Kyodaiken Byclosser

***Kyodaiken Byclosser*** (兄弟拳（きょうだいけん）バイクロッサー, *Kyōdaiken Baikurossā*, lit. "Brothers Fist Byclosser") is a tokusatsu television series made by Ishinomori Productions and Toei Company. The series consisted of 34 episodes (+ rebroadcast 4 episodes) and was produced with Nippon TV (except for some areas). It aired in 1985 (Showa 60) from January 10th until September 26th.

## Overview

The follow-up project after *Seiun Kamen Machineman* broadcast in the previous year. This story was produced on smaller scopes such as battles that occurred between a college student and school student with an evil organization that bullying the children in a city, coupled with a touch of comedy. Like *Machineman*, it was produced on a lower budget than Toei's tokusatsu programs such as *Super Sentai* and *Space Sheriff*, but the action and mechanic elements have been upgraded compared to the previous work. Its design is a toy precedent, and with the involvement of Shotaro Ishinomori, who is credited as its creator, is limited to enemy character design, compelling illustrations, and the creation of theme song's lyrics.

The title, "**Byclosser**", is attached because **By** (バイ, ***By***) is representing the two people (resembles the pronunciation of **Bai** (倍, ***Bai***) in Japanese which means "double"), combined with **Bike** (バイク, *Baiku*), and **Crosser** (クロッサー, *Kurossā*), or **Closser** which the hero crosses their arms when transforming. This name was given by Ishinomori.

## Story

The statue of Devil Gora, the hidden treasure sought by many bad guys, had the power to spits out diamonds when it hears the children crying. Doctor Q, who has obtained the statue, tries to bully the children and make them cry, in order to obtain military funds for conquering the world. In order to prevent such wrongdoing, the guardian Pegasus gave the Mizuno brothers, who have a heart of justice, a supernatural powers and super mechas. As expected, the Mizuno brothers: Ken and Ginjiro are transformed into Byclosser Ken and Byclosser Gin. They are now tasked with protecting children from the devil's hands of the criminal organization Dester led by Doctor Q.

## Cast

* Tetsu Kaneko as Ken Mizuno/Byclosser Ken
* Ayumi Tsuchiya as Ginjiro Mizuno/Byclosser Gin
* Keiko Sawachika as Akemi Takeda
* Machiko Naka as Katsuko Mizuno
* Gozo Soma as Daikichi Takeda
* Taketoshi Nachi as Isamu Sugihara
* Hiroki Kameyama as Yuichi Yamashita
* Tadashi Haga as Keisuke Tamura
* Akiko Yamagishi as Miki Kinoshita
* Yoshimi Nakajima as Fumio Matsuyama
* Yoshimichi Hagiuda as Makoto Aoki
* Kenji Ushio as Doctor Q
* Midori Takahashi as Sylvia
* Keiko Hata as Rita
* Minoru Hirano as Professor at Meiwa University
* Shoji Nomura as Kousuke Mizuno

### Voice Actors

* Reiko Seno as Pegasus the Guardian
* Tatsuyuki Jinnai as Devil Gora
* Ritsuo Sawa as Evil God Gorazonger
* Osamu Kobayashi as Narrator

### Suit Actors

Jun Murakami, who played Byclosser Ken, retired as a suit actor with this work and turned to action director. Murakami states that his own color as a player has come out.

* Jun Murakami as Byclosser Ken
* Joko Gokan as Byclosser Gin
* Japan Action Club (JAC)
	+ Noriaki Kaneda
	+ Kazuhiro Yano
	+ Keiji Tsujii
	+ Hirofumi Ishigaki

## Songs

At the time of broadcasting, the theme song, insert song, soundtrack EP record and LP record were released from Tokuma Japan's Animage label. The song has been made into a CD on the omnibus board of Tokuma Japan and Nippon Columbia, but the background music has not been made into a CD.

### Opening theme

* "**Tatakae! Byclosser**" (たたかえ! バイクロッサー, *Tatakae! Baikurossā*, lit. "Fight! Byclosser")
	+ Lyrics: Shotaro Ishinomori
	+ Composition: Shunsuke Kikuchi
	+ Arrangement: Kouji Makaino
	+ Artist: Gentarou Takahashi
	+ It was used as an insert song in Episodes 1-4, 6-10, 13-21, 23, 24, 26, 28, and 34.

### Ending theme

* "**Sono na mo Kyodaiken Byclosser**" (その名も兄弟拳バイクロッサー, *Sono na mo Kyōdaiken Baikurossā*, lit. "The name is Brother Fist Byclosser")
	+ Lyrics: Saburo Yatsude
	+ Composition: Shunsuke Kikuchi
	+ Arrangement: Kouji Makaino
	+ Artist: Gentarou Takahashi
	+ It was used as an insert song in Episodes 2, 4-9, 11-14, 17-25, 27-30, 32-34.

### Insert songs

* "**Ore to omae wa Byclosser**" (おれとおまえはバイクロッサー, *Ore to omae wa Baikurossā*, lit. "You and me are Byclosser")
	+ Lyrics: Shotaro Ishinomori
	+ Composition: Shunsuke Kikuchi
	+ Arrangement: Ryou Kawakami
	+ Artist: Makoto Fujiwara
	+ Episodes: 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 28, 31-33
* "**Go go! Ken Loader**" (ゴーゴー！ケンローダー, *Gō gō! Ken Rōdā*)
	+ Lyrics: Saburo Yatsude
	+ Composition: Kouji Makaino
	+ Arrangement: Ryou Kawakami
	+ Artist: Makoto Fujiwara
	+ Episodes: 16, 22, 25, 27, 29, 31-33

## Digital Releases

* From November 21st, 2007 to January 21st, 2008, Toei Video released the first *Kyodaiken Byclosser* DVD in Japan. Includes 11 episodes in each volume (12 episodes in Vol.3 only) in a 2-disc set of 3 volumes. "Goodbye Special" (rebroadcast) is not included. Similar measures are taken for online distribution such as YouTube.

DVD Volume 1DVD Volume 2DVD Volume 3
* The first episode of the TV series is recorded in "Shotaro Ishinomori 70th Anniversary DVD-BOX" released on July 21st, 2008.
* In 1990s, a video was released in South Korea under the title of **Kyodai Senshi Aceman** (兄弟戦士エースマン, *Kyōdai Senshi Ēsuman*, lit. "Brothers Warrior Aceman") as one of the **Flashman Series** (フラッシュマンシリーズ, *Furasshuman Shirīzu*).

## Broadcaster

* Nippon TV (key station): Thursday 17:30 - 18:00
* Sapporo TV: Monday 17:00 - 17:30 (January 21st, 1985 to October 14th, 1985)
* Yamagata Broadcasting: Monday 16:30 - 17:00
* Miyagi TV: Thursday 17:00 - 17:30 (until April 18th, 1985) → Friday 17:30 - 18:00 (from May 3rd, 1985)
* Fukushima Central Television: Wednesday 17:00 - 17:30 (until Episode 8) → Thursday 17:00 - 17:30 (from Episode 9)
* TV Niigata: Tuesday 17:30 - 18:00
* TV Shinshu
* Shizuoka Daiichi Television: Saturday 7:00 - 7:30
* Chukyo TV: Saturday 6:00 - 6:30 → Thursday 17:00 - 17:30
* Yomiuri TV: Saturday 7:00 - 7:30 → Sunday 7:00 - 7:30
* Hiroshima TV: Friday 17:30 - 18:00
* Nishinippon Broadcasting
* Fukuoka Broadcasting: Friday 17:00 - 17:30
* Kumamoto Kenmin Televisions

### CS Broadcasting

* Toei Channel: July - November 2002, January - May 2015, January - May 2017 (all in the "Shotaro Ishinomori Theater" frame)

### Net Distribution

* Toei Tokusatsu YouTube Official: December 10th - April 8th, 2014, August 1st - November 28th, 2018

## Notes

* After Episode 11, there was some music from the tokusatsu series *Uchuu Tetsujin Kyodain* (also a work of Shotaro Ishinomori) that was used.
* At the time of the airing of *Kamen Rider BLACK RX*, a rusty Gincron was randomly thrown away in a corner of the outdoor parking lot of Toei's studio.
* This work is included in the 4th installment of trading card game Rangers Strike X Gather released in March 2010.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Keibunsha. (1990). "The Complete Works of Monsters" Second Volume. p. 232. ISBN 4-7669-1209-8.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Takeshobo. (1995). "The Super Heroes Chronicles - 40 Years of Domestic Fictitious Hero". p. 176. ISBN 4-88475-874-9.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Gakken <Gakken Mook>. (2013). "Revived! Ishinomori's Hero File". pp. 64-65, "Hero File Kyodaiken Byclosser". ISBN 978-4-05-610166-9.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tokuma Shoten <HYPER MOOK>. (2013). "Showa Ishinomori's Hero Retsuden". pp. 80-85. ISBN 978-4-19-730131-7.
5. ↑ From the DVD Vol.3 commentary.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Tatsumi Publishing. (2014). "Toei Hero Masked Actor Retsuden". pp. 173-180, "Chapter 5 Transformation from Player to Action Director 16 Jun Murakami". ISBN 978-4-7778-1425-1
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Kodansha <Kodansha Series MOOK>. (2019). "Super Sentai Official Mook 20th Century 1995 Chouriki Sentai Ohranger". p. 33, "Behind the Scenes of Super Sentai Production Jun Murakami. ISBN 978-4-06-513710-9.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kodansha. (1987). "TV Magazine Hero Complete Works". p. 130. ISBN 978-4-06-178403-1.