Bioman Enemy Analysis: New Empire Gear and Silver

While it was called as Neo Empire in the Filipino dub, it was rightfully called as New Empire Gear.  I just thought at first it was an alien organization or what, but it turned out to be quite a human organization.  So here's what I thought of them which has some differences in contrast to Fantasy Leader's analysis here.


Dr. Man

I just thought he was a pretty cool mad scientist villain.  Okay nothing is known of him at the start except he whines about that he is the rightful ruler of the world, he hates humanity and that he claims to possess the best technology in the world if not the Universe.  I really find his make-up freaky (and yep Munemaru Kouda does a good role playing him and later the Gorma Emperor also had the same scary make-up).  What I pretty much liked about this character was that he was mostly ready for treachery or two, he wasn't really just evil for evil's sake.  The fact that he was a human who wanted to elevate himself above humanity as a machine and the revelation of his son Shuichi added an interesting twist with the father-son conflict.  How he gained such technology wasn't fully explained- maybe he dug some secrets of extraterrestrials and all.  I do like the fact he did after all have a certain degree of care for his subordinates.  And I'll count his death as one of the most powerful villain deaths to date with how he returned back to his senses before he died.  Overall, a pretty complex villain that showed the darker side of humans.  I'll probably put more credit to Munemaru Kouda as Dr. Man than the Gorma Emperor overall.


Mason

I have a different view on Fantasy Leader about this guy.  In fact, I even consider him more cruel than his master Dr. Man.  I just thought that while Dr. Man did the thinking, this guy did the implementations and he has one seriously disturbing smile.  The fact he took pleasure in using Dr. Man's plan to use a fake Joy (Peebo's deceased friend) and took advantage of Peebo's pity was really that DESPICABLE.  Then if that's not all, who can't forget the fact he used the Bio Killer Gun and had pleasure in doing it.  Maybe he failed to kill Shiro and ended up killing Mika instead but his laughing at Mika being blown apart by Psygorn is just disturbing.  Playing with Shingo's human emotions was just low and something he thought of himself (and Shingo, no offense, normal humans don't explode like mechaclones!) or how he developed a scheme that could destroy the world economy.  Later, he discovers Dr. Man's true identity and secretly carried out an assassination plan only to be foiled and he got reprogrammed, reducing him to cardboard later except when he decided to torture the Biomen with the thought that Miki had to die for the Satan Megas robot to be defeated.  I also like how he works with Psygorn most of the time much later.  I thought his death at the hands of Silver showed how his pride got the best of him.


Farrah

Maybe she's not the first female villain to use deceit and all but she was quite dangerous.  I really enjoyed seeing her assigned to covert operations, her use of disguises and how her rivalry with Mason later developed into a close partnership suggesting they fell for each other.  Her use of disguises and deceit made her fun to watch and added suspense to the show.  I pretty felt like her best use of deceit was when she actually fooled Shota Yamamori into becoming the Magne Warrior though it was later foiled.  I pretty thought though her death scene was too generic though.  However I felt her character developed later characters like Ley Nefel, Igam, Dordora or should I add the fake Gara in Dairanger all who use deceit in combat tactics.  My favorite part of her was how she and Mettzler worked together most of the time compared to that of Psygorn during her first mission.


Farrah Cat

This was where Yukari Oshima or known as Cynthia Luster in the Philippines had her moves shown for the very first time.  Now she didn't appear in every episode except to where Farrah was the focus but it was fun to see her debut.  In fact, I still can NEVER forget her iconic fight with Mika Koizumi when she first appeared.  I was pretty upset that Dr. Man didn't upgrade her while Farrah did.  I just felt like her character was probably the reason why Hong Kong cinema and later Philippine cinema didn't hesitate to recruit Yukari Oshima for action films!


Monster

A really dumb guy what can I say?  Okay I did think that Monster was pretty much a funny character.  While he was strong, he really didn't think much although he wasn't hesitant to use disguises either though he preferred to use brute strength.  It was no surprise he and Juuoh frequently got out.  He really had that much loyalty and care even for a villain.  I felt sad when he saw Juuoh finally bite the dust after being injured by Silver followed up by the Bio Super Electron.  His death was really acknowledged out of loyalty.


The Beastnoids

Okay this was one aspect I felt pretty mixed about.  Bioman was pretty unique in not having human sized monsters, instead these guys were beaten by the multiple team attacks that sent them retreating.  First, how do they keep surviving the multiple team attacks done by the Biomen was a question that got into my head as I grew up.  Now I just thought that each one of them had a different personality and all.  Messerjuu was pretty much comfortable working with any field commander, Psygorn worked with Farrah first but later more with Mason and he's my personal favorite, Juuoh well he only worked with Monster and I find it STUPID he is their de-facto leader, for Mettzler he's one scary foe as he used stealth tactics making him Farrah's preferred beastnoid and Aquagaiger well I'm having mixed feelings with him as while he can be incompetent, but he does sometimes display a rare show of intelligence like when he had a spare switch for Farrah and like Messerjuu he could care less which field commander would use him.  Later, we see Messerjuu and Aquagaiger completely obliterated while the remaining three get upgraded.  Later I thought that while Juuoh's and Mettlzer's deaths made sense (they were both severely damaged by Silver then later by the Biomen) but Psygorn's death made me go O_o when it happened.


Mechaclones

It was fun seeing these guys disguise themselves only to be thwarted.  The best Mechaclone ever invented was the Prince, who Dr. Man created out of his REAL son Shuichi or two, Miki who as long as she was around, the Satan Megas could not be destroyed.  Miki became good thanks to a conscience circuit built by Shiro's father (who didn't reveal his full identity yet) which caused her to end her life to save the Biomen from destruction.


Silver

He was a villain who was an enemy to both sides.  What I pretty liked about this guy is that he revived the concept of anti-bio particles and he was a truly dangerous foe.  Even if he didn't kill any of the Biomen but he could really negate their powers and finish the job with those dangerous arrows he used to kill Mason.  I also felt he was a truly terrifying foe especially with Balzion.  When together with Balzion, he was a truly fearsome foe.  My beef on him though was that he didn't have much of a life except terminating people with Bio Particles.  Who built him is left unclear.  Also it was good that after he finally bit the dust, Red One acknowledged him as a worthy rival.  Now how he came back for Super Hero Taisen is unknown.  I just thought if he returned from Hell, he could actually destroy other Sentai teams too.