Season 1 • Episode 43
LatestNinja Captor is a Japanese tokusatsu TV series aired from April 7, 1976 to January 26, 1977 on TV Tokyo 12 Channel, produced by Toei Company, Ltd. This Sentai-esque series aired during the run of Shotaro Ishinomori's original Super Sentai series, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger and was notably first superhero team show produced by Toei under the Saburo Yatsude/Hatte pseudonym. Daisuke Izumo graduates from the Wind-Demon Stealth-Army, a secret army aiming for the conquest of Japan. He instead escapes, and becomes the leader of the "Captor," a ninja team supervised by Mujin Tendou. The Captor team's mission is to battle the ninja sent out by the Wind-Demon General, Retsufuu Fuuma. This show used to be considered by some to be a part of the Super Sentai franchise* , but was later excluded. In 2013, it got a Shout-Out in the fourth episode of Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger: Season 2.
Practical Effects
Pre-CGI explosions that absolutely would not fly today.
Costume
Rainbow bodysuits before it was officially cool.
Writing
The birth of 'Saburo Yatsude'—Toei's mystery collective pseudonym.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ninja Captor was retroactively kicked OUT of Super Sentai canon in 1995 when Toei officially defined the franchise—making it the original black sheep.
The 'Saburo Yatsude' pseudonym used here became Toei's go-to for team-written tokusatsu, eventually attached to hundreds of productions including actual Sentai series.
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