Firestorm (anime)

Firestorm
Series titlescreen
ファイアーストーム
Genre	Adventure, Mecha
Anime television series
Directed by	Kenji Terada
Written by	Concept by Gerry Anderson and John Needham, written by Kenji Terada
Studio	TransArts
Licensed by	Enoki Films
Original network	TV Tokyo
Original run	April 6, 2003 – September 28, 2003
Episodes	26

Firestorm (ファイアーストーム^?) is a Japanese anime series co-created by Gerry Anderson and John Needham. The series combines CGI animation for mecha and traditional cel animation for characters. Despite high-quality animation and an emphasis on futuristic vehicles traditional to Anderson productions (such as Thunderbirds), the series was not warmly received in Japan. Series availability in other countries has been limited.

By the year 2104, the nations of Earth have finally achieved world peace. However, that peace is threatened by a new worldwide terrorist organization called Black Orchid. To counter this threat, the United Nations has created a military peacekeeping force called Storm Force. Each Storm Force unit (8 total) acts independently, operating primarily from a large twin-hulled submarine. As the series opens, a new elite unit is formed called Storm Force 9, which is assigned a special mission code-named "Firestorm."

Early in the series, the Firestorm team discover that Black Orchid is secretly a front for a worldwide invasion of outer-space aliens who can disguise themselves as humans. The aliens have developed a drug which will turn humans into their mindless slaves, and scheme to put the drug into our water supply.

Each episode focuses strongly on futuristic vehicles (mecha). The Firestorm team operate primarily from a huge twin-hulled submarine, called the Ocean Storm. This submarine features a detachable jet aircraft called the Tornado, making it similar to SkyDiver from Gerry Anderson's 1970-71 series UFO. Visually, the Tornado resembles Thunderbird 2 from Anderson's 1965-66 series Thunderbirds. While Thunderbird 2 carried a variety of pods containing smaller vehicles, the Tornado carries a group of smaller vehicles at all times, including two jet fighters, a futuristic tank and several boats.