Barom 1
By Jeffrey Couto

>>Information for this review including character names and story details come from posting made on alt.tv.sentai by August Ragone (Henshin Online). Some images come from Thai-Toku.

Introduction

After watching this amazing tokusatsu TV series from the 1970’s I find myself adding the adjective word “Barom” to any action I perform. So for example whereas I used to “cook” food, now I “Barom Cook!”, what was before known as throwing out the trash is now referred to as “Barom Trash!” Such is the infectious nature of this great hero program, which in many ways is a poster program for the experimental tokusatsu shows of the 1970's.

The Story:

A long time ago, a fight between an evil force known as Kopuu and a power that stood for justice known as Dolge, started somewhere in the universe. Now, many years after it began, Kopuu has arrived to Earth and is planning to take over the planet by using his Doruge Kaijin (Doruge Mutants) and soldier Antmen.

Thankfully, Dolge has found two young earthlings, who register enough power (200 Baroms - think of it as power born out of friendship) to successfully form the heroic fighter of justice and the only power strong enough to stop Kopuu’s evil plans, Barom 1. These young men are: Kentaro Shiratori, who excels in academic work & studies, and Takeshi Kido, who does well in sports & other physical activities; together they will form Barom 1 and fight Kopuu’s Doruge Kaijin.

To aid them on their mission Dolge provides our young heroes with the Barom-Bopp, a small device that alerts the youngsters whenever the forces of Kopuu are on the move. The device can also transform into Barom 1's personal vehicle, Mach Road, which he uses to pursue the Doruge Kaijin.

How Good it?

My first impressions of this show after watching it were very positive. Unlike many of these programs Barom 1 has an overall darker feel to it. Even the Doruge Kaijin are not your typical goofy looking creations that are used in these shows. The monsters are a lot darker and menacing than your typical monster-of-the-week creations from this era and add to the overall atmosphere of Barom 1.

Action wise, Barom 1 is also much better than similar fare from the 70’s. There are a lot of great fights scenes throughout each episode and some fun car chases featuring Barom 1 driving his vehicle, Mach Road, in chase of the episode’s bad guy. BTW the scenes in which Mach Road is used have to be some of the most fun I’ve ever seen in one of these programs. It seems like every time Barom 1 takes it out for a drive, people decide to leave giant walls and lots of gasoline-filled drums lying around on the road, which ultimately get driven through and over by Barom 1 in a rather heroic fashion.

Music and sound wise this program is also top-notch! Especially noteworthy is the opening theme, which although not as heroic as some other tokusatsu songs manages to stand out on its own in a rather unique way. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is a judgement call on the viewer though ;-)

The one aspect of Barom 1, which really let me down were the special effects, which were minimally used throughout each episode. The feeling I got from it was that they had a limited budget to work with, as even the classic Japanese hero pyrotechnics were barely used in each of the action segments, however this is not a big problem as the program flows perfectly the way it is, focusing more on the action itself.

Conclusion

This show is my most highly recommended for fans who may be looking for a classic tokusatsu program to check out. The action scenes and darker than average atmosphere make this one really stand out from the pack and should make for a fun viewing. I think Barom 1 really emcompasses everything that is fun about Japanese hero shows and the reason we love to watch them.

Jeffrey Couto