Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

I admit, I made a list of Tokusatsu seasons celebrating their major anniversaries  aside from those that turned 30 this year  and guess what - I entirely forgot about HIKONIN SENTAI AKIBARANGER! Yes, it slipped off my head especially with how real life can affect anyone. This takes me back way back to 2012 when Akibaranger premiered and I was freaking hesitant to watch the show. Gokaiger ended and I ended up thinking about Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters that year. I was afraid to admit I actually liked the show even if it wasn't all as good as most of its predecessors or IMO this year's Kyuranger is better than it. I admit, I was too afraid to watch it except for my really stupid crush on Hiroyo Hakase. Yes, I admit I wanted to watch Akibaranger only because of Hiroyo (because of her beauty and personality) and not for the sake of enjoying a good comedy. The more I watch it the more I really started to discover stuff I never knew. Akibaranger is the show that introduced me t...

It's no secret that I'm watching Kyuranger, Kamen Rider Build and the Korean TV series While You Were Sleeping (starring Suzy Bae) at the same time. While I was doing so I triggered my subconscious that refuses to believe that there won't be an Akibaranger Season 3. So how did it happen? While watching "While You Were Sleeping" where Suzy Bae momentarily has the same hairstyle as Maaya Uchida (it makes it very confusing unless you notice some differences like Suzy's body shape) I wish they were working on Akibaranger Season 3. While I saw the screenshots of Suzy being near a desktop I wish that it were Maaya and not her who was typing. I wish it were Akibaranger Season 3 all the while I'm still enjoying the show. I still can't let go of the crazy humor of Akibaranger. Such episodes involved everyone getting drunk, the Powerful Rangers episode, meeting the legendary stuntman Kazuo Niibori (and I never heard of his name even if he kept making came...

Picture above is taken from Shogo's blog Them's Fightin' Words Gokaiger and Akibaranger seem to embody the Super Sentai fandom in some way with two characters. One is Gai Ikari, the other is Nobuo Akagi. I always felt these two might be viewed as two different fans. One came from an official Sentai called Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. The other came from the unofficial Sentai called Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger. Gai Ikari Gai Ikari in Gokaiger is a huge fan of Super Sentai who got his dream to come true. So I thought this was an interesting concept to have a Super Sentai fan become a Super Sentai ranger. In his case, he becomes the SILVER RANGER. Hmmm just a bit of notice we've had anniversary silvers namely Gaoranger and Boukenger, now we have it in Gokaiger. The first silver ranger was in Megaranger, a non-anniversary season namely Mega Silver. The joke of a silver ranger was also alluded in the closing scene of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie. So how ...

Akibaranger as a parody Sentai, well parodies Sentai ad the show parodies the following: The main cast is a parody of this.  Nobuo Akagi parodies the Otaku, Yumeria parodies the cosplayer and Hiroyo Hakase parodies the Super Sentai mentors. Akiranger Season One Episode 3 parodied the consequences of being drunk.  I do love its PSA service announcement for adults not to drink too much. Dr. Z in the first season was an obvious parody of Dr. Man.  Just reminded me if I were Dr. Man, Gear Empire would be full of silly designs and Anime-related, Weabo-type schemes instead!

Ryuji Sainei appeared as himself in Season One Episode Two, where he was going to appear at the SPD Dub Event. Season One Episode Six features Kazuo Niibori the legendary red ranger stuntman as himself. Akibaranger Season Tsuu Episode Six features Nobuo Tanaka was the narrator for the first 14 episodes of Goranger.  He was the full season narrator for Changeman, Turboranger and Ohranger.  He voiced Ritchihiker in Carranger and Mr. Voice in Boukenger. Stuntman Yoshinori Okamoto appeared in Season Tsuu Episode Eight.  General Pain hired him to do some stunt motions, hoping to create the perfect villain.  He was the stunt actor for AoRanger (episodes 64-finale) in Goranger, Spade Ace and Big One in JAKQ, Silver in Bioman, Gorma Four Kings in Dairanger, Signalman in Carranger, Cursed Armor Black Knight in Abaranger, Rainian Agent Abrella in Dekaranger and Akaranger in Gokaiger.  He was Buuba in Changeman, Bo Gardan in Flashman and Dr. Ashura in Liveman.

Akibaranger featured Super Sentai characters that appeared in suit.  These are: Akibaranger Season One Episode Two featured Deka Red.  At the same time, Ryuji Sainei appeared in this episode on his way to dub Power Rangers SPD. Akibaranger Season 1 Episode 3 featured Bouken Red.  This was during the episode when the Akibarangers got drunk and their delusions ran wild.  This also inspired my idea of trapping the Boukengers in a world where delusions come to life while they are drunk, causing doppelgangers of deceased villains to appear. Akibaranger Season One Episode 6 had Red Hawk appear at the same time with legendary stuntman Kazuo Niibori.

At first, I would admit I didn't want to watch Akibaranger because of the idea that was going to be a short run comedy or in other words, unofficial Super Sentai.  Now okay, I would admit I did have my guilt trip pleasure with Hiroyo Hakase and I find Maaya Uchida pretty.  Moving on, I would talk about why this entire series is a very unique parody for two seasons. It's not a series for kids but it's a series for adults who are fans of Super Sentai like myself.  Now I would admit I am NOT an otaku and I'm more or less the occasional fan who would only go to fan events whenever I have the time... I didn't even go to the RK: Kyoto Inferno event because of time.  And I would really say that having 29 year old Nobuo Akagi as a huge fan of Super Sentai at his age, somewhat insecure about it because of his love for Sayaka and finds somebody he can relate to?  Hehehehehehehe!  It's very hard to find someone like them.  I mean, I have stopped talking about...

While the part that he's a 29 year old guy still into Super Sentai and so moe with Aoi-tan, actually it seems that the only Tokusatsu he likes is Super Sentai which can be evidenced in season two... He sees every store in a Toku toy store but the only toys he wants are Super Sentai.  Plus over the course of season one, he only talks about Super Sentai.  You can see a Gavan toy but he only wants the Super Sentai toys. In Akibaranger season two, he doesn't only say that you can't like Powerful Rangers (but doesn't call it bootleg neither do the others talk like he does) but also, when Prism Ace arrives and it was revealed within their own continuity that Sentai was going to be cancelled, it was bad news for him.

It's really a sad, sad thing that many people have actually misunderstood the whole issue of Akibaranger Season Tsuu Episode Five.  After I tried to crack on what could be the message , let's analyze the events shall we? First it's all about Luna who auditioned to be an idol.  In here, Koichi Sakamoto who had been involved in BOTH Super Sentai and Power Rangers as well as Kamen Rider appeared as George Spielburton who is a combination of Tim Burton (who met Takeru Satoh), Steven Spielburg and George Lucas.  So pretty much, Luna doesn't know much bout Super Sentai. So Luna the new Akiba Blue is what I'd call really ignorant about Tokusatsu in general.  After her audition, we see that she has some ignorance issues.  So after she saw somebody play with two Zyuranger (or maybe MMPR toys) we see that she thinks the Sentai stuff came from America with the show called Powerful Rangers. So what does Nobuo Akagi do?  So Nobuo tries to lecture Luna that Power...

I did quite an incomplete rant on Akibaranger not so long ago or so logn ago, well here's what I was thinking about the series in a nutshell... Season One Season one was basically the battle that seemed to take only in their heads until they realize that their fantasies weren't just fantasies.  That was, everything about this season starts with Nobuo Akagi who is a delusional delivery man who is 29 years old but is too open about his obsession with Super Sentai and two, why in the world is he too in love with a fictional character Aoi?  Well, he is in love with Sayaka and I wanted them to be together.  For Mitsuki she's probably the only one who thinks from the trio and for Yumeria, she happens to be pretty silly but fortunately not overly silly. At first made me think was the battle only in their heads?  So I guess I can relate to them since I delude myself to be a henshin hero whenever I am alone. Not that I actually an open about it or two, I accept that rea...

Toshiki Inoue the man responsible behind Chojin Sentai Jetman and Kamen Rider Agito also was responsible for the burned out works like Kamen Rider Faiz which is his most serious work (but also my least favorite) then he started dabbling with comedy.  For his comedy, things can be so-so but let's see how that might affect Akibaranger.  Watching his comedic works, here's what really might not work with Akibaranger if he were writing it either has a head writer or an episode writer... How bad can Toshiki Inoue's comedy get?  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Kamen Rider Kiva for it being cartoony but other than that, Inoue can sometimes get annoying with his humor in my own watch.  In fact, that whole Takoyaki vs. Taiyaki battle in Kamen Rider Blade (he was a sub-writer) was relying on blatant stupidity than well-timed comedy.  Another I might mention is that Kiva's weaker points in its humor was why in the world is Nago switching between being Gai Yuki 2.0., Hikaw...

Yup after Season Tsuu of Akibaranger, I can't help but "cry" over the deaths of the Akibarangers.  What in the world was going on?  I was thinking maybe there was a reason why the Akibarangers had to crash into the sun... Yup it was a very sad way to end it.  The clip show done at the end of Season Tsuu really made me sad to think that I see Hiroyo Hakase sad at the death of the Akibarangers.  So Hatte Saburo could bring them back if he wanted, though something needs some explanation though if they were brought back.  I just thought seeing Mikoto, Mika and Naoto (in suit) bring back the Akibarangers to Heaven was sad.  I even wanted to pat Hiroyo Hakase' shoulder or let her lean on mine during her memorial of the Akibarangers in the clip show. The fact that Akibarangers brings some nostalgic stuff like Okamoto and legendary red ranger stuntman Niibori does help those who have no knowledge of the people behind the scenes as children, see the people be...

Yup this was Akibaranger and to be honest, the first episode I watched was focused on that rather hilarious "Delusional Import" which targets all those annoying fanboys.  At first, I really had a close mind towards Akibaranger if all it seemed to me was "just a battle in your head".  But after checking it out, well hey I did miss and I mean MISS a lot of what I should have seen.  Being an adult who likes Super Sentai, I really realized this is a must see and I regret so much not giving it a chance. Well for one Nobuo for me is an exaggerated mirror of myself.  In what way?  Well there is me sometimes calling Anime characters "my beloved" but that habit has been outgrown but unfortunately replaced by delusions with real people, being an adult who's still into Tokusatsu (but I'm not THAT open about it nor do I buy toys) and of course being impulsive and weird (I admit I'm a weird fellow) then again there's no total similarity between fict...

Well I've just started watching Akibaranger after so many close minded moments (shame on me) while I decided to take a view on this one first because it sounded interesting to know how both franchises fit into one.  Why?  It's because it seems to be a very important turning point especially when you are talking about the long time Super Sentai/Power Rangers fan wars which might be the biggest retard Toku fan war ever considering the birth of that awful hate fic "Gokaiger vs. Samurai" in Fan Fiction, no not the one written by GokaiMaster.  I would admit that with this episode written by Naruhisa Arakawa, maybe it's out of anger and frustration that Tokusatsu is getting adapted, only Toei is getting recognized or later the series based on it but WHAT ABOUT THE WRITER?  Okay no posting of bad comments here, leave them for horrible hate fics and hate blogs!  I am here to discuss some things which are my insights. So for targeting purists I don't know about that...