Shinesman

60 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
11/28/2000

There's just something...irreplacable about Sentai. Those colors, Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, Pink. Three guys, two girls. There's rules in Sentai. Red is always the leader, the beautiful evil villainess always falls in love with one of the heros. Every bad guy has a spiked outfit. Episodes often end in still frames and line art drawings. Combination attacks, transformation sequences. That's the description of nearly every Sentai show the world has ever known.

Shinesman takes all these things and makes it just so much more. When Jerry and I sat down to watch this all I could wonder is why the hell it took me so damn long to put this bad boy in the player. Sentai humor so good that JL left his car doubleparked with the blinkers on for fiteen minutes while we watched the final episode. Sentai so good I turned fucking retarded and left the DVD in the city, so no screenshots for Shinesman until next week.

Hiroyata Matsumoto is Shinesman Red. He's also the only "normal" color in the Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman fielded by Right Trading Company. Their members, aside from Matsumoto are as follows : Ryouichi Hayami (Shinesman Moss Green!) whose symbol is the rose. Shogo Yamadera (Shinesman Grey!) whose symbol is his beloved Mitsubishi Montego. Shatero Onno (Shinesman Sepia!) whose symbol is the manbou**. Finally there's Riko Hidaka (Shinesman Salmon Pink!) whose symbol is a variety of dessert treats. They're all employees of the Right Trading company. The best part is, when they transform their super hero costumes they _still have their business suits underneath_.

Conversly, their androgynus antagonists are the heads of Science-Electric, a company that is ironically in the middle of a few very big deals with Right Trading company. Seki and Saki have been sent by planet Voice to beat down the human population some before their great and all powerful king comes to help out. The only problem is they're having some serious trouble with it. Because of this, Planet Voice has decided to send the princess Shiina in to take care of the problem for them. Apparently she's got some super idea to get rid of the Shinesman once and for all. She quickly manages to goof the whole thing up when she gets trapped in a costume closet*** and is saved by none other than Matsumoto himself. Despite that, for the next episode and a half she cotinues to be a thorn in the side of the Shinesman team and their benevolent, but awkward leader Kyoko, the head of Human Resources at Right Trading. She's a pink haired hottie, but don't insult the awkward colors of the Shinesman. They were her choice after all.

This is definetly a story about characters, as Sentai does sometimes. Seki, the underling of Prince Saki of Planet Voice, seems like he might be more happy just running the company. There's even more twists and turns as a character realizes that Seki is her long lost brother from Planet Voice. Her agonized thoughts ask again and again how he could possibly turn to the side of evil like that. It's just not right. There's nothing in this world quite like Shinesman. It's a teacher to us all, it has more heart than a transplant ward and it's twice as sexy!
One thing that just wasn't enough was the faked commercial put in the after the eyecatch of the first episode. The advertisement for the Shinesman Shower Set was just too good to be true. The only problem was the giant let down when the second episode didn't contain one. But that's alright. After all, nothing's perfect...though Shinesman certainly comes close. The semi-balladic opening with its humorous lyrics that try so hard to sound serious attests to everything that's good about this show. Go Shinesman Go! The little touches make it just plain beautiful. Things such as Greatman, the "Sentai show within the Sentai show". Rocktastic.

It's obvious how much work was put into this show. It might only be sixty minutes long but there's more love in it than a thousand episodes of Amazing Nurse Nanako. It's not a serious thing, but it's something wonderful all the same. Shinesman makes you want to give your fellow man a big fucking hug. Shinesman brings out the love in all of us. It's a wonderful story of the strength of the human spirit, where anyone can overcome any obstacle as long as they work together. The bright smile of your younger brother can bring tears to the eyes of even the most straight faced company woman. Shinesman is power in DVD form, and it's a god damn freakin' shame that they only made two episodes of it. There's everything to love and nothing to hate in this shiny bit of comedy. This show so perfectly captures the Sentai genre it's not even funny. They even throw in the obligatory "evil doubles of the heros" to make sure that they've got all their Sentai bases covered.

From Grey's obsessive love of his Mitsubishi truck to the fact that the yellow hued Shinesman has an appropriately homosexual hair (yellow is a tone normally reserved for another woman after all) Shinesman has something for everyone. You might say you don't like Sentai but you know that's just a goddamn lie. Everyone likes super hero shows just a little bit, they either don't want to admit it or don't know it. Nobody can watch Shinesman and not think that maybe their life would be better with a few karate powered super heroes fighting off rubber suited monsters. It might seem a bit pricey for just two episodes, but it's an orgasmic experience. Holy damn is this show good.

**That freaky little fish you'll regonize from the side scrolling shooter Super Parodius.

***Complete with Kamen Rider mask!