Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman

—by Peter Kenzaburo Cahill

Pastel Kamen Corporate Rangers? The beauty of tongue-in-cheek anime is that just when you think a genre has gotten as silly as it can get, along comes a parody that shows you precisely how far it can go. This show should appeal to most of us—anyone who's seen any POWER RANGERS, KAMEN (MASKED) RIDER, or GATCHAMAN (G-FORCE) episodes will laugh in much the same way we laugh at pictures of our old hairstyles. (For those of you still in high school—trust me, you'll laugh later...)
Hiroya has pursued a common path in modern life and joined a trading company, following in his father's footsteps. But the business world has apparently gotten a bit more competetive since Dad's time, and Hiroya finds himself recruited as the newest member of the Special Duty Combat Unit! And if you have to ask why a corporation needs five power suits to combat alien monsters, then you've already lost the rat race, pal!
Being a modern update to the superhero group, the SHINESMAN characters have some unique characteristics. All five members work for the Right Trading Company, mostly in sales. Most of the time they go about their normal business of meetings, lunch with clients, etc. But when their special watches beep (There's always a watch—it's a union rule, every superhero team gets watches...) they transform into pastel power armored warriors for Earth. Actually, they usually end up rescuing the actors of a TV show called GREATMAN while a bunch of kids berate their lame colors.
The suit colors are one of the running gags in this show. Scoffing most of the primary colors, all but the Red Shinesman have chosen pastel tones for fighting injustice: Sepia, Moss Green, Gray, and Salmon Pink. And their weapons are similarly odd. Razor sharp business cards a la DIRTY PAIR, cuff link beams, and tie clip bombs? Mind you, the alien villains aren't very macho either—the dizzy princess of Planet Voice looks like MOLDIVER at a 70s Halloween party, and she studied Earth culture by watching tapes of superhero shows. The invaders want to rule Earth, but they want it intact. So instead of rudely charging in with guns blazing, they assume human form and work within the corporate system to achieve total domination secretly. (This may explain much of DILBERT). The monsters are usually used for corporate espionage and sabotage, but lately the pesky Shinesman team has been thwarting their plots and costing them lots of money!
For an OVA series the animation is pretty good. It's nothing spectacular, but it's clean and attractive enough. The music is appropriately over the top, and the ending theme is actually quite nice. The voice acting for the dubbed version is very well done and for the most part sounds natural and unforced. The overacting is toned down a bit and the script is changed enough that the subtitled version is significantly funnier, but if you're one of those people who hate reading subtitles during a movie you'll be quite happy with the English language version. On an interesting note, subtitle fans won't have to pay more for their version of this tape. Anime Works sells their dubbed and subtitled tapes for the same price. True, the dubbed price seems to be a tad higher than that of other dubs on the market, but the lower subtitled price seems a fair enough exchange. (At least to us subtitle fans!)
This show even has a faux commercial for a SHINESMAN bath set. The irony and self-mocking humor are irresistible. The ridiculous plot, wild overacting, and the skewering of modern business practices are all wonderful. The parody will always be a favorite vehicle for humor, and a medium like anime makes for an endless supply of easy targets. Check this title out, you'll like it. And if it annoys that POWER RANGER fan friend of yours, so much the better, right?

English version ©1998 Anime Works
Released in North America by Anime Works
VHS, 60 minutes
English Subtitled AWVS-9842 $24.95
English Dubbed AWVD-9843 $24.95
Now Available
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