Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

While I did write why I'd watch Go-onger over Gobusters , but I figured out I'd watch Gobusters over ToQGer.  For me, ToQGer was really where Yasuko Kobayashi either burned out or... just gave up writing a better story.  Gobusters for me, I don't think I can hate it either although I have a low opinion on it.  Moving on.... The heroes While I was watching both sides of the coin, ToQGer felt more like it was too primarily focused on children but Gobusters at least tried to appeal with the older audience.  Gobusters was basically Yasuko Kobayashi trying to make her darkest work after she previously wrote the fun season of Shinkenger, she wanted to re-attempt into going back with darker, more serious stories.  Now I have nothing against fun seasons, but ToQGer for me failed to impress me as much as Go-onger.  At least Go-onger for me felt more like it had a plot going on along with it. So where do I think the Gobusters cast stands out against the ToQGer...

It's really funny how there were times I actually dreamed I was not scared of Gear but the Biomen? Actually, maybe it's because Doctor Man's story sort of gave me guilt trips as a child like I intended to become the world's greatest genius, I wanted to cybernetically alter myself until I am purely mechanical, how I started to view my human emotions and weak and sought to well... rule the world. Part of my nightmares weren't purely nightmares. I saw myself wearing a wig, carrying a staff, having cybernetic body parts and... I was practically ruling New Empire Gear (back then I only knew it as the Neo Empire). I would proclaim myself as the "world's greatest genius" and that, every other competition to my scientific knowledge had to be eliminated. I had my Big Three, Farrah Cat, the Beastnoids and some giant monsters. In most of my dreams, I was Dr. Sean , not Dr. Man! Nothing was really funnier to why the Biomen seldom gave me nightmares. That is,...

When I think of Bioman and how short-lived Mika was, fortunately the concept did not die with the character.  I felt like Bioman was a season to experiment here and there.  Bioman was the first Super Sentai series to have two females (and back then, I had NO IDEA that most Sentai series had only one girl in the team back then), the first female yellow ranger (one died, another came in) and you can consider the first (and only) Super Sentai team to use the Beastnoids lacking human-sized monsters (Dekaranger hardly had human-sized monsters but no Beastnoids that keep retreating) and the first to have a mad scientist (Dr. Man).  Now I can discuss about Mika's concept and how it really lived on even if she didn't last long... that is the concept of a female yellow ranger who's snappy, rebellious (but not really) and badass! The concept was sort of relived with Haruka herself in Maskman. I felt like Mika's concept was relived in Maskman, one of my favorite series. Haruka...

So as a child who watched Maskman's crappy dub on IBC-13 way back in the 90s, I was always intrigued by the one-time ranger Ryo Asuka also known as X-1 Mask... so much after seeing Bioman's Magne Warrior episodes.  I always said, "Why couldn't X-1 Mask just stay for more than one episode?"  Back then, I also watched Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers while having no clue about Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger... but now it's time for me to speak as a grown-up 30 year old Super Sentai fan! Just in case you didn't know but I guess most Sentai fans know, Toshiki Inoue was the writer behind the X-1 Mask episode of Maskman.  It was sort of his experiment to attempt on an anti-hero who would oppose the red ranger.  X-1 Mask was an experimental Maskman who ran off without a word after his girlfriend died during a Tube attack.  So with Gai Yuki doing the stuff like X-1 Mask did before he fully becomes a Jetman like going to a bar, playing pool, getting a drink, going t...

There's a new guy in town and it ain't Robocop!!!! Carranger itself was a parody of Super Sentai (in some way) what may surprise (or not surprise) some Toku fans is that the show ended up parodying Metal Hero in some way. If Jiban was a Robocop-inspired hero in 1989 and Janperson (who was purely mechanical vs. his inspiration) was created in 1994, in 1997 they really ended up creating SIGNALMAN the Robocop parody. Robocop never imagined that Toei would create a parody of him after they created Jiban and Janperson as tributes to him... How is Signalman a Robocop parody? Well he comes as the "new guy in town", a mysterious hero that even the Carrangers don't really know him very well at first. I mean, he has intense rules for the traffic. He is also chasing the Bowzock Gang like Robocop is chasing after the gangsters in Detroit. Like Robocop, he is a law enforcer and well, you can tell by his appearance that he is OBVIOUSLY BASED ON ROBOCOP!

As a Dekaranger fan, I also watched the Dekaranger special feature called Dekaranger: Full Action Blast which the Dekarangers face off against the Algolians.  The movie itself may have a subtle reference to oligarchy itself. The main villain of the movie is named Vulgar (Vodka) while he is flanked by his minions namely Brandel (Brandy), Zeen (Gin) and Whinsky (Whisky).  So what was their entire plan?  It was a dirty business that involved a dirty monopoly.  Vulgar is acted by none other than Kenichi Endo, who resembles the Filipino-Chinese businessman and liquor tycoon Lucio Tan.  Coincidence? What was Vulgar's plan in the movie?  First they infect people around the galaxy with a virus that turns everyone into machine slaves... and they started with Planet Leslie.  One could view that a country ruled by the oligarchy can have people become machine slaves unless they do something about it.  Vulgar's plan was taking over Planet Leslie for his...

It's been some time since I did some reviews or write-ups on Sentai crossovers. As said, the Super Sentai crossovers DO NOT happen in the mainstream universe but in the VS. Universe . This is because the norm of writing Super Sentai is to start everything from scratch in a self-contained continuity compared to the norm of Power Rangers of attempting to link them one by one. Both writing styles have their merits and demerits. Now I'd like to share my thoughts on the Mega-Crossovers what what I thought about them. What's also funny for Carranger, Megaranger and Gingaman all my favorites are the RED RANGERS. Both crossovers were written by Naruhisa Arakawa. Megaranger vs. Carranger The movie's crossover plot involves Picot who travels from one planet after the other granting wishes. I felt this movie may have tried to reference throughout the Hirohisa Soda era with with what may be incidental references such as the Carrangers dressing up as high schoolers (t...

While watching ToQGer, I felt like the comedic execution of Zed was practically wrong, just wrong since it ruined the consistency behind Shadow Line's mission.  So how did I feel Zed should have been done?  Assuming ToQGer is meant to be a comedy series like Carranger or Go-onger (both series having fearsome big bads), I have some methods that could have worked out: Make him more or less like post-marriage Lord Zedd in a way which seemingly silly yet possesses a dangerous streak.  I will admit that I find post-marriage Lord Zedd better than before he got married considering he did a lot more damage than when he was still that temperamental fellow.  I would want to imagine Zed here as the son of Rita and Lord Zedd, misplaced and one day growing up wishing to restore his parents' legacy.  I would have him return in ToQGer, angry with Shadow Line that they haven't conquered the world with darkness and when he first arrives, he's disgusted with all the light and...

This feels like Poison Ivy not knowing Bruce Wayne is Batman After watching Carranger and well, it might not be Valentine's Day and I discovered this... wow I can't believe that some of my favorite Sentai red rangers share some kind of ill-fated romance namely Takeru (Maskman) with Ial, Ryu with Rie/Maria (it doesn't help that Kaori likes him and Gai likes Kaori), Tatsuya and Yuuri and well... Kyousuke has it with Zonette which is however a parody of romances (in Abaranger, Asuka may be black but he has shared an ill-fated romance with Jannu which fortunately had a happy ending). Carranger's comedic romance is really THAT entertaining. The whole comedy itself is when Zonette is only in love with Red Racer, not the man in the suit which creates a series of complicated problems, written in a comedic way. What is very funny is that Zonette is unaware of the fact that the "monkey faced civilian" Kyousuke and the Red Racer are just the same person. Hmmm... I f...

So here's my list of Super Sentai seasons I've watched from start to end that I consider to be at the lower rank. Now this is just MY OPINION and come on, can't I be allowed to share my opinion and DO I HAVE TO LIKE EVERY SENTAI SHOW?! Moving on... remember these are just my biases okay? Mahou Sentai Magiranger - I personally think this is one of the seasons I really don't like in the long run. Sure it has all the cool magic and stuff but... Houka really makes the whole show a pain to watch and it's just too focused on lower quality stories for me. IMO, I'd watch Kamen Rider Wizard more than this show. Fiveman (I don't consider it a masterpiece nor close to becoming one but I don't consider it to be worthy in this list) which didn't do so well for me is MUCH BETTER than this show. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to watching GogoV from start to end. As of right now, I find this to be at the very bottom as of right now and maybe, it will...

While watching Liveman, what impressed me about the series was the very idea of the dark side of knowledge aside from the fact that majority of its conflicts are drawn from human characters. The series starts with three rangers and midseason, they are joined by two more rangers to complete the Liveman team. Now I would like to explore on the darker side of knowledge in Liveman. Science itself is a vital power but when used wrongly, it create serious consequences and eventually backfire on the person who misuses it. The whole start of Liveman begins in Academia where the three main heroes Yuusuke, Joh and Megumi join in order to help humanity. Their three former friends Kenji, Rui and Gou however had one day enough of the idea of science to help humanity. What the Livemen didn't know at that time, was the wicked scientist known as Great Professor Bias had begun recruiting people to join Volt. A battle for the great power of science begins with Liveman's struggle with how Volt...

My two favorite rangers... Five Blue and Red Mask! I did write that one of my PERSONAL Great Professor Biases (pun intended) was that the more I watch Super Sentai, the harder it is for me to appreciate Power Rangers , my latest personal Great Professor Bias has to be that the more I watch older Super Sentai, the harder it's for me to appreciate newer Super Sentai which at times causes me to move on with other stuff, take a temporary break from Tokusatsu or just stick with old school. Again, maybe it's just a hangover . So proud to announce this is my latest watch! With my latest  Sentai watched from start to end  namely Gekisou Sentai Carranger, I thought that the show itself had a lot of badass action for a near-parody show. For instance, maybe I'll talk about some of the cool scenes done by my favorite member of the show, Kyousuke or for Natsumi, she does display she's a skilled martial artist. Now I personally don't hate Go-onger but I like Carranger mo...

Okay, some people may want to SHOOT ME for writing this, well this is MY OPINION on Toshiki Inoue the person responsible for my personal favorite Super Sentai, Chojin Sentai Jetman . Okay maybe he's pretty infamous thanks to some of his bad writing, so he's the Frank Miller of Tokusatsu according to Shogo B'Stard. But still, I thought he could have been interesting to add into some Super Sentai seasons. I think Toshiki Inoue should have either been more involved OR should have been a writer in the following seasons which I could be biased since I like ALL the seasons listed below: While watching Gingaman, I personally thought that as much as I love the series, maybe he could have been used in writing some episodes involving the family. I thought that the series could have used some of his darker and edgier stuff, just to complement some of Kobayashi's writing style ( they have similar styles ). I wish he could have been involved with the writing of Gingaman instea...

While watching Carranger, I cannot help but notice how Hirohisa Soda was not only writing some episodes but also, the whole series throws back to not just Turboranger but some things from Soda's era. I previously wrote about Megaranger as a throwback to Hirohisa Soda's era , Carranger did also do it in some ways too. Like Turboranger, Carranger has the whole mixing of Turboranger's concept of automobiles and magic. In this series, the Carranger gets their magic from Car Magic which is brought by the Hazardian, Dappu who uses the Car Magic to battle an incoming evil. Doesn't that remind you how Turboranger uses cars and magic in their battle but it wasn't so explored back then? Although you have to realize that Carranger uses alien technology like the mecha in Bioman, Changeman and Flashman though I have pretty much missed other series right? Carranger for me had at least two characters that reminded me of Soda's era. The first would be my favorite ranger,...

Here's quite something funny or weird with how some in-show names in Super Sentai seasons were used to name later Super Sentai seasons... The name of the flying fortress in Maskman was called Turboranger.  It does look like a car if you ask me. In 1989, a Super Sentai series called Turboranger was born and it was the first Super Sentai series that DID NOT have a transport mecha.  Ironically, Carranger which is somewhat based on Turboranger (and the first true shift into Turbo series ) created another mecha transport called Victory Trailer.

Here's my favorite Super Sentai villain theme songs in no particular order and not all of them appeared within their shows but were part of the soundtrack.  I can be biased with this list, go ahead and feel free to tell me which songs you believe are better and which songs here are just trashy. Maskman's Ungler Song was played in Maskman episode 47 but it only was played in minus one.  The song itself has the creepy feeling of Zeba's tyranny and it somewhat fits a death march theme. The Urami No Grudge song in Turboranger also had that creepy feeling of the Boumas ready to attack humanity.  In due fairness, I still think Turboranger's soundtrack is better than Carranger's even if I do love both series.  Again, I still find myself liking Turboranger better than Carranger but at a very short distance. The Jigen Song in Jetman had an interesting rock and roll vibe to it, mentioning the names of the Jigens and it begins with an evil laugh, it has a vibe that m...

It cannot be denied I have officially added Carranger into my official list of Super Sentai series I've watched from start to end . Okay I wanted to rant on Turboranger influence between the two shows. I have seen Turboranger which for me is one awesome show (and later, Carranger's Power Rangers' adaptation was called Power Rangers Turbo). So what's ironic is that Turboranger suffered from bad ratings and then, Carranger ended up saving the franchise so perhaps it's safe for me to say, "Carranger truly shifted into Turbo!" Now I am a Turboranger fan, no questions asked and I dislike Power Rangers Turbo (I pretend that series never existed and I hate the movie for its bad quality). For Carranger, it's one awesome comedy season (but mind you, there are sad moments too and it's better called a lighter season) in contrast to Turboranger (which I still like more, no questions asked but hey, I can like both Carranger and Turboranger right) but the ser...