Flashman Episode 33

This one's kind of problematic. It's the type of episode that would be eviscerated by the modern viewers -- you know, those nutters who can't let go of Liveman 31 or the Jetman elevator scene. Viewers who watch old media and sharpen their axes for anything that doesn't line up with the modern way of thinking, or like to misconstrue and warp something so they can feign outrage to fit in. That would be the case if more people saw Flashman, and until they do, and this episode gets the harsh criticism it no doubt will, I guess I'll draw first blood.

It's pretty much a standalone episode, which is needed after so many interconnected ones. Jin's in a judo tournament (for some reason -- why's Jin taking up judo all of a sudden? It's weird.) and the match comes down to him and a dude named Otaki, who's played by Gou Ibuki -- if you're a toku fan, you might recognize him as the dude who gave Koutarou Road Sector or as Ryou's dad in Dairanger. He's a known character actor, and is considered a bit of a big deal when Toei gets him for a toku role, not unlike Changeman's Jun Fujimaki or Flashman's Akira Ishihama. Otaki beats Jin as Jin's distracted by the overly enthusiastic cheering by Otaki's young son, Kiyoshi. Otaki's a single father who works at a power plant, and when the factory is destroyed as part of Mess' latest plan, he has the misfortune to be a witness to the secret of their latest scheme and gets the crap beat out of him by Ulk and Kiruto.

Otaki's son, who's still very young, witnesses this ass-kicking and is upset, clamming up about what happened to his dad and what he saw. His big motivation? He's upset that his dad got beat up by two women, and tries to protect his honor. When Mess continue to target his dad -- and eventually him -- Jin becomes bodyguard, eventually earning the boy's trust and getting the complete details. (The plot is that Ulk and Kiruto disguise themselves as humans and are able to smuggle the latest Space Beast Soldier into areas where it can cause destruction -- utility sites, government buildings, etc. The monster's made from Ulk and Kiruto's genes, so they can hide it and make it appear from thin air. I kinda wonder if this monster was intended to be Ulk and Kiruto's power-up, and that they would have merged, Barom 1 style, to become this monster, but the idea was dropped and it ends up in this standalone appearance as a regular monster instead.)

Jin cheers the boy up by revealing to him that the women who beat up his dad aren't human, therefore that his dad fought them and survived makes him even braver than the son knows. So, that's the problematic part of this episode, the insinuation that this guy could in no way lose to two women unless they were, like, totally monstrous and inhuman. Hirohisa Soda made great contributions to the franchise by writing strong women characters, so it's unfortunate that this episode is so clumsy in what it sets out to do. It could have been Wanda or a couple of Alien Hunters who fought the dad -- it's that the dad lost that bothered the kid. By having it be Ulk and Kiruto, so it's worded as "he lost to those two women," it takes on a sexist shade that I don't think is what's intended.

I'm Shougo B'Stard and I don't agree with this message, but...you've gotta kind of put it in perspective. These shows are geared towards boys (and I feel like Flashman will haul out episodes geared completely to the youngsters after heavier episodes or arcs). And this was 1986. And Japan's a male-dominated society. The boy in the story is very young, so he wouldn't know better, and role models -- especially if it's dad -- are important. The lesson of this episode isn't that women can't beat men, but that losing, period, didn't make his dad any less of the person or champ than he was. But with the casting of a macho guy like Gou Ibuki as the dad, it's easy for it to morph into taking on that other interpretation. (Ibuki's wasted in this episode, to be honest. I think he would have been a much better Ley Baraki. Change the design a bit so you can see him more, don't have him dubbed by Banjo Ginga and he would have been better as wore-down warrior who was once a lethal bad-ass, but turned good.)

The REAL problem of the episode, for me, is the final scene. Jin-tachi are back at the dojo watching as Otaki is training with his son. Jin starts sparring with the kid, while Dai spars with Sara and Ruu with Bun. The episode ends on a freeze frame of the three Flashman guys being flipped and defeated. Now, to me, THIS is the real sexism of the episode. Since Jin's being flipped by the kid, he's obviously letting the kid win, duh. So it stands that the other two are letting the Flash women win, and it's all a sham, like...it couldn't be possible for them to best the guys, lulz. Get out of here. You know damn well Ruu could break Bun's back over her knee like she's Bane. C'mon. He's a small fry.

I do have to say, though, that I found the scene of Ulk and Kiruto beating up Otaki unsettling when I was a kid. It's just a short burst of violence, ending with Otaki hitting his head against a building and getting a bloody slash, falling into unconsciousness.

Oh, and in this episode, the Flashman debut a new weapon and attack. It might be a result of their new powers, but it still doesn't make it seem any less random. It's the Super Spear, and it's a crystal spear that's formed by them uniting their swords from the Prism Shooter. It's treated like a final attack, but, no, they still need to use Rolling Vulcan to finish the monster. I've never really understood the point of the Super Spear. But at least it's not some ugly toy they're shilling.

Anyway, it's a shame that this episode has its problems, because a focus on Ulk and Kiruto should have been pretty cool. And their monster causes a lot of damage! They destroy so many facilities that it ends up causing water shortages and blackouts throughout Tokyo. That ain't fun. But, you know, isn't it interesting that this episode has a couple of things going for it, that you can talk about? A kid witnessing the villain plan and then being targeted by villains is often the plot of every '70s toku, and it never goes deeper than that, always focusing more on the chase. This episode's dealing with something, even if that something seems warped to a Western fan in 2019. And this episode shouldn't be totally ignored, since Touta Tarumi gives a good, sincere and heartfelt performance. Don't cheat Tarumi because you want to be on a moral high horse!