Juukou B-fighter Internet Archive -

The has effectively rescued this show from obscurity. It allows a 25-year-old grad student in Brazil to study Toei’s suit design evolution; it allows a 40-year-old parent to show their child the “real” version of the show they watched after school; it allows historians to analyze 1995 Japanese commercial culture.

Is it a legal gray area? Yes. Is it also the single most important act of pop culture preservation for the Metal Hero genre since the death of the VCR? Absolutely. juukou b-fighter internet archive

The show follows three young warriors—Takuya, Daisaku, and Mai—who are given powerful exosuits (the “B-Fighters”) by Dr. Kougaku to battle the insectoid forces of the Jamahl Empire. Unlike the more colorful Super Sentai , B-Fighter had a darker, post-apocalyptic aesthetic. Its most iconic innovation was the use of mecha that were also living beetles (the “B-Commander” and “Super Great B-Fighter”). The has effectively rescued this show from obscurity