[Fish Sandwich]

Jetman 36-37:

Inoue has the team in such an unexpectedly stable place by 36 that he decides to take them all on vacation. And they actually manage to mostly just have a good time! Nobody is throwing punches at each other or running off in emotional fits or anything. It's all really mundane antics, complete with a mandatory gag where role-model of role-models Gai tries to catch a glimpse of the women of the team while they're bathing. Remember kids, if Gai says something is a really good idea, nine times out of ten, it's a really bad idea! For as much as this episode emphasizes how the team is currently *drama*-free, at long last, scenes like that sure highlight how childish these characters can still be. They should maybe take a page from Tran, who... well, I mean, he thinks he's plenty mature, anyway. I don't think I've talked about Tran at all yet? He's just a little kid with a ridiculous techno-wizard looking costume, but like the other three Vyram generals, he's got a lot of presence, and is fun to watch in action. The issue with him is just that, compared to the other three, he tends not to be driving much action at all, and that comes to a head here, with Radiguet, Maria, and Grey all deciding it's the perfect day to make fun of Tran for being a dumb ineffectual kid. I mean, he's not even important to the plot, right? Like any prideful Sentai boss character, he doesn't take insults well, and sets off to ruin the team's vacation with a somewhat gruesome plan involving mind-controlling ants, and lots of things people aren't supposed to be eating whole getting eaten whole. The episode is essentially one last big hurrah for Tran's actor, because when his plan inevitably fails like always, and the other villains ridicule him some more, Tran runs off to sulk in a cave, and gets so angry, he turns into an adult. Which is a completely logical turn of events. I mean, I'm sure that exact situation has happened to all of us.

So yeah, the premise for 37 should be pretty obvious. I think the really amusing thing about the newly matured Tranza is that his game plan for proving how much better he is now still reeks of a child's line of thinking? I'm not sure how deliberate that is, but like, the early stretch of the episode is literally him going up to the men of the Jetmen one by one to show them up at their own games. He's WAY better at fighting than Ryuu! He gets WAY more chicks than Gai! And he can even eat WAY more food than Raita! See how COOL he is now? (He presumably doesn't bother proving his superiority to Ako and Kaori because girls are icky and have cooties.) Honestly, I think the new actor's more subdued performance, at least so far, is a lot less compelling than he used to be, but everything about the way Tranza is written, I thought was great. He's absurdly cocky, physically strong enough to boss everybody around without feeling like he's actually matured enough mentally to have earned that in any way. Despite the setup of him being treated at the runt of the litter prior to his transformation, Tranza doesn't inspire a lot of sympathy. He's just the newest jerk in line acting out, and him arrogantly declaring himself the leader of the Vyram flips the script right back around to make the other three feel like the ones more worth rooting for. After all, Radiguet's the real underdog here. People keep trying to undermine him, and he always winds up back on top through his own hard work, rather than miracle cave transformations, or whatever nonsense got Tranza where he is now.

Real fun set of episodes, all around. There are a lot of nice little moments throughout Inoue uses to keep the momentum going that are hard to touch on in a broad summary, as well. You get a great feel for where the overall story is at right now, and also several small hints of where it's going, like the first clear signs of how much trouble Gai and Kaori are going to have maintaining an actual romantic relationship beyond the initial impassioned declarations of love. Like I said, the team is *drama*-free, currently. But there's all sorts of drama just waiting over the horizon, and this two-parter makes for a smooth transition into a new chapter for the series.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

Me, having been stalled out for weeks on Kiramager, watching Fish marathon Jetman in like 2 weeks

Well, I suppose you could say an obsessive love of tokusatsu is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

(Before you give me too much credit here, I'll remind you of two things though. Jetman is from the era of Sentai where the episodes are 4 minutes shorter, which adds up quick, and while I may be alright at finishing shows, I can be awful about starting them. I've been meaning to watch more than one episode of Ultraman Tiga for like 9 whole years now, just as an example.)