Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

I felt like rambling about two popular shows. While the Lost Galaxy rumor in Japan is just a complete rumor or a myth at best, but I cannot deny how Lost Galaxy and Gingaman are series that got popular to their respective audiences. I could actually to ramble on the popularity of Gingaman and Lost Galaxy! Each show has their similarities and differences. So I was thinking about the popularity of both sides. Remember I am biased on this one considering that I prefer Super Sentai over Power Rangers for most of its run. However Lost Galaxy itself is also a good season for many fans. Moving on, it's time to compare both beloved seasons. Remember there might some cultural differences that actually influenced both writing style and production of both series. Remember that there will be spoilers so read at your own risk!

While Super Sentai villains are usually known for their rather impractical and/or absurd plans to conquer the Earth or whatever, some villains actually stood out as "Scott Evils" for me. If you've seen Austin Powers, Scott Evil is Dr. Evil's son and Austin's wayward nephew who always proposed a more practical plan to get rid of his Uncle Austin. His father says, "Let's sink him down slowly to a pool full of mutated bass and leave him there." but Scott Evil says, "Why do you just shoot him with a gun? That would get rid of him instantly!" Thief Knight Kiros This guy really means serious business even if he's operating alone. Unlike most of Tube that carries out the typical Super Sentai plan like face-swapping or creating mebius tunnels left and right, this guy focuses his attacks on the Maskmen. When he first appears, she shows he's no laughing matter when he destroys the Shot Bomber and takes advantage of the Maskmen's wea...

As a child I did see a few episodes of Solbrain and later I heard of Blue SWAT, saw the Robocop-inspired Janperson and later, Dekaranger itself was a very atypical show. At first, I didn't think it would be good and I would only watch it for Jasmine herself. But later, I fell in love with the uniqueness of the show with some of the nostalgia that it brought. I kept recalling Gavan and Shaider in some way as I watched Dekaranger which turned out to be a show filled with some Metal Hero shoutouts. One of the most obvious is how the narration is done... the narrator DOES NOT know when to shut up and come on, no need to keep reminding us of this and that okay?! With how I've just finished Winspector, Solbrain and now I heard of the new Gavan vs. Dekaranger movie  (hopefully, Kenji Ohba will appear in it as an important officer like he did in some of the crossovers) which features the Dekarangers 10 years after, I decided to revisit this post and add new information into it. ...

Well it's time for Ninninger to have 21 episodes.  At first, I was somewhat positive with the new writer Kento Shimoyama since having a new headwriter may create wonders.  Some examples I can name are Toshiki Inoue with Jetman (which ended up having a post-series TV special in the form an encylopedia and the alternate continuity Manga), Noboru Sugimura with Zyuranger, Junki Takegami with Megaranger, Yasuko Kobayashi with Gingaman and Naruhisa Arakawa with Kamen Rider Kuuga.  So I thought about some positivism but the show actually shattered some of my expectations and I could present some of my biggest problems. I would simply want to think of the Igasaki Lineage is annoying minus Yuuka the only sensible member of the family... or not.  If we think about the Igasaki clan, you might actually think that Takaharu (or Bakaharu or stupid) is really one HUGE idiot.  Yes, I really have to admit more than one episode, I really wished he'd improve but unlike Ban from...

While I'm now learning more about Ohranger as I'm watching it subbed (and there are 38 subbed epsiodes available) and I've seen some raw episodes myself so I thought I'd ramble a bit again on Ohranger's unpopularity during its airing and Zeo's popularity during its airing. Now I'll share my very opinions on both shows. Granted, I saw Power Rangers Zeo first but I didn't see it through and through considering that show was a major disappointment for me. Yet Zeo was pretty popular as a Power Rangers season. Meanwhile, Ohranger forced a lot of retooling into the show no thanks to the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack which took place on March 20, 1995 about 7:00 A.M. to 8:10 A.M. which is understandable to why the show's popularity got affected during that time. I thought Power Rangers Zeo was plagued by issues that made me not like it like Bulk and Skull becoming defective detectives, the Dear John letter (that was really a middle finger) or I felt lik...

After watching Yasuko Kobayashi's headwriting works from start to end namely Gingaman, Timeranger (with Portugese subs so I had to read through synopsis to understand them so expect me to be wrong), Shinkenger, Gobusters and ToQGer... I noticed she had a habit of writing a substitute or stand-in red rangers.  Now it's time to go on to how they were carried out. So just a warning, spoilers ahead so read at your own risk! Ryoma/Ginga Red the 133rd Gingaman was the first of Yasuko Kobayashi's major works in the Super Sentai series.  The entire series starts with Ryoma who was the younger brother and Hyuga who is the older brother.  By default, Hyuga was chosen over him because of age.  One day when Balban attacks, Hyuga supposedly dies as he falls into a cliff.  He picks up the Starbeast Sword, releases an unusual amount of Earth Power out of rage and becomes the 133rd Ginga Red!

So I read from valid sources like Tokusatsu News Network that Gosei Sentai Dairanger will be released next year. I would say it's a great series and definitely worth the watch with all the complicated mysteries or situations that allow you to speculate. In short, it's a great series with some "leave it to your imagination" kind of writing which you just need to watch to find out. On the other hand, I am writing this entry in response to Shogo's latest entry which is about Sentai DVD releases. Now I feel the urge to respond to him in this debate. With Dairanger's release I pretty want to imagine at least two people from the Power Rangers alumni who might be super-excited. My first guess is would be Jason David Frank who is a martial artist. Tommy was a character devoted to martial arts so I guess he would really love to watch Dairanger over Zyuranger. The other guess I have is Blake Anthony Foster who played the only child ranger in the Power Rangers franch...

I thought that Ohranger is trying to cram in much of Takeyuki Suzuki's previous works. Considering that he was involved in the Hirohisa Soda and Noboru Sugimura era (and right now I am in episode 38 of Ohranger, subbed). Now it's time to see how Ohranger was an entire huge combination of several of Suzuki's previous production works. Note Hirohisa Soda was also a sub-writer for Ohranger. The Ohrangers themselves felt like a combination of concepts from a lot of Soda's previous works. Ancient civilization involved? Goggle V! Humanity vs. machines? Bioman! Powerful energy from the Earth combined with military warfare? Changeman! Having Counselor Miura as a mentor may be a throwback to Changeman's Commander Ibuki or the scientists from Goggle V, Dynaman and Maskman. The Big Bang Buster would be a shoutout to assembled weapons from Changeman, Flashman, Liveman and Zyuranger.

I feel like it's time to try and differentiate two massive crossovers namely Gokaiger and Super Robot Wars. Each one is a massive crossover but they were handled differently. Super Robot Wars series First I would talk about the Super Robot Wars franchise. Super Robot Wars involves the super robot shows made by Toei together with other mecha shows not by Toei (ex. Gundam is by Sunrise, Macross is by Studio Nue) and lately, Super Sentai and Kamen Rider also get the same treatment in crossover video games. Super Robot Wars' style is making several what-if scenarios that actually crams all the Super Robots into one HUGE show. When playing Super Robot Wars, there's really no explanation on how heroes and villains are there together. You might see the impossible happen like the Boazanians teaming up with the Galrans because in the game, they were not defeated yet. You might see Voltes V and Golion side by side even if in Golion the Earth was extinct in the year 1999. You mi...

Zyuranger as a series was really a fantasy world of fairy tales.  So maybe I did talk about Gingaman's fantasy setting  now I don't see any reason why I shouldn't explore the fantasy elements of Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger.  The setting felt like Grimm's Brothers met Super Sentai... a concept that was somewhat redone in Magiranger.  Now to explore the world of Zyuranger's fairy tales.  I just love how the opening credits actually shows you a book that opens considering it was meant to be set in a very fairy tale setting from rangers to villains and all. I always felt like the Zyurangers felt like the typical tribal warriors of any epic.  I can't really say what fairy tales they come from so I'll just start with whatever knowledge I have about fairy tales and Zyuranger.  The Zyurangers are from tribes which feels like an epic in the making.  Their mentor Barza is sort of like an oracle keeper of Greek mythology or any traditional shaman. Zyurange...

ONERE DIKEDO!  Well that's the phrase from Kamen Rider Decade.  What must be established is that there is NO Sentai timeline and that Kamen Rider and Super Sentai as series are independent from each other's continuity and that the crossovers themselves are NOT part the continuity to either which show. Kamen Rider Decade... ONORE DIKEDO!!!!!! Kamen Rider Decade (the 10th Heisei Rider hence the name) appears with the story of Nine Alternate Reality versions of Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O and Kiva which presented different versions of their original versions.  The show would later feature more than the nine worlds when it also added the World of Shinkenger (which is Shinkenger's continuity), the World of Black/Black RX (two alternate versions of Kotaro Minami even show up) and the World of Amazon.  There was no finale except for the Kamen Rider Decade movie which came later.  Boy, did this series suck or what?! Since most of the K...