022: SoraRabbit Watches: Chargeman Ken!

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you'll notice that my tastes in entertainment are pretty eclectic. I range from Cheers to Godzilla, Ultraman to Silent Hill. Another thing that should be evident is that I can find value in the strangest things.

Well, I may be used to that defining trait, but this particular discovery came as a complete surprise to me. During one of my early morning wanderings on YouTube, I found a video talking about the worst anime of all time. Of course this intrigued me, so I watched the video and was immediately lost. I knew I had to locate and watch this anime at all costs. Thankfully my new friend Crunchyroll happens to have every episode streaming for free. What am I talking about? Buckle in... this is going to be a bumpy ride.

Zoom! (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Chargeman Ken! was an anime created by Knack Productions in 1974. It had a total of 65 episodes, each one boasting a run time of just under 7 minutes. (Well, 5 1/2 excluding the opening and closing credits.) It aired one summer and then vanished for several years until Discotek Media licensed the series and released it on DVD. In recent times, it's become a bit of a cult hit, especially in Japan, where they have merchandise, musical remixes, and even a stage musical.

Many have found entertainment in this crudely animated monstrosity. It easily falls into the "so bad it's good" niche... and the best part is that it obviously was not designed to be in that niche. You can tell by watching it that the anime was meant to be taken seriously. Sure, it has goofy and light moments since it was aimed at children, but it doesn't play as satire. However, poor production choices, plot-hole-filled writing, and questionable story decisions elevate this anime to the level of an unforgettable campy masterpiece. Join me as I watch Chargeman Ken! (so you don't have to).

So heroic. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

First I'll say that this was an incredibly easy post to write. It practically wrote itself as I made my way through every episode, taking notes. My biggest challenge in writing this post was deciding which screen caps to use and which to discard. I ended up with 49 stills, and it was painful to decide. (That's why this post is very picture-heavy. I couldn’t part with most of them.) This show is a treasure trove of odd and bewildering moments.

This is one of those bewildering moments. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Chargeman Ken is the epic saga of a psychotic 10-year-old boy named Ken Izumi in the distant future of 2074. (For those of you who don't know, I happen to have a rabbit named Izumi... she was named after a different anime character, though.) You can tell it’s the future because the buildings look like rejects from The Jetsons. For reasons never disclosed, Ken has super powers. With any amount of light he can transform into Chargeman Ken and wield the all-powerful Alpha Gun.

Ken doesn't change much in this transformation, which makes it seem a tad unnecessary. In his civilian form he wears a bright yellow jumpsuit with a big black K on it. He also wears a red ascot, since he's stylin'. When he transforms into Chargeman Ken, the K turns into a V for some reason, and he gets a belt, rocket boots, and a space helmet that seems to be able to repel laser beams. He keeps the yellow jumpsuit, but regrettably loses the ascot.

Ken's mission in life is to repel the invasion of the Juralians, large tentacle monster aliens that want to invade Earth for unclear reasons. No one else seems to be fighting the Juralians besides Ken. (Except in the final episode where the adults finally get off their asses and provide some assisting fire for him.)

A couple of things of note: first, Ken has no secret identity. Everyone seems to know who he is. (Maybe because of the yellow jumpsuit with the big “K” on it?) He goes to a normal elementary school and generally lives a normal life, aside from his battles against aliens. Secondly, no explanation is given for his powers. None. Well, in the theme song they state "body fortified in the armor of science". Also, in one episode the big bad guy Maou refers to Ken as the product of Earth science, but those are the only references. No other clarification is offered. I mean, Ken does hang around an awful lot of scientists for a little boy, so maybe he is an experiment. You'd think they'd state this at some point, but no.

It's good to know they still have records in the future. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Joining Ken on many of his adventures are his little sister Caron and Baricon the robot. There isn't much to say about Caron. She's usually just sort of... there. She's a typical little girl and is much more polite than her older brother. They never reference her age, but my research shows she's seven.

Thankfully he doesn't catch them. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Baricon is the weird robotic comic relief. He's clumsy and irritable, and looks goofy. He doesn't do much, although in one episode he managed to knock Ken out when they were sparring, so he does seem to have some combat programming. (Which he rarely uses.) He also gets jealous easily... and I have no idea why anyone would program jealousy into a robot.

Check out the neck on Ken's mom. Rawr. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Also featured are Ken's parents. Hiroshi is Ken's dad. I guess he's a doctor, but usually he just sits around with the scientists when bad things happen. Saori is Ken's mom and I figure she's probably a housewife because she doesn't seem to work outside the home. I only know their names because of my online research, by the way... I'm pretty sure they were just referred to as "papa" and "mother" on the show.

They’re really not the most attentive and responsible parents. I mean, they let little Caron wander off with her brother on world-saving missions regardless of the danger. In one memorable episode, Hiroshi ran over a little girl. Instead of calling the police or rushing her to a hospital, he brings her home with them. It all turns out to be a Juralian plot to kill Ken (like it always turns out to be) but still… I feel like this decision really reflects poorly on Ken’s papa as a character.

Buncha jerks. Um, and is the whip Juralian standing IN that woman’s head? (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

On the side of darkness are the Juralians. Juralians are maroon in color, tall, have tentacles and sharp teeth, and one eye that can shoot a disintegration beam. This seemingly endless horde of aliens often disguise themselves to carry out their plans. Throughout the series they disguise themselves as adults or children. (It's not explained if this is hologram technology or some sort of natural shape shifting ability.) Juralians have no feelings, or so they claim. They have many times shown rage and fear. (And pain… pain is a feeling, isn’t it?) Juralians have no reflection and can't be seen through a camera viewfinder, a fact that leads to their discovery in several episodes.

The main Juralian fighting tactic appears to be standing menacingly still in front of Ken's laser beams so he can vaporize them.

What a dorky looking general. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Leading the Juralians is General Maou. Strangely, he doesn't look like the rest of the Juralians. Maou is gray-skinned, has two normal eyes, a long sharp nose, and hands instead of tentacles.

I seriously only noticed as I was writing this, but Maou has a third eye on his forehead that looks like the rest of the Juralians, only red instead of green.

Maou is mostly referred to as the Devil King. His single-minded drive is to conquer Earth and kill as many humans as possible. He's not at all afraid to sacrifice wave after wave of his own men to accomplish his goals. Unfortunately, his plans are all terrible.

Usually Maou hides behind his henchmen, but occasionally he takes matters into his own hands. On one occasion, he pretended to be a young girl and flirted with Ken. (So insidious!)

The sleek and powerful Sky Rod. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

In his endless fight against the Juralians, Chargeman Ken has many weapons at his disposal. There's the already-mentioned Alpha Gun. He also wears something called a Vizum Belt that can whip up a colorful wind to dizzy opponents. (He only used his Vizum Belt twice in the series. Somehow it kills Juralians… don’t ask me how that works.) Ken rushes into battle in his spaceship, the Sky Rod. Somehow he can call the Sky Rod to come pick him up... maybe he has a remote control?

Strangely enough, this attack was ineffective against the robot. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Ken's main fighting style is vaporizing everyone in his path with his Alpha Gun, but he has also been known to hurtle himself at his opponent. (This never helps.)

We have gone so far beyond suspension of disbelief by this point. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Now, one of the biggest questions I have about Ken's "powers" is exactly what they are. I mean, even when not transformed, he is strong enough to punch out a grown man. (And yet can easily be overpowered by his little sister or his dopey robot.) He's never shown with the Alpha Gun in his civilian identity, so I assume the gun is tied to his transformation. Do the gun and helmet materialize out of nowhere or are they manifested from his body? Who knows. Ken’s powers will forever be a mystery

Wait... what? (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

And in one episode he was telepathic. Seriously, just one episode. I kept waiting for him to be telepathic again, but it didn't happen. Well, once he managed to pick up Baricon's shrill thoughts, but it seems to cause him a lot of pain.

I would have to say Ken's greatest power is his ability to find Juralians no matter where they are. Maybe this is a side effect of the terribly short run time, but in almost every episode Ken stumbles upon the Juralians or locates their hidden bases. He then bursts in, bellowing about how their plans are foiled, justice will prevail, yadda yadda, zap zap. There is rarely any reason Ken should know where they're hiding, but there he is every damn time. It has to be a super power. Or lazy writing.

Remind me to never make Ken angry. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Ken's biggest defining characteristic is his ruthlessness. He's depicted as an ordinary kid for the most part-- sure a kid who can drive a car legally and has super powers-- but still a kid. When Juralians are around, however, all that goes out the window.

I hear those screams in my sleep. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Ken will stop at nothing to slaughter any Juralian who comes anywhere near him. His goal in life quickly starts looking less like justice and more like genocide. More on that later, though.

Why did someone build this thing? (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

As mentioned before, the animation on Chargeman Ken is... well... not good. As in the above picture of Baricon and the earlier one of Ken's mom with a giraffe neck, characters were often off-model. Varying art styles were used. Baricon and Caron seem like they belong in different animes. Caron is usually shown as realistic and ultra-cute. Sometimes Ken looks more detailed than at other times. Sometimes Baricon is as big as Caron and other times he's smaller. Still other times he's round as a bowling ball. Ken's height and weight changes from scene to scene.

A Juralian is drawn without a mouth in one scene and then has one in the next. Some of the background characters look like sketches rather than fully-realized drawings. As seen below, some background or main characters aren't even colored in. Characters lips don't always move when they talk. Things like this happened a lot. There is no consistency in the art.

No, he’s not a force ghost. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

The animation is as sparse as possible. At times only people's mouths or heads move. They utilize as many still shots as possible. Sequences are reused constantly, such as the fight scenes and Ken's transformation every episode. Most episodes feature an explosion that's simply a still drawing with the camera moving in and out.

Animation aside, the sound effects are one of the biggest problems. I mentioned before about the Juralians death screams. This is the most consistent form of sound on the show. They never fail to feature the death screams. Everything else is hit or miss. Guns fire and people fall over with no sound, ships explode in deafening silence. Having no sound where you expect sound adds to the disorientation this show brings. It's also highly disturbing to have a silent gunshot followed by a death scream. Those haunting, never-ending death screams…

You may think I'm joking, but I'm not. These aliens suffer big time, and the show doesn't let you forget it for a moment.

So, yeah... cheap animation, random sound effects. Repetitive music-- they repeat the same four songs throughout the series. Over-dramatic voice acting. And that's not even mentioning the writing... ugh.

So polite! How could you stay mad at them? (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Nothing is explained in this show. Nothing. How Ken got his powers... why a ten-year-old is allowed to drive a car and fly around in a jet... where he got the gun... why is he a Chargeman when he's ten? Shouldn’t he be Chargeboy? Also, why is there such a thing as Baricon? None of it is explained, and it is maddening.

In an effort to be gracious, I will admit that a five and a half minute run time doesn't leave much time for exposition or plot development. By necessity they spring you right into the action with very little explanation. And once Ken transforms it's a race to kill all the Juralians to end the episode with a laugh. There are abrupt scene changes. Ken goes from the Botanical Gardens to underwater with no transition. One time he was in a hospital, then after transforming he was in a field outside. Plot inconsistencies like this were common. In one episode both of Ken's legs were in casts, then in a later scene the casts were gone and he could walk fine.

In "Episode 7- Man of the West Ken!" they were cowboys for some reason. Seriously, Ken, Caron, and Baricon were wearing cowboy gear and riding on horses, fighting outdated (and insulting) Native American stereotypes, and getting into bar fights. I was so confused, and pretty sure they weren't ever going to explain. But halfway through the episode they finally elaborated that all the people they shot were robots and they were in some Old West theme park. (Which turned out to be an elaborate Juralian plot, because of course it was.)

Thinking too hard about the plots are a good way to get a headache. Motivations make little sense. Juralian plans are confusing and convoluted. I feel like several lines per episode ended up on the cutting room floor to fit the run time.

That's a solid motivation. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

The show is not entirely clear on what the Juralians are after. In one episode Maou refers to their "dying world", so maybe they're trying to conquer Earth to make it their home? But another time they refer to all of Earth's resources. So they want us for materials? And yet another time the Juralians claimed they wanted revenge for humans exploring space. Really, it's anyone's guess. Much of this show is unexplained and unexplainable.

What an age to live in! (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

The Juralian plans rarely make sense. They spend a lot of time and resources on things that really won't do much to conquer the Earth. Like kidnapping a bunch of orphans, or bullying school children. In one episode they blackmailed a boy into burning down a bunch of houses. Why? Because a few humans would probably die.

Other brilliant Juralian plots: They convinced kids to eat poison mushrooms so they'd be too lazy to study. Once they decided to beat Ken at football and take him to a construction site so they could kill him. One Juralian posed as a little girl (why do they keep doing that?) so that he could get hit by Ken’s dad’s car and then catch Ken off-guard and kill him on a ferris wheel. They tried to convince a disgruntled employee to set fire to a wax museum in the off chance some people might die in the fire.

In one of the more off the wall schemes, the Juralians once devoted an entire team to trying to help one guy commit suicide. Just one guy... this is how dedicated they are to wiping out humans. I feel like this is a waste of resources, but what do I know? I'm not a Juralian. (Or am I? Hmm... )

Most of the Juralian plans, however, involve just straight out trying to kill Ken, since he's obviously the only thing standing in the way of their well-planned invasion. One time their entire plan was to drop a net on him. And in one memorable episode they got tired of all these elaborate plans and decided to drop a tree on him and then stab him. (The Juralians have zero chill.)

Nothing concerning going on here… (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

One plan that was actually pretty good was replacing Caron's piano teacher with a Juralian who hypnotised her. That night the little sleeper agent was activated and Ken was very nearly stabbed to death by his little sister. She was only stopped by a harsh slap from her mother. They should have had more plans like that one.

Now let's talk about some of the most memorable episodes. I could write a dozen posts with all the WTF moments this show had, but I'll focus in on the most traumatizing or bizarre.

Speaking of decent Juralian plans, I'll start off by talking a bit about the penultimate "Episode 64- Explosion! The Mammoth Control Tower". In this episode we learn that all of future society is run by a single control tower (although later they change this to multiple towers... plot inconsistency or bad translation? We'll never know.) The tower/towers provide all the gas, water, and electricity to the people. If for some reason these undefended control towers are destroyed, society grinds to a halt.

This seems like a pretty silly weakness... and easily exploitable. It took the Juralians 64 episodes to to think of this. In the meantime they infiltrated a circus, instigated arson twice, stole Egyptian treasure, and tried as hard as they could to get one dude to kill himself. All this before attempting the most obvious and effective plan. (Again I repeat... these control towers are completely undefended.) It's no wonder their greatest enemy is a ten-year-old boy.

This is what the animators think a dog looks like. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

One of the episodes that was seared into my memory was "Episode 51- Stray Dog Koro". In this episode a badly drawn dog is abandoned by a little girl. The dog is clubbed mercilessly by some punk kids before Ken rescues him and nurses him back to health. Koro, the dog, overhears some Juralians hatching a devious plan to drop a net on Ken. After they trap Ken in their net, Koro leaps into action, biting the aliens. They toss him around some more and then zap him with their disintegration beam, which for some reason (that, again, IS NOT EXPLAINED) doesn't disintegrate him. Ken escapes the vile net and kills all the Juralians.

And, yeah... Koro didn't make it through the episode. I assume he died from complications of near-disintegration. They end the episode at his grave, mourning their dear friend that they knew for all of two hours. Not the usual way you would expect a kid's cartoon to end. The Japanese seem to love tragedy in their children's programming. (Just wait until I tell you about Supaidāman! This episode is nothing compared to a typical episode of Japanese Spider-Man. That show was glorious, though.)

The art was especially bad in this episode. (I mean, just look at Koro!) Baricon was too round, Ken was too tall and thin. The Juralian's eyes were different colors than usual. And it was fairly pointless… are we to expect that the all-powerful Chargeman Ken would be brought down by a net? All in all a pretty odd outing for our young hero.

Boom goes the dynamite. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

One of the episodes many people discuss is "Episode 35- Dynamite in the Brain!". In this thrilling chapter, Ken meets a kindly scientist named Professor Volga in a movie theater. The scientist is promptly kidnapped and seemingly killed. Volga arrives at a conference and Ken appears suddenly. Ken apparently has super hearing, although this is the only episode its mentioned in. He hears a ticking and comes to the sudden conclusion that Professor Volga has been replaced by a robot and has a bomb in his head. Ken proceeds to kidnap the man and fly off with him in the Sky Rod. Without thinking twice, Ken hits a button and Volga falls from a trap door that for some reason was built into the Sky Rod's passenger seat. (Why? Seriously, why? How often would that come in handy?) Volga falls on the Juralian ship and explodes, killing him and everyone on the ship.

Nothing about this episode makes sense, from Ken having super hearing, to his leap of reason in deciding Volga was a robot, to the Juralians kidnapping him in front of Ken and somehow making him into a robot.

Somebody drew this. On purpose. This is something that happened. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

But I think the episode I'll always remember when thinking back on this show was "Episode 36- Shudder! The Devil's Hospital". This episode featured a plot to replace all the food in every hospital with industrial waste so that the babies born there (and I quote) "end up as garbage". A Doctor who discovered the plot is vaporized and Ken shows up in a prime example of his super power that appears to tell him exactly where Juralians are hiding out. As expected, Ken zaps all the Juralian nurses, even though they look human. Sure, they have odd-colored skin and sharp teeth, but weirdly enough, they don't turn back to Juralians.

Ken goes from hospital to hospital, crashing through windows and shooting instantly. He dumps the toxic waste on some of the nurses, watching as they slowly melt into green goo, screaming in agony. As the episode ends, a normal baby is born and everyone is happy, seeming to forget about the countless dead or deformed babies left in the wake of the Juralian's latest plot.

Ken is so unreasonable. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Yeah, this one was a tad disturbing. They don't show what actually happened to the babies, of course, but leaving it to the imagination is somehow worse. Did they die? Were they twisted monsters? Did the mothers die? The mind reels at the possibilities.

Still, in my mind there is no question that the most disturbing episode for me was "Episode 53- The Suspicious Bride". In this episode, a Juralian posed as a woman in order to marry a technician so they could blow up an experimental submarine. Sounds like a normal convoluted Juralian plan, right? Well, the disturbing part is that the plan didn't really get underway until after the honeymoon, when the Juralian bride slipped a bomb and listening device into her husband's pocket.

That's right, after the honeymoon.

Don't think too hard about it. Trust me. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

I won't even elaborate on this one. It brought too many images to mind that are better forgotten. And that disguised Juralian's face says it all.

Poor General Maou. All he wanted was to kill all humans. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Like most anime and tokusatsu superhero shows, Chargeman Ken actually had a proper ending. "Episode 65- Victory! Chargeman Ken!" featured just what the title states, Chargeman Ken's victory. Exclamation point! The Juralians got tired of dicking around and fully invaded. They leveled cities, vaporized the Statue of Liberty, and just generally blew shit up. As the alien forces indiscriminately slaughtered countless people, all the scientists sat around wondering what they should do. Chargeman Ken, of course, rushed into action. The secret Juralian base was underwater (a fact a Juralian casually mentioned several episodes before) and Ken set out to destroy it.

As Ken approaches the base, General Maou flies it into the sky and a dogfight ensues. The scientists finally get off their asses and provide Ken cover so that he can stop the Juralian invasion with a single shot of the Sky Rod's laser. Boom, the end. Peace reigns.

I... guess? They seem to think everything is over, but how do they know they killed all the Juralians? How do they know Maou didn't have a second in command? Will the armies of Jural send reinforcements? Nah... they're sure everything is fine. Victory! Exclamation point!

Some of the episodes had fantastic titles, and so they get honorable mentions. "Episode 12- We Can't Eat Vegetable Salad" and "Episode 39- The Pretty Boy Robot is a Herald of Death". Both great titles. And some titles were just unfortunate: "Episode 29- Rub Out the Fashion Model!" and "Episode 31: Crisis! One Second to Blast!"

I leave off this section with a montage of Ken getting his ass kicked.

I shouldn’t be enjoying this so much. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

From everything I've said, Ken seems pretty much invincible, right? I mean, he's useless in the dark, but that's understandable since his powers are apparently maybe light based? He hates tomato juice, but that's more a character trait than a weakness. In one episode he claimed his weakness was mathematics, but that was a joke to end the episode. So what is his greatest weakness?

Well this can't possibly be a trap. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Ken is utterly incapable of identifying potential traps. An unsolicited invitation to a horse-riding club? A robot Baricon can't remember who nevertheless claims to be his old friend? A creepy doll left on their doorstep? An Old West-themed amusement park staffed with robots? A circus with a sinister-looking clown offering free tickets and way too many hungry lions? None of these things could possibly be traps, right? Nope. From Ken’s perspective nothing is a trap… until it is.

Let's go over this one more time, Ken. Your expression tells me you're not getting it. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Even ignoring that weakness, Ken as a hero is not always so heroic. He teases his sister Caron, body shaming her. He laughs at Baricon's misfortunes. In one episode he faked mental illness to infiltrate a psychiatric hospital following a hunch that Juralians were there. He watched an unhinged mad scientist shoot himself in the head right in front of him and this appeared to impact young Ken in no way.

And I already covered the fact that he loves killing Juralians. Ken shoots first and asks questions... well, I guess he forgets to ask questions later.

A tragedy told in three panels. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

Although Ken is on the side of justice, there are times when he has commited crimes against humanity in his single-minded pursuit of Juralian genocide. Early on in the series he made an entire species of butterfly go extinct. He made a commerical airplane explode. (Sure, it was full of Juralians, but there had to be a better way. Also, there were a few human hijackers in there at the time, a fact which is glossed over.) He vaporized several horses. (Although those horses *may* have been Juralians. It's really hard to say.)

He also indiscriminately destroyed every Juralian ship that came anywhere near him, despite the fact that the Juralians have shown time and again that they love taking hostages. Innocent people could very well have been on those ships. And then there was the scientist I mentioned before with the bomb in his head. Ken decided that guy was a robot duplicate just because of the ticking sound he heard. He never doubted or questioned it.

Forget Han and Greedo... Chargeman Ken shot first. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

You may be saying at this point, "But SoraRabbit, this is war! Ken is doing what he has to in order to protect the human race!" And if that's really what you said, my work here is done. You're now just as invested in this insanity as I am. You're welcome and forgive me.

But seriously... could there not be a better way? I mean, in "Episode 11- Save the Earth", Ken teamed up with Maou to stop a meteorite from hitting Earth, and they worked quite well as a team. Couldn't there be a diplomatic solution to this whole mess? There were Juralians who didn't necessarily agree with Maou's terrible leadership and weak invasion plans. On two occasions Juralians experienced feelings and found that they really liked that shit. Case in point, a Juralian posed as a Kendo instructor and was impressed by Ken. The other Juralians executed him as a traitor. That aside, it's possible the Juralians could be reformed with a little effort. The team up with Maou would have been a great time to pose this concept.

Ken's insatiable blood thirst knows no bounds. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

It all leads me to the inescapable conclusion that Ken doesn't WANT a diplomatic solution. He's a psychotic little boy with too much power and all he wants is to vaporize aliens. (And a girlfriend, but his romantic prospects always turn out to be Juralians, who he then has to vaporize.)

Ken shows no mercy when it comes to Juralians. On many episodes, the Juralians were retreating and Ken hunted them down like dogs. A good example was one of the aforementioned romantic prospects. A Juralian was masquerading as a little girl. (They sure do like being little girls... just sayin'.) She was terrified by Baricon's harmonica music, in clear agony and running away. Ken chased her down and shot her in the back.

What an uplifting way to end an episode. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

So that brings me to something that bears discussion. Even though Chargeman Ken is a kid's show, it gets darker and more gruesome than any children's show we'd see coming out of America. People die... get tortured... babies are deformed in unshowable ways... there's a real risk of the human race being wiped out and the world falling to unmerciful aliens. There is blood. Ken gets beat up, bruised, cut. Children are stabbed, guns put to their heads. (They actually get guns pulled on them a lot.) The pitiful poorly-drawn stray dog dies. The traitorous human-sympathizing aliens are executed. When the bad guys are vaporized, it's certainly not painless.

For a kid's show there's a lot of death. A lot. In "Episode 18- The Great Escape From Prison Island", escaped convicts kill dozens of people, just flat out vaporize them with no remorse. If there's a human working for a Juralian they usually die by the end of the episode, like the scientist who shoots himself in the head right in front of Ken. In "Episode 33- Is My Dad Old-Fashioned?" the titular dad decides his only way of dealing with the ridicule of his peers is to hang himself in the park. Sure, the attempt fails because he's too fat for the branch the noose is hanging from, but he does start to get strangled, and it’s pretty gruesome.

So that's something I can respect... no matter how goofy and nonsensical this show can get, it doesn't shy away from the dark moments.

You're one to talk, kid. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

All in all, Chargeman Ken is a nightmarish voyage through the darkest corners of children's programming. It's a voyage that is dangerous and transformative. I binge watched every episode in the name of science (and blogging) and I will never again be the same. I did this all for you, my dear readers. Avenge me!

I kid, though. I know I'm picking on this show a lot, but I can't help myself. It's been referred to as "The Room" of anime, and I find that description apt. It's so utterly terrible that you can't help but enjoy it. And, despite the brain damage I suffered by subjecting myself to all 65 episodes in one week's time, I actually found myself enjoying the process. I mentioned Supaidāman earlier... this series really did remind me of that show. Aliens with unclear plans and motivations, dark and traumatizing stories, a ruthless and easily angered hero, repetitive transforming sequences with a catchy theme song... Of course, Chargeman Ken doesn't have a snazzy costume or a giant robot. (The ascot is fab, though.)

Yes, he's riding a seal. And no, I don't know why. (Credit: Knack Productions, Discotek Media)

I really did enjoy my time with Chargeman Ken. The series was fast-paced, bizarre, and unpredictable. You never knew what was going to happen next. I found it to be campy, trippy, and oddly engaging. If you enjoy awful animation and making fun of lazy art, you may enjoy it too.

I leave you with a thought that keeps coming back to me as I root out more and more unexpected blog material. You never know when you're going to discover something that brings you more joy than you expected it to. Joy is something that can be in short demand these days, so we need to revel in these moments. Cherish the treasures you find. Always keep one eye out... sometimes the treasure chests are hidden.

And Juralians are everywhere. Remain ever vigilant. They could be your classmate, your spouse, that flattering clown at the circus... maybe even your horse.