Team Rescue Fire

I was wandering around Nagoya today, looking for a sporting goods shop in the center of the city that sells tennis gear. Finding a shop is far harder than it sounds.

I noticed a small crowd in Central Park. Yes, Nagoya has a Central Park, and it is a park and it is central but it is really just a wide, grassy median. Then I noticed some pretty strange costumes in the crowd as well. I knew that the Cosplay festival was over so I wondered what this latest festival was. After all, it is festival season. I had no schedule or real plans, so I figured I would check it out.

I walked over and saw that there was a crew there shooting something. Hollywood meets Nagoya. I got a closer look at the strange costumes and could tell that they represented fire. Huh. They were almost sleestak-esque. When I got a little closer, I could tell the costumes were a little, shall we say, tragic. Why do Japanese fantasy television shows insist on putting their folks in tights? Indeed, the usual number of camel toes and outline of ill fitting tights were present. I was able to tell pretty quickly that this shoot was for something aimed at children. I hope no child suffers any lingering effects of the images they see on the tube.

As I continued to mill about, the “talent” also made their presence and handed out some packages to kids. Apparently the show promotes Tomica toys (think Tonka, but Japanese) so the talent has some promotion obligation. The “talent” looked fairly young to me. They were friendly with the kids. I took some pictures because I finally had my camera with me. Unfortunately, I was told “No camera” by one of the crew. Oh well.

Through a little interweb research, I was able to learn that this was really a joint Tomica Hero Rescue Fire and Team R-1 production. Two crime fighting groups joining forces for the good of all Japanese. I don’t think I saw any of the Team R-1 people. Not sure. I did see their fancy cars though.

Here’s a link to a previous Rescue Fire and Team R-1 production. Team R-1 and Hero Rescue Fire fight the scary fire people.

 

And here’s a link to the Rescue Fire feature Jun (Fire 5) and his Senpai (senior) Tatsuya, Fire-1. Interestingly, this was filmed in Tokyo instead of Nagoya. Why on location in Nagoya right now? You can see the funny fire people a little better here. I wonder what else Jun has learned from Tatsuya?

 

Here’s a look at the flames in between scenes.

 

And of course, a detail of a flame. He was one of the less showy of all the flames, if you get my drift.

 

I didn’t realize that I got such a good shot of all the team members. Here’s Jun Watari, Fire 5, in light blue; Ritsuka Yuki, Fire 2, in green; Tsubasa Aoi, Fire 3, in black; and Yuma Megumi, Fire 4, in silver.

 

The final team member, and leader of the team, is Tatsuya Homura, Fire 1, in orange along side Jun.

 

Here’s Jun Watari, played by Masanori Mizuno, meeting a young fan. My camera chose to autofocus on the cone, but that’s another story.

 

And no good rescue show is complete without the villain. In this case, taking a break on set.

 

Wikipedia tells a lot about the characters in an extensive entry. Here’s an excerpt:

Tatsuya Homura/Fire-1 (ç‚Ž タツヤ／ファイアー１ Homura Tatsuya) The rookie member of Rescue Fire, donning an orange suit. At age 6, Tatsuya lost his parents in a fire and was temprorary in the care of relatives for two pain-filled years before he attended Himawari School (ひまわり学園 Himawari Gakuen), where he learned to smile becauseof his friend Mie who became the teacher of his school after he graduated and became a fire fighter prior to joining the Rescue Fire team. Though he is a skilled team member and has a burning Rescue Soul, he isn’t nearly as professional as his teammates, and tends to get in trouble or hijinks as a result of goofing off. He loves eating anything with ketchup on it and is a recycler by nature. He can utilize kung-fu in his attacks Whirlwind Kick (旋風キック SenpÅ« Kikku) and Dragon Kick (ドラゴンキック Doragon Kikku?) He is 19 years old.

 

Yuma Megumi/Fire-2 (恵 ユウマ／ファイアー２ Megumi Yūma): The emergency medical expert of Rescue Fire, donning a silver suit. His parents, Tatsugoro (タツゴロウ Tatsugorō) and Yoshie (ヨシエ Yoshie), run the Megumiya (め組屋) monjayaki restaurant, their lineage being that of hikeshi and tobi. Wanting to be a fire fighter, Yuma promised he would be the best to his friend Jiro (ジロウ Jirō), who takes his place in becoming the best construction worker. Yuma displays a blatant crush on Tama-chan, though his affections have gone unreturned. Using the Break Ax, he can execute the attack Ax Storm. He also uses the Tri-Basher in Gun Mode to execute the Circle Shot attack.

 

Ritsuka Yuki/Fire-3 (雪 リツカ／ファイアー３ Yuki Ritsuka/Faiā SurÄ«): The female member of Rescue Fire called “Miss Perfect”, donning a green suit. Her father was a top rescuer who died during a Super-Disaster. She left the country and trained in America before joining the Rescue Fire team. She likes animals and has a good knowledge of animals. Though curious as to why someone like Tatsuya is a member of the team, she begins to slowly realize the reason behind it and open up to her teammates.

 

Tsubasa Aoi/Fire-4 (葵 ツバサ／ファイアー４ Aoi Tsubasa/Faiā Fō): A member of the Rescue Fire’s Sky Team (スカイチーム Sukai ChÄ«mu), donning a black suit. He attended an American university prior to joining the UFDA, being Ritsuka’s rival with the intent on outdoing her under the impression she was Fire-1. But after seeing someone with less experience than her is Fire-1, Tsubasa refuses to acknowledge Tatsuya’s abilities.

 

Jun Watari/Fire-5 (航 ジュン／ファイアー５ Watari Jun/Faiā Faibu): A member of the Sky Team, donning a light blue suit.

 

It was amazing how quickly they were moving through their setups. I didn’t see a single light in use, only a few reflectors.

And no, I knew NOTHING of this show before I stumbled across the shoot today. Amazing what the interwebs contain, whether you want the info or not. And gosh, all the actors seemed tall.