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Official Site: Tatsunoko

is a 5-member superhero team that is composed of the main characters in several Japanese anime created by Tatsuo Yoshida and originally produced in Japan by Tatsunoko Productions and later adapted into several English-language versions. It is also known by the abbreviated name Gatchaman. The original series, produced in 1972, was eponymously named Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman and is most well-known to the English-speaking world as the adaptation titled Battle of the Planets. The title is unofficially called as G-Force (not to be confused with the subsequent 1980s English-language adaptation of Gatchaman, known as G-Force: Guardians of Space). Tatsunoko also uses the official translation Science Commando Gatchaman, as shown in numerous related products and media.

A second feature film version of Gatchaman is being produced by Imagi Animation Studios for release in 2011. The first feature film was released in 1978.

The original 1972 Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman series was followed by two sequel series, Gatchaman II (1978) and Gatchaman F (1979). In 1994, the original series was remade as a condensed OVA series. Additionally, the original and sequel series were adapted and translated into several English-language versions, with the most well-known being Battle of the Planets. Because the English-language versions are notoriously inconsistent not only with one another but also with the original Japanese series, viewers most familiar with the English versions often experience some confusion upon re-examining the series after a long hiatus.

Created in the wake of the hugely successful Henshin boom started by Shotaro Ishinomori's Kamen Rider in 1971, this series was notable as being one of the most successful anime attempts to emulate the American superhero genre with many of its conventions such as colorful costumes. It also established the convention of the five member hero team that has been emulated in later series, most notably the successful tokusatsu Super Sentai franchise (which was adapted into English as the Power Rangers franchise many years later); in fact, the Sentai series Chōjin Sentai Jetman was in many ways an homage to Gatchaman.

Joe Asakura has not been a contender in any CBUB matches.