Plot Synopsis

Earth. Now. The king of the distant planet Voice has declared war on Earth and it's inhabitants, with the intention of claiming the planet and its natural resources for his own. To this end, he has sent the prince of Voice, Sasaki, and a strategist, Seki, as the vanguard. The only thing standing between this invasion and the unsuspecting inhabitants of Earth is the Right Trading Company's Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman, a team of five carefully selected individuals equipped with Prosuits, the most advanced combat armor on the planet. The people of Earth would cower in fear and cheer their heroes, if they even knew it was happening, but the alien invaders have a most devious plan--they will pose as normal humans and build a business empire. Of course, it's not a particularly evil business empire--their corporation, Science Electronics, funds theme parks and the popular TV show Greatman. The prince of Voice doesn't think too much of this plan, but gross margins are up, and kids everywhere have memorized every Greatman formation. The Shinesmam team has problems of it's own; effective or not, Business Card Cutters and Tie Clip Bombs aren't exactly the coolest weapons in the superhero arsenal, and Moss Green and Sepia somehow lack panache. Oh well.

As the story begins, we meet the Shinesman team and find out how young Matsumoto Hiroya managed to go from a job interview for the sales department of Right Trading to working nights as a costumed superhero. We are also introduced to his younger sibling, Yota, perfect little bro and Greatman fan. Due to the vigilant Shinesmen, things aren't going terribly well for the alien expeditionary force, so the homeworld is sending help--the Prince's cousin, Shiina. It would be bad enough that she's a total ditz, but (due to a lack of authentic Shinesman footage), most of what she knows about the Shinesmen (and Earth) comes from superhero cartoon reruns. But, she's got a plan anyway--use the opening of the new Greatman show at their "evil" corporation's playland, G Park, to lure out the Shinesmen and destroy them with her pet monster. That's if the Earth's traffic laws and her total lack of subtlety don't get her arrested first. Will the Shinesmen be able to deal with this new alien menace?

After a quick commercial interlude, we return to the program: Shiina hasn't given up yet; this time, she'll try replacing the Greatmen with some considerably tougher alien bad guys. But after spending a few days on Earth, she's starting to wonder why these people are in such desperate need of conquering, anyway. We also find that the office secretary isn't what she seems, either. A native of Voice, she is here to warn the people of Earth about the impending (or occurring, as it were) invasion, and to find her brother, who had intended to do the same. But her brother is none other than Seki! So why is he masterminding the invasion, instead of trying to stop it? Meanwhile, the Greatman plan is set into motion, but who will the kids--including little Yota--side with when the Shinesmen take on the Greatmen?

Review

When I saw the preview of this one, I thought to myself, "poorly done, semi-funny Voltron/Gatchaman/Power Rangers rip-off, but some funny lines." For about the first ten seconds of the video, I was still thinking that. Then the jokes started. Within five minutes, I was wondering if all the really funny stuff happening might have been some kind of fluke, but after another five I was sure it wasn't. I honestly have to say that this Power Rangers/Gatchaman/etc. parody (basically what it is) is probably one of the best anime parodies I've ever seen, and among the funniest anime shows I've had the pleasure of watching, period. I am a longtime fan of Project A-ko, and as strange as it feels to say this, I enjoyed Shinesman almost as much.

As with Project A-ko and a handful of other really good parodies, what makes Shinesman work so well is the fact that it has a real story. Where some parodies take individual scenes or elements of their target and spoof them to death (which can be plenty funny), the ones that really stick with you go one step farther. Shinesman has it's own functional reality, a passable plot, and a reasonably sympathetic set of characters--not just caricatures, but people with at least a modicum of personality. While it could have played it straight and turned out as a so-so action show, the main characters are stricken with odd personality quirks and a really pathetic set of circumstances--Tie Clip Bombs, lousy colors, corporate espionage, and overheated Godzilla suits, to name a few. But what takes Shinesman one step farther and makes it so funny is that the characters actually realize that they're losers; the kids don't like the lame colors (or "regal, manly colors," to quote a Shinesman), and the heroes are the first to lament the really sad corporate-themed weapons they're armed with. I'll warn you up front that the jokes aren't over the top at all--it's actually pretty low key--but it's this off handed, self-deprecating humor that really sets Shinesman out from the "parody" pack, at least in my book. Probably the most similar show I can think of is actually an American one, The Tick (which is my favorite animation from the States), which is weirder and funnier, but there are definite similarities. (Actually, as a side note, there is one bit of really outrageous humor--a Shinesman merchandise commercial in the middle of the video that was very short but absolutely hilarious. Watch for it.)

I have two caveats to mention, however. The first has to do with which is funnier--the original Japanese or the eminantly quotable dub (some of those lines just beg to be repeated), and it's a hard comparison for me to make as a longtime sub fan. To start with, I can honestly say that this is only the second time I haven't been bothered at all by only seeing the dub (the first was the "Presence" part of Robot Carnival, if you're wondering). It's not that the acting is so good, but that the writing is so funny. Now, the "problem" with that is, the dub writers took some creative licence and added a lot of jokes... and as hard as it is for me to admit, they probably made it better. From anime in-jokes ("She's one OVA short of a series.") to a collection of great offhanded remarks ("Shiina, get in the glowing green square."), a significant percentage of the really funny lines were added in the dubbed version, and I really did miss some of them in the sub. To be fair, there were parts that were generally funnier it the sub, it did have some jokes that didn't make it into the dub (and some that didn't translate), and the comic timing was a bit tighter, but I'd say the balance is in favor of the dub.

As far as acting goes, it's another toss up. The Japanese cast is filled with big names, it was more or less distinctively (and definitely well) cast, and the acting is quite good, with a particularly funny performance by Sakakibara Yoshiko as the slightly deranged boss of the team. The dub lost some humor due to the acting (that same character, for example, wasn't notably funny), but it gained elsewhere (mainly in the department of sarcastic or offhanded comments). The acting in the dub varied from decent to good (somewhat surprising coming from AnimeWorks), and even the minor characters were solid enough. The casting was also quite good for the most part, particularly of the kids--I had no problem believing little Yota.

The other caveat (and my only real real complaint) is a particularly painful one--there is only the one video. These two 30-minue OAVs are all that was ever produced in Japan, and so it's all you'll find in the US, too. It would be bad enough if such a funny series was so short, but since there is actually a plot, and it definitely isn't concluded at the end, it's particularly sad. Who knows, maybe someone will pick up the ball some day (fan poll, anybody?), and there is an (untranslated) comic version.

Artistically, Shinesman isn't particularly remarkable, although I would go as far as to say that sort of adds to the feel--it really does look like a semi-cheesy action series. The animation is about average for a slightly older OAV series, but is good (or not bad) enough not to be noticeable one way or the other, and there is one decent action scene near the end of the video. The character designs are somewhat angular and have a shojo-style look to them, which properly evoked the superstudly look. On the down side, the guys all look kind of similar, which isn't helped any by the less-than-easy-to-remember Japanese names (it does help that everybody but Red wears a business suit the same color as his costume). The costumes and monsters are, likewise, unremarkable but good enough. The art in the series is a bit simple (particularly the backgrounds), with a lot of pastel colors, but again, this evoked the look of some of the older superhero anime shows that this spoofs.

The music was much like the art: plain. When there was any, that is; Shinesman was almost completely devoid of noticable background music. I will point out the opening theme, though--it sounded exactly like some of the classic, heroic anime themes (Dragonball and the like), and the corporate-sponsored hero appropriate lyrics ("tax-free justice" and such) were pretty funny, too.

Summing up, Shinesman was a really, really funny Power Rangers-type series parody. It had a hilarious blend of off-beat humor, cheesy superhero action, quirky characters, and anime in-jokes. Probably not for everybody (don't come looking for over the top slapstick, to be sure), but if slightly more subtle parody is your thing and you're willing to look beyond lackluster art and an apparently weak premise (I emphasize apparently--it was actually pretty clever), this is among the best. Unfortunately (at least from my perspective), I'm tempted to recommend the dub--it's probably funnier, and at the least has some darned good additions.

(Synopsis taken from Akemi's Anime World. And was slightly tinkered with here or there. Still an accurate assessment of how I feel about this cool OAV)

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