[XW1n5t0nX]

I finally got around to watching Changeman's first episode (TVN's sub of it was off timing wise so I watched GUIS' sub of it. Only episode one from TVN seems to have this issue). And...it didn't leave the best first impression.

My issues with it come from some of the logic on displayed here. Most hilariously bad being that after the team henshin for the first time, Commander Ibuki explains the training session they and the (now dead) other soldiers went through was to determine which five could best handle the role of Changeman. Well the problem with this is that during the training session you can clear as day see our five heroes wearing the henshin device. This is kinda bullshitty to me just on a writing and editing viewpoint. Yes they needed to be saved from the enemies and the Earth Force forcefully transformed them, but it goes against what we hear a minute later. Why not have Ibuki save them with some weapon or smokescreen? Or have him give them the braces then and explain everything later? Having them wear the braces before they were "selected", forcefully transformed, and then have everything explained is really bad writing. I'd get it if they were chosen for courage or whatever and got the braces later and had the EF transform them the first time without it, but, damn.

Going on with this we see the team go from knowing jack shit about their powers to knowing EVERYTHING. I know this is a trope in Sentai, but this is just a case of it being done poorly. They know what the sidearm is called and how to transform it from gun mode to sword mode (which we the audience are never shown). They know the names of their individual/special weapons and how to combine them. They know how to pilot the robo (which we don't even see transform, it just appears). Heck the fight problems get worse in the pacing. The team quickly disposes of the grunts and immediately pull out the special weapon. Then when fighting with the robo execute the final attack after a minute (I hated this with Liveman as well). Where's the tension? They just clean house in the blink of an eye. All this does is make it impossible to get invested into the fight. And yes, this is episode one, they have a lot to cram in. But that's the issue, they crammed shit in when they should have just taken it slower. All we know is what the Earth Force is and why the villains are attacking. Nothing about the characters or anything else. Great.

The only positive I took away from this was the designs for the villains. These are some of the best designs I've ever seen in a Super Sentai. As for Changeman, I can sort of dig the outfits save for the white tanktop like section. And Change Robo...Change Robo sucks. The end.

You know Changeman was a Sentai I've wanted to see for a long time. It was written by Soda who did almost every 80s Sentai. The guy who created fucking Liveman. Changeman in general tends to have this aura of being one of the best seasons. And in one episode I'm questioning if I want to keep watching. Only one other Sentai has managed to make me drop it after one episode (Dekaranger). The fact a season I really wanted to see can make me not want to continue after a single episode, the first nonetheless, is troubling. I'll at least give it to episode five, but dear lord is it looking grim.