Chargeman Ken! 40th Anniversary

An official website has just launched to commemorate the 1974 cult favorite anime television series Chargeman Ken! The series of 65 ten minute episodes went relatively unnoticed until 2007 when Japanese fans rediscovered the notoriously awful series and turned it into a cult favorite. The series about a young teen boy that defends the world against an inept alien invasion is characterized by terrible animation quality, out of synch sound effects, and highly questionably “heroic” actions from its hero. It’s the Musashi Gundoh of the 70’s.

The fascination with this show really is a little bizarre. I’ve watched some of it, and it is really awful. Actually, many of the anime TV series produced by the late Studio Knack have developed a satirical Japanese fan following. A good example of the goofy love for this yashigani anime follows: