Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

For some reason, Super Sentai makes some non-canon crossover movies (and I wonder if some Super Sentai movies are even non-canon). It's pretty much like what Dragon Ball does by making a series of What If films . Sure, I usually tend to skip Super Sentai VS. Films these days due to them being non-canon. However, some entries were still enjoyable as a reunion film. The trend started with Choriki Sentai Ohranger vs. Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and became a yearly trend. The films were more like What If Scenarios. Ohranger vs. Kakuranger was already too obvious that it couldn't happen. The same goes with Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger vs. Ninpou Sentai Hurricanger . The film seems to fit into that imaginary Super Sentai timeline. Wendinu and Furaibijo apparently survived and met Dino Earth's legendary evil, Evil Ninja Iga. Iga was a member of the Space Ninja Group Jakanja. Okay, it does feel cool and he's almost way cooler than the rest. Iga fought with the Ryujins of Dino Earth. Ig...

  Years ago, I wrote why I prefer Abaranger over Dino Thunder . I also wrote why I prefer GoGoFive over Fiveman . Not all Super Sentai series are created equal either and neither is it equal with all franchises Toei offered. I may have some positive thoughts on Kyoryuger but it doesn't change my mind that Abaranger has been the better show overall. I don't care if the show is old or new. What I care about is whether the show is highly innovative and delivers results.  The better main cast of heroes I really must say that one of  Kyoryuger's weaknesses is the characterization. I could care less about negative (or positive) opinions on Kyoryuger . Watching Abaranger , I find the cast a lot more likable than what Kyoryuger could go. I love to point out how Ryoga has been better than Connor. Well, Ryoga is also BETTER THAN DAIGO as well. I also think Yukito is one cool anti-hero (though I'm a fan of Ian Yorkland) and Ranru herself is more than just eye candy. There are tim...

  I don't like  Power Rangers while acknowledging Toei Ltd. is responsible for its existence. I may have skipped most Power Rangers.  I have no intention of watching those episodes of Power Rangers Megaforce that I missed. I watched Beast Morphers  check out how Hasbro will carry it on while Saban's name is still plastered alongside Toei Ltd. With Power Rangers having turned 30 as a franchise - I still feel like writing this one even when I dislike the franchise. It's because I still acknowledge that Toei is also involved in its existence. Therefore, calling it a bootleg while knowing it's a licensed localization is just plain ignorant! I decided to check out some past events and here's what I feel... Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger aired in 2003 instead of 2002 No one should really forget that Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger was a highly innovative season. It simply didn't get so much love back then due to language barriers (for outsiders) and need to talk about how Choj...

Granted, this year is Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger's 20th anniversary. Heck, there's even an upcoming 20th-anniversary special fir Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers . I feel both feel weird and I'm not interested in too many reunion specials myself ! Though, Power Rangers has been the guiltier party over Super Sentai in doing the throwbacks too often. This would be a pretty piece of interesting information though. That is one of the best villains in Super Sentai that  may have nearly killed the franchise... FOR STUPID REASONS!  Sometimes, villains end up saving the show. Kosoku Sentai Turboranger crashed with the ratings. Kaiju No Kami mentioned in his review that Turboranger's villains are mostly one-dimensional compared to Yamimaru and Kirika. Chikyu Sentai Fiveman had Chevalier saving the ratings. Just running across this video that says Abare Killer nearly killed Super Sentai is a shocker.  Maybe, that explains his last-minute redemption or the plot twist that some part...

I haven't done a Super Sentai DVD rant for a long time, right? Yeah, I could remember how I actually called Dino Thunder as Dino THUMPER in an angry rant of sorts. I felt it was rather awkward to do a Fiveman DVD release of sorts . I felt that who'd want to watch Fiveman IF they've seen GoGoFive . I think it's easier for a Power Rangers fan to embrace both GoGoFive and Lightspeed Rescue than to appreciate Fiveman . Fiveman was that near-franchise killer during the 1990s and NOT Ohranger . Abaranger will get its release on November 8, 2022. Meanwhile, I totally missed that Kamen Rider Kuuga got licensed subbed last September 20, 2022. Interestingly, both are written by Naruhisa Arakawa - a writer I feel got appreciated among Power Rangers circles because of the fansubs of Dekaranger and Gokaiger . So, how will an Abaranger release do? I could remember the often misunderstood episode "Lost and Found" in Dino Thunder . Some people who should no longer be even ack...

Image Source While Ryusoulger is airing back this Sunday of next week, the summer episodes are coming but I'd like to really express myself concerning possible Toei's love affair with dinosaurs. Now, let's take a bit of the long history Toei had with dinosaurs.  1992's Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger and 1993's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Toei itself started its affair with dinosaurs right after Jetman saved Super Sentai from what could have been its cancellation. Now, it was a bright new time to innovate and they probably wanted to give dinosaurs a shot -- just a year before Jurassic Park hit the scenes. Jurassic Park's novel was published on November 20, 1990, which was three years before it got adapted for the big screen. Jurassic Park was screened on August 11, 1993 -- which is just a very short time before Mighty Morphin' premiered. The characters in Zyuranger were dressed up like RPG characters instead of cavemen. The kingdoms in the f...

I'd like to write about why I prefer Abaranger over what I call the overrated Dino Thunder. I know I sound like a snob but I'm just sharing my preferences with some reasons to back it up with. Hopefully, I'll be able to defend it better as to why I like Super Sentai over Power Rangers even if I acknowledge both are part of Toei's list of intellectual properties. It's pretty much its own continuity Just hearing Tommy was returning made me think that guy is overused. I'm glad that Tommy didn't appear in Dino Charge. Even if Judd Lynn was already burnt out but at least he kept Dino Charge much less dependent on previous shows. When it comes to the dinosaur Super Sentai trilogy  - you didn't need to watch all three in sequence. Abaranger doesn't rely on Zyuranger's folklore and everything starts afresh. Kyoryuger didn't have to rely on Abaranger and Zyuranger. In short, that's the beauty of having your own continuity because new innovati...

Not everybody loves dinosaurs, maybe a lot of children do but not all of them. In 1992, we had Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. Strangely, the two successive dinosaur themed shows happened during the 10th anniversary and 20th anniversary of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers which I think is not wrong at all. I guess Toei wanted to celebrate their entrance into the American market for Abaranger and Kyoryuger which I will expand further. Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger started out as the first dinosaur Super Sentai though I still feel like saying, "Mammoths and Sabertooth Tigers are mammals!" The show itself is IMO pretty much a shadow of Chojin Sentai Jetman, even if I do feel like it's overall better than Mighty Morphin' but I can agree with some of the flaws of the show. Unlike Jetman, it may have been overshadowed and I wonder is this show really overrated or underrated? I wonder how are Power Rangers fans liking the Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger DVDs if they already have one?

After looking at Ninninger's last week's episode, I am reminded of the Abaranger Christmas episode.  The plot involved a Trinoid (disguised as an obviously fake Santa Claus) starts going around giving gifts to everyone. While he just looks like your friendly neighborhood promo guy but surprise, something is really going on. What is inside the box is not a pleasant thing. It forcibly turns humans into Barma soldier so the Evorian can conquer the world. 

After watching Abaranger and Shinkenger from start to end, I thought I might want to ramble on two characters namely Yukito Sanjo and Mako Shiraishi. Abaranger was written by Naruhisa Arakawa and Shinkenger was written by Yasuko Kobayashi. Which reminds me, too bad that Shinkenger couldn't get my dream team of Yasuko Kobayashi, Toshiki Inoue, Junki Takegami and Naruhisa Arakawa as its writers each with big portions of the show! Abaranger features Yukito as the anti-hero of the show. If you noticed, he did try to leave the Abarangers, Gai Yuki style and he's the show's version of Gai Yuki. Yeah, Abaranger had some Jetman elements in it. He is featured to have had created something really disastrous in episode 10 called Curry Sponge. What Yukito did was to simply mix fruit and curry in such a way. I do find it stupid how Bunds himself was able to eat the curry while Asuka gets indigestion in the process. I mean, Asuka was freaking knocked out by the curry sponge. The hum...

Abaranger itself was an entertaining season with some cheesy Japanese humor (which I like a lot in Super Sentai)... for me one character pretty stood out between heroes and villains and it's Mikoto Nakadai.  In my opinion, he's really the most badass villain the show has ever had, perhaps he's the best villain that was ever created for Naruhisa Arakawa's Super Sentai works.  Okay, maybe he's not as cruel as the Grongi in Kuuga (still under Arakawa's headwriting) but he's definitely for me, top-tier than Basco (another favorite of mine) in Gokaiger.  I felt like this guy showed the idea of "Humans are bastards." to a whole new level. Now I can't help but think of at first, comparing Zyuranger and Abaranger .  What I felt about this guy was he's really a game-changing villain, with the shoutout that, "Hey let's play this game." but it's not all fun and games, all his games disregard the welfare of people around him.  The ...

While watching Abaranger and having proudly placed it in my list of Sentai series I watched from start to end , I felt like rambling on the differences between the two dinosaur Super Sentai. So it's pretty long so bear with me and again, warning some spoilers. So let's get started shall we? So I started to think that Zyuranger was in the 90s (1992) and Abaranger was from 2001-2010 and it took place in 2003 so the mood matters. While both are dinosaur Super Sentai yet the are unrelated, operating in their own separate continuities while the characters got jumbled into the what if Kyoryuger (I HATE MENTIONING THAT NAME) vs. Gobusters movie. Story line compared Zyuranger was focused on five ancient warriors who were from 170 million years ago. They were placed into sleep just in case Bandora's return will happen. In short, the Zyurangers are warriors from ancient mankind brought into modern times, fitting rather strangely into a world that's very new to them. They ...

Abaranger has one really weird moment for me. It's on Yatsudenwani. Either I want to find it funny or not but somehow, I tend to think it's not even funny. Yatsudenwani appears as a perverted monster. He's a defective Trinoid thanks to some unexplained event that caused him to turn into what he is. He was captured and enslaved by Mikoto... and he wanted to gain the favor of the Evorians. However something strange happened... When he ran into Ranru, he soon lusted after her. I always thought that the lust moment here was just disgusting beyond anything. I could swallow the one shot infatuation Rin had with the Media Magician (the Gorma are technically human) but this one was just awkward. Good thing Ranru isn't returning the affections... if ever. It goes as far as worse as he wants to marry her even if he hardly knew her. The event only left Ranru in utter disgust. To be honest, this guy is just crazy. I don't know which is worse... Jabba the Hutt...

The happy ending Ryu and Maria should have had...  Since I've just recently completed Abaranger , I felt like writing on this love story between Asuka and Mahoro.  The love story happened in Dino Earth when Asuka and Mahoro were torn apart by war.  The Evorians attacked Dino Earth turning it into a desolate planet.  Asuka was separated from Mahoro who he had long thought dead.  He was also trapped in the cursed armor during the war, which later Mahoro's younger brother used for a short time.  Later Mahoro who was brainwashed to become Jannu (a la Rie becoming Maria) held the power of the Cursed Armor. The battle was a painful one considering that Asuka didn't know Mahoro was captured by the Evorian.  In an act of despicable behavior, Dezumozoryla forcibly matured the pregnant Mahoro's unborn daughter and turned her into Lije.  At the same time, Mahoro was forcibly turned into the cold and cruel Jannu.  Asuka arrived on Dino Earth still s...

So I just finished Abaranger and again, sorry for pretending to be a know-it-all in the past. Abaranger for me is the first true dinosaur Sentai. Zyuranger had some mistakes in including the Mammoth and Sabertooth Tiger in its category since both are mammals, not reptiles. This was the first true dinosaur Super Sentai. Remember there will be spoilers so read at your own risk. While Kyoryuger (in Shogo's view anyway) makes dinosaurs happy that they are dead , Abaranger makes me feel like dinosaurs wish they were alive again. I had a previous post on watching Abaranger and I didn't expect to finish the marathon that quick. So what did I feel about Abaranger? Abaranger felt like taking human evolution's concept to another angle with dinosaurs. I feel a bit of Agito influence with the series when it came to the concept of Dino Guts (like the Agito Seed), minus we don't have people who were killed off simply for having Dino Guts. As Abaranger is a completely different...

After Imagination Station had fully subbed Abaranger, I have begun my marathon to where I have reached up to 23 episodes.  Hopefully I'll get finished with the rest soon provided I'm not bombarded with tasks. Moving on, I'd like to share my thoughts on Abaranger in part.  Abaranger is more of a fun show, not exactly dark or light but a balanced show.  The characters both heroes and villains are way better than Kyoryuger.  Although I currently like Zyuranger better than this show, but Abaranger still gives me a load of fun. Ryoga Hakua/Abare Red may feel like an idiot but he's a likable one.  He's no loudmouth, obnoxious guy like Connor (it was during Disney NOT SABAN).  His backstory featured him adopting his niece Mai after his older brother and sister-in-law died off-screen.  I always like the humor surrounding him.  I think he's a funny dude but can get serious when need be. Yukito Sanjou is the Gai Yuki of the series except he's blue....