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The Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman

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The Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman
GenreParody
Anime
Directed byShinya Sadamitsu
StudioProduction I.G

Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman (Tokumu Sentai Shainsuman), or simply Shinesman, is a Japanese anime OVA. It was released in Japan on February 21, 1996. It was written, based on the manga by Kaimu Tachibana, by Hideki Sonoda, and directed by Shinya Sadamitsu. The character designer was Akiharu Ishii. The video was produced by Gakken, Aniplex Inc., and Movic. The film has been dubbed into English by AnimeWorks/Media Blasters, and released on both Region 1 and 2 DVD.

One of the most well known apsects of the video is the dubbed version's popularity with anime fans. See Critical reaction, below.

Overview

The video is a parody of the famous Super Sentai series of tokusatsu programmes. As such, the plot is fairly thin and formulaic, but deliberately so. Essentially, the king of the alien planet Voice has declared war on the planet Earth. However, their war takes a most peculiar form— a war of Big Business. The king's plan is to send the prince and his strategist, Sasaki and Seki, to Earth and form a corporation large enough to rule the world. They plan on achieving this by funding the television series "Greatman" and its marketing. However, Earth has its own team of heroes ready to fight back—The Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman! Created by the Right Trading Company, the Shinesman team is inspired by the superhero television shows of the day, though their constumes and weapons are distinctly absurd. The team, consisting of Shinesman Red, Shinesman Sepia, Shinesman Moss Green, Shinesman Salmon Pink, and Shinesman Gray, uses such weapons as "Business Card Cutters" and "Tie Clip Bombs" to combat their alien foes.[1]

Critical reaction

The film enjoys a reasonably large fanbase, especially for a two episode OVA. Most reviews are favorable, describing it as "the single funniest anime I had never heard of",[2] "a must have",[3] and "outright hilarious".[4] The video does, however, have detractors. For instance, one reviewer described the plot as "dry", the animation as "nothing special" and stated that he "[didn't] get what the thrill was".[5]

Unusually, the dubbed version has attracted much praise amongst anime fans. Described as "quite simply, perfect"[2] and "the best-written and well-acted dub I have ever seen or heard",[3]. Indeed, many reviewers have said that not only was the dub good, but, in fact, it was also better than the subtitled Japanese version, which is a rarity.


Characters

  • Shinesman Red (Hiroya Matsumoto) - A young man devoted to his little brother,who's a fan

of the Greatman tv show,particularly Greatman Red.

  • Shinesman Moss Green (Ryoichi Hayami) - A bit of a ladies' man.
  • Shinesman Gray (Shogo Yamadera) - Tends to worry about his car.
  • Shinesman Sepia (Shotaro Ono) - A devoted husband and father,his little daughter is the

apple of his eye,so he buys her stuffed toys.

  • Shinesman Salmon Pink (Riko Hidaka) - The sole female on the team.An Office Lady who

is not too crazy about being sent for cigarettes or coffee.

-Right Trading Company-

  • Kyoko Hayashibara - The head of the company.She fantasaizes about being a

Shinesman herself and is not impressed with four of the team's colors.

  • Hitomi Kasahara/Lafuure - An secretary who is actually from Planet Voice.She

came to Earth in search of her brother.Only Ms. Hayashibara knows her secret.

-Antagonists-

  • Prince Sakaki - He is rather infuriated about posing as a corporate employee.
  • Sekito - Lafuure's brother who has been brainwashed into invading Earth and has forgotten his sister.
  • Princess Shiina - Sakaki's excitable cousin.She ends up developing feelings

for Matsumoto/Shinesman Red.

Notes

  • The characters are each named after the original Japanese actors who performed their voices, many of whom are well known actors in their field.[1]
  • The word "Shainsu" in Japanese translates roughly as "corporate", thus the title of the OVA can be translated as "Special Duty Taskforce Corporate Man" or similar.[1]

References

  • "Production I.G official website- Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman". Retrieved 2006-04-22.
  1. ^ a b c "Anime World review". Retrieved 2006-04-23.
  2. ^ a b "THEM Anime review". Retrieved 2006-04-23.
  3. ^ a b "Absolute-0 review". Retrieved 2006-04-23.
  4. ^ "Anime Critic review". Retrieved 2006-04-23.
  5. ^ "AMR review". Retrieved 2006-04-23.
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