Number of episodes: 49
Movies: N/A
Action Director: Michihiro Takeda
Special Effects Supervisor: Nobuo Yajima
Episode Directors: Takao Nagaishi (24 episodes), Shouhei Toujou (21 episodes), Minoru Yamada (4 episodes)
Episode Writers: Hirohisa Soda (37 episodes), Kunio Fujii (8 episodes), Toshiki Inoue (4 episodes)
Suit Actors:
Kazuo Niibori - Red Falcon
Masato Akada - Yellow Lion
Yuichi Hachisuka - Blue Dolphin
Hirofumi Ishigaki - Black Bison, Live Boxer
Shoji Hachisuka - Green Sai
Motoko Watanabe - Colon
Naoki Ofuji - Gash
Hideaki Kusaka - Live Robo, Super Live Robo
"Friends, why did you sell your souls to the Devil?!"
This single line of narration, possibly the most famous spoken line ever written for a Super Sentai, begins every episode of Liveman after we witness Kemp mercilessly kill two glowing butterflies and a brilliant face-off shot of the two sets of rivals, as the space between them is literally torn into two. We are then treated to Daisuke Shima doing what he did best in the '80s: sing. That's right, this is a rare instance of a Sentai actor actually singing the opening theme (he sings the ending, too) and while it's far from my favorite theme, it's certainly catchy and optimistic; fitting the team's ideology that life is precious and must be defended.
On that note, let's discuss Tatsumi Yano's soundtrack for the series. Yano is most famous for composing numerous installments of the City Hunter franchise, but he was very prolific with 1980s Sentai. He had previously delivered the scores for Bioman (a personal favorite of mine), Changeman, and Flashman. Liveman would be his last go at a Super Sentai, but he delivers a memorable score. His scores are full of moody pieces, military type marches (usually reserved for the bad guys or Academia) and catchy pop tunes (gotta let Megumi Mori get a chance at the mike, too). Many of these tunes have a heavy '80s vibe, but I think that adds to the score's charm. Plus, the Biomotion Buster theme is easily the catchiest theme I've ever heard for a Sentai finishing move.
The show boasts pretty standard special effects of the time that it was filmed, but that's not a bad thing. Optical effects are VERY flashy and colorful, with the beams of light or fire looking very fluid and dynamic. The mecha fights, as previously mentioned, are nothing to write home about. The finishers look nice, but the fights are obviously done on the cheap since the same barren set is used over and over again. Plus, stock footage usually makes up the largest crux of the fights, with the same film used every time Live Robo, Live Boxer or Super Live Robo use their finishing moves. Aside from that, you have your typical huge explosions at the end of every fight and other techniques such as camera trickery and mostly precise editing that are used. Other optical effects involving bluescreen don't hold up as well, but it's still a pretty good-looking series despite some budgetary setbacks that don't become truly obvious until the last run of episodes.
Now, for some strange reason, Liveman constantly saw its format change throughout the series. The reason remains unclear since toy sales of the time are not available, and not to mention that the show pulled in ratings only marginally lower than Maskman. Anyways, the show begins to see dramatic change as early as the mid-teen episodes.
Two new villains hailing from distant planets reveal themselves. Named Guildos and Butchy, the two geniuses vow to work under Bias and add even more competition between the villains. Soon, Dr. Oblar starts to lose Bias' favor and he becomes desperate. However, one of his experiments accidentally turns him back into a human and he begins to struggle with regaining his humanity. Finally, Goh succumbs and gets amnesia, no longer serving as a threat to the Livemen.
Not too long after that, Bias initiates his Giga Project. Using specially crafted materials and with the scientific genius of his three disciples, the GigaVolt robot is born. The super weapon is so powerful that it actually makes Live Robo lose. When all seems lost, a new mecha appears! Called BisonLiner and piloted by Tetsuya Yano, the younger brother of Takuji, he joins the battle against GigaVolt. When that is proved to be not enough, his ally Junichi Aikawa arrives with SaiFire and the two mecha combine to become Live Boxer! Live Boxer STILL proves to not be enough and Tetsuya scolds Junichi, who happens to be Mari's younger brother.
However, Yusuke sees the fighting spirit in the two pilots and decides to recruit them. After modifying the two robots and giving the two new pilots their Twin Braces, Tetsuya and Junichi join the Livemen as Black Bison and Green Sai! The two robots can now combine too, forming Super Live Robo and finally getting them the upper hand on GigaVolt! With their new allies, the Livemen continue the difficult fight with the forces of Volt as the secrets behind Bias's plans become slowly revealed.
That's right, Liveman was the first Super Sentai to introduce 2 completely new heroes and a robot formed by combining all of the mecha together. This move could be seen as an attempt of Toei and Bandai to boost toy sales and generate viewer interest, and something about it must have worked. After this Sentai, more shows began introducing new combining mecha and heroes to the roster. It should be noted that since Goranger and JAKQ weren't considered Super Sentai yet, this meant that this was considered the first Super Sentai to add any new heroes. So this was a pretty big gamble by Toei that looks to have paid off.
So how do these numerous new characters hold up? First, let's discuss the new heroes. When their story begins, Tetsuya and Junichi are vowing vengeance on Volt for killing their older siblings, so already the connection between them and the villains is pretty strong. However, something happens to the characters as the series goes on. The two gradually fade into the background as the original trio remain the big stars of the series. With this, it becomes obvious that the writers had no idea what to do with these characters after they were introduced. The show was obviously meant from the beginning to be a three-member Sentai and adding these two new members threw off the balance. As a result, Black Bison and Green Sai get very few episodes where either one of them are the focus. When they do, the episodes range from absurd (Junichi gets pregnant!) to cliched (Tetsuya starts wearing a robot costume for a lonely boy!) Honestly, it comes down to the characters just not being that interesting and the actors not being very memorable.
Tetsuya is the hot-tempered one, and Seiro Yamaguchi tries his hardest to have you believe that. Instead, Tetsuya comes off as just a whiner and eventually loses focus on why he even joined the Livemen anyways. Junichi fares even worse, all we get is that he's somewhat feminine (was GreenSai initially intended to be a girl? Who knows) and a pushover. He is played by Jin Kawamoto, and while the actor does an okay job...he just has nothing to work with. While the introduction of the new Livemen made for an awesome three-part episode, the two just flounder around with little to do for the remaining 20 episodes.
Guildos and Butchy, on the other hand, are just a complete waste of time. Not only do the villains hardly do anything for several episodes, they don't even get much screentime after they join Volt. Guildos is given a very awesome Terminator-esque entrance, but he just becomes a background character until the last ten episodes. Same goes for Butchy, although he does have a more dynamic character arc thanks to his strange relationship with Megumi. Honestly, the two serve no purpose until the big reveal of their relationship with Bias is made clear.
So with these new characters, who ends up outshining them most of the time? The robot sidekick, Colon. Programmed by Dr. Hoshi to serve as an ally and the pilot of the Gran Tortoise, she ends up being an honorary sixth member in a sense. Instead of standing about idly as the Livemen get in trouble, she'll rush out onto the battlefield in the Live Cougar and save their asses when need be. She also serves a key purpose in the aforementioned three-parter, she comes close to sacrificing herself because her body has to be used to power the heavily damaged Live Boxer. It also helps that Colon is actually likable, she's given a few episodes of decent development such as when she falls in love with one of Volt's Jimmers (the robot minions). In fact, it's almost an insult to call her a sidekick or mascot. This isn't Bioman's Peebo we're talking about after all. She's given an energetic vocal performance by Makoto Kosaka, and the suit performance by Motoko Watanabe makes her a believable robot. She even dances the robot! Isn't that neat?
That about wraps it up for part 2. For the final part, I'll discuss the suit acting, favorite episodes (for real this time), my thoughts on the finale, and my overall opinion of the series. See ya then.
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