| Dr. Kozaburo Nambu | |
|---|---|
| |
| Kanji |
南部考三郎博士 |
| Race |
Human |
| Gender |
Male |
| Age |
48 (Original series), 45 (OVA) |
| Hair Color |
Brown |
| Eye Color |
Brown |
| Occupation |
Scientist |
| Status |
Active (Gatchaman and Gatchaman II) |
| Relatives |
Ken Washio (Ward) |
| Voice Actor |
Toru Ohira |
Dr. Kozaburō Nambu (南部考三郎博士 Nanbu Kozaburou-hakase) is an executive at Interpol that hires the Science Ninja Team. He is also a member of the International Science Organization.
Background[]
Little is known about Dr. Nambu's younger years, although in the accompanying SF Roman light novel, his relationship with his father is briefly touched upon as being strong and supportive. His father happened to be a highly-influential businessman, who owned a private airfield and his very own bank. Nambu would inherit the airfield, which was shared by a friend of his, and would then pass that down to Ken.
Nambu would erase any of his family connections after his parents' deaths, by investing all their fortune into the Mantle Project and his research about Galactor.[1] Nambu's denial of his own family ties was something he intended to do, as the price he paid for having separated a good friend of his (Kentaro Washio) from his wife and son.
Though the SF Roman light novel has its own differences that may set it apart from the TV series (it also says Nambu is "about 40", though for the math to work for Kentaro to have flown in WWIII 30 years ago, he and Kentaro would have to be a bit older), the lack of insight into Nambu's past there means these further settings from the novel could ambiguously apply just as well.
Appearance[]
Dr. Nambu is a middle aged man with shoulder-length brown hair, thin eyebrows, and a thick mustache. His clothing consists of a light blue suit jacket, worn over a yellow shirt, maroon vest, and navy blue tie, along with dark blue pants.
His glasses are notable for lacking side stems, leaving them as an amusing detail in his design.
Cancelled Imagi Film Project[]
In this movie, Dr. Nambu would be re-imagined an Afro-Japanese man, with dark skin and a prominent black afro and facial hair. His early character design renders showed him to wear a white suit, with a maroon turtleneck. While he lacked glasses in the workprint footage, he was shown to wear them in some storyboards.
A later character render depicted Nambu as bald and with graying facial hair, though he continued to wear the same fashion as before.
Personality[]
Dr. Nambu is a calm and collected scientist who thinks outside of the box in the battles against Galactor, recruiting five young heroes to fight the alien organization head on, trusting their abilities and loyalties no matter their backgrounds.
Although he doesn't usually show strong emotions, he has a strong sense of justice and highly depended on by the rest of the ISO for his expertise. He was ahead of the ISO and other organizations at learning of Galactor, and in preparation to combat its activity, put together the Red Impulse squadron as well as eventually forming the Science Ninja Team.[2]
It was Nambu who came up with the specific way that the God Phoenix worked, as a way to enforce cooperation and strategies within the Ninja Team. While they were excellent in their skills, he noticed a clear flaw in their training period, stemming from their different sorts of personalities. Whether this was due to some of them being orphans or others having living family, there was a tendency for the team members to act too independently and not working in tandem. After careful consideration, he decided that the God Phoenix would not be able to use the Bird Missiles or Firebird mode unless all five were united, making them have to all fly together and cooperate even if they didn't want to. By creating that weak point in the God Phoenix, he aimed to cultivate more teamwork from the five.[3]
Relationships[]
While it is never stated that Dr. Nambu has any children or remaining living family, he becomes the guardian for four of the members of the Science Ninja Team: Ken, Joe, Jun, and Jinpei. Shortly before the first episode, they have all moved out on their own while still under the supervision of Nambu; Ken moved to an old house near an airport owned by his father Red Impulse, Jun and Jinpei moved to a large apartment above Snack Bar J, while Joe is usually inside his travel trailer.
Both Ken and Joe were raised together by Dr. Nambu, however, they have never called themselves as brothers. This is because unlike Jun and Jinpei, the two boys did not know each other before they were taken in by Dr. Nambu. This is also because Joe had been an orphan much longer compared to Ken (at least in the TV series' telling, as some sources differ on specifics).
Ryu is the most recent member of the team, and still has a family to return to. Nambu cares about his five Science Ninjas, but instead finds professional sounding excuses so he won't have to admit it.
Kentaro Washio/Red Impulse[]
Nambu and Kentaro had been old friends before he entrusted him with an important mission to investigate suspicious activity in the Hontwal Republic. To do this, Kentaro would have to fake his death and go undercover, never being able to contact or see his family again. Kentaro accepted and did so, while Nambu hid the man's existence from Ken all those years. Even so, Ken didn't want to accept that his father was gone as there was no proof of a body or report of death.
Nambu would remain in contact with Kentaro, with the other man having taken on the codename of Red Impulse and assisting the Science Ninja Team and his own son at times, yet remaining cold and distant to hide his identity and occasionally communicating with Nambu about how his son was doing. Nambu would ultimately have to admit to the Science Ninja Team that Kentaro had been alive and undercover, and had done so to keep his family from being in danger while he investigated. He was briefly sorrowful at finding out his old friend sacrificed himself to push the Van Allen Belt back up, but had to keep going on with his job and life, brushing the thought away.
"SF Roman" light novel[]
Before Kentaro's final sacrifice, Nambu would continuously try to push the idea that he was dead to Ken, urging the young man to erase his memories of his father in order to be a more ruthless fighter yet finding it futile for Ken to absorb that idea.
When the two men had come up with their plan to investigate Galactor, they both made a promise to not openly shed tears until the organization would be defeated. Nambu recalls that when he receives a message from Ken confirming Red Impulse died, nearly crying but stopping his tears and thinking it would be a long time until he could apologize to the other man in death.
Director Anderson[]
Ken Washio[]
Ken was raised by his mother until her death when he was 11 (or 8, as in some sources like SF Roman). His father had previously abandoned the family when he was 4, faking his death to become Red Impulse to investigate the rise of Galactor.
Dr. Nambu was involved in the Red Impulse undercover operation, and eventually became Ken's guardian, keeping his father's true fate a secret from him.
Joe Asakura[]
Dr. Nambu encountered Joe after traveling to BC Island for a conference, happening upon the aftermath of a Galactor assassination that killed both of the boy's parents (who had been looking to defect from the organization).
Nambu proceeded to fake Joe's death and take him out of the country, raising him in secret. However, Nambu was unaware of the significant details of the assassination, such as that Joe's parents were Galactor operatives and were killed because they tried to quit.
Jun[]
Nambu set up the Snack Jun for Jun to run, as well as serving as a meeting location for the team. Nambu himself is never seen in there though, and gives orders from his villa or the Crescent Coral Reef.
Jinpei[]
Nambu, knowing Jinpei is the youngest child, is able to predict Jinpei's behavior and factors it into part of the mission. He plans ahead when Jinpei wanders off to fight Galactor by himself in episode 8 and again uses Jinpei's ideas as a distraction to complete a mission in episode 89. Because of Jinpei constantly wandering off, he is the designated reconnaissance operative.
Ryu Nakanishi[]
Ryu was the only person of the Ninja Team who Dr. Nambu did not raise in some way. The reason for this is because he has a family.
Ryu longs to spend time with his family when not on the team, or can be seen taking things easy. This has caused difficulty with Dr. Nambu as nothing at all must prevent them from completing their missions. This does not mean that Dr. Nambu is without compassion; he does not want to kick Ryu off the team even at Ryu's request, although temporarily does so when Ryu insists after he slept on a mission where disasters happened. He is ultimately happy when Ryu rejoins after rescuing Ken.
Other Character Relationships[]
Some of the tragedies Nambu experiences during the Galactor war include his fellow scientists being abducted and even killed.
Dr. Henjinman[]
While Nambu was a freshman student at a university, Henjinman was a senior student in cybernetics. He also loved horses. After Henjinman graduated, he disappeared until his new invention was completed. Nambu became alarmed and ordered the Science Ninja Team to rescue Henjinman as well as Henjinman's cybernetic horses from Galactor.
However, Henjinman would die in the end due to X.
Entomologist Toda[]
Toda is an independent recluse and laughing stock of the peaceful scientific community, but persisted with them instead of selling out to Galactor. Nambu initially thought that Toda was silly, but it turned out that Toda has immense knowledge of Galactor's new mecha monster covering 50 years due to his study of grasshoppers.
Dr. Demon[]
Dr. Demon was a close friend almost like Kentaro, but could not find any position at the United Nations, Interpol, International Science Organization, or anywhere else in the peaceful scientific community. Nambu accomplished every goal before Demon, even getting the only available jobs that Demon wanted. They became enemies, especially after Demon was recruited by Galactor.
Demon became tired being exploited and regretted not waiting for a new job offering from the peaceful scientific community. Galactor, knowing where everybody goes before they even get there, ordered Demon to meet with his old friend Nambu because Nambu was well known for his affiliation with the Science Ninja Team.
Both Nambu and Demon agreed to meet alone, but the Science Ninjas knew about Demon working for Galactor, and Katse set up a trap. Ken did not know that Demon betrayed Galactor, putting Ken in a very awkward position as he watched Demon commit suicide. Moments before the ship exploded, a photograph of Nambu and Demon collapsed, the glass breaking down the middle.
Meckel[]
A young scientist, Meckel, could not afford tuition. Galactor proceeded to offer a "scholarship", and ordered him to destroy his own neighborhood. After seeing so many of his friends and colleagues die, Nambu insisted that he must try to reform Meckel and ordered Joe to find him while the rest of the team took down the Galactor base.
Abilities[]
Dr. Nambu is a renowned scientist within ISO, having studied at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He headed a pollution free energy project that was ultimately successful, and got promoted because of that. Dr. Nambu also developed the fighting style used by the Science Ninja Team, and the technology for their Bird Styles and mecha.
Though his specialty is space engineering, his range of qualifications is truly diverse; physics, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, and strong political and money-raising capabilities. These were specially influential in helping fund the Earth's Mantle Project.
Work History[]
In the light novel SF Roman Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, it is elaborated that fourteen years prior to the start of the series, Kozaburo Nambu was a university lecturer blessed with many talents. Due to his father being a rich man in a powerful position, he was able to have more than adequate funding for his scientific research[4].
Nambu has an executive position at Interpol. He built the Crescent Coral Base designed for saving the oceans. as well as self-defense weapons such as bird missiles. He has the capability of ordering Interpol troops to fight Galactor, as well as the Red Impulse team, but he only does this if The Science Ninja Team is too busy.
The International Science Organization is aware that Nambu's affiliated with The Science Ninja Team, but is oblivious to the fact he raised them; A security officer was astonished meeting them for the first time in plain clothes. Even Director Anderson rode in The God Phoenix, but still knows very little about them.
He takes over Director Anderson's position at the end of Gatchaman II, after the other man dies as a result of his injuries.
Nambu was killed towards the end Gatchaman Fighter, leaving the engineer Kamo to be the mentor figure to the team.
Alterations in International Adaptations[]
USA[]
Battle of the Planets (1978)[]
Nambu was renamed Security Chief Anderson, while some of his early roles were cut and his screen time and science commander role instead mainly given to 7-Zark-7. Even in the episodes where he's retained, the writers seem to prioritize Zark as being the mentor to the team rather than him.
Like Nambu, Anderson is responsible for keeping the secret about the fate of Mark's father, who is now known as Colonel Cronus of Riga.
Top Cow series[]
Chief Anderson has a more pivotal role in this re-imagining, as characters like Zark and Rover were done away with in the creative team's hopes to blend what they felt was the best of Battle with the original Gatchaman.
A running theme of Anderson in the title is the lies he lives with, as he hides many secrets from the team and from others. He lies that the data the team collected from the Iron Terrapin was destroyed, and he holds a prisoner captive in a church as his informant on Spectra, knowing the other man is deceptive yet relying on him greatly for whatever he might give up. He hides the existence of Mark's father from the young man, knowing well that his old friend Ken is actually Colonel Cronus of the Red Impulse team and communicating with him in secret. He may or may not also know that Jason's father Giuseppe was an operative of Spectra that was killed for trying to double-cross the organization.
Anderson is willing to have his own reputation tarnished to a man named General Tomak, who is already suspicious of him, by having a psychologist named Brendan Meara feed Tomak false information to make the G-Force project look unsafe. However, as much as Anderson tries to be ahead of his enemies, he is captured and tortured by Zoltar after being caught in a trap. It is revealed that he and Zoltar had some pre-existing history, where Zoltar feels that Anderson betrayed him and could have saved him so long ago.
During the series, while Anderson has found his own secret intel on Spectra, he learns other shocking revelations from Tomak, who he finds out has been possessed by a spiritual Rigan alien for some time who wants to help Earth (against the orders of his superiors). This includes the fact that the Spectran race was actually originally wiped out long ago, and the Spectrans they face are the results of the collection of human ancestral DNA from Earth that resulted in a human cloning and genetic manipulation project.
The biggest secret Anderson appears to be hiding though, and that was to play into further events that did not come about, was that he was in charge of a G-Force team before the group everyone knows; the prisoner of the church was one of his original charges, who carries a deep grudge against him and who tried to join Spectra in hubris, believing he could rise through the ranks while having betrayed the original G-Force. While Anderson believes this man would be wanted by Spectra and could be killed by them for his duplicitous ways, the prisoner manages to escape by the end and secretly convenes with Zoltar about developing a new group of cloned warriors made from G-Force's DNA. The ramifications of this plotline, Anderson's past with the man and Zoltar, and the story behind "The original G-Force" remain mysterious due to the title never moving forward. As Sandy Frank also wanted all Gatchaman characters and references removed in hopes of a royalty-free Battle of the Planets/G-Force branding, it is also unknown what may have become of characters like Anderson after such an edict was handed down.
G-Force: Guardians of Space (1987)[]
His name was changed to Dr. Benjamin Brighthead and he is sometimes given the narration duty on episodes, describing to the viewers what went on and seeming to be a quite omniscient narrator at times. Brighthead also claims to have somehow known that the Devil Star that Dirk killed was the girl that he'd planned to race, although he withholds this information from him to try to give him peace of mind (Unlike Joe, Dirk never finds out this in the series as episode 81 of Gatchaman was not translated, due to Tatsunoko not providing the simple English script).
A rejected pilot, pre-Fred Ladd involvement, had Nambu instead named "Professor Nicholas".
Eagle Riders (1996)[]
His name in this adaptation is Dr. Thaddeus Keane, and like Brighthead, he takes on the job of narrating some episodes. As Eagle Riders did not source the later episodes of Gatchaman Fighter, it can be figured Keane survives any continued threat of the Vorak in such a family-friendly universe.
Voice Actors[]
He was voiced by Toru Ohira in the original franchise, with Ohira even reprising his role in the 1999 Wonderful Tatsunokoland special.
English Adaptations[]
- Battle of the Planets: Alan Dinehart
- G-Force: Guardians of Space: Gregg Berger (Sparklin Entertainment, pilot episodes and #1-60), Jan Rabson (episodes #61-84), Barry Stoltze (Media360 Group pilot)
- Eagle Riders: Greg O'Neill
- ADV/Sentai dub of first series and movie: Andy McAvin
- Infini-T Force movie: Wally Wingert
Gallery[]
Gatchaman II[]
Gatchaman Fighter[]
Concept Art[]
Trivia[]
- There are three noted ways of spelling Nambu's first name in kanji (孝三郎, 耕三郎, 考三郎), with Tatsunoko having not clarified which is correct. Due to the prevalence of liner notes in the 1970s using 考 for the first kanji, it is the one usually assumed to be the right character to use for his name. Unfortunately, there is also a case where when settei from the first series was traced for usage in the Gatchaman II setting materials, his initial name of Senzaburo (see below) was carried over, even if the actual II continued to refer to him as Kozaburo. The fact that 孝三郎 and 耕三郎 were also used in official contexts such as Hisayuki Toriumi's light novel or the memorial event make things much harder.
- Nambu's surname in itself came from that of the famous Japanese physicist Yoichiro Nambu (南部 陽一郎).
- Dr, Nambu would be influential in further doctor mentor figures in some Tatsunoko projects, such as Dr. Amachi in Tekkaman the Space Knight as well as the lady scientist Dr. Hijiri in the scrapped Divine Legend Sadamoebius (who resembled an adult version of Jun).
Development Period[]
- Proposals spanning from the Science Ninja Squad/Team period all the way to the finalized Gatchaman planning had the doctor named Senzaburo Nambu (南部仙三郎) [5]. He would also have a pet cat named Elizabeth, who would unfortunately be killed early on by Galactor implanting a bomb inside her in an attempt to assassinate him (although it would only manage to destroy his villa).
- In the character planning chart, Satoshi Suyama wrote out that Nambu should be modeled from the actor Shinsuke Ashida[6].
Apocryphal Remake Plans[]
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Adventure Game[]
- In this planning for a RPG "requel" to the first series, Dr. Nambu would have become the top director of the ISO, taking Anderson's place as he had done in Gatchaman Fighter. Unfortunately for Nambu, this would also bring him into greater danger with Galactor and he would wind up assassinated sometime after the events of the first Galactor war and his promotion in the agency. A woman named Director Drake would be his successor at the ISO, and would take over mentoring the Science Ninja Team. This game wound up never coming to pass due to the writer Satoshi Suyama suffering a cerebral infarction, causing Tatsunoko to suspend all development.