Fight! Iczer-1 series celebration

These posts were originally posted as a Monthly Three, as well as Iczer-1’s 30th anniversary celebration series. They are now here collected for easier access. This post covers introduction to the history and the Original Video Animations the franchise has seen.

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Rei Aran

If one doesn’t find much sources about Hariken Ryu in English (his career with Godzilla gives him a lot of leverage over other of his contemporaries, Aran Rei is barely recognized in any degree. While Aran is known as one of many people who made up the best era of Comic Lemon People, and thus one of those who influenced then-current Japanese popular culture, and to that extension modern Japanese pop-culture, his name is all but lost in the Western front. He was at his most active in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, having an influence over stylistic sensibilities as well as contributing to the OVA scene.

Born in 1960, Aran’s first published work was Fairies of the Star in Comic Lemon People #6, 1982. Whether or not he had released doujinshis before this is unknown. The one work he seemed to like the most and kept working on  between 1983 and 1993 is Galaxy Police Patrizer-3. If any of his works, it is this one that shows how Aran refined his self-taught skills within one decade to a whole new level.

Monthly Three; ＷＡＲ－ＥＲ ＯＮＥ

If one doesn’t find much sources about Hariken Ryu in English (his career with Godzilla gives him a lot of leverage over other of his contemporaries, Aran Rei is barely recognized in any degree. While Aran is known as one of many people who made up the best era of Comic Lemon People, and thus one of those who influenced then-current Japanese popular culture, and to that extension modern Japanese pop-culture, his name is all but lost in the Western front. He was at his most active in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, having an influence over stylistic sensibilities as well as contributing to the OVA scene.

I have discussed his original Iczer-1 to some degree previously, so in this entry I’ll be concentrating on Aran himself rather than retreading old ground.

Born in 1960, Aran’s first published work was Fairies of the Star in Comic Lemon People #6, 1982. Whether or not he had released doujinshis before this is unknown. The one work he seemed to like the most and kept working on  between 1983 and 1993 is Galaxy Police Patrizer-3. If any of his works, it is this one that shows how Aran refined his self-taught skills within one decade to a whole new level.

Monthly Three; Space Punch!

This monthly three will be a bit different. I’ll be treading some grounds that I’ve been through in previous entries, but this will be more or less a more cohesive series. This series of three will be about how Fight!! Iczer-1 OVA came to be, starting with Hariken Ryu’s Gekisatsu! Uchuuken, then continuing with Rei Aran’s original comic of Fight! Iczer-1, and ending in image comparisons between the DVD and BD release. The problem doing this entry is that a lot of information is just unavailable on certain issues, and thus some conjecture is needed.

So, where do we start when it comes to the OVA of Iczer-1? We start a comic illustrator who liked live action shows a lot. Hidemi Miyata, better known as Hariken Ryu, made his debut in #1 issue of Comic Lemon People February 1982, with his Mad City 16 Beat.

This is according to Gekisatsu! Uchuuken Vol.1. In reality, Hariken Ryu had already been published in Daya Publishing’s Comic DUMP #10 with his Parabola of Ecstasy

撃殺!宇宙拳 – Gekisatsu! Uchuuken LP

I present you the complete recording of Gekisatsu! Uchuuken vinyl record in mp3 format with scans. Download at MediaFire.

So, what is Gekisatsu! Uchuuken? When it comes to this LP, Gekisatsu! Uchuuken was to be an animated television series. Whatever happened to the production of the series is unknown. Uchuuken would have been the first Lemon People based animated production before Tatakae!! Iczer-One, Cream Lemon, Project A-ko or Lemon Angel.

The LP holds what sounds more or less pre-production material for the series alongside drama bits. Whether or not the LP was sold because of contractual reasons or something else is unknown for me. However, an educated guess could tell that the level of material put in here shows that at least the drama bits were produced to advertise and hype the series.

The recordings were taken by using a Pioneer PL-Z93 player and only minimal adjustments have been made to them in order to preserve authenticity. As such, expect some level of noise, hissing and pops as per usual vinyl records of this age.

The comic the series was based began running in Comic Lemon People Issue #2 in 1982. I described Uchuuken to some extent about two months or so ago and I do recommend checking that post for further info, but I may do a bit more extensive showcase based on the first few chapters I’ve scanned thus far sometime in the future. As in possibly sometimes next year. I have plans to scan at least the first seven chapters, as the comic used staples up to issue 8 or so.

Enjoy the recordings, I do hope you enjoy the ending song in Side 2 at least.

Edit; If you’re interested to read more about the author and the series, please refer to this post.