Shinesman

Original Title: 特務戦隊シャインズマン
Romanized: Tokumu Sentai Shainsuman)
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

Earth. Now. The king of 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 Shinesman 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 lack panache. Oh well.

Quick Review

Rating: 4 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-06-17

Special Duty Combat Unit: Shinesman is a low-key sentai-show parody of the best kind: It is what it mocks. It has a functional plot and a reasonably sympathetic cast of characters, but instead of cheesy heroics hero and villain alike are cursed with odd personality quirks, unpopular costume colors, and lame corporate-themed weapons. Better yet, they know how lame they are, and there are plenty of offhanded comments to that effect. The dub, thanks to its eminently quotable script, has a slight humor edge over the notably different but also very funny subtitled version, but you win either way and might as well watch both for even more fun. There are only two downsides: The minor annoyance of somewhat weak art, and the outright tragedy that the story is cut short after only two episodes.

Don't come looking for over the top slapstick, but if slightly more subtle humor is your thing and you're willing to look beyond lackluster art, an apparently weak premise, and a frustrating end after two episodes, Shinesman is quite simply among the best anime parodies, period.

US DVD Review

The budget-priced DVD is surprisingly good, particularly for an early AnimeWorks production. To start with, the video is a very sharp transfer, and both audio tracks are clean and crisp. Another positive given the significant differences between the Japanese and dub scripts, it includes both a properly translated subtitle track and a caption track for the English version. The disc also includes a small art gallery, and has both the English and Japanese casts. The only annoyance is that the opening credits aren't on their own chapter stop, so (if you're so inclined) you have to fast forward through them instead of hitting the skip button. Also, in a change from the VHS release, the commercial for Shinesman bath goods is stuck at the commercial break point in the first episode on the DVD, rather than between the two episodes. I thought this made more sense, even if it breaks the flow a bit.

One note: The DVD seems to be going out of print as of this writing, and it's dirt cheap, so grab it while you can.

Content Guide

Not much to find objectionable; maybe 10-up for a bit of underwear and some mildly serious violence, though 7-up is not unreasonable.

Violence: 1 - They off a couple of monsters, and get into a couple of fights, but nothing very serious.

Nudity: 1 - One (totally non erotic) scene with some women's underwear... and a Godzilla suit.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Nada.

Language: 0 - Almost nothing above a "darn".

Notes and Trivia

Shinesman is based on a manga series of the same name (not, as of yet, translated into English to my knowledge) by Kaimu (aka Kaim) Tachibana. It's mild shoujo, and as the story progresses it goes farther than the anime has a chance to in giving real personality to the characters, despite its status as a parody.

If the names of some of the characters sound a bit familiar, it's no coincidence--every one of the characters shares a name with his/her (Japanese) voice actor. Also on the topic of Japanese, the title of the series is actually a very funny pun. The "Shine" in "Shinesman" (more accurately "Shainsuman") is a play on the Japanese word "shain," meaning "corporate employee." Therefore, Shinesman means something like "Corporate-man." At least it's more original than "Superman", and I'd say fittingly lame for this team.

In a small side note, Production I.G, which has since gained fame for their fancy computer-enhanced animation on series like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, was the studio behind the animation.

Availability

Available in the US on hybrid DVD from Media Blasters. Was originally available on subtitled and dubbed VHS, now out of print.

The DVD seems to be going out of print, but you can grab a copy for a paltry $5 (half the $10 list price) from RightStuf while supplies last.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store