Toho's best known live action show internationally, Zone Fighter was Toho's answer to the rising popularity of television in the 1960's and 1970's in Japan, particularly the show Ultraman. Zone Fighter boasted some of the top names Toho had to offer in the genre for its production, including directors Ishiro Honda, who directed the bulk of the episodes, and Jun Fukuda. The show also featured a rather modest budget, all considering, with special effect work by Koichi Kawakita and Teruyoshi Nakano.

The main story of the series documents the adventures of the Zone Family after landing on Earth, following the destruction of their home world, Peaceland, by the Garoga Forces, a hostile alien race. The Garogas also venture to Earth, and attempt to conquer the planet. However, their efforts are foiled time and time again by the Zone Family, using their inherit powers along with a variety of gadgets and vehicles at their disposal. The Garoga's preferred attack tactic, though, is the use of their genetically created creatures, almost always of immense size, calling for the oldest brother to change into Zone Fighter, a large being of extraordinary power, to do battle with the monsters.

The Zone Fighter series is most renowned for featuring three of Toho's better known characters in several episodes: Godzilla, King Ghidorah and Gigan. Godzilla appears in five episodes in total, King Ghidorah in two, and Gigan in one. Staying true to the nature of the Godzilla films at the time, the King of the Monsters appears here as Zone Fighter's ally, while King Ghidorah and Gigan both face off against the title character on separate occasions.

Unfortunately, the Zone Fighter series appears to have found its closure prematurely. Toho's live action shows tend to feature less episodes in a given season compared with other studios endeavors, but even by Toho's standards the number of episodes here is noticeably less. The lack of any real conclusion to the show has also raised speculation that the show's cancellation happened on account of the Oil Crisis in 1973. An event that also caused the cancellation of several other shows in Japan. However, it should be noted that the final episode of Zone Fighter aired in September of 1973, while the Oil Crisis didn't really hit its peak until October of that year.