Hikarian

Hikarian (ヒカリアン), also called Hikarian: Great Railroad Protector, is a Japanese anime and toy franchise by Tomy.

The first television series, Chō Tokkyū Hikarian (超特急ヒカリアン, lit. "Super Express Hikarian"), is about a series of bullet trains that are turned into robots. The robots, along with two humans named Tetsuyuki Shinbashi (新橋 テツユキ Shinbashi Tetsuyuki) and Minayo Kanda (神田 ミナヨ Kanda Minayo), have to stop an alien invasion. Some of the OVAs even appeared after Tomica VHS tapes.

A second television series, Denkō Chō Tokkyū Hikarian (電光超特急ヒカリアン, lit. "Ultra Radiant Express Hikarian"), was later created. The new series stars a new Hikarian, Lightning West, and a new human lead, Kenta Hijiribashi (聖橋 ケンタ Hijiribashi Kenta).

Enoki Films has licensed the series for an English release. The company has suggested name changes (e.g. Tetsuyuki becomes Terry and Minayo becomes Mina),^[1] but the series is not yet^[when?] available in English, and Enoki may sublicense the series to another company who may decide to keep the original Japanese names, use Enoki's suggested English names, or use original English names.