'70s superhero returns to TV

Advertiser Staff

The original Kikaida series will begin airing on KIKU-TV tonight. Advertiser library photo

Kikaida, the red-byte-and-blue android and TV superhero from the 1970s, returns on a wave of nostalgia to local TV, beginning tonight on KIKU-TV (Oceanic Cable 9, UHF Channel 20, Verizon Americast 10).

The 43-episode series will run at 7 p.m. Sundays, with two half-hour shows that will bring back the original Jiro — the denim-clad, guitar-strumming biker (played by Daisuke Ban), who changes into the android Kikaida to battle evil. Once the "Kikaida" reruns end, the station will air 46 episodes of the "Kikaida-01" installments, with Shunsuke Ikeda as Kikaida-01.

"Die-hard fans have been after us to bring the series back," said Joanne Ninomiya, KIKU-TV president. Ninomiya, who also is president of JN Productions, said a "Generation Kikaida-Hawai'i" DVD and a Kikaida retrospective show will arrive in spring — complete with merchandise (dolls, T-shirts, books, records) and actors Ban and Ikeda.