Dengeki Sentai Changeman: Series review and overall thoughts

[Ultraman_Meta777]

I was thinking of posting this particular thread to try and gather from the fans what they feel about certain programs in the realm of Tokusatsu, for those of us who are still relatively new to the genre and trying to sift through the vast amount of programming that has existed since the 1970's.

I myself will contribute what I can from what I have seen, this includes programs like 'Maskman', 'Dekaranger', 'Garo', 'Kamen Rider Agito', 'Iron King', and 'Super Robot Red Baron'.

But I think for the sake of fairness I'll try to set the topic of discussion each week by picking a series totally at random.

This week: Dengeki Sentai Changeman

I don't know much about the series aside from what i've read on wikipedia:

After already conquering hundreds of planets, the Great Star League Gozma sets its sights onto Earth. To defend the lands in such a great crisis, the military begins a special branch known as the Earth Defense Force, composed of elite members from all areas of the military. Under the supervision of Commander Ibuki, the numerous gathered soldiers of the Earth Defense Force begin a harsh training.

As their first action, the Gozma decide to eliminate those who pose the greatest risk of interfering with their invasion — the military. After a particularly brutal day of training, the Earth Defense Force are fed up with Ibuki's cruel ways and abandon the training session. Soon afterwards they're met with an attack by numerous Gozma troops. Five surviving officers gather together, beaten and exhausted, but refusing to step down from this threat. Just then, the earth shakes and it empowers the five with the Earth Force, enabling them to possess the power of mythological beasts. With the mystical power of the Earth Force and the technology of the military, the Changeman begin their war against Gozma.

This series was broadcast from 1985-1986, and it was a series that came after Chodenshi Bioman (a series I'm hoping to see with English subtitles one day, as I've heard great things about it), and also holds a distinction of being one of the second longest running Sentai programs (the first obviously being Himitsu Sentai Goranger with a whopping 84 episodes).

I shall now open up the floor to anyone who wishes to comment on the series, in particular whether or not you'd recommend this series to anyone else.

 

[Black Fang]

Changeman's appeal comes from the villains more than the heroes. (I think Flashman took the Chamgeman premise and added the extra bit about the heroes that made it a bit more interesting.) Nevertheless, it's definitely in my "Recommended Sentais" list.

Expect Shougo to appear soon and extol this show's virtues in a more detailed way.

 

[Ultraman_Meta777]

Changeman's appeal comes from the villains more than the heroes. (I think Flashman took the Chamgeman premise and added the extra bit about the heroes that made it a bit more interesting.) Nevertheless, it's definitely in my "Recommended Sentais" list.

Expect Shougo to appear soon and extol this show's virtues in a more detailed way.

I'm definitely looking forward to that. The one thing I feel is missing from the internet are detailed reviews of various Tokusatsu programs.

 

[Black Fang]

http://www.freewebs.com/neverstopchangeman/

Shougo's site has detailed episode summaries, so even without subs you can follow along with this and Wiki.

 

[Ultraman_Meta777]

wow. I've just visited the site, and this series really does look awesome. interesting that some of the villains look kinda like some of the villains from Bioman.

 

[Oedipus 3000]

I've loved this show ever since I was a kid. I sucks that there isn't an english sub of it but whatever, the show doesn't definately need them for you to enjoy it.

It certainly is one of the best sentais ever made and in my top ten. there's a few nitpicks I have about the series I understand if someone has about it: they could have done better with the theming (you're change dragon! why don't you do something, ya know, dragony!), the action with the MOTW were always the same (monster shoots laser, they to technique to disrupt said laser, here comes the bigass cannon!) and the names of the villians are somewhat wonky (guuba, Bazoo, Buuba, seriously, was Soba drunk when he named them?).

Otherwise this is a fantastic season and should be watched by anyone who wants to say they're a Sentai fan.

 

[Black Fang]

The best arcs would have to be Nana's maturation/Ahames' power-up, and the last 10 episodes. I think one thing Soda could have done was draw a parallel between Earth Force and the Rigel Aura. (Since the latter seemed to be used as a way for Gozma to one-up the heroes, thus their own Earth Force power-up later on.)

The fact that the villains are all essentially slaves, some of whom actively try to rebel and/or want to return home (And that even Buuba, who was a thug even before joining Gozma, does an ennobling deed in the end), is what clinches the deal. Without that, I don't know if the show wouldn't just be Goseiger-ly generic. If anyone here could tell me, what is it about the heroes themselves that you found most appealing?

 

[Fantasy Leader]

Overall, Changeman is just a really well written and consistent series.

Each episode's story can get very complex and intense, which makes it lots of fun to watch. Even the action throughout the eps are good. Though like Oedipus 3000 said, the final fights of each ep can get a little repetitive.

Changeman is mostly just build up. It starts off by introducing all these different kinds of stories. And as the season nears the end, everything starts to speed up as everything beautifully wraps up. All the way to epic ending. What makes it even better, is that Changeman stays consistent. You can tell that everything was very well planned out from the start. Nothing unexpected ever suddenly gets dropped into the series. It's pretty well written. Like, even Ahames gets mentioned very early on, despite not appearing until a little later.

The villains are basically the characters that drive the story. Each of them are very 3-Dimensional, and work for Bazoo, because they are slaves. Each of them has their own stories, and each of them conclude by the end of the series.

As for the heroes, each of the Changeman start off as very immature. The theme of Changeman is "Military life and the struggle of young soldiers. And crisis of war." So you should expect Changeman's stories to revolve around that theme. Unlike most sentai, the Changeman develop very slowly. But they do grow up and mature A LOT. It's a little hard to notice, but after you finish watching Changeman, and then go back to watching the first few eps, you'll notice a huge difference. Each of the Changeman also have fun individual personalities.

So overall, Changeman is and still is an excellent addition to the Sentai franchise, and I recommend it to everyone.

 

[Shougo B'Stard]

(I think Flashman took the Chamgeman premise and added the extra bit about the heroes that made it a bit more interesting.)

As much as I love Flashman, I always felt like they were kinda just...a less intense version of the Changeman team. The Changeman team in a good mood. :laugh:

I think the Changeman heroes are well enough developed on page, but I always give a lot of credit to the five actors for the subtleties they provide -- they really make the characters come alive. It's just spot-on casting, IMO. I give a lot of credit to Haruki Hamada (Tsurugi) himself, who was a dramatic theater actor who held the hero side of the cast together. And I think having two veterans in the cast, like Jun Fujimaki (Ibuki) and Shouhei Yamamoto (Guiluke) made everyone step their game up. But there's little character moments the actors pay attention to -- some things that even happen in the background. I mean, pay attention to Shirou Izumi (Yuuma) some time -- he's always doing something in character, even when the spotlight's not on him. And I think having such a good cast also helped writer Hirohisa Soda step up his game.

I think your problem is...the shows where being a Sentai is the character's job doesn't really give you a peek into their off-duty personal lives, so you have to pick up clues here and there. It's like a cop show that's all business like Law & Order versus a soapy hospital drama. I think Changeman works better than most because of the cast chemistry, and the subtle things the actors provide.

And I do like that the heroes go through a maturation during the series from their experience in the "war." I said this on my site, but I can't think of another Sentai show where even the cast looks so visibly aged from the start of the series to the end.

And your suggestion that the show has potential to be Goseiger-y generic is just f$*#ng appalling, man. :shakefist Goseiger is just soulless junk.

 

[Ultraman_Meta777]

Wow! I am amazed at the amount of praise, and the detailed opinions given about this series in so short a time.

i'm definitely looking forward to checking this series out.

the one thing that I've found the most incredible about some of the early Sentai programs, particular those from the mid to late 80's and even some from the 90's, is that both the heroes and villains are exceptionally well developed and well acted. some of the post millennial sentai programs also have that same distinction, like Abaranger, Dekaranger and Gekiranger, but some of the more recent ones, like Go-Onger, Shinkenger and even Goseiger, really do look impressive... but seem to be missing that certain something to make them truly excel.

anyway, thanks again, everyone for posting their thoughts and feelings on Changeman. Looking forward to reading more excellent posts in the future.