So I was flipping through one of the Sentai books that has a few pages about the designs, briefly covering each show, and in the Bioman section is a design sketch by Yutaka Izubuchi for a character who (obviously) doesn't appear in the show. A human-looking character that's identified as an officer for the Gear Empire...and Shiro Gou/Red One's older brother.
It's unknown whether he was considered to be in the show and plans changed or fell through or whether Izubuchi was just messing around and sketching out any idea he had independently. But what if Bioman's staff kicked around an idea that Gou would discover his brother worked for Gear, but that was dropped once they gave him the story of his long-lost dad who became a cyborg in order to combat Gear -- the thinking being that the dad would make for a stronger storyline, so they abandoned the brother idea. Or maybe the dad would still be involved, with one of his goals being to try to save the brother, but they thought that just made things too complicated and too Red-oriented and...who knows?
But here's what I was thinking...
Main writer Hirohisa Soda always said he had big plans for Mika/Yellow Four, and that she would be as important as Gou/Red One, the implication being that all those plans went out the window once Yuki Yajima abruptly left the show. Well, who's the only one in the show to mention having an older brother? In the first couple of episodes, when Mika's refusing to join the Bioman, she reveals it's because she wants to keep pursuing photography, and the reason she took it up was because her deceased older brother was a photographer and she wants to both honor him and realize his dreams. (It seemed he was more of a nature photographer, while Mika's more into photojournalism.)
So, my theory is...what if this sketch and idea originated not as Gou's older brother, but Mika's? What if he was either presumed dead or fully dead, but captured and brought back as a cyborg soldier of Gear's? How cruel would that be, to have to face the brother she thought she lost, the brother she idolized? Going into the endgame with Gou's dad, who's helping the fight against Gear, while also having to contend with Mika's brother, who's actually WITH Gear? That would have made for some juicy drama, AND would have put Mika on the same level of importance as Gou. And once Yajima left, maybe Soda still clung to the idea, considering making it Gou's brother, before then just scrapping it altogether.
If this could have been the plan for Mika, it would hould have been pretty dang interesting, and I think it would have been a really strong arc for a character like hers. She was reluctant to be a Bioman because she wanted to honor her brother's memory, and then she ends up finding herself on the battlefield against him. And she was so headstrong and independent that I think it would have caused major friction amongst the team, because I imagine she'd initially try to save him. I think Yajima would have given a great, explosive performance. I envision something like, Mika would try to get through to her brother and fail -- he's too far gone -- and Shuuichi from this would learn the way to try to reach through to his dad, Doctor Man. From Mika's failure would come the show's biggest victory.
I've always wondered what Soda had planned when he said what he did about Yellow Four. Maybe this just IS a kooky theory, but it's the only thing that's given me an inkling of the supposedly big and special things that could have been in store for Mika Koizumi, the Biomic Woman.
And now I'm trying to think of who they could have gotten to play Mika's brother if this was the scenario. I'm thinking someone JAC to match Yajima, but someone who was also a big deal. How awesome would Hiroyuki Sanada have been in a role like this, rather than just in the guest spot as Jun's archery coach? (He was a rising star, and I know he supposedly only took that role as the JAC's way to apologize for Yajima's abrupt exit from the series, but you never know -- maybe he could have been enticed by a good part.)
