Ginga Sengoku Gun'yūden Rai

• Name — Thunder Jet: Raiders of the Galaxy Empire • Ja Kanji — 銀河戦国群雄伝ライ • Ja Romaji — Ginga Sengoku Gun'yūden Rai • Genre — Science fiction, Space opera

• Type — manga • Author — George Manabe • Publisher — Kadokawa Shoten MediaWorks • Magazine — Comic Comp Dengeki Comic Gao! • First — November 1989 • Last — November 2001 • Volumes — 27

• Type — TV Series • Director — Seiji Okuda • Writer — Jinzō Toriumi • Music — Kaoru Wada • Studio — E&G Films • Network — TV Tokyo • First — April 8, 1994 • Last — March 31, 1995 • Episodes — 52

• Portal — yes Ginga Sengoku Gun'yūden Rai is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by George Manabe. It was first serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comic Comp Magazine beginning November 1989 up to January 1993. The series transferred publication to MediaWorks's Dengeki Comic Gao! magazine from February 1993 to November 2001. The series focuses on Rai Ryuga, a young courageous warrior who seeks to unify the cosmos in a war against other two powerful forces. The series borrows heavily from events of the Sengoku period and events from the Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. An anime adaptation of the series aired on TV Tokyo from April 8, 1994, to March 31, 1995. It was known outside Japan as Thunder Jet: Raiders of the Galaxy Empire.

After the collapse of the Sacred Galaxy Empire, a battle for control of the Milky Way Galaxy breaks out among the warlords. From the chaos emerges a young courageous warrior, Rai Ryuga. He is a fearless warrior to his foes but to others, he is a gentle soul, dependable and loyal. Two powerful forces aspire to reign over the entire empire: Hiki Danjo, ruler of the Northern Region of the Milky Way, and Lord Masamune, ruler of the Southern Region. Rai sees the ensuing battle and ponders the ultimate goal: to battle against other factions in order to reunify the Milky Way under one ruler and that one day he will bring peace to the galaxy.

• Rai Ryuga • Shinichiro Ohta (Audio Drama), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Anime) • The protagonist and hero of the series. He joined the Army of the Kingdom of Gojo as a Private, but he was quickly promoted to platoon leader and, later, as battalion commander after successive victories in critical battles. • Unkai • Yuu Shimaka • A 34-year-old monk born in the same planet as Rai. He has tremendous physical strength while being very loyal to him. • Tasuke • Kappei Yamaguchi • A 14-year-old boy who tags along with Rai and Unkai. Often seen using a gun during battles. • Lan-Lan • Sumie Baba • A little girl who serves as an attendant for Shimon, she is also a younger sister of Kagyoku. She loves and trusts her very much. In the end of the manga, she becomes Soukuka's wife.

The original manga is released in November 1989 up to January 1993 and was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comic Comp magazine. The manga is compiled into 6 tankobon volumes on its first released. The series then moved to MediaWorks's Dengeki Comic Gao! and ran from February 1993 to November 2001, compiling the series up to 16 tankobon volumes. The entire manga series is later available in both Kadokawa's BookWalker app in Japan and in Amazon's Amazon Kindle app.

The anime adaptation of the manga was animated by E&G Films and aired on TV Tokyo in Japan from April 8, 1994, to March 31, 1995. Seiji Okuda directed the series with scripts written by Jinzō Toriumi. (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Yatterman) Norihiko Tanimoto performed the series' opening theme "Ikazuchi Densetsu" while Mari Sasaki sang the ending theme "Yume Kesshō" In 1993, one year before the anime aired on TV, the president of Kadokawa Shoten Haruki Kadokawa was arrested for instructing photographer Takeshi Ikeda, a close aide, to smuggle cocaine from the United States on several occasions. He was charged with smuggling and embezzling money from his company in order to fund the drug purchases. The arrest resulted in Kadokawa's anime productions to be produced under lower budget to studios such as E&G Films. Because of this incident, George Manabe has voiced a dislike for the anime adaptation. It also was aired in TPI (now MNCTV), Indonesia during 1995. As of 2021, the show has not been released in any format. • Episodes

A hybrid real-time strategy turn-based video game adaptation was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System by Angel (Bandai) exclusively in Japan in 1996.

The anime adaptation enjoys a cult following in the Arab World thanks to the Arabic dub produced by Venus Centre. It was aired, dubbed, on the kids TV channel "SPACETOON", and known as Hazeem Al Raad هزيم الرعد.

In The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the show is described as inspired by events of the Japanese Sengoku period and Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, incorporating feudal Japanese and Chinese customs and transplanting historical warlord conflicts into a Space Opera setting, with "a dose of Military SF thrown in for good measure". The series' tone and visuals favor romanticized spectacle over scientific realism. The entry also notes that the show that became very popular in the Middle East, and was also popular in Latin America and China, but still remains virtually unknown in the West, where it was never broadcast. For English audiences, it can be seen as an example of a "lost" space-opera, one of the few longer 1990s anime that still lack a decent English release or even a fan translation.