Trick Or Treat: Revisiting Toshiki Inoue's Nightmare Fuel In Older Super Sentai

 

Ah yes, all before Toshiki Inoue made a grand return in Avatar Sentai Donbrothers. I caught up and noticed that the episodes are more on the lighter and softer side. Back then, he was the type to write darker and edgier episodes. The same can be said for most of his Kamen Rider episodes except for majority of Kamen Rider Kiva. I decided to revisit Inoue's contributions to Super Sentai before he got overused in Kamen Rider. Heck, I even felt that he wasn't even given enough Super Sentai to do. I still feel assigning him to become Kamen Rider Hibiki's head writer for the second half wasn't such a good move. Meanwhile, I thought about Inoue's contributions and how he contributed to the nightmare fuel.

Inoue did get some minor writing roles during Choshinsei Flashman, Hikari Sentai Maskman, Chojuu Sentai Liveman, Kosoku Sentai Turboranger, and Chikyu Sentai Fiveman before becoming the head writer of Chojin Sentai Jetman. Yes, Jetman, a season full of nightmare fuel as Radiguet himself is truly one terrifying foe. Both the short-lived Vyram Empress Juuza and the de-facto Emperor Tranza were meant to showcase how truly dangerous Radiguet was during his tenure. Granted, the Hirohisa Soda series he was assigned to was more serious back then. Heck, I even felt Turboranger was probably too serious in contrast to Gekisou Sentai Carranger (a parody) and Denji Sentai Megaranger (which brought back teens with attitude).

The Flashman episodes had a weird bag. We did have the episode of Bun and a female gangster as his first episode written. The episode can still be nightmarish because of Nefel's plan to rip the rangers apart. He was involved in the episode where Kazunori Inaba was a guest star and a boxer. Heck, seeing Inaba nearly become a monster of the week was just scary. Strangely, Inaba did become a monster in Gosei Sentai Dairanger. The episode of learning a musical piece was just okay. Meanwhile, his final episode in Flashman had Jin nearly die at the hands of his brainwashed teammates. 

Inoue did experiment with some concepts. Maskman was where he dealt with a monster falling for the ranger. The same plot was later re-used in Gosei Sentai Dairanger written instead by Naruhisa Arakawa. Maskman was also the time he experimented on X-1 Mask - the concept that would later become Gai Yuki in Jetman and Burai in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. Strangely, Inoue was just assigned to write episode 26 of Zyuranger - an episode way too brutal to pass the TV-Y7-FV standards in America. He also wrote that nightmare fuel episode in Maskman with humans about to be mutated into monsters. Then again, wasn't Maskman an entirely scary season? 

Liveman is a very depressing season. The episodes written by Soda and Kunio Fuji are depressing. I felt Inoue's episodes aren't all that standing out from the others. Still, they had their charm. Mazenda did use some deadly perfume in his first episode. Inoue also tried to use Gash as a deadly weapon. We also have a friendship put to the test when Junichi Aikawa tries to reconcile with a friend. The episode with Megumi and the jewel thief is something. That jewel can probably still give some nightmares. 

It could be noted that Inoue did love to put nightmarish plots. Turboranger was the start of Soda's decline. A lot of episodes felt so-so though I can't agree with Kaiju No Kami's overall negative assessment. Sure, I feel Carranger (now) is more organized even for a messy season that barely raised views. The episodes did have some terribly nightmarish scenes. I can't get over Youhei Hama's nightmare where the poison reached his whole body or when Riki was severely injured. He also was the one who wrote the episode where Jarmin dealt with the Bouma siblings. The episode with the Demon Majin Sword really had to be scary too. 

The Fiveman episodes knew how to scare the audience. As a child, I think the episode where a vampire from Romano showed up was scary. Sure, the episode with the Butarugin was somewhat funny. However, seeing the boy Hiroshi become a pig was SCARY. We also had the episode where Mantisrugin would assault the Fivemen in their nightmares. Eve worse, we had the episode where Chevalier temporarily killed Five Red. The episode where Billion was a fake hero was also pretty dark. Just remember the Maskman episode with a similar plot (with Kiros) was written by Kunio Fuji. 

Dairanger also had him write the whole Jin Matoba Arc. The scenes can be nightmarish. Sheesh, I can't get over Jin's hand getting CUT OFF by his own mentor. Jin's resentment due to a trauma was a scary trip. The presence of Yutaka Hirose made him even more intimidating. The spider tattoo plot was also rather scary. I'll have to praise Judd Lynn for actually copying the tattoo plot (and used a cobra instead) into Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. The battle between Ryou and Jin has to be one of the most heavily-done stunts. Today, most Super Sentai battles are more or less at par with Power Rangers. I think most of the out-of-suit Super Sentai battles tend to impress but not as much. This was a time before Toei Ltd. had to follow new censorship rules.

The Choriki Sentai Ohranger had darker plots too. The earlier episodes of Ohranger were rather dark. Inoue wrote episodes 5 and 9. However, the show started to swing into the silly territory thanks to the Sarin Gas plot. However, Inoue still gave some nightmare fuel after that change. I think Yuji Mita's friendship with a monster was a frightening episode. Seeing Juri Miyazawa trying to evade her mind-controlled comrades was a scare. The fanservice doesn't lessen the nightmare fuel. 

Inoue later had two episodes and I mean only TWO episodes of Mirai Sentai Timeranger. The first episode focuses on Ayase's past with a monster of the week guilty of traffic violations. The second episode he wrote was rather weird. Yuuri trying to break the boys free of a dating scam was kinda stupid. I guess it's because Yuuri is pretty much PLAIN LOOKING or what? It did show the kind of humor he would use in later projects. Heck, I felt that dating scam episode in Timeranger was probably the seed of Avatar Sentai Donbrothers!

I guess this was why he was given the Kamen Rider tasks. I felt that Inoue was practically later overworked. We all know how Kiva ended as a rollercoaster ride between Care Bears and Twilight. Still, I wonder how it'd be if Inoue was actually given a good chunk of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. It'd be interesting what Inoue could've brought to the table. I also wished that he took part in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and give Genta Umemori a cooking battle episode. I still feel that his guest writing in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger was a cruel episode. Still, that "cruel episode" could've been useful in Go-Busters. Right now, I feel like writing this Halloween post because of Inoue's current task.