Changeman Episode 54

 

2/15, Episode 54 -- "Giluke's Great Explosion!"

Here it is, one of my top favorite Sentai episodes. It's pretty much this episode and Liveman's first episode that's neck-to-neck in a race for my top fave. It's an action-packed episode, but still has room for drama and character moments and has one of the more morally murky situations I've seen in a Sentai show...

It's mighty lonesome in the Gozmard ship. Now it's just Super Giluke and poor, sleeping Gyodai. Bazuu complains Giluke's big elf ears off when he discovers that Yui Ibuki is the sole survivor of the conquered planet Heath, and Bazuu is doubly insulted that this survivor is the head of the Dengeki Sentai. It's now all on Super Giluke to lead the fight and Super Giluke, as he's been since he arrived in episode 43, is completely confident. Unshakeable. Super Giluke gives zero fucks and it's awesome. There's no question in his mind that he's awesome or that he'll win. You really get the impression that he thinks he's equal to -- or maybe even greater than -- Bazuu. Think of the way Shouhei Yamamoto played these scenes with Bazuu back when he was just a general -- he was real brown-nosey, often hesitant. He'd show fear when Bazuu was displeased. Super Giluke never shows any of that. He tells it like it is, he's confident, he's seen it all. And I just love how Yamamoto conveys most of it through his performance. Because Giluke beat death, he went through a painstaking process to claw his way out of the grave -- what else does he have to be afraid of? The people he worked for betrayed him, so he's becomes a crueler, darker bastard than he was before.

And Super Giluke's a menace here. His plan is to take the Gozmard into Earth's orbit and just lay waste to whatever he can. And that's exactly what he does (there's a neat little effect of the skies filling with waves of purple clouds in the scene of the Gozmard's attacks) and he succeeds. After the last episode, all that the Changeman have left is the Shuttlebase, so this battle is coming down to the Gozmard versus the Shuttlebase, and guess what? Super Giluke succeeds in downing the Shuttlebase! (I guess if people still insist on writing it as "Gorenger," just because that's the way Toei writes it, I should have been saying "Shuttlbase" all along. Oops.) The Shuttlebase crashes, and is left with so many repairs it would make Chief O'Brien jump out the nearest airlock.

Lucky for the Changeman, Giluke picks that moment to beam to the surface and boast. Unlucky for the Changeman that he hits 'em with his Space Buster maneuver (aka the "Giluke Loves the Smell of Napalm in the Morning" attack) and even Yui Ibuki is beaten by him. I like how bleak things look for our heroes in this episode. They're backed into the corner, they don't have their greatest arsenal, and Super Giluke is powerful and terrifying and cruel and relentless in his attacks. As I said before, these final few episodes of Changeman really highlight and sell the idea of this being the absolute endgame, with a ticking clock, with escalating threats and danger and with a big sense of desperation. And desperate times call for desperate measures...

Knowing that they need to take the Gozmard out, but not having the ability of flight, the one to save the day is...Gator! He remembers of a Gozma fighter ship that was stashed away, in need of only a couple of minor repairs, which should be good enough to get to the Gozmard. The problem is, there's only room for one person. While Gator is ready to be the one, Tsurugi makes the decision that it should be him. He reasons that Gator has a wife and two kids, so he forces him off the tiny ship. This is a real desperate act on our heroes' part, and I think pretty much everyone realizes that whatever hopes and plans they hitch onto this little fighter ship will mean certain death. Tsurugi knows this is a suicide mission. And while Hayate had earlier mentioned using the Shuttlebase in a kamikaze kind of attack, Tsurugi's plan is to get to the Gozmard and assassinate Giluke. And against everyone's cries, he takes off, not knowing that Nana teleports herself onto the ship as a stowaway.

In one of my favorite scenes, Giluke sits on the Gozmard bridge, sipping wine at the success of his attacks. Suddenly, he sees the reflection of Change Dragon in one of the ship's panels, turning around just a second too late, finding himself stabbed through the heart by Dragon's Change Sword. (There's a cool lightsaber/Laser Blade effect they give Dragon's sword here.) Giluke fires back an attack that cripples Dragon, and while Giluke shows some cracks in his usual unconcerned demeanor indicating pain, he keeps unleashing his attack on Dragon, who writhes on the ground. When you look at this, it's just a down and dirty fight. I like huge, fanciful battles in tokusatsu shows, but this scene, with Dragon's sneak attack, is small in scale, but huge in what it implies...

This is the morally murky part I was talking about. In their desperation to put a stop to Giluke's attacks, feeling there's no other choice, Tsurugi decides upon the sneak attack, the assassination. No big pose down where they introduce themselves, no grand invocation of a samurai battle. I mean, as much as I LOVE that final Buuba fight, I think this scene is a really interesting contrast to that. And I think this idea is something that's really appropriate considering the war theme of the show. Not every fight's going to be fair or "glorious." Giluke's an extremely dangerous opponent and they needed to do whatever they could to eliminate him. It's not an ideal situation, it's not exactly fair combat, but Tsurugi made the call to take it upon himself and he KNEW he wouldn't be getting out of it alive. And he obviously wasn't going to. Giluke was still standing, Dragon was writhing on the floor. I do think Dragon was going to die...

But he's saved by Nana. The stowaway jumps before him, taking some hits, sending her own attack back at Giluke, one that causes the Gozmard to malfunction and crash land. See why I think Nana's one of the unsung heroes of the series? Not only does actress Tokie Shibata do a great job at making the character sympathetic while capturing the sorrowful and tortured, yet hopeful side of the character, but Nana's a strong character. Between the strength of the actress and the strength of the writing, Nana, a supporting character who appears in only several episodes, has more going for her than a lot of full-time main characters from shows nowadays. And here, she not only saves Tsurugi's life -- not only out of care for him, but it's REALLY come full circle and she's more than paid back the times he's saved her -- but she cripples Gozma's forces by taking down the Gozmard, which gives the Changeman a fighting chance. (The pinch is the chance!)

While our heroes and their alien pals make their way to the crashed Gozmard, a troop of Hidoras stand in their way. Suddenly, Giluke appears on a mountaintop, furious. In yet another cool effect, he turns the skies red and then transforms HIMSELF into a Space Beast Soldier, Giras. Giluke had no reservations about this -- if you thought he was a coward for trying to turn the others into monsters, you're wrong. A couple of interesting things is that his arms are now made into his old swords, the Giras Swords, and he takes the name of his planet, Giras, as his own monster name. I think that says a lot about Super Giluke as a character. And I love the Giras design, it's spooky and just a hideous freak of a monster, it's great. The face reminds me of the vampire form of Amanda Bearse's character in Fright Night, which is one of my favorite movie vampire designs -- not content to have two sharp fangs, her vampire had a shark's mouth full of them, making for a really creative and terrifying design. Designer Izubuchi does say that a lot of the Space Beast Soldiers pay homage to sci-fi and horror movies, so who knew if he happened to see that one. It would have been cool if they could have done a prosthetic on Yamamoto, but toku just doesn't have the time or money for that. (I think Gou's half beastman transformation from episode 3 of Liveman is the only time Sentai's tried to do prosthetic make-up.)

Tsurugi rejoins his team and an awesome fight breaks out, the Changeman aided by their space friends (even Gator joins the fight, I guess he's Cosmo Green of Cosmoman). You gotta love the way everyone takes part somehow in these final few episodes; planets joining forces to stop their shared foe. Gator finds them a ship, Nana saves Tsurugi, Shiima fights off Giras, they're all doing something in this episode alone. And Giras is a real bastard of an opponent, he wipes the ground with everyone. (Phoenix remarks that he's the strongest Space Beast Soldier they've faced, and that's not just the usual hyperbolic bullshit shows will spout to sell the latest threat of the week.) 

When Dragon thinks to focus an attack on the chest wound he gave Giluke, they haul out the new and awesome Earth Force Dengeki Sword attack, all five at once stabbing Giras through the heart. I'm not going to say that Jetman ripped off of this with Radeige in their final episodes, but...no, that's exactly what I'm saying. (#JetmanIsARipoff) When the Changeman target him with the Power Bazooka, I love how he flashes back and forth between Giras and Super Giluke, a reminder of who this fearsome opponent is, that he's no mere Space Beast Soldier, and what a victory they've achieved. This episode goes a long way in selling just how formidable Giluke is -- as I said before, if Super Giluke had been in more episodes, he'd probably be my favorite Sentai villain. So, he's at about number two, but still one of my favorites, and I feel this episode is a grand send-off for the character. They did a good job getting across what a humongous obstacle was overcome with his defeat. (I'd also like to point out just how cool Yamamoto's voiceovers are as Giras -- he really cuts loose.)

And, just in time, the Soldier Group comes through once again, completing the repairs to the Shuttlebase. Time to wrap this up with Change Robo, man. As the Changeman take a giant Giras on in the Change Robo -- yet again focusing on that wound with the Dengeki Ken! -- Ibuki and the others board the Gozmard, hoping to find intel or something they can use against Bazuu. (Giluke just caused a lot of damage, so what do you think Bazuu's going to do when it's his turn to attack, for crying out loud? Run for the hills!) A familiar blue lightning enwraps the Gozmard and hauls it into space, with Ibuki, Nana, Shiima and Gator trapped aboard. The Changeman pursue in Shuttlebase and then...TO BE CONTINUED! 

A cliffhanger, leading into what was then the most ambitious Sentai finale of all. Heck, it's still one of the most ambitious tokusatsu finales.