Metal Hero

Metal Hero Series
Created by	Toei Company
Original work	Space Sheriff Gavan
Films and television
Film(s)	Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie Space Sheriff Sharivan: Next Generation Space Sheriff Shaider: Next Generation
Television series	See below
Games
Traditional	Rangers Strike
Video game(s)	The Space Sheriff Spirits

The Metal Hero Series (メタルヒーローシリーズ, Metaru Hīrō Shirīzu^?) is a franchise of tokusatsu superhero TV series produced by Toei for Japanese television. The protagonists of the franchise are androids, cyborgs or humans who wear metallic suits and are known as "Henshin (transforming) Heroes." The genre usually revolves around the theme that technology, in the right hands, can be used for the greater good.

The shows were produced by Toei from 1982 through 1999 in conjunction with their other Tokusatsu superhero shows, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. In addition to Japan, they are also popular in France, Brazil, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. During the 1990s, Saban Entertainment used some of the shows to produce programs similar to their Power Rangers series. Some of the Metal Hero Series spawned sequels, with the genre developing sub-categories based on space- and police-related characters.

Similar series, such as Seiun Kamen Machineman, Kyodai Ken Byclosser, Choukou Senshi Changéríon and Seven Star Fighting God Guyferd appeared concurrently with the Metal Hero Series but were not included. Machineman and Byclosser were created by Shotaro Ishinomori as standalone henshin heroes, and Changéríon aired on TV Tokyo. Guyferd was produced by Toho. In 1987 an OVA, Campus Special Investigator Hikaruon, was released as an homage to the Space Sheriff series.

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