"King-Ohger" Episode 12: Toei's New Spider-Man?

I wrote about whether or not Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger was a celebratory season. Granted, some shows are celebrating a milestone anniversary. For instance, the most obvious is that Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers is celebrating its 30th year. We also have Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog in the 25th year. Extra note that both Seijuu Sentai Gingaman and Power Rangers in Space are in their 25th year too. Speaking of 25th year -- I think the series is making blatant references to Man in the Iron Mask. I guess the series has decided to bring up that weird gem called Japanese Spider-Man (Supaida-Man) in its 45th year along with Tosshou Daimos. 

How does this happen? Well, read to find out what I'm thinking right now...

The origins of Jeramie Brasserie are that hard to understand. Even in a world where fairy tale physics exists - one needs to investigate the claims of Jeramie right? I did feel Rita Repulsa errr Kaniska could've said, "You're giving me such a headache." in dealing with Jeramie. 

This is another funny scene that works only in cartoons. A new lie detector was created with lightning striking the liar. Gira lies about being the evil king and he gets struck. However, Jeramie claims to be 1,000 years old and NOTHING HAPPENS. This gets funny when it's tested again and it ain't broken. Rita gets another headache and screams in pain. I really laughed at this scene more often than not. Shiokara surviving that lightning was just as weird as Gira's survival. Are we really going for more cartoony humor soon? 

I did compare King Racules to Captain Ryuuya from Mirai Sentai Timeranger. However, the guy is also showing signs that he can be like General Miwa from Daimos. Yes, that crazed general whose only aim is to wipe out every Brahmin for the heck of it. Racules is determined to wipe out all Bugnaroks for the heck of it. I wonder how this yet-to-be-revealed character Suzume will be revealed. Suzume is the sister of Kaguragi after all. I'm getting interested in what might happen next. It's really not enough that we get references to Man in the Iron Mask with sibling rivalry. I guess Toei really is hell-bent on making Racules the show's version of Miwa from Daimos. 

I think this scenario is showing not everything is in Black and White. An irony is that Jeramie's suit is plainly in black and white yet he talks about gray areas. Jeramie writes things in riddles presumably to keep the audiences guessing too. Is this meant to be a reference to Deadpool as well? Kaguragi does feel like Jeramie was an ally of the Bugnarok Empire. Well, Deathnarok VIII did survive after all and gets his ass handed yet again. We do also have an interesting story.

This reminds me of the Nagare Bouma from Kosoku Sentai Turboranger and Eiji Takaoka from Gougou Sentai Boukenger. In this case, it's like Eiji's parents where the father is the non-human. The sixth ranger from many centuries ago fell for a Bugnarok woman. That really reminds me of Daimos where Kazuya (an Earthling) falls for Erika (a Brahman). The love story resulted in the birth of Jeramie whose powers are sealed away in an iron mask. Jeramie does seem to have some of Marvel Spider-Man's sense of humor. 

I do feel the Bugnarok plot might end up throwing back to Daimos. Both Kazuya and Erika would discover that not all their people are evil. Both Olban and Miwa are Complete Monsters from their own races. I wonder if we'll meet more good Bugnaroks aside from Jeramy's mother based on a flashback. Hopefully, the Bugnaroks aren't all evil and will be explored in future episodes. It's pretty much like how the Chinese people aren't the enemy in contrast to the Chinese Communist Party. 

The fight scene between Deathranok VIII and Spider Kumonos does have some Spider-Man references. Yes, there's even that web-slinging involved and spinning webs. I seldom feel that Deathnarok VIII might be a reference to Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom is often very active in fighting several of Marvel's heroes such as the Fantastic Four (he was their recurring foe) and Spider-Man. Deathnarok VIII has his Fantastic Racism going on as he hates Jeramie for simply being half-bred. This also reminds me of Emperor Ragorn whose Fantastic Racism has him discriminate against the Nagare Bouma for being half-human as well. 

Speaking of which, I didn't want to make this comparison that Deathnarok VIII and Kamejim to both The relationship between the two feels like that. I wouldn't be surprised if Deathnarok VIII will start leaving Doombots left and right. Speaking of which, Japanese Spider-Man did create its own version of Doctor Doom named Professor Monster. I kinda wish we had human-faced villains right now. Heck, I kinda wanted 68-year-old Shinji Todo (the one playing Takuya Yamashiro in Japanese Spider-Man) to actually either appear in the flesh or voice Deathnarok VIII. Shinji was also the human form of God Neros in Chojinki Metalder. I wonder if Shinji will ever make a guest appearance? 

Next week, it will be the entry of the new spider-themed zord. I wonder how this new zord will play itself into the show. This reminds me of something straight from Haim Saban's Spider-Man: The Animated Series which began airing in 1994. Right now, neither Toei nor Saban has a Marvel license. Back then, Saban did make animated adaptations of Marvel Comics as well such as X-Men: The Animated Series. The zord does look like the bug-themed Spider-Slayers which was designed primarily for the animated series since the comics used more humanoid versions. 

Extra notes to boggle your mind

I guess it's really Toei wanting to honor 45 years since Japanese Spider-Man was launched. I do love to state how Toei and Saban both had a Marvel license at one point. I wonder if Saban's awareness that Toei once had a license with Marvel brought the two companies together? This was a pretty weird licensed adaptation. Toei taking Spiderman and making their own interpretation. Unlike what Saban did with Super Sentai for Power Rangers - Toei never bothered to create a different name which can create confusion. Sure, it can be easy to distinguish Super Sentai and Power Rangers by the title alone. I prefer to all it Japanese Spiderman as to avoid confusing it with the American Spiderman. Well, Saban did also call his 1994 adaptation simply as Spider-Man in the title card. There was also a Spider-Man cartoon from 1967 and 1981. Strangely, a year before Toei adapted Spider-Man - there was a short-lived live-action The Amazing Spider-Man which only lasted for 13 episodes. Did Toei get inspired by it? Funny enough that Saban decided to take the animated route during the time he had a Marvel license.

I did watch a few episodes of Japanese Spider-Man out of curiosity. Nothing's so original these days, right? It's pretty much like how Tekken came AFTER Virtua Fighter. Toei's not really so original as Tokusatsu seems to like making references to Western pop culture. It would be evidenced that some characters AFTER the Japanese Spider-Man would be inspired by American-based superheroes.

Maybe, the most famous example is how Robocop inspired Kidou Keiji Jiban and later Tokosou Robo Janperson. Heck, a single look at Jiban's former human identity and Janperson's design tells you that Robocop did inspire them. Sure, we've had Robot Detective K but it doesn't seem Robocop had that show in mind. It was also a flat-out dismissed rumor that Ucchu Keiji Gavan inspired the design of Robocop instead of the female robot magazine. I guess Toei had no intention to use the Robocop name (presumably due to royalty fees) and opted to create Robocop-inspired shows instead. An additional extension was with Gekisou Sentai Carranger's Signalman. I think after Japanese Spider-Man was experimented on - they decided that creating Japanese superheroes based on American superheroes was the better road. Though, I still end up praising Saban for making better Marvel-based cartoons than Disney could even if I blatantly dislike (which I did a poor job hiding and created a disaster-piece fanfic as a result) Power Rangers. 

Heck, between Jiban and Janperson there was also Tokkei Winspector. Winspector pretty much gets inspired by Knight Rider. Later on, Kamen Rider Drive would also get inspired by Knight Rider. I still think that Toei does a better job making their own roster based on American superheroes. Meanwhile, I think Saban did a better job with the Marvel license than Toei did. Yet, some people still somehow think the Japanese Spider-Man was an interesting deviation. I wouldn't be surprised if Saban was also amazed by it as well.