Ishinomori Week: Inazuman

It's time once again to dive into the now two-week+ long

1973 was another good year for Tokusatsu. Toei-wise, Kamen Rider came to its epic close, V3 fired up. Chôjin Barom-1, Henshin Ninja Arashi and Jinzô-Ningen Kikaider ended, and Kikaider 01, Robot Detective, and Inazuman took their place, though the latter came more towards the end of the year (there's a lot of publicity photos of Rider 1/2, Arashi and Barom-1 hanging out, and a lot with V3, Kikaider 01 and K out there, but not so many with Inazuman.)

Inazuman is the Ishinomori character we'll be covering this time, in both his comic and live action forms. The character's history is a little complicated, as he originated from an idea called "Mutant Z" by Hatano Yoshifumi, a Toei producer of animated programs (including one of the Cyborg 009 animated series) and was originally planned to be an animated series. This changed, and Inazuman wound up becoming a Tokusatsu in the vein of Kamen Rider, Kikaider & co.

Weird bits of Inazuman's pre-history survive on record, such as the earlier, unused version of the Inazuman costume itself. The "NG" Inazuman costume is closer to what the version depicted in the "CM bumper" card looks like, with more ornate gloves and boots, and a different bodysuit. The yellow-accented gloves & boots on this one come closer to the earlier designs and the comic version.

There's also an alternate version of the theme song where the first two instances of "Inazuman" are instead "Mutant" and "Raijingo" in the second verse (it can be heard in the original trailer for the 3D movie, and has been released on song collections.) Furthermore, as pointed out by "Felippe Onodera" in the comments section last time, Inazuman draws from two of Ishinomori's own ealier comics Mutant Sabu and Shônen Dômei (Youth League.) Ishinomori always reused a good idea when he had one; after all, Kamen Rider itself owes a lot to Cyborg 009 and Skullman.

On TV, Inazuman's story is broken up into two series:

Inazuman and Inazuman Flash! I'm covering both in one article because I feel they really are two halves of a single show, a sentiment some guide books share. Kikaider 01 continued the overall story of the original, but each series had its own protagonist and different ongoing plots ("Find Doctor Komyoji" and "Prevent anyone from building a giant death-bot" respectively.)

Inazuman keeps the same lead through both shows, something we'd later see with good old Minami Kôtarô over in the Riderverse. BLACK and BLACK RX are decidedly two separate shows that share the same lead character, but are otherwise very different in story, atmosphere, aesthetic, etc.

For Inazuman, the biggest change between series is who he's punching in the face. Well okay, there's a bit more than that, but I'll get into it later. The shooting scripts for Flash were in fact numbered in accordance with the first series, so episode 1 is episode 26 on the script, and so on. Not to mention the first series does not exactly end with the words "The End", but I'll get to that later. Once again I will be getting into a few big spoilers for both shows and the comic, so be aware.

Yet again we have an Ishinomori character whose comic and onscreen incarnations have a similar starting point, but go down wildly different paths. In the comics, Inazuman is still fundamentally a good vs. evil story, but it's not quite straight-up superhero fare. The comic unfolds gradually, keeping the true threat a mystery until the end and throwing a lot of weird stuff and paranormal shenanigans at our protagonist while he just tries to get on with his life.

The TV show on the other hand becomes almost pure superheroics, especially once the show gets rebranded as Flash, though also features a really great ongoing subplot that kinda becomes driving force as it nears the end.

The world of Inazuman is one populated by mutants, though primarily, being a mutant here is equivalent to being an Esper. Anything weird or paranormal in this story tends to have ESP, and thus gets the mutant classification. In some cases though, being a mutant also extends over into a physical transformation, and when one is not "natural" it can be engineered through science. Mutants are unknown to the world at large, and some mutants themselves don't even realize they possess such powers. One among them is Watari Gorô. Or is it Kazeda Saburô? It's both!

On TV, Inazuman's alterego is Watari Gorô, a third-year college student and soccer club star. His life takes a wacky turn when he helps some youngsters fight off the Neo-Human Empire's Fantom Army. Who are they? A secret society that wants to take over the world of course!

The kids are members of the Youth League, and they take Watari to their HQ to meet the group's leader and mentor, Captain Saraa. Watari learns that he too is a mutant, perhaps the most powerful ever: with the words Gôriki Shôrai ("Summon Mighty Power") he's able to become the armored, pupa-like Sanagiman. Once the energy meter in his belt reaches maximum, he need only call out Chôriki Shôrai ("Summon Ultimate Power") to change to the even more powerful psionic warrior, Inazuman! Because he's the hero, he decides to use his powers for good, and joins the Youth League to battle against the bad guys. And that's basically how it works... for a time.

As far as superheros goes, Inazuman is starts out very unique. Early on, he's basically unstoppable, capable of doing seemingly anything. He has a move called "Reverse Chest" that allows him to instantly undo stuff. Building blows up? Reverse Chest! Dam destroyed? Reverse Chest! (There are other names for it, but this becomes the most commonly-used variation.) You're probably wondering what's up with the "Chest" thing. That is, basically, Inazuman's signature battle cry. It's even featured prominently in the ending theme song. Apparently it has origins in Kyûshû where Watari's supposed to be from. Hey, I believe it.

His powers don't end there though. One of my favorite ones (seen in the opening credits) is Inazuman turning his scarf into a giant yellow chain, which he uses to pull a building back into place. That's pretty hardcore. Of course he has a lot of purely offensive moves as well, punches & kicks and all that, often prefaced by Nenriki ("Psionic".) Later on Inazuman develops a move where he flies through the air shooting laser beams before punching his foe to an explosive death.

As a design, Inazuman's pretty impressive just for how intricate he is. His antennae alone up-close are amazing! Inazuman is based on a moth, and his chunkier, armored Sanagiman form is of course a pupa (I guess that makes Watari the caterpillar?) Speaking of which, Sanagiman is cool, though he eventually becomes used about as often as the Masked Forms in Kamen Rider Kabuto that he inspired (you can also credit him for inspiring Agito's Burning Form, which gave way to the more powerful Shining.) The transformation's neat though, with him literally exploding as Inazuman appears! I also applaud the fact that he's a very unorthodox design, and not immediately "heroic"-looking at first glance. Given that he's another bug-based hero, I do like that Inazuman's different enough from the Riders with a more human-like face, his origin and powers, and of course his preferred method of transportation.

The Youth League give Watari a car called Raijingo, and this thing rocks. It is a car that flies, shoots rockets, has pincers for bad guy-crushing-action, and on top of all that has a giant toothy mouth for chomping down on anything in its way! It also has a kick-ass theme song. It's perhaps one of the craziest vehicle designs in Tokusatsu, up there with Akumaizer-3's flying battleship and ZAT's arsenal in Ultraman Taro. When flying is the most normal of your car's powers, you know you're in another league altogether. This vehicle comes in handy since Inazuman's enemies tend to have their own air force. These bad guys don't mess around.

As for the Neo-Human Empire (alternatively the "New Humanity") they're an organization of evil mutants led by the mysterious Emperor Bamba, who rules over an army of "MutanRobots" which are average, everyday evil mutant people who have been surgically enhanced to become cyborgs. I guess they got to cover all bases! Each one is a combination of some thing or concept plus the "-Bambara" name, i.e. "Akuma-Bambara" (Devil-Bambara), "Hone-Bambara" (Bone-Bambara), etc. Inazuman has some pretty cool monster designs, a particular favorite of mine being a paint-based monster, who looks like something you'd find at the MoMA these days. There's a bamboo-themed guy who's cool too, and how often do you see something like that? Don't tell me, I'm sure there's a Sentai monster themed after it.

I also have to give special mention to the henchmen in Inazuman. I love these guys. They're gasmask-wearing military dudes who use a giant oversized red claw as their main weapon, and they wear funky hardhats/helmets. They also make one of the weirdest, creepiest wails of any henchmen from the 70's. Yaaaaaaaaah, indeed. They're at their best in the first few episodes, when they're sporting brighter fatigues and white helmets/boots. After that they changed the design a bit, darkening a lot of the colors and trading in the big claws for smaller versions, and it just ain't the same. I dunno, but it's sort of neat to see bad guys wearing so much white for a change, rather than black or the darker colors you usually get. Coupled with the colorful Inazuman, they look great in the fight scenes.

Watari is played by Ban Daisuke, who you may remember as that Jiro guy. Inazuman started up around the point Jiro goes AWOL from Kikaider 01, though reportedly Ban had to pull double-duty in filming both for a time. I think the characters are unique enough, though it takes a while before we learn more about Watari (but when we do, yikes. He's had some tough times.) Also I guess joining the Youth League gives you some serious street cred; in episode 24 he walks into a crime scene, just tells the police "I'm Watari" and they let him through, no questions asked.

And you've got to give Ban credit: he manages to look good even with the oversized black Leaguer uniform they gave him for the early episodes. It gets ditched fairly early in the series, but I'll get back to that story later. Let's take a break from the live action show and talk a little about the comic.

In Ishinomori's manga, Inazuman's alterego is Kazeda Saburô, affectionately known as "Sabu" by his friends and family. Here he's a middle school student who loves getting into fights and is generally a lot more of a wise guy than his mature TV counterpart. He encounters a girl named Rion who is a member of the comics version of the Youth League. On TV, they're like the Shônen Riders, only they get more elaborate uniforms and they're basically dropped from the show fairly quickly (aside from the credits sequences.) In the comics, they still have the uniforms, though seem a bit older in age and operate in a more secretive fashion. They're around for the entirety of the comic right up to the last page, and are important allies in Inazuman's fight. Captain Saraa is here just Saraa, a guru-type who's ESP powers are immense (if you've ever seen ESPY, he's basically the old man from the mountain.)

Sabu discovers his powers gradually, and it takes some time before the Youth League give him the scoop on everything. The idea of them fighting the Neo-Humanity Empire is basically there, though our intrepid evil organization is in the background until near the end of the comic, but they make their presence known through various weird mutants that Sabu & friends encounter. While they aren't the standard monsters of the TV show, there's plenty of oddness: a ghostly woman, a wolfman, killer monks who ride around on flying tombstones, and a gang of mutant terrorists led by what appears to be an evil sea captain. Yarrrr! There's even a moth-lady, albeit briefly, and Inazuman has a strange tendency to encounter naked women who want to kill him. Hey, why not. Like the Blood Wheel Clan in the Arashi comic, it's a very disorganized organization, and a lot of the mutants often appear to be acting solo at first glance.

Inazuman works the same way in principle, though his powers are less strictly-defined (no "Chest!") Sabu becomes Sanagiman, usually after getting seriously injured (one time getting stabbed in the brain with scissors, and another after being shot multiple times right down the middle!) Sanagiman explodes, giving way to Inazuman, who in the comics is implied to be naked save for a speedo-type thingy (and early on, when he turns back, poor Sabu is sans clothes, Hibiki-style.)

As per his name, Inazuman has control over lightning and electricity, and tends to electrocute the hell out of everything evil. His psycho-kinetic powers extend over to Sabu as well, who uses them to pull pranks, cheat on tests, beat up people, harass his friend Miyoppe, etc.

There's a lot more of Sabu's personal and school life, and eventually we meet his mother, though the TV version of that story is probably the more famous and tragic rendition. Sabu meets some other mutants who eventually become allies (after initial conflict) and there's some comedy bits with a dog character who's like the badass cousin of Scooby-Doo. Eventually there's some fourth-dimensional aliens running about, but things really start getting weird when Ishinomori himself appears in the story. He offers up a history of ESP and at one point is apparently drawing the comic as it actually happens. That's so crazy I have to call it genius.

Probably the most famous chapter of the comic is "The Boy Who Carried a Guitar", which features the return of our old pal Jiro! Coming off the end of his comic though, he's not in good shape, haunted by sins past as well as condemned by the "evil heart" he now possesses.

The bad guys take advantage of this and convince him to join them in their quest to wipe out the "old humanity" and bump off Inazuman. This makes for some pretty cool foreshadowing when Jiro tells Sabu about "that I man I met, that man who hates humanity" alluding to the story's ultimate villain. While Jiro doesn't turn into Kikaider, his guitar now plays a hypnotic song, as well as doubling as a machine gun! Fortunately Inazuman talks him down and fries his Obedience Circuit, restoring him to his old self. They part promising to some day fight again, this time side-by-side.

Of course this story got an animated adaptation, exclusive to the Kikaider 01: The Animation DVD set. I have seen most of it via Youtube, and it's pretty cool. Inazuman is given the full animated treatment, sticking close to his comic persona. The animated version even adds some stuff; Kikaider appears, and there's a monster kinda like the first one from the original TV Inazuman. See, Jiro does kinda get a happy ending after all! Ishinomori conceived of this chapter as a way to give some closure for fans who had been saddened by the end of the Kikaider comic.

The story ends with an extensive chapter wherein Inazuman fights seemingly everything Ishinomori could think up; there's even a Giant Robotic Thing in there! The Neo-Humans take Sabu to the moon via UFO, where they perform brain surgery on him to make him into their slave. I guess all Shocker really needed was a crazy lady with a knife and a UFO! The Youth Corps launch a final assault on the moonbase, where we meet the comic's version of Bamba. Here he's a mutated old guy plugged in a giant robot, not unlike the Doctor Noroi/King Dark situation in Kamen Rider X.

Bamba tries to use Inazuman to destroy the good guys, but Saraa shows up. Bamba turns out to be his younger brother! The ending is a bit like the original Kamen Rider comic in that it's not exactly the main hero's finest hour, as Inazuman gets turned good and basically watches as a whole lot of stuff explodes thanks to some psychic old guys, but the ending is fairly upbeat (the future belongs to the youth of tomorrow, etc.) All told, I rather like the Inazuman comic. It's weird, often surreal, and well worth a read.

And it winds up as a very different story than the TV series. While early Inazuman is fairly crazy and upbeat, things take a turn come episode 11. The term "dark" gets thrown around a lot, and I tend to think it's just become a catch-all for saying a show is "staight-forward", "serious", "played with conviction" or "not bordering on self-parody", etc. I think most shows have dark moments or episodes, but I'm not sure I'd say they're dark all the way around. But with Inazuman, you could say "the show gets darker" and I'd probably have to agree.

It is a gradual shift. The Youth League gets dropped fairly quickly, if not in name than in realization; the uniforms are discarded and only the regular 2 or 3 members continue to appear after a time. Watari's roommate and comedic sidekick Marume is stays around, but even his antics become increasingly scarce. It's episode 11 that really becomes the show's turning point though, and I think the title alone should tell you why: "Bara-Bambara is Inazuman's Mother".

This episode is probably best known for the director and co-writer: Ishinomori himself, or rather Ishimori as he was then known. Ishinomori also has an episode of Kamen Rider with similar treatment that I'll have to review on its own sooner or later. Whereas that was more of a celebratory occasion though, I think Ishinomori stepped into the writer's/director's chair for this one because of how important it was, both personally and for the series.

The title basically tells us it flat-out: the episode's rose-based monster is in fact Watari's mother, missing for 15 years. The real shocker is in watching how this revelation comes about. Ishinomori's directing style is fascinating; according to Ban Daisuke, he'd supplement the script by storyboarding out scenes like a comic. He knew exactly what he wanted and the two episodes I've seen him direct are nothing if not stylized. They almost work like a comic. There's random inter-cut scenes, long periods of silence, color filters, extreme close-ups, removed frames, and a general sense of weirdness that's not quite like anything else. In particular the scene where Watari learns his mother is the monster is really rather creepy; it comes sooner than we would expect in any other script and the quick-cut effects to show the transition are kinda disturbing.

I think Inazuman has some of the craziest powers in this episode too. There's a lot of teleporting, and he even seemingly has the ability to punch out henchmen before they can even arrive at the fight scene! It's really high-concept stuff. By the way, watch for Ishinomori himself in a cameo as a scientist's assistant who gets killed by the monster. Come to think of it, Ishinomori had a habit of getting killed off whenever he does a cameo, at least until the 80's. You got to respect that. One of his sons is also playing kid Watari, which is a pretty cool fact I learned thanks to the great subtitled DVD set this show got!

As for the story: for a while Watari doesn't want to believe that his mother is really with the Neo-Human Empire, but the evidence stacks up and it doesn't look so good. Ultimately his mom (Shinobu) comes to her senses and remembers her son, but is cruelly struck down by Bamba (who Inazuman blows up, but the one-armed bastard survives to fight another day.) It's pretty intense stuff and definitely worth checking out even as a standalone; a great storyline with some unique direction by the guy responsible for this very overview!

I would say it does have a definite effect on the series though, as suddenly @#$% gets real and Watari is more driven than ever to destroy Bamba and his empire. With the darker tone comes slightly less of the imaginative powers Inazuman had before; I think he starts to become more of a "traditional" hero, relying on a set list of powers rather than whatever the writers could think up, though to be fair I haven't rewatched a couple of the post-11 episodes in a while, so I'm likely forgetting some gems. The bad guys certainly start getting rougher, and more and more the henchmen start packing heat! This is all leading up to the Inazuman series finale, which is less of an ending and more of a transitional period.

Episode 24 introduces a mysterious robotic warrior who attacks Fantom Army trucks and screws around with their evil "blow up Tokyo with a missile" plans. Unaware of this, Bamba and co. blame Inazuman, and our hero must contend with Ishi-Bambara (a rock monster) and try to rescue Marume, who's been taken for slave labor (and teams up with Marshal Armor! Well, Nakamura Bunya.)

Inazuman defeats the bad guys, but the newcomer has him concerned. This episode marks a few changes to Inazuman himself; he now has an orange scarf (replacing the old yellow one) and new transitions are used when he becomes Sanagiman and then Inazuman (and the Sanagiman one already had a new variation much earlier.) The updated Sanagiman-to-Inazuman transformation is a bit funny since when he becomes Inazuman, the effects are so bright you can barely see him! I guess everybody watching knows by now though. I have a real soft spot for these updated transitions though.

Evil robot guy and several Fantom Army turncoats (who I guess he bribed with coupon books or something) stage a coup d'etat on the Neo-Human Empire; yep, it's another "join us or die!" new-villains-toppling-the-old-ones concept, with the unique twist that they pretty much buy-out the New-Human Empire from within. It's a great way to breath new life into the show, and sets up for the mother of all episode endings. Bamba tries to join forces with Watari, a subplot that's been running for some time (as in episode 11) though there it was him just wanting Inazuman to give into his mutant heritage and join the Dark Neo-Human side. I dunno why, but Faiz reminded me a lot of Inazuman. Here, Big B is getting desperate, as all his guys are inexplicably turning against him (and they do so here, interrupting the conversation.)

Following a cool escape from a firing squad, Watari parts with the show's other regulars for the final time; they don't appear in the next series! Kinda sad, but I think the show prepared us for it by having Watari increasingly operate on his own as things goes on. In exchange for helping Bamba (who'd been locked up with psychic-hindering restraints) Watari is promised that Bamba will take him to dismantle the evil guy's final master plan: sink all of Japan with a tectonic disruptor. Hey, if he can't own it, nobody can.

It turns out to be a rather ingenious trap, and Watari is stuck in an energy-sapping room that even as Inazuman he can't escape from. Our hero uses parts of his own body/costume (!) to construct Zabre, which is basically the ultimate multi-purpose tool and a good way to give Inazuman his "can do anything" quality back. Inazuman busts out and fights Bamba, who becomes the mutant Firey Fighter, but proves no match in the end. Bamba's final moment is so insane it's awesome: he grows giant, appearing out over the ocean, then explodes in a nuclear blast. That's how you make an exit.

Unfortunately, it ain't over by a long shot: the mysterious robot guy shows up, revealing himself to be Udespar of the Despar Army, led by the nefarious Führer Geisel, who shows up along with the other ex-Fantom Army members as the episode ends on a cliffhanger. From the next episode on, Inazuman becomes Inazuman Flash, with new theme songs, new enemies, and a new supporting cast (well, supporting guy) but the same 'ol Watari/Sanagiman/Inazuman at the helm. Like I said, 24 & 25 are less of an ending than they are a transition; if you're going to watch Flash, I'd say they're essential viewing.

Inazuman Flash has no real precedent in the Ishinomori comic (though that sea captain guy might've been a visual influence for Geisel) but did get its own comic adaptations that I have yet to read. For the TV series itself, it's pretty good, though like I said, we're now at a point where Watari's day job is Professional Ass-Kicker. He had some semblance of a college life early on in the first series, but here he basically drives around Japan fighting bad guys, fighting bad guys and fighting more bad guys. It's compelling stuff though, and this is largely thanks to the Despar Army and the show's other new regular, Arai Makoto.

Befitting Watari's full-time hero status, Arai is basically a gunslinging cowboy-ish tough guy with as many secrets as he has chips on his shoulder. At first glance he's amusingly like Tachibana in Kamen Rider Stronger, but younger, meaner and more trigger-happy. He's got a bone to pick with Despar and teams up with Watari to take them down. In a lot of ways, his storyline becomes the main arc of the show; by this point everybody Watari knew and loved seems to be gone, so he's mainly there to drive the flying car; it's the guy riding shotgun with the ongoing dilemma. Long story short, it turns out that Arai is both working for Interpol and not what he appears to be at first glance, and he's got a very personal stake in gunning for Despar.

Despar is really cool, and after the organic-looking monsters of the Neo-Human Empire, their more machine-like cyborgs present a nice contrast (they're called Despar Robots and Robot Warriors, though are supposed to be cybernetically enhanced people like the first show's monsters.) Geisel is played by Ando Mitsuo, which means that yes: Jiro and Professor Gill are facing off once again! Though whereas Gill was loud and larger-than-life, Geisel is played with psychotically tight self-control. His voice can go from a whisper to a bark in an instant, but he keeps his emotions in check for much of the series, though starts losing his mind (as well as other body parts) as the battle with Inazuman intensifies. A really great character with an awesome design, though quite different from how he was originally going to look with a monocle and literally blank face.

(Speaking of Kikaider reunions, Bamba was voiced by Iizuka Shôzô, the voice of Hakaider all through both series. I'm slightly bummed we never got a TV-version crossover between Kikaider and Inazuman, but I imagine it would have been hell to shoot, with Ban, Ando and Iizuka all having to act against themselves.)

Udespar's also pretty awesome, and arguably Inazuman's most famous adversary. He's cut from the same cloth as Apollo Geist (who premiered not long after Udespar) in that they're both by-the-book loyal commanders, and yet also possessing the same kind of edge someone like the original Hakaider had, often being the hero's #1 enemy. Befitting his name, Udespar has numerous arm attachments he can use (ude meaning "arm"), even taking a cut from an unused idea for Riderman: Udespar has the Machine Gun Arm! He's got a cool visual look with those 'sad' eyes that contrast with the fact that he is a hideously evil creep. Inazuman Flash has some overall rocking monster designs, particularly the Hakaider-ish Black-Despar, and the gorey Guillotine-Despar. Their henchmen reuse the gas-mask look of the last ones, but trade in miliary fatigues for crazy striped suits and body armor, plus some pointy sharp sticks.

Inazuman, for his part, develops some new powers thanks to Zabre, which as I said allows for a lot of the out-there stuff again. One of my favorites is when he teleports in an early episode; the bad guys wait patiently until Inazuman has fully materialized before noticing. Okay, I know it's supposed to happen in an instant, I just like that he gave them a good 4-5 seconds' notice. Our hero and his gun-toting buddy battle against Despar for 23 episodes, and as the show goes on the stakes keep getting higher. There's also a lot of women trying to kill Inazuman (albeit with clothes this time); even though it doesn't have any women in regular roles, Inazuman Flash has a ton of actresses taking on some heavily dramatic parts, which is cool.

Inazuman and Udespar throw down in episode 7, and the bullet-headed guy is utterly destroyed. But we can rebuild him better, faster, and stronger: which is just what Despar does, albeit as Udespar Alpha and Udespar Beta. These two don't get along very well, with Alpha being the tougher one but Beta having gotten most of the brains. Realizing one Udespar was better than two, Geisel attempts to merge them together again, and for a time they're the super-powerful Gattai-Despar, but technical difficulties force them apart.

Geisel brings in Sadespar, who's arguably the true successor to the original guy (they share the same voice, as does Udespar Beta.) The sadistic Sadespar's really cool looking, a spikey-guy with an Iron Maiden for a chest. He attempts to keep the Udespar twins in line, but following another shot at combining them and their subsequent annihilation at the hands of Inazuman, he takes over as Geisel's right-hand man full-time.

Around this point the concept of Despar City, Geisel's utopian headquarters, comes into play, as well as just what's been pushing Arai along: the search for his wife and daughter, who it turns out are in Despar's hands (3 guess where.) As I said before, things start going badly for Despar and Geisel manages to loose an ear at one point! Did I mention this show is fairly gory? As if having a guillotine monster wasn't indication enough, let's just say the final battle is an eyeful. The production team behind Flash were able to get away with quite a bit, and the show's writing (largely done by prolific writer Uehara Shôzô) has a real sophistication to it.

The finale's pretty good, with a touching reunion, some interesting details about Geisel, and Mizuki Ichirô attacking someone with a pickaxe! Inazuman's story ends on a happy enough note, though it's a long, grim way to the finish line. The final episode also underwent a few changes from its original draft, which ended on more of a downbeat (and somewhat meta) note with Watari losing all his powers in order to defeat Geisel, and then wandering alone through a city bereft of everything he knew (the idea being that once Watari stops being Inazuman, he's able to literally leave the show, and he walks right into "our" world.) This was vetoed in favor of something a little more upbeat and down-to-earth. At least that's what I've heard; I don't know all the details about this original ending, but I'd sure love to know more.

There is a movie for Flash, but it's just the old enlarged-episode routine (12 if you're keeping track.) The 3D movie for the first series is amazing though; like Kikaider's the 3D is only in certain parts and even then used fairly sparsely. There's some great fights though, including an opening battle royale where Inazuman fights like everybody from the first show. Story-wise it's interesting in that I think it's one of the earliest examples of an "alternate universe" movie. With most of the older Rider movies, I usually just overlook the differences; it's pretty silly to create an entirely new timeline for Kamen Rider vs. Shocker just to explain why the Shocker soldiers suddenly have different uniforms and Gilgaras is there. With Inazuman's though...

It's basically a different version of episodes 24 & 25. Inazuman has a showdown with Bamba/Firey Fighter yet again, Despar usurps control from the Neo-Human Empire, the whole shebang. There are differences; Udespar is absent, his role filled by Missile-Despar, and the TV regulars outside of Watari don't appear. All in all though, it fulfills the same role, bridging the first series and Flash, albeit with bigger action scenes than ever. It's a fun ride, and premiered a couple days before the TV version aired, which makes it eerily similar to some of the Heisei Rider movies.

So that's Inazuman. As mentioned before, the first show is available on DVD with subtitles thanks to experiencing its own little revival in Hawaii (it's the Ban Factor at work) and they did a great job of it. The only downside is only half the story has been given such treatment, and it's hard to say right now if we'll ever see Inazuman Flash get a similar release. It's pretty much a must-see if you're going to dive into Inazuman's world though, so let's keep our fingers crossed and hope. If nothing else, maybe a fan group will pick it up eventually; it's one of the most interesting shows of the 70's, if not ever.

One last thing: these shows have great music; I consider Watanabe Chumei to be one of the finest composers to ever grace Tokusatsu, and he turns in great work here (he also did Kikaider & 01, so yeah, he's responsible for that Bijinder theme.) As mentioned Raijingo's theme song is one of my all-time favorites, and has a particularly interesting use in episode 24 of the first show; listen carefully, you'll hear the lyrics "Geisel Despar" an episode before they are named in the show!

"Gôriki Shôrai!" "Chôriki Shôrai!"