Live at Budokan: Liveman 22-27

Episode 22

The debut of the unfunny, supposedly cute pig guy who joins the villains and just sucks. His sidekick, the green guy who just sucks joined a couple of episodes ago, but had the good fortune of debuting in good episodes where his appearance was brief. Here, the stupid pig guy -- Butchy -- hogs an entire episode with a lousy premise that's just an excuse to debut Megumi Mori's freshly recorded song "Spark! Umi e." (It's a great song, but a weak episode, man.)

Butchy's using bad, slow singing to put people to sleep. Falcon and Lion fall victim to this, but Megumi fights it by...hearing a girl playing what ends up being Dolphin's song in a school, miles away! For some reason -- the power of Columbia records -- "Spark! Umi e" is the ONLY thing that can combat Butchy's attack! The worst part is Megumi approaching Butchy and the monster, playing the song on a keytar, and when she can't continue (she's injured), the day is fucked! And then...the girl from the school plays a toy piano, miles away, that cuts through and saves the world!

It's a dumb episode. We got this flimsy plot that ended up being used on Go-onger, we got the debut of a terrible new villain who doesn't belong at all, and we got the shoehorned debut of some new toys -- Falcon Saber and Lion Bazooka, introduced without fanfare. It's always been obvious to me that some higher-up at TV-Asahi or Toei sent down some orders to lighten Liveman up and throw some new toys at it. There's never been any confirmation of that -- BTS details about Liveman are surprisingly scarce, people are tight-lipped about it -- but it's just obvious. The proof's right there in the show's decline, and the way it chicken-shits out of its own premise. More on that as it develops, though.

Episode 23

A nice apology for 22. A great episode, the classic episode referenced in Gaoranger VS Super Sentai. Any older Sentai episode with a Red in a sword-fight -- giving Kazuo Niibori a chance to shine -- is a good one. But there's more good to this episode than that...

I see this episode as Yuusuke's turning point, when he takes a turn from sarcastic punk to a real leader. And while Koron has always been there for the team and has bailed them out of a few hairy situations and the show has made a case that Kolon is an equal comrade, we learn in this episode that Yuusuke still sees her as a machine. When she wants to have some fun while he patrols, she pisses him off. When Sword Brain and Kemp kick his ass, her advice pisses him off. He gets fed up with her -- dismissing Koron and her advice because she knows nothin' 'cause she's a machine. So Yuusuke shuns her and trains himself...

And when Yuusuke gets distracted by trying to take Sword Brain on again and freeing a kidnapped Megumi, he's oblivious to Kemp's sneak attack. Who saves him from certain death? Koron. And in that moment, he realizes her importance, what she means to him, and that she's more than just a machine. (I kinda always wished they'd point out how the late Doctor Hoshi made her, and in a way he lives on through her, but I guess that's just implied.) And then Falcon kicks ass and finally shows Koron the attention and respect she deserves.

This would have been the ideal episode to debut the Falcon Saber in. It's a sword battle episode, not to mention Sword Brain breaks the Falcon Sword. Why Falcon Saber debuted out of nowhere, pointlessly in the previous episode is a mystery.

Episode 24

A stinky, stinky stinkfest written by the usually dependable Kunio Fujii. C'mon, Fujii! You're better than this!

This episode is usually my go-to example for when a once-excellent show just hits a low of such unimaginative depths. I'll be like "Oh, this episode is this show's pig-school episode." Liveman's the show that made me realize that all of a toku's worst or weakest episodes can be found in the 20s.

Continuing the trend of executives seemingly wanting to soften Liveman, this episode is the show's way of weaseling out of the "fuck studying, enjoy life" message of episodes 19 - 21 by having Yuusuke preach to a kid to stay in school and eat his greens! Initially, the episode is instead trying to convey the message that, hey, while the Kid Guest Star of the Week isn't good in his school subjects, he IS good and passionate about his hobbies, and that's just as valid. That's kind of a surprising message, but the episode soon backpedals by having Yuusuke tell him to "get good at school stuff, too!"

The story surrounding this is Mazenda's plan of offering kids studying shortcuts, which ends up turning them into pig people in the end. Whatever jollies she got out of this plan is lost on me, because...it's just goofy. Not as dumb as karaoke'ing people to sleep like Butchy, but...dumb for an organization that considers themselves super geniuses.

Episodes 25 & 26

You want to know how low Liveman's budget is being cut? These two episodes set in the boonies are considered their big vacation episodes. The first episode is a ho-hum episode where Yellow Lion ends up teaching a kid to find his courage, as the Brain Beast revives dead monsters. The second sees the kid returning with another kid pal and at least gets back to Liveman's life theme. We all know how the Japanese kids love their beetle collecting in the summer, so this is a summer episode that I see as playing into that. Some beetles are enlarged as a side-effect of Volt's nearby experiments, and the beetles go on to help the kids, which really grosses them out, but they -- and the Liveman -- come to appreciate their help and sacrifice. I think the drab locations hurt these episodes.

Episode 27

The Volt have been talking about the "Giga Plan" for a few episodes now, and this one's going to be kicking that off. Bad news, man.

Liveman's budget cuts continue, as this episode takes place entirely at a rocky terrain and the big guest star is Yumeno from Dynaman, here playing Megumi's dad. OK. Early Liveman would film at real locations -- and varying locations. But the show reaches a point where they're nearly ALWAYS outside and always at an eyesore of a forest or rocky terrain. And if they ARE indoors, it's obviously a set. And the show barely has guest stars! And look, when it does, it's gotdamn Yumeno! You know that guy works for five yen and some sake.

The show also just gets this grimy look to it, like they're filming on a lesser film stock. Everything just ends up making the show seem cheaper, dirtier, smaller -- everything's so insular, just being reduced to the Liveman. And when the show's neutered as its been, when the CORE premise is gutted and it's no longer about the friends and the betrayal but just often Generic Villain Plan 101, it just makes the show seem small-scale. And not in a good way, like it's small-scale and character driven. In a way that's just sparse.

It's an interesting idea to bring in one of the hero's parents. It's a good idea to bring in Megumi's, because she's been having bad luck with her own episodes, and she's the brains of the team, so it would be nice to get a peek into her private life and where she comes from. But, no...the cheapness of the show makes Megumi's dad look like some insane mountain-dweller who they just stumble upon, and he takes it upon himself to get in on some action. Oh, and while he's just happened to run into Megumi, he's got some potential husband candidates for her, too! It's just done in such a bogus, inorganic way. The only noteworthy part is this: Megumi seems kind of distant from her father, yet cherished his teaching her archery, so that's a nice part of the episode. Also, the episode mentions the Liveman severing ties with their families while they're Liveman, which is interesting.