Thug Life: Liveman 11-15

Episodes 11 & 12

The two-part debut of Dr. Ashura...

The last episode of Liveman I remember seeing before my family left Japan was 8, but I remember somehow at least seeing previews for 9 and 10. Nothing beyond that, but I did have a book that teased the arrival of Ashura. I thought he looked weird, and when I got around to finally seeing him in action so many years later...I thought he was weird. Or, at least, the way they bring him on.

I love the idea of Arashi/Ashura being an underworld kingpin, a guy who's street smart and not academically smart, whose quick-thinking cleverness and ability to turn things to his advantage catches the idea of Bias. He becomes an experiment for Bias -- what would this resourceful criminal with street smarts do if he had book smarts, too?

I always thought that Volt seemed like a cult, with Bias its charismatic, but dangerous leader. Kemp, Mazenda, Obular, they were sycophantic followers. But Arashi wouldn't be. He'd be a whole new beast for Volt. That, to me, makes Ashura interesting, and a very dangerous threat. But, for some reason, they tend to like making Ashura the comedic Volt member. And, sure, Ashura can be funny, there is a comedic component to the character, and actor Yoshinori Okamoto can certainly be funny, but it strips away the edge that I think the character is really meant to have. They kind of don't resist making Ashura comedic. One thing I like about Ashura being an outsider, though, is that he retains more of his humanity than the cult followers, which I'll get into in later episodes.

And I feel like this episode begins Toei's tightening of the budget. Look at that unimpressive nightclub, the cheap monkey-men, Arashi's unimpressive underground lair. Liveman is beginning a downward spiral in terms of budget. The show starts off with a bang but gets cheaper and cheaper as it goes on. I've seen people on the Japanese forums blame Kamen Rider Black for taking Toei's focus and money in 1988, but I always pretty much blamed Daisuke Shima and Megumi Mori for eating up the budget. (Which is probably why the show started off with just three heroes in the first place!)

Episode 13

Mazenda's second attempt at a plan to unleash dangerous gas utilizing her Dummymen. That's kind of strange when you think about it, but this episode's ultimately about a Dummyman rebelling and finding love with Koron. This episode's kind of a condensed Metalder, with the two robot characters taking on human characteristics -- can a robot feel, can it love, can it be sad? Mr. Tanaka the Jinmer looks human, but pieces of the Jinmer beneath start showing more and more. An attempt to say that you thought he was a human, but he's not, yet as more and more pieces of his robotic self are revealed, it doesn't matter, you still see him as human. His actions become more and more caring, to the point where he sacrifices himself to save Koron.

Cheapness is what undercuts this episode, IMO -- as the Dummyman loses more and more of his human veneer and the Jinmer parts start poking through, it's REALLY low-quality make-up, and I think that takes away from some of the episode's impact. Well, that and that the guest actor playing "Mister Tanaka" is pretty weak -- he has to be a Toei bit player, he's just so bland and blah.

Episode 14

Hirohisa Soda has either a kink or phobia about people becoming magnetized, because he also wrote an episode of Battle Fever J where Kyousuke undergoes the same situation as Yuusuke does here.

On paper, it's a kind of silly idea, but I like what's at the center of the story -- Ashura's monster causes Yuusuke to become an electrically-charged freak, and not only does this interfere with his ability to transform, but it causes him to shock any living thing he comes into contact with, which causes a moral conflict within him. Once people turn on him, it leads Yuusuke to question if he really even wants to be a hero with people like this.

He asks what's the point of putting himself in danger and making sacrifices if that's how he's treated. That's something very interesting to explore for a hero, especially for Yuusuke, who was meant to be such a different kind of Red initially. Yuusuke starts the series as being considered a dummy, and he's a smart-ass punk, but he grows into being a great and responsible Red, and the tough bastard we get to see in Gaoranger VS Super Sentai.

Episode 15

Inoue's second script. I like how he's basically like "You know that Guardnoid Gash character? He's pretty cool. Let's give him the spotlight." I've always liked Gash and the way suit-actor Naoki Oofuji plays him. He's practically a background character, but his presence is felt. The bastard just seems intimidating. And he's the guy who makes the monsters bigger on top of it! You know how Weisenheimers like to joke about why doesn't the Changeman shoot Gyodai or why won't the Maskman kill Okerampa, well...you don't ask that about Gash. Gash can and will kick your ass, so if you have any fragment of a thought about attacking him to spare yourself shilling some Bandai toys, you best change your thinking. He will fuck you up.

Gash, in this episode, is basically Michael Myers. He's got a target and he will not stop until it's dead. The entire episode is pretty much a chase, with Gash pursuing Jou and his robot target. Gash even loses an arm and keeps goin'! (Toshiki Inoue loves characters losing arms, man.)

The problem with the episode, for me, is the robot, Hanako's, design. It's too cutesy for something that was meant to be a deadly military weapon that Bias feared. I mean, don't make it creepy like the surgical droid from Empire Strikes Back, but don't make it some cute, fat offspring of the Jetsons' Rosie and Short Circuit's Johnny.

Jou's bonding with the robot is something that I think makes a lot of the younger viewers of the fandom criticize Liveman. Liveman wears its heart on its sleeve. Sometimes there's other factors like a bad design or low budget that dampen the writing, so Liveman's intentions don't quite soar or come through, but sometimes just being heartfelt is bad enough for viewers in this day and age.

A cynical snot who pumps their fist every time someone is killed on Game of Thrones is going to roll their eyes at some sincere episode like this one. And then you get an actor like Kazuhiko Nishimura, who's good and really sells it, and people find that funny. (I talked about something similar with Tetsuo Kurata in my Black posts; the guy always gave a 100%, even in episodes that didn't deserve it, so that ends up giving him the reputation of being a ham, when he's just a pro.)