Professor Henna The Mad Scientist In Ohranger

Choriki Sentai Ohranger is no questions asked -- a series that was hit by a series of UNFORTUNATE EVENTS. The Sarin Gas Incident in 1995 was no joke. It felt appropriate to water things down BECAUSE people need to recover. Power Rangers Time Force also followed suit because of the September 11 terrorist attack. Before that, I could talk about the gimmicky characters that showed up duriong Ohranger. It's no secret that I watched Power Rangers ZEO before on Studio 23. TV was a form of escapism. I wasn't too surprised to learn of Ohranger either.

There were some occasional joke characters. One that was introduced was the mad scientist Kotaro Henna (played by Shoichiro Akaboshi) -- the bald guy used as the top picture. The guy might be typical in some older cartoons with an eccentric scientist -- but given a Japanese twist. Kotaro showed up only in three episoses -- episodes 25, 29, and 30. All these episodes had some of that blatant silliness. Episode 25 was where Ohranger introduced us to the Ohre Bazooka for NO. APPARENT. REASON. Come on, what was the reason behind that?! Kotaro reappeared in episodes 29-30 with extremely contrived plots. So yeah, talk about using some random weirdo to worsen the situation! Fortunately, Henna was written off entirely as a joke character. There was NO POINT letting him stay!

The actor is also Father Magnet in Gosei Sentai Dairanger. I could also remember him in one episode of Tokosou Robo Janperson as a guest crook. Yeah, that crook who was lucky that there were some restrictions -- otherwise Tatewaki might've already thrown him off a running car! The actor was also in Choseishin Gransazers, where he had his most iconic role. However, I never really watched Gransazers so apologies in advance!

Then of course...

One of the reasons why I ended up disliking Power Rangers (at a personal level, but yeah, I understand the marketing aspect) is with the joke characters. Power Rangers ZEO tried to connect back to the first season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. The Dear John Letter is JUST one reason why I hated Zeo. I'd also point out how Bulk and Skull are characters that can leave and it wouldn't affect the plot! Bulk and Skull becoming defective detectives can derail the storyline. Henna may have been nuts but at least he wasn't used almost every single episode. Bulk and Skull were simply comic relief -- one that barely contributed to anything. It's probably a cultural difference as to why Bulk and Skull would work well in Power Rangers. American humor and Japanese humor can be vastly different!

Meanwhile, Super Sentai joke characters are usually directly involved or are meant to be written-off ASAP. Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger makes Dan and Boi as comic relief while being rangers themselves. Dan always gets into shenanigans that Billy Cranston wouldn't find himself into. Boi has the big appetite but doesn't have the same build as Raita Ooshi from Chojin Sentai Jetman. Dan and Boi are a comedic duo BUT they're not just there for laughs. Henna could be viewed as a bad joke that should've been written off ASAP. However, Henna was given two more episodes for some reason.

Power Rangers in Space had a similar character named Professor Phenomenus. Whether or not Professor CALAMITOUS was based on Professor Phenomenus isn't known. It may just be a coincidence since Professor Calamitous wouldn't be caught trying to take over the world. Phenomenus was obsessed with aliens and getting into trouble. Plotwise, Phenomenus should've been a one-shot joke character like Henna. However, Phenomenus' prolonged stay was probably due to American humor. 

Sidenote: It's already known that I've actually dumped all the hype of Power Rangers Lost Galaxy after seeing Choshinsei Flashman. I ended up berating the way Professor Phenomenus was written because another mad scientist, Professor Tokimura. Interestingly, both Jack Banning and Akira Ishihama are no longer in this world. Tokimura was a crazy scientist, but that was because he wanted to find his firstborn child. It's actually full of spoiler territory. It doesn't help that Flashman's rangers were all five children who grew up in a lost galaxy.