Moonbeam Man,[1] is a superhero appearing in Japanese tokusatsu and anime television shows and movies since his TV debut in 1958.
[2] Created by writer Kōhan Kawauchi, Moonlight Mask is best described as Japan's answer to The Lone Ranger, Batman and Zorro.
To coincide with the Nippon Gendai/Senkosha TV series, Toei Films produced six Moonlight Mask theatrical movies screened in theaters from 1958 to 1959.
Children watching superhero shows sometimes attempted to imitate the hero's dangerous feats, and Moonlight Mask was no exception.
Because a boy in Japan jumped to his death imitating Moonlight Mask's dangerous stunts, the show was cancelled on July 5, 1959, following the ending of the final story arc, Don't Turn Your Hand to Revenge.
The anime adaptation Seigi wo Ai Suru Mono – Gekkō Kamen (正義を愛する者 - 月光仮面), translated as The One Who Loves Justice: Moonlight Mask, was produced by Knack, and aired on Nippon Television from January 10, 1972 to October 2, 1972, with a total of 39 episodes (divided into three story arcs or chapters).
The tokusatsu movie Moonlight Mask (月光仮面), produced by Purumie International/Herald Enterprises and distributed by Nippon Herald Pictures, was released theatrically on March 14, 1981.
Daisuke Kuwahara (who, like Klinton Spilsbury, disappeared from doing films) played George Owara (Moonlight Mask's new alter-ego), and the rest of the cast made up of veteran action starlet Etsuko Shihomi, Daijiro Harada and Takayuki Godai, with none of the original characters turning up.
Gekkô Kamen-kun), a very comical take on the famous masked hero, was produced by TMS-Kyokuichi, animated by Actas, and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 3, 1999 to March 26, 2000, with a total of 25 episodes.
The manga depicts the adventures of a young superheroine who wears a red mask, scarf, an occasional cape, gloves, boots and nothing else.