Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

Just because newer Super Sentai goes for a mostly lighter and softer approach -- doesn't mean legal drama can't be involved. Sure, we can't have brutal scenes like more mature crime dramas.  Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger has the International Space Agency. Rather than take the usual easy way out -- Boonboomger decides to add some crime drama into it. The ISA's supposedly responsible for law and order. It turns out that it's been infiltrated by CORRUPTION! Wairudo Spindo has had been paying off CORRUPT ISA officials. It turns out that Director Eiichiro Tokoyari is a SELF-SERVING PERSON. Tokoyari enters into what might be an uneasy deal with Wairudo. This is a typical crime drama element when it comes to CORRUPT OFFICIALS. This might be in a different light than Captain Ryuuya Asami's involvement in Mirai Sentai Timeranger . Ryuuya didn't have any real alliances with the Londarz Family. It was more like Ryuuya chose to let them escape as part of his convoluted gr...

Super Sentai has made certain American pop culture references. Heck, even Metal Hero and Kamen Rider have had them. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Tokosou Robo Janperson came AFTER Robocop or how Knight Rider inspired Tokkei Winspector and Kamen Rider Drive . Tokosou Sentai Dekaranger may have made several references to American movies such as Armageddon , Rocky Balboa , Speed , Die Hard , and Men in Black . It's not too surprising whenever Super Sentai and Power Rangers may have made nods to each other . Dragon Ball Z blatantly has American references such as the Days of Future Past storyline with Future Trunks or Frieza's third form with Aliens . Without much ado -- I want to present every terminology done in Power Rangers first that I'm A-OK will be used in conversations. Using the term "ranger" over "warrior"  The suffix "-man" has been dropped and the last to use it was Seijuu Sentai Gingaman . After that, the suffixes wer...

Okay, here's an old list I decided to update. Yellow rangers were usually male but there were times when they were female. In Power Rangers , most of the male yellow rangers are given female counterparts for some cultural reason. I admit I wasn't too shocked that Trini's counterpart in Zyuranger is a MAN because Turboranger had a male yellow ranger. I decided to update this post because of Haruka Kito herself. Here are the female yellow rangers in Super Sentai up to the present: Mika Koizumi/Yellow Four 1 and Jun Yabuki/Yellow Four 2 She was the first yellow ranger in Super Sentai history. Sadly she's the first female ranger to be killed off too. Bioman wanted to do so but there was some behind-the-scenes conflict with Yuki Yaijima. Yuki abruptly left the show and not so many know why she did it. Mika was presented as a loner who just wanted to be left alone. A tragedy really that she should die as well after her brother died in Africa for some unknown reason.  It wa...

I watched King-Ohger in Space . It was just another "special episode" instead of an hour-long movie. Yes, the whole web special was only 17 minutes and 49 seconds long. It would've probably been better to save it for next year or put it into the Space Squad movies -- something that's probably in Development Hell now. I watched the short film and I'd like to give my thoughts. Watching King-Ohger from start to end last 2023 was something. I still have that hangover feeling. It was like attending a party every Sunday from March 5, 2023, to February 25, 2024 . So festive that it decided to even stretch things out by being part of the same continuity as Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger . It's usually established that unless specified -- most Super Sentai entries (or seasons as Power Rangers fans call it) usually take place in their own Universe (or continuity) . Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger verified the existence of different Universes . Several events tend to contradict each oth...

That 70s Show, ALRIGHT!  I'm really feeling old as I feel the effects of the Space-Time Alpha Sword on me . I still find it weird that I had a love interest who looks like Mika Katsumura -- she's married to someone else now. It wasn't meant to be. I tried watching Battle Fever J then I took the challenge of watching Himitsu Sentai Goranger and Dengekitai JAKQ . Some people called me a baby back then for watching  Power Rangers in the 1990s -- that was all before I dropped the franchise out of PERSONAL REASONS . Officially, I've finally watched the whole 1970s era of Super Sentai . This was what might be the "simpler era" or figuring things out era. My late 30s self has an easier time watching older Super Sentai than newer ones -- even when I can still enjoy newer ones. But as said, it's not about older fans and rose-tinted glasses but on mostly younger fans! It can't be denied that before Super Sentai -- there was Tatsunuko's Science Ninja Team Gat...

I remembered one of the most common locations in Super Sentai , Kamen Rider, and if I'm not wrong also Metal Hero and Ultraman . So what's this location with the giant bird statue? I decided to do some research and found out that it's a place called the Izu Saboten Park which is located at the Izu Peninsula. Saboten means cactus in Japanese. In short, it means Cactus Park. It's also a zoo. Maybe you noticed this place but never noticed its significance. Back then, I just called it the "Bio Fort" or "Bio Park" because I first saw it in Bioman . I remembered watching the nightmare-fuel-inducing episode 27 which had robot spiders capturing people. I always been fascinated by that giant bird statue. It also felt like an Aztec park. But what was that bird statue? It wasn't going to be the last I'd see that bird statue.  Maskman episode 25 had the grand martial arts tournament. So what were the Maskmen doing in "Bio Fort"?...

One can say Hirohisa Soda and chief producer Takeyuki Suzuki were experimenting on new stuff. I decided to update this old post before 2024 ends. It would be time to look into the history of Bio vs. Anti-Bio in Chodenshi Bioman . This article obviously contain spoilers! After watching several Super Sentai series -- Bioman was among the first to start fleshing things out! Was it planned or was it an afterthought? Bioman episode 10 featured what would be a forced plot. It's not known why Yuki Yajima left the set. It was said that she was found serving hot pot in Chiba. The reason why Yuki left was unknown. It led to Mika Koizumi getting written off. It was also the introduction of the Anti-Bio Particles -- a plot that wasn't going to be revisited until episode 37. The episode had the first Yellow 4 die in suit. It was because Yuki wasn't available to film her final episode. Yuki left presumably out of contractual issues. It led to one of the most heart-wrenching episodes in ...