Changeman Episode 41

 

11/9, Episode 41 -- "The Prince From a Dead Planet!"

Another strong episode written by Kunio Fujii. I feel like a lot of subsequent Sentai episodes have ripped this one off. We're introduced to the winged alien Icarus, whose homeworld was burning out, so his mother shipped him and his (monstrous Space Beast Soldier) servant away when he was a child. Poor kid ended up intercepted by Bazuu, who decided to capture him and raise him as his son. (It's like if Darkseid ended up with Kal-El's ship instead of the Kents!) I always thought this was a neat idea, one that could have gone on for a couple of more episodes, making an arc, or something that could be further explored in a novel or comic. Who'd want to even imagine what being raised by Bazuu entailed? (We know he filled Icarus' mind with some Darwin-gone-insane "only the strong deserve to live" lessons.)

We know what a Sixth Hero in Sentai is, but I coined a term for certain, mid-series joining villains: the Sixth Villain. OK, the name doesn't make sense, but the same thing applies -- back before these shows were in the deadly clutches of Bandai, tokusatsu would try to shake a show up by introducing a new villain in the teens or middle of a show's run. A new villain to light a fire under the regular villains' bums, a new villain to overpower our heroes and give them new obstacles to overcome. It was a move to drive the storytelling, not the toy sales. Overtime, new villain was replaced by new monster and Sixth Hero, as a super "tough" monster would give our heroes a tough time and the Sixth Hero would join the series and bring a trunk of new Bandai toys to help our heroes keep fighting. Sixth Villains are more interesting; they're not trying to sell you a new product every episode. Anyway, think of Bioman's Silver, Ahames, Flashman's Kaura, Maskman's Kiros -- these are the Sixth Villains. My point? Icarus is like a one-episode-exclusive Sixth Villain...

When he appears at the Gozmard, you know he's someone important, he shows up with a bit of fanfare. You also know he's spent too much time with Bazuu, because he's off to the insults as soon as he opens his mouth. (Ahames instead getting the talk down usually reserved for Giluke.) He immediately takes a fight to the Changeman, flying alongside Ahames on Jangeran to a pier. There's something about the way this scene is filmed that I like; it's fast, furious, brutal, and the overcast weather helps the mood. (The whole episode is filmed in a downbeat way, the constantly overcast skies adding to the doom and gloom of it.) The Changeman take a bit of a beating out of suit, with Icarus violently stabbing Tsurugi with his blade -- Hamada sells it, it looks painful as heck, and Icarus takes such delight in his pain that it's creepy. There's more material for the Tsurugi-Sayaka shippers here, as Sayaka makes it her number one priority to shake off a pesky Hidora to get over to Tsurugi and help him. And Icarus laying eyes on Sayaka is what turns the episode...

For Sayaka is a dead ringer for Icarus' long deceased mother. Here we're given some flashbacks of a pre-corrupted Icarus, as a joyful kid playing around with his monster servant, Boora, under the loving gaze of his mother. A combination of Tatsumi Yano's always-excellent music and Minoru Yamada's direction really go a long way in getting the most emotion out of this entire episode, for as much as it tries to cover in such a small amount of time. (Like I said, I think it could have been a multi-episode arc.) Because Icarus is a vicious bastard, but you still feel sorry for him at the same time. And, as creepy as it is, you feel his desperation to get Sayaka to love him, so that he can marry her and go on to recreate his homeworld. When Icarus boasts of beating Changeman, and all of the other future conquests of his, Sayaka has a really great speech about how he's perpetuating the same kind of suffering to other people and planets that he endured.

I like how Icarus pitches Gozma this sneaky plan of breaking up the Changeman to fight them one-on-one, all just so he can get to Sayaka and capture her! Bazuu has no patience for this sort of thing, not even for his own son, so he attacks and Icarus uses himself to shield Sayaka. We've only known this guy for an episode, and he's been a bastard for most of that time, but try not to feel bad for him as he's crawling towards and reaching out to Sayaka, calling her mother with his dying breath, all while his lifelong servant, Boora, is wailing in the background. (Boora's voice-actor is Keisuke Yamashita, who's never given dialogue other than saying 'Boora,' but his sorrowful crying over Icarus' death is effective and memorable.)

The final scene is also strong, filmed at night, that overcast weather obviously ending up in rain, as Sayaka wonders what it would have been like to meet an Icarus NOT corrupted by Bazuu, as we're shown the image of a now happy Icarus flying into the arms of his mother in Heaven. Just another good episode by writer Fujii, another one of his doomed relationship episodes, and an episode made even stronger by director Minoru Yamada and Hiroko Nishimoto's dual performances. Jetman tried to copy this episode with the Dimensians, but it doesn't completely work because we were never given much reason to care about them as characters; we only care about the Dimensians because we recognize them as Blue Flash and Pink Mask. Icarus works on different levels, you can understand him and his actions, you get to see him through the eyes of other characters. With his focus on tragedy and doomed romances, I always thought writer Kunio Fujii was a lot like Toshiki Inoue, just without the penchant for melodrama. So, I still can't believe that Fujii was never given his own Sentai series as main writer.