I have given myself time, rested, occupied myself with other things, and now I feel ready to go into greater depth with my thoughts on Choushinsei Flashman.
Heroes: Jin/Red Flash is a rare breed of Red Ranger, he comes off as very intellectual, contemplative and always reflecting on the team’s situation and how to overcome it, and of the various members of the team his strongest bond is with Sara, who is closest in intellect and disposition to him. Dai/Green Flash is the second-in-command, he has lady-charmer tendencies but by and large his focus is on his training as a boxer. Bun/Blue Flash is the quick fun-loving survivalist, he has a child-like temperament and is the one who most yearns for a mother’s love. Sara/Yellow Flash is the smart one and between her attractiveness and her acting it is easy to see how she became so popular and hence why things were tweaked near the end to increase the focus on her. Also, it is really obvious that she is crushing hard on Jin and I do not blame her in the least. Ruu/Pink Flash is the tough one, though sadly she doesn’t get much real focus. The Flashman team comes off a lot like family without actually being one, and so the bonds and chemistry between them all are very strong, and a lot of comedy and drama gets milked from their status as outsiders.
Villains: I love the setup with the villains, I love the fact that creating the various monsters of the week is the point, it’s not just franchise conceit or what have you. As to the villains themselves, Ra Deus has a very regal and commanding presence, and as his name would suggest he is very powerful, arrogant, and it is all about him. The Great Doctor Lee Keflen is shrewd, calculating, and very prideful, prone to chastising others for arrogance or other flaws while blind to those same flaws in himself, and he ends up with a very nice rivalry with Sir Cowler when he shows up. Speaking of, Sir Cowler is amazing, he and his Alien Hunters damn near steal the show; he has a genuine fondness for his followers and takes care not to throw away their lives, and while certainly evil he has an honest nobility that can be respected. Ley Wanda is pretty good, his rivalry with Jin is one of the better ones in the franchise. Ley Nefel is great, she has an almost compulsive need to disguise herself when on missions even when this would be completely unnecessary. Wulk, Kilt, and Ley Galus are mostly just brute force, but they’re good at that. Bo Galden is odd as he enters very late in the series, it’s as though the writers realized it wouldn’t be a good idea to have Cowler completely alone in his final episodes and so they pull this guy out of nowhere; mind, he’s a very good companion for Cowler and he sells their bond very well so I’m not complaining.
Supporting Characters: Mag is indeed a genius robot and is one of the better robot buddies in the franchise. Dr. Tokimura and his family are great recurring characters, and I really enjoyed seeing Dr. Tokimura and Mag becoming BFF. Ley Baraki was a very well done villain-turned-hero, his heroic sacrifice in bringing the team the Flash Titan and trying to deliver the Hero Titan’s message to them was quite moving. On the whole, the guests of the week were good and helped to develop the story and heroes without taking up too much time to themselves.
Story: Flashman’s story is a creative and high-concept one that starts off with a bang and just keeps going, racking up more drama and intensity as it goes along, almost all of it focused on our heroes, making the conflict feel very personal. The story is well-paced and knows when to lighten the mood so that the viewer doesn’t become numb to the drama. However, there is a gaping plot hole near the end that is just sloppy.
World Building: The Flashman universe is an intriguing one with both the Flash system with both its power and weaknesses, and the Mess empire that has been around for hundreds of years.
Cinematography: I have to be entirely honest; even for the era, the effects used in Flashman are laughably bad, especially when they try to have Ruu flying around. The fight scenes are pretty good though, and the mecha sequences are among the best of the 80’s.
Costumes: I love the aesthetics of this show, the Flashman suits, their civilian clothes from the Flash world, the designs for the villains especially Ra Deus, and the Mecha are really nice too. My only problem is that after the Sir Cowler/Flash Titan arc, the team starts wearing these really ugly Earth clothes that are just really ugly and not pleasant to look at; granted they eventually get better outfits, but still.
Music: The soundtrack is nice, but overall nothing all that special save for Cowler’s theme.
Personal Notes: Flashman comes off as a thematic follow-up to Changeman; Changeman’s greatest strength was with the drama of its Alien characters and their desire to return home, and so Flashman took that drama and gave it over to our heroes, who were abducted from Earth and spend much of the series searching for their families. As such the scope feels much smaller and less epic but in return the team feels much more central to the drama of the story.
In the end, Flashman is now my new #3 favorite Super Sentai, displacing Gekiranger.
