Iron King: The Complete Series

This is a series I had never even heard of before proved so bad and so cheaply done that it proved highly entertaining and forced me to create what I call the "Saki-Rating" - as in " how many bottles were drunk when the evil robots and creatures were designed. Most I would rate a "6" with some closing in on "10", one robot would qualify for Handicaped-Parking. I spent most of my time laughing in evil delight when Iron King would first encounter his foe, and unlike the "expensively" produced Ultraman, this poor guy often gets his rear handed to him the first time they face. When the show is concentrating on things at the human scale you have the two heroes bouncing between goofball to serious, while the evil-doers are fairly cookie-cutter, and not all that bright.The series is sub-titled in English, and sometimes I don't think the translations were quite literal. About the only thing that annoyed me was the theme music, also played most of the time Iron King appeared, getting stuck in my head. Packaging is good, with each of the three disks in it's own sleave in a sturdy case.If high production values, creative writing, and great special effects are your thing, you may want to pass. But if you recognise that sometimes "bad" has it's own charming qualities, this is a must for your collection at a bargain price.

Just a warning to those who complain about such things ; Though there are English captions, all these episodes are in Japanese. Fun, crazy and entertaining as heck, this collection is broken up into three story lines. First is a weirdly racist plot line that shines a weird light on the largely ignored subject of Japanese ethnicity. You see, the Japanese islands are largely dominated by the Yamato ethnic group, but there are others...and the first ten or so episodes feature the Shiranui trying to destroy/dominate/eject the Yamato through the use of...well, giant robots. Then we have another (less interesting) brick of episodes involving some guys dressed at mock Arabs (terrorists?) of the Phantom Opposition Party who use giant dinosaur robots, and finally...a race of AWESOME ALIENS called the 'Titanians' who look very 'V for Vendetta' and turn into giant bugs. I warn you...Star Trek this isn't. It's not even as by-the-books as Ultraman or Johnny Sokko. This is a WEIRD series...but it's all the more entertaining for it.

This would certainly not fly today, but it's a good look at the culture and the past in Japan.There are themes of racism, there is a lot of sexism (most of it unjustified, but played for laughs), and some guy just doing whatever he wants because he thinks he's right.I know it sounds like a bad review, but I really enjoyed this show. It was shocking to see what was allowed on TV, for children! But a good shocking.The monsters were absolutely fantastic, too.And taking into account something that was not as heavily budgetted as a movie would be, when you see that fire? That's REAL fire.Gather a group of friends, watch it together.

Not near the production value as the better known Ultraman series ( and there are a lot of those ) this came out during the monster craze of the late 1960's in Japan as competition to Ultraman. The story is of a wondering guitar player and his buddy. His belt turns into a kind of majic sword, and his buddy is the avatar that turns into the Iron King to battle various monsters. If you love the general genre, you should like this well enough. If you are hoping this will be as good as Ultraman or Ultraman Seven, you will be disappointed. Look to Johnny Sokko and the Giant Robot for something closer to Ultraman if you want something more Ultraman-ish.

Greetings and thank you for checking out my review. Being a BIG fan of the original ULTRAMAN and JONNY SOKKO series, I purchased this sight-unseen, because I thought it to be a worthy follow-up. Produced in the early 1970's and (supposedly) produced by the same people who created the original ULTRAMAN series, IRON KING is very similar to theme and action, but it seems to skewer MUCH younger for audiences. The premise is much more simple than the ULTRAMAN or ULTRA 7 series. The monster designs aren't nearly as interesting or entertaining. And considering that the series took place nearly a decade after the classic Tsuburaya series, the special effects and direction is pretty standard stuff. They really hadn't refined the children's television format, nor did they increase the budgets or special effects. But aside from the two male leads, there are LOTS of fine babes-of-the-week who guest star and get in on the monster action. Only problem is - they have a real affinity for killing them off! (Four die in the brief series run.) Overall though, complete episodes, SOLID transfers, good music and fun, harmless entertainment. Kids should dig it and will appreciate the zany fun. Good weekend viewing at a TERRIFIC Price!

Great Series, good Tokusatsu fun. There are two dvd versions of this: the 2010 Mill Creek release, and the 2007 BCI release. The Mill Creek release is significantly cheaper and I would recommend it to anyone interested in tokusatsu but it is crammed onto 3 discs and its subtitles trail behind the speech by several seconds, its not more difficult to follow but the BCI 4 disc version's subtitles sync noticeably better. The BCI version also has a nice insert with extra info which does not accompany the Mill Creek version. For me it was worth buying the more expensive BCI copy for my Tokusatsu collection.

I remember those days after school, coming home in time to watch Ultra Man. Well, if you want to relive those days this is a must for you! My grandson loves it!!! I will say though, there is some language, of course it is Englsih subtitled, but the action is great! Do not expect George Lucus special effects, but that is what makes it fun!!! If you are an Ultraman, Godzilla, Space Giants, etc...fan, this is for you!

On the surface this series would appear to be rip-off of Ultraman, but it is so much more. The series has three long-running storylines, and it makes you really care about its characters.

It's an old transfer but I'm just glad to have this historical Tokusatsu in my collection... And the price was well worth it!!!👍👍👍

値段がとても安いです。問題は、音量がとても小さいことぐらいでしょね。正式版は2〜3万するのが2千円程度で購入できるので、たいしたことはないと自分は思いますけど。

Great rare Japanese serie. obviously the quality of the DVDs are not great but at least they released it with subs. We can't complain.

I love Japanese super heros and this dvd did not dissapoint at all . I really enjoyed watching it .

画質は当時のレベルを考えるとこの程度でしょう。音声があまり良くなく、TVの音量レベルは通常の２～3倍程度にしてやっとまともなくらいでした。それを差し引いても、この価格で見られるのはコスパが高いですね。