Memories of Maniac – Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad October 15, 2024

Let’s talk about a show that was literally 30 years ahead of its time, shall we? Let me take you back to the early-to-mid 1990s. A production company discovers they can make a literal fortune broadcasting already produced Japanese television shows. They discovered if they cut out the action scenes and filmed original footage with recasted American actors, as long as they wrote a compelling story young audiences would flock to watch it.

A company called DiC, famous for children’s programming in the 80s and 90s, decided to throw their hat into the ring and produce their own American superhero action show. They based their series on a Japanese show about a cyberspace superhero at a time when computers were gaining popularity in the west. They cast it with incredible actors, including a young Matthew Lawrence. They wrote some pretty special original episodes using tropes that, while considered quaint now, were fresh in the 90s. Oh and of course they made Tim Curry voice the villain.

The show was called Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad. Despite few people remembering it (it had a limited run of just over fifty episodes over the course of a year), Maniac LOVED the show, and now he’s going to share his unscripted feelings about it thirty years after it originally broadcast, and talk about its enduring legacy, and how well it predicted the present day. This video is nearly an hour long so buckle in people, and let’s SAMURAIZE, GUYS!