Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

It's almost the month's end in May, and summer vacation memories are coming to an END. The Super Sentai hiatus made me rewrite IBC-13's bad scheduling . I didn't realize that a short trip to Toy Kingdom suddenly reminded me of another childhood of lies -- them old Bandai merchandise overload in the 1990s! A trip to Toy Kingdom at my current age made me think of the Toys R Us jingle. I could talk about the older merchandise that hit the toy stores like the once huge SM Toy Store, the now-defunct Nova Fontana, and SM's very own Toy Kingdom. It was the 1990s, and I thought about the toy overload. A 1990s child might remember the "joy" was that running and hurrying home to watch that Sunday kiddie show on IBC-13. One may have remembered screaming and crying over a missed episode. One may remember talking about the excitement that was the hero saving the day. Sadly, IBC-13 treated the shows like they were "forever status quo" even if the shows were m...

As an adult, a lot of stuff either start to make me either cherish them or berate them. Ohranger became that massive toy commercial . The same goes as the Buu Saga went from 1994-1995 . It could be explained that the Sarin Gas incident caused the ratings to lower down. However, it turns out that Ohranger wasn't the show that NEARLY killed Super Sentai -- it was Fiveman . Fiveman still got Vindicated by History even when GoGoFive is miles better. Ohranger was really trying to stay afloat. The show had to go on and it's safe to assume everyone was in panic mode. The show starts off as normal. However, one could see that the show slowly gave tribute to the various Megazord combinations when the late Noboru Sugimura was the head writer. I couldn't help but point them out all the more when I discovered more of Super Sentai at 16 years old! I was fascinated by the Power Rangers Zeo toys for some time. Today, I'm going to think about how the toy overload affected Ohranger'...

I don't find myself all too enthusiastic about Boonboomger  as I did with last year's King-Ohger. The evidence is that I do random posts over weekly reviews. I'd like to focus on a bit of the BLATANT product placement. Product placements are common practice. These can be seen in stuff like McDonald's in the cult hit classic Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) or Krispy Kreme with Power Rangers (2017) movie.  The episode also features Hinami Mori as Flint Goldstuiker Aki Nogi. I did that strikeout on purpose since there are cases of Same Celebrity Different Characters in Super Sentai . Power Rangers managed to cast some of its previous alumni into different characters too. Aki is Mira Shifuto's classmate. I'm glad that despite Jun Shishon making a cameo as his Right Suzuki in Ressha Sentai ToQGer -- Hinami isn't resuming her role as Flint to avoid having too many Ranger History Lessons !  It may not be December but Christmas decorations are found at Toys R Us. It...

Here's a video of Brennan Mejia of Power Rangers Dino Charge reviewing the American toys vs. Japanese toys . Does Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger have some huge hype going on last 2013 or past it? Maybe I missed it last 2013 because I had Super Sentai taste fatigue. The  Kyoryuger hype and bandwagon might be just there. A Kyoryuger official English sub may be next! I'm no fan of Kyoryuger but I can understand the hype with the cool action scenes by Koichi Sakamoto. Knowing the cultural differences between America and Japan is one. The Power Rangers episode in The Toys That Made Us helped me understand why Toei allows Power Rangers to exist. I don't like Power Rangers but I understood why it had to exist. The American market and the Japanese market are two different settings. The 1990s were a different era. It's already the 2020s and the digital age is here. This video feels more like a subject for international marketing on cultural differences. In a sense, Power Rangers is st...

Super Sentai isn't any different from any superhero show product placement. Product placements help give the show the budget it needs to go higher. Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger has an unusually huge budget like it's some anniversary season - when it isn't! I wasn't surprised when the mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe finally went to Ishabana. Sure, we've had a lot of product placements such as the use of Suzuki and Mazda cars in the older Super Sentai series. We've had a lot of product placements left and right but this is the first time Toys R Us' made a very blatant product placement. If I'm not wrong, it also never got involved in any of the other franchises Toei has - not even the American Power Rangers and Toys R Us is an AMERICAN toy company that did something as blatant as this. Toys R Us was key to the success of the Bandai-Toei-Saban Alliance back in the 1990s. It would be proper to watch the Power Rangers episode of the Netflix show The Toys That Made Us...

Mandarake Some time ago, I remembered writing about seeing them Japanese Bandai toys WHILE Mighty Morphin' aired  in the Philippines. I could remember how there were also the Kamen Rider BLACK and Kamen Rider BLACK RX toys on display. I remembered how there was the now-closed Nova Fontana, Toy Kingdom, SM Toystore - you name it! Newer Super Sentai entries were no longer aired by then. I heard it's because the royalties of Super Sentai have been higher plus it could be Toei Ltd.'s decision that Power Rangers would be aired in the Philippines instead. I guess a certain group of people who say I should just accept Toei Ltd.'s decisions BLINDLY fail to see their beloved network is behind the show they hate. Okay, I'm getting sadistic but such people aren't worth my time or worth joining even if I still dislike Power Rangers .  I remembered seeing the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers  commercial back in the 1990s. It was that time that Haim Saban finally had the rig...

  I was thinking about the record of low Super Sentai toy sales. One such show that had it coming was Shuriken Sentai Ninninger - a show that was SOOOOOO BAD that it took the horridness of Power Rangers Ninja Steel to "bail" it out! Now, I was thinking about Bandai Namco's record for this year  which really makes you think about it. Kamen Rider is somewhat "still going strong" for a reason that it beats both Ultraman and Kamen Rider. I confess, I haven't been watching Ultraman and my preferences have slowly migrated to South Korea while I still love Japanese products. A record of total toy sales which would show that Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger had better toy sales than Kaito Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Patranger . I speculated it based on the economies of scale that perhaps, Kyuranger toys were doing much better so there was a surplus. Some toy buyers probably bought the Kyuranger toys a year later while Lupinranger vs. Patranger was airing that same ...

The 90s were simpler times but also the times when the Internet was very limited and VERY EXPENSIVE. Who can remember the times of the dial-up Internet or when using the Internet meant you can't accept calls? It was also that annoying dialing sound and if you wanted faster Internet - you had to GO THE INTERNET CAFE. Well, we never had any Internet connection in our house until I was in high school. Then again, when we did, DIAL-UP CARDS which were very ANNOYING. The 90s was also the era of a lot of new stuff popping out. Being in the Philippines after the post-martial law years was something. New video games, new shows, new cartoons (which back then still had some quality check), and the rise of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was the thing. So, it was that time when Super Sentai got overshadowed due to the fact that the information age was in its infancy. I did just mention that dial-up Internet was still the thing before the Digital Subscriber Line came in, right?  Before Might...

It's time for another Ryusoulger review. Right now, I can't make up my mind on whether or not I'm taking a break from said show. But tentatively, I might take my break on September 20, 2019, up to the time the K-Drama Vagabond ends. That means just don't expect my reaction on Ryusoulger updates OR just expect them to be slow. This week isn't that interesting for me but maybe for the kiddos. Personally, these recaps can be a nice break OR I simply don't care. I decided to watch in hopes of catching up with the show's mythologies! The episode beginneth with Creon and Wizeru. Wizeru talketh about his Menasaurs. However, Wizeru has a really diabolical plan. He doth mention Sun Tzu's Art of War. But as said, this guy tends to lack an intelligent plan that could've killed the Ryusoulgers but the show must go on! Bits of the show's lore are explained here. Koh does mention that he could hear the Ryu Souls. They are told that when a Ryu Sou...

I didn't want to write this post immediately but I decided that I may want to at least give my speculation to what happened. Remember this is partly speculative though I got said news from the Tokusatsu Network . Here's what's being said about the current standing between Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (and Ultraman is listed to) in terms of Bandai merchandise sales: First quarter sales in the current fiscal year associated with Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger posted the lowest first figures in recorded history for the franchise. Super Sentai is reported to have made 1.4 billion yen in the first quarter with forecasts of 3.0 billion yen in the first half and a full year forecast of 10.5 billion yen. Ultraman is reported as having made 0.7 billion yen in its first quarter with a forecast of 2.5 billion yen for the first half of the financial year, making it just the second time Ultraman will have outperformed a Super Sentai series. The current show, U...