5.0 out of 5 stars
Change-ee Change-ee go-go-go-gooooo go-go-go!, April 21, 2011
This review is from: Kikaida, Vol. 9 (DVD)
This is one of those "you had to have been there" kind of things. "There" in this case is Hawaii (or Japan) in 1973. After Ultraman but long before Power Rangers, Kikaida brought a live action Japanese superhero to us kids, and we loved him.
This is the first of these DVDs that I've bought, which is also the last volume of the series. This is a "henshin" character, one who changes form by some word or gesture (kind of like Captain Marvel). Jiro is an android created by a scientist by the name of Dr. Komyoji. An evil scientist, Professor Gill, creates various robot monsters ("destructoids") to fight him, or to capture Dr. Komyoji's children Mitsuko, a young woman, and Masuru, a young boy. To fight the destructoids, Jiro changes into Kikaida, who is...still an android, but now red on one side and blue on the other.
Unless you're already into this kind of thing, as an adult, you probably won't be very interested in it. Your kids might, though, if they're young enough.
This disc contains:
Episode 41: Jiro Blows Apart! Anyone who touches the destructoid Red Mine Toad blows up! So what happens when Kikaida touches him? He blows up!
Episode 42: Not to worry. He's a robot. Mitsuko puts him back together (she's a robotic scientist too, like her dad. Well, sort of. Kikaida comes with a built-in repair manual.) Guest starring Hakaida, introduced in volume 8. That's him in the black get-up on the cover. Okay, bear with me now, this gets weird. Hakaida's skull contain's the brain (which you can see through the transparent plastic hemisphere on his head) of Dr. Komyoji, whose brainless body is in a coma. Hakaida is another henshin character who transforms into the more human-looking Saburo. Neither Saburo or Hakaida think of themselves as Dr. Komyoji and apparently don't have access to Komyoji's memories. I'm sure this is all explained in volume 8, which I don't have yet. Anyway, not to spoil the plot, let's go to the next episode.
Episode 43: Jiro's end or DARK Demise? Human brains are apparently plug and play. Pop Komyoji's brain out of Hakaida and back into Komyoji's body and, hey, presto, Komyoji's back in business. Don't worry, Hakaida fans, Hakaida will be back in the sequel Kikaida 01 (don't ask me how, I don't remember). Kikaida defeats Skeleton Flying Squirrel, as well Professor Gill and all the blue and pink sneaker-wearing androids. The episode ends with a little sadness as Jiro stays in Japan while the Komyoji family fly off to Switzerland.
Extra: "Super Android Kikaida: Comin' at Ya!" in 3-D! Well, bits of it. The fight sequences. Kikaida has to fight Mottled Sand Gecko and 20 other resurrected destructoids in 33 minutes. Can he do it? Time him! [Edit: in fact, it looks like he doesn't kill 7 of them. On the other hand, he kills Mottled Sand Gecko twice. They're not usually quite this silly. Really, they're not!] The black-and-white 3D sequences aren't impressive by today's standards, but...well, no but. I got nothing.
And more special features! I'm not going to go through all of them, unless you ask nicely, but here's a couple: an interview with Ban Daisuke (Jiro), and pictures of all the destructoids from the 43 episode series, plus sound clips of the signature noises they make (some of these are hilarious).
Oh, I should point out the picture and sound quality are very good, with the exception of the opening credit sequence. If only these weren't so expensive!
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