Flashman Episode 10

Fujii's second outing. And this one has some nice shots, some kick-ass action, another great Izubuchi monster design, but it's not offering much in terms of story. Fujii's also repeating himself; this episode is eerily similar to an episode of Changeman he did (also number 10), but doesn't have nearly as much going for it, not the same stakes. But it's a perfectly decent episode. I get the feeling that someone was like "Hey, let's take a break from the crazy concepts and quirkiness and just do something straightforward."

The plot is thus: Dai meets and falls for a girl who works in a flower shop. The latest Beast Soldier is based on a rose. Neferu poses as the flower shop girl to trap Dai. And that's about it. What's more straightforward than that?

Compare it to the Changeman where Hayate, the cool ladies' man, rescues a woman who works at a flower shop. Surprise! The woman is Shiima, and it's all a ruse to lead Hayate back to the shop, where the latest monster imprisons and holds him -- and, eventually, the rest of the Changeman team -- in a dark void.

The best thing about Flashman's version of the scenario is that Dai knows something is off when Neferu's impersonating the flower shop girl -- she carelessly steps on a dandelion, when Dai knows that's her favorite flower type -- and he goes along with it, faking his death so he can take advantage when the villains inevitably get too cocky thinking they've successfully killed one of 'em. Dai also fights with brass knuckles in this episode, which is pretty damn cool, but the only time he does this.

I get why they'd want to take an opportunity to do a romance, though, and Uemura plays it with a surprising amount of gentleness, and actress Masami Hosoi is totally sweet and likable, so you understand why Dai's immediately head over heels. The episode has some fun moments in which Magu misdiagnoses what's wrong with Dai, which concerns the others, when it's just plain old infatuation, but they don't get the mileage out of that quirkiness that they could have. This episode focuses on the action.

The actress playing Sayuri, the flower shop girl, popped up quite a few times in toku of the time, playing Kenta's artist love interest in Maskman's seventh episode and the cop that Gai hits on in Jetman's third episode being two examples. I always wondered why she never got a more substantial role, I think she would have made a good heroine.

Neferu Disguise Watch: She full-on ninjas by creating a false face and completely transforming into Sayuri.

Flashman Episodes 8-9

Pivotal two-parter that introduces characters who will remain an important part of the show until the end. In this adventure, the Flashman must protect a scientist and his family once they become the target of Mess. The scientist's newly finished invention -- a time machine -- has a component which ends up interfering with Mess's latest plan, which involves a Beast Soldier that can easily slip through dimensions, and it kidnaps kids and stows them away in another dimension. (Sara and Bun are eventually caught and trapped, too.)

So, these episodes are kind of combining the monster dilemmas of episodes 6 and 7, but they're varied enough that it's not all that noticeable unless you've seen this show too many times, like me, or some asshole, like me, points it out. Not only is this monster and predicament differentiated enough, but it's not entirely the point of these episodes. The most important thing is the introduction of the Tokimura family, their history, their past and future connection to the Flashman...

Twenty years ago, as they walked one evening, Dr. Tokimura and his wife had their child abducted right before their eyes. They were hit with a mysterious beam, their child vanished, they lost consciousness and eventually woke up with altered memories and a mysterious piece of technology in hand. To be honest, I never really understood this. The Alien Hunters choose at that moment to nab the baby Tokimura; why leave the mechanism? Was it a mistake? That's pretty sloppy work for Kaura or his squad. How's this thing even left behind? Or was the mechanism left because THAT'S what causes the memory alteration/erasure? Maybe, but that's just a theory, because the show doesn't answer that...EVER.

And, Soda clearly changes the plans he had for this storyline throughout the show. In these episodes, it's strongly hinted that Dr. Tokimura remembers at least this much: that it was a boy child they had that was kidnapped. It's set up that one of the three Flashman guys is a Tokimura. But, as we know, it's not a boy that ends up being the Tokimura. This show is 32 years old, so let's just say it -- it ends up being Sara. And with Tokimura now having two other daughters, it makes sense. But that's still obviously a change of plans, and it causes a couple of hiccups in the Tokimuras storyline. (Because I think even by episode 29, it was still being indicated that the kidnapped Tokimura was a boy. So...that's a late change in plans.)

And it could have really only been Dai or Bun who was their son, anyway. Jin was three when he was kidnapped, and the show later shows us two different scenarios of him running while being chased by an Alien Hunter and in a dream of when he was kidnapped as his mom read to him. He wasn't a baby in a stroller, is what I'm saying. (I kinda think the show was going to go with Bun being the Tokimura -- the two Tokimura daughters take an instant liking to him, and the way episode 29 is presented leans pretty hard in that direction. There's also the fact that actor Yasuhiro Ishiwata gained popularity with female viewers, so I imagine they wanted to highlight him a little, before deciding to give the storyline to the already-popular singer Yoko Nakamura/Sara, and trying to play the scenario as more of a surprise twist. Also, you know that Sara's the smart one of the team, as in child-of-a-genius.)

The change of plans is not something that breaks the show, from my point of view. I know some people find the Tokimura storyline frustrating. My own brother, when I made him watch all of Flashman for the first time, his biggest gripe was "Man, they dragged out that Tokimura stuff too long." But, for me, what I found to be the strongest aspect of the Tokimuras' involvement, what I think the main intent here originally was is...it didn't matter who the REAL Tokimura was. The Tokimuras took in all of the Flashman, and the Flashman all accepted the Tokimuras as their family. And that's just a really nice, strong, meaningful, impactful sentiment. This series is filled with characters like that -- the Flashman will meet surrogate parents or siblings throughout the show (including the people of Flash, it should be noted) -- but none as strong as the Tokimuras. That one of the Flashman team is an actual Tokimura is just an added bonus.

This show doesn't make things easy for our heroes, but they try to get by. I feel like it's a little more realistic that they don't all find their family members over the course of the show. And the one family who they DO find is due to special circumstances -- if Dr. Tokimura weren't eccentric, weren't a scientist and inventor, if he weren't so intelligent, he might not have remembered the incident of the abduction and he definitely wouldn't have tried (and succeeded!) in inventing a freaking time machine as a way to solve the problem. He knows deep down what happened, and even his own family dismisses him as a kook, but he puts that alien technology he was left with to use, and that's what puts him on Mess's radar and brings him into the Flashman's lives. He's a unique person in an extraordinary circumstance. As sad as it is, maybe everyone else's parents were just ordinary folks who weren't ever able to shake the effects of the memory tampering. There's a good chance that, even if they were able to stay on Earth, that the Flashman still might not have found their families. And that's why it's so great and important that the show will involve these surrogate families. It's a worthy message to put out there, especially considering Flashman's being inspired by the news item of Japanese orphans returning from China after being abandoned during the war.

And I like that the Tokimuras accept the Flashman so easy, and that the Flashman basically helped bring the Tokimuras closer together. It's easy to imagine that Tokimura's probably neglected his family for the sake of his invention; wife Setsuko doesn't remember much about that night, but you can tell she's just worried about her husband. Daughters Kaori and Midori don't really believe him and think he's wacko. But meeting the Flashman, having them confirm Dr. Tokimura's wild tale, having them help make his invention a success, Setsuko and the kids see Tokimura in a new light, they're relieved, they respect him again. I like that last scene, filmed at night (or the very, very early morning), the Tokimura girls wishing they HAD found an answer who among the Flashman could be their sibling, with Dr. Tokimura basically right then adopting the five.

I kind of have a bit of a problem with Akira Ishihama as Dr. Tokimura, though. He's not a bad actor, he's been around for ages, and he was considered a get for the show. What I like most about his performance is that he just seems very ordinary. A lot of performers will lock onto "eccentric scientist" and turn it into a cartoon or skit character. (One example that comes immediately to mind is the inventor grandfather in Kamen Rider ZO.) Ishihama is thankfully more restrained and realistic than that, but my big problem with him is that he's just way too mellow. Like, nothing fazes the dude! He gets excited when he's flying through time, OK, but he's reallllllly chill in moments that call for tension or reaction, like when he's making hostage exchanges with Mess or getting kidnapped and beaten by Kaura later on. He'll make Tokimura seem just really at ease with or resigned to the predicament surrounding him. It's a bizarre choice. (Setsuko and the girls are good, sympathetic casting, at least. Setsuko's actress, Tamie Kubota, also played Gavan's Earthling mother -- so, she's been the mother of two toku heroes!)

Our heroes show again just how big their hearts are in these episodes, though. When Neferu kidnaps Tokimura's daughters (Kaori and Midori) and wants to make an exchange for the alien mechanism he uses for his time-machine, the Flashman urge him to make that deal, even after he points out it's the best chance to find out about their past. Later on, Sara and Ruu eventually push Tokimura to use the time-machine again, because they're happy at the idea that one of their teammates might be close to realizing that dream they all have. Nobody's petty or jealous or grumpy on this team, they're all just such nice people.

And, like I said, the Flashman never seem to me like they're phony or just TOO good and unbelievable. I'm a grumpy bastard myself, I can find those goody two-shoes heroes boring or irritating. I compared Flashman's scenario to a reverse Superman, so I'll bring him up again. I loved Superman growing up, and reached a point where I thought it was "cool" to trash him for his goodness, but realized that was silly and started liking him again, and all that he represented. A lot of what I like about Superman comes from Christopher Reeve. His Superman was the pure and decent guy from the comics, who represented justice and fairness, and it's something that could have come across as extremely artificial when you make that character living flesh, but he made him believable. (The tagline of the first Superman movie was "you'll believe a man can fly." But the more impressive special effect was Reeve making Superman feel real.) I feel like the five Flashman are similarly believable. They're not flat, they're not 1D, they're not dull. They're characters whose life was marked by tragedy, but they try to get through the best way they can, by being the best people they can.

I know some people scratch their chins over the way time-travel's handled in this show, the fact that it's even a thing in this show. It seems strange, but I think it kind of fits in well with how sci-fi Flashman is. Sci-fi was so popular in the '80s, time-travel stories were popular, the decade was really looking to the future, excited about technological possibilities. What I like about the way the time-travel is depicted in this show is that...although Tokimura says he hopes to go and get his son back, the time-traveling ends up being more like he's able to witness the past, but not interact or tamper with it, and I think that's an interesting way to play it. You're introducing this larger-than-life scenario, and it's going to provide you and the characters information, but it's not going to be a crutch used to fill plotholes. It will play deus ex time machina a couple of times, but it's not going to betray the narrative. Tokimura doesn't get the answers he's looking for here -- he makes it back to 1966, but the machine falters, returns him and needs repaired.

And I just have to add that, when I was a kid, I thought the dimensions the Beast Soldier pulled the characters into was cool and spooky. There was just something unsettling about the way Sara and Bun were RIGHT IN FRONT OF the others, but couldn't be seen or helped, just heard.

Neferu Disguise Watch: In episode 8, she's in one of her favorite disguises -- Sayoko Hagiwara rocking '80s fashion. Here, it's Sayoko Hagiwara looking like an '80s mall girl.

Flashman Episode 7

EPISODE 7

I'm sure this episode is one that's seen by modern viewers who will laugh or think it's "cheesy" or whatever -- "LOL, balloons save the day!" -- but I like it. And while it was an episode I liked as a kid, I didn't know what it was saying with these characters to appreciate it the way it should be appreciated, so nostalgia's not playing much of an effect here.

This is the first script for this series by Kunio Fujii. This episode, really, encapsulates the entire theme of the Flashman having lost their childhood. And it's not done in a goofy way, it's not done in a way that makes them seem stupid, it's done in a simple way that gets the point across. But I'll be blunt on this point: this was obviously a Save-Some-Money episode, because it takes place entirely at (and therefore is an advertisement for) Korakuen Amusement Park. But they make it work to their advantage!

The Flash team visits said amusement park and are in awe of it. They're enjoying themselves in a way that's new to them, and making up for those lost years of youth. When they spot a boy nearby, chasing after a balloon that gets away from him, floating and getting stuck in a tree, Bun comes to the rescue with his fancy climbing ability. He grabs the balloon and returns it to the kid, who lets him have it. (The kid helps out at his parent's toy shop at the park.) Fascinated by the balloon, Bun returns to the others, and they all react excitedly. I like that we have these moments of the Flash team enjoying and appreciating the small things in life; in this scene it's balloons, later on, Bun's sadly taking in the entire toy store, thinking of all the moments he's missed. They're not only making up for lost time, but getting to know their home planet, and don't take anything for granted. (A trait that will help them out later in the show, I tells you.)

And like the villains they are, Mess uses the Flashman just relaxing and enjoying their balloon to strike, popping the balloon and debuting the latest Beast Soldier to wreak havoc. This monster was made partially out of a chameleon's genes, so it's able to blend into its surroundings, appearing virtually invisible, and beat the Flashman with ease. The trump card for our heroes? The very balloons they just discovered. A multi-colored group of balloons pass through the monster, messing up its camouflaging ability, and revealing its location. Bun returns to that toy shop, buys a lot of balloons from that kid he met earlier, and successfully ruins Mess's plans.

The kid is a nice counterpoint to the Flashman; he's a little humorless, serious for his age. He doesn't really understand why these weirdos are so amused by balloons, but doesn't care as long as they pay. The episode ends with Bun leading the others to send balloons flying -- Bun says the balloons are filled with his dreams, and that he hopes they reach the Flash planets. It's a variation on that old school activity, remember tying a message to a balloon and letting it float off? It's a nice thought, and this is appropriate for our team. (We're also told that he hopes it's viewed as a message of hope for anyone terrorized by Mess. Let's just hope things didn't turn out 99 Luftballons here, and that Bun didn't kick off some crazy intergalactic war.)

I wonder if it's due to the show being delayed, meaning maybe they got to spend more time together, but our cast of heroes is just instantly gelled. They all just seem to hit the ground running and start the show strong and just keep going. They're a good group of performers, with a good chemistry -- you believe they're friends, you believe they're just so full of wonder. They never make the characters seem stupid or immature, just curious, wanting to enjoy themselves and make the most of their situation. Our heroes are bright and optimistic -- even later in the show, when things go to shit for them -- and it's always believable. They never seem like blank, empty-headed, sugary nerd phonies, there to just spout PSAs. That's pretty tricky to pull off, and all five Flashman actors ace it from the get go.

Random note: After Kragen enlarges the monster, shrinking down after sending its energy and landing on Kiruto's shoulder, you can tell there had just been some BTS shenanigans and that Hirose, Nagato and Kojima are all barely stifling laughter. It's freaking funny and I'd love to know what was crackin' them up so much.

Flashman Episode 6

EPISODE 6

An action-heavy episode that I remember liking as a kid, and I still think it's just a really cool episode. The tail of the newest Beast Soldier acts as a flute that, when played, allows the monster to manipulate plant life. The monster's one weakness is the sound caused by the engine of the Flashman's Flash Hawk motorcycles. We get to see the smarts of our bad guys, as Keflen immediately figures out the problem, sending out a fleet of fighter ships that successfully destroys the Flash Hawks.

Mess later successfully intercepts Magu from delivering the equipment needed to repair their motorcycles, kidnapping him and forcing him to lead them to the Star Condor, while it's up to the Flashman to get out of this jam on their own. The cool part about this episode, what I always liked, is that the attack has scattered the team around, and Jin comes across each member one by one, who will offer him still-functioning pieces of their own Flash Hawk for the sake of repairing his. Jin's being followed by Mess, with each Flashman member he meets vowing, one by one, to stay behind and hold them back, freeing him to repair his bike and save Magu. That scenario reminds me of Goggle Five's finale, when they're raiding the Deathtopia, with each member one by one staying behind to fight an attack, in order for Goggle Red to make it to the throne room and take on the big bads. So...something Goggle Five used for its entire finale, just an ordinary episode of Flashman. Flashman's going big!

Jin's determined to repair his Flash Hawk, and the others are willing to sacrifice their own, because Jin's bike is important to him. It can be hit and miss when a toku hero is shown to be so devoted to a machine of theirs -- Shinmei was insane for his obsession with Valiblune, but you can understand why Battle Hopper meant something to Koutarou since it was sentient. And it can be a bit dull to have a male character fixated on his vehicle, but I feel like it makes sense here with Jin. Jin talks about how much he treasured the motorcycle while growing up on Flash Star, riding around endlessly. For me, it makes sense that Jin's so attached to his Flash Hawk; it represents a kind of freedom and thrill that was a luxury. Not only were the Flashman robbed of a normal childhood, but Jin was trained and pushed harder than the others. His time alone riding around the Flash planet was probably the closest he got to escaping a strict upbringing -- playing, even. And you just buy it from Touta Tarumi's performance; compared to the way some other actors handle this scenario, he remains understated.

On a random note:

I love Wanda in this episode. Neferu is the one who handles this plan, and Wanda is initially freaking out under the surface when it's looking so successful. But he's then realllllllllllly quick to get in some smack-talk, a "Hey, she sucks. Replace this zero with a hero!" when it starts going bad.

Flashman Episode 5

EPISODE 5

Is your refrigerator running? Well, then you better send Dyna Blue to stop it!

Now THIS is a fun stab at a comedic episode. Quirky as heck, showcasing a bizarre Mess attack, while acting as more of a fish-out-of-water styled story for our heroes, rather than focusing only on their super abilities. The latest Beast Soldier manipulates electronics and machinery, resulting in some of that Poltergeist-y mayhem that Toei was so fond of putting in toku episodes of the period. (This one has more effort going into selling the idea -- when the monster is causing the refrigerator to bulge out, it's a pretty good effect -- it's latex that bulges out, but looks solid and metallic when it settles back into its normal shape. Not an expensive effect, but it works.)

It's a nice change of pace that the heroes are brought into the situation not by their routine patrolling, but just by accident. In this episode, the Flashman are just kind of exploring town to get accustomed to it. The guys are separated from the girls, with Sara and Ruu just driving around. They eventually find themselves in the middle of a chase between policeman Tachibana (guest star Koji Unoki, the already-mentioned Dyna Blue) and a speedster refrigerator.

The episode is just these three getting into one chase after another, as the Beast Soldier hops from appliances to even automobiles. (Ah, who am I kidding -- it's Sara and Ruu who are doing all of the work. Tachibana's mostly in a constant state of disbelief at the fine mess he's in, and is prone to fainting.) Sara and Ruu are on their own as the guys of the Flash team are learning the hard way the perils of public transportation -- they're stuck on a train, having to wait for the next stop, and being new to this Earth place, they're not even sure where they're headed. So, they're going to be a while.

There's a lot of fun bits in this episode, like Ruu riding along with Tachibana by riding on the top of his police car, Ruu saving Sara by grabbing her and levitating, Yellow and Pink snubbing the guys when they finally arrive and do the team pose (and making them fight on their own), the Beast Soldier taking over Flash King (with the solution being to have Magu fire at them with the Star Condor to remove him) AND the debut of Yoko Nakamura's earwormy song for the soundtrack.

Before any wisenheimers criticize this episode's plot, I need to point this out: Mess's plan wasn't to take over the world by making fridges move -- Wanda says that this was just a test run for the monster's power. People often criticize the toku episodes that feature this particular villain plan, but the way it's presented here at least hints at the damage it could cause. We don't know the full potential of the monster, because the Flashman stop it in time. But it can take over ANYthing mechanical. We see that on a smaller scale with the household appliances it uses to attack Sara and Ruu, but we see it on a bigger scale when it takes over Tachibana's car, and then an even bigger scale when it takes over Flash King. The amount of damage it could have caused, depending on whatever it took control of, and the danger it presented was serious.

The final scene of the episode is Tachibana comedically reacting negatively to the appearance of Sara and Ruu, remembering the weirdness of Ruu's levitating. Sara and Ruu thought they made a bud, and he rejected them. And it's done in a humorous way, this entire last scene has a lightness to it. Jin tells them to not worry, that even if people react that way to them and their abilities, they themselves are still Earthlings. Earlier there had also been a scene where Tachibana was trying to get Sara and Ruu to tell him their names -- they don't know their real names or their last names, so "Sara" and "Ruu" was met with confusion. So, in this last scene, we get the narrator telling us "one day, you'll know your last names, Flashman!" It's an all-around light, bouncy, pleasant and optimistic ending. Think of where Flashman goes and this ending takes on a depressing angle! When I watch this episode and get to this ending, I'm always just like "Poor Flashman. Them bastards don't know what's in store for them." They get SO dumped on throughout this show.

Flashman Episode 4

EPISODE 4

An attempt at a lighter, more purely comedic episode. I think this episode is basically the answer to two questions somebody at Toei had. Those being:

1) Hey, that Kihachiro Uemura kid can walk while doing a handstand. Can you work that into an episode somehow?

2) Say, do the Flashman even need Magu?

And the answer to both of those questions should've been no. Because what we're given is a pretty silly episode in which the latest Beast Soldier causes Dai's vision to be flipped upside-down -- requiring him to do a walking handstand in order to see properly -- and a chance for Magu to act like a malfunctioning nut because he wants to prove how big his robot balls are.

It's not like Magu's annoying or anything; I think voice-actress Hiroko Maruyama does a decent job, and I think Izubuchi's design is great and the suit-makers did a pretty nice job of bringing it to life -- it's a detailed piece that money went into, actually seeming machine-like, computer-y -- robotic. (Unlike Peebo, who looked like it was BMX gear dipped in glitter.) I just always found Magu pretty unnecessary. I don't think he contributes anything that couldn't have been done by, say, Jin or Sara going through computer banks. Fiveman might have really wished it was Flashman, but the one area it might beat Flashman is that Arthur-G6 was certainly more important and valuable to the show.

And this episode doesn't make a good case for Magu. Not able to fight because of his condition, Dai's "trained" by Magu, who mistakenly must have been programmed with the Chief Ibuki disc, because he really throws everything at Dai, who can't do crap while on his hands. When Magu chews out Dai for not making much effort, considering all the Flashman have endured and learned on the Flash planets, it makes Jin remember his samurai-esque training on the Flash planet, when sandstorms would be so bad, he had no choice but to fight blindfolded, learning how to "see" with his mind and senses. This gets Jin to decide that this is the best plan of attack -- if they wear a special visor covering their eyes, the four won't risk being harmed in the same way as Dai, and Dai's messed up vision shouldn't matter if blindfolded.

When everything works out for the Flashman, Magu's depressed that he didn't help, but Jin's quick to correct him that, if it wasn't for Magu's speech about their training on Flash, he wouldn't have remembered that particular method of fighting. So, it WAS Magu who saved the day, but...meh. I felt like Jin would have eventually thought of it.

It's an episode that's meant to give Magu a purpose while also showing off the unique abilities of Mess's creations and the Flashman's individual abilities and what they learned growing up on the Flash planets, but it could have been accomplished it better. It's an entertaining enough episode, just not really essential. It's one that's purely for the youngsters, as they're the ones who will worry most about the idea of Magu leaving the team.

I do like the scenes of Jin's training on Flash Star. Any scenes detailing their lives or training on the Flash planets is great to see and a plus.

And the monster of the week has a cool design, but it's Izubuchi, what else do you expect? But I would like to use this space to talk about Mess's Beast Soldiers. They're some of the best monster of the week designs, in my opinion. They all have cool or creative or interesting designs, and mostly all of them are really well-crafted suits. Most of these monsters are meant to be hybrids of an alien lifeform along with a lifeform of Earth's, and it's easy to spot which Earth lifeform a lot of these monsters are based on. But what's great, what's smart about Izubuchi's approach to these designs, is that he still manages to make them truly unique creatures that you wouldn't see elsewhere. I can picture other shows just, you know, having a monster that's just about as regular of an elephant as you can make it, but here it's so much more inventive -- go take a look at episode 1's The Balaboss. And the monster of this episode is obviously based on a tortoise, but...well, look at what happens when you put the assignment in the hands of someone of Izubuchi's high caliber.

Something I really like about the Beast Soldiers, that I've seen some criticism for, is that they don't speak. And I think they might be among the first monsters of the week to not speak, at least in Toei's hero shows. (Meaning: the giant alien monsters in Ultraman seldom speak.) And if not in Toei's hero shows, then at least Sentai. Silent monsters became more common, especially amongst Kamen Rider, in later entries, entries that tried to be more grounded or "realistic." And I think it's the same thinking behind the Beast Soldiers never speaking -- they really just do come across as bestial. They seem like real beasts created by mad scientists, and their silence is a great way to separate them from the more successful experiments, their superiors like Neferu, Wanda, Ulk and Kiruto. (You were doomed from the start, Garus.)

Some people think these types of more animalistic monsters lack personality or charm of monsters who do talk, but I think it all depends in how they're used. For me, it works in Flashman, the way this show depicts these beasts who were spliced together to make new lifeforms whose abilities can be used. And with Izubuchi's awesome designs, most of them are massive and formidable and still make awful growling and roaring noises that result in some scary monsters for our heroes to face.

Flashman: The Motion Picture

I remember when I was a kid having Flashman books that had pictures of this movie's monster, The Garagos, and being like..."Who the hell is this? I've seen every Flashman episode, I have them all on tape, I've seen every episode dozens of times and I've never seen this son of a bitch before. Who is he?!"

Little Shougo didn't know that there were theatrical Sentai movies, and if he did, he probably would have loved it. I can't imagine what Kid Shougo would have thought of seeing his heroes on the big screen. But I don't imagine Kid Shougo would want to sit through Captain Tsubasa and Kinnikuman movies in order to get to Flashman's.

When Grow'd Up Shougo finally got around to seeing the Sentai movies, he was mostly disappointed by them. But Flashman's is especially disappointing. It in no way represents the quality of the show in terms of content or storytelling. Like most of the toku movies at the time, its top concern is putting on a spectacle, and even then it's not in dynamic action scenes or against-the-clock races -- it's just in showing off how slick it is, with all of its funky attacks and finishers. But, it's, like...the thin plot or the fact that it's not a good representation of the series isn't the movie's problem. No...it's that the movie has a really out of sync rhythm. Everything's just off about it -- the actors don't seem to be on the same page, the music cues are mostly off, it has a weird flow to it, the voiceovers are really mellow -- go and listen to just how casual the heroes are when taking hits! (Magu's voice is completely different than it is in the show, a bit more Peebo-like with electronic distortion.) It comes across as kind of unprepared, even amateurish seeming. It doesn't seem like a theatrical work, but more the first look via stage show or the premiere. It has a kind of sluggishness and roughness around the edges to it, like everything -- especially cast members -- just aren't quite there yet. They don't even show the henshin sequence!

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the first thing they filmed of Flashman. Flashman got a late start in production, and it's obvious that this movie was filmed early into Flashman's production. The series premiered on March 1st and this movie debuted March 15...! That's nuts! So, I can imagine that production's running late, so they just knock out this unessential Flashman adventure just to fill the slot in the Toei Manga Matsuri. And the fact that the movie is just 20 minutes long, when the movies -- even for the 20 minute shows -- tend to be at least 25, says to me that it was just a rush job. It might have been a little more polished if Flashman had premiered in February as it ordinarily would have, and they could have gotten to that first movie in due time.

So I often remember this movie as being weak or bad, but it's really just the shakiness of it. It doesn't have the Flashman charm, but it DOES have a couple of things going for it.

The plot is that Keflen's abducting numerous Earth animal lifeforms to play around with, splicing several types into one all-powerful Beast Soldier. A group of kids, who aren't allowed to have pets in their apartment building, have a makeshift zoo off in their neighborhood park. Mess targets this zoo for subjects, leaving behind only one puppy. Eventually, when the Flashman are fighting the monster, Garagos, they notice that it freaks out whenever those kids' puppy comes near it. The monster's been a pain and have bested the Flashman in all types of battle, so the Flashman see this puppy as the holy water to use against this vampire, and set out to protect the puppy. They eventually learn of the puppy belonging to those kids' "zoo," and learn from the kids that all of their other animals -- including the puppy's mother -- were taken by Mess. The Flashman realize that the mother is now a part of Garagos, and its response to the puppy is a reluctance to hurt it. Whenever the puppy is around, the monster either flees or refuses to fight, and the Flashman initially want to use the puppy for strategy. So...that's all pretty screwed up. "Come enjoy the new Flashman movie, kids. After you laugh at Kinnikuman's garlic farts, enjoy a bunch of animals being killed, with our heroes hiding behind a puppy!"

The best part of the movie, for me, is when Jin -- on his motorcycle, puppy tucked into his shirt -- is blasted by Mess' ships and both are presumed dead. After he realizes the puppy is safe, and sees how scared it is, he realizes how dumb they were to be using it, so he sends the puppy off to be taken to safety with Magu. Jin then shows up at the right moment in the battle to save the day, cool shot standing on a mountaintop, that great BGM playing. (M-6 of the FOLLOW YOU, FOLLOW ME track. What I just call "the preview music," since it's what typically plays in the background of the next episode's preview.) When Jin tells the others he handed the puppy off to Magu for safe-keeping, they're kinda like "Hey! That thing was our get-outta-ass-kicking-free card," and Jin just lays it out: "If something happened to that dog, those kids would be heartbroken. We came back to Earth to fight against things like that." So, even though this movie is really unessential and small scale, this hero moment of Jin's makes it worthwhile. Kid Shougo would have liked it, because he thought Jin was awesome.

And, at the end of the movie, the Flashman leave new animals for the kids' "zoo," telling them that these animals are orphans like the puppy now is, and to be good parents to them. That's just a sad thought, and in a way it does touch upon the Flashman theme of surrogate families. If you're an animal lover like me, this movie and message are probably easier to take. And if you're an animal lover, you'll realize that the puppy should have been credited above the titles because it's the real star of the movie, as it's taken on a wild adventure through nutty chase scenes and JAC fireballs. He probably left some presents for his handlers after this one. Toei was rough on their dog thespians in the '80s.

So, it's really not the greatest Sentai movie, not the greatest sample of Flashman and it certainly doesn't show our heroes in a good light. (Using a puppy to avoid fighting!) No wonder they decide to just splice together some episodes for the second movie. But because it's Flashman and it's a breezy run time, I still don't think it's as bad as a lot of other toku movies I can name. There's A LOT of bad toku movies out there. Flashman VS the Puppy of Power is better than Shushutto the Movie, for one. Better than Abaranger's movie. Better than Goseiger's. Basically better than any of the Sentai movies that involve saving a princess played by the gravure idol who's most popular that week. Or the Zyuohger movie -- Jesus, that was an unwatchable piece of shit.