Chargeman Ken

Our hero and his family. Or something.

A notoriously bad 1974 Cult Classic anime, known as チャージマン研!, (“chāji man KEN!”) in Japan. It was made by Studio KNACK, and the production was something of a reunion for those members who worked on Astro Ganger.

Our hero is a 10-12 year old boy named Ken Izumi. Well, how heroic his actions are is debatable. He, the eldest son of Dr. Hiroshi Izumi and his wife Saori, dons his special uniform and drives his Cool Car called the Sky Rod, alongside his little sister Caron and their robot "dog" Barican, to fight against evil alien invaders known as the Juralians.

The fascinatingly dreadful series would have been completely forgotten had it not been for the 2007 DVD release being added to Nico Nico Douga. Memetic Mutation ensued every damn where, and it continues to this day; it even had a stage play in 2019, with several actors (Yamato Furuya, Yuuto Adachi, Shungo Takasaki, and Seijirou Nakamura) in the principal role.

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Tropes used in Chargeman Ken include:

• Anti-Hero: Ken is not supposed to be one, but DAMN he does his best to play the part.
• Anti-Villain: X-6, a Juralian woman who in episode 8 is saved by Ken while in her human disguise and, from then on, cannot bring herself to kill him. She's the only Juralian that Ken shows sympathy to, even! So the Juralians do her in for treason... in front of an horrified Ken, who immediately kills them in revenge.
• Apologetic Attacker: Hilariously done in episode 35, with Ken's infamous "Dr. Volga, forgive me!" line as he launches him at the enemy as a human bomb.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Dinosaurs in "Dynamite in the Brain"
• Big Brother Bully: More than once, Ken comes off as this to poor Caron.
• Bishonen: Hoshi
• Brought to You By the Letter K
• Girl with Psycho Weapon: Caron becomes one in episode 45, after she's brainwashed into it by her piano teacher who's a Juralian in disguise. Dr. Izumi grabs her before she can kill Ken, however, and then Saori slaps her back into her senses.
• He Also Did: This was made by the same KNACK studio that made the Little Prince anime and the anthropomorphic animal series Le Petit Castor (Don Chuck Monogatari), which enchanted generations of kids in the U.S. and Canada, and created a frenzy in Europe with the volleyball dramedy Attacker You! Oh, and the character designer was the same one as Speed Racer's. Still, a lot of their output was as bad and/or bizarre as you'd expect from watching Chargeman Ken.
• Immune to Bullets: The Juralians, strangely enough, are not affected by bullets, but they are by Ken's laser gun.
• Kansai Regional Accent: Happens a lot with the Juralians villains in human form, but hilariously highlighted when the aspiring arsonist Yuuichi is told, "Everyday, from now on, you will burn down a house." (Kore kara mainichi iewa yakouze)
• Light Is Good: It's used to power up Chargeman Ken, but good is debatable...
• Moral Dissonance: A lot of what makes it funny is how incredibly cruel Ken is to all aliens. (Save for X-6)
• No Export for You: No country outside of Japan has licensed or dubbed this show until Discotek Media acquired the rights to the series in 2017.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Oh boy, there's lots of it. Ken's supposed Telepathy is a good example - he develops it from nowhere to read Dr. Volga's mind and realise that he's a human bomb.
• Off-Model: EVERY. FREAKING. WHEEEEEERE.
• Planet Looters: The evil aliens.
• Pyromaniac: Yuuichi, a boy whose parents fight all day long and neglect him, starts setting homes on fire to relieve his stress. Unfortunately, two Juralians force him to keep doing it. "Fortunately", Ken and Caron (plus Barican) come to the rescue.
• Ray Gun: Ken's weapon.
• Red Right Hand: The Juralians, like vampires, don't have any reflections in mirrors. But the viewers are only told about it in episode 35, and it's never really mentioned again.
• Robot Dog: Balican. Or at least that's what he's supposed to be.
• Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Caron is seven years old but is always fighting space escapades while she should be at school.
• Stock Dinosaurs: All of the ones that attack the city.
• They Also Did: The show's production studio was Knack. Anyone who watched Nickelodeon in the late 1980s may remember them for The Little Prince anime, which was much better made.
  • They also made Attacker You!, the Asatte Dance OAV's, and the 1994 Grappler Baki OAV's, which again are quite better made.
• Viewers Are Goldfish: "Dynamite in the Brain" flashes back to a scene that occurred literally 30 seconds earlier.
• What Exactly Is His Job?: Hiroshi Izumi is supposed to be a doctor... but is he ever seen working as such? Nope. It even gets hilariously lampshaded by his wife.