Anime: Tentai Senshi Sunred

Astro Fighter Sunred: Of Sentai heroes, middle age and grocery shopping.

In the Japanese city of Kawasaki, trouble is brewing. The Evil Organization Florsheim, under local leader General Vamp, is poised to take over the world (of course)! With their band of evil monster bosses and their evil plan for world domination, the only hope for humanity is their archenemy, Astro Fighter Sunred. This lone Sentai (a Japanese term for a team of costumed superheroes: Power Rangers are a western version) hero tirelessly watches out for us common folk, and keeps the city safe by defeating Florsheim whenever they rear their ugly heads. The stage is set for an epic battle of good vs. evil…

…Or so the story usually goes. Most Sentai stories don’t involve the hero wearing shorts and T-shirt with his mask, defeating the monster in one shot by punching it into the ground and then chastising the Evil General for attacking him without an appointment, before walking off to play Pachinko. The monsters, meanwhile, go back to their suburban neighbourhood home (making sure to politely greet the neighbours on their way in) to lick their wounds and plan eternal vengeance today’s dinner.

Astro Fighter Sunred (Tentai Senshi Sunred in Japanese) is a 2008-2010 anime of two seasons and 52 13-minute episodes. The show chronicles the ongoing ‘feud’ between Evil Organization Florsheim and Masked Hero Sunred, and parodies its parent genre by how both sides diverge from their traditional roles in a Sentai show: Sunred is a short-tempered jerk who really doesn’t care about saving the world and freeloads off his girlfriend Kayoko because he hasn’t got a proper job (one can imagine ‘masked hero’ doesn’t look good on a CV), while General Vamp and the monsters of Florsheim are mild-mannered model citizens who just happen to be evil monster bosses. Thus, they try to fight Sunred and take over the world because that’s what Evil Organizations and evil monster bosses are supposed to do in these types of shows. The result is highly entertaining and very pleasing to watch, even for someone like me who’s never watched a real Sentai show in my life.

Visuals: 6/10 –- Rough lines and lots of still shots. The distinction ends up working for the show, however.

The visuals in Astro Fighter Sunred are quite distinctive, by the standards of anime. The show makes heavy use of colour contrasts and very distinct, fat black lines as opposed to the anime norm. The show employs very sparse animation and many of the scenes act somewhat like a series of still images more than actual animation. Most characters usually talk simply by moving their heads up and down (considering most don’t even have mouths, this makes sense) and ‘emote’ by the traditional sweat drops, black clouds over their heads and colour shifts. The end result is odd and very minimalistic, but works in its own way; there’s certainly no possibility of missing visual clues on the characters’ moods. The backgrounds are simplistic and a bit crude, but work for the purposes of the show.

The vibrant colouring, the imaginative and varied character designs and the distinct contrasts give Astro Fighter Sunred a good artistic background for its genre. As a sitcom really doesn’t need jaw-dropping nature backdrops or high-quality, it works nicely. Astro Fighter Sunred’s visuals are in many ways similar to those of Detroit Metal City: Objectively it’s rather primitive, with minimalistic animation, ambience and backgrounds, but it works very well for its genre. Ultimately, the colouring, character designs and the ever-so-slightly better animation means I kind of prefer Sunred to Detroit Metal City on the graphics front, although it’s a somewhat close-run battle.

Sound: 8/10 – “Well, that was a pleasantly overstated credits sequence.” “I enjoyed the cheesy retro ambiance.” “What the hell are you talking about, Max?”.

Astro Fighter Sunred’s background music is hardly epic soundtrack material, but it works. Like with most sitcom-style anime, it favours light guitar pieces or simply silence for most scenes, letting the voices dominate, and has a number of musical cues (especially the organ music, gots to love the ominous organ music) to empower Florsheim’s latest entrance or ‘evil scheme’. While I have little to say of the pieces individually, combined they make a fine underscoring of the events on-screen and are employed with a far better-than-average proficiency than most slice-of-life shows.

To top it off is the OP, a theme made for the show in the style of introductions to Sentai shows, with a suitably cheesy and retro-looking sequence going in the background while the singer sings about how awesome Sunred is. It’s the perfect opening to this kind of show because it underlines the parody (especially with its somewhat ‘off’ lyrics like how the monsters are ‘evil’ because they came five minutes late) and generally well-made enough to make me sit through it for most of the season. The ED, meanwhile, is what appears to be a recipe for a hot-pot. I’ve yet to try it, but it sounds good. I’ll report back with any results.

As for the voices, the voice cast is rather small: The only ‘main’ characters are Sunred and Vamp, although a fair number of Florsheim monsters and Sunred’s girlfriend Kayoko are also regulars. Each of the main characters are very well voiced for their roles, with Jun Takagi having a delivery of perpetual frustration for the annoyed Sunred. In opposition to the hero is the always timid and polite Vamp, voiced as a somewhat out-of-his-depth old man/male housewife by the improbably-named Yamada Louis the 53rd (yes, that’s apparently his name. I’d make a joke about it, but the challenge is all gone). The additional voices that round out the cast manage to get good accounts, with Kayoko sounding impressively annoyed and most monsters mixing their ‘real’ sentai monster natures and their salaryman-like personality for a great result.

Overall, a very strong showing. It’s possible it objectively doesn’t deserve a complete eight, but given its genre I’d say the voice and music are almost as good as they can get. I would compare it favourably to similar comedy anime like Detroit Metal City, Seto no Hanayome and Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu in both music and voice quality.

Story: 9/10 –- A surprising amount of variation out of such a simple theme.

The ‘story’ of Astro Fighter Sunred isn’t much of a ‘story’. The series can be more compared to a skit-based sitcom, containing a central core cast of Vamp and Sunred and with a number of recurring characters. The entire anime consists of 5-20 minute shorts of these characters interacting in their daily environment, each with an exiting, energizing title worthy of a true Sentai show that inevitably and almost completely, but not quite, is completely unlike what is actually going on in said short.

The writer of the Sunred manga deserves accolades for the amount of variation he is able to dig out of this simple origin. Again, I feel a comparison to Detroit Metal City comes in order: DMC had basically the same story over and over again – Negishi encounters problem, stresses out, turns into Krauser, hilarity ensues because of the way Krauser reacts to the problem. Lather, rinse, repeat (hilariously, yes, but it gets a little repetitive at length). By contrast, Astro Fighter Sunred is about seeing how Sunred, Vamp, or any of the other members of Florsheim, adapt to a situation that would not be out of place in a regular sitcom, playing on the inherent absurdity of the characters being a (supposed) Hero of Justice and his Evil Organization nemesis from a Sentai show.

Actual good vs evil battles are a rarity in the show: Instead we get situations like Vamp helping Sunred move into a new apartment, Sunred being forced to help Florsheim build a Death Robot they’re planning to defeat him with (those fiends at headquarters didn’t send it pre-assembled and Vamp is hopeless at robot building), or Vamp being accidentally added to a group date planned by some of his evil boss monster underlings. It’s all very well written stuff, and while not directly satirical have a distinct undertone of parody and humour for adults interlaced in the ‘kiddie’ universe it takes place in. You never really know what a new episode will bring to the table.

A few recurring segments, like Vamp having cooking segments that teaches simple Japanese dishes (yes, really, and they’re quite good too, take it from me) and the adventures of the Animal Soldier squad, Florsheim’s most fiendish task force that does such evil deeds as vandalizing children’s sandboxes to build death traps, sabotages Red’s plumbing and threatens him with thermonuclear missil… Wait a minute…

Anyway, it’s good for the variety. For excellence in sketch writing, aimless though it may be, Astro Fighter Sunred deserves accolades.

Character: 8/10 –- …And this guy’s supposed to be the hero? (in a good way)

As I’ve already indicated in the previous segments, much of Astro Fighter Sunred’s humour comes from the atypical behaviour of the characters inside, given their ‘traditional’ roles in the Sentai genre the show parodies. The ‘hero’, Astro Fighter Sunred, is short-tempered and abrasive, and acts somewhat like a stereotypical Japanese “tsukkomi” towards the entire world. You get the impression that he’s aware of how absurd story he’s in is, and how misplaced a ‘hero of justice’ is when the ‘arch-villain’ couldn’t intentionally tear a hole in the heel of a used sock for evil, and compensates by taking it out on everyone around him in an overly aggressive manner. While this hardly makes him a sympathetic character, it makes him great for laughing at, like Blackadder stuck in a superhero role.

On the other hand, Vamp and his evil boss monster minions are far better at fitting into society; most of them hold jobs, help the neighbours and are altogether model citizens to the man/tiger/monster moth/tentacled squid thingy. Watching how they hold down their 'regular' lives on the side of fighting Sunred and trying to take over the world takes the lion’s share of the air time and provides much of the show’s laughing matter. Especially this goes for Vamp, who is something like a lovable, fussed and naïve old man who’s awkwardly out of his depth in modern society, and desperately tries to fit in by being nice, understanding and mild-mannered towards everyone.

Things like ‘character development’ and ‘in-depth character study’ are non-existent, as befitting of a comedy, but the little titbits shown of the characters and how it’s played is more than enough to compensate. Interesting one-shot side characters, like the washed-out 20-year veteran moth monster who Florsheim dig out of the mothballs (har har har) when they need a substitute for a fight with Sunred, and insists he’ll evolve into his ‘final form’ any day now, or the many monsters who have abandoned world domination altogether to get jobs in the private sector, make for a good backdrop for Vamp, Sunred and the other recurring cast. Altogether a very strong showing for its genre.

Value: 8/10 – Requires a cursory knowledge of Sentai, but beyond that near all-inclusive.

Astro Fighter Sunred is pretty much open to everyone. Although the humour is probably intended for the somewhat older crowd who are accustomed to the genre norms, I have had very little problem trying to introduce this show to people I know.

Well, someone I know.

If I am allowed to define ‘know’ as ‘kidnapped off the street and forced to watch’.

Anyway, once the initial concept had been cleared by explaining if the person in question remembered the Power Rangers, the response to the show was overall positive (a large knife may or may not have been brandished threateningly during the process and influenced the decision). The show is completely kid-friendly and can be safely viewed by anyone, but many of the more ‘mature’ jokes about the show’s on-its-head morality and the troubles of adult life will probably fly over the kids’ heads. Still, there’s enough material in there to suit almost any occasion: It may not have the memorable shock factor of Detroit Metal City, but it more than compensates with the outlandish sketches and Red and Vamp’s outrageous behaviour (or rather a complete lack of outrageous behaviour in Vamp’s case). It’s also very much unlike anything I’ve seen from anime before.

Unfortunately, it’s almost guaranteed to never see light outside of Japan: However unique and recommendable I may find this, most people will probably view it as a niche product. Which is a shame, because it’s probably more open to new audiences than one would initially think. The humour is a little culturally slanted towards the Japanese norms for courtesy and the like, but I think most westerners should pick it up quickly and even learn a thing or two from it.

Enjoyment: 9/10 -- Steady laughs makes for a good pace of viewing, and a good overall image.

I found Astro Fighter Sunred to be very good for light comedy. The mixture of sitcom with sketch comedy, using the same characters and setting in new ways without necessarily caring too much about continuity or spending entire episode on an entire gag and letting it run stale. The rapid-fire delivery of the comedy, combined with its parodic elements and the very unusual ‘hero/villain’ dynamic, makes for a breath of fresh air in this age of good-natured prettyboys and friendship speeches. It’s very childish, and yet surprisingly mature, and very funny on top of it.

The humour of Astro Fighter Sunred is also very stable, never growing tiresome and managing to find new interesting ways to use the standard setup. Unlike Detroit Metal City, there are no real ‘downer’ episodes, although to compensate it never truly reaches the same heights of gut-busting as Krauser at his best/worst. Still, I think the overall high quality and friendliness of its humour deserves a high enjoyment ranking indeed.

Total: 8/10 -- The occasionally show like this is what helps make the anime industry worthwhile.

How to summarize? Astro Fighter Sunred is a great comedy. There's really little else to say: I think I've already talked you half-deaf over the show's many virtues already. Overall, while I dislike the word ‘underrated’ and won’t be using it in this or any review, I think that if you haven’t already and have the slightest bit of interest in watching the traditional battle of good vs evil given a ‘twist’ as it were, you can do far worse than watching this show. Recommended.