[DreamSword]

FINAL THOUGHTS ON CHANGERION

Someone once described Inoue's' style of writing to me as "only big swings."

And if you ever felt the desire to get evidence for that claim, you really need to look no farther than Super Shining Hero Changerion.

Granted, I'm not familiar with too much of Inoue's' works outside of the Kamen Rider franchise, but I'd be more than willing to bet that out of all things Inoue, Changerion is the most "Inoue" show he's ever had a hand in.

Because really, I think that the entire purpose of this show was to just swing for the fences in every which way. Playing with various toku tropes in every way possible and gunning for the most over the top results possible very much seem to be the mission statement here.

Does it always work out? No. Does it result in the greatest tokusatsu show ever devised? No. Does it even make any sort of sense half the time? No. But does it result in one of the most wild rides of a TV that I've ever experienced? Oh you'd better believe it. Sure, the lows of this show are super low, but really, at the end of it, I don't know if I'd change a single thing Changerion has to offer.

The main appeal is of course the absolute fever dream I experienced with about 70% of the episodes, but even disregarding that, there were other aspects that were rather endearing in their own right. The character development for most of the cast was handled rather well for the most part, and the cast in and of itself was always very likable and fun to watch overall. The plot wasn't always great, and is sometimes even forced, but it was the sort of thing I never minded much.

With all that said, while I do find it a shame that the show got cut short of its initially planned 52 episodes, I also totally understand why the ratings for this were never going to be great. From what I understand, Changerion was marketed towards children, with some typical toyetic traits to go along with it, and yet the show's' primary focus relies on alot of meta and adult humor and commentary that kids really aren't going to get. It's not even like there were alot of actions scenes to make up for it either.

But even despite that the primary style of the show never got lost, and that's something I actually respect, and at the end of it all, I really do think that Changerion is Inoue's' best work. Yes there were aspects I didn't like, such as most of the romance episodes, but not once did I feel as though the entire show got ruined or that the bad outweighed the good such as in Kamen Rider Faiz. So with all that in mind, my final rating for Changerion is a very solid 4/6. It's not the best roller coaster ride I've ever been on, but it was a damn fun one, and I'm glad I got to experience it.