Trivia / Taiyo Ni Hoero

• Acting for Two: The show had a recurring tradition of recasting various actors into different roles throughout the series. A notable example was Yutaka Mizutani, who had a role in the first episode as the criminal-of-the-week, then had three more in future episodes (including two with Yusaku Matsuda, who was his best friend).
• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • A variation in the case of Rocky's twins, Yuta and Yoko (who were named by Yujiro Ishihara). Akira Onodera (Denka) had his own pair.
  • Masaya Oki's own battle against mental illness inspired Scotch's method of dying (illness).
• Casting Gag: Shigeru Tsuyuguchi was later cast as the dub actor for Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, who, much like Yama-san, is an expert detective, if a bit languid and maverick in nature.
• The Cast Showoff: Doc is frequently seen skiing if the episode takes place at a snowy mountain. That's because Masaki Kanda is fairly good at skiing; any time you see Doc doing so, it's likely Kanda doing it for real.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Yusaku Matsuda's was Episode 104, "Funeral March".
• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: As with the show's infamous habit of Killed Off for Real, this was the main reason for the latter trope being enacted by the producers. Not that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing however - character deaths were considered a sort of "graduation" ceremony by the cast and crew. Behind-the-scenes footage and pictures even show the departing cast members being congratulated by the crew following the filming of their death scenes.
• Dueling Works: With G-Men '75.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Yusaku Matsuda (Jiipan) in Episode 35, "Cry of the Beloved" as a caretaker at a disabled persons facility.
  • Hiroshi Katsuono (Texas) in Episode 89, "Reunion in Hell" as Detective Aoki.
  • Jun Miyauchi (Bonn) in Episode 148, "Friendship", as a judoka.
  • Ryo Kirimoto (Rocky) in Episode 245, "Criminal Dog vs. Police Dog" as a police dog trainer.
  • Shinji Yamashita (Sneakers), unusually, had two; a youth worker in Episode 324, "Farewell" and a detective in Episode 341, "Classmates".
  • Toru Watanabe (Rugger) in Episode 460, "Sneakers, Where Have You Gone?".^note Ironically, he'd end up replacing Yamashita when he debuted in Episode 475.
  • Takeo Chii (Toshi-san) in the now-lost Episode 19, "When the Rifle Roars", as the criminal-of-the-week, ten years before he joined the cast.
  • Seiji Matano (Blues) in Episode 541, "Karakuri" as a mahjong player.
  • Tomoko Naraoka (Chief in Part 2) appeared in Episode 192, "2・8・5・6・3", as a woman who was held in a cell with a kidnapped Boss.
• Cargo Ship:
  • Scotch has an unusual amount of cacti in his home. His love for them is the only thing that remains from his original, kinder personality.
  • Micro, the resident tech head, with Holmes III, the squad's only work computer.
• Edited for Syndication
  • Episode 525, the show's first Extra-Long Episode, was severely cut down from 90 to 45 minutes for reruns. Notably, this episode featured the death of Gori, who'd been one of the show's mainstays since its debut.
  • Some reruns would edit out Gypsy's nickname altogether, due to the term later being recognized as a derogatory slur against the Roma people.
• Improv: In the Series Finale, Boss has a monologue with the sister of a man who has kidnapped Blues and convinces her to give up the location of her brother. This was completely unscripted and was meant to be Yujiro Ishihara's last tribute to his fans, as well as a summation of his own personal philosophy. These days it is well-remembered by fans of the show as "Ishihara's Five Minutes".
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Episode 524 features a live concert by BOØWY, a Japanese rock band. The rights issues regarding their music were not cleared up in time for the DVD release but it was rerun on national TV when the show was remastered in 2013 (though local and terrestrial broadcast stations still cannot do so).
  • Episode 571 is an adaptation of the 87th Precinct novel King's Ransom (which Toho had adapted as Akira Kurosawa's High And Low) and the potential royalties to be paid to the author's estate ensured it was not included on DVD. However, it has been restored and was rerun a few times on TV.
• Milestone Celebration:
  • Episode 300 was for the show's 7th anniversary and features a returning Scotch after his first run ended. Episodes 519-520 were meant to celebrate 10 years of the show on the air and were set in Canada; Episodes 608-609 were for the 12th anniversary and were set in France. If the show had reached its 15th anniversary, that year's anniversary episodes would have been set in Africa.
  • The 600th episode was entitled "Nanamagari Case No.600." How creative.
• Missing Episode:
  • Episodes 19, 27, 68, and 127 all featured real, non-prop guns, which are heavily outlawed for use on TV due to Japan's strict gun laws.
  • Episodes 37 and 106 apparently used racial slurs and discriminatory language, while also violating several pedestrian and aerial safety laws.
  • It should be noted though, that these episodes may not be entirely gone in the purest sense. For example, the episode previews of these lost shows have survived. Meanwhile, Episodes 19 and 27 were novelized, and both are available if you know where to look. Lastly, Episode 68's script was retrieved by a fan, so it's not entirely impossible that the scripts for the others are still in existence.
• Old Shame: For a while, Ryo Kirimoto wasn't too proud of his time on the show as Rocky. It got to the point where he shaved his beard and became a daytime variety show host, though as of 2004 he has since reversed this outlook.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Ishihara had to take two leaves from the show, and thus Boss was absent for two long stretches. The first time was because of his heart disease and his commitments to Seibu Keisatsu. The second time, his illness went into remission. By the time he returned, both he and the producers realized that he wouldn't stick around for much longer, so they decided to end the series at a lengthly 718 episodes.
    • Additionally, Ishihara always went to Hawaii for vacation once a year, and the show set several episodes there as a result.
  • Masaya Oki (Scotch) had a short first run on the show as he was in high demand as an actor. He returned to the show in 1979 because the show was struggling against Kinpachi-sensei, and due to Jun Miyauchi's departure (and as it happened, Akira Onodera's upcoming farewell). He was brought back to help boost the ratings and stuck around Episode 493, where he got Killed Off for Real.
  • Kunihiko Mitamura (Gypsy) was forced to leave the show after a year due to filming conflicts with Hissatsu. His character was spared from getting Killed Off for Real due to not leaving under his own circumstances.
  • Detective Bogey had a relatively short run on the show, lasting barely a year. This was because his actor, Masanori Sena, was also a rock musician and thus had commitments for his music.
• Real-Life Relative: Subverted with Micro. While he is played by Yujiro Ishihara's nephew Yoshizumi, their characters are not related. This also happened when they costarred in Seibu Keisatsu.
• Saved by the Fans:
  • Like his predecessors Hiroshi Katsuono was scheduled to leave the show after a year. However, Texas' popularity led to petitions by fans to keep him on for another year. Jun Miyauchi, who was supposed to replace Katsuono, became his partner instead.
  • Jun Miyauchi himself was popular with female fans, so production held off his departure for another year, making Bon's and Rocky's partnership the longest on the show at two years.
  • In a similar fashion with Texas, Bogey's run was extended for six months due to Masanori Sera's popularity.
• Special Effects Failure:
  • The episode "Balloon Bomb" has the titular weapon's flight get poorly-rendered on a rear-projection screen.
  • Sometimes when a car crashes, you can see that the driver is noticeably missing. This is seen prominently in Denka's death scene.
• Star-Making Role: For many of the cast. The best example would arguably be Yusaku Matsuda (Jiipan), who became very active in TV and film after his run on the show and culminated in his casting as Sato in Black Rain. Another was Masaki Kanda (Doc), who'd later appear in Daitokai and Gorilla Metropolitan Police 8.
• The Character Died with Him:
  • Masaya Oki sadly committed suicide after Scotch got Killed Off for Real. This affected Ishihara quite deeply, as he directly references the character in the last episode.
  • Todo as well. Ishihara died a few months after the finale, and he's only mentioned in passing during the Sequel Series, and in the Reunion Shows, he's mentioned to have passed away.
• Throw It In!:
  • Jiipan's shocked cry of "Nan ja korya?!" ('What the hell is this?!") upon suddenly realizing he's been shot and is bleeding to death was an adlib by Yusaku Matsuda; it went on to become an iconic moment for the series and a pre-Internet Memetic Mutation in Japan.
  • When Yama-san's wife died in Episode 206, the script called for him to say one last line as she died. This was cut because Shigeru Tsuyuguchi cried real tears as the scene was being filmed.
• Trope Codifier: A big-time one for Japanese TV. Accoridng to the show's page on the Japanese Wikipedia, its predecessors like The Seven Detectives and Special Mobile Investigation Team were aimed at an adult audiences, or were flashy Bond-esque series like The Guardmen, Key Hunter, and Playgirl. Taiyo broke the mold by being relatively down-to-earth while having its target audience specifically be teenagers and young adults. It also introduced the concepts of characters getting Killed Off for Real and the Character Focus episode format, ensuring that the cast all had a fair shot at screentime, espcially with the rookies.
• What Might Have Been:
  • The original draft plan, Ashita no Moeru (or Tomorrow's Fire, which was later released as a book) had a very different type of show in mind. The show was supposed to revolve around Detectives Kenichi Kazama and NYPD-trained Eisuke Todo, taking cues from Dirty Harry and Bullitt. The cast was to be divided into two investigation teams, who worked separate cases. This format was however, revived for he 1987 series Gorilla, which starred Ryu Rarita (Gori) and Koji Nishiyama (DJ).
  • Macaroni was supposed to be a permanent staple of the show, with much of it intended to center around his Character Development. Kenichi Hagiwara put paid to that, requesting that Macaroni be killed off when he left. His reasons were primarily of him thinking that Macaroni's character development had been completed, and him wanting to move on to more serious dramatic works.
  • In the show's first year, Ishihara had intended on leaving after Episode 13, as he had been rather reluctant to even work in television to begin with (one major example: he had vocally doubted the use of 16mm film for TV during filming). However, Rarita Ryu and his wife convinced him to stay on, and in a later TV interview, his opinion of TV had radically changed as he spoke praises of the show's production values.
  • The show was planned to continue on to its 15th year, even with Ishihara's losing battle with liver cancer. An idea was floated around to recast him, but at his insistence, they decided to end the show. That being said, Part 2 might be their attempt at doing so, but without Ishihara, it wasn't the same and the show was canceled after 12 episodes.
  • If the show had reached its 15th year, an Africa-set show would have aired as the show's anniversary special. Elsewhere, Blues would have been killed off (thus explaining his near-death situation in the finale). A new detective, to be played by Masaki Kyomoto (Inuzuka Shino in Legend of the Eight Samurai and Kumihimoya no Ryu in Hissatsu Shigotonin V) would have replaced him.
  • Rarita Ryu did plan on leaving the show and having Gori killed sometime around when Denka died. However, the producers did not follow through with this, probably sparing long-time fans from the double trauma of having two of the show's regulars being killed off at around the same time. Curiously, when Gori did get killed, Rocky had already been killed off six episodes prior.
  • Akira Onodera also planned leaving early, but the producers said "no" and told him to wait two more years. Interestingly, when they did kill Denka off, Onodera and the producer kept it a secret from everyone else in the cast, shocking everyone when it was finally revealed.
  • Tappei Shimokawa said he once suggested two stories regarding Pops. The first had him act as an escort for a criminal and get killed off; the other was centered on the birth of his grandchildren. In another interview, he also mentioned proposing that Pops be killed off by engaging in a gun duel with bank robbers. Oddly enough, the latter two tie in rather neatly during his last regular appearance on the show as he tries to arrest Rocky's murderer, who robbed a safe. Add to this Rocky had kids of his own.
  • Duke was supposed to be killed off, but due to scheduling issues, he was Put on a Bus instead.
  • The appearance of Ken Watanabe in Episode 574 was his on-screen rehearsal for a future role as a regular, but for whatever reason, the producers did not decide to push through with casting him.
  • The 2001 reunion show was supposed to be a Backdoor Pilot for a longer-running reboot series, but this never came to be.
• You Look Familiar:
  • As a rule, before an actor could join the main cast, they had an Early-Bird Cameo as a different character in one episode before debuting as a new detective. The exceptions to this were Mommy, who was a recurring character before she was Put on a Bus, and Micro, who debuted in Episode 618 before being promoted to regular in Episode 623.
  • Several guest stars appear more than once as different characters, notably with Ultraman star Susumu Kurobe and Ishihara co-star Joe Shishido.
• You Might Remember Me from...:
  • Akihito Hirata, famous for his roles in Godzilla and Ultraman, had a recurring role as Superintendent Takayuki Nishsima, Nanamagari's overall station head.
  • Tetsuya Watari, Ishihara's Heterosexual Life-Partner joined the cast for the final episodes. He earlier appeared in Daitokai and Seibu Keisatsu with Ishihara, while Western fans remember him more in Nikkatsu's action films Tokyo Drifter, the Outlaw Gangster VIP series, and the Like a Dragon games.
  • Guest star Yasuaki Kurata had a main role in Taiyo's rival series G-Men '75.

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