Sentai Speculation: What Could Have Happened Behind Jetman's Earlier Development?


Chojin Sentai Jetman was definitely one of those unique Sentai for me. But one has to take note that it's also a Gatchaman tribute so what could have happened when they conceptualized Gatchaman ahem Jetman? Here's what I believe really happened:


Now we have Takeyuki Suzuki the producer of a good portion of the Soda era (Goggle V, Dynaman, Bioman, Changeman, Flashman, Maskman, Liveman, Turboranger and Fiveman) and he was also the producer of Jetman, Zyuranger and Dairanger. Let's take a look at the pre-Jetman works to what he could have conceptualized.

So it's obvious that four out of five Jetmen are based on Gatchamen. Ryu Tendo is Ken the Eagle (changed to Hawk for some reason), Gai Yuki is Joe the Condor, Raita is based on Ryu the Owl (weird huh) and Kaori is based on Jun the Swan. Ako Hayasaka is a female version of Jinpei but unlike the latter, she is a teenage school girl. So I guess they wanted to deviate a bit but Jetman is obviously a Gatchaman tribute! Perhaps another wild speculation I can make is how the character development went. One may also observe that Jun the Swan is fan-paired with either Ken the Eagle or Joe the Condor though no love triangle existed. Again, Toshiki Inoue could have taken advantage of the fan-pairing to let the Ryu/Gai/Kaori love triangle happen.


For Aya Odagiri, now I do speculate that they kicked out any Dr. Nambu counterpart in favor of a Sylvie Pandora counterpart. If you watched Gatchaman II, in the midseason, Dr. Nambu gets help from a female scientist and commander who would be Aya Odagiri's counterpart Sylvie Pandora. Both of them are badass female commanders who you cannot underestimate. For one, there is a LONG line of Dr. Nambus already so why not create a female Sentai mentor right? Again, I don't really care about the gender, it's all about how well the character acts it out!!!!


Jetman's Ikarus Haken is almost like the Gatchaman's God Phoenix. In Gatchaman II, we have a more bird like mecha but in Gatchaman Fighter, we have five pieces of mecha combining into the Gatcha Spartan. So I guess they thought, let's combine these two concepts together into the Ikarus Haken! Pretty cool concept for me actually... a concept later reused in Timeranger!


For Radiguet and the Vyram, I guess nobody wanted a Berg Katse counterpart and showed more favor towards the extremely cruel Egobossler hence you get Radiguet as a result of that! Both villains were cruel, cold-blooded and not to mention, they HATE having someone above them. In Egobossler's case, he was a little more sane considering he didn't always break his temper out like Radiguet did. You cannot deny both of them are cruel villains. If they did want a Berg Katse counterpart, remember Jun Yoshida may have left Kamen Rider Black at his own free will... and was no longer available. Maybe Radiguet was scheduled to meet a Berg Katse counterpart in the bid for Vyram's leadership but due to Jun Yoshida's unavailability, the idea was not even considered anymore. The good part is, we get Sentai's vilest piece of scum ever and a villain that makes Jetman oh so interesting... since he's very complex to start with!


What is noteworthy is that Ryu rivals Radiguet just as Ken the Eagle rivals Count Egobossler. In an episode of Gatchaman Fighter, Ken the Eagle manages to wound Count Egobossler's face. Familiar? In Jetman in Radiguet's first encounter with Ryu, the former's face was scarred by Ryu which makes me think... are these coincidences or not?!

Again these are speculations to what could have happened behind Jetman's early development!

Comments

  1. Could copyright be the reason why Toei wasn't able to fully go Gatchaman inspired by chance?

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    1. Probably... then again they managed to get it Gatchaman inspired to a certain extent.

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  2. Which was good enough to me. They still had everything that reminded me of Gatchaman including the whole refrence of Ken vs Count Egobossler, to the Ryu and Radiguet rivary that reminded of Gatchaman Fighter.

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  3. The two things that Jetman failed to live up to Gatchaman.
    The failure to get a Berg Katse villain in the series. Jun Yoshida would have been perfect for the role as his work as Priestess Poe of Shaider and Century Knight Belgenia shows that he can play a eloquent yet dangerous foe.
    And if the Katse like villain was developed his "Bat" motiff had to stay as it go against the bird motiff but then DC Comics would grow paranoid and would armed their attorneys.
    Yoshida-san may not be unavailable if he did not retire from showbiz or was doing other projects. He did not quit Black as he was only contracted to appear in the series for 13 episodes to bridge Shadowmoon into the series.
    Perhaps it was the right thing that this villain do not get produced as he would have overshadowed Radiguet, Tranza and Juuza. But then again this idea villain would have been as popular as Hakaider, Dark Knight, Silver, Bill Goldy and Black Beet.

    Also the anime and the Sentai show. Gatchaman had deeper if not cooler characters!!! With the exception of Ako, three of the 5 characters had one dimensional annoyance. Ryu Tendo is clueless, Raita only dimensions is earing and over indulgence and my top problem, Kaori! She is ugly, whiny, drama queen, and lack any spunk compared to Jun.
    I must have said this 1 too many times with Jetman and it still stands.

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