Phantom Agents

Phantom Agents (忍者部隊月光, Ninja butai gekkō) is a Japanese action television series of 130 black and white episodes that aired from 1964 to 1966.

The series was created by Tatsuo Yoshida. The Phantom Agents were modern day ninja working for the Japanese government, mostly against the dastardly "Black Flag" organization. They wore "pudding basin" motorcycle helmets, and in the earlier episodes they ran everywhere in single file, but later graduated to a Toyota Crown Saloon.

The Phantom Agents were armed with ninja weapons such as shuriken and used guns "only as a last resort," as was patiently explained to the only female member in the title sequence of each episode. They had the ability to jump backwards up onto the limbs of trees and could hold a piece of cloth with a brick pattern on it in front of them and thus blend into the wall behind them, becoming invisible to their opponents.

The series starred Joh Mizuki as Phantar, the leader of the Phantom Agents. Other agents included Tugor, Cordo, Zemo and a female agent, Margo (later replaced by Gina). There was also a small boy agent, Tomba. Other agents that joined later in the series were Andar (who seemed to replaced Tugor) and Mundo, who could roll himself up into a bowling ball to knock over the villains. Tugor was killed by a bomb in one of the episodes, leaving behind only a boot that many fans remember as a sad moment in the series. Another agent, Gino, was killed in the first episode.