Remembering Tategami Li-Oh Introduction In The Light Of Ichiro Mizuki's Passing

 
The recent death of Ichiro Mizuki at 74 just came today. It turns out he died on December 6, 2022. The agency only announced it presumably out of respect for his family and friends. Right now, I just feel like I want to think about Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters and the short role he played. Also, he was Dr. Ben in Dimension Warrior Spielban. I couldn't help but remember the death of his character, Saburo Hazuki, who might be a tribute to the pen name, Saburo Yatsude. 

Missions 35-36 are among the few times when Kento Shimoyama did a good job. Sure, I'll forever associate Shimoyama with the bad job he did with Shuriken Sentai Ninninger. Yeah, Ninninger is forever ONLY SLIGHTLY BETTER than that junk called Power Rangers Ninja Steel. Ninninger had its Ranger History lessons since it was the 40th birthday of Himitsu Sentai Goranger. I still think that Shimoyama did manage to do Kamen Rider Zi-O better than Kamen Rider Decade. At least Zi-O managed to properly celebrate an anniversary season. 

We have guest star Sayoko Oho as Mika Hazuki. What's with the name Mika anyway? It's a very common Japanese name. We have Mika Katsumura and Mika Kikuchi. Back to topic, this episode was almost like a twist to the Galaxy Robo introduction arc in Hikari Sentai Maskman. Well, except that there wasn't much of a reason to introduce a new robot except for toy sales, right? Here, we have a father and a daughter. Mika blames the Energy Management Center for her father's death. Dr. Hazuki was a passionate scientist who died before the show began. It reminds me of how Maskman had the Galaxy Robo's scientist die before the show even began. This causes Mika to be rather stubborn. I don't blame her for acting cold towards the Go-Busters until she knew the truth about it.

This was also the arc where the term "zord" gets even more integrated with Buddyzord. The term Megazord in Go-Busters is used for EVERY LAST MECHA. In Power Rangers, the term "zord" can apply to both good mecha and evil mecha. However, the term Megazord was only reserved for the combined forms of the Zords. The term Megazord can be used for the primary giant robot. It's like saying that Battle Fever Robo was the first Megazord in Super Sentai. I may blatantly dislike Power Rangers but I'm pretty fine when the fans call the mecha "zords" or the giant robot as Megazord. 

It would also be noteworthy that Mizuki himself had a rather long legacy. He was a contributor to several shows. He was an important contributor to the now-discontinued (but somehow still remembered) Super Robot genre. I guess some will remember him for his singing of the theme song of Combattler V and the ending theme of Voltes V. I wasn't surprised to find out tha the was also the singer of the Golion Sanka song from Golion. Speaking of which, Golion was the source material for Lion Voltron when World Events Productions had a contract with Toei Ltd. He did play an important character in Spielban as Dr. Ben. I never even knew he was also the singer for Ultraman Orb.

I could be wrong but it also seemed that Mizuki's voice was carried over in Chikyu Sentai Fiveman. I don't think actor Kihachiro Uemara was a singer of sorts. Uemara was previously Green Flash and ended up boosting ratings as the villain Chevalier. That song is so catchy. No wonder people almost danced to their deaths with Chevalier's arrival. Chevalier did consider himself the Hero of the Silver Imperial Army Zone. The song was originally by Kai Band. Mizuki did what I'd call the better version over the original rendition. 

This reminds me of others who are no longer with us. Soga Machiko died of pancreatic cancer at 68 last 2006. Jun Tatara died at 89 in 2006 of lung dysfunction. Shigeru Jou died in his 60s of pneumonia in 2012. It's also worth thinking that Goro Naya died in 2013 and Takeshi Watabe died in 2010. Naya was known for voicing the Not-So-Great Leader in the older days. Watabe was known to voice many notorious villains. What they have in common with Mizuki are also the good old Toei days. Though, Shotaro Ishinomori left the world at only 60 years old. I only knew of many others' passing years after THEY HAPPENED. Noboru Sugimura was only 56 when he died in 2006. I only knew Ishinomori was dead a few years later. Some have even left us too soon. This was truly more Harsher in Hindsight since the actor played a dead character and died 10 years later! 

Now, another childhood hero is gone this year. In the case of Kevin Conroy and Mizuki, both have been sick for some time. It wasn't like how Thuy Trang suddenly died in a car accident. It's not like how Baku Hatakeyama, Tatsuya Nomi, and Jason David Frank all tragically ended their lives when they could've been helped. I guess people were more than ready to see terminally ill people go. It's easier to accept than those who are suddenly gone too soon due to unnatural causes. Condolences to his loved ones. =(