Hirohisa Soda's Habit of Keeping Certain Villains Mysterious For A Time!
So Shougo B'Stard of Thems' Fightin' Words has replied to my reply post saying:
I could see them doing something like showing Lethal Dogler disguising itself as a human, but, for me, I think that would take away from a lot of the character's mystery. And it seems to me like Hirohisa Soda liked keeping the main villain mysterious; most of his main villains have a secret that's a gradually building mystery that's usually kept for the final episodes.
Now here's a bit of observation to think about Soda's villains and keeping away a lot of the character's mystery. Maybe just maybe, that's why I think majority of Hirohisa Soda's works definitely beat most of today's Super Sentai while influencing the likes of Toshiki Inoue, Yasuko Kobayashi and Naruhisa Arakawa. Now I'd like to discuss how Soda's habit kinda makes a show interesting to watch but I'll only talk about the villains I'm more familiar with.
Doctor Man in Bioman starts of as a mad scientist, robotics expert. For the first 18 episodes, we are simply left wondering if he's a robot or a human being or what... but we do know he's a mad scientist but IMO it's predictable to know he's human, only that we don't know his past! Episodes 19-20 start to reveal a bit of who Doctor Man is... not only that he is human as not only his identity is a dead giveaway that he's well... a man... but one may also consider that we do know he has family issues. This of course makes Mason doubt his creator when he realizes that the latter is human. Even if the Prince was revealed to be just a robot, episodes 25-26 further explore his past as his real son Shuichi is revealed. Episodes 43-44 start to reveal yet another of his past conflicts. The finale arc reveals his bad relationship with Dr. Shinichiro Gou who was his former friend turned enemy.
If you want a loadful of mysteries, Zeba is even more mysteriousuntil later in the series. Now while it's obvious he's not human but you are kept guessing what in the world is he?! I mean I jumped from one conclusion that he was an alien from outer space who invaded Tube, then I assumed he was some kind of malevolent demon then later we discover there is a possible link between him and Lethal Dogler. I would think of this, Zeba's backstory. One clue after the other leaves us blank and somehow, he is linked to the secret of Lethal Dobler. Then we think, "Is it possible that Zeba was born out of that Pond of Evil?" Hmmm... then he must be purely negative energy. The finale then shows he was born out of the hatred of the original Lethal Dogler, ate his "dad" and became really a personification of evil!
Grand Professor Bias himself is another who holds a mysterious identity but sadly, I wish it was expanded like when he was born and so on. Just think... you don't know who he was. My downside about him is that, I wish he was really connected to Academia. But he does have some mysteries building up like he's actually much older, perhaps he's even 100 years old or older seeing he died a very old man at the end of the series. Another one that the audience knows is his use of the brain wave and that he actually manipulates his students into gaining the 1,000 IQ and uses that brain.
Empress Meadow herself was a mysterious being and we don't who she is. Now I don't think making her an illusion or writing her off as an illusion projected by Vulgyre was a bad idea,... only that it was very last minute twist. What Soda could have done though was to at least, give some clues or at least give some hints even in the middle that Vulgyre was actually a living creature, not wait until late in the series.
So far, I really just can say that these were very good memories in watching Hirohisa Soda's years of Super Sentai!
I could see them doing something like showing Lethal Dogler disguising itself as a human, but, for me, I think that would take away from a lot of the character's mystery. And it seems to me like Hirohisa Soda liked keeping the main villain mysterious; most of his main villains have a secret that's a gradually building mystery that's usually kept for the final episodes.
Now here's a bit of observation to think about Soda's villains and keeping away a lot of the character's mystery. Maybe just maybe, that's why I think majority of Hirohisa Soda's works definitely beat most of today's Super Sentai while influencing the likes of Toshiki Inoue, Yasuko Kobayashi and Naruhisa Arakawa. Now I'd like to discuss how Soda's habit kinda makes a show interesting to watch but I'll only talk about the villains I'm more familiar with.
Doctor Man in Bioman starts of as a mad scientist, robotics expert. For the first 18 episodes, we are simply left wondering if he's a robot or a human being or what... but we do know he's a mad scientist but IMO it's predictable to know he's human, only that we don't know his past! Episodes 19-20 start to reveal a bit of who Doctor Man is... not only that he is human as not only his identity is a dead giveaway that he's well... a man... but one may also consider that we do know he has family issues. This of course makes Mason doubt his creator when he realizes that the latter is human. Even if the Prince was revealed to be just a robot, episodes 25-26 further explore his past as his real son Shuichi is revealed. Episodes 43-44 start to reveal yet another of his past conflicts. The finale arc reveals his bad relationship with Dr. Shinichiro Gou who was his former friend turned enemy.
If you want a loadful of mysteries, Zeba is even more mysteriousuntil later in the series. Now while it's obvious he's not human but you are kept guessing what in the world is he?! I mean I jumped from one conclusion that he was an alien from outer space who invaded Tube, then I assumed he was some kind of malevolent demon then later we discover there is a possible link between him and Lethal Dogler. I would think of this, Zeba's backstory. One clue after the other leaves us blank and somehow, he is linked to the secret of Lethal Dobler. Then we think, "Is it possible that Zeba was born out of that Pond of Evil?" Hmmm... then he must be purely negative energy. The finale then shows he was born out of the hatred of the original Lethal Dogler, ate his "dad" and became really a personification of evil!
Grand Professor Bias himself is another who holds a mysterious identity but sadly, I wish it was expanded like when he was born and so on. Just think... you don't know who he was. My downside about him is that, I wish he was really connected to Academia. But he does have some mysteries building up like he's actually much older, perhaps he's even 100 years old or older seeing he died a very old man at the end of the series. Another one that the audience knows is his use of the brain wave and that he actually manipulates his students into gaining the 1,000 IQ and uses that brain.
Empress Meadow herself was a mysterious being and we don't who she is. Now I don't think making her an illusion or writing her off as an illusion projected by Vulgyre was a bad idea,... only that it was very last minute twist. What Soda could have done though was to at least, give some clues or at least give some hints even in the middle that Vulgyre was actually a living creature, not wait until late in the series.
So far, I really just can say that these were very good memories in watching Hirohisa Soda's years of Super Sentai!
Comments
Post a Comment