Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

  Metal Hero is a franchise that's canceled but never forgotten by Toei . Super Sentai and Kamen Rider carried over the influence. Metal Hero was discontinued like the Super Robot Anime series by Toei. Megazords sell better than the Super Robots. Metal Hero probably failed to create a unique identity. It jumped from one concept to another -- the Space Sheriff Trilogy with some clones. One could also talk about certain entries in  Metal Hero being more mature than Super Sentai . Eventually,  Robotack was in 1998 and it was the final installment. However, Toei ended up creating Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive with a lot of Metal Hero references  -- something that was repeated in Tokosou Sentai Dekaranger . Watching  GoGoFive made me think of Chikyu Sentai Fiveman most . It can be easy for me to ignore Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue but not Fiveman . Both  Fiveman and GoGoFive are family-themed. There are times I feel that the family theme overshadows the rescue theme...

Tokosou Sentai Dekaranger may be that heavily-celebrated season. Heck, it even has a 20th-anniversary movie! Some Power Rangers fans might get defensive if I told them there are older seasons better than Dekaranger . I might hear, "Are you kidding me? Dekaranger was that popular in Japan!" with evidence thrown at my face with full velocity. Dekaranger premiered in 2004 and it was also the first Super Sentai to get a complete fansub. Why would anyone want to watch a show where they can't understand the language? The subtitles built that bridge and There was probably much rejoicing when Dekaranger finally got an official DVD release.  I can't deny I like Dekaranger . However, I began seeing it as an overrated classic after watching other shows. The now-defunct but still remembered Metal Hero series gave hard-to-replicate classics. The 1990s gave us Tokkei Winspector , Tokyu Shirei Solbrain , Tokosou Exceedraft , and my favorite Tokosou Robo Janperson . Watching Kyukyu S...

  It's been 30 years since 1993, right? I guess the 1990s can be filled with several daring turns for Toei Ltd. A rewatch of The Toys That Made Us episode about the Power Rangers franchise is there. Yes, that episode featured Toei executives, the origins based on some Japanese show (and I believe the budget got that high hence higher royalty fees), and how I still feel 1993 was a champion year for Toei's bank account . Now, it's time to do another rant which I feel doing with Toei's daring direction. Yes, we've got a lot of stuff going on! Janperson: Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law The Kamen Rider series was pretty much on a halt. Yes, only a movie called Kamen Rider ZO came out on April 14, 1993, of that year. The now-defunct but never forgotten Metal Hero series started to experment on new stuff in the early 1990s. That's all before the formula started to return back to the Metal Heroes vs. Monster of the Week. We had the Rescue Po...

  It's no secret that we haven't had a new Metal Hero show since Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack ended in 1999. Sure, Robotack, the titular hero, did eventually make it out alive but the title obviously showed that the Metal Hero franchise was really ending. The 1990s was a rollercoaster of sorts. After Kamen Rider BLACK RX ended in 1989 (which was two-year run for Kotaro Minami, and a total of 98 episodes as the main character just like The First Kamen Rider ) - we had no Kamen Rider series. We sure had two short movies and that oddity (which I think was still good) in Kamen Rider Shin back in 1992. I decided to do a bit of a tribute for the 40th anniversary (since Ucchu Keiji Gavan was aired in 1983) after I did a rather hasty review on Metal Hero . Until now, I speculate that the cancellation of Metal Hero had to do with the revival of the Kamen Rider franchise . Kamen Rider really ended up having metallic references such as metallic suits, we had Kamen Rider  Kabuto on the 1...

  Surprise, I did some Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters rewatching. I was in the closet about liking that show. Now, I'm going to say that I'm a fan of Go-Busters and I don't care anymore if a show's popular or not. I've marathoned up to the two-parter where Go-Busters had a team-up with the legendary Gavan. It would be important to know that it's actually Gavan's 40th anniversary this year. This reminds me of the time when I used to watch Gavan badly-dubbed in Tagalog as Sky Ranger Gavin on ABC-5 . Now, it's time to take a memory lane to pay respect to one of the greatest old-school heroes. Back in 1982, Gavan premiered alongside Dai Sentai Goggle V while Kamen Rider took yet another hiatus. The popularity of Gavan brought in two direct sequels with different new heroes namely Ucchu Seiju Sharivan and Ucchu Seijuu Shaider. There was no Internet back then so it was a big deal when I missed an episode of Gavan like I missed an episode of this and that. I rememb...

  It's obvious that I'm losing my Toku spark one way or another. I think I might want to exit it but at least leave a bit of a mark with some good memories of the franchise. I find myself not paying much attention to Zenkaiger when watching it. However, a new article from Henshin Grid discussed about the sci-fi influence with Power Rangers . Yeah, you know by now I dislike the franchise even when I acknowledge that Toei Ltd. is also part of it. This will be a pretty exhaustive post which I want to write because it's been five years since Kyuranger aired. With that, I decided to celebrate its fifth anniversary today with this post! The popularity of certain American franchises A bit of research may help you find out some of the popular movies and series that may have influenced Toei Ltd. 1977 was the birth of the Star Wars movies which The New Hope was the first film. The success spawned the rise of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi - all before Disney's ...

Just because there's no episode for Kiramager this week doesn't mean I can't write a post about it, right? Okay, there will be spoilers ahead IF you haven't watched some old-school Tokusatsu or the most recent Kiramager episode. But if you've seen loads of older Tokusatsu (which should also include old school Showa-era Kamen Rider series), the Space Sheriff Trilogy (specifically Sharivan ), or you just don't mind spoilers then be my guest. One weird scene in the latest episode of Kiramager  is the revelation about Yodonna . If you've watched it then you may notice some really intense scenes. Yodonna wonders why Carantula has talked with Emperor Yodon face to face while she hasn't. Later, it's revealed that she's actually a part of Emperor Yodon which she's not even aware of. So, she's got her own personality but she's also a part of Emperor Yodon. She's shocked to find that out. I think Emperor Yodon has to use Yodonna as one of ...

Gavan has to be one of the most nostalgic characters ever, right? Before Gavan, its lead actor Kenji Ohba was in Battle Fever J and Denzi Sentai Denziman as two different characters. Toei wanted to milk on him and Ucchu Keiji Gavan became the first Metal Hero series. Like Hiroshi Miyauchi, Kenji Ohba is a guy who has a lot of character roles and gets welcomed to do a senior role in the later years. You may also remember his guest appearance in Hurricanger as a human disguise for Shurikenger and as Dan (Jan's father) in Gekiranger. Due to the Beast Morphers' decision (or rather Hasbro's decision) to have their version of the Gavan crossover (and it's aired somewhere else, not that stupid network that houses it) - I decided to do a nostalgic trip back for Gavan meeting Super Sentai. It's not about Ohba in Super Sentai but rather the time the Gavan continuity gets a crossover with Super Sentai. The first crossover was in Gokaiger vs. Gavan . I had mixed fe...

Well, it looks like that Sailor Otaku is now back on track to subbing Tokosou Exceedraft after finishing the Shinkalion project. I just had a bit of a flashback in the 90s when I just watched shows even if I couldn't understand it - as long as it was a kiddie show or felt like it. I think it was Star TV Chinese Channel (and mind you, I couldn't understand it!) when I first saw Exceedraft. Exceedraft episode 10 is a very weird episode and may be painful to watch for some. Maybe, one can say it's still a weird show. Then again, how many times has the supernatural hit its predecessors Winspector and Solbrain? Those shows were sci-fi with the supernatural. In fact, Exceedraft would face off Iwao Daimon who turns out to be the Devil in human form. So, it shouldn't be surprising that Hayato gets stuck up in Groundhog Day. If you haven't heard of the movie then you may consider at least Googling about it. The movie is tedious to watch when a selfish reporter is forced t...