Before Maskman's Princess Ial -- There Was Flashman's One-Shot Mess Traitor Shibel!

The 1980s era of Super Sentai may get you to realize that there's a lot of guest-starring for stars who'd appear in the next season or from a previous season. You can think of how Kazunori Inaba appeared in Flashman episode 27 -- way before he'd become my first favorite red ranger Takeru! Episode 40 did prepare one actress namely Mina Asami for her next role as the Igam twins -- both Prince/Princess Igam and Princess Ial. Strangely, the episode has her character known as Shibel help out the red ranger Jin!

Shibel's guest role was as a traitor in Mess. She was raised with the Alien Hunters. It's not stated where she comes from in the lost galaxy of Flashman. Sir Kaura finds a book (which belongs to Jin) and tosses it. We also see a flashback of who could be Jin's mother -- sadly she was never fleshed out and only Sara found out her family. Jin sees that book which is a familiar story called The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. So how did aliens even learn to read Japanese to start with? It's a weird concept really if you think about like how Marvel Comics or DC Comics logic with aliens speaking English. Since it's a Japanese show then they are speaking Japanese. Hollywood and comic book logic anyone?

Shibel herself (unfortunately for Kaura) was somewhat molded by that book that she could just read even if she's possibly NOT even Japanese. Do you remember some crazy instances where alien enemies just blend in, speak Japanese (or English for Western shows), and speak like Earthlings? Sadly, we may never get even the slightest explanation for such weird logic. She's serving Mess but she's also feeling the whole terrible things they've been doing.

Shibel was supposedly in charge of Execution City. Now, a new crazy plot involves kidnapping children and turning them into beasts -- something Dongoros would attempt to replicate in a comedic way in Fiveman. This episode is far from the comedy of Dongoros' failed scheme. I admit I had temporary nightmares in that episode where Dongoros turned babies into eggs. However, this episode is full of nightmare fuel and Jin could've been executed. Shibel herself helps him out and even sacrifices her own life in the end. Truly, a very tragic episode by the late Takao Nagaishi. 

What would be amazing was that the actress would take a bigger role. In Maskman, she showed her ability in acting for two. I can't deny that Asami's action scenes in this episode are badass. As Igam, she really acts as that pissed off older sister (under the guise of a brother) because her sister Ial has fallen for a surface dweller. As Ial, she also has that trait with Shibel as a traitor to their respective organizations. Ial betrays Tube because she saw how Emperor Zeba was dead wrong about the surface world.  

Comments