Line #10 Anime/ChargemanKen


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4	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chargeman_1.png]]
5	[[caption-width-right:300:''Charging! Go! Go, Ken!'']]
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7	%%->''""''
8	%%-->--'''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uczvIKDcnS4&t=1069s Kenny Lauderdale]]'''
9	->The light of the future shines in a space city!\
10	His [[HotBlooded blood burning]] for the sake of [[ForGreatJustice justice]]!\
11	So that today's setting sun belongs to us!\
12	[[GratuitousEnglish Charging! Go! Go, Ken! Go! Go, Ken]]!\
13	That's the name of our Chargeman!
14	-->--Opening theme song
15
16	Ken Izumi dons his special uniform and drives his CoolCar called the Sky Rod to fight against evil alien invaders called the Juralians. Ken is joined by his sister Caron and his robot dog Barican (who looks more like some sort of robo-duck).
17
18	''Chargeman Ken!'' is a notoriously bad 1974 CultClassic anime. Although the studio that produced the show, Creator/KnackProductions, was known for low-quality productions emphasizing cheap gags over quality, this show may be the bottom of the barrel even by their standards. The production was something of a reunion for those who worked on ''Anime/{{Astroganger}}''. Individual episodes only ran five minutes twenty seconds apiece (excluding the opening and end credits). It was cancelled after 65 episodes.
19
20	[[NoExportForYou Sadly, no country outside of the series' homeland has ever officially released or dubbed the show.]] (This was first averted in 2017 when Creator/DiscotekMedia has secured the license to release the show in the United States and Canada into home video.)
21
22	Two different manga adaptations of the series, which ran on ''TV Land'' and ''Adventure King'' respectively, were published in tankobon format in March, 2013. A stage musical based on the series ran from October 31 to November 6, 2019 in Tokyo.
23	----
24	!!''Chargeman Ken!'' provides examples of:
25	* AdjectiveNounFred: ''Chargeman Ken''.
26	* AntiHero: Ken, although it's unlikely the creators ''meant'' for that to be the case.
27	* ApologeticAttacker: 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.
28	* ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving: The Juralians mostly messed with AssholeVictims; they've stopped a suicide, a bank heist, a plane hijacking, and even an asteroid impact onto the earth.
29	* AsLethalAsItNeedsToBe: Ken's Alpha Gun has a tranquilizer mode, that can put a lion to sleep. However, the tranquilizer mode disintegrates Juralian aliens Ken fights against.
30	* AssholeVictim:
31	** In Episode 31, a man is shown abusing his mute ward, kicking her in the backside and insulting her. He agrees to help the Juralians blow up 30,000 innocent people for money despite being a human himself, so [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves they kill him]], apparently out of [[EvenEvilHasStandards disgust]].
32	** In Episode 41, the Juralians in disguise bribe Rumiko's EvilAunt with a bag of bees that sting her in the face, [[UncertainDoom possibly fatally]].
33	** In Episode 59, a pair of hunters not only shoot birds illegally, but threaten [[WouldHurtAChild to get violent with Ken and Caron]] when they refuse to hand over a bird they shot that is still alive. They end up stumbling on a Juralian base and [[HeKnowsTooMuch are nearly killed]], with only Ken's intervention saving them. They ultimately turn over a new leaf in gratitude, burning their guns and giving up hunting.
34	* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Dinosaurs in "Dynamite in the Brain".
35	* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: In Episode 51, some kids beat Koro, an abandoned dog, with sticks before Ken scares them off. Later that episode, a Juralian fatally shoots Koro for trying to save Ken.
36	* BigBad: The Juralian General Maou, naturally.
37	* BlatantLies: Ken claims Hoshi changed schools [[spoiler:after he killed him]].
38	* BondVillainStupidity: On several occasions, the Juralians capture Ken or knock him out, but rather than finishing him off, leave him in a deathtrap, thus allowing him to escape.
39	* BookEnds:
40	** Episode 38 begins with Ken breaking a window by playing baseball and meeting the resident of the house, a Juralian in disguise. At the end, he breaks another window and the woman who owns the house demands that he pay.
41	** Episode 44 begins with Nagisa taking attendance and finding out that Ken is absent. It ends with Nagisa taking attendance and finding out Ken is late.
42	** Episode 54 begins with Otokichi being reluctant to wake up and go to work at the wax museum. It ends with him waking up early and being enthusiastic about his new job.
43	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3SMJ9KpjIk&feature=related episode 45]], Caron is brainwashed by her piano teacher and tries to stab Ken.
44	* [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS Brought to You By the Letter K]]: Ken's street clothes, such as they are.
45	* CallingYourBathroomBreaks: In Episode 29, Ken and Barican announce they need to go to the bathroom. Caron and Mrs. Izumi, annoyed, tell them to get going.
46	* CircusEpisode: In Episode 58, "The Devil's Circus!", Ken, Caron, and Barican visit a circus. Ken doesn't have enough money for them to get in, but one of the clowns recognizes Ken and lets them in for free. Naturally, [[spoiler:it's a trap set up by the Jurals to kill Ken.]]
47	* CircusOfFear: As the episode's title implies, the circus in "The Devil's Circus" is [[spoiler:led by Jurals who disguise themselves as circus performers to kill Ken.]] At one point, they even unleash [[spoiler:the lions]] upon the audience!
48	* ComedicSociopathy: A lot of what makes this show funny is how incredibly cruel Ken (and his family in some episodes) is.
49	* ComplexityAddiction: The Juralians suffer from this big time. One of their wacky plans was to save a species of butterfly from extinction, give them the ability to eat human cells, breed them for '''[[LongGame fifty years]]''', then unleashing them on human cities. Not only does this plan end up foiled in five minutes as usual, but there's no explanation on why they didn't just launch the attack fifty years ago ''when Ken wasn't around to stop them yet''.
50	* ContemptCrossfire: In Episode 28, Yamamura tries to sell the K9 rocket plans to the Juralians, but then kills them to steal the money. As a result, both Ken and the Juralians consider him a traitor. However, after the Juralians are defeated, [[EasilyForgiven Ken forgives Yamamura]] and offers to bring him sweets in jail.
51	* CoolTrain: In "Dynamite in the Brain", one appears at the beginning, only to get destroyed by a dinosaur.
52	* CreepyCircusMusic: At the beginning of the CircusEpisode, the waltz "Waves of the Danube" is played in a minor [[{{Tonality}} key]], and has a very melancholic tone. Justified, because [[spoiler:it's an early cue that the circus is a trap to kill Ken]].
53	* CurbStompBattle: The fights in this show typically last a few seconds and largely involve Ken shooting Juralian invaders. The one time this formula was inverted was when Hoshi [[spoiler:(himself a Juralian)]] leads his football team to an 18-0 shutout against Ken's.
54	* DelayedReaction: In Episode 54, a museum employee complains about how boring it is to do his job around the waxworks, to which a voice replies by telling him to burn him. He starts to respond before he realizes he has no idea where the voice came from, and then notices that the waxworks are speaking.
55	* DoubleEntendre: In Episode 33, it is mentioned that there are 5 bases on the moon. The way how it's said (''kichi ga itsutsu'')can be heard as ''kichigai tsutsu'', with ''kichigai'' meaning 'crazy'.
56	* DrivenToSuicide: In Episode 33, Osamu's father tries to hang himself out of despair at how much the world has changed, but changes his mind. At that point, the Juralians try to goad him into hanging himself, and are willing to kill him if possible.
57	* DrowningPit: In Episode 44, after the Juralians take Ken and Nagisa hostage, they try to kill them by flooding their cells. Ken escapes by creating a spark by striking a rock against one of the bars, which allows him to transform and break a hole in the wall to drain the water.
58	* ElevatorSchool: In a rare attempt at actual {{worldbuilding}}, episode 6 reveals that in the show's futuristic setting, all grade levels from elementary school to university are housed in a single school building, and this is the case with schools the entire world over. The school Ken goes to is 70 stories tall.
59	* EverybodyLaughsEnding: A lot of episodes end this way. Usually, the characters are laughing at [[ButtMonkey Barican's]] expense.
60	* EveryCarIsAPinto: In Episode 62, Ken jumps out of the jeep with Caron and Barican just before it hits a tractor. The jeep explodes, in a mushroom cloud no less, while the tractor apparently remains intact.
61	* EvilAunt: In Episode 41, Rumiko's aunt abuses her and forces her to do chores, just like Cinderella's WickedStepmother.
62	* EvilDetectingDog: Koro attacks the disguised Juralians in order to save Ken, and from his growling, it's implied he knows hat they really are.
63	* EvilSoundsDeep: The Juralians and General Maou.
64	* ExcitedTitleTwoPartEpisodeName:
65	** Episode 5: "Terror! The Mummy Comes By Carriage!"
66	** Episode 46: "Terror! The House of the White-Haired Crone!"
67	** Episode 65: "Victory! Chargeman Ken!"
68	* ExcusePlot: Most episodes. Ken abruptly concludes the Juralians are responsible for the incident, although there are few clues to support him.
69	* IWarnedYou: In Episode 55, Barican wants to pilot the Sky Rod, but Ken refuses until Barican blackmails him by threatening to tell his mother. As the Sky Rod goes out of control and crashes, Ken tells Barican he warned him.
70	* IllegalGuardian: The villain of Episode 50 is a Juralian disguised as a wealthy man who adopts kids to use them as slave labor.
71	* ImmuneToBullets: The Jural, strangely enough, are not affected by bullets, but they are by Ken's laser gun.
72	* ItsQuietTooQuiet: In Episode 62, Ken expresses concern over how "quiet" it is after Matsumoto tells him to wait in the car. He then hears Matsumoto's scream, goes inside and sees that Matsumoto and the others have been killed.
73	* KilledMidSentence: In Episode 61, Ken vaporizes the Juralians as they react to his arrival.
74	-->'''Juralians''': It's Cha-YARG!
75	* LightIsGood: It's used to power up Chargeman Ken, the hero of history.
76	* LimitedAnimation: Not as much limited as it is barely there. Between each episode's short length and the horrendous budget, individual episodes almost never exceed 50 total frames of animation.
77	* MonumentalDamage: At the start of the final episode, the Juralians blow up the Statue of Liberty, the Parthenon and Tokyo Tower, among other monuments.
78	* NeverTrustATitle: Episode 10 is titled, "Barican Runs Amuck," but while Barican saves the rest of the family from the Juralians, he doesn't go crazy.
79	-->Note - At no point does Barican actually ever run amuck.
80	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Some hijackers take over a plane, planning to exchange hostages for the release of their comrades, but several of the passengers turn out to be Juralians, who kill the hijackers. The Juralians then try to kill Ken, but since he is more hesitant to kill humans than Juralians, they did him a favor.
81	* OffWithHisHead: In Episode 10, Maou brings out a guillotine to execute Ken and his family.
82	* PlanetLooters: The evil aliens are supposed to be a case of them.
83	* RayGun: Ken's weapon.
84	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn For X-6]] [[MookFaceTurn and J-7]], anyway.]]
85	* RingRingCrunch: At the start of Episode 54, a lazy museum employee punches his alarm clock(which pops out of the wall), and smacks it with a lamp.
86	* RoleCalled: ''Chargeman Ken!''
87	* RobotDog: Barican, called the "grandpa robot" in the show and looks like a screwed-up predecessor of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Haro]].
88	* ScaryDogmaticAliens: Jurals, of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Aliens as Nazis]] variety.
89	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: '''Ken'''.
90	* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: Caron is seven years old but is always fighting space escapades while she should be at school. Ken himself doesn't look more than about eleven or twelve. Their teacher and classmates do appear, however, and are usually victims of whatever may happen.
91	* SkewedPriorities: In Episode 16, Ken orders Barican to destroy the record that the Juralians are using to try to kill them, but Barican is reluctant, saying it's a "nice song" and pointing out they already paid for it.
92	* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: In Episode 48, a Juralian posing as an old woman puts a yellow pellet into Ken's drink while he's distracte,
93	* TransformationSequence: A 20-second one in every episode. Also seen in the theme song.
94	* ViewersAreGoldfish: "Dynamite in the Brain" flashes back to a scene that occurred [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsoaHMOp5uM&feature=related#t=01m26s literally 30 seconds earlier]].
95	* {{Worldbuilding}}: A few episodes provide exposition about the futuristic society, such as how fuel is extracted from the bottom of the ocean, or futuristic farming techniques.
96	* WouldHarmASenior:
97	** In "Dynamite in the Brain!", the Juralians implant a time bomb in the head of an old man named Dr. Volga. Ken drops him to destroy a Juralian spaceship.
98	** In Episode 48, some Juralians disguised as men surround and threaten to harm an old woman(herself a Juralian in disguise) so that Ken will be forced to step in, thus allowing the Juralian disguised as the woman to manipulate him.
99	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In Episode 32, the Juralians tell the safecracker they recruited that they no longer need him now that he's opened the safe. They're about to kill him when Ken intervenes.
100	* YoureInsane: In Episode 23- the one in which Ken infiltrates a mental hospital- he has this to say about the director's plans to blow up Europe with a missile.
101	* {{Zeerust}}: The show's visions of the future is so [[The70s 70's]] it hurts, which only adds to the charm.

Context Anime / ChargemanKen