Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

  Maskman turned 30 last 2017 and 35 this year. The cast reunion (above) is a charm. I wonder about the private lives of the others such as who married who? I viewed some of Kaiju No Kami's reviews where he seems to give Gekiranger and Dairanger scores higher than Maskman . Kaiju No Kami gave Maskman an average 3/5 Grown Ups In Spandex score which means, "It's not that good but you still need to watch it." Besides, I even heard how Maskman wasn't originally well-received though older fans loved it. Was it the same thing that happened with Timeranger ? I feel Kaiju No Kami probably represents that population of Power Rangers fans checking out the Super Sentai franchise. Their choices may differ especially if you're dealing with the pre- Zyuranger era - shows that came before Mighty Morphin' helped Toei Ltd. get a chunk of the American market. Flashman was most likely a tough act to follow I think Maskman had a brave direction by trying to become darker than...

  I remembered years ago - there was the rumor that Power Rangers Lost Galaxy was supposedly more popular than Seijuu Sentai Gingaman in Japan. Turns out that according to Sentai Bandicoot (back when he was the Fantasy Leader) - it's a big lie made by stuck-up Power Rangers fans on Rangerboard. The idea then later inspired me to write this iffy post. Hmmm... while it's best to dismiss the claim that Lost Galaxy was more popular than Gingaman but was Choshinsei Flashman truly more popular than Hikari Sentai Maskman ? So far, I don't have any real data to prove it. I'm just left to speculation. So far, I've seen Maskman first (as a child) and Flashman only as an ADULT. So, almost every source I hear is from the Internet. I mean, I even had to watch Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger in order to figure out who the legends behind Super Sentai such as Kazuo Niibori! I heard from Thems Fightin' Words that Maskman is probably one of the most underrated or as some said, it...

As I managed to finish Choshinsei Flashman as subbed by Metallic Fansubs -- I thought that there's always more than one Super Sentai series where I'd always get a shifting preference. Some Filipino fans might call it one of the best old school Super Sentai ever but take note that both old school and new school entries can change my opinion anytime. Hikari Sentai Maskman is no different as I've always had a bit of a struggle with how high or low it ranks in my head and heart. I remembered watching Tagalog-dubbed Super Sentai in the 90s. Watching them with subtitles and Japanese audio feels like a re-education IMHO. I've remembered two series that I think are dearer to me than my first Supe Sentai namely Chodenshi Bioman -- these are Maskman and Chojin Sentai Jetman. Both of these series consists of a red ranger with a love interest and a love story. I have to admit that I couldn't choose between Maskman and Jetman to which is my favorite Super Sentai in my younger...

Here's my response to SentaiBandicoot Rambles. Last time Sentai Bandicoot wrote about his favorite Maskman episodes . So here's a bit where I'm copying him. I'll consider story arcs as one episode as "one episode". I originally wanted to write a comment on my favorite episodes but it would be too long. So here's my list of favorite Maskman standalone episodes and story arcs. 

Since today is Maskman's 30th anniversary , I decided to write a Maskman post for the sake of writing it. Before I saw more Super Sentai whether it's old school or new school, I still can't forget my "love affair" with Maskman through the years and how I didn't immediately click with it and how I clicked with it. While I never consider myself a die hard fan of just anything (and that includes Super Sentai) but Maskman did play an important role to me. True, Jetman is my favorite childhood Super Sentai but Maskman somehow played an important role. In fact, it still rivals Jetman in my head until this very day!

I remembered Shogo B'Stard's blog featured a post called " Maskman: The Face of Zeba " and I wrote a similar post myself. So there was a plan to make Emperor Zeba have a human-like face (which still could have worked its way to him becoming Lethal Doggra) and I remembered his assumption which says:

Yup, they'll be celebrating their 30th birthday this year! I really feel ashamed that I didn't put to mind that 2014 was the year Bioman turned 30, 2015 was the year Changeman turned 30 and last year Flashman turned 30! This year we have Kamen Rider Black, Hikari Sentai Maskman and Chojinki Metalder all turning 30 years old! What are my thoughts on this momentous event of Maskman turning 30? It's just like when parents say that their children are growing up so fast it's just like it's yesterday. Maskman may be one of the childhood Super Sentai of many 80s children or some 90s children like myself in some areas of the world. Although Bioman was my first but I grew up liking Maskman and Jetman as my two favorite Super Sentai. Kamen Rider Black was my first exposure to the Kamen Rider franchise.

Considering tomorrow is the day of TokuSpirits and yup this is remembering childhood for some Filipinos (too bad none from Jetman is in this picture) where they saw Fiveman, Maskman and Turboranger dubbed in Tagalog together with Bioman dubbed by Telesuccess. So maybe some can remember the dubbed names like Michael Joe for Takeru/Red Mask and Kimberly for Hikaru Katsuragi/Pink Mask and Ricky for Riki Honoo/Red Turbo. From left to right we have Kei Shindachiya, Kazunori Inaba, Michiko Makino and Kenta Sato (which his name somehow got honored in Megaranger). This picture memorable for me because three out of four of my favorites from their shows are present. My personal favorites from Fiveman, Maskman and Turboranger are namely Ken Hoshikawa, Takeru and Riki. This could've been "perfect" if Akito Osugi were the one in this picture instead of Michiko Makino. But still, it's memorable thinking of it that Bioman was my very first exposure to Super Sentai, Hikaru was ...

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...

Due to the existence of Kamen Rider Ghost with the first Kamen Rider to be named Takeru in script, I thought I might write on two red rangers who were also named Takeru. It's no secret that they are both my favorite characters in both shows. I would like to discuss about my two favorite red rangers and remember, there may be spoilers so don't read unless you don't mind getting spoiled. Takeru/Red Mask's basic introduction I would consider this guy as one of the top-tier reds perhaps due to my favoritism or preference for older school Super Sentai . I always felt like that back then, there was better acting, less power ups and more focus on writing but as the momentum came, Toei started adding more new gimmicks to keep Super Sentai going with more merchandise. Back to topic, I could discuss about him and his role in his series, Hikari Sentai Maskman. He became my first favorite red ranger in Super Sentai. I thought about the fact he's badass, he can get distra...

When I think of Bioman and how short-lived Mika was, fortunately the concept did not die with the character.  I felt like Bioman was a season to experiment here and there.  Bioman was the first Super Sentai series to have two females (and back then, I had NO IDEA that most Sentai series had only one girl in the team back then), the first female yellow ranger (one died, another came in) and you can consider the first (and only) Super Sentai team to use the Beastnoids lacking human-sized monsters (Dekaranger hardly had human-sized monsters but no Beastnoids that keep retreating) and the first to have a mad scientist (Dr. Man).  Now I can discuss about Mika's concept and how it really lived on even if she didn't last long... that is the concept of a female yellow ranger who's snappy, rebellious (but not really) and badass! The concept was sort of relived with Haruka herself in Maskman. I felt like Mika's concept was relived in Maskman, one of my favorite series. Haruka...

So as a child who watched Maskman's crappy dub on IBC-13 way back in the 90s, I was always intrigued by the one-time ranger Ryo Asuka also known as X-1 Mask... so much after seeing Bioman's Magne Warrior episodes.  I always said, "Why couldn't X-1 Mask just stay for more than one episode?"  Back then, I also watched Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers while having no clue about Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger... but now it's time for me to speak as a grown-up 30 year old Super Sentai fan! Just in case you didn't know but I guess most Sentai fans know, Toshiki Inoue was the writer behind the X-1 Mask episode of Maskman.  It was sort of his experiment to attempt on an anti-hero who would oppose the red ranger.  X-1 Mask was an experimental Maskman who ran off without a word after his girlfriend died during a Tube attack.  So with Gai Yuki doing the stuff like X-1 Mask did before he fully becomes a Jetman like going to a bar, playing pool, getting a drink, going t...

While it was too bad I couldn't go to the Henshin Con Launch Party 2015 even if I could afford the VIP ticket (PHP 2,500.00) to get to the party, food, drinks and of course meet and greet, I am still happy nonetheless for people who got to meet them.   People know by know that Takeru/Red Mask is my favorite in Maskman and Ken Hoshikawa/Five Blue is my favorite in Fiveman.  As a 90s kid (now 30 years old and still single), I would like to express my feelings here and for other who were able to be there.  For nostalgia, I remembered watching Maskman badly dubbed on IBC-13 (which sadly NEVER showed the finale) and Fiveman on ABC-5 before it became TV-5. The venue of the event was in One Espelade in the Mall of Asia in Manila.  Fortunately the event went on and no Filipino ultranationalist was able to cause trouble. Pictures were retrieved from here . Two of my favorites at the dinner table... too bad I wasn't there but lucky for the others! Returne...

Kenta was sort of a dandy playboy.  What I find weird is that while Gai Yuki in Jetman was a playboy, he didn't have some occasional dates and later fell for Kaori.  In Kenta's case, he had some love interests.  These are... Miyuki in episode 7 was where Kenta felt bad because a lot of people had a date, he didn't.  He was touched by Miyuki's kindness and decided to pursue her.  However Tube kidnapped her and made a replica of her.  Although he was able to rescue her, he didn't pursue her because the battle with Tube isn't over yet. Yoko in episode 13 was more of "played for laughs" in spite of the nightmare fuel that episode had.  So okay, Kenta did end up having Fuumin as a love interest (under her Miyuki disguise).  Yoko was a reporter who discovered something weird about Miyuki.  She's a camerawoman and quite snappy herself.  At the end of the episode, Kenta took her out and discovered she has a big appetite in spite of her fig...

Here's another badass Sentai moment that's hard to find in today's Sentai.  The first Takeru shows one technique that really increased their input of Aura Power. The episode has Takeru actually realizing some power he didn't have.  It's called the "God Hand".  This episode's monster Drill Dogra couldn't be defeated by conventional weapons BUT it certainly can be defeated by one amazing technique called the "God Hand". What makes this episode amazing is that Takeru tries to unleash his Aura Power in battle while in danger.  Which made me think... what in the world was he thinking?!  No matter how weird this scene is, what happens next explains why he's my favorite Maskman. This one... Takeru uses his glowing fist to counter the monster.  It's far more badass than Takeru Shiba using the Kabuto Origami disk to defeat Yanasudare.  The next scene even amazes me more. Well that was one incredibly badass way to do it.  What w...

Super Sentai had some flower power attacks. Here's a few I can remember. If I missed any, just comment. In Bioman episode 24, Dr. Man sends Poison Moth Kans to turn all flowers into bombs. I would consider this scheme to be more subtle than Mason's balloon bomb. In this case, innocent flower breeders never know they had already become unknowing accomplices of New Empire Gear. In Maskman episode 15, Igam and Fumin spread the Hell Flowers. They are another source of nightmare fuel for me. It involved Momoko using her Carol Love flowers to finally defeat the effect of the red flowers. They spread a mysterious plague as well. In Flashman episode 10, the Garubari was sent to create man-eating monster flowers. This was part of Mess' plan to manipulate life through Earth's vegetation.  In Fiveman episode 15, Meadow turned one of the Sidon flowers into a rampaging flower demon. It was a real nightmare with how this flower monster was killing people. It looked l...

If heroes had badass moments, why not the villains? Kiros is one badass villain in Maskman and you can see that even when he's alone, he's really a threat to the Maskmen. He's a game changing villain YOU CANNOT MESS WITH. What made Kiros pretty badass was this. Come on, you don't see a stray villain arrive and one day, he FREAKING DESTROYS THE TEAM WEAPON! He doesn't hesitate to use his mutant horse to assist him. Just when you think the Shot Bomber will help, he destroys it. I just thought he's one badass villain and this is one of the best Sentai villains ever! Which of course, we do know his motivations. He plans to destroy the Maskmen so Zeba would reward him Princess Ial, the girl of his dreams. What I do love about his arrival is that he creates an even more menacing rival than Igam. Episode 27 shows a badass scene where Kiros not only draws out the Maskmen to battle but he wants to kill Takeru. It was also in that episode he learns that Takeru i...

Maskman had one particular episode that I found funny... but at the same time not all that surprising. I mean Takeru back 13 years ago remind me of me as a child. Now here's where the comedy is really kicking in... At the beginning of the episode, Takeru demonstrates his badass karate. Yes it's really, REALLY impressive to see all that. You hardly see that in new school Sentai. Now the whole plot involved time travel because Igam wanted to eliminate Takeru in the past... and for a plan, it certainly IS a good one. Kill Takeru in the past, the Maskmen are forever disbanded. However the episode felt comedic when things don't turn out the way it should be. But the Maskmen meet a WAY different Takeru than their leader. Now, it made me think of the Shinkenger episode where Takeru Shiba's secret of peeing on his pants over a ghost house incident was funny... but this one is a bigger, darker secret than the second Takeru in the amusement park. Just think, everyb...

Maskman episode 20 is another great badass episode... which also led to a trap. Momoko was the target... and this episode still shows how badass she can get. She may be pretty and sexy... but even roses have its thorns. The episode featured Momoko taking some children as her disciples. But wait... this annoying braggart of a troll woman arrives to cause trouble. Well something was suspicious about this woman. It's a pity to see Momoko in such a predicament. However it's also what leads to her being badass until she falls down from being beaten up. First, I thought it was kind of idiotic of Momoko to fight unmorphed. But wait... remember she has to keep her promise to the children right? Besides, she wanted to teach them the value of fighting with the human body. All I can say is Anagbas really set his trap right... and Momoko was at her most vulnerable. The despicable plan of Tube to use Momoko's love for children against her was one of their best schemes eve...