Tokusatsu fanatic Kenta Hirono dreams of becoming a superhero, so much so that he's created his own superhero persona – "Wingman", to go out and fight injustice in the world. Although most of his peers look down on and laugh at him, he is never deterred and firmly believes in the teachings of his favourite heroes.
When a strange girl suddenly appears from a portal in the sky, Kenta takes her in. While she's unconscious, he uses her notebook to sketch out more details on Wingman and is shocked to find he suddenly becomes Wingman himself! When she wakes up, the girl introduces herself as Aoi – a traveller from an alternate universe called Podreams. Aoi's book is the Dream Note, a book which can make the dreams written inside it come true. Aoi has come to this world to hide the book from the evil dictator Rimel, who plans to use the book for conquest and destruction.
When a strange girl suddenly appears from a portal in the sky, Kenta takes her in. While she's unconscious, he uses her notebook to sketch out more details on Wingman and is shocked to find he suddenly becomes Wingman himself! When she wakes up, the girl introduces herself as Aoi – a traveller from an alternate universe called Podreams. Aoi's book is the Dream Note, a book which can make the dreams written inside it come true. Aoi has come to this world to hide the book from the evil dictator Rimel, who plans to use the book for conquest and destruction.
First of all I want to preface this review by saying that I had never heard of Wingman until this adaptation was announced. While I am familiar with some of Katsura's works (particularly Video Girl Ai), this was one that had slipped me by. But while I may be coming to Wingman as a complete newcomer, live-action almost feels like the perfect place to experience this story for the first time (though I am now tempted to go back and check out the manga/anime). The concept itself is a clear love letter to the Henshin Hero genre, and given all the references made there's just something extra satisfying about seeing them all carried out in live-action. Although this premiere episode is naturally a little light on the superheroics, there's still enough here to whet fans' appetites. Both the superhero and villain/monster suits have that same Toei quality as the franchise productions (and don’t seem to stray too far from the original manga designs either), already giving Wingman a strong visual identity.
Character-wise we get a proper introduction to our hero Kenta, an archetype that should be all too familiar to tokusatsu fans. As a superhero fanboy personality-wise he may not seem all that far removed from the likes of Gokaiger's Gai Ikari, Akibarager's Nobuo Akagi or even The High School Heroes' Taisei Manaka, but Kenta was doing this before any of these characters were even concepts. He's an immediately likeable protagonist, carrying the same strong sense of justice his heroes do but also having the right level of delusion to believe he can be one. His love of heroes is so strong that he dresses up as Wingman even before gaining proper superpowers, simply trying to right smaller wrongs and stand up to anyone who needs help even if he isn't much of a fighter. Admirable qualities, and the show also has a lot of fun conveying just how much he loves superheroes through his dialogue as well. Maito Fujioka was absolutely inspired choice for the role and one episode in his already making a great impression.
Other characters introduced are of course Aoi, whose role here is to mainly outline the plot but we still manage to get a good gauge on her personality. Again she's a fairly typical character archetype, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing if said archetype is done well. We're also very briefly introduced to Kenta's schoolfriend Fukomoto (one of the few who seem accepting of his Wingman persona, if a little less enthusiastic), as well fellow student and future love interest Miku Ogawa. With so much story outlining and introductions to make we don't spend a great deal of time with either, however Kenta standing up against the bullies in Miku scene's is certainly a highlight of the episode.
What's particularly interesting about Wingman's premiere is that it doesn't just outline everything in terms of story, it also makes a point of outlining Wingman's abilities even before Kenta has donned the "real" suit. You have to admire just how much though Kenta has put into his superhero creation – not only designing the costume and weapons but even imposing limitations on the hero, giving him a five-minute transformation window purely because he feels it gives him more catharsis as a hero. Touches like this don't just give you more appreciation for Kenta as a superhero otaku, they double character and world-building – telling you everything you need to know about Wingman going in without sounding too much like an exposition dump.
But if all else fails, the number of references here makes at the very least this first episode a must-see for tokusatsu fans. From name-dropping Toei heroes and recreating their attacks to all the posters and merchandise proudly displayed in Kenta's bedroom, there's a lot here for fans to keep their eye out for. True to the age of the source material our protagonist shows an affinity toward Showa era tokusatsu (particularly the likes of Denjiman and Gavan), but there are also nods to more modern shows as well. Kenta's room features toys like the DecaDriver and Mobirates/Ranger Keys, and with Sakamoto as a director of course one of the posters up on the wall is for Space Squad. The namedrops and visual references are fun, but we properly see Kenta as Wingman it'll be interesting to see if there are some more direct references/parallels to his favourite heroes in terms of actions/storyline. As something that clearly feels like a labour of love from tokusatsu fans right from its very inception, it doesn't feel like something that'll slow down in future episodes.
Although Wingman's story is one that will undoubtedly appeal to any superhero fan, it's one that feels particularly at home in live-action. This new adaptation has gotten off to an excellent start, laying out all the groundwork for the story to come in a way that's entertaining rather than feeling like a necessary info-dump. Maito Fujioka already shines as Kenta, once again showing off a similar flare for the superhero genre as his father did so many years before. Between that and all those fabulous tokusatsu references, Wingman is definitely a series to keep an eye on as 2024 begins to close out.
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