Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

This year is the 30th anniversary of Liveman. Instead of trying to write my top ten favorite episodes of this really good late 80s series -- I decided to write a bit of a reflection on Liveman as a show. It may be a Super Sentai season that makes you think on how to live. Maybe, just maybe that's the reason why Liveman is called Liveman. A few years ago, I could remember reading from Toku Warriors on Hirohisa Soda's science trilogy . The three shows that focused on them heavily are Bioman, Flashman and Liveman. Liveman itself may be summarized with the issue of balancing science, intelligence, ethics and life. This was the battle of the Liveman vs. Volt. Should I mention why I like Soda's writing is because he's the Super Sentai head writer that just loves to insert the moral lesson of the week episode? The early episodes would show a lot of the right and wrong decisions. Innovation itself is a gift but it can be a curse at the wrong hands. We all need innovative t...

After I've been reading through Them's Fightin' Words, I decided to make my own wishful thinking. I'm also doing some Hurricanger rewatching right now for my planned top ten favorite Hurricanger posts (which might be canceled anytime soon because of real life issues) which has affected what I wanted to happen. On the other hand, I keep in mind that 2002 and 1988 are 13 years apart so this may not make any sense. Image taken from Thems Fightin' Words So I read of Shogo's blog posts and he thinks that Liveman's weaknesses are the two additional warriors . Here's what he said and I'd present my side of the story: When I picture in my head what Takuji and Mari's siblings as new heroes could have meant for the show, I get so mad, man. It certainly should have caused a bigger splash than it did. It's just no big deal to the characters, to the show, to the fandom. The big scene when the five transform and fight for the first time -- besides c...

Back in the 80s, some equipment were really obviously plastic. On the bright side, there were really lots and I mean lots of action that accompanied them. Two swords came to my mind which made me say it's dull but just wait until you see these guys in action. Note that the stuntman used here is the legendary Kazuo Niibori .  Takeru/Red Mask with his Masky Blade fight scenes Okay, I've written an article on  the two Takerus  but I'd focus on Red Mask here. I thought his Masky Blade looked so plastic that the default swords of the Maskmen (which accompanied the Laser Magnums) team looked sharper. Most of the time, he preferred to fight with his Masky Blade which allowed him to do the Laser Arrow move (Geki/Tyrannoranger later does this move against Burai/Dragon Ranger) and the Masky Crash. For a plastic sword fight scene, I'd say that the lack of the illusion of sharpness was made up with a lot of pretty intense action scenes whether it'd be monsters of the we...

While watching Liveman, what impressed me about the series was the very idea of the dark side of knowledge aside from the fact that majority of its conflicts are drawn from human characters. The series starts with three rangers and midseason, they are joined by two more rangers to complete the Liveman team. Now I would like to explore on the darker side of knowledge in Liveman. Science itself is a vital power but when used wrongly, it create serious consequences and eventually backfire on the person who misuses it. The whole start of Liveman begins in Academia where the three main heroes Yuusuke, Joh and Megumi join in order to help humanity. Their three former friends Kenji, Rui and Gou however had one day enough of the idea of science to help humanity. What the Livemen didn't know at that time, was the wicked scientist known as Great Professor Bias had begun recruiting people to join Volt. A battle for the great power of science begins with Liveman's struggle with how Volt...

The core of the conflict of Liveman's science After writing on Megaranger's conflict of science, let's try to write on the conflict of science in Bioman and Megaranger  I felt like Liveman showed the conflict between the Livemen and Volt.  So what's the big deal?  This is one element that makes Liveman win over Hurricanger big time! Academia was a research institute that aimed to help mankind.  Life was precious to them hence the name Liveman.  The Livemen lost two of their dearest friends who wanted to create a protective suit.  So why did Kemp, Mazenda and Obular join Volt?  They were deceived by Great Professor Bias' bias against humanity, his bias against humanitarian science and his desire to rule the world with a biased outlook.  Volt was an organization built on biases against humanity, believing that they would usher a new age. Great Professor Bias' biases are further pushed when he orders the destruction of the academy.  The ...

The tagline is "Friends why did you sell your soul to the Devil?" which made me think of the roles of the three schoolmates in Liveman.  What made these guys unique was that unlike most Super Sentai villains who usually don't have a past with the Super Sentai heroes except for the cases of Yaiba of the Darkness, the Questers, Barizorg, Maria. Jannu and Bandora to name some of them I can remember.  Here are Livemen's former friends who had joined Volt: Dr. Obler- He was a gifted child who was forced by his mom to only study all day, a decision that could have led him to unspeakable tragedy.  So he did only appear up to episode 15 but later came back for the finale.  Contractual reasons?  I thought it was nice to at least, get a brighter side of Liveman after seeing a baby dinosaur die from the effects of Gash's enlarging beam.  Later on, he finds religion and its probable he became a priest.  He even played a vital role in Mazenda's last minute rede...

Well I'm back for now and don't expect me to marathon this... nor my next post to be another extensive post like this considering I do have other stuff to do.  Meanwhile I could really say Liveman despite its rather weaker finale (but wraps things up in a way that's not a terrible finale)... it has a lot of decent episodes. Hirohisa Soda : 1-7, 10-14, 16, 19-23, 25-31, 33, 37-38, 41-49 (37 eps) Hirohisa Soda was in here, prior to his burnout which happened in Turboranger.  Now here's what I thought about his episodes in summary that is... Episodes 1-2 is the introductory arc.  Apparently, Soda likes to write grim stories during his time doing them rather well.  The two parter introduction shows loads of sad stories and a glimmer of hope.  A pregnant woman dies but the child is safely delivered.  It gives us a good idea or an introduction of how things will be between our heroes and villains Episode 3 starts to introduce us to Dr. Oblar who has his ...

Super Sentai in itself also had a few seasons that showed the importance of education directly or indirectly.  Here are those seasons: Liveman was the first to feature students as rangers.  It showed the value of true humanitarian education vs. the oppressive education of Volt. Turboranger featured teenagers fighting against invaders.  I think the emphasis of education happens mostly on Riki and Youhei as they learn along the way the importance of school.  In the finale, the end song was "Graduation of Youth". Fiveman was a team of not only siblings but also teachers in "New Town School".  Gaku taught science, Ken taught sports, Kasumi taught Math, Fumiya taught languages and Remi taught music. Megaranger was sort of like an upgrade on Turboranger for some.  It carried out computers as the theme of the whole series.  Like Turboranger, it featured teenagers fighting evil and Kenta Date/Mega Red was the slacker/leader who later learns to ...

Thanks to a suggestion by Guyferd20, it's time to tackle on some robots with similarities to Transformers. They are: 1. These three resemble Superion, all combined by jets: Jet Icarus from Jetman Time Robo Alpha/Beta from Timeranger Dekawing Robo from Dekaranger 2. We have Great Titan from Flashman which the trailer combines with the robot, similar to Ultra Magnus and Super Ginrai. It may have inspired Armada's version of Optimus Prime. 3. The following combination resembles the Transformers Decepticon combiner Menosar: Turbo Robo from Turboranger RV Robo from Carranger 4. The following reminded me of Predaking for their beastly combination. Super Live Robo from Liveman Gao King from Gaoranger 5. The Autobot Combiner Raiden reminds me of the following: Grand Liner from Go Go V Travelion from Magiranger 6. Siren Builder resembles the Autobot Combiner Defensor with the ambulance, police car and firetruck combination 7. Daikaioh remind...

Just after meeting somebody back in my past who resembled Gai Yuuki in character but Takeru/Red Mask in appearance, well I'm suddenly inspired to write this entry on Sentai rangers who are victims of unrequited love: Yuusuke Amamiya/Red Falcon- He was in love with Rui Senda but she rejected him. Gai Yuuki/Black Condor- Although any woman would easily fall for him (and I think Ako Hayasaka has a crush on him too), he had frustrated, unanswered feelings with Kaori Rokumeikan. Kaori Rokumeikan/White Swan- She had a crush on Ryu Tendo but she didn't get any answered feelings as he still had feelings for Rie Aoi. However in the end, they ended up with each other. Kou/Kiba Ranger- Well, for Lin to accept him when he was younger would be statutory rape so he was rejected. It's unknown whether or not he married her in the future or not. Matsuri Tasumi- She had feelings for a guy who married her best friend. Sai Taiga/Gao White- She had a crush on Shirogane/Gao Silver but she got b...

I downloaded some of Fantasy Leader's new pictures on Super Sentai. Sigh. Sometimes being busy at work and managing other blogs can be tiresome. Anyway here they are: A picture of some of the red rangers after their Sentai days. Some of them are the seniors and I say, some of them can't be recognized anymore due to changes of lifestyle as well as age has affected their appearances. Megumi Mori, aging but still kind of pretty. I wonder if she and Nao Nagasawa are friends?

Here are the extra rangers meant to add up the team members to five: Soukichi Banba/Big One- In a team of four rangers, he became the fifth and their leader. He reappeared in Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai even if JAKQ had NO giant robot yet. Junichi Aikawa/Green Rhino and Tetsuya Yano/Black Bison- They were extra rangers that came in together to create the Liveman team from three rangers to five rangers. The two were motivated by their desire for revenge only to discover that their real reason to fight was justice. The Gouraiger siblings Ikkou Kasumi and Isshu Kasumi functioned as two additional members. They were the first maroon and navy blue rangers. With a twist, these two started off as enemies and became friends in contrast to their Liveman equivalents. Shishou apparently had a relationship with Nanami. Asuka of Dino Earth/Abare Black- He's the fourth member of the Abarangers and from Dino Earth. I find his love story with Mahoro to be an interesting theme. He lat...