Ninja Captor (1976 – 1977)

Ninja Captor is a Japanese tokusatsu TV series aired from April 7, 1976 to January 26, 1977 on TV Tokyo 12 Channel, produced by Toei Company, Ltd. This Sentai-esque series aired during the run of Shotaro Ishinomori's original Super Sentai series, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger and was notably first superhero team show produced by Toei under the Saburo Yatsude/Hatte pseudonym. Daisuke Izumo graduates from the Wind-Demon Stealth-Army, a secret army aiming for the conquest of Japan. He instead escapes, and becomes the leader of the "Captor," a ninja team supervised by Mujin Tendou. The Captor team's mission is to battle the ninja sent out by the Wind-Demon General, Retsufuu Fuuma. This show used to be considered by some to be a part of the Super Sentai franchise* , but was later excluded. In 2013, it got a Shout-Out in the fourth episode of Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger: Season 2.