The Batman 2021

the ever-reliable and rewatchable Changing of the Zords three-parter:

The members of 1986′s Choushinsei Flashman team!

Red Flash- Jin

Pink Flash- Rou

Green Flash- Dai

Blue Flash- Bun

I’ve talked before about how Super Sentai spread before it ever came to the US as Power Rangers but that mostly focused on Brazil and a bit on South Korea with a digression to the Phillipines.  However, one place I haven’t really mentioned was France, which began airing there in 1985.

The first series to get a French dub was Choudenshi Bioman from 1984.  It dropped the first part of the name to just become Bioman and was pretty much a straight dub.  

The producers even created a French language version of the theme song sung by Bernard Minet.

It was very popular and resulted in more Super Sentai becoming dubbed for the French audience.  This brought over both Hikari Sentai Maskman and Choujuu Sentai Liveman as Bioman 2: Maskman and Bioman 3: Liveman.

Once again, there were French theme songs for these series though they were not just adaptions of the Japanese themes but all new compositions such as the Bioman 2: Maskman:

And here is the theme for Bioman 3: Liveman:

As with so many places exposed to Super Sentai, the popularity of these shows inspired local fan creations and unofficial entries.  The most famous one in France is Jushi Sentai France Five!

And these were the heroes of that series!

green and pink are best friends. society isn’t ready for this though

green and pink are best friends. society isn’t ready for this though

For some reason I don’t know, Japanese people loves insects. Even popular artists have them as pets! When HYDE announced that he have a spider as a pet, I was just… But it has nothing with the review, right? So, forget I said that. Where was I? Ah, yes. Japanese people loves insects very much. And they also loves Western media. Why? It’s hard to explain. Even though Japan is well known to be a country of entertainment (which is actually playing a huge role in worldwide entertainment business) and they sure knows how to make various interesting things all by themselves, they still loves Western stuff. Up to the point when even though voice acting in Japan is much better, they still loves Western voice acting very much. Just because it gives off a nice foreign feeling. Die hard fans from America and Europe will never watch Japanese stuff with dub, but Japan like those. They even have some animated movies that was done in English (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) and Japanese games often have English audio from very beginning. So, Japan loves insects and Western stuff. Keeping this two facts in mind, it’s easy to get why did Toei wanted to make their own adaptation of Stan Lee’s famous superhero Spider-Man (introduced in 1962). Even costume was designed in a way that Japanese people liked. But the most interesting thing isn’t that they wanted to make it. The most interesting thing is that they was able to do it. MARVEL really agreed to give Toei rights to make an adaptation (Stan Lee even traveled to Japan and explained his hero to Toei, even though he never worked on show itself) and it’s sure an unique phenomenon. They quickly reconsidered, though. And that wasn’t very good for them and their reputation. It’s only thanks to MARVEL this series was rare for a very-very-very long time. Just because MARVEL was like “You want to make an adaptation of our comic books series? Sure, no problem! We like sushi, Japan banzai!”, but right after that they started to act like “No-no-no, you can’t release it on VHS, how can we allow that???”. Toei was even unable to put Spider-Man on the cover of the original soundtrack, that’s how much pain MARVEL caused for them, even though they allowed to make a series. Only 27 (!!!) years after MARVEL agreed to let Toei to release Region 2 DVD Set with all episodes (previously, only one VHS was released with two episodes and movie on it and there was no more official releases) in exchange of the rights to broadcast all episodes for free with English subtitles on MARVEL’s website. Talking about being a good partner… But anyway, all that aside, Toei was able to make a series and MARVEL’s way to do things isn’t the point here. Let’s just look at Toei and their adaptation.

Well, first of all, it’s not much of adaptation. Instead, it is… Super Sentai series. Yep, that’s right, Super Sentai series. Without “Sentai” (I’m sure that you know it, but Japanese word “Sentai” means “Squad”) in it, but still. After J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai’s lack of popularity and break up with Ishinomori Shōtarō-sensei, Toei made Spider-Man instead of another Sentai show. Which means that 1978 is the only year when there was no Super Sentai, but Spider-Man instead. But even that isn’t the reason why I said that Toei’s Spider-Man is a Super Sentai series. The reason is - it’s made in the same exact traditions. It’s using the same narrator (Ōhira Tōru-san) and it’s doing things in the same exact way with previous Toei’s tokusatsu. Actually, with this series Toei admitted how important Ishinomori Shōtarō-sensei was for them. A lot of ideas was copy/pasted to Spider-Man from Ishinomori Shōtarō-sensei’s works. From Tetsu Jūji Dan (Iron Cross Army) as main villains (almost the same thing with Kuro Jūjigun, or Black Cross Army from Himitsu Sentai Gorenger) to character design, fights and the way to tell story. Which is the reason why Western fans of Spider-Man usually have a hard time with this series. It’s a totally different thing, different culture. Old school tokusatsu fans will get into it easily, but Western people without experience in such a things will be like “Wait, what???” and it can’t be helped. Toei’s Spider-Man is a Japanese tokusatsu from first to last episode. And to make similarity with Super Sentai series even more obvious, they made some old actors to appear as supporting characters. Miyauchi Hiroshi-san (Aorenger in Himitsu Sentai Gorenger and Big One in J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai), Kazato Yūsuke-san (Clover King in J.A.K.Q) and Mitchi Love (Heart Queen in J.A.K.Q.) will appear as a supporting characters and Spider-Man will use the same suit actor who played Clover King too. There’s more, but I think that’s enough for example. Toei even re-used a lot of old effects, so if you watched Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, you’ll be like “Ple-e-ese, not this street to be destroyed again! We’ve seen it in Gorenger for like a million times already!!!”. But what’s more interesting is that Spider-Man is a very important step for Super Sentai. If you’ll watch Battle Fever J right after J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, you’ll miss a very important step that Toei made in this series. And when I’m saying “important”, I mean important.

So, what’s so important here? First of all, Toei finally learned about how to tell a proper story. You can’t watch the first and final episodes like in Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, or a few main story episodes like in J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai. Story progressing step-by-step now (Tetsu Jūji Dan will try to reveal Spider-Man’s true identity, etc), so, you should learn it this way too. Which is absolutely amazing, because Toei’s series finally feels like a whole thing, not like separate episodes. Even though Toei returned to their “The whole finale in one episode” thing again, which was a step backward in a way, because, unlike J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai’s epic finale, resolution of this series looks a bit briefly. In other hand, finale is a really good written, so, it’ll be wrong to think that it’s a disappointment. It’ll be better as two episodes, but even as is it’s very good. So, even though there’s still a lot of things to polish here, the way of telling the story made a big step forward.

And there’s another huge thing - giant robot. Even though Spider-Man will use a supercar like Ishinomori Shōtarō-sensei’s heroes from previous Toei’s series, and there’ll also be a regular big aircraft (Marveller), Spider-Man will be able to transform that aircraft into a giant robot called Leopardon, that instantly became a legend. Leopardon wasn’t the first transformable robot in history, of course, and not even the only one in 1978 Popy Toys Catalog (There was also Tōshō Daimos. Thought that Takara Toys’ 1982 Micro Change series was the first ones? Boo-boo! Wro-o-ong!), but he sure kicked ass! And he was especially popular, because this time transformable robot was shown not in an animated series, but in tokusatsu. Which means that it was like the robot was a real thing! So, while being popular all by himself and since toys was really well made, Leopardon quickly became a legend. The fact that Toei was unable to use Spider-Man’s image thanks to MARVEL and used Leopardon instead also helped.

Don’t expect Leopardon’s part to be very big though. Toei’s giant robot was more like a proof of concept. Even though Toei introduced a revolutionary idea, they haven’t used it much. Leopardon in this series is more like an alternative for a finishing attacks like Gorenger Hurricane and Big Bomber. He’ll appear only to make one, or two attacks and enemies will barely fight back. Amazing battles of giants is something that will come later. For now, it’s more about an idea that made a revolution in genre. Toei still wasn’t ready for a long action with giants. Actually, they used the same video for most of the scenes with Leopardon and Marveller. And it’s one of the biggest problems of the series. Toei returned to their “let’s re-use the same scene again and again without an end” thing and, since it was almost abandoned in J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, you simply can’t help but scream “Not again!!!” from time to time. They even returned to their bad idea of re-using the same actors in the same series. The actors with memorable appearance that is. “Wait, this guy was killed a few episodes ago, I’m absolutely sure!!!”, time to remember about such a stuff. And since  Spider-Man is two times shorter than Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, which was all about such a things, it’s hard to forgive it. It’s not like it’s killing series in any way, but still, it isn’t a good thing.

The story (it’s fun that I started to speak about it only now, but honestly, there was too many technical things to mention) is yet another thing that makes this series different from American original. I already said that Toei’s Spider-Man is a Japanese series in a heart. And it also means that Japanese Spider-Man is a Japanese hero. Desperate avenger with a broken heart, but kind and bright soul - totally Japanese character. Japanese Spider-Man won’t only fight the villains, he’ll also fight for the other people’s dreams, for their feelings and to make them keep light in their hearts. “Man moved by the dog whistle! Spider-Man!” Words like this will easily make a lot of Western Spider-Man’s fans like “WhatdidIjust???”. That’s the trick about the series. You should have a heart of a five years old kid (Stan Lee, creator of the original American Spider-Man, enjoyed Japanese series very much, because such an artists keeps a heart of a young kids until the very end and that’s what makes them artists), or be a tokusatsu fan (which is actually the same thing) to get into it. If you’ll try to get into it just because you like Stan Lee’s character, you’ll have a hard time. I mean, really hard time. You may even see it as some sort of parody, some sort of comedy show. And it’ll be a totally wrong impression, because it’s actually a dead serious series. Dark and gloomy. Toei’s Spider-Man is a strong willed avenger, who aren’t about to show any mercy to his enemies. And stories that isn’t directly related to the main storyline is also very depressive. Toei actually continued to go in the same way with J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai (and actually re-used some old stories from J.A.K.Q., which is a bad thing), so, if you need some depression, this series will give you a lot. It may be even more depressive than J.A.K.Q., even though it’s hard for tokusatsu to be more depressive. And a lot of deaths isn’t the most depressive thing here. The most depressive thing is how easily villains will break people’s dreams. But, unlike J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, in this series it’s totally good thing. Why? Because as a stand alone thing Spider-Man also totally free of any laws and borders. It wasn’t supposed to put you in a bright mood from very beginning. It was designed as a dark and gloomy story and it’ll be like that from very beginning until the very end (yet again, unlike J.A.K.Q. which became more bright in a second part of the series). Spider-Man’s image worked out very well and helped Toei to create kind, but somehow dark character with a lot of anger inside. Western thing about the fact that superhero should hide his true identity from both his friends and his enemies also became a very nice addition to the show. Toei utilized it really good and it really makes series more interesting.

And acting helps to get into all that even deeper. Even though acting this time is a little tricky matter. The main actors do really good. Todō Shinji (Yamashiro Takuya, Japanese Spider-Man) shown pain in his character’s heart incredibly well, Kagawa Yukie, who played one of the main villains called Amazoness was able to show a real villain, not just a clown in funny suit, while some supporting characters was shown so good that it’s hard to believe that you watch tokusatsu and not a serious, deep and complicated drama. So, what’s tricky about all that? The tricky part is that there’s also some actors who was added just because of their look. Those not only know a single thing about acting, but do like they’re just standing there for fun. They can smile at dramatic moments, or even (God save us!) look right into the camera. Kids in fan-made movies can do the same exact thing. Those are usually foreigners (well, the only people in Japan with no talent is foreigners, can’t be helped), who was supposed to look cool for Japanese people, who, as I already said, like foreign stuff. But since some of those was used a lot, it’s really painful to see such an “acting”. It’s not like it ruins the whole thing, but it feels like Power Rangers happened much earlier and you’ll want to scream “Shoo! Shoo!” each and every time such an “actor” will appear. But, as I already said, most of the important characters do really, really good, so, you’ll feel the whole thing and will suffer and cry along with characters.

But let’s return to the story, because there’s much more to say about it. To make it short - it have absolutely nothing with Stan Lee’s original. Instead, even though it’s a 100% Japanese thing, it feels more like another Western story - Superman. Yamashiro Takuya, Japanese incarnation of Spider-Man. wasn’t turned into a superhero by a bite of radioactive spider. Instead, he was saved by Spider Extract, the blood of alien called Garia, who came to Earth from planet Spider. An alien blood saved mortally wounded Takuya and also gave him some super powers. For example, now he have and extremely good senses, can climb vertical surfaces like a spider, etc. In exchange, Takuya should avenge Garia’s planet that was destroyed by evil Monster-kyōju (Professor Monster) and his Tetsu Jūji Dan (Steel Cross Army). After saving Takuya, Garia will soon pass and it’ll be only between Takuya-san and Monster-kyōju since then. See? Dead planet, the last of the kind, avenger of alien race… It’s Superman, not Spider-Man. It doesn’t feel like a rip-off, but still, you can easily see what Toei tried to do. There’s also a lot of elements from classical Japanese media. I already mentioned vehicles and aircraft, as well as giant robot, but Japanese Spider-Man also have so-called Spider Bracelet, which is almost the same thing with Kamen Riders’ transformation belts. Add the fact that the way of telling the story is totally same with previous Toei’s works, and you’ll see that Japanese Spider-Man is a strange mix of Western and Japanese media in favor of Japanese ones.

As for the stunts, those are absolutely great. This time there’s only one masked hero (obviously), who was played by Koga Hirohumi-san (as I already mentioned, the same suit actor, who played Clover King in J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai), but he did oh-so-great. There’s a lot kinds of stunts in this series. Regular fights, in which the most important thing was “to act like a spider”, dangerous stunts without any tools (like fights and jumps on moving truck) and tools-assisted stunts like wall climbing. And all of those are absolutely amazing. Koga-san’s “spider-like” movements are absolutely priceless (I mean it, he doing it incredibly good, even Stan Lee was amazed by it and even in 2005, during his interview that was included in DVD Set, he was head over heels about it), dangerous stuff makes you “Whoa-a-a, some people sure put everything into their performance!”, while tools-assisted stuff is surprisely realistic. I mean really, when I started with this series at my first very time (it was right after the DVD release), I was like “There’s no way there’ll be realistic wall climbing in 1978 series!” and I-was-oh-so-wrong. The way Spider-Man climb the walls looks incredibly realistic. They did it the same way with American 1977 series The Amazing Spider-Man, which means that they used a rope and made it invisible by some simple tricks, but thanks to the fact that Koga Hirohumi-san also tried to act during the climbing, Spider-Man will look totally like a real spider here. Amazing work! Actually, it’s yet another thing that rea;;y impressed Stan Lee in this series. The only bad thing about an action in this series - staff kept overlooking a holes on an obvious places. Spider-Man, for example, will have a huge holes on both of his sleeves for a very long time. An epic hero… in suit full of holes… Thanks for that, Toei, I was so sure that such a things ended in 1977 (J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai).

And, of course, soundtrack. I think I told it in my previous reviews, but I’ll repeat myself - if soundtrack for tokusatsu series can’t make you sing along, then it’s a fail of soundtrack. And this one is a huge success, because Watanabe Chūmei’s (aka Hide Yūki, well known for the works on music for Kaiketsu Lion-Maru and Ultraman Leo) “Yeah-yeah-yea-a-ah-WOW!” will be in your head for ages. Moreover, like soundtrack for J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, this one is like a part of the whole thing. It captures the dark, gloomy and very depressive mood of the series and express it in music. Ending theme, Chikai no Ballade, the song about grief and loss that’ll also mention Takuya-san’s dead father is almost unbearable. It’s so-o-o beautiful, but so-o-o sad… Never thought that song can make you cry? Try this one after the first episode of the series. You’ll cry your heart out. Original Soundtrack for Toei’s Spider-Man is one of those things that bite you right into your heart. Amazing work!

So, what’s in conclusion? First of all, point of view is important this time like never before. How much you’ll like it depends exactly on who you are. If you’re a Western fan, who used to read an original comic books a lot, you’ll probably see it as a weird parody and won’t like it at all. But if you’re a tokusatsu fan, you’ll love it. It’s an amazing, dark and very dramatic series with fantastic stunts and great stories, in best Toei’s traditions. Same goes for those, who can enjoy both and for those, who’s still a kid in a heart. As for me, I can enjoy some Western stories and characters and actually liked them a lot up to certain period. Not anymore, because nowadays Western superheroes feels like they was made for crazy girls to include them in their dirty gay fanfics, but still, it’s not like I can’t enjoy Western stuff. And yet, for me Toei’s Spider-Man is wa-a-ay better than any Western Spider-Man media ever created. Simple like that. It’s, probably, not very fair thing to say, since, even though, I’m trying to be as neutral as possible, I’m still much more into Japanese stuff than in Western one. But still, here’s my opinion. Deep and touching stories, gloomy and dark atmosphere, amazing stunts, very good acting (most of the time) and giant robot! For me it’s love. Will you be able to get into it and feel the whole depths of drama and epicness? It’s all up to you. If you aren’t ready for such a stuff, but want to get into it, it’s better to try with something else first to learn how to enjoy this sort of things. For everyone else it’s better not even try. Toei’s Spider-Man isn’t an adaptation of Western comics, but solid Japanese tokusatsu. And fantastic one, that is. Japanese Spider-Man marked another step in evolution of Toei’s series and even though MARVEL did their best back then to make it become forgotten, it shouldn’t be forgotten at any cost. Toei’s Spiderman is a bright gem from 70s for everyone, who can appreciate it. Yet again, it’s not ideal, but we love tokusatsu not for being well polished, or something like that. And as tokusatsu this one fulfills its duty 100%.