Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

Ah Gatchaman! Though this is not sentai, I feel like this series deserves to be placed in my blog. It's because Gatchaman is the series that inspired Super Sentai in many ways. Although Gatchaman was a series by Tatsunoko and NOT by Toei Ltd. - it did give Toei the inspiration for future installments. If you've noticed the 1970s Anime Gatchaman itself has the same team format as Toei's super robot five-team combiner series such as Combattler V, Voltes V, and Golion (template for Lion Voltron). Gatchaman was pretty much, technically speaking, a five-man Super Sentai team except that they were not color-coded. Rather, they were coded by their birds namely Eagle, Condor, Owl, Swan, and Swallow. Quite interesting The Gatchaman Trilogy The series itself was pretty much the seed of a lot of shows. The show presented a team of five heroes fighting the Gallactor Empire which was led by Sosai X and his right-hand man Berg Katse. Berg Katse is a comedic, catlike villain who ...

Watching old school Super Sentai can be a challenge. That's why I even want to advise now that if an old school Super Sentai doesn't match your taste - you might as well drop it. Then again watch it before you drop it - that is try to at least see a few episodes. I think the two seasons that might be a challenge to watch are Himitsu Sentai Goranger and Dengekitai JAKQ . For what reasons? They are 1970s Super Sentai and it's already 2020. Goranger has turned 45 years old and I wonder how many are willing to watch it? What's with Goranger? Goranger shares the same problem with the first season of Gatchaman and the first Kamen Rider. Gatchaman and Goranger are very long series. Interestingly, Isao Sasaki sang for both Goranger and Gatchaman. The first Kamen Rider had 98 episodes. Gatchaman had 105 episodes. Goranger is a little merciful because it's at least only 84 episodes. Thankfully, Gatchaman's follow-up sequels had much lesser episodes to count. It's pr...

Although the picture from Toku Heroine  contains pictures from Kamen Rider - there is that rare moment in Super Sentai where the visor gets broken in battle. There were already a few instances where we saw damaged suits but not damaged visors. Bioman had the scene where the heroes' suits suffered from Mason's newly upgraded powers. Flashman had Red Flash's suit damaged in a badass duel with Sir Kaura. We only saw Red Flash getting hurt and badly beaten. I think Kazuo Niibori could've retreated and let Tota Tarumi in-suit with a broken visor take over in another area. Why we never saw Red Flash's visor break there is beyond me. Jetman did finally do the honors of giving a broken visor. Black Condor's epic final battle with Grey caused that epic scene of the visor broken. What was amazing was that the thug who stabbed Gai Yuki was actually Naoki Ofuji though I only knew it years later via the Internet. Then were there were more broken visors. Mega Black's vi...

It's really something to consider when the COVID-19 which I'd like to call as the Legacy Virus had become a global pandemic. The virus came from Wuhan late 2019 and the Legacy Virus has mutated into different strains. Thinking about the COVID-19 reminds me of the deadly disease in the  X-Men  franchise. The symptoms of COVID-19 and the Legacy Virus are very similar. Both viruses are airborne agents. Both viruses cause fever, cough, and overall weakness. Recently, the COVID-19 may also cause skin lesions - something the Legacy Virus did to mutants infected by the virus. The Legacy Virus was a terrifying worldwide pandemic that was blamed on mutants. Right now, Asians are also getting blamed in some parts of the world for supposedly being the source of the virus. In the  X-Men: The Animated Series  episode "Time Fugitives" - Forge mentioned that mutants were blamed but they were innocent. It's really sad when you consider how Rio Komiya was hit by the Legacy Vir...

This week's episode is really what I'd call not to be as good as other episodes. Okay, that's just what I think so don't get mad, okay? I really find this episode to be sort of weird. Is it me or is Naruhisa Arakawa (well, he's got Ayumi Shino co-writing here) really now burned out?  Kiramager does have its emphasis on taking ToQGer's imagination station to a whole new level. Shiguru is a swordsman so it's only normal he tries to use new techniques in relation to the sword. Have to admit that this scene can make anybody nervous. Meanwhile, news of a new sensation star named Princess Yodoni appears. Shigeru gets startled then pretends not to know her. Well, this episode does get weird with somebody's past getting unveiled. Also, the new sensation plays before sunrise. It turns out Princess Yodoni's music can hypnotize the people. Fortunately for the princess Mabushina couldn't be hurt by it due to her skin. This really has that cla...

Perhaps one of the most overrated head writers back then is Yasuko Kobayashi. I would say that it's because Hirohisa Soda's era of Super Sentai didn't get translated immediately. If Power Rangers has Judd Lynn then Super Sentai has Kobayashi. Just thinking how the two probably get more credit than they deserve. I feel they even unintentionally overshadow Soda - a writer whose contributions to Super Sentai brought it out of the basic cardboard formula into better development. ThRis also leads some people to wonder which is her Super Sentai Magnum Opus? Answers may differ. In my case, people know my favorite will still be Timeranger. My least favorite from her is still ToQGer. However, they are just personal preferences and I can respect negative opinions on Timeranger and positive opinions on ToQGer. Now, it's time to consider the times she became Super Sentai's head writer. Seijuu Sentai Gingaman Gingaman is Kobayashi's first time to be a Super Sentai...

Super Sentai (or any Japanese show) tends to be my window to Japanese culture. Fiveman did have the Menko Card  in a rather topsy-turvy episode. Granted, Naruhisa Arakawa has been a long-term writer so is he really burning out? IMHO he's already starting to show signs of it in this episode. It seems to copy the Menko Card episode written by Hirohisa Soda. Now, I'm learning about  the Japanese card game called Karuta which was said to be introduced by Portuguese traders .  The beginning has a childhood friend/rival of Sena named Makino. It's all in the past with a game dealing with karuta card game. The whole scene got me curious enough to research on karuta itself. A Karuta-based monster known as Hyakunin Isshu Jamen shows up. That kind of monster is just going to beat me in less than a second in a battle of wits. This also has Sena exposed too. As it turns out, playing Karuta is easier said than done. Makino mentions about the strict rules of the game. Pe...