Just about this time last year hard Tubi TV starting to stream the Figure 17 anime. The thirteen episode series is streaming in its original Japanese language with English subtitles, which was a lot of fun as it took us back to a different time in 2001. Now, Tubi is back and they’re streaming the series in its dubbed form (in addition to still streaming the subtitled version), giving people more choice and access to the series.
The show was an interesting one at the time as it was a monthly project on AT-X with double-length episodes. It eventually got a broadcast run the following year where it was broken out into standard length episodes for a twenty-four episode run.
Directed by Naohito Takahashi based on the screenplay by Shoji Yonemura, the series had its character designs handled by Yuriko Chiba, who also served as the chief animation director with OLM producing the animation.
The Japanese cast includes Akiko Yajima as Tsubasa Shiina, Fumiko Orikasa as Hikaru Shiina, Houchu Ohtsuka as Isamu Kuroda, Kikuko Inoue as Orudina, Kyoko Tsuruno as Sho Aizawa, Masamichi Sato as Hideo Shiina, Naoko Takano as Noriko Itou, and Rie Kugimiya as Mina Sawada.
The dub Media Blasters produced includes Kay Jensen as Tsubasa Shiina, Lara Jill Miller as Hikaru Shiina, Willow Armstrong as Hikaru Shiina, Cutter Garcia as Kenta Hagiwara, Dave Lelyveld as Shinji Ogawa, David Duncan McNeill as Sho Aizawa, Jeff Garcia as Kenta Hagiwara, Julie Ann Taylor as Asuka Karasawa, Lex Lang as D.D. / Daisuke Domoto, Lynn Fischer as Ms. Akiko Hibino, Mia Bradly as Orudina, Olivia O’Connor as Noriko Itou, Ron Allen as Hideo Shiina, Steve Kramer as Isamu Kuroda, and Sue Beth Arden as Mina Sawada.
Plot Concept: Tsubasa Shiina is a 10-year-old girl who recently moved to Hokkaido to live with her father. In school, she is very quiet and unsociable with her classmates. Then one night, she witnesses a UFO crash in the forest near her home. She rushes to the scene and finds the pilot, codenamed “D.D.”, in a barely stable condition. Also in the scene is a Maguar, a hideous alien that hatched aboard D.D.’s ship. As the Maguar is close to taking Tsubasa’s life, an alien lifeform fuses with her body to form the Riberus battle armor Figure 17, which shortly destroys the alien threat. The life form takes the name Hikaru and turns into an identical twin of Tsubasa. As time passes, Tsubasa becomes more open to everyone around her, thanks to her new twin sister Hikaru. However, with Maguar eggs scattered all over Hokkaido, their ability to form Figure 17 is needed to eliminate all hatched Maguars until backup from D.D.’s home planet arrives on Earth.
