"Zarado! Elado! Garado!"
Akumaizer 3 (アクマイザー3 Akumaizā Surī) is a Toku television series created by Shotaro Ishinomori and produced by Toei Company.The Akuma Clan is a vast civilization of cyborg demons living within the center of the Earth which invades the surface world to enslave humanity so they can use them to power their machinery. Fighting against the Akuma Clan is a Power Trio of demons who defected from them to defend humanity, the Akumaizer 3.
The Akumaizer 3 is comprised of
- Xavitan: A skilled fencer who was born to a human mother and demon father. As a result, when the Akuma Clan begins their attacks, Xavitan defects from them to protect humanity.
- Evil: A proficient sharpshooter. He was originally one of two demons sent after Xavitan by the Akuma Clan, but after Xavitan saved him from being crushed by a boulder he defected to join his side.
- Gabra: A stocky water demon who wields an Epic Flail in combat. He was the other demon sent after Xavitan, but joined his side after Xavitan spared his life after defeating him.
The series premiered on Tuesday October 7, 1975 at 7:30, and ran for 38 episodes in that timeslot on NET, now known as TV Asahi. After its conclusion, it received a sequel series in the form of Choujin Bibyun, which saw the Akumaizer 3 possessing a trio of humans to grant them their power to fight against invading Youkai. It was also notable for using rejected Kamen Rider designs for its three main heroes.
While virtually obscure internationally and nowhere near as popular as programs such as Kamen Rider or Super Sentai, Akumaizer 3 is still quite popular in its home country and remains renowned today. They appear in updated forms in Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum (but as the bad guys). It is also currently one of the shows available on Toei's Tokusatsu World YouTube channel. The first episode can be viewed here
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Tropes:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Majoruka, sister of Darunia, who was only working for Mezalord because he planted circuits in both her and Darunia's heads which would torture the other sister if one of them did anything to defy him. When she's fatally wounded in battle, Majorka allows herself to die so Darunia can go help the Akumaizer 3.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: Happens in #37 where The Akumaizer 3 and Peace Party Four People battle Mezalord and the horde of Mooks he's assembled.
- Big Bad: Mezalord, ruler of the Akuma Clan.
- Big Damn Heroes: Darunia shows up in several episodes to save the Akumaizer 3 from whatever dirty tactic the Demon of the Week is using.
- Bittersweet Ending: Akumaizer 3 definitely has a more depressing ending than the other Toku series of the time. The Akuma Clan are reformed and make peace with humanity, and Mezalord and Geberu defeated, but the Peace Party are all dead (except for Noppelar Jr.) and the Akumaizer 3 also effectively die after sacrificing their bodies to kill Geberu. And the real mastermind is still out there...
- Black-and-White Morality: Zig-Zagged. While it's not humans = good, demons = bad, most of the demons in the show are either selfless heroes or puppy-kicking villains.
- Cool Airship: The Akumaizer 3's Zaidabeck, which resembles a robot angler fish decked out in the American Flag colors.
- Cool Bike: The Akumaizer 3's Gallivers, which combine together to form the Garibard.
- Cool Sword: The Akumaizer 3 all wield rapiers, as do many of the villains they fight.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The main trio are all demons, with one even being named "Evil". Yet they're all heroes fighting to defend humanity.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Evil and Gabra both joined Xavitan after he defeated them but spared their lives.
- Ear Worm: Both the opening and ending themes of the series are extremely catchy.
- Evil Former Friend: Several of Demons of the Week the Akumaizer 3 encounter are their former loved ones from Downworld. One episode even had Evil's girlfriend as the villain.
- Expressive Mask: The helmets worn by Xavitan and Evil occasionally change expression to show how they are feeling, such as looking more determined when they're in battle.
- Fantastic Racism: A recurring theme in early episodes is the Akumaizer 3 having to deal with prejudice from humans due to their demonic appearances.
- Fast-Forward Gag: In #20, Dracuda sends his henchmen to kidnap a boy named Taro, but the Darunia and the Akumaizer 3 to keep tricking them by using magic to disguise logs of wood as Taro, with things speeding up each time they steal a fake log and Dracuda gets more and more exasperated.
- Friend to All Children: Gabra, who even calls himself a "friend to children".
- Heel–Face Turn: Evil and Gabra start off the first episode as part of the Akuma Clan, but turn good after Xavitan defeats and spares them. Later on, four Monsters of the Week the Akumaizer encountered turn good as well and form the "Demon Peace Party".
- Heel–Race Turn: The end result of the Akumaizer 3's efforts to make peace between humans and demons is the Peace Party taking power in Downworld and ending their war against humankind, leaving Mezalord and Geberu as the only evil demons left.
- Horns of Villainy: Whereas the Akumaizer 3 lack horns despite being demons, most of the villainous demon captains in the Akuma Clan have them atop their head as a sign of rank.
- I Have Your Wife: In the second episode, Mezalord reveals to Xavitan that his human mother is still alive and in the custody of the Akuma Clan, and threatens to kill her unless Xavitan rejoins the Akuma Clan. Xavitan chooses to keep fighting, after his mother encourages him and says she would rather die than see her son give up.
- If It Swims, It Flies: Done twofold with the Cool Airship, which starts out as a typical Flying Dutchman ship (which flies), but later gets remodelled into the Zaiderbeck, looking for all the world like a giant metal angler fish (which still flies).
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: After Xavitan frees the humans the Akuma Clan kidnapped and brought to their lair in the first episode, the Akuma Clan goes on a killing spree of them in order to prevent the secrets of the Akuma Clan from spilling out.
- Lighter and Softer: The show become a lot lighter midway through, with more light-hearted and less serious plotlines for each episode, more comedic moments and Gabra turning into an ostrich. At least until the final two episodes...
- Minion with an F in Evil: Noppelar in #24 is sent to dig up a Downworld water vein near a village in order to flood the surface, but ends up getting distracted playing with his son and helping the villagers with their water shortage instead. He unsurprisingly turns good by the end of the episode.
- Momma's Boy: Xavitan really loves his human mom. So much so that the thought of her in danger is the one thing that makes Xavitan hesitate in his quest.
- Monster of the Week: Each episode features a different demon of the Akuma Clan sent out to either take down the Akumaizer 3 or terrorize humans on the surface.
- Not Quite Dead: The heroes think they've killed Mezalord at several points in the show, but he always comes back. It later turns out this is because he has Resurrective Immortality.
- Our Demons Are Different: In this case, they're a civilization of magic-wielders who converted themselves into monstrous Cyborgs in order to live underground.
- Power Trio: The Akumaizer 3, obviously.
- The Remnant: Mezalord and Geberu become this at the end of the series, in an ironic reversal of the Akumaizer 3's position at the start of the series. After the Akuma Clan reforms offscreen, their forces become the only members of the pro-war side still active.
- Sentai: With their group poses and team Finishing Move, they definitely appear to be a partial attempt by Toei to make another Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. This means they share more elements specifically in common with Gorenger than the Sentai genre as a whole, such as using an airship as a base and riding motorcycles that combine into one.
- Sequel Hook: The final episode ends with the Akumaizer 3's souls being sealed in a set of capsules and floating away, setting up the origin of the Choujins in Choujin Bibyun.
- Shout-Out: Received a reference in Lucky Star, where its opening theme was sung by Konata Izumi as the second ending theme.
- Spell My Name With An S: If one goes with the literal pronunciation of the Akumaizer's names rather than how they are commonly romanized, then they can alternatively be spelled "Zabitan", "Ibiru" and "Gabura" instead of "Xavitan", "Evil" and "Gabra".
- Squashed Flat: Happens to Gabra in #24 when Yuki-onna transforms into a snowball and rolls over him, leaving him flattened. Luckily he's very quickly re-inflated by Evil.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The conflict between humans and the Akuma Clan isn't ended with some big Final Battle, but the Akuma Clan reforming internally. While the Akumaizer 3 are on the surface fighting Mezalord's forces, the Peace Party wins popular support in Downworld and pushes out the warmongering faction from power, reforming the Akuma Clan and making peace with humanity. This doesn't do away with Mezalord or Geberu however, and the Akumaizer 3 still have to fight one last battle against them.
- Token Heroic Orc: The Akumaizer 3 are the only heroic members of the Akuma Clan at first, but as the series goes on their they're joined by more and more like-minded demons, including Darunia and the Demon Peace Party.
- True Companions: The Akumaizer 3, much like their inspiration. They always have each other's back and rely on each other to watch out for their weaknesses.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Each of the Akumaizer 3 has one.
- Xavitan feels intense pain whenever he sees the crest of the Akuma Clan.
- Evil freezes when he sees his own reflection.
- Gabra is a water demon who has to continually drink water to keep his strength up. If his belly is pierced, he'll lose all the water he has stored and become weakened.
- Would Hurt a Child: The members of the Akuma Clan have no compunction with hurting or even killing children should the situation call for it. Hell, some of their plans even involve putting children in harms way.
