[Fish Sandwich]

Jetman 30-32:

Another trilogy of episodes from Inoue kicks off with a bang in 30, as two hapless civilians wandering into a cave accidentally release an ancient demon from his slumber, which is the kind of thing that never ends well for anyone. Even the demon himself is having a rough time of it, because all the killing he's doing (like those two guys in the cave, who die) isn't even helping his own goal. He tries fighting a boxer (who dies), and a traditional Japanese swordsman (who dies), but it's not until he meets the Jetmen that he discovers a true warrior of the modern age whose blood can be used in a sinister ritual to resurrect his two demon masters. Kinda sounds like the plot to yet another crazy guest writer episode, but Inoue has a few tricks up his sleeve. First of all, having these new villains that are completely disconnected from the Vyram allows them to also be in conflict with the show's regular villains, on top of the heroes, and for reasons I'll get into later, I think Radiguet in particular is always at his best when other antagonists come along to challenge him. So that puts a spin on the usual formula for a while. Second, and much more importantly, for all the talk of demons with the bad guys and manufacturing new giant robots with the good guys, this is yet another episode that's at least as focused on people, as tends to be the case with Inoue's scripts for this show. Namely, this is the episode where Kaori officially falls for Gai after all this time. Credit where credit is due, the show actually did put in the work to get us to this point. The whole reason Kaori was interested in Ryuu to begin with was because he exudes nobility, and while Gai never shows that on the surface, there have regularly been notable instances of him looking out for Kaori in particular, whether by providing emotional support, or by risking life and limb to protect her physically. (Both of which he does in this one episode.) The obvious catch there, that Gai himself freely points out, is that it isn't actually kindness if you're doing it to be rewarded, but I can completely buy from Kaori's perspective why she would start looking at Gai the way she does now. I also really liked the actual scene at the end properly cementing the change in their relationship. It's just this completely wordless moment of them sitting under a tree, with Kaori reaching out to hold Gai's bandaged hand from his earlier rescue of her, and it's another thing I imagine people who don't gel with Jetman finding super overplayed and melodramatic, but I sort of disagree. I mean, it's certainly melodramatic, of course (which I wouldn't call a crime in a soap opera), but it's also the kind of scene I can imagine some executive yelling at the staff to basically dumb it down further to talk down to the children watching. To have a scene like that, carried as it solely by the (nicely shot!) visuals and the music, it stuck out to me as another thing I don't see all the time in Super Sentai, and I thought it was a standout moment from an episode that already had a fair bit going for it.

Things only continue to heat up in 31, between Radiguet successfully reviving the other two demons himself to (unsuccessfully) make them his servants, and the ramifications of Gai and Kaori becoming a couple. Starting with that first thing, I was way into the dynamic with the villains here. There's a great gimmick to the demons where they immediately refuse to serve the Vyram in opposition to their desire to wipe out humanity, but like, there's clearly no chance of these two being anything but equally evil, so for the first stretch of the episode, it's a matter of finding out what exactly they find so "wonderful" about the species, and why they're going around saving people from deadly accidents. Turns out we're just a very nutritious part of their diet! I'm honestly surprised how into these dudes I ended up being. They have no right to feel like as natural a part of the plot as they do, but the way they're out to get all the series regulars as this self-motivated third power genuinely added a lot of momentum to the plot. Again, it's always nice watching Radiguet trying to pull a scheme together even as his fellow commanders mock him for his repeated failures. Maria even decides to take things into her own hands, but before I get to that, I need to mention how Gai and Kaori straight up miss out on a fight because they were busy dating. This understandably prompts a chewing out from Ryuu, who gives the usual spiel about the need for self-sacrifice in the name of the greater good, complete with a line about how Gai's attitude is disrupting the team's unity, which I have to admit is a little rich coming from someone who is himself failing to understand or properly empathize with Gai's own point of view. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Gai ends up turning in his transformation braces and running off with Kaori after this. This is Jetman, though, so even something as massive as the team breaking up is only a portion of the *drama* packed into these 20 minutes. Ryuu's own insistence upon keeping personal matters from affecting work gets the most thorough possible test when an attack from one of the demons results in the truth about Maria finally being made explicit. The good news is Rie is alive, and she and Ryuu get to have a touching reunion admidst all this chaos. The bad news is that it doesn't last, because while the team are distracted by the giant robot fight, Radiguet swoops back in to reclaim one of his own, and the episode ends with an extremely distraught Ryuu having his face crushed into the ground under Maria's boot, in what may well be the most effective cliffhanger in this show yet. Lots of people having bad days in this episode, but on the bright side, Tetra Boy gets up and running, and his high-speed fighting style makes the mecha action here a lot of fun.

Heading into 32, everything is going terribly, to put it mildly. Ryuu is in such a state of shock, he's outright rejecting reality to pretend Rie is completely fine; Gai isn't finding freedom as compelling as he expected, and Kaori knows it; and Radiguet is still struggling to make the powers of the demons his own. Starting with that last thing, I totally dig Radiguet? There's this great vibe to him as a main villain, where he doesn't ever feel all-powerful. He *is* very strong and capable, but he's not menacing because of that alone. It's the sense of tenacity that comes across in his actions, and it's particularly apparent in episodes like this. His position as top bad guy is actually extremely precarious, and you see him work to maintain it, in the same way a hero typically works to triumph over a guy like Radiguet. (He even jumps into battle with sword in hand like any cool hero.) For this whole three-parter, he's trying to put together this plan to make the demons his servants, and he's really active about making that happen, even as things keep going wrong, until some particularly devious thinking finally allows him to get what he wants... at least until the heroes inevitably mess that up too. Like I said, they're doing work too. And in Gai's case, it's rather unexpected work, because he of all people ends up being the one who has to snap Ryuu back to reality. The thing is, while I've mentioned before how Gai's primary motivation for joining the team was basically just to hit on Kaori a bunch, the truth of the matter is that from way back in the third episode, it was already apparent that what draws him to the group, so deep down he probably doesn't realize it, is that Gai genuinely respects Ryuu's heroic backbone. He belittles his stuffy ideals constantly, but there's also a part of Gai that's driven to be a better person by the example Ryuu sets. That side of Gai comes out in full force starting as soon as Raita makes the mistake of agreeing how much of a lame hypocrite Ryuu is for immediately letting his personal life get in the way of his job. It doesn't sit right with Gai to have anyone but himself talking smack about Ryuu, and I think it's clear that's because he's worried other people might actually mean it. Even when he confronts a downright delusional Ryuu, he ends up stopping himself short of punching him for once, and instead chooses to simply say that the rest of the team is waiting for him. It's this huge moment for Gai, having essentially got exactly what he initially wanted, to reevaluate what exactly being Black Condor means to him, and as such, by the time Ryuu finally gets over himself, heroically saves the day as always, and caps the episode off by reaching out his hand to shake Gai's, it's not that surprising when Gai chooses to reciprocate with a knowing smile on his face.

Doesn't make it any less awesome, though. You can probably tell from how much I wrote, but I had a fantastic time with these episodes. They smoothly blend the actual Sentai stuff and the romantic drama together throughout to great effect, rather than loading particular parts one way or the other, and the result is the most climactic and exciting group of episodes yet. I went into this show ready to sit here goofing on Inoue for his quirky writing habits, but multi-parters like this have left me genuinely impressed by how well-constructed they honestly are.