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The Brave of Sun Fighbird
Cover from the first box of the DVD release of The Brave of Sun Fighbird
太陽の勇者ファイバード
(Taiyō no Yūsha Faibādo)
GenreMecha
Created byHajime Yatate
Anime television series
Directed byKatsuyoshi Yatabe
Produced by
  • Shin Imai (Nagoya TV)
  • Yōichi Honna (Tokyu Agency)
  • Takayuki Yoshii (Sunrise)
Written byYasushi Hirano
Music byToshiyuki Watanabe
StudioSunrise
Original networkANN (Nagoya TV)
Original run February 2, 1991 February 1, 1992
Episodes48

The Brave of Sun Fighbird (太陽の勇者ファイバード, Taiyō no Yūsha Faibādo) is a 1991 anime television series, created by Takara and Sunrise under the direction of Katsuyoshi Yatabe. It is the second incarnation in the long-running "Brave", (or Yūsha), franchise. This series' title's English translation bears "Fighter" after "Brave" (therefore Brave "Fighter" of the Sun) on the Japanese DVD box art.

Story

In 2010, an evil energy being who names himself Drias comes to Earth, joining forces with Dr. Jango, a wicked scientist, in secrecy to bring ruin to the world. The Universe Security Force (宇宙警備隊, Uchū Keibitai[a]) follows him to Earth and their members put their energy-formed spirits into either the special android vehicles built by Japan's scientist Hiroshi Amano (which have transformable bodies and were intended to be rescue units) or different service vehicles like an ambulance, a police car or a firefighter truck, all for the purpose of both concealing themselves from the eyes and ears of civilians and granting themselves matter-formed appearances for the feeling and touching of substances without their energies passing through such as ground or walls. Their commander, Fighbird, uses a human-shaped android created by Dr. Amano to enhance his invisibility from unintended eyes and ears and from then on lives as his artificial human-flesh-created android disguise Yutaro Katori. He transforms from his human identity when serious trouble strikes, and in the meantime he tries to adapt himself to living with Dr. Amano and his grandchildren Kenta and Haruka so he can interact with humans, learn more about Earth itself and put a stop to Drias and Jango's plans for Earth and the universe itself.

Characters

Universe Security Team

Fighbird

Guard Team (ガードチーム, Gādo Chiimu)

This team bears an emergency theme as their disguise forms represent mostly Earth's three public civil service occupations: police for Guard Star, fire-fighting for Guard Fire and medical-related situations for Guard Rescue. Additionally, this team's first three members have a back-mounted pack that allows them to "Met On" when an eye-visor-only helmet flips out - these helmets are useful for purposes such as scans.

Baron Team (バロンチーム, Baron Chiimu)

A five-piece team. All of the Barons except Ace are not fully sentient, acting as if they are actually partially sentient non-voiced sub-ordinates. The Team's vehicular disguises can assemble a special team transportation formation known as Thunder Jet (サンダージェット, Sandā Jetto) (For this formation, Barons 2 (Drill) through 5 (Sky) form around Ace Baron - Drill Baron forms the front, Road Baron forms the back and Aqua and Sky Barons form the sides, Aqua Baron to the left and Sky Baron to the right).

Gatherway Blaster (ギャザーウェイブラスター, Gyazāuei Burasutā)

A special team attack formation formed when Thunder Baron switches into Thunder Jet (and Drill Baron's drill's tip section disappears to reveal a firing barrel) and links up with Super Guardion (Super Guardion's "G" chest-plate opens to reveal two connectors that link up to Thunder Jet's thrusters while he punches his fists into Thunder Jet's other thrusters) and then Great Fighbird's Great Cannons link up to Super Guardion's shoulders. When the Team is ready to fire, the driver's seat section of Road Baron's disguise form raises up for use by Great Fighbird as a trigger and targeting scope.

Antagonists

The series' head antagonist, Drias (ドライアス, Doraiasu) (Portrayed by Daisuke Gori) joins forces with Dr. Jango while on Earth to catapult the world into darkness. He refers to himself as bearing the title of "Universe Emperor" (宇宙皇帝, Uchū Kōtei) because of his supremacy. For a transformation, he possess two forms:

...Before he reforms his body through Three-Beast Combination (三獣合体, San-Jū Gattai). The character's name is likely derived from a portmanteau spelling of "tri" (meaning "three") with "death" ("T" from "tri" is replaced by "D" from "death") - this is a reference to his Death Team transformation's mechanics of being 3 thirds of a true identity.

Furthermore, Drias, during the series' finale, assumes a special "organic"-themed Organic Drias (オーガニックドライアス, Ooganikku Doraiasu) transformation after he bathes himself in all of the negative energy from deep space using the Devil Tower. While in this form his powers include armored skin that can regenerate while in the dark field, four energy-draining tentacles from each arm, flight, eye fireballs, morphing his right hand into a long spear, green winds from the left palm that can spawn fire, a red mouth spear that can be converted into a powerful fireball, purple energy saw discs and red explosive energy blasts from around his body.

Mecha Beasts

Mecha Beasts serve as the monsters of the week of the series. These mechanical entities are designed by Dr. Jango in his underwater base in the Pacific Ocean while being powered by Drias' minus energy. They are often piloted by Zol, Shura or both, although Jango has piloted a few himself. Mecha Beasts usually disguise themselves as objects for stealth to prevent instant discovery.

The components of this combination both appear in numbers 46 through 48:

Video games

A vertical rail shooter based on the series was released on the Famicom in 1991 with a Game Boy version released the next year. The game featured primarily enemy tanks, VTOLs, submarines, and sea monsters with a few mecha monsters from the series serving as bosses under different names. The game was mistranslated in English as Fire Bird. Draias in his normal form appears as the final boss under the title Dark Fire Bird. In the Game Boy version, Draias can divide himself into his three beast forms.

Fighbird later returns in the Brave Saga games with Sodom, Gomorrah and Draias serving as the only villainous entities in the series to appear and are used in several levels instead of just the final battle; the Death Team, Draias Jet, and Organic Draias do not appear. It is also noted that Fighbird is the only series other than Brave Command Dagwon not to have any storyline or villains in Brave Saga 2. Fighbird also stars in the Harobots games alongside many other anime robots including the Brave series.

Internet meme

Main article: Is this a pigeon?

In 2011, a scene from episode 3 in which Fighbird, as his Katori disguise, sees a butterfly while speaking to Inspector Satsuda and asks "is this a pigeon?" was uploaded to Tumblr, spawning many variations and becoming a popular meme which had a resurgence in 2018.[1][2][3]

Episodes

No. Title Directed by Written by Original airdate
1 (奇跡の勇者(ミラクルヒーロー)登場!)Directed by : Akihiko Nishiyama
Storyboarded by : Futa Morita
Yasushi HiranoFebruary 2, 1991 (1991-02-02)
2 (サミット爆破2秒前)Hideaki ObaYasushi HiranoFebruary 9, 1991 (1991-02-09)
3 (勢ぞろい宇宙警備隊)Shinji TakamatsuYasushi HiranoFebruary 16, 1991 (1991-02-16)
4 (恐怖の血液ウイルス)Directed by : Kiyotaka Ohata
Storyboarded by : Hiroshi Ishiodori
Hiroyuki HoshiyamaFebruary 23, 1991 (1991-02-23)
5 (SOS! 深海3千M(メートル))Akihiko NishiyamaYasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
March 2, 1991 (1991-03-02)
6 (激突! 弾丸列車)Hideaki ObaYasushi HiranoMarch 9, 1991 (1991-03-09)
7 (勇太郎と宝石泥棒)Masamitsu HidakaYasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
March 16, 1991 (1991-03-16)
8 (悪魔の追跡)Shinji TakamatsuYasushi HiranoMarch 23, 1991 (1991-03-23)
9 (わしがDr.(ドクター)ジャンゴだ!)Hiroshi IshiodoriHiroyuki HoshiyamaMarch 30, 1991 (1991-03-30)
10 (5万人の人質)Hideaki ObaYasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
April 6, 1991 (1991-04-06)
11 (花よ よみがえれ)Akihiko NishiyamaYasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
April 13, 1991 (1991-04-13)
12 (赤い海の恐怖)Masamitsu HidakaYasushi HiranoApril 20, 1991 (1991-04-20)
13 (三人の科学者)Directed by : Shinji Takamatsu
Storyboarded by : Futa Morita
Yasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
April 27, 1991 (1991-04-27)
14 (燃えよ G(ガード)ファイアー)Hiroshi IshiodoriYasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
May 4, 1991 (1991-05-04)
15 (初恋電話をつなげ)Hideaki ObaYasushi HiranoMay 11, 1991 (1991-05-11)
16 (Dr.(ドクター)ジャンゴの大地震)Directed by : Kiyotaka Ohata
Storyboarded by : Kazuhito Kikuchi
Hiroyuki HoshiyamaMay 25, 1991 (1991-05-25)
17 (狂ったコンピュータ都市)Masamitsu HidakaYasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
June 1, 1991 (1991-06-01)
18 (消えた街の謎)Shinji TakamatsuYasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
June 8, 1991 (1991-06-08)
19 (伝説の秘宝)Akihiko NishiyamaYasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
June 15, 1991 (1991-06-15)
20 (アメリカ征服宣言)Directed by : Hideaki Oba
Storyboarded by : Futa Morita
Yasushi HiranoJune 22, 1991 (1991-06-22)
21 (アメリカを奪還せよ!)Directed by : Kojin Ochi
Storyboarded by : Hiroshi Ishiodori
Yasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
June 29, 1991 (1991-06-29)
22 (G(ガード)ウイング危機一髪)Directed by : Masamitsu Hidaka
Storyboarded by : Kunihisa Sugishima
Yasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
July 6, 1991 (1991-07-06)
23 (登場! S(スーパー)ガーディオン)Directed by : Kiyotaka Ohata
Storyboarded by : Kazuhito Kikuchi
Mami WatanabeJuly 13, 1991 (1991-07-13)
24 (恐るべき 宇宙植物)Shinji TakamatsuHiroyuki HoshiyamaJuly 20, 1991 (1991-07-20)
25 (プリンス ファイバード)Kunihisa SugishimaYasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
July 27, 1991 (1991-07-27)
26 (デビルストーンの謎)Directed by : Akihiko Nishiyama
Storyboarded by : Akihiko Nishiyama,
Futa Morita
Mami WatanabeAugust 3, 1991 (1991-08-03)
27 (悪魔の音楽(メロディー))Directed by : Akihiko Nishiyama
Storyboarded by : Futa Morita
Yasushi HiranoAugust 10, 1991 (1991-08-10)
28 (凍りついた夏)Directed by : Kojin Ochi
Storyboarded by : Kunihisa Sugishima
Yasushi Hirano
Yasutaka Ito
August 17, 1991 (1991-08-17)
29 (空に散った貯金箱)Hiroshi IshiodoriKeiko MaruoAugust 24, 1991 (1991-08-24)
30 (狙われた 宇宙基地)Hideaki ObaYasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
August 31, 1991 (1991-08-31)
31 (エースバロンと嘘つき少女)Kiyotaka OhataHiroyuki HoshiyamaSeptember 7, 1991 (1991-09-07)
32 (出た! 最強合体)Shinji TakamatsuYasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
September 14, 1991 (1991-09-14)
33 (過去からのメッセージ)Directed by : Kojin Ochi
Storyboarded by : Kazuhito Kikuchi
Yasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
September 21, 1991 (1991-09-21)
34 (赤ちゃん救出作戦)Directed by : Akihiko Nishiyama
Storyboarded by : Kunihisa Sugishima
Mami WatanabeSeptember 28, 1991 (1991-09-28)
35 (科学者たちの挑戦)Hideaki ObaYasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
October 5, 1991 (1991-10-05)
36 (吸血の街)Masamitsu HidakaYasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
October 12, 1991 (1991-10-12)
37 (幽霊船の秘密)Directed by : Kiyotaka Ohata
Storyboarded by : Kazuhito Kikuchi
Yasushi HiranoOctober 19, 1991 (1991-10-19)
38 (チャンプと巨大ゴリラ)Shinji TakamatsuYasushi HiranoOctober 26, 1991 (1991-10-26)
39 (勇太郎の授業参観)Directed by : Kojin Ochi
Storyboarded by : Hiroshi Ishiodori
Yasushi Hirano
Toshiyasu Nagata
November 16, 1991 (1991-11-16)
40 (激突! ママ対火鳥)Directed by : Hideaki Oba
Storyboarded by : Futa Morita
Yasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
November 23, 1991 (1991-11-23)
41 (大奮戦! 佐津田刑事)Masamitsu HidakaYasushi Hirano
Kaoru Kasai
November 30, 1991 (1991-11-30)
42 (パパになった勇太郎)Directed by : Akihiko Nishiyama
Storyboarded by : Kazuhito Kikuchi
Mami WatanabeDecember 7, 1991 (1991-12-07)
43 (俺たちの使命)Kazuhito KikuchiYasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
December 14, 1991 (1991-12-14)
44 (ブラッククリスマス)Directed by : Shinji Takamatsu
Storyboarded by : Kunihisa Sugishima
Yasushi Hirano
Fumihiko Shimo
December 21, 1991 (1991-12-21)
45 (海底基地浮上)Hideaki ObaYasushi Hirano
Atsuhiro Tomioka
December 28, 1991 (1991-12-28)
46 (出現! デビルの塔)Directed by : Kojin Ochi
Storyboarded by : Kazuhito Kikuchi
Yasushi HiranoJanuary 18, 1992 (1992-01-18)
47 (決戦! ギアナ高地)Directed by : Akihiko Nishiyama
Storyboarded by : Masamitsu Hidaka
Yasushi HiranoJanuary 25, 1992 (1992-01-25)
48 (さらば 宇宙警備隊)Masamitsu HidakaYasushi HiranoFebruary 1, 1992 (1992-02-01)

References

  1. ^ Not to be confused with the similarly-named-in-Japanese Space Garrison of the Ultraman franchise
  1. ^ Shamsian, Jacob (May 7, 2018). "The 'is this a pigeon?' meme is super relatable for people who have no idea what they're doing". Insider. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  2. ^ Gerken, Tom (May 15, 2018). "How a 2011 meme took over Twitter in 2018". BBC News. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  3. ^ Romano, Aja (May 15, 2018). ""Is this a meme?": the confused anime guy and his butterfly, explained". Vox. Retrieved May 18, 2018.