Changeman Episode 53

 

2/8, Episode 53 -- "Ahames in Flames!"

A jam-packed episode of revelations, and it's also a landmark episode. I'll get to that in a minute. First...

We begin this episode with Ahames alone in the Gozmard. Director Minoru Yamada makes the wise choice of having this be a quiet scene, one of Ahames reflecting on Buuba's death and Shiima and Gator's defection. With only a napping Gyodai nearby, the setting and actress Fukumi Kuroda's introspective performance highlights the isolation -- Ahames knows it's down to her.

What Ahames doesn't know is just how things are going to play out. She's taken by surprise by Super Giluke who, of course, wants to sacrifice her in order to make the latest Space Beast Soldier. Ahames thinks she's above this -- and she is -- and is surprised by how callous Bazuu is, ignoring her pain and only adding to it by disregarding her, and firing his ray so she'll submit to Giluke's rays, eventually becoming Space Beast Soldier Meezu. Actor Shouhei Yamamoto plays Giluke as taking such a wicked delight in Ahames' transformation, it's demented and awesome. You can tell Giluke's just been counting the days until this happened. Meezu's design is pretty cool, kind of kabuki like with serpentine limbs. (Designer Yutaka Izubuchi says it's based on a kabuki renjishi and that it also subtly incorporates elements from Ahames' first design; so it's kind of like Giluke, as part of his revenge, is downgrading Ahames by having her monster form reflect her look from the pre-Rigeru Aura days, before she overthrew him and came into power.)

Meanwhile, the now good -- and renamed Princess Shiima -- is being led on a tour around the Earth Defense Force's base by Nana. These scenes are impressive for the amount of extras they use -- even if a lot of these guys are wearing the uniforms from the first episode of Shaider, there's just a lot of people working in the background, helping sell the impression of all the people running around and keeping things running back at base. Unfortunately, they soon have their work cut out for them, as all of the Earth Defense Force's systems begin to break down and malfunction and explode due to a direct assault by Meezu. She's taking the fight right to the heart of Changeman's operation, soaring around and emitting a signal that disrupts their technology. As I've pointed out, ever since she joined the show, a lot of Ahames' plans have been targeted directly towards the Changeman team, so it's fitting that her big, final, ultimate attack is their base of operations.

Unfortunately, when the Changeman take their fight to Meezu, they get messed up. Real bad. (I like that Tsurugi recognizes Meezu's voice right off the bat as Ahames'.) They go right for the Power Bazooka, which Meezu directs the missile right back at them like it's a ping-pong ball. Stop hitting yourself, Changeman! The Changeman get a taste of their own power, and it causes what Ibuki refers to as the worst damage their Change Suits have ever taken. Which is kinda crazy, considering all of the stuff they've endured throughout the series. Power Bazooka causes more damage than Super Giluke's giant napalm sparklers!?! At any rate, Ibuki realizes that Meezu's no ordinary monster, being Ahames of course, and definitely not to be taken lightly, which I think factors into a decision he makes later...

Meezu kicks ass all over the place in this episode. It's one thing to just cause equipment malfunctions, but she actually discovers the location of their base! And while the Changeman are recuperating in their base's medical center, she begins the attack, killing several Earth Defense Force soldiers. The Changeman aren't ready for another fight, so Shiima volunteers, leading into one of the coolest scenes of the series...

Meezu's approaching an opening to the base, ordering several Hidora to enter. Those who do are immediately spit back out, kicked in their ass -- right in the crack -- by Shiima, who catapults into a fight, taking down Hidora like nothing. Meezu's another story, but Shiima made a good try. Actually, I like that she fires at Meezu with a blast of Amanga Energy, the stuff Ahames was trying to use against Shiima's will, at the risk of her life, for her plan in the last episode. A bandaged and wounded Changeman team join her, but aren't even as successful as she was, all falling to a laser ring attack. Suddenly, Ibuki jumps in front of them, taking all of Meezu's attack on his own. He endures the attack, and endures, as everyone looks on him in worry, when suddenly...he transforms! To the shock of Meezu, to the shock of Changeman, to the shock of every viewer at home, Chief Ibuki has transformed! I love the way his reveal is filmed, with the quick cutting between Ibuki and Meezu before he finally transforms, and the M-27 segment of the "Gekitotsu" track from the BGM kicks in.

This transformed Ibuki sends off an electric attack to Meezu and her underlings, but the dueling powers eventually cause such a blowback that it scatters the fighters. The Changeman gather around the fallen Ibuki, concerned, but he's all right. And then he finally admits, to everyone's astonishment, that he's an alien of the planet Heath. Here the episode goes to commercial, a manipulation which probably pissed off a lot of viewers at the time.

So, Ibuki's an alien, by the full name of Yui Ibuki. That explains his shocking knowledge of the universe. That explains why he was one of those affected by Warajii's song. That explains why he could telepathically hear Nana. And, as he tells his team that Bazuu destroyed his planet, that he's the last survivor, that he dedicated his life to wanting to get Bazuu and recruit soldiers to fight him, it explains why Ibuki was so desperate for everyone to shape up way back in Changeman's first episode. Remember when all of the soldiers thought he was strict or crazy or a demon? His motivation is that he knew of the Earth Force, and knew that soldiers who harnessed it were the best chance against Bazuu. Again, his planet was destroyed, and he's the only survivor, and with his knowledge of the universe, knowledge of where Gozma's been and who they've made suffer, Ibuki was well aware of the stakes, of what possible fate awaited the Earth, so he was determined and desperate to tap into the Earth Force and make the Earth Defense Force soldiers and the Changeman all they could be. You can go watch the first episode with a new understanding now.

And I think Ibuki's reveal is something that had been planned from the start. I remember seeing some character breakdowns in a series plan from when the show started, cryptically pointing out about Ibuki's suspicious knowledge of aliens and the universe. So it's not a cheap twist pulled out of nowhere, but something that pays off if you go back and watch earlier episodes. Like, people like to poke fun at Episode 2, with the reveal that Ibuki loves bathhouses and had one built into the Earth Defense Force base, but now I see it as a rather funny alien quirk. (I think you can compare Martian Manhunter to Yui Ibuki, from being the last survivor of their planets to their identifiable quirks. Ibuki has his baths, Martian Manhunter has his love of Oreos.)

Hearing his story, seeing his sincerity, hearing him offering encouraging words, realizing his complete faith in the Earth Force, Ibuki inspires the Changeman -- I love how once Meezu shows up, they just whip off their slings and bandages, with a renewed strength to fight. No growling into a power-up, no Bandai stoolie like Conductor dropping a new toy in their lap -- just the emotions and sorrow of the man they've grown to trust, depend on, and love inspiring them. And I love how, once the five transform, Ibuki, Nana and Shiima join them in battle. Those three are like the show having an extra three-person Sentai team. (Since this three-person team is made up of Changeman's friends from space, I like to call them Uchuu Sentai Cosmoman -- which was a working title of Changeman's.) It's in this scene that Hamada, Kazuoki, Izumi, Nishimoto and Ooishi are actually in-suit as the Changeman themselves. Beginning with Dynaman, Super Sentai started the tradition of having the cast don the suits for a scene or two in one of the final episodes. Meezu still proves to be too strong of an opponent, though, even taking down Yui Ibuki again. Suddenly, somehow, Ahames manages to separate herself from Meezu!

Shiima needed the encouragement of Tsurugi to fight free from her Space Beast Soldier form, Zuune. Buuba needed Jiiru. Well, Ahames is such a bad-ass, she breaks free of her own accord. Just right in the middle of the fight, like it's nothin'. (This even perplexes the Changeman, renewing their fear at just what an unpredictable and frightening opponent Ahames is.) The sad thing is, this is a broken Ahames. She orders Meezu to keep attacking our heroes, as she stumbles off in delirium, heading back for the Earth Defense Force base...

Needless to say, but Meezu seems a bit easier to fight without Ahames being a part of it. It still takes the Changeman pulling out practically every special maneuver of theirs they have, but they get the job done. Meanwhile, Ahames has entered the base, firing and killing soldiers, sending blasts and just laughing her ass off.

Kind of like the Buuba sunset duel, Ahames' last scene is something I've seen a few other toku shows try to duplicate, but never to the same effect. Ahames is breaking down. She's sending blasts all over the Changeman's base and is just destroying it. She's successful, her plan this week is succeeding. She's had a lot of good plans, and has worked her ass off for Gozma and Bazuu. Maybe she betrayed Bazuu in the past, and maybe she betrayed Giluke in the race for the Rigeru Aura, but she's done everything that's been asked of her. And I think she just sees it as a massive betrayal, not only the way Giluke turned her into a lowly monster, but the way that Bazuu joined in and attacked her. What have all of her efforts been for? What's all the fighting been for? What has her loyalty to Bazuu gotten her? So she's in hysterics, near tears, just pleading with Bazuu to just take her back to her planet Amazo, to restore it. Again and again, she calls out to Bazuu, pleading with him. And he does nothing. Says nothing. He's abandoned her. The Gozma officers liked to think they were special, that they were above the low-ranking likes of the Space Beast Soldiers, but they were ALL just pawns for Bazuu, all just underlings for him to rule over. 

Did Ahames see the love and respect the Changeman have for Ibuki, and he for them, and realize how different it is for her and Bazuu? Did seeing Ibuki lay his life on the line to protect the Changeman and Shiima make her realize Bazuu's selfishness? Is this why she was able to break free from Meezu? Her pleas unanswered, Ahames is left to die, laughing, as the Changeman's control room, such a familiar sight for 53 episodes, explodes and collapses around her.

When I was a kid, I used to get a kick out of the finales where it's the heroes storming the bad guys' lair. You're used to just seeing the bad guys hang out there and hatch all of their evildoin', so it was kind of strange to see a hero on that set, but at the same time, you knew it meant a reckoning -- the series was ending and the heroes were taking the fight to the villains to stop them once and for all! Changeman's one of the few Sentai shows I can think of that flips that, and has a villain storming the heroes' base. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a show where the villain actually succeeded the way Ahames does, though. She totally destroys their base, and it's a huge blow to the Changeman team...

Thankfully, the trusty old Soldier Group gets the Shuttlebase out in time, so they get a final, great moment to shine. The base being destroyed serves two purposes, really -- one, to demolish the set and save money by filming at sparse outside locations. Secondly, it goes a long way in making this final battle between the Changeman and Gozma that much more urgent and dangerous. I've always been impressed by just how large the staff of the show tried to make the Changeman's base seem -- we've all seen the shows that are cheap and just keep it to mainly one room, even if it's supposed to be an entire building. (Maskman, I'm looking at you.) But in Changeman we see so many different parts of their base. Sure, we focus on the control room mainly, but they have the rec room, they have the medical center, they have hallways and the Changeman's quarters and all of those underground passages. It just always seemed huge to me, they did a great job conveying the scope of the base. And now all Changeman has is Shuttlebase and Change Robo. It's a desperate time, and the battle is coming to a head...

At 16.1%, this is the highest rated episode of Changeman. In a segment on Toei Hero Net where Toei staff members were asked about their personal favorites of their works, the works they were most proud of, Changeman producer Takeyuki Suzuki cited this episode. He credits the ratings and success of the episode to Fukumi Kuroda and her performance as Ahames in this episode. (As I pointed out before, Suzuki credits Kuroda and Ahames for a lot of Changeman's success.) I don't want to sound like I'm disrespecting Suzuki or Kuroda, because Suzuki would know more than I would, and I certainly love Kuroda's work as Ahames and think that Ahames is one of, if not THE best Sentai villainess, but I've always wondered if Ibuki's reveal had something to do with the high rating...

The show had spent the past few episodes teasing the reveal, giving you hints about Ibuki. The preview at the end of episode 52 certainly dropped a big clue about the reveal. I think the show did a better job of hiding it compared to a lot of later shows, but the clues were all there -- something big was going to happen with Ibuki. (I'm still surprised that they were actually so cautious that they changed the episode title; scripts show that the original title for 53 was "Chief Ibuki's True Identity.") Ibuki actor Jun Fujimaki was a well known and popular actor, so much so that people expressed surprise when he was cast in Changeman. So I imagine people being excited by the idea that he was going to play a bigger role than the chiefs usually do, and maybe that enticed them to tune in. Ibuki's pretty much the first of these older mentor characters to be made such a crucial part of the show's tapestry, to be given more than a couple seconds per episode just giving orders. Whatever the reason, it was still the highest rated episode, and one of the series' best.

Next week: Giluke proves that he can talk the talk and walk the walk in one of my all-time favorite Super Sentai episodes.