Taiyō ni Hoero! (太陽にほえろ!), literally Roar at the Sun!, was a long-running prime-time television detective series in Japan, which ran from 1972 to 1986 for a total of 718 episodes.[1] The lead star was Yujiro Ishihara. It also helped further the career of actors[2] such as Yūsaku Matsuda and Kenichi Hagiwara as well as Hiroshi Katsuno and Masaya Oki. It was a police procedural set mostly in a police station. It was one of the most popular and iconic detective dramas in Japanese television history. A sequel was aired from 1986 to 1987, airing for 12 episodes.[3]

Taiyō ni Hoero!
GenreDetective drama
StarringYujiro Ishihara
Tetsuya Watari
Shigeru Tsuyuguchi
Raita Ryū
Kenichi Hagiwara
Yūsaku Matsuda
Hiroshi Katsuno
Masaya Oki
Masaki Kanda
Shinji Yamashita
Toru Watanabe
Kunihiko Mitamura
Masanori Sera
Takeo Chii
Tappei Shimokawa
Yoshizumi Ishihara
Akira Onodera
Keiko Takahashi
ComposerKatsuo Ōno
Country of originJapan
Original languageJapanese
No. of episodes718
Production
ProducerHirokichi Okada
Running time45 minutes
Production companiesToho
Nippon Television
Original release
NetworkNNS (NTV)
ReleaseJuly 21, 1972 (1972-07-21) –
November 14, 1986 (1986-11-14)

Setting

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The series takes place in the fictional Nanamagari police station in Shinjuku and portrays the investigations of Nanamagari's detective squad. Headed by Superintendent Shunsuke "Boss" Todo, it initially consists of Inspector Seiichi "Yama-san" Yamamura with Detectives Makoto "Gori-san" Ishizuka, Kimiyuki "His Highness" Shima, Taro "Chosan" Nozaki, and Policewoman Shinko "Shinko-san" Uchida. In the first episode they were joined by Detective Jun "Macaroni" Hayami, who later died in Episode 52. Macaroni was replaced by Jun "Jiipan" Shibata, who would also be killed in Episode 111, and starting a series tradition of having cast members killed off upon their actor's departure from the show. The drama recorded high audience rating, especially episodes which regular cast members were killed or died recorded high audience rating every time.[4]

While the Nanamagari squad's usual jurisdiction encompasses Tokyo, sometimes they are assigned cases that take them to various locales across Japan, ranging from Okinawa and Sakurajima, to name a few. Other cases involved detectives going abroad to prosecute fugitives in Paris, Canada, Australia, and Hawaii. [5]

Regulars

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Character Nickname Actor Episodes
Shunsuke Todō Boss Yujiro Ishihara 1 - 458, 489 - 699, 718
Seiichi Yamamura Yama-san Shigeru Tsuyuguchi 1 - 691
Makoto Ishizuka Gori-san Raita Ryū 1 - 525
Kimiyuki Shima Denka ("His Highness") Akira Onodera 1 - 414
Tarō Nozaki Chō-san ("Pops") Tappei Shimokawa 1 - 520
Nobuko Uchida Shinko Keiko Takahashi 1 - 111
Jun Hayami Macaroni Kenichi Hagiwara 1 - 52
Jun Shibata Jiipan ("Jeans") Yūsaku Matsuda 53 - 111
Jun Mikami Texas Hiroshi Katsuno 112 - 216
Ryo Taguchi Bonn Jun Miyauchi 168 - 363
Ryuichi Taki Scotch Masaya Oki 217 - 244, 399 - 493
Hajime Iwaki Rocky Ryo Kinomoto 256 - 519
Jun Godai Sneakers Shinji Yamashita 364 - 476
Akira Saijō Doc Masaki Kanda 415 - 718
Junji Takemoto Rugger Toru Watanabe 477 - 658
Masayuki Hara Gypsy Kunihiko Mitamura 494 - 545
Hajime Kasukabe Bogey Masanori Sera 521 - 597
Toshizo Igawa Toshi-san Takeo Chii 526 - 718
Reiko Iwaki (née Hayase) Mommy Naomi Hase 275 - 520 (semi-regular), 546 - 718 (regular)
Makoto Sawamura Blues Seiji Matano 562 - 718
Yu Mizuki Microcomputer Yoshizumi Ishihara 618 (debut), 623 - 718 (regular)
Koichi Shimazu Duke Kenichi Kaneda 660 - 715
Jun Dazai DJ Koji Nishiyama 706 - 718
Hyogo Tachibana Keibu ("Inspector") Tetsuya Watari 706 - 718

Semi Regulars

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  • Yoko Machida as Takako Yamamura (Wife of Seiichi Yamamura) (1972–78)
  • Kin Sugai as Taki Shibata (Mother of Jun Shibata) (1973–74, 78, 85)
  • Takuya Fujioka as Samejima (1973–86)
  • Akihiko Hirata as Nishiyama (1973–83)

Taiyō ni Hoero! Part 2

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Character Nickname Actor
Asako Tanamura Kakarichō ("Chief") Tomoko Naraoka
Akira Saijō Doc Masaki Kanda
Jun Dazai DJ Koji Nishiyama
Makoto Sawamura Blues Seiji Matano
Yu Mizuki Microcomputer Yoshizumi Ishihara
Reiko Iwaki Mommy Naomi Hase
Taro Nozaki Cho-san Tappie Shimokawa
Toshio Igawa Toshi-san Takeo Chii
Osamu Kita Osamu-san Akira Terao

References

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  1. ^ Takase, Masahiro (Nov 15, 2007). Showa Senbon No Dorama-Tachi [1000 TV dramas of the Showa Period] (in Japanese).
  2. ^ "太陽にほえろとは". kotobank. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  3. ^ "太陽にほえろ! 1986" (in Japanese). Amazon. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  4. ^ "『太陽にほえろ!』 成功を生んだ「殉職」「あだ名」「恋愛」". Zakzak. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  5. ^ 『太陽にほえろ!伝説-疾走15年 私が愛した七曲署』(1996年、日本テレビ)ISBN 4-8203-9866-0 P1-20