Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
Time for another OVA, this time we have the Shinesman.
Matsumoto is a young businessman ready to start a new job, but when he applies to join a new trading company he becomes the red ranger in a super sentai team along with the colors Moss Green, Grey, Sepia & Salmon Pink. (Look at those colors, you'd think if you were a super hero you'd choose colors that ugly?) The peace is broken when aliens (convenient evil villains who disguise themselves as a rival company) attack the city.
If you haven't guessed by now, Shinesman is a Super Sentai spoof series taking away the teenagers and replacing them with businessmen.
Although Matsumoto is fairly straight forward for a lead and hero but looking at the others, we've got quite a bunch of characters.
Moss Green Ranger Hayami is a flirt, who we find out later is dating Turkish Twins.
Grey Ranger Yamadera is obsessed with his car, which is a Grey Montage as he calls it, so obsessed that he's in tears while his car is being serviced, like a toddler watching their favorite stuffed animal in the washing machine. Believes the color grey to be a "Regal Manly Color"
Sepia Ranger Ono is a proud parent of a little girl who he buys a stuffed fish for.
And finally Salmon Pink Ranger Hidaka, the only female of the team, hates being referred to as babe, frequently bursting into little rage moments crushing poor innocent coffee cans.
Our villains are a stuck-up Prince and his adviser, along with the Prince's younger cousin Shiina, who learned about how to defeat the Shinesman by copying scenes from the Greatman Show. (A show within a show basically)
And finally the team's manager Sakakibara is basically a big kid in a sexy woman's body, who clearly wants kids considering how gooey eyed she gets over Matsumoto's little brother.
With only two episodes to work with, we quickly see how much effort was made to place in as many gags as possible, something that the dub takes full advantage of and succeeds. Even a simple business card greeting looks awesome and predates Phoenix Wright by at least half a decade.
The gags get even better the more you watch, at one point Shiina accidentally traps herself inside a Godzilla costume uttering the greatest dub line since Twin Signal's "Lake full of Sea" Shiina: I'm gonna die in a Godzilla suit
It gets better when you have attacks like Business Card Cutter and Tie Pin Bomb, you just can't help but smile when the heroes themselves complain about their weapons.
Credit where credits due, it may not have created much impact on it's initial release especially when the creator is a Yaoi specialist, but holds the same kind of legacy Dragon Half has, being produced and marketed as a gag series more so in the west where parody humor is better appreciated, although some praise should be saved for Haim Saban for bringing Power Rangers to the west in the first place, which made it easier for Shinesman to succeed.
Final Verdict: This series is not only my favorite OVA but one of my top ten favorite anime of all time. (No that list isn't ready yet) Definitely find some time to watch it, you won't regret it.
