Juukou B-Fighter

Juukou B-Fighter (Translaters to "Heavyshell B-Fighter) , was the 1995 entry into Toei's Metal Heroes series. It dealt with three members of the prestigious "Earth Academia" fighting against the evil forces of the otherworldy Jamhal empire. Footage and costumes were taken from B-Fighter and used in Saban's American series Big Bad Beetleborgs, however the shows had very different storylines running through them.

Story

The insects of the world all swarm in response to an unknown menace. To investigate this, Kai Takuya of the Earth Academia journeys into the jungle and meets the insect elder Guru in a cave. Guru tells him that invaders from another dimension are coming to take over the Earth, and that the insects are fighting to protect it. Takuya says humans will fight too. The evil army Jamahl arrives in the Jamahl fortress. Their leader Gaohm sends his generals and soldiers to Earth to start enslaving mankind. Katagiri Daisaku and Hayama Rei save a girl from Jamar soldiers, but are captured.

Meanwhile, at the Earth Academia, Professor Mukai and Takuya are working on 3 prototype armor suits to help combat Jamahl. Guru appears there and sends three insects into the armor to infuse them with life. The armors shrink and enter the 3 B-Commanders, and Guru tels them to select 3 warriors to fight Gaohm. One chooses Takuya, transforming him into Blue Beet when he opens the B-Commander and cries "Juukou!", and the others fly off to Daisaku and Rei. They change into G-Stag and Reddle, and when Blue Beet arrives the three of them fight off the Jamahl forces.

The B-Fighters

Blue Beet/Takuya Kai: A 23-year old insect researcher at the Earth Academia, he is the team leader. As Blue Beet, his armor was modeled after a rhinoceros beetle. His blood was used in the creation of his "evil twin" Shadow. At the second half of the series, Blue Beet gained the abilty to evolve into Super Blue Beet.

G-Stag(Green Stag)/Daisaku Katagiri: At age 23, he is an impetuous but nature-loving man. A tree doctor, Daisaku claims to be able to hear trees and plants when they are dying. He was also aquaphobia until he overcame his fear to save his father Daitesu Katagiri, a fisherman, from a trap laid by the Ebikaania. As the most physically powerful of the B-Fighters, G-Stag's armor is modeled after a Stag Beetle. G-Stag is strong enough to lift the Jamar soldiers and toss them around like rag dolls.

Rei Hayama/Reddle(Episodes 1-22): A 22-year old an animal instructor at Earth Academia's Aquarium. Being the only female B-Fighter, her armor was modeled after a female rhinoceros beetle. Reddle is the fastest and most nimble of the B-Fighters. She eventally left for the South American branch of Earth Academia, to do research and help with protecting the wildlife there.

Mai Takatori/Reddle(Episodes 22-53): Rei's sucessor, a young and cheerful 19-year old girl who was "chosen" by the Pulsabers as the next Reddle.

Allies

Professor Kenzou Mukai: An old man dedicated to the pursuit of justice. He fell in love with Sayuri, a plant researcher, many years ago, but left her.

Guru: The elder of the insect tribe, and looks like a big brown rhinobeetle. He carries a staff with a curled top and was the one who gave the Beetle Fighters their powers. Guru possesses great mystical power of his own.

Kabuto: Guru's who left his father 100 years ago and has been traveling across the dimensions as a supplier of weaponry and equipment. He returns to earth to visit the grave of his mother, bringing with him the Beet Ingram.

Tokusou Robo Janperson and Gungibson : Heroes of the 1993 Metal Heroes series "Tokusou Robo : Janperson" , they assited the B-Fighter in a battle against Jagul at the end of the series.

Show , Shougi and Sarah : The Three main heroes of the 1994 Metal Heroes series "Blue SWAT" , Sarah was kidnapped by Jagul , and Show and Shougi helped the B-Fighters, Janperson and Gungibson to rescue her.

Others

Saint Papilia': A legendary "butterfly of life" who can grant immortality. She appears when the life on a world has been destroyed. She then revives the world by giving it new life. Saint Papilia already appeared once on Earth, after the Ice Age, and revived the Earth so the life of today could be born. Both Gaohm and Black Beet sought Saint Papilia in the hopes of obtaining the gift of eternal life. After he defeated Shadow, Takuya is severely wounded and died. Saint Papilia appears above him and resurrects him, saying that Earth still needs him.

Arsenal

Stinger Weapons'
- Stinger Blade: a triangular swordlike weapon. When the turbine inside the Stinger Blade spins, the blade revolves and gains extra power, allowing him to perform the deadly Beetle Break, a diagonal slash trailing blue energy behind it.
  - Stinger Drilll: An augmented Stinger Weapon, a large drill that attaches to his wrist. The front and back halves of the drill rotate in opposite directions, and his attack with it is the Strike Blast, a charging stab that bores a hole through his enemies.
- Stinger Claw: A large yellow pincerlike claw that he can use to crush enemies or grab them and throw them aside. When the turbine inside it spins, the entire claw spins to give it added crushing power. G. Stag also can lift enemies captured in the claw above his head and when the turbine activates, they spin around in his grip and he throws them to the ground. His deadly attack with the claw is the Raging Slash, a horizontal slice trailing green energy behind it. The claw can also detach and be thrown like a projectile, the Stinger Boomerang.

- Stinger Plasmar: An array of four red beam emitters that fire powerful beams of red ion energy. She can use this energy to capture her enemies in energy ropes and drag them across the ground or throw them through the air. If the internal turbine is activated the array spins at high speed and Reddle can utilize the Tornado Spark, firing her beams in a wide circular pattern.

Beet-Ingram: A red and white semi-automatic-like double-barreled gun called the Beet Ingram. The Beet Ingram is a legendary gun that is said can only be used by a great hero. The top of the Beet Ingram can fold forward and over the barrels so that they are covered by a single barrel with two pincerlike armatures protruding from it. The Beet Ingram in this mode can be combined with Blue Beet's Pulsaber by attaching the Pulsaber to the top, to create the Beet Ingram Final Mode, whose power reached it full potential when weilded by Super Blue Beet for Super Final Blow attack.

Jamahl

Beings from another dimension, the Jamahl's base of operation was a claw-like dreadnaut. It had an opening where the palm would be, where the Jamahl fighter jets emerged from and where Jamahl's new super-weapons were located.

Gaohm (1-50): The mysterious leader of the Jamahl, who first appeared as a tall figure with a white and purple robe and chitinous face. Gaohm posessed the power to teleport people to the "Gaohm Zone". He was supposedly killed by the B-Fighters, only to reappears as Final Gaohm, a gigantic torso floating in space, with an exposed purple heart, only one arm (the right one) and wires running on his body. However, both forms were dummies used by the real Gaogh, a small embryonic enity in a tank of liquid. Gaohm revealed that he was born from a space warp and wandered through space until he gained enough power to assemble the Jamahl for his life-long goal of capturing Saint Papilia so he can obtain immortality. To that end, he plans to destroy all life on earth with the Jamahl Hole sucking world's atmosphere so everyoner would die and Saint Papilia will come to revive Earth, only to be captured and be forced to give Gaohm immortality. He was killed when his fortress crashed on earth.

Gigaro (1-47): A creature composed of various animal parts, Gigaro commanded the Synthoid-Beast Army. Gigaro was originally a skeletal creature on a desert planet in the Garo dimension, hunted for unknown reasons by humanoids. Exhausted and near death, Gaohm gave him a new powerful body and recruited him into Jamahl. Gigaro used a white bonelike sword and his whale-flatop could open to reveal a gun. Gigaro imbued himself with life energy meant for the Jamahl Hope to power-up into Final Gigaro, a red and white version of himself with more power. He was ultimately killed by his master Gaohm so that his life energy to hasten completion of the Jamahl Hole.

Jera (1-50): A female warrior who wore a red robe and had a white mannequinlike facemask and a red beret. She used a whip that she could charge with energy as a weapon. Jera commanded the Mercenary Army. In battle, Jera discarded her robe to reveal a leotardlike red and pink costume. She turned against Gaohm upon learning of Gigaro's death by his hand, allying herself with Shadow. She was eventally killed when she saw Gaohm as he really was. Upon her death, her mask was removed to reveal a european woman.

Schwartz (1-48): The leader of the Combat-mecha army, he was actually a computer virus given a mechincal body. when Jera left Jamahl & Gigaro died, Schwartz tok the B-Fighters on is own. His body was destoryed though his head survived. However, the damage left Schwartz critically insane as he took control of various things before his "immortal head" was blasted into outer space where he.

Black Beet/Shadow(19-51): An evil clone of Takuya/Blue Beet made by the nefarious Jagul, Shadow is highly powerful, and was quite a formidable opponent to the other B-Fighters as Black Beet, whose armor was modeled aftera long-horned beetle. Because he was a clone, Shadow could not survive on his own and sought Saint Papilia's power to obtained a life of his own. He die at Super Ble Beet's hands, redused to a pile of black ash.

Insect Sorceress Jagul(19, 52-53): A mysterious woman Gaohm commissioned to create an evil B-Fighter. Jagul sends a long-horned beetle to bite Takuya and take a DNA sample from. From the beetle and Takuya's cells, Jagul created Shadow. She resurfaced long after Jahaml was destoryed and began kidnapping young women and resurrects several defeated monsters to battle the heroes. Jagul soon underwen a transformation into a chimeric enity with the faces various creatures on her. She traps the metal heroes in a pocket dimension but Blue Beet managed to escape and killed Jagul.

Jamar: Faceless soldiers that served Gaohm and were employed in menial tasks. Gaohm has his own elite Jamar, who are more powerful then the normal versions.

Mercenary Army

Composed of mercenary warriors from various dimensions who joined Jamahl for various reasons.

Saberiza (1): A swordsman who carried a large sword that he used as a weapon, and was the first of Jamahl's monsters that the B-Fighters battled against.

Zaiking (6): Sent to burn down the forests.

Bardas (8): An otherdimensional warrior who got his power from a jewel called the Pholon Jewel, which fits inside his head. With his jewel he could fire energy blasts and was nearly unstoppable, but the B-Fighters destroyed it and killed him.

Baala (10): A comrade of Jera's who wore a armored chestplate made from the Black Dragon, a monster that Jera and Baala defeated. Eventually, however, the revenge-filled spirit within the armor turned on Baala and possessed her so it could get revenge on Jera. Baala finally broke free of its control and stabbed it -- and herself, with a dagger. Near death but free of the Dragon and still a warrior, Barla challenged Blue Beet to a duel and died a warrior's death.

Iluba (16): Iluba was sent to kill Mina, the last survivor of the Botania Dimension that Jamahl had destroyed. Her father sent her to our dimension with the seeds of the Botania tribe, and erased her memory. The source of his power was his sword, which the B-Fighters destoryed to finish the weakened Iluba off.

Gorgodal (23): Gorgodal was one of Jera's mercenaries who fough the B-Fighter for the money. When Mai gave him a scolding for following Jera just for the money, Gorgodal decided to quit and tried to return the money he had been paid. But Gaohm didn't accept this and brainwashed Gorgodal so that he would be nothing more raging monster. Mai tried to talk to him again, but he could barely remember her name. Gorgodal eventually had to be destroyed, but was given a burial and his grave was marked with his shuriken.

Deathgodian (28): A Grim Reaper-like being with the power to summon the spirits of the dead and control them, unless they had things they wanted to accomplish on Earth, which made them able to resist his control. One of the ghosts raised, a young girl named Kaori wanted to fall in love before she died and thus resisted. She fell in love with Takuya and helped him fight Deathgodian by helping the other ghosts realize they were just being used. nce Deathgodian was dead, the ghosts were free to return to the afterlife.

Sinbad (30): He was a part of the Combat Meet that Jamahl had kidnapped the B-Fighters into another dimension and forced them to participate in. But G. Stag soon learned that Sinbad is infiltrating Jamahl in an attempt to assassinate Gaohm for destorying his homeworld. Gaohm learned of this, however, and sent a resurrected Death Mult to kill Sinbad and the B-Fighters. Realizing that the only way for the B-Fighters to return home was by the explosion caused by Death Mult's demise, Sinbad kamikazedt Death Mult.

Night Biker (33): Originally Kazuma Iwata, he was brainwashed and changed into an evil warrior by a machine used by Jera. The control device was in the bike's fairing, and when that was destroyed, Night Biker changed back into Kazuma safe and back to normal.

Hidra (49): Nicknamed "Spider of Flame", she was assigned the job of capturing Guru so Gaohm could use him to gather the energy of the insects on the planet to complete the Jamahl Hole. Gaohm promised Hidra that she would take Jera's place, with a armband as proof. However, the armband was actually a bomb. Dispite Jera's warning, Hidra died but not before tellng the B-Fighter to kill Gaohm for her.

Drago (Movie): Another insect warriot, Drago's lost any memory ofhis past until his fight with Blue Beet retore it. His powers are dragonfly based

Synthoid-Beast Army

Composed of humanoid chimeras & other animal-based creatures.

Snakeznake (2): Sent to gather up some humans for Jamahl, it was a humanoid body with a long snake draped over the head area that serves as its arms. In battle with the B-Fighters, the snake was destroyed to reveal a second head and pair of arms underneath.

Bagma Virus (5): Can shrink to microscopic size and infiltrate the B-Fighers' Insect Armor and control them to move as he wished, and could reproduce asexually to control more than one B-Fighter at once.

Gari-Rat (9): A hunchbacked gray-furred rat monster with sharp gnawing teeth. His mission was to gnaw through underground power cables to create a mass panic. However, he had a phobia of cats, so severe that he ran out of the battle at the sight of one. To cure this, Gigaro forced GariRat to run through a maze with Jamar soldiers holding cats behind every corner, 100 times. After the 100th time, his fear was gone, though he was still killed by Blue Beet.

Sloth-eruge (11): Using the his long tongue, with a sucker on the end, he could use to steal motivation from people, making them lazy and inactive. The stolen motivation was collected in the pouch on his back. He was able to steal the motivation of both Takuya and Daisaku, but the insect power of their B-Commanders brought them back to their senses. He was killed when G. Stag sliced the pouch open to restore everyone's motivation, leaving them free to finish him off.

Bububu (15): A pig monster who could breathe a white gas that stole human voices, rendering people unable to make any noises other then pig grunting and sqealing.

Kamazakiller (21): A praying mantis monster whose mission was to spread its eggs throughout the city, injecting them into people using his long, spiked tongue. The eggs would then grow and hatch his offspring inside their hosts. Kamazakiller was killed by Blue Beet's new weapon, the Stinger Drill, using the Strike Blast.

Shrimpcrabya (26): A red-shelled combination crab and shrimp monster who could emit a liquid that turned ordinary water into poison. After Daisaku's father tried to stop him from polluting the water, Ebigaanya set him adrift with a bomb in his boat. Daisaku overcame his fear of the water and saved his father, and returned to battle Shrimpcrabya. He was killed by a hot water blast from the Input Magnums, which cooked him and rendered him incapacitated for G. Stag to finish him off with the Raging Slash.

Maskuder (31): Supposedly based on an amoeba, he wears a gold mask with rows of faces surround it while nested on each other, extending in a starlike pattern. Maskuder disguised himself as a plastic surgeon able to make anyone beautiful if they used his special masks. The masks gave his customers the face of the famous model Mizuzu Shiratori, who happened to be a childhood friend of Mai's. But the masks actually were explosive control devices that let Maskuder control the wearers and detonate them when he broke the mask he wore, which was his central gold face. Under the gold mask he wore was a single eye. Maskuder could also cause explosions on command.

The Moja: A species of other dimenional creatures that Gigaro gave to several children in the guise of a sellsman, with the instructions that if they started to act up, to hit them with a special stick he gave them. But the stick causes the Moja to become firece creatures that absorbed the consciousness of the one who hits them. The creatures then eventally gathered together into Mojanga. The children's consciousness was trapped inside Mojanga, seeing the outside world. Though the children tried to urge the B-Fighters to fight, Mojanga could bring about exactly the reverse of what the consciousnesses trapped inside him said. Eventually Daisaku managed to get inside Mojanga's body and freed the children.

Gagamoth (36): At first a energy-sucking caterpillar monster, it meramorphosed into a moth when it asborb the Beet Ingram's power. In this form, its right and left arms end with a Input Magnum and Stinger Blade respectively. It was soon destoryed by the nerwly born Super Beet Beet.

Rasbelga (28): A monster created from the fictional Rasbel flower, a carnivorous plant that could move on its own and fed on small animals. thoygh almost invicble, Rasbelga's only weakness was the fruit of a tree discovered by an old girlfriend of Mukai's, which made him spit out the people he swallowed & robbed him of his pollen spray so he could be defeated.

Hell Sugyra (Movie): A monster whoses body was covered in bony plates. He could also control the bones that lay strewn around his island, extending them and using them to capture the B-Fighters. Hellsgyra was beaten by Drago and Blue Beet.

Combat-mecha Army

Hammer Kong (3): A silver and gold robot with giant hammers on his hands and a head in the shape of a hammer head with the striking surface being his face. He could pound his hammer hands on the ground to create explosive shockwaves (Hammer Crush), or toss them like giant boomerangs. He could also fire an energy beam from his one eye & spit giant nails to pin his enemies to the wall. He was killed by Reddle's Tornado Spark.

Death Launcher (4): A green robot with missile launchers on his shoulders and gun batteries on his wrists, which were his major weapons. He was killed by the Beetle Break.

Camerio (7): A black camera-based robot with a lens on his chest and eyes that looked like flashbulbs. Camerio disguised himself as a photographer, and when he took pictures of people they were transported to a Jamahl slave quarry to work for Jamahl. His transport could be interfered with by high-frequency soundwaves, such as those emitted by a dog whistle.

Rage-Bomber (11, 27): A walking purple hand grenade with arms and legs and blue and green camouflage markings. When he got mad, his arms and legs folded in so that he looked like a giant grenade, the meter on the left side of his head went into the red zone, the pin on his head flew off and he exploded with tremendous power. He was destroyed when Reddle used the Wire Hand with the Magne Attachment to pick up Anger Bomber off the ground, and blown up by the Beetluder and Stagger Tank's guns. He was eventalluy rebuilt as Rage-Bomber 2, now able to self-explode and self-repair. However, during a battle at a junkyard, he accidentally incorpated a hair clipper into his body, which grafted itself onto his left hand. Overcome by the hair clipper's desire to cut hair and to get back at those who had discarded it when it was still usable, Rage-Bomber went on a rampage, shaving people's heads. He kept being blown up and coming back together until finally the B-Fighters destroyed his remains one by one to hinder his self-repair ability.

Kagamirror (13): A white robot with a domelike head and a rounded chest that could open up into a large mirror, and anyone whose reflection he captured in the mirror could be trapped inside, and Gagamirror could assume their shape. He sucked Takuya into his mirror and disguised himself as Takuya to infiltrate the Heavyshell Base, but was eventually discovered and killed by the Beetle Break.

Dangar(25): A blue robot with red circles on his chest, elbows, and shoulders, and black spikes on his arms, legs, and head. Dangar's mission was to kill the escapee Lala, who had been forced to help build the Death Gaohm, a super-cannon that could destroy an entire country in one blast, but had run away. Lala was actually a scientist from the Aroa dimension and although she fell in love with Takuya, she returned home after Dangar and the Death Gohm were destroyed.

Others

Death Mult (17, 31): Originally one of Jera's soldiers youhei, he was killed by the B-Fighters easily. After this, Jera retrieved his body, sghe and three decided to make him a collberation of all three armies. Though he still resembled himself, his armor is red. Gigaro provided the scorpion's tail and wingfs while Schwartz added build-in shoulder cannons. Death Mult proved able to defeat the B-Fighter until the 3 generals started arguing about that attack he should use to kill them. Death Mult was stalled by the conflicting orders, enough tuime for the B-Fighters to deafeat him. He was later ressurected by Gaohm to kill the B-Fighters & Sinbad.

Babanba (32): At first, an old woman in a brown kimono with a brown cloth over her head and a wooden cask on her back. She could suck people inside the cask, which she used to turn them into pickles which she sold to creatures in other dimensions. She later revealed her true form, demonic creature. Babamba was not truly evil, however, and although Jera tried to trick her into fighting the Beetle Fighters, an old man who had befriended her convinced her that she didn't need to fight anymore. She decided to stay in this dimension with him, and shattered her cask, freeing the people inside.

Nero (37): A so-called bodyguard from another dimension who wore a cowboyih attire. He appeared during a fight and offered Jera his services,but in the fight he missed the Beetle Fighters and escaped back to Jamahl for his pay. Later, he approached the B-Fighters and claimed that he was just trying to infiltrate Jamahl so he could kill Gaohm, and if they paid him he would do just that. Mai believed him and scrounged up enough to pay him. Nero was planning to take the money from both sides and leave this dimension, when Mai found out that he had Jamahl money. Jera also appeared, having discovered his secret, and Jera impaled Nero. Meanwhile, Mai had scanned Nero's gun and found out that it was designed to miss. Nero hated war, and never meant to kill anyone. He died after telling Mai to end the fight quickly, because war is a terrible thing.

Faigar (39): A legendary fitre-breathing monster that was fossilized and unable to move. Gigaro had Schwartz use a youth-restoring machine to bring back Faigar, but Schwartz set it too high and the Faigar that came out was a child who breathed fire at anyone around him, including Gigaro. While trying to stop it, Blue Beet tackled Faigar and was hit by residual youth energy that was in it and turned into a child himself. Gigaro and Schwartz eventually recaptured Faigar with candy & tried to age it to a more dangerous age, but overdid it and the Faigar that came out this time was blackened and burnt. Blue Beet also used this chance to restore his own age, then killed Faigar with the Super Final Blow.

Macho Number-5 (41): Schwartz's older brother, though Schwartz actually built himself. He was a muscular robot with blue and white armor plating and a face like Schwartz's. He was injured in a battle with the B-Fighters, however, and to save him, Schwartz enter Macho's to pilot him personally. The two together were a formidable enemy, and Macho's final plan to get rid of the Beetle Fighters was a self-destruct switch he had installed in himself. He activated it and planned to take the Beetle Fighters with him when he exploded, and so he told Schwartz to get out of his body. Schwartz refused, since they were brothers. But it was only second before his death, Macho ejected Schwartz for his safety. The only bit of remain Schwartz found a frantic Schwartz from the wreckage was Macho's eyepiece which he took as memento of his brother.

Giga-Moonhalo (42): The spirit of a asianic bear who was hunted and killed in the mountains. Gigaro, who felt a common bond, rekindled Giga-Moonhalo's hatred of man and made him a blood-thirsty monster whom Gigaro used for his "B-Fighter Hunt".

Episodes

01.Insect Warriors!!
02. The Dancing Human Hunt!!
03. They Appeared - The Insect Mecha!!
04. Super Machine Great Riot
05. Heavyshell-Jack!!
06. Listen to the Forest's Cry
07. The Mysterious Violent Photographer!!
08. Please!! Evil Jewel
09. The Tabby-cat Recovery Operation
10. A Violent Fight!! The Dragon Swordsman
11. The Great Reckless Run of the Angry Robot
12. Stealing Motivation!!
13. Heavyshell Base Endangered!
14. The Deadly Maze of Hell
15. The Idol who Flew
16. The Flaming Super-dimensional Girl
17. Death Fight!! The Combined Monster
18. The Great Leader Dies!!
19. Birth of the New Warrior of Darkness
20. Crash!! The Black Terror
21. Atrocious Insect Tag
22. First Experience as a Heroine
23. A Bouquet for a Monster...
24. Enter the Giant Beetle
25. The Beautiful Runaway!!
26. Crabs and Swimsuits and Dad
27. Revive the Bad-Haircutting Soul
28. The Pure-hearted Ghost of Summer
29. Great Crash of the Rivals
30. The 13 Monsters Great Combat Meet
31. A Dangerous Young Lady
32. Loving Pickles!!
33. The Delinquent Girl of Justice
34. A Scaaary Pet
35. Thank you, Kabuto
36. Behold - the Heavyshell Super Evolution
37. Don't Swindle us, Bodyguard
38. Professor!! The Heavyshell of Love
39. Adventure of the Junior BF
40. A New Chapter - the Butterfly of Life
41. My Older Brother is ?????
42. The Spiteful Bear's BF Hunt
43. I Saw It!! Black's Unadorned Face
44. The Butterfly of Life Appears!!
45. A Christmas Eve Memory
46. Despair!! Heavyshell Impossible
47. Revival to Victory!!
48. The Immortal Combination Rushing Head
49. The Spider Woman's Unfeeling Flame
50. Rush!! Final Battle in the Fortress
51. The Period of Light and Shadow

Specials

52. Assemble!! The 3 Great Heroes
53. Flap Your Wings!! Heroes
Movie: Heavyshell B-Fighter

References

B-Fighter FAQ page