Changeman Episode 45

 

12/7, Episode 45 -- "Aira, the Rainbow-Colored Girl"

With Bazuu being so impressed by Super Giluke, Ahames is motivated to do her best to defeat the Changeman and further Gozma's success by once again turning to a plan that specifically targets our heroes...

I think this is another just kind of lighthearted episode before the series begins to wrap up. As I've mentioned, some of the past few episodes have had little throwbacks to earlier parts of the series, and this episode really reminds me of one of the REAL early episodes, when the Changeman were still getting the hang of things and finding out just how big the universe really is, and how reassuring it is to encounter an alien who's friendly, who's an ally, one who shows them that they're not so different from one another, who opens their minds.

It's just a rather sweet episode in which the alien girl Aira returns to Earth after twelve years in order to find Tsurugi, who showed her kindness and saved her from bullies when she crashed on Earth in 1973. (Which means, yep, we get to see Tsurugi as a kid in a flashback, still kicking ass at age 12. He jumps head first into a group of kids bullying the young Aira and takes the hits when they start throwing rocks at her. Seems our hero has always stood up for what he thinks is right...and maybe always had a thing for alien chicks. Kid Tsurugi is played by Tamaki Itou, who's the brother of child-actor-turned-suit-actor Makoto Itou, who appeared in the first Changeman movie as Yuuji.)

Not even Aira can escape Gozma's clutches, though -- she brings with her a monster escort, Daros, who's secretly working for Gozma, and they use Aira for their latest plan. Aira's skin is marked with colored stripes, which embarrass her; wanting to blend in on Earth in her search for Hiryu, she has Daros remove her stripes. As weird as that sounds, it ends up wisely used -- for Ahames' plan is to transfer the stripes to Tsurugi's body when he's transformed as Change Dragon, which alters his body to the point where the Change Suit doesn't recognize him and won't power down. So, Tsurugi is stuck in suit as Change Dragon, just as Aira is tearing up the Earth Defense Force base looking for Tsurugi, and not believing Change Dragon when he claims to be Tsurugi.

"What's the problem with being transformed all of the time? It sounds kick-ass! Goseiger showed us all the funny scenarios you can get into with that!" you might say. Well, not in this case. Wearing the Change Suit too long consumes a lot of a person's energy and will wear them down over time, so this is a pretty deadly plan of Ahames'. (I especially like that it's Oozora who realizes that Tsurugi won't be able to eat or drink while he's stuck in the Change Suit, surely a nightmare scenario for Yuuma.)

As Dragon struggles to convince Aira that he's Tsurugi, there are nice parallels to the past in his saving her once again. (This time, Gozma are the bullies, as an attack by Super Giluke sends the two over a cliff.) Once Aira learns of Daros' deceit and her involvement in Gozma's plan to harm Tsurugi, she makes the sacrifice of reclaiming the rainbow-colored stripes she loathes, again marking her, freeing Tsurugi of them (and his permanent transformation). So, Aira pays Tsurugi's kindness back by saving him this time. And like I said last week, Hamada's hardly in this episode, it's 85% Dragon, and I don't know if I can think of another time that Niibori's done so much non-action work in an episode of any Sentai he was in. I remember reading an interview where he said he enjoyed doing this episode.

It's a charming episode made more pleasant by guest-star Youko Nakamura as Aira, who does a lot of the heavy lifting with a pretty thin character. Nakamura goes on to play Sara/Yellow Flash in Flashman, Sara being pretty serious and dour, so it's surprising to see her in such a light, cheerful role -- she's really likable and has a lot of fun. (I like Nakamura, so it's nice to see another side of her in a tokusatsu show. She was an idol singer at the time, and if you're most familiar with her as Sara, it's also strange to listen to her pop songs and hear how joyful she sounds.) What's sad is that her design and alien culture isn't fully realized. She's from the rainbow planet, her people get rainbow stripes as they age, OK -- what's up with the Native American garb? She looks like one of Peter Pan's Lost Boys. I used to think it was a case of Toei rummaging through already existing clothes to save money at this stage of the show, but, no, Aira's design is (surprisingly) a Yutaka Izubuchi original.

Speaking of Flashman, you can spot Yutaka "Ley Wanda" Hirose in a bit part as one of the Earth Defense Force soldiers, marking his second appearance in Changeman. He even gets to interact with Nakamura, like when Aira nonchalantly bends back the barrel of his gun, RoboCop-style! And speaking of Flashman and rummaging through already used designs, take a look at Aira's spaceship, the generic-looking UFO, which Toei ends up using as Kaura's spaceship. (It's probably been used prior to Changeman, too -- I think I remember seeing it in one of the Uchuu Keijis, at least.)

The episode ends with Aira facing Tsurugi with those stripes she hates so much, which he tells her he doesn't care about, driving home the Changeman heroes' Star Trek-y message of universal diversity and acceptance. She's then on her way, because she knows that Tsurugi needs to bail out another alien woman next week, one more familiar to us.