On the night of September 5, 2026, in a screening room at the UDX Theater in Akihabara, Makoto Sumikawa saw Diana in 4K for the first time. A week later she answered Kyoudai Express's questions about the JAC, Sonny Chiba, the Diana Lady suit and her comeback as Reiko Shiratori.
The screening was billed as Arc Impulse, after the hero's finishing move, and it brought the two faces of Jikuu Senshi Spielvan (時空戦士スピルバン) back to the same room at the Akihabara UDX Theater in Tokyo: Hiroshi Watari, who played Spielvan, and Makoto Sumikawa, who played Diana. The series, part of Toei's Metal Hero line, ran on TV Asahi from June 1986 to March 1987. The event opened its 40th anniversary ahead of the Blu-ray box set Toei Video releases on October 14, with all 44 episodes restored from a 4K scan of the negatives. Sumikawa walked out with one thought, which she puts in her own words below: cement explosions, napalm explosions, fights done by the actors themselves. That, she says, is what tokusatsu, the Japanese genre of live-action special-effects heroes, is supposed to look like.
Before Diana there was an office worker in Tokyo saving her paychecks to pay for Sonny Chiba's school. Sumikawa joined the 14th class of the JAC, the Japan Action Club, in 1983, at its Kyoto branch. She caught the founder's eye during a classroom exercise in which everyone else died from a bullet to the stomach and she chose to take one in the leg and run. The magazine clipping on this page, from a column called TV Jinbutsu Zukan, shows a 20-year-old Sumikawa in a high kick, and the caption lists two years in an office, running, trampoline and a stage debut at Tokyo's Shinjuku Koma Theater. From there came the film Kotaro Makaritoru!, a regular role in the ninja series Kage no Gundan IV and, with no audition, a costume fitting she only understood once she saw the outfit. It was Diana's uniform.
Diana was the first female lead in the Metal Hero series, the partner of Yousuke Jo who transformed into Diana Lady. In the action scenes the armor was worn by Shoji Hachisuka, the suit actor, the performer inside the costume who does the fighting, and Sumikawa says, with a laugh, that she learned to move more gracefully by copying the man who was copying her. After Spielvan came a guest role in Chojinki Metalder, her departure from the JAC and an unexpected offer to play Reiko Shiratori in Kamen Rider BLACK RX under the stage name Jun Takano Maki. Marriage kept her off screen for many years, until she returned to fan events in 2014. Three years ago she visited Brazil for the first time, a country where the series had aired dubbed on television in the late 1980s, and saw fans cry while talking about Diana. The conversation below ends with a request to come back.
01Diana on the big screen, forty years later
"You were very lucky to be part of such a wonderful show!"
Makoto Sumikawa, to the Makoto of 1986This year Jikuu Senshi Spielvan turns 40. On September 5 you joined Hiroshi Watari for the Arc Impulse screening at the UDX Theater in Akihabara, and the Blu-ray box set arrives on October 14. Seeing Diana restored from a 4K scan of the negatives and projected on a big screen, what would you say to yourself on the set in 1986?
On the 5th I watched Jikuu Senshi Spielvan on a big screen and my honest reaction was: "This is so much fun!". The show used a lot of effects you no longer see today, like cement explosions and napalm explosions, and they gave the scenes real punch.
Watari and I both came out of the JAC. Seeing the action and the fights performed by the actors themselves moved me. I thought: "Now this is tokusatsu!". It also made me want to watch every episode again.
If I could say something to myself back then, it would be: "You were very lucky to be part of such a wonderful show!". I would also like to give myself some credit: "You worked hard in that outfit".
02From the office desk to the JAC
"I never liked doing what everyone else did, so I played someone shot in the leg who tries to run away."
Sumikawa, on the exercise Sonny Chiba happened to watchAfter working as an office employee, you entered the JAC training school in Kyoto in 1983. Leaving a steady job for the world of action must have been a big decision. What drove you to make it? Is there a moment with Shinichi Chiba during your training that has stayed with you?
Ever since I saw Hiroyuki Sanada on television, in my second year of high school, the wish to join the JAC kept growing in me. I was sure I would become his colleague. In fact, I started working precisely to save the money I needed to get into the JAC.
I always loved physical activity, and I admired Etsuko Shihomi too. So I pushed myself to make the dream of becoming an action actress come true.
As for my memories of Shinichi Chiba, during an intensive training session at the school there was an exercise on how to react to being shot. Almost everyone played someone hit in the stomach who then dies. I never liked doing what everyone else did, so I played someone shot in the leg who tries to run away.
By coincidence, Chiba was watching at that moment. He praised me, and that is how he came to remember my name.
Later he told me himself that I should quit my job in February to be in the JAC stage show that March. I resigned gladly. After that, everything happened fast: I started getting roles, I was cast as a regular in Kage no Gundan IV, and other opportunities came along. Maybe it was a good thing that I always tried to do something different from everyone else. I also think I was very lucky.
In the JAC of the 1980s there were other women of your generation, such as Motoko Watanabe, Mayumi Yoshida and Yoshie Seki. What career paths were open to women at the JAC at the time? Was there any difference in how women and men were treated or trained?
The 14th class of the JAC was split into a special actors group and a stunt group.
The actors group appeared with their faces showing in TV dramas, plays and films. The stunt group worked as suit actors in tokusatsu productions and did doubling in drama series, among other jobs.
Men and women trained together, with no distinction. The strength exercises at the end of each session were brutally hard (laughs).
03Diana
"The role had already been decided without my knowing it."
Sumikawa, on the costume fitting that turned out to be her castingHow were you chosen to play Diana? She was 18, cheerful and active, but she also had the tenderness to support Yousuke through his hardest moments. In building the character, was there some core you decided never to lose?
There was no audition for the role of Diana. When I finished my part in Kage no Gundan IV and came back to Tokyo, my manager took me to a costume fitting. It was the costume for Diana, in Spielvan. So the role had already been decided without my knowing it.
In building Diana, I thought that, besides showing strength as the first female heroine in the Metal Hero series, she should be a cheerful young woman who supported Spielvan, her childhood friend.
The action director was Osamu Kaneda. Years later you said you would have liked to do more physical fighting, in the style of kung fu films. At the time, how did you handle the expectation that your moves should look more feminine?
The action director was Mr. Kaneda, the president. I was a rookie who had just come in, and I took it for granted that I should follow every instruction I was given. So I gave it everything I had.
I also loved the fight scenes. I remember getting really excited whenever it was time to shoot an action sequence.
04Inside the Diana Lady suit
"I realized how hard it really is to express emotion while wearing a mask."
Sumikawa, on the close-up suitAccording to the records, Diana Lady's action scenes were performed by Shoji Hachisuka, with Motoko Watanabe and Yoshie Seki in the close-ups. At a few points early and late in the series you wore the close-up suit yourself. What was it like to act inside it? How were the visibility, the breathing and the freedom of movement?
I only wore the Diana Lady suit made for close-ups. The field of vision was narrow, and the suit was stiff and made it hard to move. It would be absolutely impossible for anyone with claustrophobia.
I realized how hard it really is to express emotion while wearing a mask. It made me understand how extraordinary the stunt performers who can do that job are.
Did you talk with the suit actors about Diana Lady's moves and gestures? Watching the result of Shoji Hachisuka's work, was there anything that surprised you or that you learned from him?
I did not talk to Hachisuka about the movements. I believe he watched the way I moved and copied it.
When I saw a movement of his that I found beautiful, I quietly copied it back (laughs).
Watching the finished scenes, I thought: "Wow, how graceful!". He seemed more feminine than I was.
05Watari, Mizuki and Soga
"Even today, though he is still my senior and I am still his junior, we keep in touch the same way we did back then."
Sumikawa, on Hiroshi WatariHiroshi Watari, the lead, already had Space Sheriff Sharivan behind him. When did he help you most during the shoot? Forty years on, how has the relationship between you changed?
Watari was my senior at the JAC, but we had a connection from the moment I joined. That is why I could play Diana alongside him without getting nervous.
We could talk about anything, and back then we did a lot of improvised exchanges. In that respect too, I was very fortunate.
Even today, though he is still my senior and I am still his junior, we keep in touch the same way we did back then.
Ichiro Mizuki, who sang the theme song, was in the series as Dr. Ben. What was he like between takes? Do you also remember how Machiko Soga, who played Queen Pandora, carried herself on set?
Ichiro Mizuki and Machiko Soga played characters on the villains' side, so we usually shot on different days and I hardly had a chance to talk to them.
On top of that, I was a rookie and could not bring myself to approach them. Looking back, I wish I had spent more time with the two of them.
06Starting over as Reiko Shiratori
"So miracles like this really do happen!"
Sumikawa, on the call for Kamen Rider BLACK RXAfter a guest role in Chojinki Metalder you left the JAC for a while. Later, a visit to the Toei studios with Motoko Watanabe led to your casting as Reiko Shiratori in Kamen Rider BLACK RX, under the stage name Jun Takano Maki. How did it feel to start your career over at that point?
When I left the JAC and went back to my parents' house, I honestly regretted the decision. The days were boring.
So I was very surprised when a Kamen Rider producer spoke to me at the studio. I thought: "So miracles like this really do happen!".
After a lot of thought, I decided that what mattered most was to be honest with myself and live without regrets. I accepted the role of Reiko Shiratori, even knowing my parents might scold me. That choice was not a mistake.
Since I had already left the JAC once, I was confused when the producer asked me to change my name. But my wish to work on a set again was very strong. So I treated the job as a fresh start. To this day I believe I made the right choice.
07The Brazilian fans
"Please invite me to Brazil again."
Makoto SumikawaYou stepped away after getting married and, from 2014 on, returned to events and screen work. Spielvan aired dubbed in Brazil, and Diana is still much loved here. What would you like to say to the overseas fans who waited decades for your return?
When I took part in an event in Brazil for the first time, three years ago, I was deeply moved to hear Brazilian fans talk, with tears in their eyes, about feelings that intense. It made me recognize all over again how wonderful tokusatsu is.
I am truly a very happy person, to keep receiving your support, with that affection unchanged even after 40 years.
Please invite me to Brazil again. Thank you so much!