Thoughts on Bioman

[Black Fang]

I finished watching Bioman yesterday. I can see there were certain ideas that Hirohisa Soda put in that would later be explored again in Liveman. That stuff was the best part about this show. However I think it fell short in some aspects:

1) Pebo says that he wanted to save Earth from the fate that befell Bio, that being science exploited for evil purposes resulting in global destruction. But Doctor Man seems to be the only one who's corrupting science. There are no other examples of how Earth is going the same path as Bio. It's not even that Doctor Man once had like-minded colleagues that he later got rid of to ascend to the top. Furthermore, couldn't someone like Doctor Man appear again? With a vague mission as Pebo's, he'd have to stay on Earth permanently. Unless he thinks the Biomen can do the job by themselves now.

2) All of the stuff about Go's father was very last-minute and rushed. There was never any set up to it earlier in the show, and now suddenly we discover Go has a missing father that's tied to the plot in a big way, and suddenly the issue is human-Mecha Human relations, as though this is X-Men or Faiz. They could've introduced that in the episodes that delved into Doctor Man's origins.

3) The Beastnoids are hit by the same finishers every episode and come out fine, but in the finale they get killed by them? Speaking of which, was Juo's revival a last-minute thing due to popularity? He doesn't get a new body like Psygorn and Metsler do.

4) I thought that the Big Three's memory wipe after their attempted cue would be brought up again, with them somehow regaining their memories or Doctor Man's techniques aren't as foolproof as he thought. (Which was indicated in the Brain episode.)

5) Silva wasn't that interesting. His first three episodes are good, but after that he just appears randomly without doing a whole lot until the very end when Balzion appears. I didn't even know going in that searching for Balzion would be a subplot. Balzion isn't even around that long. On the plus side though, I like how it's the same colors as BioRobo, sort of making it its dark counterpart.

6) Jun and Mika were the only ones who really stood out. The others don't even get much focus until the middle of the show. Go's main trait is that he's very wary. We don't know a lot about Hikaru. Ryuta had some good stuff with Prince, but it never extended to Shuichi all that much, which was disappointing. Shingo had some good episodes but I think he could'e been developed more.

Overall it's a fun show, though it really picks up once Jun comes in and replaces Mika. But I think Liveman was an improvement as far as the themes and characters go.

 

[Hraklea]

1)Furthermore, couldn't someone like Doctor Man appear again? With a vague mission as Pebo's, he'd have to stay on Earth permanently. Unless he thinks the Biomen can do the job by themselves now.

Good point. Does Peebo leaves the Earth at the end? I don't remember.

2) All of the stuff about Go's father was very last-minute and rushed. [...] They could've introduced that in the episodes that delved into Doctor Man's origins.

I don't think it was that bad, honestly.

3) The Beastnoids are hit by the same finishers every episode and come out fine, but in the finale they get killed by them?

Yeah, that was very stupid, in my opinion.

4) I thought that the Big Three's memory wipe after their attempted cue would be brought up again, with them somehow regaining their memories or Doctor Man's techniques aren't as foolproof as he thought. (Which was indicated in the Brain episode.)

Yeah, that was weird as well, but it didn't bothered me that much.

5) Silva wasn't that interesting. His first three episodes are good, but after that he just appears randomly without doing a whole lot until the very end when Balzion appears. I didn't even know going in that searching for Balzion would be a subplot. Balzion isn't even around that long. On the plus side though, I like how it's the same colors as BioRobo, sort of making it its dark counterpart.

I actually like Silva a lot, but I do think the fight against Balzion was too easy, considering all the drama around it.

6) Jun and Mika were the only ones who really stood out. The others don't even get much focus until the middle of the show. Go's main trait is that he's very wary. We don't know a lot about Hikaru. Ryuta had some good stuff with Prince, but it never extended to Shuichi all that much, which was disappointing. Shingo had some good episodes but I think he could'e been developed more.

Agreed.

But I think Liveman was an improvement as far as the themes and characters go.

To be fair, only a few seasons can compare to Liveman.

 

[Dr Kain]

I think Bioman is average at best. I get what they were going for by having there are only be three actual Monsters of the Week throughout the show, but it got repetitive to me. It was a unique idea though, but there is a reason no Sentai show has done it that way since. I also didn't like how they killed off the first Yellow ranger but left her in costume. Yeah, I get that the actress wanted to quit the show, but they should have pulled their contract and made her at least die on screen. As such, the impact of her death is diminished by the lack of being able to actually see her emotions.

 

[Black Fang]

^ Five monsters. It's reduced to three after episode 31. Seeing them over and over isn't bad as long as the fights are interesting. That's one thing Bioman has going for it, at least in the beginning: there's a variety of finishers for both the team and BioRobo such that the action doesn't get boring. (As opposed to most 80s Sentais where every fight ends with the team cannon and robot's one sword strike.) Both Bioman and Battle Fever J are proof that having only one mecha in the show doesn't lead to staleness as long as you give it lots of abilities and moves. Whereas with Sun Vulcan and Changeman, the mecha fights aren't very memorable.

 

[Toku Prime]

I found Bioman kinda difficult to sit through for two thirds of it's run. It improves later on but I'd still recommend Changeman over this any day.

I was a little surprised that Bio Hunter Silva became so legendary although I think I prefer him over his supposed inspiration, Hakaider.

I also didn't like how they killed off the first Yellow ranger but left her in costume. Yeah, I get that the actress wanted to quit the show, but they should have pulled their contract and made her at least die on screen. As such, the impact of her death is diminished by the lack of being able to actually see her emotions.

I thought they fired her because she was really unreliable and kept failing to turn up to work? Regardless, I suspect the relationship between the actress and the crew had really broken down. The way the character basically just staggers from beat-down to beat-down for 20 minutes straight really makes it seem like they were pissed.

 

[DaikaijuSokogeki!]

I love Bio Hunter Silva. The way he shows up randomly in battle and makes the Biomen crap their pants every time was so much fun. As a character, I prefer Hakaider. However, I think Silva is just slightly more intimidating in execution.

There's a lot I enjoyed about Bioman. The music was phenomenal, the fight sequences are all pretty solid (I liked that the choreographers tried to show all five Biomen fighting across a large space in the same shot as much as possible), and many of the episodic plots are delightfully simple but entertaining. The characters are pretty one-note though, and the story is pretty paper-thin (then again, very few Super Sentai don't have paper-thin stories).

Full disclosure: I've only watched the English dub of Bioman and that was almost 10 years ago. I plan on rewatching it someday in its original Japanese language, but I think the dub is not too bad and gets the story across pretty well.