Infini-T Force

Note: This review only covers the 2017 TV series as the story continues with the 2018 movie. Infini-T Force is a superhero crossover featuring 1970’s superheroes from Tatsunoko Productions as a celebration for their 55th anniversary. However, the show is a mixed bag of content unable to properly balance its agenda while trying to incorporate 4 different superhero franchises & doesn’t do a good job in representing or explaining those characters to a new audience. Meanwhile fans that are familiar with these classic superheroes could be discouraged from watching the show given the different interpretations of said heroes. There are some redeemable factors to Infini-TForce but not many for the established Tatsunoko fan. The show follows the story of a girl named Emi who’s suffering from suicidal thoughts & is neglected by her father. One day, 4 superheroes appear who help Emi face her life problems meanwhile 4 villains are destroying other dimensions while pursuing Emi who has an object they’re seeking called “The Case”; a magic pencil that can alter reality. My worry since the announcement of the anime in 2016 was this question. “Will Infini-T Force ruin 4 franchises or will it be able to respect each of their source material?” To my disappointment, Infini-T Force succeeds in representing only 1 hero out of 4. A big problem for this anime is using 4 different superhero series & 12 episodes aren’t enough to utilize the heroes to their full potential. Obvious evidence is the lack of proper introductions to a hero’s background as they each carry a lot of history with multiple anime adaptations. Within episodes 1 & 2 the main cast suddenly appear with very little explanation to their super powers, demeanor & their viewpoints of justice as if the show expects the audience to already know them. Infini-T Force features the following superheroes: Ken The Eagle from Gatchaman 1972. Previous English versions dubbed the series Battle Of The Planets, G FORCE, & Eagle Riders. (Gatchaman Crowds is a spin-off series unrelated to Ken The Eagle. ) Ken is the leader of the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman who use a bird theme for costumes & can be considered one of the earliest versions of Power Rangers. Ken the Eagle doesn’t have any super powers but uses various weapons such as Bird Run aka Birdarang & numerous ninja techniques. His personality during the 1st Gatchaman series depended heavily on sadness & anger as his father was killed by the terrorist organization Galactor. In later stories such as Gatchaman 2 & Gatchaman Fighter, Ken matures from his loss & becomes a dependable leader capable of taking charge & performing difficult life & death decisions. Within Infini-T Force Ken is in his leader state usually taking control of the team but also gets too much attention compared to the other characters. Emi spends the most time with Ken being the hero who ultimately helps solve her daddy issues. Casshan from Casshan 1973. Before Megaman, there was Azuma Tetsuya who participated in an experiment to become a new cyborg called a “Neoroider”/”Newly Built Man” to battle the robot army Andro Force led by Braiking Boss/Black King. Being mostly machine, Casshan has super physical prowess with electric attacks & the Super Destructive Beam. His dog Friender can breathe fire & transform into vehicles. (Friender doesn’t show these abilities in Infini-T Force). The original Casshan series is akin to a robot apocalypse where Casshan, his girlfriend Luna & his dog Friender are the only heroes fighting an entire army in a conquered world. Casshan also fights to rescue his mom & dad adding a very dramatic quest for the lone hero. Unlike the Casshan Robot Hunter OVA 1993 & Casshern Sins 2008, the original Casshan is a very emotional & encouraging heroic character who sacrificed his humanity for the world’s freedom acting as a symbol of hope. But those same people don’t like robots so Casshan is often prejudiced. Unfortunately, Infini- T Force uses a very emotionless version of Casshan who barely contributes much dialogue and is unsuccessful to create a sympathetic mood when compared to past adaptations. Hurricane Polymar from Hurricane Polymar 1974. After a disagreement with his father Yoroi Takeshi runs away from home & works at the Kurama Detective Agency. Takeshi also comes in contact with the Polymet; a helmet that gives him superpowers of the “Spin Change”. With his martial arts background, Takeshi uses the Polymet to create a new martial art known as Hurricane Kenpo & with the Spin Change he can shapeshift into vehicles such as giant drill, a car, a plane, etc. Polymar is very hot blooded in the pursuit of beating up bad guys but his morals are a bit questionable given how violently he fights. In Infini-T Force Takeshi is not as energetic as his 70’s counterpart and comes off as very bi-shonen wanting to be friends with everyone in the world. Admittedly, he has the least depth from the 4 heroes but in the original series he at least cared to rescue his father, friends & civilians whenever he had the chance. Tekkaman from Tekkman 1975. (Tekkaman Blade is a reboot following different leading characters but similar story). Minami Jouji loses his father from the wrath of alien invaders known as The Waldaster. To battle these aliens Minami Jouji volunteers in the Tek Set experiment becoming Tekkaman The Space Knight. Armed with the Tek Lancer & Tek Whip, Tekkman can fire energy attacks from his forehead & fly with the help of his robot friend Pegas. (In the original Pegas was able to talk but is treated as an object in the Infini-T Force version.) In the 1975 story, Tekkaman was very young, angry & careless in his pursuit of ridding the Waldester but felt guilt when he accidently killed a family of innocent aliens. He was also racist towards Andro; a good alien who helped The Space Knights. As the story progressed, Tekkaman becomes friends with Andro putting their differences aside. His character in Infini-T Force is older and calmer than his 1975 version which shows an interesting display of maturity. While treated well within the show, regrettably Tekkaman has few scenes that allow him to show his growth as a man since Ken often takes the spotlight from other characters. Balance is difficult as Infini-T Force tries to juggle qualities aimed for two different age demographics; fans of the old shows & new viewers of modern times. While the anime initially draws the attention of the original fans by creating this superhero crossover it also displeases them with the “handsome” character redesigns when out of costume. It’s clearly an attempt to market the heroes as eye candy to the current generation of anime fans. While redesigns are welcomed to encourage more watchers, the characters don’t look & behave like their 1970’s sources. There’s several scenes depicting them as possible shipping partners for Emi to the point where it resembles a reverse harem especially when the 4 guys suddenly move in to her apartment. Many episodes alternate tone between a serious family drama, an epic superhero crossover and a slice of life female fantasy which all collide with each other. The worst aspects of it are the eating scenes as the series does a poor job in creating conversations. When things aren’t in a serious scene most of the time is spent on characters dining. This can work as an intimate approach for characters to learn more about each other but it often becomes a repetitive safety net. For whatever reason just about every peaceful moment has to be done while eating or cooking which grows stale. There’s other ways for characters to interact with each other but Infini-T Force has to constantly squeeze in these meal times at every possible opportunity rather than having the cast do other activities to develop their friendship. It even manages to ruin the impact of certain scenes as they’ll talk about something food related even when a battle reaches its climax. Possibly the best material from Infini-T Force is the main villain Z who offers a perspective of overprotective parenting. While Z’s main objective is to save the life of his daughter the sinful decisions he makes is what makes this show interesting. In the original stories from Tatsunoko in the 1970’s the heroes would have a recurring usage of bonding with their father usually by rescuing or avenging him. Having the villain Z being challenged as a father figure in these dangerous circumstances is a good tribute to past works of Tatsunoko Productions. On the other hand, the superheroics of this crossover are underwhelming when you’re well versed in any of the superheroes lore. The fight scenes are definitely cool & manages to be very well choreographed but there’s many missed opportunities for the characters to teach their roots to new viewers & pushes away their old school fan base. Casshan in the original series forfeited his humanity so he can’t feel or taste. While this show does try to make a sorrowful character its very anticlimactic for Casshan to have a human form projector. Sure he still doesn’t feel like a human being but the message would be stronger if Casshan didn’t have any human features. Aside from his brief conflict with Raja Kaan, Casshan doesn’t achieve much in this series especially not to viewers wanting to see a dark storyline similar to Casshern Sins or an emotional struggle like the 1973 Casshan anime. Casshan is simply too emotionless nor does he acknowledge his surroundings. In every version, Casshan comes from an apocalyptic wasteland so he should be surprised being sent to a peaceful world. Casshan never mentions his battle with Braiking Boss or his struggles in being an ostracized hero so it personally leaves me very unfulfilled. The original Hurricane Polymar wasn’t too heavy with plot nor did it go into complex viewpoints of right or wrong. Infini-T Force doesn’t interfere much with his character but it barely does anything new. At the start, Polymar seems to have a grudge with the villain Damian Gray but it’s quickly dropped. Tekkaman offers some resolution to the ending of his 1975 anime as it was cancelled with an inconclusive ending but the conflict with the villain Belle Lynn offers a small development to his character. It was a good dispute of opinions yet feels miniscule when compared to the overall theme created by Z & Emi. For better or worse, Ken the Eagle is the only superhero who gets a lot of focus but Gatchaman fans will be upset at certain things. For reasons unknown many characters nickname Ken as an old man or “Gramps” which is annoying. The same occurs to Tekkaman being branded as “Professor”. Ken along with the other heroes are around the same age of late teens and early twenties at least when referring to the original 1970 series. While it’s clear that Tekkaman & Ken have matured the most from their 70s counterparts, but they’re not old enough to be referred as older men especially when compared to Z. There’s also a recurring joke of Ken being unfamiliar with modern technology implying he comes from an older time period which is a bit odd as the other heroes also come from settings of the 70’s. Ultimately, Infini-T Force’s biggest flaw was attempting to accomplish too much in very little time. It doesn’t appeal to fans of the originals but does little to draw in a new crowd. The fight scenes are cool, the drama is good when it’s the main focus of the episode but the superheroes feel extremely shallow especially when they’re in Ken’s shadow. While I can see the importance of Ken The Eagle as a leader & has shown the most growth in the original Gatchman series of 205 episodes even as a fan I am upset that the other heroes don’t have much to do. The same can be said for the new villains exclusively for this anime as Z is ultimately the character with the most emphasis on Emi & the story. Can this show appeal to superhero fans? How does Infini-T Force fair against other superhero anime? Well it’s certainly better than 2017’s The Reflection but when paired up to the original anime storylines from the 1970’s,,, Infini-T Force doesn’t hold a candle. This was advertised as a “Superhero Crossover” yet the end result is more of guest appearances in the life of a sad girl. Rather than showing heroic things a lot of time feels a bit wasted with numerous dialogue scenes inside an apartment or eating. It’s not the spectacular superhero action that people would want. While the action scenes are impressive when they occur but they’re just too short to really appreciate the excitement. While the story isn’t awful it lacks focus & respect. The manga version of Inifini-T Force surprisingly puts a greater deal on the superhero roots of each character even informing the readers their past adventures & struggles. While the manga is still being published in the USA, I’d recommend that over this show, definitely to fan of the original anime they’re based on. But what about new viewers who don’t have any knowledge of these superheroes? Can they enjoy the show? Perhaps….if you’re willing to endure a messy structure of storytelling, however this anime will not resemble the anime these characters come from. So if it does succeed in getting a new person interested in the 1970’s anime I can’t easily picture those people being able to watch a different version of the characters they saw from Infini-T Force and feel happy. Maybe it can work if the source material gets them engaged but everyone’s different so I wouldn’t know for sure. In terms of superhero anime, Infini-T Force is a decent show but to viewers who wanted to see their favorite classic superheroes return…. it’s very disappointing. Infini-T Force is certainly tries to be ambitious but I would encourage watching the 70’s anime, reading the Infini-T Force manga or the following series: Gatchaman, Gatchaman 2, Gatchman F, Gatchaman OVA 1994 Casshan 1973, Casshan Robot Hunter OVA Hurricane Polymar 1973, Shin Hurricane Polymar OVA Tekkaman 1975 Devilman Crybaby based on the Devilman 1972 Manga Cyborg 009 VS Devilman, Cyborg 009 2001, Heroman Keyman Hand of Judgment Guyver The Bio Boosted Armor 2005 Garo The Animation, Garo Vanishing Line Yatterman Night