| 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 |
| Demographic: | Shōnen |
| First: | November 1989 |
| Last: | November 2001 |
| Volumes: | 27 |
| Type: | TV Series |
| Director: | Seiji Okuda |
| Music: | Kaoru Wada |
| Studio: | E&G Films |
| Network: | TV Tokyo |
| First: | April 8, 1994 |
| Last: | March 31, 1995 |
| Episodes: | 52 |
| Portal: | yes |
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.
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's opening theme while Mari Sasaki sang the ending theme
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, further stating he wanted everyone involved in the anime production to get a death sentence.[1] It also was aired in TPI (now MNCTV), Indonesia during 1995. As of 2021, the show has not been released in any format.
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.