HUBB
ARDIAN
CASE FILE 04 :
THE HOSTAGE IS AN ALIEN
Everyone's a little annoyed by Sion's energy and enthusiasm first thing in the morning.
Even trapped in a desparate situation in the 20th century, this is his first time enjoying the basic rights of a person,
starting a new life with the first friends he's ever had, which explains why he alone is in such a good mood.
Also, Hubbardians only have to sleep one week a year, so not having to deal with any morning grogginess may have something to do with it as well.
Everyone brushes Sion and his excess energy off, so he goes out into the city, where Domon is handing out flyers for his self-defense class.
By the way, Ayase was studying to get his driver's license,
so it seems like the falsified documents Sion and Tac prepared have a chance of deceiving the 20th century driving school.
While claiming that "I love all people. I treat both men and women equally," Domon seems to only be handing flyers out to women.
No matter how famous he was as a fighter in the 30th century, with his adam sandler-esque looks that lie somewhere between handsome and comic actor,
to the women of the 20th century he must look like a procurer disguising his scouting as an invitation to his class.
The New Century Grapping pro-fighter who was Sion's hero when he lived in the lab has himself become one of the "lots of perverts" he's warning about.
Sion, overcome with admiration for the hero who brightened his dark days in the lab without friends or family, loudly declares
"Then I love you, too. I love you for being you," despite being in a crowded area where Domon is in the middle of trying to pick up a woman.
He's responding to Domon's statement mentioned above, saying that he also loves all people, including Domon.
We already know Sion respects Domon to the extent that he earlier told him "You were unbeatable during your pro days,"
so his statement this time isn't particularly surprising, if sudden.
However, a fraction of viewers ignored the surrounding context and ran with this scene...
That's right, it's the fujoshi/fudanshi. There was an explosion of Domon x Sion shippers based on this statement alone,
and it does without saying that the doors to Timerangers dark side were opened.
It's undeniable that this episode is filled with innuendos, but this has cast a shadow on Sion's character that continues over twenty years later.
Despite the series being broadcast in the early days of the internet, there was no shortage of personal sites dedicated to Domon x Sion,
and one can easily confirm the mania from that time with some digging with Web Archives.
I do want to say I have no problem personally with these fans.
However, I do think that we shouldn't ignore Honami's character.
Even though she hasn't been introduced yet, she plays an important role in developing Ayase's and Domon's characters,
and is also important as the sole link to future Super Sentai series. Still, I guess she's inconvenient to some people...
For this and other reasons, this is an episode that generates some controvery among fans.
In the city, the kidnapper/murderer/pervert Nabal, who had been serving a compression-freeze sentence of 200 years,
has been defrosted and is kidnapping lots of kids for ransom, which is exactly what he's up to when Sion encounters him after Domon ran away.
Sion, with his pure heart, easily trusts this black-trenchcoated ball of suspiciousness, who even kids are wary of, and is quickly kidnapped.
Where did they find an actor with such a strong funk to play Nabal's human form?
It takes great acting to make Nabal's human form more monstrous than his slightly cute monster form, so I looked into the actor.
It seems like he's no longer acting, but taking advantage of that unique ability we saw a glimpse of over 20 years ago
and is working as the spiritualist "Fem-Shaman Bibiko."
She makes clear to refer to themself not just as a "Shaman" but rather a "Fem-Shaman" ("Onee Kitoushi" in Japanese.
Click here to check out Bibiko's website.).
Anyway, Sion has been thrown into a mysterious facility with the other kidnapped children.
Nabal ago-kui's Sion like a perfect shoujo manga guy, and pulls his rosy face towards his as if surveying wares.
(Please check this wiki for the source of the image on the right as well as an explanation of ago-kui.)
Is money really all you're after!?
After this scene which seems to boldly support the niche Nabal x Sion ship, making us feel like Sion was captured for something other than just money,
Sion secretly contacts the other Timerangers with his Chrono Changer, but is loudly scolded and called a pest by Domon.
If this were America we'd be headed toward TV-14 territory.
Even thrust into menhera mode in a stark contrast from his bubbly mood in the morning, Sion still displays his heroism by comforting the other kidnapped children.
Heroism isn't just about being powerful and defeating enemies. Domon probably didn't know anyone as naive as Sion until now.
He seems to have strong bonds with his family and friends,
and to have come from the kind of trusting environment where people can eventually forgive each other for saying stupid things.
Sion never had any such relationships, and has no experience of being either accepted or rejected,
so it's unsurprising that he wouldn't know how to properly guage relationships, which is why he reacts so strongly to being called a pest,
even if the statement itself is only said out of emotion and doesn't have much meaning.
I can relate to Sion' feeling as he looks depressed leaning against some mysterious, unused-looking boxes in this photo.
It's too bad I can relate to characters weaknesses the most!
Here Tac finally explains to the other four that Sion is the sole survivor from the planet Hubbard,
which was destroyed in the year 2984, and after escaping to the earth,
was only seen as "the Hubbardian with legendary intellect," receiving advanced education and observed as a living test subject.
Only surrounded by adults and with no friends, it must be difficult for him to have a normal relationship.
Although Tatsuya rather easily accepted the existence of the Londerz, he seems shocked to have met an alien for the first time,
a term that Domon takes objection to, saying "Someone from space? That makes us aliens, too," which suggests that the 30th century,
in which people from various planets coexist, still seems to have problems with discrimination based on race or planet of birth.
After escaping to Earth, Sion was simply treated as a test subject to find out what would happen if Hubbardians were given various knowledge,
isolated in a laboratory and deprived of basic rights, meaning that his only identity was subject to biases and prejudice.
Sion has no one with whom to share his identity, and one imagines that he must have lived overwhelmed with loneliness and rejection.
Despite that, his personality hasn't become twisted, which means he must have a strong heart.
Being over twenty years old, it does have its issues, but for its time especially,
I think Timeranger making the concept of diversity understandable to children through the character of Sion is commendable.
One's "we" group is just as much an "other" as another group seen from a different perspective,
and organisms necessarily feel threatened by the appearance of an "other."
Differences stand out and can make us anxious, but we're made to notice that there may be other points of commonality that don't immediately stand out as much.
To coexist, finding these points of commonality while understanding differences, we can't set one standard, hold preconceptions, or try to judge who is better.
Other than the fact that he's smart and doesn't have to sleep, Sion is a normal kid to earthling.
Showing that over the course of a year teaches kids that one's individual identity is more important than what group one belongs to.
After letting the children he was about to attack get away, Nabal attacks Sion in his monster form.
To avoid causing trouble by giving away the connection between Tomorrow Research and the Timerangers,
Sion painfully takes all the blows without attaching his Chrono Changer and transforming,
showing his heroism by sacrificing himself to protect the kids and his friends without any hope of winning.
His main character episodes tend to involve him going to battle by himself. However, at this stage he doesn't yet have anything to protect by his own will,
and therefore finds his reason for action in others, but as he finds things to value in the 20th century, he increasingly acts from his own will.
At this point he lacks autonomy to the point that if it weren't for the other four Timerangers, he probably would have accepted being killed like this.
Nabal inexplicably erupts in anger, saying "I'll send your corpse to your family." Unfortunately, that frightening statement doesn't have any effect on Sion.
He has no family for his corpse to be sent to, and considering that he entered the rogue organization TTPB,
doesn't seem to have much attachment to staying alive either.
Just as Sion has taken so much damage he can barely stand, Domon bursts on the scene and blows Nabal away.
Tatsuya, Yuuri, and Ayase also ran here. It seems like taking the Time Fliers would have been faster, but the scriptwriters preferred to privilege the drama,
making Sion bear the attacks longer, with the other four consoling him, showing the most unity as a team they've had up until this point.
While running here, Sion's words echoed in Domon's head over and over.
"Domon, I love you. I love you!"
It seems like his memory has distorted the phrase a little. Sion said "I love you for being you" and "Then I love you, too," and didn't just say "I love you" directly.
I'd also like to mention that "I love you" seems like a strong translation for "suki desu," which is what Sion is saying in Japanese.
Anyway, the original phrase seems intentionally ambiguous and up to interpretation, but one way of looking at it is that Domon,
who had been kicked out of the Grappling Association and treated as a loser,
regained a sense of pride as a pro-fighter after being told "I love you" by his fan Sion.
We can see Koizumi Tomohide's (the actor who plays Domon, currently using the name Izumi Shuhei) wholeheartedly smug face expressing all of those emotions in the top center photo above. Coooool!
Yuuri: "Guys! Ready?"
Sion, who was hurt too badly to stand just a moment ago, is now standing as if nothing ever happened, like a pro soccer player.
Here we see the rather controversial clothes throwing performance before transforming. By Chapter 4 everyone's gotten a little more in synch,
as if their hearts are in unison. The beautiful snap in Tatsuya's right leg is nothing short of perfection.
Domon remembers that Sion asked him "Can you teach me how to fight?" when he was handing out flyers,
saying "Here's my self-defense class!" (translating the Japanese line literally, the official translation loses some nuance) as if fulfilling a promise.
Everyone, get out of the way, because it's finally time for Domon, who for the first four chapters has only been portrayed as grumpy, nosy, and a perv,
to reclaim his dignity! Him fighting on his own is pure New Century Grappling.
That he can take on Nabal this much without any weapons is because of his unique experience fighting with his bare hands in the mixed martial art Grap.
We can see why Sion asked for his signature in the first episode. Nabal is overwhelmed and starts making excuses no one asked for,
plus takes a cruel cheap shot at Domon's back with a blade, which Sion rises up to block with the Double Vector.
At that exact moment, the lyrics "Believe in the power of love!" are sung in the background, which seems like a subliminal message regarding the two's relationship (?!),
but our attention is more taken by Sion using his signature move for the first time, the Vector End Beat 9.
The five make another attempt to use the Voltech Bazooka. This is the weakest enemy yet, and with Nabal already taking a lot of damage,
one hopes that it finally might work, but somehow it fails yet again... almost as if the Timerangers are dysfunctional.
Beta does play some role this time, attacking with the Flyer Magnum, but is quickly dissassembled and switched to Alpha mode.
One worries futilely about Beta's toy sales, who has less of a chance to redeem itself than Domon.
While lost in such thoughts, the battle is suddenly over. There was more emphasis on the physical battle before getting huge,
and once doing so Nabal didn't have any strong techniques, so it was a pretty boring robot battle, and this time as well I could only prepare these wierd screen caps.
Here are Nabal getting Press Blizzarded and brutally compress-frozen. Such a pitiful creature, Nabal...
After returning home, Domon bandages up Sion's wounds. He must have gained a lot of fans of all types with this episode.
While being a Sion main episode on the surface, Domon ends up stealing the show.
Domon actually moves those around him more than Tatsuya, and grows by stealing the spotlight from others.
Speaking of Tatsuya, he was surprised again to hear that Dolnero and his gang were also aliens, which makes one wonder what he thought they were until now.
It seems wierd that he's more shocked to learn that Sion, who looks like a normal human, is an alien.
In this episode we learn that Sion's distinct hair color isn't by birth, but that he dyes it and has been doing so since he was 3 years old,
which makes me think that having very strong and healthy hair and scalps that can hold up to so much dye must be another feature of the Hubbardians.
SCORE:
Sion was the main character this time, so the commentary ran rather long. We learned that Sion, who is always friendly and cheerful, actually has a lonely background, and came from another planet. Although we got some insight into how he feels, I would have liked to know a little bit more about what he thinks. Also, Domon actually came across better than Sion in the episode, even though the latter was featured in more than half of the scenes, and since my rating system takes into account how much of a role Time Green / Sion plays, this one gets 4 stars despite being his main character episode. I guess these two bring out the best in each other, to the extent that a whole new group of fans devoted to their relationship was born. I guess it's an episode that can be evaluated in different ways, which makes it hard to rate.