MOONLIGHT MASK LIVE ACTION
Whereas Super Giant is Japan's first celluloid superhero (i.e.: he had debuted in movies), it was Moonlight Mask who set the standard as Japan's first live-action TV superhero, and was a huge success with children. Television was already new in Japan, so many children that didn't have a TV set were gathered around to watch it at a friend or neighbor's house. Children also bought toy capes, sunglasses, masks and pistols and played Moonlight Mask in schoolyards and backyards (but as with every children's superhero, Japanese or American, Moonlight Mask was not without liability casualties
YOUTUBE CLIP[]
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INFO[]
The original B&W Moonlight Mask (月光仮面) tokusatsu TV drama series, produced by the advertising agency Senkosha and was aired on KRTV (now TBS) from February 24, 1958 to July 5, 1959, with a total of 130 (or 131) episodes, divided into 5 segments.
Jūrō Iwai/Moonlight Mask was played by Ose Koichi.
Chapters[edit][]
- Skull Mask (どくろ仮面 - Dokuro Kamen) - Episodes 1-72, 72 episodes (February 24, 1958-May 17, 1958)
- The Secret of the Paradai Kingdom (パラダイ王国の秘密 - Paradai Ōkoku no Himitsu) - Episodes 73-93, 21 episodes (May 25, 1958-October 12, 1958)
- Mammoth Kong (マンモスコング - Manmosu Kongu) - Episodes 94-104, 11 episodes (October 19, 1958-December 26, 1958)
- Features TV's first daikaiju, Mammoth Kong.
- The Ghost Party Strikes Back (幽霊党の逆襲 - Yureitō no Gyakushū) - Episodes 105-117, 13 episodes (January 4, 1959-March 29, 1959)
- Don't Turn Your Hand to Revenge (その復讐に手を出すな - Sono Fukushū ni Te wo Dasu na) - Episodes 118-131, 14 episodes (April 5, 1959-July 5, 1959)
The movies[]
To coincide with the Nippon Gendai/Senkosha TV series, Toei produced the Moonlight Mask theatrical movies. This was Toei's first involvement in the tokusatsu superhero genre (although their first original superhero production was the TV series 7-Color Mask in 1959). All movies (which are in black-and-white, just like the TV series) are basically feature adaptations of the show's story arcs, and were filmed in "ToeiScope" (2.35:1).
For these movie versions, Jūrō Iwai/Moonlight Mask was played by Fumitake Omura.
- Moonlight Mask (月光仮面 - Gekkō Kamen) July 30, 1958; Directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi
- Moonlight Mask - Duel to the Death in Dangerous Waters (月光仮面 - 絶海の死斗 - Gekkō Kamen - Zekkai no Shitō) August 6, 1958; Directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi
- Moonlight Mask - The Claw of Satan (月光仮面 - 魔人〈サタン〉の爪 - Gekkō Kamen - Satan no Tsume) December 22, 1958; Directed by Eijiro Wakabayashi
Posters for 1958 movies:
- Moonlight Mask - The Monster Kong (月光仮面 - 怪獣コング - Gekkō Kamen - Kaijū Kongu) April 1, 1959; Directed by Satoru Ainoda
- Moonlight Mask - The Ghost Party Strikes Back (月光仮面 - 幽霊党の逆襲 - Gekkō Kamen - Yureitō no Gyakushū) July 28, 1959; Directed by Shoichi Shimazu
- Moonlight Mask - The Last of the Devil (月光仮面 - 悪魔の最後 - Gekkō Kamen - Akuma no Saigo) August 4, 1959, Directed by Shoichi Shimazu
Posters for 1959 movies: