I'm Now Watching Sharivan

Sometimes, it's nice to take a break from newer Tokusatsu to enjoy older Tokusatsu I never watched as a kid. It's not that I'm against innovative thinking. Rather, there are times I want to focus on one side of the fence first before trying out new stuff. Then again, there's a lot of new school stuff that catch my attention away from newer Tokusatsu series. After seeing both Gavan and Shaider (which were also aired in the Philippines) - I decided to check the missing gem known as Sharivan. Sharivan was never aired in the Philippines and neither was Spielban. Also, take note I saw Spielban first (it also starred Hiroshi Watari as the lead character) before Sharivan which came before it. For me Spielban eventually got less interesting for me in contrast to this show.

Unlike Spielban, Sharivan was meant to be a very direct sequel to Gavan. Some events in Gavan are occasionally brought up so you might need to watch Gavan first. There's always an advantage to direct sequels vs. indirect sequels, right? I think all three series Gavan, Sharivan, and Shaider were meant to start with the first and end with the third. Gavan has a much more active role in Sharivan than he did in Shaider. For me, Shaider was my least favorite of the three Space Sheriffs. Sharivan tries to improve on a lot of stuff Gavan left behind. Like Gavan before him - he's got an action female helping him out in the character of Lily.

Then you've got the awkward battle robot Grand Birth. It does look like a rather badly designed robot. Whoever designed it was probably dead drunk. However, don't let the awkward appearance fool you since the cannons are used to obliterate Madou Battleships. TBH, I can't imagine this being used in VR Troopers either. Thankfully, Sharivan's footage was never used for VR Troopers too.

The villains of Gavan were good. For me the Fuuma in Shaider was meh. Sharivan has the most interesting villains of the trilogy. I think Demon King Psycho has a cooler design than what Don Horror had. I also felt Gavan's final battle with Don Horror was a disappointment. I even felt that San Dorva should've overthrown his father and became the final villain. Demon King Psycho himself has more mobility (though still remains seated for some reason) while he would be able to use Psychorror as an extension of himself. Other interesting villains were Gyrer (who looks like Wario from the Super Mario franchise) and Doctor Polter. Reider would arrive later in trying to overthrow Demon King Psycho. Also, Demon King Psycho is explained to be some kind of artificial brain that evovled into a very powerful lifeform for some reason. Then again Toku logic is supposed not to make sense in many areas!

Sharivan would also introduce us to the rather controversial Yuki Yajima. Why she left Bioman was not known. Some theories offer to explain her low salary and that she worked in a bar. Others say that she was supposedly pregnant. Until now, it seems nobody really knows where Yuki is right now. All I know is that her character Bell Helen wants to avenge her brother's death but eventually died as well. Strangely, in Bioman, her character Mika Koizumi also has a dead brother she ended up joining after thanks to Yuki's rather unprofessional departure. Maybe the actress practically didn't like the way things were arranged. Her character Bell Helen was eventually killed off at the hands of Doctor Polter. There are OTHER ways to arrange departing characters. Remember how Sun Vulcan's first red ranger went to NASA and was never mentioned again? That could've happened if they just simply arranged Bell Helen to simply get assigned somewhere. Why KILL her character off? I felt maybe the actress just felt so bad about how things went or did she really have low pay? Until now, only a few people really know the truth about that! I think killing off Helen was unnecessary. She could've just left for Planet Bird or something. 

Right now, I'm halfway with the show so I won't pause just to do episode reviews. As said, when I'm marathoning, I watch things at my own pace and doing episode reviews for older shows ain't my thing. It's been much easier doing weekly reviews of the latest series than older shows.