different period ...

reading of this kanji while the

kunyomi is the way of reading kanji characters using the native Japanese word that matches the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. This pronunciation is contrasted with ''on'yomi'', which is the reading based on the original Chi ...

is "kami"), "mashin" is also the

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

spelling of English loanword "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). A freer translation of the title would be "Legend of the Spirit Wataru." 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 Jōmon period, Final Jōmon period through the Kofun period, approximately 1000 BCE to the 6th century CE. The beads, also described as jewels, were made of stone and e ...

and association with dragons represents the pre-

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

Watari clan. Shibaraku represents

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

. Himiko represents

ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

Cultural impact

The

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

series was a huge hit in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, later being imported into

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

(the latter was shown on

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

). Chinese translations were provided. The show became one of the most famous Japanese anime shows in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

during the mid-1990s.

Spin-offs

The franchise has spawned three

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

(''Mashin Hero Wataru'', ', '), four radio shows, five

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

s, 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 in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...

, and was renamed in the United States as '' Keith Courage in Alpha Zones'' when localized on the

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation of video game con ...

. A sequel 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 the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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 Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

setting with Sunrise's 1989 ''

Madö King Granzört is a Japanese mecha animated series produced by Sunrise and Asatsu, created and directed by Ōji Hiroi ('' Sakura Wars'', '' Far East of Eden'') and written by Shūji Iuchi ('' Mashin Hero Wataru''). It aired in NTV from April 7, 1989, ...

'' TV series. A manga adaptation drawn by Hideaki Fujii began serialization in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

's ''Corocoro Aniki'' manga magazine in July 2020. A new anime television series, titled , was announced by Bandai Namco Filmworks on January 13, 2024. The series was produced by

Bandai Namco Pictures also known as BN Pictures and BNP, is a Japanese animation studio. It is a spinoff of Sunrise, a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Filmworks which is owned by Bandai Namco Holdings. The company was formed as a part of the medium-term management pla ...

and was directed by Yumi Kamakura. Yoichi Kato wrote the scripts, Mayuko Nakano and Yoshinori Yumoto designed the characters, and Ryūichi Takada, Keiichi Hirokawa, Oliver Good, and Keita Inoue composed the music. The series premiered on January 12, 2025 on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.TX Network TXN Network (TXN) is a commercial television network in Japan owned by TV Tokyo Corporation, a subsidiary of TV Tokyo Holdings, which itself is majority controlled by Nikkei, Inc. The "TX" is taken from the callsign of its flagship station ...

affiliates. The opening theme song is "POP UP!" performed by

lol LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud, and a popular element of Internet slang, which can be used to indicate amusement, irony, or double meanings. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widesprea ...

and the ending theme song is "Pocket" performed by

Fantastics from Exile Tribe Fantastics from Exile Tribe (Japanese: ファンタスティックス・フロム・エグザイル・トライブ, stylized as FANTASTICS from EXILE TRIBE and formerly known as Fantastics) is a nine-member Japanese male dance and vocal group form ...

Medialink Medialink Group Limited is a content distributor and licensor based in Kowloon, Hong Kong specializing in the distribution of Japanese anime and brand licensing. Its offices are located at Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Registered from Hong Ko ...

licensed the series in Asia-Pacific, with it streaming on their Ani-One Asia YouTube Channel on the same day as premiere in Japan.

Music

''Wataru'' * Opening: "Step" by achi-achi * Ending: "Achi-achi Adventure" by achi-achi ''Wataru 2'' * Opening 1: "Step by Step" by

Yumiko Takahashi is a Japanese actress and singer. She is nicknamed "Good-P" short for Good Personality. She has had prominent roles in a number of television series, feature films and stage productions. As a singer she has released ten albums. She has been repr ...

* 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 Anime postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Anime productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Bandai Namco franchises Nippon Television original programming Seinen manga Shogakukan manga Sunrise (company) Super robot anime and manga TV Tokyo original programming