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~Fish's Zenkai Tour!~
Episode 9 – Dengeki Sentai Changeman https://i.imgur.com/D7yYLQI.png Most of what I knew about Changeman comes down to how insanely catchy that theme song is. Easily one of the best in the franchise, even now. And yet, somehow, in all the time I've felt that way, I'm pretty sure I never realized the singer is Hironobu Kageyama? Like, no wonder it's so awesome then, right? So as you can tell from me missing things that obvious, there's a whole lot about this show still for me to discover. I have a vague understanding now that Changeman is a rather well-regarded series, being part of the string of Sentai from main writer Hirohisa Soda that made huge strides when it came to introducing more engaging and complex drama to the franchise. Apparently it's even a favorite for Soda himself, which is cool and all, but of course, now I'm starting to talk about the series as a whole, when I'm supposed to be speaking for the one episode I've actually watched. That one episode was pretty cool. Changeman shoots for a heavy military theme, kinda taking things back to those early cool organization days, which really shines a spotlight on how much the franchise had already evolved. It doesn't feel like some huge retread of the premieres of the first few Sentai, and even more impressively, it also doesn't feel like a rehash of the premieres Soda had been writing the previous few years. Instead, it's got elements from both mixing together to make something rather fresh for the time. I think the plot point that sums it up best is that the protagonists are introduced undergoing impossibly tough training exercises for their cool organization, which is very old-school, but they're immediately shown chafing under the inhuman expectations, getting so fed up they straight up call it quits and walk off, which is a very, very new-school behavior for a tokusatsu hero. There's a casual human vulnerability to that I really liked. Another great instance of very smartly executed blending of the old Sentai flavor with the emerging new style is that there is once again a scene of the team getting their mission exposited to them by a commander character in a room... after the team has transformed for the first time, which does the Bioman routine of having them terrorized by mooks until gaining mysterious superpowers to turn the tables – a routine that, as I mentioned last time, is basically objectively exciting. The mooks themselves are these amazingly freaky snot goblin dudes, too, which is a natural enough segue to toss in a mention of how appealingly unappealing I found the monster aesthetics. There's a very clear emphasis on making the alien invaders look fleshy, which I think is maybe the grossest sounding adjective I can think of to properly get across how much they nailed what they were going for. It's the kind of thing where a lot of kids were probably genuinely frightened by some of those close-up shots. I will say that this premiere didn't grip me quite the way Bioman's did. I'm all the more appreciative of that bold cliffhanger after going right back to the heroes riding off while the narrator says words to the effect of "please tune in for 50 or so more weeks of this." Which, you know, again, nothing wrong with that, and those are some cool bikes to ride off on, but there are aspects of Bioman's debut I definitely enjoyed more. Still, that's all a matter of personal preference more than anything, and I was even more impressed than Bioman when it came to how much you could feel the franchise gradually redefining itself. Changeman is a rather fitting name when there's all this change, man! This isn't a show I'm particularly eager to get around to like some others, but I have a feeling it will impress me when I finally do. |
Is it just me or are the Ranger suits wearing tank tops?
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I always consider this Shiro Izumi's Malcolm in the Middle and Zyuranger his Breaking Bad because of obvious reasons. :lolol
That said, it is fun to see Izumi play a polar opposite to Burai in the show as the more upbeat Yuuma/Change Pegasus. Quote:
In reality it is sewen to the suit, not a separate piece, but it occasionally gets brought up I feel. :lolol |
I'm currently up to episode 14 of Gokaiger. I almost forgot how so damn fun this series is.
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The most I recall off the top of my head about Changeman’s first episode is the training scene, sheerly for how damn OTT it came off as.
And in another behind the scenes fact, this series was the suit-acting debut for Richi Seiike and Jiro Okamoto (who were playing grunts at the time, but that soon changed), and the first regular suit-acting jobs for Yuichi Hachisūka and Yoshinori Okamoto, after some guest spots in the previous season (Hachisūka is playing Change Phoenix, while Okamoto is playing and voicing Adjutant Booba, for anyone interested. |
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... and that's about all I know! It's another one of those Sentai that interests me and I want to get to, but partly because of that I'm actively avoiding information about it. It's part of what made Dynaman so fun for me, after all! I'm glad to hear it's following the streak of Showa Sentai really hitting its stride, even if said Showa era was ending in a few years |
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I didn't touch on the suit designs, but while I can respect them realizing Bioman was so good they should just do it again, for whatever reason, I don't like them quite as much. They seem more refined in a lot of ways, but— man, I guess I just REALLY am that drawn to Bioman? It's like I keep subconsciously attempting to steer this discussion back a series without even trying. :lol Quote:
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i really like Changeman. i think my Sentai sweet spot is everything from Bioman to Liveman.
anyway, i'm currently watching Kiramager. i watched the first five episodes when they originally came out... but my computer died and i just never got back into watching it. till now. |
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