EPISODE 22
When the shit hits the fan...
I think it's important to keep in mind the toku landscape when this episode aired. The young ones who look back at Jetman now and mock it don't really understand what a big deal it was to approach a toku episode the way this one does. It's seriously unconventional. It might not seem so special in a world of post-Heisei Rider series -- especially those early entries that desperately wanted to be J-Dramas, relegating costumed scenes and superhero action to the final minute of the episode -- but it IS a special and different episode, which pushed boundaries and broke rules and paved the way for those shows.
There's no villain plan. No monster attack. The villain this week is the Jetman team itself, the animosity and tension that's been building throughout the team. The entire first half of the episode focuses mainly on the heroes and their personal problems; the only time we spend with the villains is the Vyram gang watching Radeige waiting for Juuza's offspring, Semimaru, to hatch.
No tokusatsu episode before it dared to devote so much time to the human, realistic struggles of the heroes, and devote so much time to their personal lives, where they weren't dealing with a monster attack or something related to their work as a hero. And unlike episodes 13 & 14, which got a little too cliched, in this one you can kind of understand where the characters are coming from (mostly).
Ryu realizes how messy things have become and approaches Gai, as a team leader, interested only in how his team functions. He puts it out on the table: if you're seriously interested in Kaori, Gai, then just go for it. Enough of the games, enough of the drama. We need the team to function. I'm not interested, don't go after Kaori to prove anything, only if you genuinely love her. And let's just move on, you pain-in-the-neck.
This leads Ryu the next day to approach Kaori, taking her on a mysterious drive. Now, I know Kaori is surprised, and just too blinded by happiness to really understand, but...c'mon, she has to notice Ryu's demeanor. This ain't the magical date she thinks it is. But you can at least understand why she might be so giddy. That is, until Ryu reveals their secret destination, which is Rie's grave. Again, Ryu's finally just putting it out on the table: Rie's the only one I've ever loved, I'm still stuck on her. Please, let me be, let me grieve, and leave me out of the drama. It's a bit of a cold reaction on her part, but you can understand why Kaori would react the way she does to this, walking home, giving Ryu the cold shoulder.
The worst part of this ends up being the ugly, ugly conclusion Kaori comes to the next day. She approaches Ryu and gives him a concert ticket, not letting him get a word in edgewise. The absolute worst? She then goes on to say that she's going to keep at it, "fighting Rie" and "driving away memories of Rie from Ryu's heart." And I have to actually give Kotaro Tanaka some credit here -- not only is he pretty spot on in this episode, but he's kind of just shocked and sickened by Kaori's little display here. And she's just cheerful and waving off how spiteful she's being. I think it's just a real low point for the Kaori character. Ryu plainly drew it all out for her.
When Gai later sees the ticket Kaori left for Ryu, he shows interest and Ryu regifts it. He's not being cruel about it; he told Kaori he's not interested, she doesn't care to listen, but he also sees letting Gai have the ticket as a genuine chance for Gai and Kaori to spend time together, and not have it go to waste...
So when Gai finally meets Kaori at the concert, and she withdraws in disappointment and hurt that it's not Ryu, you can really understand why Gai gets so pissed off at the whole ordeal. He sees it as an insult to both him and Kaori, and sees it as Ryu trying to be the bigger guy or charitable and thinks he's sticking it! So, he tracks down Ryu, where he's training Raita and Ako and they proceed to kick the shit out of each other. It's just a mean, mean brawl between two heroes that you just never saw in a toku series before in such a context. These aren't brainwashed heroes, this isn't a villain plot -- just two of the heroes very unhappy and pissed off at each other.
Ryu's mostly defensive until Raita gets in on the fight and Gai's insulting to him and hitting him back. (Gai insults Raita for being a coward who's done nothing with his love for Kaori, telling him to butt out.) I kinda like the way Ryu seems so hurt and insulted on Raita's behalf. By the time Kaori arrives, the fight is looking to become very, VERY ugly, and that's when our heroes are pretty much saved by the villains!
The Vyram arrive and actually break up the fight; Maria, Toran and Grey are suspicious about whatever Radeige's hatching, so they all come to Earth to attack the Jetman. (If there's one thing Gai hates more than Ryu, it's the Vyram, so he's quick to jump on board and help kick their ass.) The Vyram don't show up until about 15 minutes into the episode...15 minutes of a 20 minute episode. Again, that was just unheard of, unthinkable at the time! A tokusatsu episode where the villains don't attack until the end, and the rest of the episode is devoted to the personal, human struggles of the star heroes? (And you know Inoue probably didn't even want to have any henshin action, but compromised.)
Respect its authority! It's a good episode. Groundbreaking.
Random note: Ako once again delivers here, providing the episode its only real levity, when she takes Kaori's place when Kaori's supposed to meet up with Gai. Not only does a disinterested and frustrated Gai have to hang out with her -- taking her to a diner where she unabashedly orders dozens of sundaes -- but the day is further ruined for him once Raita shows up at Ako's invitation. (Raita's a bit of an ass in this scene, though, saying that he thinks Ryu would be wayyyyyy better for Kaori than Gai. What's wrong with that guy? And Gai's looked out for him in the past, too.)
Kaori's reaction to seeing Rie's grave is understandable. She was feeling pretty hopeful, and suddenly all her dreams are dashed. She also probably felt guilty and bad of herself for trying to get involved with Ryu, while not knowing about Rie.
ReplyDeleteI know some fans tend to get on Kaori's case with what she does afterwards by giving Ryu the concert ticket. I think people need to remember that the characters in this ep were really letting their emotions get the best of them. In Kaori's case, she was getting spiteful and really wanted to be with Ryu. She wanted to believe there was still someway for her to "win." Is what she did terrible? Oh yeah, it was beyond terrible. But I feel one of Jetman's strengths is just how human and "realistic" it feels. People praise Kobayashi's works for these merits, but I think Inoue generally tends to do better in this regard imo. People when they let their emotions get the best of them, results in them doing some pretty terrible things to each other. Even if they generally do have a good heart. And I feel that's explored with our characters here.
People tend to say that if the characters do one terrible thing, then they're officially terrible unlikable people who are beyond redemption. Which I think is completely unfair. I feel the Jetman cast are very sympathetic and quite lovable, and like I said, very human and believable too. And I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but in ep 23, we see that Kaori completely regrets her actions and fully admits that she was bad. It shows our characters have actual brain power and can think for themselves. And how they feel regret, and wish to improve themselves. You know, growing up. Character development!
I find this episode still very creative and a lot of fun to watch. The majority of Heisei Rider episodes imo don't hold a candle to this one. It's a lot like how I feel modern helmetless roll calls in Sentai just don't hold a candle to how Dairanger did it.