Чожин Сентай Джетман: Птичий Отряд Героев

Television series

Chojin Sentai Jetman (鳥人戦隊ジェットマン) is a Japanese tokusatsu television series produced by Toei Company. It is the fifteenth entry of the Super Sentai metaseries, following the previous series Chikyu Sentai Fiveman. The series aired on TV Asahi on February 15, 1991, to February 14, 1992, with a total of 51 episodes replacing Chikyu Sentai Fiveman and was replaced by Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. It was the last Sentai series until Ressha Sentai ToQger to not get adapted into a Power Rangers series. It was also the first series to have a third robot, Tetraboy and paid tribute to the anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. The international English title is listed by Toei as simply Jetman. Shout! Factory released this series in North America on September 25, 2018. This is the 10th incarnation of Super Sentai to be released in North America and was the first series released that did not have a Power Rangers counterpart.

This series takes place in 199X. On the Earth Ship, the command center of a defense agency called Sky Force, the guardians of peace on Earth, scientists have developed "Birdonic Waves", a newly developed technology that gives the subject superhuman abilities. Experiments called "J Project" were successful. Aya Odagiri, the director of the project, chooses five elite Sky Force officials from Earth to use this technology. Ryu Tendo, one of the Sky Force officers, is successfully exposed to the Birdonic Waves, making him the first Jetman, the Red Hawk. However, the Earth Ship is suddenly attacked by Vyram, an evil outer dimensional organization bent on inter dimensional domination. They successfully destroy the ship, apparently killing Ryu's lover and fellow candidate member Rie. In the chaos, the remaining Birdonic Waves for the other four officials become scattered on Earth, hitting four civilians. Odagiri and Tendo successfully escape and begin searching on Earth for the four remaining Jetmen, training them to aid them in stopping Vyram's plans of conquering their dimension. The series later follows the tribulations of Ryu as he learns of Rie's survival and enlistment in the Vyram forces, as well as a love triangle between Gai, Ryu, and Kaori.

Earth Defence Force Sky Force (地球防衛軍スカイフォース) is the military organization the Jetmen belong to.

Based at the Sky Camp (スカイキャンプ), a high tech base provided by the Sky Force, the eponymous Jetman are five people who gain superhuman strength through exposure to Birdonic Waves (バードニックウェーブ): one intentionally and the other four accidentally. Each Jetman is equipped with a wingsuit uniform known as the Birdonic Suits (バードニックスーツ) whose Jet Wings (ジェットウィング) allow them to glide in the air. They are also armed with the Wing Gauntlet (ウイングガントレッド), the Bird Blaster (バードブラスター), and the Bringer Sword (ブリンガーソード), the latter two of which can combine to form the Jet Hand Cannon (ジェットハンドカノン). Each Jetman later gains the Beak Smasher (ビークスマッシャー) handgun, which can combine with the Bird Blaster to form the Smash Bomber (スマッシュボンバー) rifle.

A manga sequel to Jetman was published in 1996 authored by Akiko Fujii, in cooperation with the series' writing team (still under the Saburo Yatsude pen name). It was titled Chojin Sentai Jetman: Toki o Kakete (鳥人戦隊ジェットマン 時を駆けて). Set five years after the series (and, therefore, two years after the story ends), it shows the four remaining Jetmen rejoining to battle a revived Radiguet, who had possessed Tranza's broken body. Radiguet kidnaps Ryu and Kaori's one year old daughter Aya Tendo and, much in the same way he turned Rie into Maria before, he accelerates her growth and brainwashes her into becoming Ruma, whom he considers a daughter. Meanwhile, Gai's empty spot in the team is filled by a young rock guitarist called Jeffrey "Jeff" Kenzaki (ジェフリィ・剣崎), who is empowered by Birdonic Waves after a meteorite crashes next to him, and becomes Green Eagle (グリーンイーグル) whose suit is Green instead of Black. In this manga series, the Jetmen uniform is slightly different, with the helmets more closely resembling those of Gatchaman (translucent, protruding visors, and uncovered faces).

In its home country of Japan, this series was released on VHS from April 1992 to February 1993. Due to its high peak in popularity and success, this was the very first Super Sentai series since Denshi Sentai Denjiman to get a full release in this format with all episodes included, spread throughout 11 volumes. Each volume had five episodes, with the last two only having three. From that point forward, every new Super Sentai series that debuted after Jetman would get full VHS releases with all episodes spread across several volumes. This would continue up until after Maho Sentai Magiranger. Then from June 21, 2005, to October 21, 2005, the series was then re released on DVD and spread through five volumes containing 2 discs with 10 episodes each, with Volume 4 having 11 episodes. On May 11, 2022, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the series' conclusion, a collection set to spread through two volumes was released with the first volume having 25 episodes, and the second having 26. In France, this was the seventh and last of the original Super Sentai series to be dubbed and aired on TV in the country. It premiered on April 14, 1993, on TF1's Club Dorothée block, with only 28 episodes out of 51 aired and dubbed in French. Just like many Japanese TV programs dubbed into French, several changes were made. Several fight scenes were censored due to their high level of violence. Most of the characters were renamed; Ryu, Gai, Raita, and Ako were respectively renamed to "Réno", "Galt", "Renato" and "Anne." Only Kaori kept her name. Some episodes were skipped altogether as psychologists from the network claimed that the series was deemed too violent to be airing and it was then suddenly taken off the channel. Then on April 13, 1994, they would dub and broadcast Mighty Morphin Power Rangers instead of Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger due to Saban weighing competition in most international markets. The series aired in Portugal on Canal 1 (now RTP1) from 1993 to 1994 in the original Japanese version with Portuguese subtitles. In Malaysia, the series was released with an English dub by Speedy Video released around 1994 1995 and there also exists a Malay dub as well, which aired on TV5 from 1997 1998 as well as TV2. Both dubbed versions were released on VCD and VHS. In Thailand, three different Thai dubs exist for the series, airing on MCOT from 1992 to 1993/2023, and one for home video release. In the Philippines, the series aired with a Tagalog dub on ABS CBN from 1994 to 1995 and later re aired on RPN 9 (now RPTV) from 1997 to 1998 and ABC 5 (now TV5) from 2000 to 2001. This is the very last Sentai series that aired on Philippine TV due to the airing of Power Rangers. In Hong Kong, the series aired on TVB Jade with a Cantonese Chinese dub on February 28, 1999, until December 11, 1999, with all the episodes dubbed and broadcast. In Indonesia, the series aired with an Indonesian dub in 2000 on Indosiar and was also released on home video. In Spain, the show was dubbed to Basque and all the episodes were broadcast in EITB (the only entry in the Super Sentai franchise ever to be given a Basque dub), from 1995 to 1996/1997. Even being part of the same country, this show was never dubbed to Castilian Spanish. In New Zealand, the series aired on TVNZ 2 from 2007 to 2008 with an English dub. An unofficial Latin Spanish dub was also aired in Venezuela on regional TV.

As of 2015, the series has become one of the most popular and also most mature entries in Super Sentai. It officially gained a much wider audience and got a rating of 7.1% average, beating Fiveman's 6.5%. Despite the series also receiving criticism for adding "romance drama to a children's show", Gai Yuki became an instant hit with Japanese mothers, who sent clemency pleas to TV Asahi so that they did not kill him off. It is still today considered to Sentai fans a masterpiece and topped the number 1 popular vote in both Bandai's B CLUB magazine and Toei's "Super Sentai Request Tournament". In the end, total revenue from the series greatly exceeded 15 billion yen. Jetman was one of the Super Sentai series originally going to be adapted into the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but Saban chose its successor, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger to be the first instead.