Maskman and Childhood Nostalgia

Well I guess Fantasy Leader's post on Gingaman and his childhood now made me want to write on Maskman when I was a kid. So it's kind of blurry but here goes...

This was basically another chapter of me watching crap-dubbed Sentai. So yeah the names were Michael Joe (Takeru), Leonard (Kenta), Adrian (Akira), Eloisa (Haruka) and Mary Rose (Momoko) which were all presumably dubbed to make it easier for kids to understand. This was also the first time I really liked the red ranger of the show namely Takeru. Unlike Ryuta in Bioman, I didn't immediately like Akira until later.

Unlike Bioman, I found this one scary. The scene where Zeba shows up made me pee in my pants. So I was a pants wetter back then. And if one person scared me a lot it was Zeba. I mean, that guy really has a commanding presence even in the Tagalog dub. And after seeing the show in Japanese audio, Zeba is even scarier. And I thought he really creates an atmosphere of terror, he's one awesome villain! For the field commanders, everyone had their story intact except IGAM! I mean that crap dub cut out the VERY important plot that Igam was a woman pretending to be a man! It had me surprised years later that Igam was raised to be a man which was a very important plot!

The show itself had TONS of nightmare fuel. You can see it as it progresses. Sometimes, I didn't immediately like the show because of all the nightmare fuel in it but I grew to accept it.

And well it's that guy from Takeshi's Castle! Having watched Takeshi's Castle also, Hayato Tani was the team mentor here. I think he's still the best Sentai male mentor to date just like I think Miki Masaki is the best female mentor. And I just love how he was the mentor of the Maskman team!

What made me overcome the nightmare fuel of this show was the awesomeness of martial arts, which SIGH why don't I see this kind of action in Gekiranger?! For me, Takeru became my first favorite red ranger because of how badass he is and his love for Mio/Ial.

And I did think Ial was dead in that ice coffin since I wasn't paying attention...

One of the moments that made me cry in the show was when my show crush, Momoko was beaten by Cranium Dobbler in the guise of Kotsuhi, the show's only female monster of the week. It was badass action but seeing Momoko beaten up like that hurt me. And worse, the Great Five was buried at the end of the episode. I thought it was forever destroyed!

And I did think of Galaxy Robo. I didn't always like that robot especially how later, it overshadowed Great Five. Maybe I was too used to having only one robot with Bioman. Later I grew to accept Galaxy Robo's existence. The two part arc was also pretty good. Since both robots didn't combine, later I never expected a primary robo combining with a secondary robo later!

And of course Kiros and his "quest" for Ial. So he wants Ial and Takeru wants Ial. Somehow I always thought this bastard stole the audience's attention from Tube to him. I mean, he freaking BLEW UP the Shot Bomber. He is alone yet he is a threatening force against the Maskmen!

Just my two cents!