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06-30-2023, 09:49 PM | #1 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,399
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Hello all! Welcome to the next step in my year long project of trying out Tokusatsu outside of the Big Three(and Godzilla). For the next 39-ish days we'll be tackling Changerion, a show I only learned the existence of thanks to some unexpected merchandise being made of the main hero a year or two ago.
So what is Changerion? No idea! The only things I know about it are that it was funded by SEGA, created by Toei, and was originally conceived as a Hakaider TV show before getting retooled into something original. I believe it's also written by Inoue, the writer whose works are never contested or controversial at all! He recently wrote DonBrothers! As per usual, the only two rules are to be respectful of other's' insights/interpretations, and to also not discuss spoilers unless you use spoiler tags. Other than that, this is my latest Watch Thread and we all should know the drill. With that out of the way, let's dive into...
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06-30-2023, 09:49 PM | #2 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,399
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Episode 1: A Hero!! Me? What... what did I just watch? So uh, to sum up the basic premise of Changerion as best I can: This is essentially Kamen Rider W if it was written by Inoue. Our lead character is Akira Suzumura, a detective who struggles to make ends meat due to only getting basic jobs consisting of things like finding lost pets. Not to mention having to pay his assistant, Akemi. One day though, Akira seems to get his big break when a local school hires him to figure out the whereabouts of six missing school children. But this case quickly turns into more than it might initially seem, as an alien organization known as DarkZide soon reveals themselves via sentient portal. One thing leads to another, and after a fateful meeting with truck-kun, Akira ends up absorbing the Crystal Power developed by SAIDOC, allowing him to transform into Changerion, and humanity's' biggest hope against the invaders from another dimension. He's incredibly happy about it, but the workers of SAIDOC most certainly are not. If my description at all made the show sound mundane to you, then let me assure that, going by this first episode alone, Changerion most certainly is not. Things start off relatively simple at first, but once Akira gets the job to finds the kids, all bets are off and the whole rest of the episode goes by at what I can only describe as classic Power Rangers pacing, where things get thrown at you so quickly that you barely have any time to process it all. In other words, this episode, and I imagine by extension the show as a whole, is a roller coaster ride, and me? I'm all for it. Sure, this episode is basically all setup in terms of characters and plot, but the atmosphere as well as the seemingly genuine effort to play with superhero tropes of the time(usually in the way of humor via subverted expectations), like with Akira having almost no standard heroic traits to him. Even the school children mock him! And sure, I didn't find most of the humor to be laugh out loud funny, but none of it was annoying. I did get one genuine laugh though. The shot towards the beginning where the schedule says "ENTIRELY EMPTY." Yeah it's basic, but it got a good giggle out of me. And in the realm of ironic laughs, oh man that dated CGI. Let me just say that if I didn't know beforehand that SEGA helped fund this thing, the style of which the CG is done, especially in the very beginning, would've reminded me, say, Pepsiman right away. Pretty sure I've seen the exact portal gif they use in a SEGA game too, though don't expect me to nail down which. The Changerion suit itself is a cool one, though! So... yeah. I dunno what I can really say about this episode in terms of specifics outside of that I had fun watching it, and if the next episode preview is anything to go by, I'm in for a wild ride with this show. You'd better believe I'm looking forward to it if so.
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07-01-2023, 02:53 AM | #3 |
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Join Date: May 2019
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Ah yes, the show where Asakura from Ryuki is the main hero.
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07-01-2023, 03:07 AM | #4 |
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Join Date: Aug 2021
Posts: 1,907
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Funny show and very crazy. Next will be even more fun.
By the way, Changerion was broadcast simultaneously with Gayferd from Toho and Capcom, so in the 96th year the fight between the largest tokusatsu studios and the largest game companies was very hot. |
07-01-2023, 05:49 AM | #5 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,399
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Wait, really? I didn't even recognize him!
Quote:
... I gotta watch that next, don't I?
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07-01-2023, 06:00 AM | #6 |
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Join Date: Aug 2021
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In fact, Changerion became a meme in Japan before the term even existed. So I'm wondering how those in charge of Ryuki decided to cast an actor with a comedic reputation for the role of Asakura.
Quote:
This is the first time I've ever even heard of Guyferd.
... I gotta watch that next, don't I? It's not a bad show. Plus, it only has 26 episodes. |
07-01-2023, 07:14 AM | #7 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,399
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Episode 2: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Brain No, I don't know what that title has to do with the content of the episode. That aside, while things slow down a bit for this one, that doesn't make the events of the episode any less crazy. On its face, the episode concerns itself with a monster that abducts women through possessed shoes, whom he then forces said women to eat in order to fatten them up and eat them. In terms of the setting up of character arcs and overarching plot though, the episode establishes that a guy called Hayami was originally supposed to become Changerion before the accident happened and the powers went to Akira. Akira loves his new powers, but has no interest in saving the world. It doesn't help that the argument SAIDOC tries to use to recruit Akira is a pretty faulty one. The agent lady tells Akira to consider Hayami's' feelings, when Akira barely even knows who Hayami is, and that's about the end of it. This all leads into the two men crossdressing in order to infiltrate a shoe store. What? That's just natural progression to me! Okay, I obviously left out some details, but hopefully you get the idea that I'm gunning for: Just like the first episode, this one escalates and when it does, it does so with gusto. I also gotta say that on a character front, I do like that, despite his jokey personality and general incompetence, I do like that Akira does infact have some honed detective skills, shown when he sets up to kinda Akemi after she's kidnapped by a pair of shoes. It's not like this is some perfect super fun ride though. The ADR throughout the episode is impressively bad, and a big source of the humor in this episode(crossdressing, gay jokes) are ones that certainly haven't aged well. The action side of things is pretty weak too, with the monster of the week being dealt with pretty quickly to the point that it barely counts as a fight scene(also featuring Akira suddenly knowing how to use more of his arsenal). It almsot feels tacked on in the way it's handled. Still, if these first two episodes are meant to establish a sort of pattern for the average Changerion episode to follow, then you know what? The show should end up at the very least be an interesting watch, if not a good one.
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07-01-2023, 10:00 AM | #8 |
Adaptation Writer
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 519
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Not only did Inoue write both this and Donbrothers, Sonoroku from the latter had his armored form based on Changerion.
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07-01-2023, 01:12 PM | #9 |
TokuKnight89
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Central Louisiana (Cenla)
Posts: 2,553
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What little I can add about this entry stems from a review done a while back ago.
https://tokusatsunetwork.com/2021/09...hi-changerion/ |
07-01-2023, 01:28 PM | #10 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,399
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Quote:
Quote:
What little I can add about this entry stems from a review done a while back ago.
https://tokusatsunetwork.com/2021/09...hi-changerion/
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