Celebrating Kyuranger's Fifth Anniversary By Rambling About Western Sci-Fi Influence In Toei's Tokusatsu

 

It's obvious that I'm losing my Toku spark one way or another. I think I might want to exit it but at least leave a bit of a mark with some good memories of the franchise. I find myself not paying much attention to Zenkaiger when watching it. However, a new article from Henshin Grid discussed about the sci-fi influence with Power Rangers. Yeah, you know by now I dislike the franchise even when I acknowledge that Toei Ltd. is also part of it. This will be a pretty exhaustive post which I want to write because it's been five years since Kyuranger aired. With that, I decided to celebrate its fifth anniversary today with this post!

The popularity of certain American franchises

A bit of research may help you find out some of the popular movies and series that may have influenced Toei Ltd. 1977 was the birth of the Star Wars movies which The New Hope was the first film. The success spawned the rise of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi - all before Disney's "canon" really is pale IMHO compared to the Legends canon. Space Balls came in 1987 as a parody of Star Wars though it also heavily drew from the Lucky Star series by the late Isaac Asimov. There would also be the Star Trek franchise which happened in 1966 as a TV series that ran for 79 episodes and three seasons. I'm no fan of Star Trek though.\

The 1980s would've also birthed other shows. There was the Knight Rider show which involved a rescue police show. There was the hero Automan. Maybe, you may have also heard of other movies like Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford. Robocop also came out in 1987. The Terminator movies came out later which gave Arnold Schwarzenegger a more defined role than he did with Conan the Barbarian. The popularity of many of these sci-fi shows were pretty much worldwide. Japan had the opportunity to see them. So, don't be surprised if ever Japan mixed such popular plots into their shows. After all, Japan did get occupied by America for some time after the Second World War ended with the Japanese Imperial system. Today, the Japanese Diet rules Japan and not the royal family.

Toei also had a history with American companies one way or another aside from the Power Rangers franchise. The late Stan Lee also once worked with Toei Ltd. which resulted in a Spiderman Toku show which clearly wasn't Peter Parker. Battle Fever J had Marvel's hand. Lee also worked together with Haim Saban for the Marvel cartoons. I may not like Power Rangers but one reason why I don't hate Saban is because I felt he took better care of the Marvel cartoons than Disney ever did. X-Men: The Animated Series is a production by Saban with the Marvel license - something I'd say is a better adaptation from the comics than Power Rangers ever will be. Hmmm... funny enough that Toei Ltd.'s animation studio also provided animation for Hasbro way back then!

The late Shotaro Ishinomori's importance can't be neglected 

It's hard to forget that Ishinomori was said to be so unimpressed with Saban's Mashed Rider that he refused to renew the license. I guess it's true because Saban still treats the show like a disaster. Though, the Neo-Saban era of Power Rangers isn't any better either. Though, we could start with how Ishinomori actually was obviously inspired by Western influence while giving them a Japanese flavor.

The idea of cyborgs may have come from American influence. Robot Detective K might've been insired by several similar heroes from the USA before they made a Japanese version. Think about how American influence helped make Modern Japan. I was thinking that the plot of brainwashed cyborgs was also blatantly taken from several comics from Marvel and DC. Ishinomori probably decided to do more than that especially when it came to the Kamen Rider franchise.

The First Kamen Rider actually had a plot mixed with Western influence. Sure, Kamen Rider is a Japanese invention but nothing's completely original. After all, the DVD technology has the help of Philips which isn't a Japanese company. Japan also had to get several technologies from the West before it pioneered its technological genius. So, no surprise to me that the First Kamen Rider actually made the Shocker villains based on Nazi parodies. The Shocker soldiers making Nazi saluts might be a direct reference to the parodies done against Adolf Hitler. I guess Toei Ltd. wanted to remind the Japanese the mistakes of the past huh? 

Super Sentai eventually came next. I think the partial influence would be taken from Thunderbirds which is a British old-school sci-fi series. Maybe, the idea of Super Sentai or squadron may have also been derived from Western superhero teams. Battle Fever J is an obvious nod to The Avengers. Goranger also has an obvious nod to some Western elements. The most obvious has to be that Black Cross Fuehrer is obviously based on a Ku Klux Klan leader for a start. That was just the beginning of it with the Ishinomori era. 

Other installments of Kamen Rider also took some influences from the West. I would say that several villains of the older Kamen Rider franchise had some weird inspiration from the illogical villains of Western superhero shows. I just can't exactly name it though I'm tempted to think that the Great Leader of the Showa Era (who's not so great) seems to be based on several Western villains that just keep escaping. The running gag of the Great Leader having a decoy may be partly inspired by Dr. Doom having a Doombot or that the First Kamen Rider's decoy of the Great Leader obviously took inspiration from the Ku Klux Klan. I even want to think of Ambassador Hell as loosely based on any Pharaoh-type Western villain like King Tut in the 1960s Batman. 

The Hirohisa Soda of Super Sentai was mostly sci-fi inspired

Super Sentai would take a new spin with the Soda era. Soda was mostly focused on science fiction starting with Goggle V. The influence would really be there one way or another. The idea of genetically engineered monsters isn't unique to Toku. Think about how Serpentor in G.I.Joe may have inspired Cell in Dragon Ball Z as both were created by mad scientists. Now, it'd be time to discuss about Soda's sci-fi influence.

I could remember watching Goggle V while commenting that Mazurka looks like Maribaron from Kamen Rider Black RX except simpler. I felt that the attire of Deathgiller as a cheap Darth Vader knock-off. I feel like I've seen Fuehrer Taboo's design from some weird sci-fi film in the past. Goggle V gave us a taste of what Soda was truly best at - sci-fi stories. Dynaman also tried the same concept while being notorious for doing heavy explosions hence why I can't help but joke Michael Bay secretly works for Toei.

Various loose inspirations from the West hit it into Soda's other series. Bioman would make Peebo who is clearly inspired by C3PO mixed with a Kamen Rider. Bioman also had a bit of the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader plot with Doctor Man's son Shuichi. Changeman also had its main antagonist Star King Bazoo similar to Ego the Living Planet. Strangely, Fiveman ended up having its true main antagonist Vulgyre to be similar to Galactus. Flashman also had its rangers growing up in some distant lost galaxy before returning to Earth. 

The Metal Hero series getting influenced by American media and its prevailing influence with Kamen Rider and Super Sentai even after its cancellation

I still have a lot of mixed feelings about the cancellation of Metal Hero. Kamen Rider was cancelled in the 1990s as a TV series with only three films but no series. I guess the Kamen Rider series didn't know how to establish itself yet or that Japan had some issues during that time. Kamen Rider had hiatuses in between some shows during the Showa era. After Black RX ended - the franchise went for a 11-year hiatus in terms of not having a TV series at all! That hiatus allowed Toei to focus on Metal Hero during the 1990s until it was finally canceled after Robotack. 

Metal Hero obviously took the lightsaber from Star Wars with Gavan, Sharivan, Shaider, Juspion, Spielvan, and Jiban. I was even thinking about how alien pubs were featured in some of the shows - a clear reference to Star Wars and Star Trek. A space mafia isn't original to the Japanese either. The idea of a galactic police is very much similar to several American shows too. I think a lot of the uniforms were taken from Star Trek as a nod to the series. We know how popular culture influences each other.

It would be interesting how the police-themed Metal Heroes copied stuff from other Western shows. I think the most blatant example is the Rescue Police Trilogy which are Winspector, Solbrain, an Exceedraft. I think Knight Rider and Automan had partly inspired the series. The most blatant one was how the Robocop film franchise created both Jiban and Janperson which followed a few years later. It would be interesting that Jiban came a year before Winspector then Janperson came after Exceedraft. Janperson was fully mechanical though some of its villains are obviously lighter versions of Robocop villains. Tatewaki was obviously a lighter version of Boddicker since the show wasn't meant for an R-18 rating like the Robocop film.

Metal Hero ended yet its influence lived on in Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider seems to be the new Metal Hero series with the metallic suits and Metal Hero elements blended ever so seamlessly. The Kamen Rider franchise really took some Western plots yet again. I think the Grongi in Kamen Rider Kuuga were based on the Yaujta from Predator. It seems that Kamen Rider Agito is based on End of Days in some way. Kamen Rider Kabuto has the Worms which may have been based on the Harvesters of Independence Day and the Xenomorphs of Aliens. Akira Toriyama did copy the Xenomorph design as one of Frieza's transformations, right? These are but a few instances that Kamen Rider still continues to get inspired by Western sci-fi pop culture.

Maybe, one can NEVER deny the popularity of Dekaranger and how it's a nod to Metal Hero. I just can't help but be grateful for the more mature spin-offs such as the crossover movie with Gavan. There was even the spin-off that introduced the true successors of the Space Sheriff Trilogy which would be a further dirty finger to Zaido which was a licensed pseudo-sequel to the series from a Filipino perspective. Dekaranger even further highlighted it in a two-parter of a giant asteroid that's ready to collide from Earth. Where did we get that from? Doesn't the movie Armageddon come to mind? 

Lastly, Kyuranger was perhaps the most blatant example of a show Toei made that was heavily influenced by Western sci-fi 

I would disagree with the negative assessment Shogo B'Stard gives some newer Super Sentai series. Though, I can agree with him in some areas such as Super Sentai isn't as "good as it used to be". What would be amazing is how Kyuranger celebrates the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope and the 30th anniversary of Space Balls. In fact, I can't help but joke that Lucky and Garu are actually Lone Starr and Barf in spandex. There's also the Lucky Star series of novels by the late Isaac Asimov.

Watching Kyuranger made me think of Star Wars and Space Balls. I even wanted to assume Don Armage was probably such an idiot that his own home plant is running out of Planesium. It even made me wish that the show had an equivalent to Dark Helmet and Colonel Sanders. Lucky ends up as the show's version of Lone Starr. No surprise, Lucky is also a prince and Lone Starr was also one in Space Balls. Don Armage was a strange hybrid of Emperor Palpatine, the Yuuzhan Vong (Doombot form), and Grandienne from GoGoFive in so many ways. The show even went as far as to cross universes with Dekaranger.

To no surprise, Kyuranger vs. Space Squad became another movie. Newer generation Metal Hero characters showed up to preserve the peace of the Universe. It also featured a more mature setting than what was intended. It's no surprise that it happens as Kyuranger tries to bring in the older audience along with the newer audience. This in turn makes me want to ask viewers how much of space-themed Toku by Toei have they tried to watch.

While I may feel Super Sentai isn't getting into me - it doesn't mean that I can let go of it either. I just feel that there's still the generation gap to think about. I'm feeling it right now as I'm in my late 30s. Yet, I can't help but think how some of my elders would still rewatch the Wonder Woman series way back for nostalgic reasons. Some are watching the shows with their children. Anyway, this could be a good way to wrap things up if ever I feel like I might be closing up the shop.