Bioman's Magne-Warrior: A Prototype Sixth Ranger Before X-1 Mask From Maskman?

It's sad but true. Yes, actor Hikaru Kurosaki had passed away just recently at only 64 years old. It's sad, but it's confirmed. His wife Yuko Asuka died on December 15, 2011 at only 56 years old. The two met during Hikaru's guest role as Shota Yamamori in Chodenshi Bioman. It was in episodes 35-36 when a prototype sixth ranger was created. But yeah, that was the Hirohisa Soda era. I called Soda's era as the head writer as the "era of experimentation". However, take note that episode 39 of Hikari Sentai Maskman titled "The Mysterious X-1 Mask" was written by Toshiki Inoue. I believe this is a concept worth revisiting.

Episodes 35-36 have Doctor Man planning to create a super soldier. Mason (first half) and later Farah (second half) were in charge of gathering the Magne meteorites. It's also here that the Biomen run into Shota. The Biomen were looking for the cause of the strange fluctuations caused by meteorite rocks. Doctor Man wanted to find the Magne Meteors at Mt. Nekura -- which I think is actually Mt. Iwafune. The Biomen believe they were about to get a sixth ranger, but they were dead wrong. It turned out that despite Shota's powers -- he has ZERO Bio Particles in his body!

It was an interesting test of what the actor Hikaru could do. Episode 35 has the scene where Shota fought the Mecha Clones, unmorphed. It was most likely a test of his main star abilities. Sure, I enjoy unmorphed fight scenes in Super Sentai. This scene also explored the limits of the human body. The hilarious black eye is one instance. Seeing Shota's dagger break or him trying to imitate the Biomen is plain funny. However, he had the potential to be a warrior. Farah took note of it and deceived him into becoming the Magne Warrior.

It gets interesting how a romance even developed between Hikaru and Yuko during the villainous encounter. Doctor Man wanted to produce an army of super warriors, with Shota as the EXPERIMENTAL DRIVE. Farah used her deceptive ability by using a disguised Faracat. It was interesting to have Hikaru fight against Yukari Oshima aka Cynthia Luster (a name she used in the Philippines). So yeah, talk about one JAC legend fighting another. The result was creating the Magne Warrior which could potentially destroy the Biomen. 

However, the weakness was that the Magne Warrior had to be supercharged with the Magne Megas' energy -- something Doctor Man failed to foresee. Jun Yabuki took advantage of that weakness to free Shota from the mind control. After the battle, Shota tried to propose marriage to Jun but was turned down. It was kind of a fun arc before Silver showed up in episode 37 -- raising the stakes!

Thankfully, Hikaru's talent didn't go to waste. He was later given a promotion with Kyojo Tokosou Juspion -- the only Metal Hero who fought against giant monsters unleashed by the Megabeast Empire. I didn't find myself particularly fond of Juspion though. However, it was nice to see Hikaru get to become his own protagonist after his experimental role in Bioman. 

Pretty much, I'm reminded how Metal Hero was long defunct but still remembered. Right now, Metal Hero is enshrined with Super Sentai, too.