Dennou Keisatsu Cybercop (1988)

Nostalgia

Cybercops is nostalgia for me because I grew up as a child watching a vhs tape of it dubbed in a different language. I wanted to find out more about it and what it was actually called. Years later I had discovered it but at the time there weren't any eng subs. I ended up watching the show in Portuguese dubbed because that's what I could only find and the show became very popular in Brazil. Couple years later the show has been subbed in English with the original Japanese audio. I decided why not rewatch the show again but I can follow along the show now with eng subs.

Cybercops is actually created by Toho not Tokusatsu. Tokusatsu is known for popular series like super sentai. Cybercops is basically like a super sentai show. You have the 4 heroes in bit suits armor (5th hero aka 6th ranger trope in super sentai appears later in the show) in different colors. Something unique they do is their names of them. They don't just call them by their color but each are named after a planet Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Mercury, and Lucifer(sometimes known as the planet Venus so kind of counts). Cybercops is basically a special police force team to handle more complicated threats. There is also a heroine on the team and her name is Uesugi. It is never explained why she doesn't have a bit force armor like the rest. But still Mika Chiba the actress of Uesugi plays a fine role in aiding and taking on Deathtrap along with her teammates without a armor.

The main plot doesn't really kick in until the midway point between episodes 10-20. One of the main plots is finding out about Jupiter who is a man that has no memory of himself. Later turns out that he and 2 other people came from the future 23rd century. The character episodes focusing on each member are pretty good at showing more about our heroes. The team has good chemistry with each other. Although sometimes I wish it was more consistent in the story of these characters. One episode Saiyonji(Mercury) is shown as a badass fighting off thieves that stole a woman's purse to the next episode being a laughing stock getting beaten up by the lowest level lackeys of the villains. They relied too much on Jupiter using his special weapon cyber thunder arm to defeat the villains that it felt repetitive. Even some character episodes not about Takeda/Jupiter, he still takes the final credit defeating the monster instead of his other teammate. Thankfully later on in the show, they actually mention how the other 3 rely on Jupiter too much to defeat the monsters. They actually work together to create a strategy to defeat the monsters without always having to rely on Jupiter.

For a show made in 1988, the motive of the villains was kind of interesting. Their goal is to side with the computers and have the computers rule the world instead of humans in the future. Lucifer is probably my favorite cybercop. He starts off as a antihero with no memories like Jupiter. But he believes in the story that the main villain Baron Kageyama tells him. So he fights against Jupiter thinking Jupiter killed his friends. Then Jupiter remembers his memories that Baron Kageyama was a spy and set a bomb that created a portal that sent all three into the past. Lucifer actually has two versions of his cyber bit suit. The noticeable difference is that as a antihero, the gear around his mouth is like a bandana mask(making him like a outlaw). But what is kind of cool is how when we see him use his ultimate final power, the bandana mask armor falls off changing his face armor to looking like a good hero now. They both look wonderful but his suit with the bandana mask looked more awesome. He's basically on the same power level as Jupiter since they both came from the future their cyber bit suits are more advanced and stronger. I might even say he is stronger than Jupiter except that Jupiter has the strongest final weapon/move.

The show relied heavily and I mean heavily on green screen. Remember that this show was made in 1988. Maybe at the time people were fascinated by the green screen effects they captured. As someone watching in the 2020s, I kind of cringed at the scenes lol.

Acting and cast is pretty good for a hero show. The one person that stands out and many would agree is Mika Chiba. She is really gorgeous and plays her role excellent. A little bonus is that the show does tease subtle romance between Uesugi and Takeda. Scenes of her being jealous, him rescuing her, almost kiss scenes, and emotional moments. One of my favorite parts of watching hero shows/movies is the subtle add of romance. I am glad that they actually acknowledge one of them likes the other. Most times in super sentai shows, their is subtle hints of one liking the other but don't acknowledge it. The sad part is that they never kissed.

The best thing of this show is easily the music. They nailed the OP and Ending of the song. It's a masterpiece for me. The ending song is my favorite between the two. The reason why is because Mika Chiba aka Uesugi sings the song. Not only is she beautiful, likable character, and good acting she can sing. Another bonus point is that the main cast played the band of the ending song for the first 15ish episodes. You need to listen to "Shooting star" by Mika Chiba.

Overall fantastic show for me that his nostalgia. I wish the final episode had more time. Lucifer and Jupiter go back to the future to their timeline but Uesugi goes too because she loves Takeda. It ended after the battle and we just see the 3 in the sky waving. The show should have ended with like a time skip to see how the past cybercops are battling crime without Jupiter and Uesugi. Show them improved in skills of what they learn. Then show the timeline in the future how Jupiter and Lucifer changed the future so there wasn't a war. Also how does Uesugi living in the future timeline affect things. Well this part might be too complicated to think creative wise.

Still a fun show for me. Mika Chiba was the star.

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