Janperson: It's Robocop Lite But It's Really More Violent Than The Robocop Animated Series Before It And Live TV Series After It

 

It's no secret that the Robocop franchise was purely for adults. However, that didn't stop Toei Ltd. from actually somehow getting inspiration from the concept. Some may say that Robocop was partly inspired by Robot Detective K but the latter, like Janperson, was a purely mechanical character. Heck, it was rumored that Janperson was supposed to have a human past but was removed for some reason. I think about how an adult franchise was somehow toned down in 1988 with the Robocop animated series which made Clarence Boddicker the main villain. Later on, Toei Ltd. decided to make their own version of Boddicker with Ryuzaburo Tatewaki. 

I remembered there was news that a child shot someone and the Robocop cartoon was blamed. How often do we blame the TV sets over the parents?! I was looking at the finale of Janperson and it seems Toei Ltd. caught wind of the news. Shuhei Saegusa, younger brother of Kaoru Saegusa, actually was watching Combattler V before he went berserk and used one of Gun Gibson's guns in the finale arc for Tatewaki/Bill Goldy. It was probably Toei Ltd. giving a dirty finger for the irresponsible parents of the child who shot someone and the Robocop cartoon was blamed. 

There was Robocop: The TV Series which lacked the violence of the movies. It was a Canadian show meant to appeal to children and teenagers. The events from the movie were ignored. Just a note - the Robocop TV Series was AFTER Tokosou Janperson was aired. Whether or not Janperson was part of the inspiration is something I can't determine. What can't be denied is that Janperson really copied some stuff from Robocop and added them in. Maybe, one can notice that Kaoru herself was practically the show's version of Marie Lazarus just as Tatewaki is Boddicker. Yeah, Tatewaki would still mutilate Alex Murphy and the guy hates cops as much as they hate him. Tatewaki, like Boddicker, threw insane fits of rage while being a cunning criminal. The cartoon version of Boddicker was toned down for a reason. Tatewaki, though toned down, would still be feared in Detroit. 

Granted, I saw Robocop: The TV Series first which lasted for only 23 episodes. Janperson truly had been more violent in more than one way. The introduction arc introduced us to the short-lived Guild led by Ben Fukami, George Makabe's younger brother. Seeing Janperson kill Fukami (who had become a full robot) was something. Later, we're introduced to the rise of Tatewaki Concern - a legal front for a gangster organization. At first, it seemed like Tatewaki was like the Old Man or Dick Jones. Instead, Tatewaki shows insane fits like Boddicker would. Tatewaki runs a very powerful gang in Tokyo. Unlike Boddicker, Tatewaki doesn't have anyone hiring him to do the killings. Though, Tatewaki has had alliances with short-term criminals (such as Jeff Gondo, acted by Ryosuke Sakamoto). Tatewaki may act childish (at times) but beware of his deadly behavior. 

The series also had two other groups namely Neo-Guild (led by Makabe, who ended up as a Paul McDaggett tribute) and Super Science Network (led by Reiko Ayanokouji, probably a tribute to Juliette Faxx in the Robocop 2 movie). These people were still a threat on their own. I remembered calling the Neo-Guild Robots the show's version of the Otomo androids or the cyborg units in the Terminator franchise. The two of them though were tragic figures. It's later revealed that Makabe lost his father and android butler in a tragic incident. Reiko later simply wanted to heal the Earth but was more than willing to reduce humanity in the process. Reiko later became Super Beast God Reiko - something that felt like taken out of the pages of Jiban. We know Janperson still ends up giving tribute to Jiban one way or another. 

A lot of episodes really had no qualms in showing... YES... SOME BLOOD. Granted, Gosei Sentai Dairanger was also the bloodiest Super Sentai to date. Both series were in 1993 - the same year when Toei Ltd. struck gold in the USA with Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Janperson didn't bother to shy away from some bloody scenes. One episode had a police officer unable to fire a gun after he accidentally shot a civilian. Later, we'd see Makabe lose his THUMB in a gun duel with Janperson - somehow he did fit a prosthetic finger before he self-destructed his own base. Later, Bill Goldy got impaled by Janperson in the final battle. Bill Goldy even mimicked Arnold Schwarzenegger saying, "I'll be back!" 

This is one thing I do miss about older Toku. I do miss the time when older Toku felt like it was hardly made for children. Yet, Janperson is made for children and it's obvious the opening theme has children singing about the hero. Japan ironically has much lesser school shootings than the USA where censorship is stricter. That's what I still find to be rather ironic since Janperson is more violent than the Robocop adaptations.