This is the show that makes you understand why every superhero team since owes Ishinomori a check. Nine strangers, stolen and rebuilt into weapons by Black Ghost, and the whole premise turns on them refusing the job description. Joe Shimamura bites down on the switch in his tooth and the world stops moving, and 1968 Toei animates that acceleration with smears and stillness instead of budget. The roster does the emotional work: Ivan, an infant with a mind older than everyone in the room, Jet's jet-footed impatience, Francoise catching sounds nobody else hears, Albert carrying a body full of guns he never asked for, Chang's fire breath, Pyunma in the water, Great Britain wearing other people's faces. Dr. Gilmore is the closest thing to a father figure, which says plenty. Watch it in black and white and admit the weapons became the family.

Nine people wake up as something no longer fully human. An evil organization called the Neo-Black Ghosts has tricked and forced them into becoming cyborgs, meant to serve as its killing machines. But these nine refuse that role. Guided by the scientist Dr. Gilmore, they escape and join forces to battle the Neo-Black Ghosts and injustice wherever it appears. Each cyborg has a unique special power. Their leader, 009, also known as Hurricane Joe and a well-known race car driver, has superhuman strength, resists bullets and can accelerate through time. Together the team faces a long line of foes, from robotic crabs and aliens to other cyborgs, in action-packed science fiction about defending Earth.