Raideen/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: Prince Sharkin who after failing to defeat Raideen in his giant monster form, commits suicide by Seppuku while shouting glory to his empire to the end. Even Akira was sadded by his death and realized what a Worthy Opponent the guy was. Even Raideen looks grief stricken.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Or, rather, Draco without pants. Prince Sharkin, Emperor Barao's second in command, was the first in a long line of blond bishonen villains, and a large part of his appeal was the VERY short tunic he wore.
  • Fashion Victim Villain: Admiral Darudan, who seems to think that pink is an intimidating color.
  • Fridge Logic: Why did Raideen's designers put his sword and shield on the same arm, so that he can't use both at once?
  • Macekre: The show was heavily edited for American television. Most if not all the religious overtones of the show were altered. The villains were changed from demonic forces to an alien presence. And characters that were victims of demonic possession were aliens in disguise. Even Raideen's attacks were altered to more resemble science as opposed to mystical.
    • Even stranger, this Macekre was subtitles only, so anyone who was even slightly educated in Japanese and just needed subs to "fill the gaps" could spot the edits immediately. Due to this, and the fact that it only aired in the US on Japanese local community channels in a few cities, the fact that it ever aired at all was quickly forgotten by just about everyone.
    • Actually, the show left that ambiguous. Certainly churches and religious symbols didn't bother these demons, and conventional weapons did. Both interpretations are possible, and in fact are probably not mutually exclusive.
  • Squick: Barostan, the withered, goggle-eyed high priest of the demons, had flashes of protectiveness toward Sharkin. He expressed these by grabbing the prince's bare thigh.
  • Theiss Titillation Theory: Sharkin's Roman-soldier-style miniskirt always made him look one stiff breeze away from indecent exposure.