Battle Fever J

Why hello, Captains..., um, Japan, France, Cossack and Kenya?

Battle Fever J was the third Super Sentai show, lasting from 1979 to 1980. Following up on the success of their tokusatsu adaptation of Spider-Man (which most of the early Sentai crew worked on after the end of JAKQ Dengekitai), Battle Fever J was originally intended to be a localization of the Marvel Comics superhero Captain America (comics), which would have starred a Japanese counterpart named "Captain Japan". However, this idea was revised after Toei decided to resurrect the Sentai series (without Shotaro Ishinomori's involvement) following a two-year hiatus by adding a giant robot to the formula, putting the "Super" in Super Sentai (in fact Himitsu Sentai Goranger and JAKQ were not part of the Super Sentai franchise until years later).

When the evil secret society of Egos arrives on Japan to take over the country, General Tetsuzan Kurama of the Defense Department gathers five young agents to form Team Battle Fever. Each agent has received specialized training from different organizations around the world and have developed their own fighting styles based on international dance moves.



The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Battle Fever J franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.
Tropes used in Battle Fever J include:
  • Absentee Actor : Yukio Itoh, who plays Kensaku, does not appear in episodes #9-10.
    • Hedder is also absent in #43, where Salome does most of his work.
  • Actor Allusion: Makoto once played the trumpet to distract Egos.
  • Anti-Hero Substitute: Makoto for Kensaku.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Everyone was born in Japan and only trained overseas, save the (Japanese-American, 100% Asian-looking) Miss Americas. Multinational Team does not work that way!
  • The Cameo: Risa Komaki, who provides the voice of Diane Martin, guest stars as a famous actress in #25.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Midori, one of the two girls who help the team at their base, disappears after episode 15.
  • Clip Show: #23.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: When Kensaku forgot to bring his Battleceiver in one episode, it cost him his life.
  • Dance Battler: All of the Battle Fever J memebers incorporate dance moves from their home country into their fighting.
    • Though the "home country" part of this context doesn't seem to extend to Japan (whose kung fu moves are very much Chinese) and France (whose flamenco dance isn't as French as much as it is Spanish).
  • Damsel in Distress: Subverted, as everyone gets kidnapped at least once.
  • Divorced Installment: Originally planned as a localized adaptation of Captain America (comics) titled "Captain Japan", following up on the success of Toei's Japanese Spider-Man show.
  • Early Installment Weirdness: Instead of the masked visors with the see-through holes used in Goranger and J.A.K.Q. or the shade-styles goggles used from Denziman and onward, the Battle Fever warriors each wore a face-like mask with two eye-shaped visors and sculpted noses and mouths meant to invoke an American superhero style (particularly Captain America (comics)). This is also why Miss America wears a wig on her helmet, something no other Sentai heroine has ever wore on her suit.
    • The Battle Fever-style design would only be used again for X1 Mask, a One-Shot Character from Hikari Sentai Maskman whose helmet was based on a rejected design for the Maskman uniform.
  • Market-Based Title: Was called Ranger J when it was broadcast in Thailand.
  • Name's the Same: DC and Marvel Comics each have a Miss America.
  • One-Winged Angel: Hedder's final form.
  • Orwellian Retcon: The original LP for the Battle Fever J soundtrack depicted Battle France wearing the light blue suit he wore in early episodes. The later CD version, first printed during the 1990s, changed to the white suit he wore in later episodes.
    • Episodes 1–3, 5, and 7 have two versions: the original, in which Kenji Ushio plays Hedder, and the other in which he has been replaced by Masashi Ishibashi.
  • Out of Focus: Diane.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Diane Martin was unavailable for filming (her poor grasp of Japanese may have also been a problem), and Yukio Itoh got married.
  • Same Language Dub: Diane Martin can clearly be seen mouthing her actual lines; nonetheless, her voice was replaced by that of Lisa Komaki (aka Momoranger).
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: Shiro can talk to animals.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Tomoko for Midori and, to a lesser extent, Maria for Diane.
  • Tagalong Kid: Masaru (only he's not part of the Five-Man Band).
  • That Russian Squat Dance: Battle Cossack's national dance.
  • Unintentional Period Piece: A lot of Miss America's moves were disco based, and the title was partly a play on the popularity of the word "fever" in disco culture (Disco Fever, Boogie Fever, Saturday Night Fever.) Disco was dead not too long after.
  • Wearing a Flag on Your Head
  • What Could Have Been: Produced just after the Japanese version of Spider-Man, this was expected to be a Japanese take on Captain America (comics). And then this...
  • Widget Series: The costumes, the dancing... yeah, it's pretty weird.
  • You Killed My Father: Diane joins the heroes when her father dies at the hands of Egos.
  • You Look Familiar: The girl playing Yuki had previously played another role in episode 13, and the woman playing the human form of the very first monster returns in the last episode as Salome in disguise.
  1. ↑ although, he was originally classified as a green ranger, since black was considered a villainous color at the time and Kenya's suit had a prominent green stripe, as well as a green letter "K" on his belt buckle.
  2. ↑ giant robot duplicates called "Akuma (Devil) Robots"
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