J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai

J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai (ジャッカー電撃隊) is the second Sentai series. It aired from April 9 to December 24, 1977. Unlike most of the other Sentai which start out with a team of 5 members, the JAKQ team started out with only 4. A fifth member (Big One) appeared in episode 23. J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai was not nearly as popular as Goranger, only running for 35 episodes. J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai is the second and final sentai created by Shotaro Ishinomori.

J.A.K.Q. or JAKQ comes from Jack, Ace, King, Queen. The J.A.K.Q. team members are named after playing cards. Their leader goes by the code name of "Joker".

There are no giant monsters or giant robots to fight them in J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai. CRIME uses human sized monsters assisted by masked soldiers called Crimers. CRIME also has bat-winged aircraft called Devil Sharks.

JAKQ was the final Sentai series to use only the Sentai name. Afterwards the name "Super Sentai" was used.

As a Super Sentai
JAKQ was the final Sentai series to use only the "Sentai" name. Battle Fever J was the first series to use the "Super Sentai" name. Prior to the 1995 series Ohranger, JAKQ and Goranger were not recognized as "Super Sentai" series. During episode 0 of the 1989 series Turboranger, Battle Fever J was introduced as the first Super Sentai. Toei's announcement of Ohranger as the 19th Super Sentai series signaled the inclusion of Goranger and JAKQ as Super Sentai series.

It should be noted that even if Goranger and JAKQ were not labelled as Super Sentai during the time that term was introduced in Sun Vulcan's run in 1981, AkaRanger and Spade Ace were part of an official Red Warrior picture.

Although Choujuu Sentai Liveman was officially treated as the tenth Super Sentai show at the time, there was a VHS released at the time of Choushinsei Flashman that had all of the Super Sentai openings, including Goranger's and JAKQ's. Also, during Gosei Sentai Dairanger in 1993, the term "Cho Seiki Zen Sentai" (Super Century All Sentai) was coined as an umbrella term for both, Super Sentai and the Ishinomori shows. It was later dropped in Mirai Sentai Timeranger's run back in 2000 and declared Goranger and JAKQ as part of the Super Sentai franchise.

Plot
Iron Claw is the "Crime Czar" of a global criminal empire known simply as "Crime". With a network of wealthy and influential sympathizers and employing an army of faceless, leather- masked thugs (Crimers) and cyborg/robot assassins, "Crime" seeks to become the most powerful mafia organization in the world.

To combat this threat, INTERPOL organizes a special taskforce to spearhead the efforts to bring Crime to justice. Based in New York, ISSIS (International Science Special Investigation Squad [Kokusai Kagaku Tokusou Tai]) begins to organize its forces around the world to battle Crime. Tokyo ISSIS branch commander, Kujirai Daisuke, proposes a radical experiment to aid his forces in Japan. Taking the codename “Joker”, he recruits four young test subjects to undergo his cyborg enhancement project – multitalented athlete and Olympic Gold medalist Sakurai Gorou, disgraced Junior Walter Weight Champion boxer Higashi Ryuu, critically injured Police Woman Karen Mizuki and clinically dead and cryogenically sustained Oceanographer Daichi Bunta. Surgically altered and given various energy manipulation powers and bionic enhancements, the four youths begin their mission to destroy Crime as the crime-busting quartet code-named "JAKQ – Dengekitai". Later on, uber cyborg and master of disguise Banba Soukichi is added to the team to strengthen their number and step up their attack on Crime.

J.A.K.Q.

 * Main article:J.A.K.Q. (team)

Allies

 * ISSIS
 * Commander Daisuke Kujirai / Joker
 * ISSIS Agents
 * Keiko Hayashi / Agent 7
 * Junko Yamamoto / Agent 8
 * Yoshiko Iijima / Agent 9
 * Agent 10
 * Hime Tamasaburou
 * Himitsu Sentai Gorenger

Criminal Organization Crime
Crime Monsters
 * Shine
 * Boss Iron Claw
 * Big Crime Four
 * Baron Iron Mask
 * General Sahara
 * Captain UFO
 * Hell Boxer
 * Crimers

Arsenal

 * Strengthening Capsules
 * JAKQ Gear
 * Spade Arts
 * Dia Sword
 * Heart Cute
 * Club Megaton
 * Big Baton
 * Big Bomber
 * JAKQ Vehicles
 * Spade Machine
 * Mach Dia
 * Heart Buggy
 * Auto Clover
 * Sky Ace
 * Jack Tank

Cast

 * Goro Sakurai: Yoshitaka Tanba
 * Ryu Higashi: Tairayama Itou
 * Karen Mizuki: Mitchi Love
 * Bunta Daichi: Yuusuke Kazato
 * Sokichi Banba: Hiroshi Miyauchi
 * Iron Claw: Masashi Ishibashi
 * Narrator: Toru Ohira

Stunts

 * Spade Ace/Big One: Jyunichi Haruta (credited as Misao Haruta) and Yoshinori Okamoto
 * Dia Jack: Hiromichi Suzuki
 * Heart Queen: Minoru Yokohama
 * Clover King: Hirohumi Koga

Guest Stars

 * Karen's Father (1): Ousmane Yusef
 * ISSIS Soldier (1): Jyunichi Haruta
 * Police Officer (at airport) (1): Nenji Kobayashi
 * Hayato Kono (3): Kenji Ohba (credit as Kenji Takahashi)
 * Natsuki Kono (3): Etsuko Shihomi
 * Katsuya (9): Hiroyuki Sanada
 * Miki (10): Megumi Shimizu

Trivia

 * For 35 years, J.A.K.Q. held the title of shortest Sentai. This was broken in 2012, with Akibaranger being only 13. However, J.A.K.Q. still holds the title of shortest official Sentai.
 * This series introduces the following firsts in Super Sentai:
 * The first to not feature a Yellow Ranger, followed by Battle Fever J  and Changeman.
 * The first to feature a White Ranger (Big One).
 * The first to feature an additional Ranger joining (Big One).
 * The first to have the boss himself join as a Ranger (Big One), followed by Dekaranger's DekaMaster.
 * The first to not have a Red Ranger lead the team.
 * The only series to start with an even number of Rangers, four. It is likewise the first to start with less than five, followed by Sun Vulcan, Liveman, Hurricaneger, Abaranger, Gekiranger, Go-Onger and Go-Busters, all of which started with three.
 * Uniquely, J.A.K.Q. shares it's distinction of having a four-man team with Abaranger; however things get more complicated from there. Although J.A.K.Q. starts with four, Big One is considered a core Ranger and not an extra thus making their "five" a general five-man team by the end. In Abaranger's case, the series appears to start with three, but Asuka (AbareBlack) is around from the beginning and just doesn't use his power until some time in. Further, the fifth for this season (AbareKiller) is treated as a "sixth-ranger", even though he is technically the fifth like Big One.
 * This is the only series to share an epithet with another Sentai: the "Dengeki" of "Dengekitai" is the exact same as the "Dengeki" of Dengeki Sentai Changeman.