[Fish Sandwich]

Jetman 38-39:

Takahiko Masuda adds one last new writer to the show, providing the script for 38, and absolutely nothing else for Super Sentai at all from what I can tell. (Plenty of other toku credits on stuff like Ultraman and Metal Heroes though.) I don't know if it's a masterpiece of Sentai storytelling so good there was no point trying to top it, but it's certainly not so bad you'd never want the guy back at all, either. It's maybe a bit of a basic story, if I wanted to put it critically. Just something that's hitting the important notes without too much flair, but you know, it's hitting them well. You've got a central guest character in the form of a scientist who's an old friend of Ryuu's, envious of how much cooler a life his buddy leads than his boring research job, and he grapples with selfish temptation before ultimately realizing his own value and growing as a person and all that. So there's a clear arc to the plot, and clearly defined stakes with the heroes attempting to analyze a piece of Vyram technology to reveal some kind of weakness, and the Vyram themselves attempting to put the brakes on that plan before their secrets can be exposed. You know what everyone in this narrative wants, and that's a point of praise for it, but it just lacks a little *something*, I guess. Even an invisible chameleon monster whacking people with a big hammer doesn't quite elevate it enough, awesome as that monster is. This is a very serviceable episode that I can't help but feel isn't quite as lively as I'd like.

39 is an extremely lively episode, and Naruhisa Arakawa's very last go at writing Jetman. He went out with a bang, as far as I'm concerned. Gai and Grey head to the casino to face off in a game of chance, with the lives of the other Jetmen as the prize. There. All it takes is one sentence plainly describing the broad premise, and you can probably already tell how awesome this one is. So right from the very concept, it's already a winner of an episode, and the execution does its best to live up to that. Which isn't hard, because just like Grey revealing his two-headed coin at the start, it quickly becomes apparent how much Arakawa has set things up so he can't possibly lose. That fundamental clash of personalities at the center here is already inspired, for one thing. Grey's most interesting gimmick is that, despite being a robot, he's always been the most humanized of the Vyram generals in a way, being shown throughout the series to enjoy the finer things in life, and that makes a gambling showdown with Gai a natural fit for both characters. It's awesome watching them both in action, each trying to bust out their own unique tricks to gain the upper hand. (I adored Grey mathematically calculating the outcome of a roulette spin using his supercomputer of a robot brain, for an easy example.) I guess there's not much more I even need to say that I haven't already. This one is just great. Arakawa came up with a stellar concept, wrote a script that was filled with fun and interesting plot beats (Tetra Boy plays an amazing role here), and the results speak for themselves. Again, I think even back this early in his career, you can tell Arakawa has a serious talent for writing Super Sentai. His handful of episodes for Jetman were consistently some of the most vibrant and fun of the entire series.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

More Fun Fact: Tranza isn't Hirose Yutaka's first time as a Sentai villain, nor his last. He was also Ley Wanda of Flashman and Doctor Kemp of Liveman and he later portrayed Ryo's rival Jin in an extra violent Inoue-written arc of Dairanger.

More neat!