Gatchaman II

Gatchaman II

Gatchaman II (科学忍者隊ガッチャマンII Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman Tsū, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman II) is the direct sequel to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, set two years after the first television series. After the defeat of Leader X, he exacts his revenge by mutating a young girl into Gel Sadra, making her the new leader of Galactor. While Galactor returns, Dr. Nambu and the International Science Organization bring the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman back into active duty.  A second sequel series, Gatchaman Fighter, immediately aired the week after the final episode of Gatchaman II.

Episode List

1. Sosai X's Counterattack
2. The Mysterious Feather Shuriken
3. The Black Knights from Hell
4. Has Joe returned?!
5. The Big Attack of the Mysterious Cavemen
6. The Shocking Pyramid Power
7. The Terrible Mutant Operation
8. The Firebird of the Moon
9. The Downfall of Berg Katse
10. Snowstorm at the Equator
11. Struggle! Hypernium 600
12. The Secret of Dr. Raphael
13. Youthful G-2
14. Red Impulse from Space
15. G-5 with the Pure Heart
16. Black Out Joe
17. The Devilish Equation
18. The Spaceship Cannot Answer
19. The Trap in the Other Dimension
20. Crisis in G-Town
21. Broken Wings of Youth
22. Mysterious Stonehenge
23. Love extinguished at the North Pole
24. G2 Under Suspicion
25. The Sad Cyborg
26. The Mysterious Secretary Pandora
27. Dr. Nambu dies!
28. Love Stolen by a Feather Shuriken
29. Life or Death! The Evil North Wall
30. Ryu Has Returned to His Hometown
31. The Eagle is Shot Down
32. G1 - Love in the Andes
33. Angry G-1
34. The Evil Mecha from the Amazon
35. Berg Katse's Inheritance
36. The Sad Underground City
37. Burn, Iron Wings!
38. The Electromagnetic Mecha Iron Devil Dragon
39. The Purple Condor
40. Fight hard! The Devilish Animal Operation
41. Gatchaman Against Gel Sadora
42. The Observatory Moving in the Darkness
43. Invaders from Mars
44. Strike! Evil Mars Base
45. The Devilish Solarshifter Plan
46. Gatchaman unmasked
47. Kill for Sure! The Two Firebirds
48. The Biggest Tidal Wave in History
49. Burn, Condor!
50. Mystery! Mystery? Gel Sadora's Mother
51. Sad Gel Sadora
52. The Downfall of Sosai X

Adaptations

This series and Gatchaman Fighter would be the basis of an English adaptation titled Eagle Riders, which was produced by Saban Entertainment and aired in 1996. Only thirteen episodes were broadcast in the USA, though the entirety managed to air overseas.

A Korean compilation movie titled Eagle 5 Brothers (독수리 5 형제, Dokksuri Hyeongje) was released in 1980, and is infamous for rotoscoping and plagiarizing the Gatchaman II animation, splicing together various bits of the series to create a 70 minute plot. This movie received a Spanish dub in turn, titled "Space Heroes" ( "Heroes del Espacio").

Notes

• Despite many legal hurdles preventing its international release due to multiple companies licensing the anime for adaptations, the rights in the US finally expired and Sentai Filmworks aquired it and announced a DVD release of the series in Region 1 areas for an April 18, 2017 release.
• Early plans for a Gatchaman sequel, dated around 1976, had X save Joe from his certain death at Cross Karokoram and refurbish him with cybernetic parts, along with brainwashing him to be the villainous "Space Joker" who would antagonize the Science Ninja Team. Meanwhile, Joe's long-lost younger brother named Jack would join the Science Ninja Team as G-6/The Hawk, and would ultimately wind up having to fight against the Space Joker. This treatment was called "Gatchaman 2" (note the lack of Roman numerals).
• Another treatment was titled "New Science Ninja Team Gatchaman" (新科学忍者隊ガッチャマン Shin Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman), or "New Gatchaman" for short. In this concept, X would rescue a 25-year old warrior woman named Sadomadonna and recruit her to head the revived Galactor organization. A shady figure named Dr. Einstein would have created an android duplicate of Joe to rejoin the Science Ninja Team, with the android carrying the memories of the original deceased Joe Asakura and believing himself to be the man until learning of his true nature and sacrificing himself to destroy X.