| Red Impulse (Kentaro Washio) | |
|---|---|
| {{{image}}} | |
| Kanji |
レッドインパルス, 鷲尾健太郎 |
| Race |
Human |
| Gender |
Male |
| Age |
48 |
| Hair Color |
Brown |
| Eye Color |
Dark Blue |
| Occupation |
Captain of Red Impulse team |
| Status |
Active (Gatchaman 1-52), Deceased (Gatchaman 53) |
| Relatives |
Ken Washio (Son) |
| Voice Actor |
Hisayoshi Yoshizawa |
| Anime Debut | |
Red Impulse is the name given to the mysterious captain of of the jet fighter team of the same name. Later in the series, it is revealed that Red Impulse is actually the alter-ego of Kentaro Washio, the father of Ken Washio.
Background[]
Kentaro was an ace pilot who could compete with the best, and had fought bravely in a large war. He continued to work at his childhood friend Dr. Nambu's air field, but would take a break from his career to start a family.
One day, in order to investigate Galactor, Kentaro accepted a severe request from Nambu to go undercover in the Hontwal Republic. His plane vanished over the South Sea during a test flight, and his wife and son had been told that he died in a crash. To keep his family out of harm's way, Kentaro would stay out of contact the next 14 years, missing much of his son's growth as well as his wife's death.
OVA[]
Kentaro's departure from his family would play out similarly, except for the fact that he would re-appear at his wife's funeral briefly before disappearing once more from Ken's life.
Appearance[]
Kentaro appears as a tall, masked man in a red flight suit and cap with a white lower case "r", with a sunglass-like visor. He has a notable mustache as well as a darker tanned complexion, although this coloration is not always consistent and he may be depicted with pale skin as well. These skin color inconsistencies can also happen when he's depicted outside of his costume.
When out of Red Impulse uniform, he continues to keep his eyes covered with sunglasses to keep his identity safe, and can be seen in a white suit and hat. He can be seen to have short, dark brown hair, with thick sideburns. His eyes are shown to be a deep blue, much darker than his son's, although they both have a similar mouth shape with wide, full lips.
Personality[]
Under the guise of Red Impulse, Kentaro portrays a stoic pilot who follows orders, but gives help to the Science Ninja Team from afar. He secretly sheds tears of pride at seeing his son has grown up to be an excellent young man, but does what he can to keep his own identity secret while challenging Ken by either physically beating him up (in the Jigokiller incident) or rivaling him in flight skill and combat.
It is said that Kentaro was a "wild boy" in his youth much like his son, with reckless behavior, and Ken himself would even wonder if he inherited his type of personality from his father.
Once Galactor is about to activate the V2 plan, Kentaro's suppressed emotions and duty as a father come out and he rescues Ken. However, this comes with a great price, as even while he shows his more compassionate side, he quickly decides to sacrifice himself to save the Earth and believes that his son can continue to grow up strong without him. It is not even Kentaro that opts to reveal his own identity at first to Ken either, but he only fully does so once Jun states that fact (as Nambu had told the rest of the team about Red Impulse).
Abilities and Equipment[]
Red Impulse is a skilled pilot, able to maneuver and use his jet's weapons with great skill that earned him the fury of Berg Katse.
Alterations in International Adaptations[]
USA[]
Battle of the Planets (1978)[]
He is referred to as Colonel Cronus and commands the Rigan Red Rangers. Mark considers him to be his mentor and old friend. However, after initially believing his father to have been killed by a Spectran agent named Gartz, Mark eventually finds out that Colonel Cronus is actually his father. Cronus attempts to sacrifice himself to stop Spectra's radiation band from destroying Earth, but is said to have ejected from his rocket at the last minute and Mark goes to find him.
The alterations in the series and its anachronistic way of adapting episodes posed more strange inconsistencies and changes to the original: One episode that had a scene of Red Impulse musing about his past with his wife and a younger Ken had its dialogue altered to have Cronus instead thinking about his wife and son Timmy. He is then said to have been reunited off-screen with that wife and child, negating any lingering doubts that Mark and Timmy could've been the same person. This delivers the implication that Cronus had remarried and started another family after he had faked his death, and after his original wife had died.
Another episode altered dialogue to have Mark at an older brother's grave (in the original, Ken was at Red Impulse's grave site), further implying that he had had another son. Yet another episode of the adaptation had Masaki referred to as "Colonel Cronus", with Sandy Frank expecting viewers to believe that he and Kentaro were the same character (even with the differences in their appearances).
Top Cow comic (2002)[]
Cronus remains the man's codename, though his team is called Red Impulse instead of the Red Rangers and he is based on Earth. Though his full name is classified, he is name-dropped as "Ken" at one point by Chief Anderson.
G-Force: Guardians of Space (1987)[]
Red Impulse's codename is retained, although his civilian name is never given. His backstory follows along the lines of the the original, with him having faked his death to become Red Impulse and then later sacrificing himself to stop the V2 plan.
Eagle Riders (1996)[]
He is referred to as "Harley Harris". This version dictates that his son Hunter knew of his double life and that Harley's fleet had defended the Earth before the Eagle Riders. Harley sacrificed his life, dying to stop the Vorak from destroying the Earth.
Voice Actors[]
Hisayoshi Yoshizawa voiced Red Impulse in the original Gatchaman series and any appearances using archival audio, such as the movie and episode 14 of II. For the character's cameo later in Fighter as part of Ken's hallucinations, Shunsuke Shima would take over the role due to Yoshizawa's death in 1979.
Unsho Ishizuka would voice the more modern counterpart of Red Impulse in the OVA series.
English Adaptations[]
- Battle of the Planets: Key Luke
- G-Force: Guardians of Space: Cam Clarke (all episodes except 39 and 40)
- Eagle Riders: Unknown
- OVA (Harmony Gold dub): Bob Papenbrook
- ADV series dub/Sentai OVA dub: John Tyson
Gallery[]
Concept Art[]
Trivia[]
- As Harmony Gold's initial dub of the OVA was done in an era where localization was still heavy, its version of Red Impulse was renamed Red Spectre and the accompanying episode is retitled the same way.
- Although Hisayuki Toriumi insisted on killing Red Impulse as a way to keep the series fresh, Tatsuo Yoshida would pose the question of if it was possible if Kentaro had truly even died then, hinting that he could still be alive: "But he didn't scold me. He asked me ``Wouldn't it be possible to say that he was actually alive?'', so I said, ``I'll think about it'' (laugh)"[1]. Toriumi's intent remained firm in the end of the series and still carried forth to the sequels by other directors, where Red Impulse never returned except as phantom visions or more cruel deception from Galactor.
- The killing of Red Impulse was not without some kind of uproar from other staff, with Toriumi relating: "When I said, ``I killed him,'' everyone made a fuss, and the president (Yoshida) came to the editing room like, ``What the hell?'' and said, ``Show me!'"[2]. Satoshi Suyama would remember that there was no plan at the start of the series for that type of story either (and that it was against his and Jinzo Toriumi/"The Big Tori"'s own intent in the character settings). However, Hisayuki Toriumi would state his distaste of mysterious masked family member characters like Red Impulse, feeling it to be a lazy re-use of the Masked Racer from Mach Go Go Go. Suyama would then remember Hisayuki Toriumi/"The Little Tori" had stated at one point "If I had the chance, I would kill him!" and that this desire had come true by the end of the show's first broadcasting year.[3] "The Little Tori" himself would rationalize the character death a few ways, stating the Mach Go Go Go similarity as well as other points of criticism he had. "I think that was Tatsuo's hobby. They might actually be a father and hide their face, or they might actually be an older brother and hide their face. For example, in 'Mach Go', there was the Masked Racer. But I hate that sort of situation. The Red Impulse captain had a good design, but he also had a strong image from 'Decision'. Also, I was concerned about the voice actor's voice. When it was good, it was extremely good, but when it was bad, it was completely bad. So, I decided that if the series was going to last a long time, it would be better to kill him off quickly. Tatsuo came to also see the first issue that time. I guess he was dissatisfied". There were also magazine tabloid rumors in the time that Yoshizawa's alcoholism had caused issues with the recording sessions, which may or may not have been the vocal performance problem that Toriumi referred to. In the end, once he had decided Red Impulse would die, he had only communicated it to Yoshida and higher-ups after the fact.
- The name "Red Impulse" is an allusion to Blue Impulse, the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces' acrobatic patrol, which Jinzo Toriumi had decided upon in the character setting planning stages.
- Some outside magazines and materials, particularly the Hibari Shobo childrens' encyclopedia, will give the name notation of the Red Impulse team as Redim Pulse, with the separator placed before the "pulse"/parusu part. Sometimes it may also be shown notated in kanji as "The Red Shockwave".
Development Period[]
- The character planning chart devised by Satoshi Suyama notes that Red Impulse was to be modeled after the actor Tetsuro Tamba[4].
- Red Impulse existed from the earliest publicly-known stages of the project. Many of his basic details remained the same, in being a fighter pilot that faked his death. It is stated that his goal is to bring about Galactor's downfall, so he can once again live peacefully with his son. There was no real name or age set at this period, and no indication of the other Red Impulse team members.
Apocryphal Remake Plans[]
- In the scrapped '98 pitch of New Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, the concept of Red Impulse would be entirely re-imagined. Instead of three men (or the larger troop of men from the OVA) and being led by Kentaro, the team was to consist of five young women. Rather than any having a relation to Ken, the leader would have a setting of being Jun's long-lost sister.