Hard Knock Life: Liveman 16-21

Episode 16

I like this episode -- again, when the show's dealing with Academia or their past friendships, it's at its best -- but I find it so strange that such a fucked up concept on the part of the villains' is used in what's a more lighter episode. Obular creating a monster that can summon ghosts -- and he summons all of those that Volt killed on Academia Island -- that's seriously fucked up! That should be traumatizing to the Liveman! But instead the big concern is that these literal ghosts being kicked up also kick up figurative ghosts, as in...Yuusuke's old love letters to Mazenda.

I always thought it was kind of a shame they didn't go into Yuusuke's having a crush on Mazenda more, and in a more serious manner. That would give their connection to their villains so much more juice. Because he's ashamed of it, and she just doesn't give a shit how much she hurt him. (She's a cold one!) I always thought it was a HUGE missed opportunity to not have Yuusuke be the focus of episode 18, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Episode 17

Kunio Fujii returns with...a less than stellar episode. I'll say the idea of the episode is interesting. The Japanese have the belief that ordinary objects can have life, so I see the living doll as being representative of that. So, it's another "learning to value the life" episode. But furthermore, I think this episode's an attempt to show a character that "sells their own soul," but for good rather than evil, as the Volt Trio did. The runner sells the living doll she loves (and gave life through that love) for the ability to win the race she promised the ill girl she'd win. Those are interesting ideas and themes to explore, but it just all doesn't quite come together. I feel like it needed to involve the Liveman more.

And this is another episode of the plan of the week being more about fucking with people than anything else. Kemp hates toys and wants them to come alive and kill people. I guess his parents didn't let him buy the toys he wanted when he was a kid. Nowadays Kemp's plan would be spun and said to be some kind of commentary on the nature of adult nerds collecting toys or something. Bugger off.

Episode 18

Fujii writes another one, and this one he hits out of Korakuen. An episode that hits all of the right notes, one of the show's more important, character-driven episodes. I'd say it was pitch perfect, but...

It should have been Yuusuke's episode, not Jou's. Rei, the clone of Rui, was made up of the (supposed) last pieces of Mazenda's humanity. This would have been a great opportunity for Yuusuke to have rekindled some of his feelings for Senda, initially not be trusting of Rei, but coming to love what a good person she is, that she's the person Senda could have been. I think it would have been a strong episode for Yuusuke and given it more depth than just seeming like "Oh, another Jou episode, another love interest." Nishimura gives a good performance, but I just always was frustrated like...why doesn't Yuusuke comment on the situation at all?!? Bah.

I like the shades it shows in Mazenda. She's supposedly purging her emotions, the rest of her humanity, but she's not being honest with Bias -- she cries when Rei's turned into the Brain Beast. But I especially like what this episode does with Ashura. He sees Mazenda's pain and cares. That's one of the things I like about Ashura, about his being an outsider. For all of his fancy evil edu-ma-cation and crazy outfit, the outlaw, the outsider, the man Arashi is still there. While Kemp's rah-rah Bias, and supports Mazenda shedding her humanity, Ashura recognizes the importance of it, and saves the remnants of Rei -- Senda's heart and soul -- and returns them to the grieving Mazenda. A cool moment that has more meaning than anything seen in the past 10 years of toku combined.

Episodes 19, 20, 21

The Farewell Obular Three-Parter! Also, kind of basically the end of Liveman. When Obular leaves, it's symbolic of Liveman losing a piece of its soul and guts. 'Cause things take a turn...

These are good episodes, though. Taking a cue from Senda, Obular decides to make a monster using himself, and the result is Study Brain, who attempts to indoctrinate people into Volt's cause via the Volt Bible (a prop I've always wanted to recreate). A recurring theme these past few episodes have been the past biting people in the ass, and here Obular's sad past puts to ruin his plan with Study Brain. When Study Brain is mesmerized by kids having fun playing, something changes within him, to the point where HE wants to get in on the playing. This is a result of Gou's sad past, the way he was holed up and forced to study nonstop, never allowing a moment of fun or play by his strict mother.

Obular seeing this truth through Study Brain, and just the mere fact Study Brain is created using his cells, causes him to waver and weaken, and he begins to revert back into Gou. And because Toei wants to write Obular out, this causes Volt to turn on him.

Gou returns home and tries to change back into the Beast Man Obular, which his mother witnesses. I'd like to say here that I've always loved Gou's monstrous make-up in episode 3 -- you know, when he's transitioning into the suit Obular, where he just has the nasty mouth and wrinkly faced. I've always wished Sentai could do more prosthetic make-up like that for their villains, but it's obviously not feasible with Sentai's shooting schedule and budget. But Gou looked great in episodes 1 and 3, but here...they really cheapen out on his make-up and it's a let down.

The third part of the episode is the best of this three-parter. Not only when Kemp reveals that Obular -- the timid dork -- was basically seen as a cling-on to the others, and that he really wasn't Volt material and only had an in because of his association with Kemp and Mazenda. But also in the storyline with Gou's mother, played by the great Nami Munakata (who was also excellent in Flashman's terrific 34th episode). Her performance and the writing are sharp enough to not demonize Gou's demanding mother, but cast her in a sympathetic light, especially as Yuusuke pleads with her to try and get through to Gou before it's too late. There's a really strong scene and exchange between the two in the episode, great character moments, that are entirely absent from modern tokusatsu.

The episode also does a good build-up in putting Gou's mother in jeopardy as she enters the battlefield to console a wounded Obular. You worry she'll be killed. But she reaches through to Gou, who takes a dangerous attack in her place. You worry HE'LL be killed. You're relieved that the show has the sense to have them survive, when a lesser show would think it would be "epic" to kill one -- or both. The drama of the situation was there in your care for their characters, and the uncertainty of their fate. The chance for them to meet danger was there and felt, the drama of the situation still felt even if they didn't meet their demise. It's all just handled so well by the performances and director Shouhei Toujou.

Another interesting facet of these three episodes is Liveman making the very un-Japanese case of choosing life over study. The whole point of Gou's character here is that he devoted his life to study and not ever enjoying life, and look how that worked out for him.

The stress of Gou's situation leaves him with amnesia, and he takes his leave from the series by moving back home. Liveman, the grounded, fresh take on Super Sentai, is about to go insane...

Oh, and one more thing. For a long time, the tape sellers who you used to have to buy toku from -- before the days of uploads and downloads and DVD releases -- had every episode of Liveman EXCEPT 21. 21 was a missing episode for a long time. A pretty crucial episode to miss. Why couldn't it have been 22?