[Fish Sandwich]

I'm getting around to this a lot quicker than I thought I would, but when you announce Donbrothers is going to be a Super Sentai with Toshiki Inoue as the main writer, I can't help but feel it's time to give Jetman a proper watch through. It's like a celebration of the return of a legendary writer after all this time! Or maybe I'm just trying to immunize myself against his style in preparation for what's to come! Perhaps even both! You just never know with this guy, do you?

Jetman 1-3:

I'm not gonna lie though, I really am digging the whole vibe of Jetman so far. I can't speak to how tiring this might get by the end of the show, but right now, I feel like it kind of transcends the question of whether its good or bad, because before it's any of that, it's already interesting, either way.

There's just so much about this series that even now, it's like "man, I can't believe they're doing this in Super Sentai." Gai is almost comical in how much of an anti-role model he is, and I found his dumb macho rivalry with Ryuu in these first few episodes consistently entertaining. I've said before that the central concept of Jetman being a single normal hero dragging along four random people always seemed appealing to me, and the way Ryuu's straight-laced, earnest selflessness causes his mere existence to offend the deeply amoral, self-absorbed Gai definitely epitomizes that. It's not often you get a Sentai team where two of the members are beating each other up in a parking garage in the second episode, but things like that are what makes Jetman stand out. Black Condor outright refusing to fire on a monster just to spite his would-be commander is a pretty powerful visual.

Although, that being said, I'm already pretty fond of the other members of the team, too. This is the kind of thing Inoue can be great at specifically because his writing is often so exaggerated: you can kind of tell what everyone's deal is instantly, and everyone feels unique. It's this really nice sample group of people you wouldn't peg as superheroes for completely different reasons. Like, sure, Ryuu's gonna save the world from evil with the help of a womanizing thug, a farmer, a sheltered heiress, and a high schooler. I bet this'll go great! I mean, Gai's already onboard with the group, and I'm sure he'll totally behave himself for the rest of the series.