Super Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity Episode 1 – Rider Tears
Gavan Infinity Episode 1 shows promise. I think it is a very promising start.
The best thing about it is definitely Reiji. He is a charismatic character. He has a lot of draw to him, both in his emotional performance and in the action. He is really a compelling character. He is really interesting to watch. I love his emotional center, his emotional positioning. I know the Emorgears are core gimmick in the show, so emotion is a big deal. The Emorgears do not land well with me. But Reiji? The emotional punch he delivers is really compelling and really interesting.
He elevated the episode.
The biggest thing that makes me pull back from the show is just how complicated it is. There is a lot going on. They are explaining the multiverse stuff and breaking the fourth wall a bit to help the audience track it. There are Emorgears that are semi sentient. They go into guns that enable transformation. There are ships that may also function as mecha. There is more than one transformation device. There is more than one Gavan. There is a whole multiverse.
It feels like a lot.
The episode opens with this huge climactic battle. Five big ships protecting the Cosmo Layers from a Maku invasion. It is not totally clear if that is future, present, or hypothetical. It is ambitious. It is dense. There are a lot of moving parts.
And none of that big external stuff really matters yet.
But Reiji does.
Especially at the end.
When he is fighting the man who becomes the source of the monster, when he delivers that monologue about not forcing your values on the world, it is really moving. It is powerful. It is effective. It worked for me.
The action helps too. The Jackie Chan style fighting in the untransformed scenes was fantastic. He is jumping around, outnumbered by a gang, overcoming with his wits and finely tuned fighting ability. It was fun to watch. It was kinetic. It was grounded. I would honestly like to see more of that kind of fight.
Even with aliens integrated into society, androids, interdimensional travel, space fleets, and layered science fiction structure stacked on top of each other, Reiji works as a great emotional anchor and a great human core for the show.
He makes you like the Super Space Sheriffs.
For me, that creates buy in. When you strip away the crazy stuff and just focus on Reiji, this really interesting lead character, the show becomes compelling instead of overwhelming.
It is a lot.
But it is promising.
And if Reiji continues to serve as that emotional anchor, Gavan Infinity could really work.
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BONUS
Is Atsuhiro Tomioka an Esper?
I am not on Twitter as much as I could be. I follow a couple of high-value toku commentators there. I also am a Dosmrider watcher on YouTube. According to those sources there are a lot of Sentai fans who are freaking out about this show.
The incorrect and negative reactions have sort of a range. Some people are smoking copium saying that Super Sentai WILL return in 10 years. They cite a Toei Producer Shirakura, I have talked a bit about his industry insider comments from articles recently. He did NOT say Sentai would return, he said it may return like other shows that went on hiatus: Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Metal Heroes.
Others are saying that Project RED is simply the new form Super Sentai is taking. Others had claimed that the shift to Project RED would enable Toei to air this show internationally which they claim the contract between Toei and Saban restricted. John Toei made English subtitled promos and trailers, but has yet to make an official release for the United States. So, I guess that was an erroneous conclusion…
The point is there are some very vocal, angry people making all sorts of claims and seemingly being weird about the end of Sentai and the relaunch of Metal Heroes. The first big threat Reiji faces at the end of episode 1 is emotionally out of control and is trying to cause harm until he forces people into agreement with him. That seems precient. Did he expect that reaction and write commentary on it into the BIG FIGHT of the debut episode of this new show? Did he do it to make a point? Maybe. I kind of hope so.
MJ Muñoz 