It's so weird to be hitting the Time Shadow episodes this early, when Timeranger with its slow, crawling, leisurely pace takes so long to get to it. But I guess that's what happens when you don't waste time on stupid episodes like Domon learning to make ramen.
This episode sticks pretty closely to the Timeranger episodes. The biggest differences are that Frax's motivations is that he's becoming a robot supremacist, and that Alex sends back the Time Shadow out of concern and not for some convoluted, nefarious plan.
Gien...I liked the idea behind the character, but not the execution. That he was a simpleton who showed Dolnero kindness and was critically wounded, saved by being turned into a robot, but having that same technology warp him and cause him to lose his mind. I thought Gien growing more and more insane and unstable was enough to drive the character, and make him threatening. But then it's revealed that most of his big plans are orchestrated by Ryuuya, who's out to manipulate the flow of time, so Gien ends up just seeming like one of the faceless mooks instead of what he's meant to be, which is the show's final villain.
With Frax, you have something more, like with Ransik's hypocrisy -- Ransik became the person he did by society rejecting him, and he turns around and treats the robots who surround and help him the very same way he feels humans treat him. That fuels Frax, Frax's advice being ignored fuels him, ALL of the villains pretty much mistreat him. So, while it's nothing new, the robot setting out to get revenge against those who mistreat him at least makes the character feel like he's his own master, has his own will.
Another thing Time Shadow has going for it it's the insert song by Yukio Yamagata
ReplyDeleteI don't really like that song as much as some of his other mecha themes, though. Yamagata's style is a little out of place with Timeranger, IMO.
DeleteIt's not a conventional insert song it has some nice jazz and Yukio Yamagata isn't being his usual loud voice self
DeleteI remember finding the Time Shadow story to be a strange one. I think it's the stuff involving how the Timerangers see dopplegangers of themselves as a result of time distortions once Gien activates Nova. Which then leads to humanity using their own giant mecha, the Raimei, which gets destroyed. And Time Shadow itself.... well, it's there, lol.
ReplyDeleteI guess the episode is meant to establish how the Nova vs Raimei conflict is the first major event to cause time distortions for the story. But... I dunno. I guess it's not entirely a bad idea, but I feel it kinda sets things up to get more needlessly complex than it really needs to be. I know the point of Raimei getting destroyed is supposed to lead to the Timerangers finding a shard of the Lambda crystal, and realizing that Asami must be funding it. Which... I guess is fine? But Asami doesn't really get involved in the Timerangers' business until TimeFire shows up. And that's still about another 10 episodes to go (yeesh).
Timeranger ep 19 has always been a bizarre one for me. Like, I know it's supposed to be a big major episode. But it feels so weird to me. A part of me wonders if the ep spent too much time chasing it's tail? Or maybe it should've been a better planned out 2-parter?
I think it gets even weirder for me when Tac explains in Ep 20 that Time Shadow was supposed to be completed in the year 3010.... uh, wut?? He explains that Gien causing time distortions with Nova's activation is what caused those dopplegangers in the 20th century, and probably prompted the 30th century to complete Time Shadow 10 years earlier. While I guess it's kinda neat how they try to go for a bizarre surreal creepy atmosphere with this... it also just kinda makes my head spin a little. Like, it feels like Kobayashi is just adding more fluff to it all. Was bringing in something like 3010 really necessary? So Time Shadow as a concept is just "a result of time distortion?" I can't tell if that's a cool idea, or a very convoluted boring idea.
But yeah, the ep 19 stuff always kinda threw me for a loop, and often stuck out like a sore thumb to me. Heck, I don't even think the rest of the show really talks too too much about the episode afterwards, aside from a mention here and there? Even episode 20 was just essentially "screw the previous ep. Let's go kick butt together!"
As for Gien, I still enjoy the character. He's still a pretty tragic psycho in my eyes. Even if I find the Ryuuya stuff added in at the very end to be kinda weird.
It's definitely a case of Kobayashi being like "Wouldn't it be cool if they encountered themselves because of timeline problems!?!" and not really employing it the way it should have been. She uses time travel tropes for the sake of coolness, and if it doesn't make sense, well, screw you, because it's a kids show! I always thought that was Kobayashi's thinking.
DeleteThe Time Shadow is the beginning of the nonsensical mess that the show becomes, with Gien's dumb little Jolly Rancher crystal becoming such a focus on the other major storylines. Another thing in Time Force's favor -- the focus of the finale goes to Ransik and not endless mecha fights.
Man, honestly, how do you even come up with something like that, and just run with it? (the meeting your own phantoms via time distortion thing). I kinda wonder if Kobayashi was short on any well planned ideas for the show, so she just cranked out whatever, and just tried running with it. Which, I guess in a certain way is credible if one is to be a fearless writer. But in terms of what happened here, man things got weird, lol.
DeleteY'know, I kinda have to wonder. Are there any Timeranger fans out there who really love the Time Distortions plot? Cause I swear I rarely hear anyone ever talk about it. Usually I just hear folks discussing the characters and their story arcs. I feel like for many, the time travel shenanigans kinda just becomes background stuff they gotta just deal with during the show.
And lol the Jolly Rancher crystal. xD