Author: timebokanturnip

Time Bokan Mechas: Yatter-Wan (1977 Yatterman and spin-offs)

Yatter-Wan (Yatta-Can in Italy, called Yatter-Ruff in the English version of the Royal Revival OVAs) is the first and most iconic of the mechas used by the Yatterman. A combination of a dog and a firetruck, he’s the go-to mecha in the first half of the series, helping the Yatterman travel to another part of the world in only a few hours.

Yatter-Wan was an unfinished robot designed by toymaker Tokubei Takada, which Gan-chan and Ai-chan decided to work on and finish by themselves. Upon his initial activation, he states that his duty is to protect the world and the people that inhabit it. This prompts the two kids to become the Yatterman and set out to stop the Dorombo gang from causing trouble in their hunt for the Dokuro Stone fragments.

As with many other characters Yatter-Wan’s name is based off a pun, with wan being the Japanese onomatopoeia for barking (and from wan-chan, an affectionate term for dogs in Japan), while also sounding like the English pronounciation of the number one. The Italian version instead turns it into a play on the word cane, Italian for dog.

Activated by the turn of a crank, Yatter-Wan blares his siren with one hand and pulls a lever to move himself forward with the other. On the side of his shoulders and his stomach are handles for the Yatterman to hold onto and for Omochama to sit on, and on top of his nose is a bell that’s rung when they’re ready to depart. 

When feeling proud and confident, flags are raised from his cheeks to display his feelings. When dealing with a situation directly, he can fire cannonballs through his nose, and has hoses at the ready in case a fire needs to be put out.

One of Yatter-Wan’s well-known.traits is to happily exclaim his name and stomp his foot during a victory pose, which always knocks Omochama over. Despite that, Yatter-Wan actually had little in terms of characterization, though one episode depicted him as being quite stubborn unless spoken to by Ai-chan

When the Dorombo gang’s mecha overpowers him (which they always do), the Yatterman feed him a Mecha-Moto bone (Mecha tonic) that provides Yatter-Wan with a boost of energy, which is mostly converted into surprise mini-mechas that walk onwards from a ladder concealed in his mouth.

Yatter-Wan’s often consists of gators, turtles, hippos, ants, mice and skunks. Their appearance usually spelled defeat for the Dorombo gang, though they eventually found ways to combat against them, usually with their own mini-mechas. These occurrences sometimes prompted the Yatterman or Yatter-Wan to take actions into their own hands, or in some cases end with the Dorombo gang defeating themselves due to an oversight or stupidity

However in episode 45, The Secret of the Snow Woman, Koron!, a last ditch missile attack from the Dorombo gang proves to be too much for Yatter-Wan and the Yatter-Mecha is left in critical condition. Luckily, the Yatterman are able to rebuild him as the larger Yatter-King by the next episode.

By the time the events of Royal Revival occur, Yatter-Wan has apparently been upgraded again to Yatter-Wan FZ, a bigger, stronger, more detailed version of the original. Yatter-Wan FZ now has several new features such as built in rockets, an entire orchestra to signal the surprise mini-mechas, and the inability to be seduced by other mechas like the Dorombo gang’s Sailor Mun-Mun mecha.

The original Yatter-Wan appears as a boss in the shooters Bokan to Ippatsu! Dorombo! and Bokandesuyo, with Yatter-Wan FZ also being a boss in the latter. He is also an unlockable racer in Bokan GoGoGo, though he doesn’t have part in the game’s story.

Yatter-Wan also features prominently in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as the basis for Yatterman-1 / Gan-chan’s Supers, running the opponent over, breathing fire on them, or deploying the mini crocodile mechas to attack. In Chun-Li’s CGOH ending, he assists her in taking out a Shadaloo base by deploying little explosive Chun-Li mechas.

Gyakuten! Ippatsuman Character Biography: Min-Min

Min-Min is the fourth “member” of the Clean Aku trio, being the ditzy granddaughter of Con Cordo and by proxy a higher up in the entire Skull Lease organization. Early on she was briefly mentioned and glimpsed during meetings, before properly being introduced in the 16th episode as the titular “Uninvited Pretty Employee”.

Min-Min waltzes into the Northern Ostendel branch building and casually messes around with the Clean Aku trio, seeking employment at their business. They are just about ready to toss her out until their boss reveals it’s her granddaughter. From that point onward, the trio have to put up with her and bring her along on their missions less they risk losing out on a bonus in their paychecks.

Min-Min is in her own little world most of the time, either oblivious or indifferent to just about everything and everyone, including whether or not she’s wearing clothing. Most of her duration with the Clean Aku trio is spent observing things in a rather childlike fashion, although she actually can come up with a good plan occasionally. She’s quick to fawn over Ippatsuman whenever he arrives despite being the enemy, enjoys exercising, and is shown to be a very reckless driver

The Clean Aku trio have something of a love hate relationship with Min-Min. She views Mun-Mun as a sister, Kyokanchin has a small crush on her, and Kosuinen will sometimes hit on her (albeit in a low-key fashion compared to other women). However, she would ignorantly undermine and insult the trio with or without realizing it, and her relation with Con Cordo could easily get them in hot water at any given moment. Possibly because of this, Min-Min’s often excluded from the trio’s more personal conversations and endeavors.

(The following paragraphs contain spoilers for the end of Gyakuten! Ippatsuman, read at your own risk)

Towards the end of the series, Min-Min begins to act more competent and manipulative, with her comedic traits nearly vanishing altogether. She works alongside the intelligent Tamashiro more often, goes undercover in the Time Lease to discover Ippatsuman’s secret, attempts to cover up any activity at a atoll where a UFO was supposedly sighted, and cultivates with leaving the Clean Aku trio to die in a self-destructing mecha. (of course they live)

Eventually, it’s revealed that Min-Min and Con Cordo were one and the same, and both were aliases for an otherworldly being. This contradicts earlier episodes which show them together at the same time, albiet with Con Cordo mostly appearing on a monitor, interpret that how you will. She shows this to Tamashiro before sending him drifting through time and space, and to the rest of the main cast in the last episode after gathering them into one last trap.

Time Bokan Mechas: Time Mechabuton / Time Bokan I

The Time Mechabuton (better known as Time Bokan I or simply just the Time Bokan, Scorpion-2 in Time Fighters) is the primary mecha of the original series, created by Dr. Kieta and his assistants. Although it’s primary focus is time traveling, it’s also capable of flight and it does have some combat capabilities should the crew encounter a threat.

Upon completion, Dr. Kieta took it for a test run by himself, which resulted in Parrosuke traveling back in it without the doctor and thus setting off the plot of the show.

The Time Mechabuton’s based off a species of rhinoceros beetle native to Japan, in fact it’s name is a combination of the words “mecha” and Japanese word for beetle, kabutomushi. And for the “Bokan” in Time Bokan, it can be an Japanese onomatopoeia for an explosion (ボカン), and it can also be the word for carrier (usually spelt as ぼかん)

The biggest quirk about the Time Mechabuton (and the other time machines in this show) is that it time travels by exploding, opening up a hole in time and space for it to travel through. Initially traveling can make the passengers onboard disoriented, tossed around inside the cockpit, and even lose consciousness for a period of time, although this issue was seemingly ironed out by the 20th episode.

It and the later Time Bokan mechas all carry two smaller mechas that can perform functions that it cannot, and they are often used to turn the tide in a battle against Marjo’s gang. Although they also can also carry two people, most of the time only Tanpei is in one.

The Tentouki (combination of the Japanese words for ladybug, tentoumushi and time, toki, essentially Time Ladybug) is stored on top of the Mechabuton. Normally a flying aircraft, it has an extension that gives it wheels to drive on land and can also deploy two arms that contain various gadgets and weapons.

 Because of it’s multipurpose use it’s often used to handle several situations such as fights with the evil trio’s Gaikottsu mechas, even without leaving the Time Mechabuton. Interestingly, it’s depicted in the intro to have the ability to time travel on it’s own, although this is not actually shown in the show itself.

The Yago-Marine (basically Dragonfly Larva Submarine, may also be a pun based off the real life carrier ship Algomarine) is kept within the Mechabuton and is deployed from the bottom. As suggested it’s primarily a water based mecha, although it’s shown to be capable of flight. It was used rather sparingly compared to the Tentouki, possibly because it has more or less the same features.

While not as popular as the later Yatter-Wan, the Time Mechabuton is still quite iconic to the series as a whole and tends to make cameos across subsequent series, as a callback to the original show and/or tying into an episode’s insect motif.  

Zenderman Character Biography: Nyaravolta

Nyaravolta is a talking cat and pet of the Akudaman trio, starting the tradition of having a fourth member that didn’t adhere to a set characteristic like the other three. Oddly enough, his name appears to be based off that of actor John Travolta.

He made himself known to the gang in the basement of their mansion, where he provided them with the funds (specifically koban coins) to build mecha bodies for their Sharekobe Mecha to travel through time. Muujo immediately takes a liking to him and adopts Nyaravolta as her pet, much to her lackeys’ envy and annoyance. From there on out he assists the Akudaman gang in their scheme to find the Elixir of Life, mostly by spying on Dr. Monja for clues to the elixir’s location in time.

Nyaravolta is shown to have an obnoxious and sadistic personality. He takes sheer delight in clawing people’s faces and laughing at the misfortune of others, and more often than not is the one who controls the devices that punishes whichever Akudaman member is considered at fault for failing. While he travels with them in their Sharekobe Mecha, he hardly follows them outside of it, preferring to nap until a mecha battle ensures.

He’s always on good terms with Muujo, constantly clawing or tricking people, mostly Toboke, on her behalf, and he even goes out of his way to obscure her body when she winds up naked. However, he still takes pleasure in watching her and the rest of the trio get tortured at the end of each episode. Nyaravolta himself was exempt for these punishments until the 50th episode, where Toboke tossed him into a cannon with Muujo.

                           (spoilers ahead, view at your own risk)

In truth, Nyaravolta found the lake containing the elixir long ago and had actually lived for thousands of years due to a sample he obtained. However, the elixir’s effect wasn’t infinite, and by the end of the series he was in need of more. He used the Akudaman trio to locate the lake for him, and had no intention of letting them have any of the elixir.

Having found it in the penultimate episode, he stored some of the elixir in a bamboo container and later blew a hole in the trio’s supply so they wouldn’t have any. When they discoverd his treachery, he attempted to run off in the Sharekobe Mecha, only for the Zenderman and the Zender-Gorilla to stop him.

After he was defeated, the Akudaman trio then took his container away from him and drank the elixir. Shortly afterwards his immortality wore off, and he instantly withered up and died. Notably, this is one of the few moments in the entire Time Bokan series where a character is actually killed off.

Despite clearly dying, he makes cameos in Bokandesuyo’s intro and Bokan Go Go Go’s story for the Akudaman gang. Maybe they got another cat that happened to look like him?

Yattodetaman Character Biography: Wataru Toki / Yattodetaman

Wataru Toki (Beppe Domani in Italy) is a cowardly 15-year old boy that transform the courageous and charismatic Yattodetaman. Just about every aspect of him is a parody of Takeshi Yoroi and his superhero identity, Hurricane Polymar, another Tatsunoko series that some of the Time Bokan staff had worked on prior to this show.

Along with his girlfriend Koyomi, both serve as assistants to would be detective Kingorou Toyama and live in the apartment building which he manages. One day they notice a time machine appears in the attic, and out of it appears Princess Karen, the future descendant of the two teenagers. Seeking the Jujaku phoenix to become ruler and bring peace the Nandara Kingdom, Wataru and Koyomi agree to help her travel through time to find it.

After Wataru gets into a nasty encounter with Milenjo’s gang, a rival group looking for the phoenix, Karen bestows upon him the power to awaken his inner courage, and from then on he can become Yattodetaman to fight off the gang and prevent them from getting the Jujaku first.

Wataru is normally rather meek, clumsy, and wimpy, constantly upstaged by others around him. In spite of that, he is determined to prove himself to everyone and at times tries to act bold to impress everyone. He wears clothing consisting of overalls and a hat with stylized markings on them, and their general blue colours contrast that of his girlfriend and his heroic alter-ego, which are more of a “courageous” red. His favorite food is noodles, in particular cup noodles, and the occasional gyudon beef bowl dish.

He’ll attempt to fight back against Milenjo’s gang with varying degrees of success, sometimes with a gadget he made himself, but he is always brushed aside by Kokematsu, Sukando, or his own carelessness. This makes changing into Yattodetaman necessary to properly deal with them.

As Yattodetaman, he is bold and confident, and acts without hesitation. He frequently introduces himself by playing a flute, then proclaiming a motto along the lines of “Surprise, peach tree, pepper tree! From the ends of time I’ll get you! At last I came through, I’ve finally came through, Earth’s Idol Yattodetaman!” Unlike previous Time Bokan heroes he acts alone without a female companion, although he calls upon Koyomi to combine his key with her keepsake lock to summon the Daikyojin.

This state is often triggered by praying and chanting “courage” three times. Although it’s implied to be a physical transformation, later episodes show that Karen calls for a special team from the Nandara Kingdom to aid him. They engulf Wataru and themselves in a ray where time doesn’t pass, bonk him with a hammer to put him into a trance, and have him go through a rapid training exercise and costume switch which occurs the span of a few seconds outside the ray.

One of his signature weapons is the Rose Shurikens, which often hit the top of somebody’s head or through their clothes. His other notable weapon is the Doremi Sword, which acts more like a combination of a flute and an extending pole that stamps a Y for Yattodetaman onto his enemies, though it can slice through objects.

He appears as in the Banpresto Time Bokan games, as a foe of the Dorombo gang in the shoot-em-ups and as a NPC computer controlled racer in Bokan GoGoGo! in opposition against Milenjo’s gang racing for a pair of magical tulips.

While Wataru himself isn’t present, Arashi member Kazunari Ninomiya transforms into Yattodetaman in the animated music video for “Believe”, complete with Rose Shurikens and Doremi Sword. In this state, Ninomiya fights a robot mole that wrecked his grandparents’ garden, and later faces off against the Dorombo gang with the rest of Arashi.

Yatterman 1977 Character Biography: Gan-chan / Yatterman-1

Gan Takada, also known as Yatterman-1 or by his nickname Gan-chan (said nickname being his actual name in Italy as Ganchan), is the 13 year old son of a toymaker who, alongside his girlfriend Ai-chan, are the Yatterman who battle to stop the Dorombo gang from retrieving fragments of the Dokuro Stone.

He took it upon himself to finish the Yatter-Wan mecha that was left incomplete by his father, with some assistance from Ai-chan. Upon it’s completion, they decide to become heroes and fight crime, a decision that’s cemented when they find out about the Dorombo gang’s search for the Dokuro Stone.

Gan-chan’s usual clothes are a blue jumpsuit, with a black unitard worn beneath it, and a matching blue cap. He turns his jumpsuit and cap inside out to a different set of colours as Yatterman-1. They become a white jumpsuit and a black hat, with a red mask and matching gloves added to the appearance.

From what’s displayed from Gan-chan’s personality, he’s comparable to Tanpei in that he gets flustered easily and can be a bit cheeky. Despite that, he has a strong sense of justice and seeks to  A bit too strong perhaps, as he’ll sometimes find excuses to punish the Dorombo gang at any given moment, and refuses to sympathize with them at all.

When Gan-chan gets into a scuffle with a villain, he brings out the Kenda-Magic, styled after a Japanese toy known as a kendama, similar to a cup and ball toy. On top is a ball attached to a sting with a long reach that can hit hard, entangle foes, and is capable of electrocuting anything that touches the string with the press of a button.

The Kenda-Magic isn’t the only crafty toy he has. A gadget used only in episode 31 is the Karu Koma (Curling Top), that splits into two and spins it’s target around in circles. Another one is the Shuru Shuru Cutter, a weapon that shoots a beam that can cut through metal, though he only used it twice (technically once since the second time occurred in a dream Boyacky was having).

13 years later, Gan-chan and Ai-chan have gotten married and are enjoying their honeymoon, to the point where it takes them quite a bit to notice that the Dorombo gang are up to no good again. Both of them appear to be over it by the Banpresto games, where they quickly respond to the gang’s antics and even band the other Time Bokan heroes together to stop them.

Gan-chan appears in all versions of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. He is a quick hitting fighter that has a decent range with his Kenda-Magic, although his low health makes it easy for him get KO’d if he’s not careful. While effective on his own, he calls upon Yatter-Wan for his supers to really cause some pain.

Following the defeat of Yami, Gan-chan and Yatter-Wan attempt to escort the Street Fighter characters to safety. In his original Cross Generation of Heroes ending, he winds up recruiting them and various Capcom characters as “Yatterman 4-9” to stop the Dorombo gang during a bank heist.

In his Ultimate All-Stars ending, based off of the Royal Revival OVAs, he is joined by Ai-chan, whom he narrowly saves from falling off battlefield. The two lovingly gaze at one another whilst Yatter-Wan observes the romantic scene, unknowingly running over the Street Fighters.

Time Bokan Character Biography: Tanpei

Tanpei (called Cosmo in South America and Jett in Time Fighters) is the main hero of the original Time Bokan. A hot-blooded boy at the age of 13 always sporting a blue jumpsuit and helmet, he travels alongside Junko and Chorobo in the Time Bokan to find Dr. Kieta and the elusive Dynamonds before Marjo and her gang can.

While little is shown of Tanpei’s life other than being Dr. Kieta’s assistant, he is a skilled mechanic and is good at making technology, since he built Chorobo and often repairs the Time Bokan after a battle. He’s also shown to be a fairly adept fighter, being able to take on a handful of thugs with relative ease with his own strength or through one of the Time Bokan mechas.

Tanpei can be a bit brash and cocky, often showing off and getting riled up over remarks made about him. He also gets easily flustered in the company of pretty girls, much to Junko’s chagrin, and is quite panicky over small things.

Because of that Tanpei will sometimes run into trouble because of his attitude, but he has a good heart, a strong sense of justice, and tries to ensure that everything works out alright in the end.

In a way he can be considered a good counterpart to Marjo, in that both are reckless and determined to achieve their goals no matter what. But while Marjo is self serving and her antics often lead to her defeat, Tanpei will help others out and is able to get himself out of some tight jams at the last second.

Ohno Satoshi, a member of the Japanese boyband group Arashi, dons Tanpei’s costume when fighting against the Dorombo gang’s robots in the animated music video for the group’s song “Believe”. Unlike the rest of Arashi, who gain weapons matching their respective counterparts, Satoshi’s is purely cosmetic and relies on directly fighting with punches and kicks, much like the real Tanpei did.

Though not as flashy as the subsequent Time Bokan heroes, Tanpei’s courage and determination was something that would be carried on through them.