Revisiting Zone Fighter: The Lost Showa-Era Godzilla Crossover Series

Note: This article was originally published in 2022 on Godzilla Island and his since been revised.

Zone Fighter!  Toho’s 1973 tokusatsu series has always held a strange sort of mystique among Godzilla fans especially in the West. With its 26-episode run, giant hero battles, and guest appearances from Godzilla, King Ghidorah, and Gigan, it feels like a missing chapter from the Showa era. It fits right into the Godzilla timeline, taking place between Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, yet it never got the staying power that other shows like Ultraman did. Poor ratings and low viewership cut it short after only six months, leaving it feeling a little unfinished, but still fascinating to revisit.

At its core, Zone Fighter follows the Zone Family survivors of the destroyed planet Peaceland now living on Earth and fighting the Garoga aliens who wiped out their home. Disguised as the Sakimori family, they include Yoichiro and Tsukiko, their children Hikaru, Hotaru, and Akira, and Raitai, the grandfather known as Zone Great. Unlike most tokusatsu shows of the era, this wasn’t a police squad, science patrol, or military task force. It was a family, all using their powers to defend Earth. That alone makes the show stand out.

The family dynamic is interesting, even if it raises a few questions. Yoichiro and Raitai run operations from their secret base, constantly monitoring the Garogas’ plans. Tsukiko stays in the mom role, grounding the family and giving them moments of normalcy. Meanwhile, the three kids are the ones consistently going into danger. It’s wild to think about parents letting their children fight the aliens that destroyed their planet, but it also gives the show an element that other tokusatsu of the era didn’t explore.

Akira, the youngest Zone Junior is brave for a kid who still goes to school. He often fights hand-to-hand against Garogas, pilots the family’s ship Smokey with Hotaru, and uses his Maser Shot sidearm when needed. He and Hotaru share a lot of screen time, flying into battle or using their Zobots (small robot devices that can signal the family in emergencies). You really get the sense that the show was setting him up to someday inherit the Zone Fighter mantle.

Hotaru, Zone Angel, is the middle sibling and the only girl. She’s portrayed like she’s in her late teens or early twenties and is constantly in the field. Early drafts of the series had her transforming into a giant like Hikaru, which would have made her the first female giant hero, but that idea was cut before filming. Still, she’s a fun character, armed with her own Maser Shot and always ready to throw herself into danger. It’s a shame this was the only acting role Kazumi Kitahara ever did; she likely moved to modeling afterward, considering how often the series put her in swimwear.

Then we have Hikaru, Zone Fighter himself and the show’s main hero. Hikaru patrols Tokyo in his car, the Mighty Liner, which can fly and fire weapons. In human scale he can fly, fire barriers, lift monster limbs with super strength, and of course shout “Zone Double Fight!” to transform into his giant form. As a giant hero, Zone Fighter has a huge arsenal: Meteor Punches, Meteor Kicks, the Meteor Windmill, the super-speed Meteor Jet, the freezing Meteor Freeze, the Proton Beam, Proton Cut/Wave attacks, and his signature move he Meteor Missile Might. Two wrist-mounted rocket launchers blasting point-blank into a Terror Beast never gets old and remains the most iconic attack in the series.

Outside of the family, the only recurring character is Takeru Jo, who appears out of nowhere in episode two. He runs a model train shop and constantly helps the family by reporting Garoga activity, though he never learns their true identities. The show almost seems like it wants to set up a romance between him and Hotaru but never actually commits to it. Later in the series, a character named Junko Wakasugi briefly enters Hikaru’s life and the show hints at a relationship there, especially when she helps him defeat Super Jikiro. She disappears just as quickly, likely because the show ended abruptly and the actress is uncredited in most sources.

As for the villains, the Garoga are a fun mix of creepy and goofy, humanoid aliens with long antennas, webbed hands, and multiple rank colors (silver, red, gold, and white for the scientists, complete with lab coats for some reason). They can remove their antenna and use them as whips, and they often disguise themselves as humans, always giving themselves away by keeping gloves on. The elite Cobalt Garoga appear in the final episode, suggesting a bigger story was planned before cancellation.

The Garogas unleash 28 different Terror Beasts throughout the series, plus two non-Terror Kaiju: Gigan, who they somehow captured after his battle in Godzilla vs. Megalon, and King Ghidorah, who they control briefly. Gigan ends up being killed by Zone Fighter, but Ghidorah escapes injured. Many Terror Beast designs in this series are wild, bright, bizarre, and borderline mutated looking, but that’s part of the fun. My favorites include Goram, Balgaras, Shadorah, and Destro-King. Seeing Showa Godzilla fight alongside Zone Fighter or take on these strange creatures is something special. I grew up with Showa Godzilla, so watching him square off against monsters I’d never seen before felt surreal, the same goes for Gigan and Ghidorah appearing in a completely different format.

So where does Zone Fighter stand overall? It’s not the best tokusatsu show, not by a long shot, but it isn’t bad either. The plots early on can feel repetitive, especially with all the kidnapping episodes, showing some inconsistency in the writing. But the show compensates with strong special effects and a ton of monster action. You could argue that Zone Fighter squeezes in more kaiju fights than Ultraman did at the time. And its hand-to-hand fight sequences with Zone Fighter, Zone Angel, and Zone Junior feel like a proto-Super Sentai formula, coming out only two years before Gorenger debuted.

For Godzilla fans, especially Showa-era enthusiasts, this is essential viewing. It’s not as polished or impactful as Ultraman, but the Godzilla appearances and those wild Terror Beast battles deliver some unforgettable moments. The series still hasn’t received an official U.S. release, but fans can find it online through fan subs or unofficial physical sets. I own a fan-subbed copy myself. If an official release ever comes along, I’d buy it immediately, but until then, this is the only way to experience this unique little corner of Toho & Godzilla history.