Key Hunter
Key Hunter (キイハンター Kī Hantā) is a prime-time Japanese television detective series. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973. There were a total of 262 episodes, and it was one of the most popular action dramas in Japan at the time.
The story involved "Key Hunter", a special clandestine unit of the International Police, which endeavored to solve various crimes.
"Key Hunter" was a unique TV show, which started out as a grand scale spy thriller never before seen in Japan. The episodes were individually themed on global crimes and political strife. The initial hardboiled theme later evolved to include intellectual elements involving action, and occasionally with comical elements as well.
Tetsuro Tamba starred in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice as Japanese Secret Service agent Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond. This role greatly influenced his image in "Key Hunter".
Characters
Key Hunter
- Tetsuya Kuroki (黒木 鉄也 Kuroki Tetsuya) — played by Tetsuro Tamba
- ex-intelligence agent
- Keiko Tsugawa (津川 啓子 Tsugawa Keiko) — played by Yōko Nogiwa
- ex-intelligence agent
- Ichirō Fubuki (吹雪 一郎 Fubuki Ichirō) — played by Hiroshi Kawaguchi (since episode #60)
- ex-FBI agent
- Tatsuhiko Shima (島 竜彦 Shima Tatsuhiko) — played by Hayato Tani
- power freak
- Yumi Taniguchi (谷口 ユミ Taniguchi Yumi) — played by Eiko Ōkawa
- memory expert & genius
- Yōsuke Kazama (風間 洋介 Kazama Yōsuke) — played by Sonny Chiba —
- ex-newspaper reporter
International Police
- Muraoka (村岡 特別室長 Muraoka Tokubetsu Shitsuchō) — played by Noboru Nakaya (appeared very rarely)
- Chief of the Special Task Forces
- Shinji Odagiri (小田切 慎二 Odagiri Shinji) — played by Tadao Nakamaru (since episode #104)
- Shunsuke Dan (壇 俊介 Dan Shunsuke) — played by Hiroshi Miyauchi (since episode #92)
Theme music
The theme music Hijō no License was written by Shunsuke Kikuchi, played as an instrumental for the opening theme, and sung by Yōko Nogiwa for the ending theme.
Sources
This article incorporates material from キイハンター (Key Hunter) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on March 5, 2008.
External links
- DVD Selection from Toei
- Key Hunter at the Internet Movie Database
- KeyHunter, at Beyond Japan Hero