Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

Toshiki Inoue the man responsible behind Chojin Sentai Jetman and Kamen Rider Agito also was responsible for the burned out works like Kamen Rider Faiz which is his most serious work (but also my least favorite) then he started dabbling with comedy.  For his comedy, things can be so-so but let's see how that might affect Akibaranger.  Watching his comedic works, here's what really might not work with Akibaranger if he were writing it either has a head writer or an episode writer... How bad can Toshiki Inoue's comedy get?  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Kamen Rider Kiva for it being cartoony but other than that, Inoue can sometimes get annoying with his humor in my own watch.  In fact, that whole Takoyaki vs. Taiyaki battle in Kamen Rider Blade (he was a sub-writer) was relying on blatant stupidity than well-timed comedy.  Another I might mention is that Kiva's weaker points in its humor was why in the world is Nago switching between being Gai Yuki 2.0., Hikaw...

Since Super Sentai is basically for children and maybe for mecha enthusiasts, I speculate these events happened for a reason: Battle Fever J began to introduce the Battle Fever Robo which was transported by the flying fortress Battle Shark. The robot was well-received so thus began the Super Sentai robots. Denziman had the Daidenzin robot which was the first transforming robot. This trend will make itself with secondary robots. Combining robots were later introduced. Sun Vulcan started with the oddly designed mecha, in Goggle V it began with a three-piece combining robot (oddly enough, only Goggle Red, Goggle Blue and Goggle Yellow piloted it) and in Maskman, the first five piece combining mecha. I guess this was done to sell more toys. Flashman introduced the secondary robot, Titanboy which could merge with its trailer to form the Great Titan but that was probably not well-received so the idea was never done again in later shows. But still, the secondary robot was made to ...

Seldom in Tokusatsu or does it happen a lot, villains do sometimes decide to reorganize their organizations or upgrade their equipment because the heroes do get upgrades.  Now for the kinds of upgrades that I can remember... please do feel free to tell me what I'm missing. Change of monster of the week composition.  Deathdark used Neometal to create advanced Mozoo beasts, the Jashinka also changed the composition of their monsters to stronger metal, Dr. Lee Keflen of Mess later made monsters with the genes of La Deus, Bandora later used Dokeeta clay to make stronger monsters (though the effect was as usual very temporary) and Dr. Hinelar later created Psycho-Nejire monsters with Javious' DNA. In the case of Gear in Bioman, Doctor Man began upgrading his technology from episodes 31-34 during the power-up arc.  He introduces the Metal Megas after some kind of meteorite passed through Earth.  He also later rebuilds Psygorn, Mettlzer and Juuoh far stronger than the...

I did some rewatching of Maskman and Dairanger.  I pretty thought that Momoko was some kind of template for future pink ranger episodes. Now to compare them. Momoko- In Maskman episode 34, she fell in love with Guron Dobler in human form, where he called himself as Hikaru.  In that episode, Guron Dobler was once tended to by a woman who looked like Momoko who might be her ancestor or not (she looks like she could play as Haruka Suenaga's mom but the two aren't related).  In that episode, Guron Dobler is manipulated by Zeba and the monster falls for Momoko resulting to a rather tragic arc.  Zeba turns back Hikaru into his monster form which forces the Maskmen to destroy him.  This was a Toshiki Inoue written episode. Lin- In Dairanger episode 33, Lin falls for the Media Magician (who is acted by Kazunori Inaba a.k.a. Red Mask).  I dunno why Mr. Inaba was even in that episode of all actors but it was cool to have him around in an episode similar to that...

Well here are the two Sentai warrior deaths I thought were pretty lame: First it would be Gai Yuki.  Maybe I've gotten used to heroes dying in battle.  But for Gai Yuki?  I thought that Inoue's finales are usually a bad mix as Shougo calls them.  So we have Ryu surviving the explosion of the Jet Garuda and three years later, he marries Kaori (which was foreshadowed in a way).  So we have Gai Yuki buying flowers for his friend, he wants to congratulate them and just then a thug (who is believed by some to be Radiguet with amnesia and a human being) steals a woman's purse, he beats the robber up and then that thug stabs him and well, he does hang out before he died.  He tries to make his way to the wedding, he is sitting at a bench and his teammates DO NOT even notice he is dying.  Sheesh, that kind of incident made me want to argue he didn't die because of how lame it was.  Killing him is not a problem, they could have killed him in the final ba...

Now here's another comparison.  Fans like myself assumed that Masumi Inou was an attempted remake on Gai Yuki.  Now for some comparisons. First, let's check out how the show shows them earlier on.  I would say that Ryu is still better than Satoru as a rival than Satoru is.  I mean, I really freaked out when Satoru was threatening to drop Masumi into the lava if he doesn't return which is nowhere near as honorable as Ryu's challenging Gai Yuki and keeping his word!  I mean, Ryu's honorable behavior is far more admirable to Gai Yuki.  I mean, you DO NOT threaten to drop a rebel ranger down the lava!  Ryu would give Satoru a lecture or two or maybe a spanking machine session for that!  For the beginning, I thought Gai Yuki's attempting to run away and later coming back was more interesting than that whole threat to throw Masumi into the lava thing or two, it's a lot more humane! Next, it's all about their relationship with their red leaders. ...

Since it's Power Rangers' 20th anniversary and 5 years ago, it was Operation Overdrive as the 15th anniversary.  Now for an analysis of both shows and this is based on my opinions... First the rangers of each team.  I just read the whole entry by ThatChick about the Boukengers being jerks and there are some of it I agree with.  Now for ranger comparison and nostalgic value. Boukengers: The Boukengers are for some is Jetman II but I disagree with it partly.  So maybe we could check these out: Satoru Akashi is too reckless to be another Ryu Tendo.  I take back my word on that comparison. If you can to compare Masumi Inou to anyone, I was comparing him to Gai Yuki.  Both are jerks with a heart of gold, except Gai Yuki was a womanizer, Masumi hardly fell for anyone and I don't think he was really in love with Natsuki plus his admiration for Sakura may not be that he wants her.  But still, he is another attempt for Gai Yuki in another angle. Sou...

Well I'm glad for Power Rangers fans who are giving the parent show a chance and vice versa. Now for some assumptions... Some may assume early on (before seeing the show) that the rangers, allies, civilians and villains in the parent source are exactly alike with the child that is Power Rangers. You might want to consider for example that Bandora is quite different from Rita Repulsa and that Power Rangers had its own set of original, U.S. made villains like Lord Zedd (though he was originally in Zyu2 as well), Trakeena in Lost Galaxy, Astronema in Power Rangers in Space, Ransik in Power Rangers Time Force, Master Org in Power Rangers Wild Force and Dino Thunder's villains were different from Abaranger. Yup there's some differences to check out between the parent show and its child. In fact some villains are just more cruel in Super Sentai though in Power Rangers there have been a few exceptions like Venjix in RPM and Ransik in Time Force (he can beat even Dolnero's a...

Another comparison I might make now is Genta Umemori to Gai Ikari.  While I wouldn't dare call them as "twins" but both of these funny dudes are comical in their own way.  Now for their comparison: Both Genta and Gai Ikari were surprise members, that is neither the Shinkengers nor the Gokaigers expected a sixth member who's a funny dude.  Both were also initially refused by their red rangers (Takeru Shiba and Marvelous) who kept their henshin devices feeling they weren't worthy but later proved their worth.  Genta had his own genius side and so did Gai Ikari to create certain new stuff.  Ebi Origami was Genta's own creation, Gai Ikari created his own power-up for battle namely the Gold Anchor. Both of them also had their own animal transforming into humanoid mecha which they piloted into battle. Genta had Ebi Origami and Gai Ikari had Gozyujin.  Both of them were capable of finishing off enlarged monsters as well.

Pretty much, I remembered the post by Shogo B'Stard that compared Toshiki Inoue's writing of Maskman episode 39 and that of Jetman episode two.  So we have two characters who are pretty similar yet different... We have Ryou Asuka (left) and Gai Yuki (right) who both walked into the bar.  As a kid, I have noticed this but after taking a break from Tokusatsu because I was more into Chinese shows later, I forgot to see these similarities.  Now let's take a look at the differences of the characters- Ryo Asuka was a prototype Maskman so he's not an official one, he was meant to be another template for the sixth ranger concept and was only meant for one episode.  Meanwhile, Gai Yuki was chosen by destiny (that was when the birdonic waves hit him after Skybase exploded) where he was really needed, unlike Ryo Asuka who was just meant to be a guest character.  Personality-wise, Ryo Asuka left the team because he couldn't forget his late girlfriend who was killed by Tu...

Jetman was so popular, no doubt despite its rather bad way of killing Gai Yuki.  Okay now where do we begin?  The special itself contradicts the Manga written by Saboru Yatsude while still verifying the fact that Gai Yuki left us so soon.  Now the special starts where Ryu and Kaori are seen as a married couple, some vegetables from Raita arrived who has written he would soon be a father.  This timeline happened five years after the defeat of Vyram. Now the whole special has Ryu and Kaori looking at their fondest memories of Jetmen which include: Explanation of the Jetmen's special weapons a mecha. Details of the Jetmen on how they got recruited. Significant events in Jetman like the group conflict because of a complicated love polygon between Ryu, Kaori, Gai and Rie.  This also highlights the Ryu/Rie moments that added so much conflict into the life of the main hero. Of course the villains... boo... hiss... and the monsters involved. I love how eve...

Jetman had more than just a love triangle, for a fact it is a rollercoaster.  The whole show has these sets of attractions that happened. First there is Ryu and Rie.  Yup, this was the sad part.  Ryu was so in love with Rie only to lose her one day, I even thought she had died that was until Maria showed up.  I assumed Maria was Rie, which for me was really a wild guess that was proven right.  Everything about this, Ryu was adored by Kaori but he could not move on.  Worse in that side, Ryu was actually not aware that Rie became Maria that was until one day, he nearly had her back only for Radiguet to turn Rie into Maria again.  He saw Maria become a vampire monster, he tried to bring her back and despite all his efforts he lost her.  Poor Ryu! We have the Gai Yuki likes Kaori point of conflict.  Let's face it- Kaori likes Ryu but Ryu can't move on from Rie and then we have Gai Yuki liking Kaori.  Messy?  This one leads into mu...