YMMV / Chōjinki Metalder

• Angst Aversion: One of the reasons the show was cut short was because younger fans were not fond of the rather dark and depressing tone of the series (or able to follow the drama-over-action writing), even for the franchise; the show is easily the darkest Metal Heroes entry. It picked up older viewers well enough.
• Awesome Music:
  • Kimi mo Seishun wa Kagayaiteiru ka? (Does Your Youth Shine?)
  • The soundtrack as a whole can be called this actually, which was impressive enough that it was actually reused for Tokkei Winspector.
• Complete Monster: God Neros, also known as Gozo Kirihara and formerly Kunio Muraki, is a truly vile Evil Overlord bent on imposing his twisted will on the world. Originally dismissed from the Metalder project and allowed to be imprisoned in Singapore, he escaped thanks to bribery and changed his face via plastic surgery, building up an empire using stolen mob funds, which masqueraded as a legitimate charity. In order to Take Over the World, Neros focused on mass starvation imposed on whole nations, along with the genocide of humanity; Neros even murdered his former partner Dr. Koga, who had protested against using Metalder for evil purposes. After Shingo Ōgi discovers his secret identity, he brainwashes the man to kill Metalder. When this fails, he plans to blow up his own lair, with most of his minions inside, while he escapes disguised as his lieutenant. When this succeeded, he murdered Metalder's ally Topgunder to torment Ryusei. Having no limits to depravity, Neros tried to force Metalder to do evil, and mentally tortured him before trying to finish him off.
• Evil Is Cool: The Neros Empire has many warriors with cool designs and memorable personalities in its ranks. This was actually invoked by the show's producers, as Bandai wanted to sell action figures of the villains in addition to Metalder.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Coolgin, disguised as Neros, crosses it when he denies Secretaries K and S the chance to escape the exploding Ghost Bank.
  • Neros disguised as Coolgin, crosses it killing Top Gunder in cold blood.
• Nightmare Fuel: Kirihara's transformation into his God Neros form. He starts normal, but gradually ages and gains weird deformities on his skin. Then parts of his head start pulsating and his eyes lose their color. The near-final stage has him with creepy red pupils and a hole in his throat where his tie was.
• Periphery Demographic: Teens and adults enjoyed it more than the kids, which caused it to end after 39 episodes.
• Spiritual Successor: To Kikaider.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: At the time, one of the reasons Metalder didn't do well was because it was a huge departure from the aesthetic of the previous Metal Hero shows. Ironically, many of the concepts Metalder introduced would become commonplace for later Metal Hero series such as the lead being a robot and a focus on Earth-based criminals and villains as opposed to aliens.
• Vindicated by History: This was the most poorly received of all the Metal Heroes series at the time of its original airing, especially with children. Nowadays, in both Japan and the West, the series is now regarded by many as one of the best Metal Hero shows due to its darker themes and plot elements.

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