Series: Raideen
Brave Raideen (勇者ライディーン – Yûsha Raidîn) or Yuusha Raideen. The Japanese TV show aired from April 4, 1975 to March 26, 1976, and ran for 50 episodes. Produced by Sunrise, Brave Raideen told the story of Akira Hibiki, who pilots the giant robot to fight against the Devil Empire. Akira would ride his “Supercar” motorcycle off of a cliff and yell “fade in!” as he entered the dormant Raideen.
Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, directed the first 26 episodes of the show. He quit and was replaced with Tadao Nagahama, who also directed Combattler V and Voltes V. The mechanical design of Raideen was done by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Suzuki Yoshitake. Originally, Raideen was intended to be green, but Mr. Yasuhiko changed his mind about this. The show was also the first to incorporate mystical or supernatural elements into the super robot genre.