Chargeman Ken is a particularly notorious anime from the 70s, infamous for its poor storytelling and production quality... which is why I think it's worth your time.
The story is about a 10-year-old boy named Ken fighting the Juralians, shapeshifting aliens who have infiltrated human society, and thwarting their various plots to kill humans. That's about it, since each episode is self-contained(in fact, an argument could be made for them being in Anachronic Order). There's no Character Development, story arcs or any continuity- the series went on for 65 episodes, and in the last one, the creators abruptly decided to have the Juralians launch one final attack in the last episode.
A large part of the problem is that episodes are only about six minutes long- less if you take out the opening and ending themes, the Transformation Sequence, and various bits of padding. As a result, there's no time to provide exposition, develop the setting, or even do fight scenes that last longer than a minute or two and don't involve Ken instantly vaporizing the Juralians. On the plus side, it's easy to watch episodes if you have a few free minutes, and you can binge the entire series in about six and a half hours.
Additionally, while most plots boil down to "Ken kills some Juralians," the situations, ranging from "Terrorists hijack Ken's flight only to find out that the passengers are Juralians" to "Ken infiltrates a mental hospital by pretending to be insane and finds a continent-destroying missile under there," are diverse and outlandish enough to keep you watching.
Most of the cast is rather unremarkable given that they can't develop in any meaningful way, but as a hero, Ken is... special. Despite everything he's been through, from killing Juralians by the hundreds to witnessing humans being killed by the Juralians(or killing them himself; ask Dr. Volga) to nearly getting himself and his family killed, he barely reacts emotionally, and tends to crack jokes at the end of each episode, leading one to question his morality, if not his sanity. It's not limited to him, though- after one man's wife turns out to be a Juralian the day after the wedding, he quips that he's had enough of Juralian brides.
The art and animation are abysmal. On the surface, it seems crudely drawn but serviceable, but if you look closer, you see problems such as recycled animation, unrealistic drawing(e.g. more than once, a gun is fired with no muzzle flash), Off-Model characters and even mistakes that shouldn't have made it past inspection(worst of all, the cue for the animators to film the animation). There are too many mistakes to list them all; you should see them for yourself.
Perhaps the only thing about this show that I like unironically is the opening song, which, while short, has catchy lyrics and is sung remarkably well considering that children sang it. Nevertheless, if you enjoy So Bad, It's Good anime, put aside a few hours for Chargeman Ken.
Anime Hilariously Bad
Chargeman Ken is a particularly notorious anime from the 70s, infamous for its poor storytelling and production quality... which is why I think it's worth your time.
The story is about a 10-year-old boy named Ken fighting the Juralians, shapeshifting aliens who have infiltrated human society, and thwarting their various plots to kill humans. That's about it, since each episode is self-contained(in fact, an argument could be made for them being in Anachronic Order). There's no Character Development, story arcs or any continuity- the series went on for 65 episodes, and in the last one, the creators abruptly decided to have the Juralians launch one final attack in the last episode.
A large part of the problem is that episodes are only about six minutes long- less if you take out the opening and ending themes, the Transformation Sequence, and various bits of padding. As a result, there's no time to provide exposition, develop the setting, or even do fight scenes that last longer than a minute or two and don't involve Ken instantly vaporizing the Juralians. On the plus side, it's easy to watch episodes if you have a few free minutes, and you can binge the entire series in about six and a half hours.
Additionally, while most plots boil down to "Ken kills some Juralians," the situations, ranging from "Terrorists hijack Ken's flight only to find out that the passengers are Juralians" to "Ken infiltrates a mental hospital by pretending to be insane and finds a continent-destroying missile under there," are diverse and outlandish enough to keep you watching.
Most of the cast is rather unremarkable given that they can't develop in any meaningful way, but as a hero, Ken is... special. Despite everything he's been through, from killing Juralians by the hundreds to witnessing humans being killed by the Juralians(or killing them himself; ask Dr. Volga) to nearly getting himself and his family killed, he barely reacts emotionally, and tends to crack jokes at the end of each episode, leading one to question his morality, if not his sanity. It's not limited to him, though- after one man's wife turns out to be a Juralian the day after the wedding, he quips that he's had enough of Juralian brides.
The art and animation are abysmal. On the surface, it seems crudely drawn but serviceable, but if you look closer, you see problems such as recycled animation, unrealistic drawing(e.g. more than once, a gun is fired with no muzzle flash), Off-Model characters and even mistakes that shouldn't have made it past inspection(worst of all, the cue for the animators to film the animation). There are too many mistakes to list them all; you should see them for yourself.
Perhaps the only thing about this show that I like unironically is the opening song, which, while short, has catchy lyrics and is sung remarkably well considering that children sang it. Nevertheless, if you enjoy So Bad, It's Good anime, put aside a few hours for Chargeman Ken.