Japanese Heroes

The Japanese have one of the richest bases of superheroes around. Not withstanding their history and mythology, they also have the largest comic book (manga) and animation (anime) industries in the world. I know I am only scratching the surface when it comes to listing their characters, coming as I do from the West, and certainly not enough to do it full justice.

Useful Terminology when dealing with Japanese superheroes

Please note that the below are not strict and accurate translations for the given terms, but rather a quick "short hand" for the nearest English language equivalent I know.

Anime - Japanese animation / cartoons

Daikaijû - giant monster genre

Henshin - transforming hero genre, where the character "morphs" from human to superhero form

Light novel - novel aimed at teens and young adults

Manga - Japanese comics

Mecha - giant robots, generally ones controlled by pilots inside

OVA (sometimes OAV) - original video animation, effectively a straight-to-video anime, not shown on TV first

Tankoubon - a compilation book. Generally used in reference to the collected issues of a manga series.

Tokusatsu - live action special effects films and series (e.g. the Godzilla movie series, Kamen Rider series, etc)

The above terms only scratch the surface, but are a good starter for the newbie.

Individual characters

For those wishing to track down copies of some of the anime shows mentioned on these pages, you could try Anime DVD.

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