Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

March is Fire Prevention Month in some countries. Nothing gets into my head better than Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive . This year is also GoGoFive's 25th anniversary. Sure, I usually prefer to ignore Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue since it's best to compare to  Chikyu Sentai Fiveman . I still find it amazing that the  Fiveman DVD sales were successful despite this being WAY BETTER. I'll talk about where  GoGoFive may stand among Power Rangers fans. Theoretically, anything after Mirai Sentai Timeranger is usually preferred for being Lighter and Softer. GoGoFive is anything but Lighter and Softer.  There are still some Power Rangers fans who prefer Lightspeed Rescue over GoGoFive. I might have to do something with how a sibling superhero team may not be that appealing. How often has the sibling theme been done in Super Sentai ? I think Power Rangers' charm has to do with an American team that represents multiracial unity. There are also some areas where Lightspeed Resc...

Super Sentai DVD releases is back on track, right? Well, isn't it something to think that Tokosou Sentai Dekaranger did get its first full fan sub with TV-Nihon. Dekaranger may be the first exposure that some Power Rangers fans from the West had to the  Super Sentai franchise. Now, no surprise that Dekaranger finally gets its official DVD release .  After covering a good portion of the first Saban era that's Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger up to Hyajakuu Sentai Gaoranger - it's no surprise that the Disney era is getting covered. We had Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger and Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger . Abaranger will get a 20th-anniversary reunion movie. At the same time, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers will celebrate its 30th anniversary.  I think is coming to a full circle. First,   more Western fans had a taste of the Japanese deal via the fansubs. Second, we had the initial cast of Dekaranger dub Power Rangers SPD . Strangely, the South Korean dub also calls it Power Rangers SPD whic...

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...

Just hearing Chikyu Sentai Fiveman is on the next line is something. I always feel that Fiveman may never get into the same level as Chikyu Sentai GoGoFive . I want to pretend that some fans of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue may want a Shout! Factory DVD release of Tokkei Winspector instead. Fiveman may have gotten its following but GoGoFive really beats it by MILES. I could go ahead and ignore Lightspeed Rescue while watching GoGoFive but NEVER Fiveman. Now, for the next possible pre- Zyuranger DVD release I'll prioritize Hirohisa Soda - a writer I feel got appreciated back then but ended up getting less appreciated because of other writers like Toshiki Inoue, Yasuko Kobayashi, and Junki Takegami. I Kosoku Sentai Turboranger I can't really be sure if this is a good idea. Gekisou Sentai Carranger ended up getting vindicated to the point some fans thought that Carranger "saved" Super Sentai . However, Choriki Sentai Ohranger and Carranger suffered from lower ratings u...

"One, two, three, four, five - FIVEMAN!" the very series that NEARLY killed Super Sentai is getting an official English subtitle release . I personally didn't see this coming because of a couple of past Super Sentai DVD releases most of them are better than what Chikyu Sentai Fiveman has to offer. My personal take has always been Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive  will always be MILES BETTER than Fiveman ever will be in the sibling Super Sentai arena. The 1990s began with two shows where one was a smash hit and the other nearly killed a franchise . Combine both shows and you get GoGoFive .  I guess Fiveman has been vindicated by history to a certain extent. I may not like it as much as I used to BUT it has likable characters. The ranger cast is rather strong. I feel like Ken Hoshikawa became a template for Chad Lee in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue - both are athletic badasses that fought off a monster-of-the-week whilst unmorphed. Though, I felt Chad's episode could've co...

Some time ago, I remembered reading a post from Dramabeans concerning subtitles either as a barrier or gateway . I'm no speaker of Japanese, Korean, or Mandarin (and yes, it's obvious that using a nom de plume) yet I enjoy those shows even if I can't understand a word. However, I enjoy them only if they've got English subtitles and ignore them when they don't. It's stupid to say that a show is better because it's in English or in one's native language. I remembered back in the 2000s when I first saw Meteor Garden in Tagalog then there were bootleg DVDs that had the English subtitle. Lately, there's Netflix where people can watch non-English shows with subtitles. I gave a thought about it with Super Sentai and why it was underappreciated. My bigger thoughts on Super Sentai's underappreciation for some time? It's all about the language barrier as Super Sentai is a show in JAPANESE aside from cultural differences prevented it from getting dub...

Jetman is already confirmed to have its Super Sentai DVD release on September 28, 2018. But why don't we actually dream of other pre-Zyuranger Super Sentai series (or other genres) that should get released sooner or later. Sure, we have Gaoranger which will inevitably lead to Hurricanger's DVD release. So I thought about it way back when I suggested alternate DVD releases .  I. The following pre-Zyuranger Super Sentai series in the following order? Chodenshi Bioman Bioman could have been the first series that would have been the source material for Power Rangers. However, the American networks turned it down. I think it would be something if Bioman gets released on DVD. Could a Bioman DVD release from Shout! be a good thing?  Kosuku Sentai Turboranger Before Mighty Morphin' carried the trope of Recruit Teenagers with Attitude -- Turboranger actually started the trope. Turboranger's plot is where five teenagers with attitude get selected to fig...

I don't exactly know what to think after hearing from Ukiyaseed that Jetman is getting a DVD release alongside Gaoranger . This has me thinking that my personal favorite series is getting a DVD release? I don't know what to think. I could understand if Gaoranger will get a DVD release because Timeranger will get a DVD release but Jetman this September 25, 2018? I didn't see that coming but I'm glad it did. So much for my crazy suggestion of  alternate DVD releases  that Shout! Factory should be releasing Jetman instead of Timeranger (which is set for a July 31, 2018 release). Then why release just one classic when you can have BOTH of them? First, I could talk about the inevitable Gaoranger DVD release -- it was inevitable considering that after Timeranger there's Gaoranger. Gaoranger is praised while Power Rangers Wild Force is mocked. I guess most of the praise Gaoranger gets is mostly from the acting and not the writing. Forever Red had the potential to be be...

I never thought I'd do another rant like this one given the circumstances. With GoGo-V getting its official release this April 24, 2018  then a Timeranger official release may just be around the corner. I'd like to discuss an era which Sentai Bandicoot describes as the Sci-Fi Revival Era where GoGo-V and Timeranger fall into: Succeeding Takatera for the position of Chief Producer was Metal Hero veteran Jun Hikasa, who’d go on to produce every Sentai from GoGoFive to Abaranger, as well as producing Kamen Rider Blade, Boukenger, Go-onger, first half of Goseiger, and Akibaranger. This short lived 2 year long era delves the franchise into a style where it’s elements are never quite seen as much in Sentai again. It brings back the hard sci-fi approach which was very prominent during the Soda Era. However, unlike the Soda Era, the Sci-Fi Revival Era does not focus particularly on the hero vs villain plots. Rather, these two shows focus more on continuing Takatera’s grounded appr...

What I missed or didn't miss is that the Carranger DVD release and the upcoming Megaranger DVD release happen in the year 2017. In short, both DVDs are released during the 20th anniversary of both Power Rangers Turbo and Megaranger. Both shows were also under the production of Shigenori Takatera who was also the man behind Gingaman, Kamen Rider Kuuga, the first half of Hibiki and Daimajin Kanon.  Gekisou Sentai Carranger I remembered some rants I made about Carranger. My first Carranger rant was that I thought Toei and Shout should have considered a Turboranger DVD release . It was because Turboranger may have something Mighty Morphin' fans can relate to. But it seems that Toei's decision might be led by this that they released Zyuranger because it was what Mighty Morphin' was based from. Then you have Dairanger, Kakuranger, Ohranger and now Carranger. Carranger didn't really raise the ratings back to normal and that it was really Megaranger that did. C...

With the fact that a Carranger with English subs DVD release  is coming soon I'm thinking about how Megaranger may be the Mega-Release that U.S. fans are waiting for. Awhile ago, I remembered rambling on the Sentai DVD releases  where I considered releasing something different or from the pre-Zyuranger era. I even felt like Shout should have released Turboranger instead of Carranger  then they can go ahead and proceed with Megaranger. I originally thought that Shout should release Changeman over Megaranger but my mind's changed. I think Megaranger would do better in the long run. It took me some time to think of what to write in this post but now here it is!

Knowing that Ohranger now has an official DVD, we know that DVD release of Carranger is coming. So it's time for another crazy rant. Okay, I like Carranger better than Turboranger but I could talk about a possible shift. When I'm talking about shifting into Turboranger, I'm not talking about Power Rangers Turbo but rather, which show will we go for? Will it be Turboranger or Carranger? Let's do some comparisons with both shows that use car magic to fight evil.

After my second Sentai DVD Release rambling , I never thought I'd touch on the topic of Sentai DVD releases for the American audience as Ohranger just got its release. Some shows didn't always have a good reception at first. I admit I did watch Ohranger some months ago and I think it's watchable, I don't think it's as good as Carranger or the "real savior" Megaranger as a result of rumor mills here and there. But is it really as bad as the rumor mill claims it to be?

It's been some time since I thought about Shout! Factory releases and giving my thoughts about it . We've had Zyuranger, Dairanger, Kakuranger and now Ohranger's coming in. But I remembered this statement from Shogo B'Stard concering Ohranger: How bad is Ohranger? Practically everyone who worked on the show, who had been with the franchise for numerous years, walked after that year. How bad is Ohranger? Super Sentai fan and Nerdiest Idol of the Nerds Shoko Nakagawa doesn't like it. How bad is Ohranger? Power Rangers fans consider the Power Rangers season which used Ohranger footage, Power Rangers Zeo, to be superior. Power Rangers Zeo, aka the season where they opt to focus more on Bulk and Skull becoming defective detectives than they do on any Power Rangers action, because that's what little choice Ohranger left them. I can't determine how well the Ohranger's reception will turn out for Power Rangers fans as of recent since time changes. Sometimes...

So I read from valid sources like Tokusatsu News Network that Gosei Sentai Dairanger will be released next year. I would say it's a great series and definitely worth the watch with all the complicated mysteries or situations that allow you to speculate. In short, it's a great series with some "leave it to your imagination" kind of writing which you just need to watch to find out. On the other hand, I am writing this entry in response to Shogo's latest entry which is about Sentai DVD releases. Now I feel the urge to respond to him in this debate. With Dairanger's release I pretty want to imagine at least two people from the Power Rangers alumni who might be super-excited. My first guess is would be Jason David Frank who is a martial artist. Tommy was a character devoted to martial arts so I guess he would really love to watch Dairanger over Zyuranger. The other guess I have is Blake Anthony Foster who played the only child ranger in the Power Rangers franch...