| Koji Yabane | |
|---|---|
| |
| Kanji |
矢羽コウジ |
| Race |
Human |
| Gender |
Male |
| Age |
Unknown, presumably Jun's age or older |
| Height |
Unknown |
| Weight |
Unknown |
| Hair Color |
Dark brown |
| Eye Color |
Blue |
| Occupation |
Motorcycle racer |
| Status |
Deceased |
| Relatives |
Jun (former childhood friend/possible former girlfriend, see Trivia) |
| Position |
Blackbird Captain |
| Voice Actor |
Ryoichi Tanaka |
| Anime Debut | |
Koji Yabane (矢羽コウジ) is a one-shot villain character, appearing in episode 56 of the original Science Ninja Team Gatchaman series.
In the plot, he is a childhood friend of Jun and has since become a captain of a Blackbird squadron.
Background[]
All that is known of Koji is that he was a genius Grand Prix motorcycle rider who fell upon hard times in poverty, and joined Galactor as they promised him money and his desperation and greed for such blinded him to the evil of their organization. He would make a comeback as a stunt racer employed by a specific country's President, all the while secretly working as the leader of a group of Blackbirds.
Around three years prior to this episode plot, he and Jun were close friends.
Appearance[]
Unlike his fellow Blackbirds, Koji does not wear the full uniform and this gives both viewers and Jun the opportunity to recognize him. Instead, he wears a black motorcycle jacket and pants, long, deep gray boots and gloves, a lighter red scarf, and a lavender shirt. His pants have a similar pattern that his Blackbird group has on the legs of their suits, but in red rather than yellow, and he wears a maroon utility belt with a pouch.
Koji does sport a modified version of the Blackbirds helmet that looks more in tune with the Science Ninja Team's, with a blue visor. This visor is retractable, allowing Jun to get a better look at his face. When unmasked, he is shown to be a young man with shaggy, shoulder-length brown hair and full bangs, and bright blue eyes.
In the past, Koji wore a purple vest, a long-sleeved, lavender shirt with a maroon collar and cuffs, pale blue bell-bottom jeans, and a deep blue belt with matching loafers.
Personality[]
While corrupted by Galactor, Koji takes no amusement in his squad bothering women and aims to make sure someone like Jun is out of their way. However, this creates tension as he has to juggle his duty with recognizing someone from his past. This led him to have doubts over Galactor and even attempt to sabotage one of the Blackbirds' infiltration missions on the National Defense Force facility, using the bomb to blow up an airplane on the tarmac instead. This disorderly conduct led him to be punished and tortured by his superiors on orders of Berg Katse, leading to him having to follow his next orders closely under the threat of being killed by Katse if he failed.
Even as Koji participated in the race with the intent of killing the President, his feelings for Jun would cause him to momentarily slow down, but Katse's reminder to kill caused him to try to go ahead with the plan at full-force, until his gun was destroyed by Joe. He continued to remain torn between love and duty, but believed he deserved to die as his final fate, no longer being concerned with living (whether or not he'd take Jun down with him).
Relationships[]
Jun[]
Though they were quite close in the past, Jun was bothered by Koji behaving standoffish to her after rescuing her from the Blackbirds (and did not seem to take much notice in his unusual get-up and familiarity with them). The idea of Jun dying in a nuclear explosion was strong on his mind when his Galactor superiors ordered him to blow up the missiles at the Defense Force base, leading to his breaking of orders.
While the Science Ninja Team quickly figured out Koji had to be involved with Galactor, Jun was in denial of such a thing and still bore her own strong feelings, being depressed at the idea of having to investigate him. After being slapped and reminded that failure to investigate him could mean the deaths of innocent people, she gained the resolve to go forward with the mission.
Jun was later distressed at overhearing Koji could be killed for his failure, but found it was even worse: He was being ordered by Katse to take out the Science Ninja Team in a suicide mission by crashing into the God Phoenix, stuck in a situation that he'd die in either way.
Even with Jun being transformed, Koji recognized and wondered if it could actually be her. He reflected about how he let his greed for money blind himself to morality, and that the least he could do to atone was to be killed by the Science Ninja Team. At the same time, Jun declared she'd be the one to fire the Bird Missile to take out the Blackbird mecha. His last word and thoughts before dying were shown to be of Jun, just as she had one last memory of him from their youth.
Jun was distraught over having to kill Koji, only finding his damaged helmet in the wreckage and bidding him farewell in her mind as she envisioned him riding off one last time, as a Blackbird.
Weapons and Arsenal[]
Motorcycle[]
Koji rides a specialized motorcycle compared to the other Blackbirds, with it being white and red with a pointed appearance similar yet different to that of the G-3 cycle. Its blue nose cone contains a drill that it can use to break through doors of the facility. It can also fire missiles out of its tailpipes, and blind other drivers with a thick purple smog.
This motorcycle has the further ability to connect to other Blackbird motorcycles and transform into a flying, snake-like mecha that can fire missiles and curl itself up into a spinning ring. This mecha has circular saws that are also strong enough to cut into the God Phoenix.
Alterations in International Adaptations[]
G-Force: Guardians of Space[]
In this second English adaptation of the Gatchaman series, which was sourced for other foreign dubs utilizing these specific edits and translations, Koji was renamed Tony Seville. He was referred to as being Agatha June's former boyfriend who disappeared years ago, a fact known to the team and Dr. Brighthead and also told to viewers via Aggie's expository narration at the start of the episode.
Due to the subtext of lovers becoming text, the G-Force team suspect Tony's involvement with Galactor and doubt Aggie's faith in him due to the fact he walked out on her. In other dialogue alterations made, this Black Hawk's motivations for being part of Galactor and staying in the organization, as well as the threat of his own death, are changed to Galactor running surveillance on his family members and threatening to kill all of them if he fails in his assassination plot. After he fails to take out the Vice-President, the reference to his own impending death is kept but Galactor tells him that if he succeeds in taking out the G-Force team, his family will be spared.
Still, Tony's last internal monologue does reference him being "blinded by money" in taking the money Galactor offered him for the assassination job. After his death by the Bird Missile, Aggie imagines Tony bidding her farewell:
"So long for now, Aggie. Some other time, some other place, I'll be seein' ya."
Aggie then thinks that she'll be seeing him too, but it's goodbye for now.
Voice Actors[]
Koji was voiced by Ryoichi Tanaka, while the actors for his fellow Blackbirds were left uncredited.
English Adaptations[]
- G-Force: Guardians of Space: ?
- ADV dub: John Gremillion
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Because of the way that time seems to be treated as passing in-series to reflect the real broadcast time, some fans wonder if the "3 years ago" statement was written with that in conscience or to be treated as 3 years to the start. As Jun was set to be 16 years old at the start of the show, she would be estimated to be 17 or nearing so at the time of the episode, making her 13 or 14 in the flashback scenes depending on if such time passage is also reflected. If Koji were meant to be around her age, he would also be that age in the flashbacks, but the two were not designed younger. This also leads to speculation, due to Koji being a motorcyclist already then, of whether or not he was older than Jun (and leading to unfortunate implications from some about an age gap) or it was simply an oversight much like how Joe was implied to already be racing at 13 in Galactor's Witch Racer. Due to Jun also wearing her "3" outfit and her bracelet, even if for artistic convenience, it has also been questioned if she has already become part of the Ninja Team then after being taken in by Dr. Nambu.
- In the scenario period, Koji and Jun were intended to be more of a former boyfriend and girlfriend along with being childhood friends, but any references to being anything more than friends were taken out by the final script. This did at least make it into the G-Force: Guardians of Space dub though, in a similar way other orphaned scenario details did (eg: Romina and Julia being identified as the royals of their countries rather than just peace activists, and their exact countries being specified for each one).
- Koji is briefly referenced in the Mad Cave comics one-shot Jun: Apex Heart, with it presumably taking place after his death as the featured characters in the story, the Taketa Motors couple, are said to have supplied Galactor the technology for the Blackbird Squadron's motorcycles but that it was a failure. This is a remnant of the original intent of the plot, where Koji was meant to have secretly survived but being kept on life support by Galactor in hope to be their star cyborg. Presumably, the Taketa couple were to have originally been his parents as well before Tatsunoko vetoed the idea and the character was retooled as Riku Taketa.
- In a sense of dramatic irony, Koji's surname Yabane refers to an arrow feathered pattern that is symbolic of good luck and protection. While his given name is spelled in katakana rather than kanji, some readings of Koji can also mean good luck or peace.