Chikyu Sentai Fiveman

Plot

In 1970, Doctor Hoshikawa was researching how to transform the planet Sedon into a green, lush world, testing it by attempting to grow flowers. On the day the first flower bloomed, the Zone Empire launched an assault on the planet. Before separating him and his wife from their five children, Arthur G6 took Doctor Hoshikawa, his wife and their five children back to Earth after Zone destroyed the Planet P16 Milky Way.

Twenty years later, the five are now teachers at the same school, the Newtown Elementary School (Newtown Shougakko). The Galactic Imperial Army Zone led by Empress Meadow and Captain Garoa now prepares to invade Earth as its thousandth target to destroy for immortality of Empress Meadow (it was later revealed that Empress Meadow is an illusion used by Vulgyre, their base which is also a gigantic lifeform monster to manipulate them to be a "god"). As they begin the attack, three vehicles appear and counter the offensive. Five warriors descend from the vehicles and confront Zone.

The Hoshikawa siblings have been developing the Fiveman technology by their parents and training hard upon the possibility of Zone invading Earth. Now the five siblings are ready to battle with the familiar foes as Fiveman.

Characters

Fivemen

The eponymous Fivemen is the first Super Sentai team to consist entirely of siblings. The five siblings of the Hoshikawa Family (星川家, Hoshikawa-ke), which consist of three brothers and two sisters, were separated from their parents during a sudden Zone attack, sent to board a ship along with Arthur G6 to be raised and learn of the Fiveman technology. They pose as teachers at New Town School, planting a garden of Sidon Flowers which they brought from planet Sidon.

Gaku Hoshikawa (星川 学, Hoshikawa Gaku)/Five Red (ファイブレッド, Faibu Reddo): (William/Manabu in Philippine dub) The first born and leader of the team at 27 years old. He is a Science teacher (Episodes 1, 16, and 38) skilled in kendo (Episode 40). He was 7 at the time of the Zone's attack on Sidon. Calm, responsible and a strict teacher (Episode 40), he had the task of raising his four younger siblings along with Arthur G6, making him not just a big brother but also a leader and a parental figure. Out of fear, he fired a gun at Garoa's face, scarring him, creating a rivalry between the two. Even though he is a reliable and brave leader, he has a major weakness with the supernatural (Episode 41).

His helmet has the science symbol (an atom) on the front, and the triangle-shaped visor having no stripes indicates him being the first member.

Weapons: V Sword (Vソード, Bui Sōdo), V Shuttler (Vシャトラー, Bui Shatorā)

Attacks: V Sword Spark (Vソードスパーク, Bui Sōdo Supāku)

Ken Hoshikawa (星川 健, Hoshikawa Ken)/Five Blue (ファイブブルー, Faibu Burū): (Ben in Philippine dub) The second born and second-in-command of the team at 25 years old. He is a Physical education teacher skilled in judo. Although reckless (Episodes 2 and 44), he is extremely passionate in everything he does, relies more in the body combat than in weapons (Episodes 20 and 38). He even taught one of his students the meaning of courage by defeating a foe without transforming (Episode 20). He can also lift heavy objects, even monsters in fighting.

His helmet has a P.E. symbol (loosely derived from the swimming symbol) on the front, and the white horizontal stripe splitting the diamond-shaped visor into two parts indicates him being the second member.

Allies

Arthur G6 (アーサーＧ６, Āsā Jī Shikkusu): A support robot created by Doctor Hoshikawa, Arthur was the one who raised the orphaned children on Earth, becoming the closest thing they had to their parents. He usually aids Fiveman from the Magma Base but at times he can fly out from base and transform into Earth Cannon.

Gunther (グンサー, Gunsā): Known as "Raging Wolf of the Galaxy" (宇宙の暴れウルフ, Uchū no Abare Urufu), Gunther was cared for by Doctor Hoshikawa and his wife when severely injured before he stole the Star Carrier. But arriving on Earth, Gunther battled the Fivemen but eventually could make friends with Gaku before he returns the Star Carrier to them and then was turned to stone. However, he was but was unintentionally revived by Iwakasekigin's spell and helps Gaku while he is trapped with Vulgyre. He sacrifices himself to save Gaku from Billion, and reveals in his dying breath his sins and receive forgiveness before he dies.

Five-kun Dolls (ファイブくん人形, Faibu-kun Ningyō): These plush dolls first appeared in episode 23, from a parallel dimension. The five members are Red-kun, Blue-kun, Black-kun, Pink-chan, and Yellow-chan. While watching TV, Fivemen must assist the plush dolls. The enemy of the dolls is Garoa-don Doll (ガロアどん人形, Garoa-don Ningyō). They made a few more cameos in the series, watching certain scenes in the episodes and expressing their thoughts of it.

Silver Imperial Army Zone

The Silver Imperial Unit Zone (銀帝軍ゾーン, Ginteigun Zōn) is an alien army plotting to rule the entire Milky Way, it flies across universe attacking worlds with its Galactic Warriors. Earth will be its 1,000th destroyed planet, at which point Meadow will gain eternal life. They operate from their ship Vulgyre and can send smaller battleships called Vulgols (バルゴール, Barugōru). They use the Galactic currency Dolyen (combination of dollar and Yen) which is said to be equal to 100 Japanese yens.

Galactic Super Beast Vulgyre (銀河超獣バルガイヤー, Ginga Chōjū Barugaiyā): The true ruler of Zone. Even though being a living organism, he operated as the Zone headquarters called Galactic Ship Vulgyre (銀河戦艦バルガイヤー, Ginga Senkan Barugaiyā). Projecting into the sky the face of a dead alien woman named Meadow, who he was in love with and killed for refusing him, Vulgyre gave orders to Zone under the "Ōkubi" persona of Empress Meadow. Vulgyre had been traveling the galaxy to destroy a total of 1,000 stars. When the star number 1000 is destroyed, he would obtain eternal life and become "God" of the Milky Way. When Five Red exposed the truth, Vulgyre goes on the offensive on the city until he is exposed to New Town School's Sidon flowers and crashes into the mountainside where he confirms his identity. From there, Vulgyre forcefully combines Doldora and Zaza to destroy the Earth-grown Sidon flowers. Believing the one thing that can kill him is gone, Vulgyre reveals to the rest of Zone that he would be undergoing his "Galactic Eclosion", in which he would become "Super Galactic Beast" and that he needed a "final energy" to complete this. It is first thought that it is the deaths of the Fivemen but the truth was uncovered after Five Red defeated Chevalier: Vulgyre coveted the energy of Chevalier's death, and not Fiveman's, in order to begin his metamorphosis, explaining that Chevalier had committed multiple murders across the galaxy and his soul would be full with the blood of his victims, the source of the "last energy", resulting in the disturbing revelation that he had deceived Chevalier from the very beginning. After hatching, destroyed the Magma Base with remarkable ease. The Sidon Flowers are his weakness as they are the first sprout of new life in the very first planet he destroyed, using them the Fivemen weakened him and was ultimately destroyed by the Super Five Robo in the finale.

Galactic Empress Meadow (銀河皇帝メドー, Ginga Kōtei Medō): The white-skinned, silver-maned, purple-lipped, golden-eyed mystery ruler of the Zone Empire. She is only seen to be the face of a woman surrounded by a silver mane that appears from the sky. Extremely powerful. She seeks to devour life from planets and when the 1,000th is destroyed, she will gain eternal life. Later on, she appeared in reddish form, far more angry after continuous failure of Zone. She is revealed to be a simulation created by Vulgyre after the flowers of Sidon destroyed her. The real Meadow was an alien woman Vulgyre wanted to be his queen in galactic conquest but refused. In the end, her spirit helped the Sidon flowers destroy Vulgyre once and for all avenging herself for all the wrongs Vulgyre did in her name.

Cast

Gaku Hoshikawa: Toshiya Fuji (藤 敏也, Fuji Toshiya)

Ken Hoshikawa: Kei Shindachiya (信達谷 圭, Shindachiya Kei)

Fumiya Hoshikawa: Ryouhei Kobayashi (小林 良平, Kobayashi Ryōhei)

Kazumi Hoshikawa: Kazuko Miyata (宮田 かずこ, Miyata Kazuko)

Remi Hoshikawa: Ryo Narushima (成嶋 涼, Narushima Ryō) (credited as Keiko Hayase (早瀬 恵子, Hayase Keiko)

Doctor Hoshikawa: Kiyotaka Mitsugi (三ツ木 清隆, Mitsugi Kiyotaka)

Midori Hoshikawa: Megumi Ishii (石井 めぐみ, Ishii Megumi)

Gunther: Hideaki Kusaka (日下 秀昭, Kusaka Hideaki)

Meadow: Chika Matsui (松井 千佳, Matsui Chika)

Garoa: Takeshi Ishikawa (石川 武, Ishikawa Takeshi)

Billion: Shunsaku Kudo (工藤 俊作, Kudō Shunsaku)

Doldora: Hatsue Nishi (西 初恵, Nishi Hatsue)

Zaza: Motoko Watanabe (渡辺 元子, Watanabe Motoko)

Chevalier: Kihachirō Uemura (植村 喜八郎, Uemura Kihachirō)

Voice actors

Arthur G6: Rica Matsumoto (松本 梨香, Matsumoto Rika)

Meadow: Keiko Konno (金野 恵子, Konno Keiko)

Dongoros: Takuzō Kamiyama (神山 卓三, Kamiyama Takuzō; 1–4), Osamu Katou (加藤 治, Katō Osamu; 5–48)

Vulgyre: Seizō Katō (加藤 精三, Katō Seizō)

Five-kun Dolls: Tomoko Hiratsuji (平辻 朝子, Hiratsuji Tomoko), Kotoe Taichi (太地 琴恵, Taichi Kotoe), Makoto Kōsaka (高坂 真琴, Kōsaka Makoto), Takeshi Kuwabara (桑原 たけし, Kuwabara Takeshi)

Garoa-don: Hideyuki Umezu (梅津 秀行, Umezu Hideyuki), Keiko Itsumi (逸見 慶子, Itsumi Keiko; 24)

Narration: Eiichi Onoda (小野田 英一, Onoda Eiichi)

Sara: Youko Nakamura

Guest stars

Yuriko: Youko Nakamura (35)

Songs

Opening Theme

"Chikyu Sentai Fiveman" (地球戦隊ファイブマン, Chikyū Sentai Faibuman)

Lyrics: Masao Urino

Composition: Yasuo Kosugi

Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto

Artist: Kenji Suzuki (鈴木 けんじ, Suzuki Kenji)

Ending Theme

"Fiveman, Ai no Thema" (ファイブマン、愛のテーマ, Faibuman, Ai no Tēma; "Fiveman, Theme of Love")

Lyrics: Masao Urino

Composition: Yasuo Kosugi

Arrangement: Kazuya Matsushita (松下 一也, Matsushita Kazuya)

Artist: Kenji Suzuki

International broadcast and home video

Fiveman was aired in France as the sixth Super Sentai series to air in the country on TV with a French dub produced and licensed by AB Groupe with dubbing work by Studio SOFI. It premiered on June 12, 1991, on TF1's Club Dorothée block. 23 episodes were actually dubbed, but only the first five episodes were aired on the network likely due to low interest as viewership declined towards the Super Sentai series in the region. With five being aired, it is the shortest series in the Super Sentai franchise to air in France to date.

In Thailand, two Thai dubs are said to exist. One for Channel 7 where they used the original title and one for the home video released by Video Square where it was released under the international Sky Rangers title. As for Channel 7, the series aired on Fridays from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm in 1993, but it did not air until the final episode.

In the Philippines, the series was very popular and aired with a Tagalog dub on RPN from 1993 to 1994 and later re-aired with a new Tagalog dub was made for ABC-5 (now TV5) and aired from 1999 to 2000.

In Hong Kong (Formerly Called British Colonial Hong Kong A.K.A British Hong Kong), the series aired on TVB Jade with a Chinese, Including Cantonese dub on June 20, 1998, until February 13, 1999, As 地球戰隊五人組 (Dìqiú zhànduì wǔ rénzǔ) with all episodes being dubbed and broadcast.

In Indonesia, the series was first dubbed in Indonesian and broadcast on RCTI and also later on Indosiar in 1998–1999.

In North America, the series receive a DVD release by Shout! Factory on September 6, 2022, in the original Japanese audio with English subtitles, although it is only available sold exclusively on their website. This is the second Super Sentai series to be officially released on DVD that does not have a Power Rangers counterpart. The DVD was later released in other DVD retailers besides the Shout! Factory website on April 18, 2023.

Appearances in Power Rangers

Despite never being directly adapted for a Power Rangers counterpart series, Five Yellow's suit was still adapted into the Power Rangers Megaforce episode "The Wrath" as the Yellow Supersonic Ranger. The entire Fiveman team appeared later in a comic story Power Rangers Supersonic which is in the Boom! Studios Power Rangers Year Two Deluxe Edition. In the story, the team is composed of Ace (Red Ranger), Star (Pink Ranger), Gent (Black Ranger), Pyre (Yellow Ranger), Brute (Blue Ranger) with a Green Ranger named Trek being added to the team. They are also aliens from the planet Xybria. Trek betrays the team and murders them. He would later become Psycho Green the first Psycho Ranger.