Key Hunter is a prime-time Japanese television detective series. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973. There were a total of 262 episodes, and it was one of the most popular action dramas in Japan at the time. The story involved "Key Hunter", a special clandestine unit of the International Police, which endeavored to solve various crimes. "Key Hunter" was a unique TV show, which started out as a grand scale spy thriller never before seen in Japan. The episodes were individually themed on global crimes and political strife. The initial hardboiled theme later evolved to include intellectual elements involving action, and occasionally with comical elements as well. Tetsuro Tamba starred in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice as Japanese Secret Service agent Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond. This role greatly influenced his image in "Key Hunter".

Cast & crew

Kinji Fukasaku

Director

Junya Satō

Director

Tetsuro Tamba

黒木鉄也

Yoko Nogiwa

津川啓子

Hiroshi Kawaguchi

吹雪一郎

Hayato Tani

島竜彦

Sonny Chiba

風間洋介

Noboru Nakaya

村岡室長

Hiroshi Miyauchi

壇俊介

Eiko Ookawa

Tadao Nakamaru

T

Takayuki Akutagawa

(voice)

Hiroyuki Nishimoto

R

Ralph Jesser

Jun Negami

N

Nobuo Kawai

H

Hiroaki Tanabe

(as 田辺進三)

R

Riki Gonoue

Rikiya Yasuoka

H

Hachiro Misumi

Michiko Tsukasa

Iwao Dan

Seasons

262 episodes

Season 11968 · 262 episodes