Changeman Episode 44

 

11/30, Episode 44 -- "Leave it to Mai!"

Super Sentai will tend to throw in a comedic or lighthearted episode in the 40s, a calm before the storm of drama of ending the series. The '80s version of this episode tended to be something from left field that is lighthearted, while the '90s usually went for clip shows with comedic wraparounds. Nowadays, it's usually wacky holiday episodes. Well, episode 44 is Changeman's breather, but I think it's a fun episode that shouldn't be so easily dismissed.

While a lot of the early '80s Sentai shows would have humorous scenes of the heroes dressed in Western attire, with a comical Old West-theme battle, this episode of Changeman REALLY commits to it; in the prior shows, it would tend to be one comedic scene. The Western theme fills the entire episode of Changeman, and not only that, but they film it at Kinugawa Western Village theme park. I was never exactly a Western fan when I was a kid, but I always got a kick out of this episode. It seems like the entire cast has fun, and there's a cool, big old shoot-out at the end that manages to be awesome, with some great choreography, but also with some great comedic bits thrown in the mix. (Like Yuuma's frantic horse battle...which the camera pulls away to reveal that he and his attacker are both actually on top of wooden toy horse rides!)

In those other Sentai shows, the Western scenes can be kind of random. Well, in Denjiman, it made some sense, where the monster was "cutting" to different movie genres, but I think Goggle V had a Western scene just because the monster was a cactus and Dynaman's was, like, the team is on vacation, and there's a horse, so...here's an Old West sequence! Changeman uses the idea in an interesting way; the recently-returned-from-the-grave Super Giluke cordons off a village (with a Hard Wall-esque dome) so he can start building his own city, a city of the dead -- Giluke City -- and Mai is trapped in the middle of it! We're told that the reason for Ghost Giluke's odd appearance is that he merged with Space Beast Soldier Zados while in the space graveyard. After Ghost Giluke became Super Giluke, he shed the Zados side of him, leaving Zados as a husk, so Super Giluke pays Zados back by resurrecting him. Zados himself apparently has the ability to make the spirits materialize, and makes a connection to the space graveyard through a wormhole he can open on his face (a cool idea and effect), so...Giluke rolls out his blueprints for this crazy, crazy plan to build his own city of the dead, one filled with dead monsters and Hidora. (Imagine the cities that could be filled with dead Hidora alone. The Changeman have gone through many of them bastards.)

I think this plan seems a bit like Giluke's private little agenda to me, but he claims the bigger picture is to revive monsters and have them possess people and cause terror and take over territories that way. We get a glimpse at a couple of old favorites, Space Beast Soldier Zonos and Boruta, revived and taking possession of a couple of villagers, with one being played by Kazuo Niibori and the other by character actor Haruki Jou (who will go on to play Ley Baraki in Flashman), who both have a blast with their parts. (Niibori really seems to enjoy comedic work.)

And if that's not enough, this episode also qualifies as the traditional Shichihenge episode, but this is one of the only times where it really makes sense within an episode. A lot of times -- especially in the newer shows -- the whole heroine-switching-her-outfit thing is really just a primer for their eventual idol DVD of roleplaying on the beach or whatever, but here it's given somewhat of a reason: being trapped in Giluke City, Mai uses the Shichihenge trope to disguise herself, blend in and spy. This episode begins with a scene of Sayaka chasing Mai, who's wearing Sayaka's outfit. (One assumes they were shopping, trying on clothes, and Mai decided to prank Sayaka and steal her outfit.) The Shichihenge scenario kind of seems like payback for that prank.

Since Kazuo Niibori is guest starring in this episode, and there's a scene where Niibori's character and Change Dragon are in the same scene, there's obviously a different dude in the Change Dragon suit. Niibori protégé Hiroshi Maeda (best known as being the suit actor for Tyranno Ranger) has mentioned getting to play Change Dragon in-suit for a couple of scenes in an episode in which "Niibori had another role," so this is obviously it. And get ready, Niibori, because you'll make up that lost time and work overtime next week as Dragon when Tsurugi is unable to untransform...