Matchless Raijin-Oh (絶対無敵ライジンオー Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh, lit. Absolutely Invincible Raijin-Oh) is a 51 episode Japanese anime television series, and the first series produced for the Eldran franchise funded by Tomy and produced by Sunrise. It aired in Japan from April 3, 1991 to March 25, 1992.
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Background[]
The series was licensed by the newly formed Anime Midstream, which announced their license in November 2008. The series was dubbed in St. Louis, Missouri utilizing local talent with little to no prior or future anime dubbing experience (Producers Jimmy David Taylor and Gilda Santiago had done work for ADV Films, dubbing regulars Mike Reynolds and Kyle Hebert make guest appearances, while Curtis Arnott of Team Four Star would go on to do work for FUNimation Entertainment), many of which were anime fans who only auditioned on a whim. The dub and the way the releases were handled were meant to hark-in back to the way anime was handled in the 1990's, with DVD releases of 5 episodes and hokey Saturday Morning cartoon-esque voice acting, and as a result the dub received mixed reviews.
The company began selling the first volume of the series direct from their website, as well as several other online retailers as of late December, 2009. The first volume contained episodes 1-5. The second volume, containing episodes 6-10, was released in September 2010, and translated the title beginning with this volume (and current printings of the first volume are now also marketed under that title). The third volume was released on July 12, 2011, containing episodes 11-15. Each volume contains English and Japanese audio, as well as special features such as music videos, clean openings/closings, voice bloopers, and the third volume contains an audio commentary with several of the English voice actors. Two more volumes were released on June 30, 2012 for volume four and July 1, 2013 for volume five.
The rest of the series was released as a five disc boxset; the Season 2 Collection, released on September 30, 2014. However this set is in Japanese with English subtitles only, likely due to production difficulties from Midstream's headquarters relocating to Dallas.
At some point in time a second English dub was produced in The Philippines, with the only voice actor in the dub being Ray Buyco.
Cast[]
Main Characters[]
| Image | Character | Seiyū | Dub Actor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earth Defense Class | |||
| Jin Hyuga | Rika Matsumoto | Alicia Yuki Foster | |
| Asuka Tsukishiro | Rie Iwatsubo | Marisa Rae | |
| Koji Hosjiyama | Mari Maruta | Jo-Ann Ward | |
| Maria Shiratori | Konami Yoshida | Cat Thompson | |
| Tsutomu Kojima | Bin Shimada | Jeremy Johnson | |
| Kirara Haruno | Kyōko Minami | Sherry Nguyen | |
| Akira Imamura | Stefan Gryncajger | ||
| Reiko Ikeda | Saori Suzuki | Kearsten Brianna Collins | |
| Hiroshi Takamori | Mami Matsui | Kaitlin O'Hern | |
| Orie Ishizuka | Ashley Lovings | ||
| Yoshiaki Ogawa | Tomoe Satō | Brandy Luttrell | |
| Daisuke Sato | Kōzō Shioya | Jean Paul Archambeault | |
| Yu Izumi | Megumi Hayashibara | Mary Christine | |
| Other Characters | |||
| Shuntaro Shinoda | Kiyoyuki Yanada | John Urbanek | |
| Himeki Ruruko | Megumi Hayashibara | Nikki Jones | |
| Eikichiro Yazawa | Toshiro Ishii | John Cummings | |
| General Takeda | Tomomichi Nishimura | Mike Reynolds | |
| Eldran | Bin Shimada | Jimmy David Taylor | |
| Jark Empire | |||
| Emperor Warusa | Shigezō Sasaoka | Josh Ernst | |
| Belzeb | Kiyoyuki Yanada | Cole Eckert | |
| Falzeb | Megumi Hayashibara | Julie Graue | |
| Taida | Yō Yoshimura | Nic Rodriguez | |
Additional Voices[]
- Curtis Arnott
- Emanuel Camacho
- Cole Eckert
- Josh Ernst
- Julie Graue
- Sarah Hammond
- Kyle Hebert
- Jeremy Johnson
- Derek Kaliszewski
- Sherry Nguyen
- Marisa Rae
- Gilda Santiago
- Ariel Strasser
- Jimmy David Taylor
Notes[]
- Mike Reynolds makes his first (and last) dubbing appearance since 2004's Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
- According to Jimmy David Taylor, the decision to get Reynolds as General Takeda originated from Midstream having access to an old test dub of the series done in the 1990's, which happened to also feature Reynolds playing the same character.[1]
Video Releases[]
| Distributor | Year | Format | Contents | Region | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anime Midstream | 2009-2013 | 
|
The Complete Series | 1 NTSC |
United States | 
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| Episodes 1-25 | ||||||
References[]
- ↑ Bertschy, Zac; Sevakis, Justin (September 10, 2010). Midstreaming the Cube. Anime News Network. Retrieved 9 November 2018
External Links[]
- Matchless Raijin-Oh at the Internet Movie Database
- Matchless Raijin-Oh (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia