Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

It's already known I don't like Power Rangers . I'm not GOING TO KEEP PRETENDING that I like it. However, Power Rangers was born out of a NEED because the American market is WAY DIFFERENT than the Japanese market . That's what I wrote in JEFusion before I decided to leave it while still endorsing it!  It's like a certain group of people who talk like a certain cop (warning: LOTS OF CRAZY STUFF).  Here are Shirakura's words, regardless of how I feel about Power Rangers : Shirakura observed that he joined Toei in 1990, when the company was planning the 1992 series Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. The staff back then thought that it might be the final Sentai entry. So, the younger staffers wanted to try something different, and introduced a sixth regular member mid-story for the first time in the franchise. Shirakura mused that Zyuranger becoming the loose basis for the global phenomenon Power Rangers was divine intervention (literally, "kamikaze") that led to ...

Just hearing about Shinichiro Shirakura as a lead producer for Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger can be very concerning. The track record of Shirakura as a producer (or assistant producer) for Super Sentai and Kamen Rider are as follows - Chojin Sentai Jetman (from episode 30 as an assistant producer), Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger , Gosei Sentai Dairanger , Kamen Rider Agito , Kamen Rider Ryuki , Kamen Rider Faiz , Kamen Rider Hibiki (after episode 30), Kamen Rider Den-O , Kamen Rider Decade , Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger , and Kamen Rider Zi-O. He was also notable for his involvement in the Super Hero Taisen franchise ( which he unplugged ), the rather underappreciated Kamen Rider Shin movie, and the brutal Kamen Rider Amazons mini-series. Granted, I've watched most of them, I feel like I might need to take a break from Super Sentai - it's getting evident by how dispassionate I became with the franchise from 2013-2016 and then back again in 2019. He later made an appearance in The Toys That...

It's no secret that I still view the first Super Hero Taisen with utter dislike or view it like as if Spongebob and Patrick had a fight and fan war. At first, I was excited for that film but then it ended up with one person after the other hating it. Just a bit of note to other people criticizing it - most crossover movies made by Toei are usually out of canon and are just what if scenarios.  Tokusatsu News Network translated Shinichiro Shirakura's statement as follows: We do not intend to do “Spring” movies. The “FINAL” on this one’s title refers to this as well and it concentrated the efforts for both the Winter and Spring movies.  The Amazons movie is part of another thing, separate from the main Rider movies. We would like to bring something impressive. Do I hate the SHT idea entirely? For me, I did enjoy Chou Super Hero Taisen for quite awhile, Kamen Rider Grand Prix, Super Hero Taisen Z (to a lesser extent) and Kamen Rider Grand Prix but none of those mo...

Image taken from Sentai Bandicoot Rambles I decided to read through Sentai Bandicoot Blog yet again. His blog entry is called the " The 9 Creative Eras of Super Sentai ". Right now, we could be into the "space age" of Super Sentai though I hardly think next year will be that futuristic. But here's what he says and I want to give my thoughts on it: Named after TV Asahi Producer Motoi Sasaki. While the naming of this era is subject to change, and while we’re still probably in the process of getting a grip on this new era, one thing for certain is that Super Sentai’s production focus is taking another turn. While it’s debatable how much control Sasaki has over current Sentai (or Rider for that matter), he at the moment appears to be the face of the new era for many. In this era, it’s realized that Sentai can no longer rely on just past successes to keep it afloat. And that it’ll need to do more than just coming up with simple new motifs to keep it going. If...

After writing on the seven possible factors that affect Super Sentai's performance and reception among audiences, let's try to take at some possible management mistakes that need to be resolved every now and then. This would at least help improve performance as some shows have that potential but were ruined by some management blunders. It's very important to check them out and resolve them as soon as possible. These management blunders don't really disappear but they can be minimized when corrective actions are taken. They happen every now and then. Some of them tend to get resolved and others tend to be repeated.

As part of giving tribute to 40 seasons of Super Sentai, it's time to also acknowledge the writers and producers who I believe revolutionized Super Sentai. Not that they didn't have errors. Besides, their later works also showed they had signs of burning out but let's not forget their important contributions as well. Super Sentai producers Tooru Hiriyama It would be plain rude and crude for me not to honor him considering that he's the producer of the very series that first started Super Sentai. That series was none other than Goranger which aired for 84 episodes. I'm still skeptical about watching it because I'm too used to watching Super Sentai airing for usually around just one year. But here he is, the producer that started the trend. Susumu Yoshikawa After Goranger, there were a lot of challenges on how to sustain Super Sentai for the long run. JAKQ only lasted for 35 episodes and it took two years before Super Sentai returned with Battle Fever ...

This picture by Shogo B'Stard shows how old Super Sentai has become... Toei may have had the no longer running Metal Hero series, Kamen Rider came first but had a hiatus until Kamen Rider Kuuga appeared for the Heisei era and Power Rangers so last 1993. Goranger started out as the first Sentai series running from April 5, 1975 up to March 26, 1977 and a lot of the kids who watched it may have already hit their 60s. Considering the event that Super Sentai is going to have its upcoming 40th season, I really do feel old considering that a lot of our childhood heroes have already grown old and a new generation of children has entered. This new year, I thought this would be the very first post for the year. The Susumu Yoshikawa Era While Tooru Hiriyama was the producer for Goranger, we would have the Susumu Yoshikawa era. Yoshikawa would be a lot more involved with the other Metal Hero and Kamen Rider shows such as Gavan, Sharivan, Shaider, Juspion, Spielban, first half of Meta...

Picture above taken from Them's Fightin' Words When it comes to producer Takaaki Utsunomiya - I can't help but think of the fact that he was responsible for Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Kamen Rider Wizard and Ressha Sentai ToQGer. So I'll do this bit of sharing my views on his previous works and how it might affect the next Super Sentai series namely Doubotsu Sentai Zyuohger. I liked his first two shows but the rest left me pretty mixed. I'll share my personal opinions on how he has been as a producer for Toei Ltd. His first job as a head producer for Super Sentai was with Samurai Sentai Shinkenger which is easily my favorite of this list. After the Timeranger era, Super Sentai had a new formula of being close to TV-Y7-FV standards in America in terms of allowable violence while maintaining a certain degree of Japanese culture in the shows. That was the era that was focused on experimenting on different types of multi-gattai. The quality...

It can't be denied that in every genre, there's always a copying of ideas from within or from without. While I may not be fully familiar with the Takeyuki Suzuki era, I know that the head writers were Hirohisa Soda (Goggle V up to Fiveman), Toshiki Inoue (Jetman), the late Noboru Sugimura (Zyuranger to Ohranger, mostly used for the Zordon arc). So let's get started with this speculative entry shall we? Just note that first, Power Rangers would copy from Super Sentai then later, Power Rangers would also  end up giving some ideas to Super Sentai as what I see as an act of gratitude. I. Possible influence on post-Suzuki Super Sentai? Looking at Super Sentai after Ohranger, we could start with some series that I thought had some influence from Takeyuki Suzuki and the writers who worked under him. Note I don't think all series got influeced by Suzuki's era in much but I'll share what I observed. When one starts a trend, there is always the tendency to follow...

Here's the complete list of Super Sentai producers from Shougo's blog.  On the other hand, here's a few I can really talk more or less of what I think of them because I've seen the shows: Well here's the guy responsible for the production of huge amount of outstanding shows and well "experimental seasons" or for the Hirohisa Soda of Super Sentai, when Sentai was getting its foundations built.  I guess he and Soda really were a team as well as with Toshiki Inoue (for Jetman) and the late Noboru Sugimura. Perhaps top of Fantasy Leader's list, he was with the Carranger, Megaranger and Gingaman era.  I don't like the idea why Toei fired him in the middle of Hibiki.  When we think of it, he was responsible for three shows- one that supposedly saved Sentai from cancellation namely Carranger, Megaranger and Yasuko Kobayashi's magnum in writing, Gingaman.  Kamen Rider Kuuga (with Arakawa) was a great success.  So yeah, it sucks he's gone. ...