I Just Finished Watching Michael Bay Errrr Kagaku Sentai Dynaman

Well, it looks like Metallic Fansubs just handed nostalgic fans a good Christmas present. It's a secret project so I had to download it in a batch. I did watch the fansubs by Millionfold Curiosity but they did go on hiatus presumably due to real-life events. It's time to throw some Michael Bay jokes as I finally give my final thoughts on the series. I would dare say the show is a step up from the rather generic Goggle V and somewhat of a step-up for the great Hirohisa Soda himself. If you haven't watched the show then watch it before you read it - unless you're a spoiler addict like me!

The second half gives us more dynamite than the first. The heroes did devote themselves into developing the newer, stronger version of the Dynamite Attack after Evilution Empire decided to create better monsters. However, newer villains spring up as the show must present some new fresh blood, right?

The second half starts to develop some conflict. I always found Mari Kouno's role as Chimera to be kind of generic. I don't know if I should really compare her to my complaints about Kaya Hirasawa as Denus (GoGoFive) and Jennifer Yen as Vypra (Lightspeed Rescue). There are times I felt like Chimera tends to be just there. Mari herself though shows she could still fight which causes me to cut some slack. Prince Megiddo starts to fall out of favor with his father. The arrival of Zenobia (acted by Ritsuko Fujiyama) shakes things up literally. Zenobia was once imprisoned in the Millenium Cave for charges against treason. Emperor Aton foolishly decides to give her a chance because of his son. Her arrival also causes the dismissal of Prince Megiddo. Megiddo disappears and the Dark Knight appears. Yet, it was really a no-brainer that Megiddo IS Dark Knight. Wasn't it too easy to figure it out that Megiddo disappeared AND Dark Knight appeared? It doesn't take a genius to figure that out!

How do Zenobia and Dark Knight add more flavor? Prince Megiddo was sort of underdeveloped IMHO in the first half. But as Dark Knight - he creates the aura of darkness that the show needs. Dark Knight trolls everyone such as stealing Emperor Aton's sword and tries to use Kosaku as a puppet. Dark Knight would later develop a false alliance with Zenobia. Zenobia feigns loyalty which proves Emperor Aton is STUPID. Emperor Aton should've just not allowed Zenobia to be part of the team. But we've got Emperor Aton's stupidity to thank for to add more flavor to the show. Zenobia herself is one wicked chick you don't want to mess with. Meanwhile, Dark Knight himself is Megiddo's development. Again, I don't know how many people didn't get surprised that Megiddo and Dark Knight were one and the same?

The later climax has it with the Retro Gene. Yup, it turns out that Dr. Yumeno was once known as Dr. Tooyama. The invention was too risky that Dr. Yumeno threw it away and changed his name. He probably never married because he couldn't move on from his late love. I don't blame him really. He did what Goggle V's rather barely-there mentor couldn't. What was the point really of Hongo disappearing for the majority of Goggle V? Dr. Yumeno himself accomplishes that with a backstory. He would later get involved in reviving the Retro Gene but he doesn't know the REAL twist behind it.

The late Masashi Ishibashi does impressive fight scenes. He's an action villain and he did start off with as Crime's big boss Iron Claw. He would replace Kenji Ushio as High Priest Hedder in Battle Fever J. Later, he would get his big-time villain performance as General Karr. For a show that was so full of explosions - he didn't get an explosive death. I always liked how he decided to volunteer to "destroy the Dynamen or never return" to Emperor Aton. Interestingly, Aton's voice was that of the late Takeshi Watabe who would later voice Ragorn. General Zenobia really is a bitch to frame him up. He challenges the Dynamen one more time. What disappointed me though was that his final death had his body intact. He returns to the base to activate the Big Bang Laser and dies there. Fortunately, Turboranger gave the actor Ishibashi a good explosive send-off as Rehda. I felt like General Karr himself should've died exploding like Marshall Deathmark in Goggle V. 

Did the show just run out of gunpowder at that time? However the show did have sufficient gunpowder for the next two episodes. I felt like General Karr's death with his body intact was meant to add drama. His body was given a proper funeral with Emperor Aton swearing to avenge him. High Priest Hedder did die with his body intact in Battle Fever J after his badass battle with Tetsuzan.

I have to admit that I already knew Zenobia died acquiring the tenth tail. The question that bothered me was why. I felt like Megiddo as Dark Knight poisoned the mixture but it's not really stated. Zenobia herself is a victim of her own greed. She wanted the tenth tail because she wanted to overthow Emperor Aton. What happens is that gaining the tenth tail will automatically kill anyone. Turns out that the myth of the tenth tail is something. Megiddo reveals one thing that it was all a myth. Megiddo has no tails yet he escapes the Millenium Cave and becomes more powerful. Was Megiddo lying because it looked like he poisoned the mixture? Regardless, he shows the tails meant nothing in contrast to the power he's gotten. Rather than get upset - Emperor Aton declares his son to be the new emperor of Jashinka. Seeing Zenobia die with primitive CGI was still satisfying. She grows old rather rapidly and turns into an obvious rubber skeleton. Still, it was funny (at least for me) how karma hit her badly.

The finale still has me MIXED in some way. So, what's the real issue with the finale? Well, is it me, or are Super Sentai villains always stupid or what? Megiddo finally takes over. What's interesting was that Megiddo is pretty much Prince Sincline and Emperor Aton is pretty much Daibazaal. Golion (better known as Lion Voltron) was a 1981 production and Dynaman happened in 1982 - both under Toei's wing. Megiddo becomes emperor but only for a very short time. His rule doesn't last long. It's pretty much like Sincline's rule in Golion where he doesn't hold his kingdom for long. But his stupidity does get the best of him.

Megiddo does suffer from what you'd call typical super villain stupidity. Maybe, we can call it Bond Villain Stupidity. Do you remember how Dr. Evil attempted to kill Austin Powers which a slow dipping mechanism? Well, Megiddo could've chosen to just freaking execute the Dynamen before launching his final attack. Instead, he chose to lock them up in the Millenium Cave which is comparable to the slow-dipping mechanism by Dr. Evil or by the Bond villains. Megiddo gets overconfident after getting rid of Zenobia and Emperor Aton. Now, he thinks that the Dynamen can't escape. I mean didn't Zenobia and him escape that dreaded cave? He could've just well behead them or whatever to ensure their deaths. That one brought him to his death.

I think about the whole final battle. The Fire Sphinx which was released after Karr's death is there. The Dynamen finally defeat it and now they must focus on Megiddo and Chimera. Chimera has agreed to follow Megiddo for the reason of Emperor Aton's last will. It seems the Jashinka believes more in kakistocracy - the same reason why Megatron doesn't dismiss Starscream in the Transformers series. Rather than get mad, Aton declares his son as the new emperor before dying. The two would later use the Grand Gizmo for the final battle. Rather than an epic mecha clash - it's easily destroyed. I just felt like the battle needed to be more up-close and personal. I still wish that Megiddo and Chimera died in the field battle. I guess Soda wanted to have a bigger explosion by destroying the Grand Gizmo rather abruptly.

So far, the ending is what I'd call something to be expected of earlier shows. I would probably say that Soda didn't really kick off until Bioman. I guess the heroes themselves didn't have that much personal conflict. So far, the only real conflict the show has is Megiddo's hatred for Hokuto. The other is that Chimera's hatred for Rei seems to be just ordinary for me. But again, I do need to cut some slack since Soda was still testing new ideas. Bioman up to Fiveman gave more build-up. Fiveman may not be as good as GoGoFive but there was certainly more development - just that it wasn't that well executed. 

Then again, there's always what I'd call just give it a chance if you can. Dynaman for me is still a fun, decent show. Maybe, newbies won't like it but older fans of Super Sentai should still check it out. I wonder can the theme of Dynaman still be reused for newer Super Sentai with better mecha, CGI, and the like? I think so!