Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

Well I remembered the time I watched Tokusatsu as a child and well, bad dubs (UGH, I now pretend I never saw them to avoid my head from splitting) of Bioman, Maskman, Turboranger, Fiveman, Jetman, Shaider, Gavan, Jiban and Janperson. Years later, I never dreamed of watching fan subs. As I would say I can be pretty unfriendly to change. Having watched Bioman first, I didn't immediately embrace Maskman having a secondary robo (and years later, I would know of Flashman's existence). Later on, I started to think that Super Sentai was having too much mecha, it should have ended in Timeranger but later, I started to rewatch them all over after reading a few episode synopsis' from Jillun's Sentai Hub. Then I started having issues with Tokusatsu. I started reading of how Kamen Rider was "dead" starting with Kuuga (but I'm glad I decided to rewatch Kamen Rider after some time), I started to find some of the clips unimpressive, read how Super Sentai's tones h...

So I confess I watched Timeranger before in bits and pieces and later, watched them on Youtube. So I did only get SPANISH subs but fortunately some words in Tagalog are similar to Spanish, even if I don't speak Spanish (heck I'm even a stranger to my ethnic language of Mandarin). For a similar entry, you may read here . For one, Timeranger was mostly written by Yasuko Kobayashi for 40 episodes though she also had help with Toshiki Inoue who wrote two episodes and Ryota Yamaguchi who wrote 8 episodes. Yasuko Kobayash has her writing ostyle which while she tends to recycle plots from Soda and Inoue, she also adds her own unique flavor. Timeranger is one season for me that was very unusual but in a good way. Warning spoilers ahead! I. Timerangers and Destiny The beginning of Timeranger in itself is unusual. Normally, most rangers are FROM the present, not from the future. Zyuranger had its rangers from the dinosaur era... something unusual. In Timeranger, four ranger...

In Super Sentai, what seems to be the norm is this.  We defeat enemy group, let's disband but let's keep in touch because our purpose of why the team was created, was finished.  For example, one can see that the Jetmen went separate ways, the Zyurangers left the Earth for Heaven, the Kakurangers gave up their henshin devices and so on.  In short, a Sentai team is usually destined to disband after the big bad is defeated.  However it doesn't seem to be the case for these series I'll mention in this post.  I got my idea from this Timeranger post in Henshin Justice . Dekaranger itself has the whole season fighting against Alienizers who threaten various planets and this time, some of them have arrived on earth.  The Dekarangers' main villain Abrella is what I'd call, more ruthless than Dolnero.  Like Timeranger, they were chasing alien villains who served as the monster of the week, though they deleted them instead of recapturing them.  Now we get...

Well I never realized I haven't written about my very first favorite Sentai ranger, Ryuta Nanbara a.k.a. Blue Three of Bioman.  I'd like to spotlight him for now after discovering I've been doing spotlights left and right.  Ryuta started out in Bioman as a water sportsman, which makes him nimble.  One day during hte Gear's first invasion attempt, he was chased by Gear's fighter jets but was recruited by Bio Robo, which made his life never the same. The very first time I started to like him was in episode 9 when Dr. Man caught several children, hoping to use them to power up his machine.  When Ryuta Nanbara was caught, he discovered that the machine was used to analyze the Biomen's abilities.  He became that test subject and without him, the Biomen were basically powerless without him.  In that episode, I love how badass he got, in trying to rescue the kids.  In that episode, he beats Messerjuu ALL BY HIMSELF after he is filled with so much rage. ...

Here's Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, a series that would probably be a season I like but these days, I just can't enter it into my list of awesome.   Yasuko Kobayashi (main writer) : 1-13, 17-28, 31-35, 38-49 (42 eps) Yasuko Kobayashi has a head writer for Sentai series had written 38 episodes of Gingaman, 40 episodes of Timeranger and 36 episodes for Gobusters.  So far, this was her biggest pile of work done for Super Sentai.   Acts 1-2 is a basic two parter introduction arc.  We are introduced to the different personalities of the Shinkengers such as Ryunosuke is a kabuki actor, Chiaki and Kotoha as students and Mako as a school teacher.  The two-parter features Takeru as a loner for some reason.  We also get a good glimpse of personalities like Ryunosuke's being overly loyal, Chiaki the slacker, Kotoha the dedicated youngster, Mako as the feminine one and Takeru the loner. Act 3 is Chiaki focused. Chaki learns the responsibilities of being a vassal....

One of the most effective but frequently foiled plots in Super Sentai is when villains decide to turn humans into their new set of foot soldiers.  Here are the following groups that tried to do so: The Jashinka tried to turn humans into their lizard footsoldiers as part of conquering the surface world. The Tube wanted to turn people into Ungler Soldiers in Maskman episode 13.  The way Fumin got this plan carried out disguising as an idol plus the nightmare fuel makes it a very entertaining episode.  I thought it was a very effective plan though they could have contaminated the water supply instead. In Go-onger episode 9, the Gaiarc sought to turn humans into Banki soldiers for Gaiarc.  This was understandable that it happened in Junk World.  I do find this kind of ridiculous where the Gaiarc got their technology to turn humans into Ugatz. In Goseiger episode five, the Warstar attempted to turn people into Bibis and students were also involved. Miss...

Engine Sentai Go-onger is a hit or miss series.  Okay I may belong to the few who actually like the series but take note, I don't love it.  I just like it in the sense, I don't hate it but I don't consider it an awesome series.  However I would rather watch it over ToQGer, Kyoryuger, Gobusters and Goseiger.  Moving on to its episode writer analysis: Junki Takegami (main writer): 1-6, 9-10, 15-18, 21-22, 27-28, 32-34, 38, 42-43, 47, 49-50 (25 eps) Junki Takegami was the head writer of Megaranger and Gogo V, here he is trying to do comedy.  Well I would share my opinion that I still think Go-onger is a decent series overall but just doesn't get into my list of loves, only likes. Grand Prix 1-3 is basically an introduction arc.  We start with the three Go-ongers namely Sosuke, Saki and Hant.  On the other hand, we have Hant who is the "Patrick Star" of the series and with Gunpei, well they do something pretty much anti-heroic since they steal somet...

The Dynaman Parody Dub is no doubt, utterly stupid but entertaining.  It was a six episode dub of the original Dynaman series, which took selected episodes and modified the whole story for the sake of being a parody.  Now here's what has changed: First the Dynamen.  Dr. Kyutaro (Dr. Ho) gathers the Dynamen who are five good-looking Japanese from all walks of life.  Stupid reason to choose them... which unless he knew of their capabilities but what do you expect from a parody?  The names are changed to Wooshi (Red), Huba (Black), Franky (Blue), Cowboy (Yellow) and Slojin (Pink, though she hates pink).  I thought even how they were selected was funny.  And the show is full of exaggerated humor like Dr. Ho's saying he has tried a new bullet train that goes from Hong Kong to Tokyo, but it was a tiny train... hehehehehe!!! The enemies are radically changed into people who just do evil antics.  Emperor Aton is now Bernie Tanaka and General Kar is ...

Akibaranger as a parody Sentai, well parodies Sentai ad the show parodies the following: The main cast is a parody of this.  Nobuo Akagi parodies the Otaku, Yumeria parodies the cosplayer and Hiroyo Hakase parodies the Super Sentai mentors. Akiranger Season One Episode 3 parodied the consequences of being drunk.  I do love its PSA service announcement for adults not to drink too much. Dr. Z in the first season was an obvious parody of Dr. Man.  Just reminded me if I were Dr. Man, Gear Empire would be full of silly designs and Anime-related, Weabo-type schemes instead!

Go-Busters was certainly a cool concept but it was terribly executed to a certain extent. Yasuko Kobayashi is a great talent to Tokusatsu. Remember she wrote Gingaman (saw 35 episodes),Timeranger (saw most of it raw but it's pretty interesting, hoping to see more subs) and Shinkenger for Super Sentai. For Kamen Rider she wrote Kamen Rider Ryuki (with her worst ending in it), Kamen Rider Den-O and Kaemn Rider OOO (my favorite KR work she did). So what really went wrong with it? Here are some things I believe went wrong with Gobusters: Characters who tend to be stiff and boring at some point I dunno which cast was more boring... here or Faiz. Like Toshiki Inoue with Kamen Rider Faiz, Yasuko Kobayashi has ended up burning out and killing powerful potential for me in the series with Gobusters. I thought that the Gobusters had an interesting backstory but they come out very bland and boring. They weren't lively.... though you have to consider it's possible to be lively and ...

Although I do like Go-onger for its comedy approach to Super Sentai (while I'm watching Carranger online and my opinion hasn't changed about Go-onger in my list of likes), its lighter approach than usual and in short I don't hate it but like Fiveman, it will never get into my list of awesome because of issues the show suffers from. Here's some issues I had with Go-onger: Mecha is an issue for this show. While I did find the Go-on Engines cute but the way they combined is very UGH... I really just couldn't like their designs whenever they combined. And you have mecha overload, the cluster combinations and with how mecha is dealt with in the show, it sort of brings down plot value in exchange for toy sales. This is one of the issues I had with the show. Villains tend to be disposed off too easily and transition too easily. First we had Hirarchimedes who gets written off so easily after being a game changing villain. Then Yogostein gets written off so easily, I ...

Ryuji Sainei appeared as himself in Season One Episode Two, where he was going to appear at the SPD Dub Event. Season One Episode Six features Kazuo Niibori the legendary red ranger stuntman as himself. Akibaranger Season Tsuu Episode Six features Nobuo Tanaka was the narrator for the first 14 episodes of Goranger.  He was the full season narrator for Changeman, Turboranger and Ohranger.  He voiced Ritchihiker in Carranger and Mr. Voice in Boukenger. Stuntman Yoshinori Okamoto appeared in Season Tsuu Episode Eight.  General Pain hired him to do some stunt motions, hoping to create the perfect villain.  He was the stunt actor for AoRanger (episodes 64-finale) in Goranger, Spade Ace and Big One in JAKQ, Silver in Bioman, Gorma Four Kings in Dairanger, Signalman in Carranger, Cursed Armor Black Knight in Abaranger, Rainian Agent Abrella in Dekaranger and Akaranger in Gokaiger.  He was Buuba in Changeman, Bo Gardan in Flashman and Dr. Ashura in Liveman.

Akibaranger featured Super Sentai characters that appeared in suit.  These are: Akibaranger Season One Episode Two featured Deka Red.  At the same time, Ryuji Sainei appeared in this episode on his way to dub Power Rangers SPD. Akibaranger Season 1 Episode 3 featured Bouken Red.  This was during the episode when the Akibarangers got drunk and their delusions ran wild.  This also inspired my idea of trapping the Boukengers in a world where delusions come to life while they are drunk, causing doppelgangers of deceased villains to appear. Akibaranger Season One Episode 6 had Red Hawk appear at the same time with legendary stuntman Kazuo Niibori.

Super Sentai had their transportation mecha.  During Goranger and JAKQ they held some other form of transportation.  Later on, during the giant robot era, they held the giant robot or the vehicles that formed the giant robot. These are: Goranger had the Varibloom (right) which blew up in episode 42 and the Varidreen (right) as the replacement.  The Varidreen stored the Varitank in itself. The JAKQ team had the Sky Ace with stored the Jack Tank. Battle Fever J's Battle Shark launched the Battle Fever Robo into battle. The Denzi Tiger launches the Denzi Fighter.  Denzi Fighter becomes Daidenzin. Sun Vulcan's Jaguar Vulcan launches the components to form the Sun Vulcan Robo. Goggle Caesar stored the components of Goggle Robo.  It was driven by Goggle Black and Goggle Pink who didn't pilot the Goggle Robo with Goggle Red, Goggle Blue and Goggle Yellow.  It fired missiles from its "mouth". The Dyna Jupiter carried the components of the Dyn...

"Well Radiguet, you bullied me as a kid, now I am getting EVEN WITH YOU!!!!!" In Jetman, one of the most severe lessons ever learned is about bullying the bully which Tranza learned the hard way.  So as Tran, he was the youngest (physically) of the Vyram so he was frequently bullied by the others.  Craving recognition, Tran one day used all his energies to grow up into becoming... Tranza!  And he bullied those who bullied him into submission, vowing to make their lives a living Hell one way or another. But what Tranza wasn't aware of that, was that, Radiguet always had a springboard sooner or later.  Tranza took revenge not only on the Jetmen but the Vyram as well, swearing he would make everyone who made him miserable pay.  And that person he wanted to pay the most was Radiguet.  Radiguet had bullied Tran for some time, as Tranza he could get his revenge or is it?  Well not exactly, Radiguet like every other greater bully has the ability to backf...