Gatchaman Cameo Appearance

Hi all!

I figured you might be interested to know that everyone's favorite Science Ninja Team made a brief cameo in a recent episode of the Tatsunoko-produced TV comedy "Yatterman." The episode, an hour long special, aired on May 5th, and has two Gatchaman-related scenes. In one scene, taking place during a TV quiz show, the panel of celebrity guests is made up of three Tatsunoko characters, Honeybee Hutch, Genie Hakushon, and Dr. Nambu from "Gatchaman." Alas, Nambu has no lines. A longer scene involves the Science Ninja Team appearing to retrieve a ring stolen by the villains of the series. Katsuji Mori, who did Ken's voice for the three "Gatchaman" series in the 1970s, returned to provide his voice for this special.

The episode can be seen on the following site:

http://douga119.com/anime/yatterman/sp.html

Nambu's appearance occurs at 31:46 into the special, while the Science Ninja Team's part starts at 43:33. In case you're interested, Speed Racer also makes a brief appearance, at 17:09, saving the game show host from the villains. Katsuji Mori did Speed's voice for that series in 1967, and does a few lines for him here as well.

Be warned, though, that the site takes a long time to download, but I think you'll find it's worth the wait. Also, the special is entirely in Japanese, with no subtitles, but I don't think this should be much of a problem, since these scenes are mostly action-oriented.

James