Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

While watching Zyuohger, it's time to review on the eagle swordsmen. So here's the list aside from Yamato Kazakiri. Let's get started shall we? Takayuki Hiba/Vul Eagle II The tale of two eagles made Sun Vulcan feel it was two shows. Ryuusuke Oowashi left the set and the much better Takayuki Hiba took over. What contribution did Takayuki give to to Super Sentai? It's all about them red rangers who fought valiantly with swords . I felt like Sun Vulcan's first half was pretty boring and Ryuusuke wasn't all that interesting. I preferred Takayuki with his cool use of his katana against the Black Magma. Not even one of my favorites Takeru Shiba as a red ranger got as cool as he did. A lot of cool sword moves were introduced especially the Hiba Turning Slash. It was the start of a revolution for the sword arena. Plus, we had legendary stuntman Kazuo Niibori from Goggle V up to Jetman. He was an expert swordsman and red ranger stunt double. A lot of stunts wer...

Zyuohger has been a very enjoyable treat to the point I'm not that excited for Kamen Rider Ghost's next episode (I'd watch Kamen Rider Kiva over it). I'll admit, this week's episode was The World's redemption but we're yet to see him officially as a sixth ranger. When I looked at the first episode he made his appearance as some human experiment by Genis (Flashman shoutback?!), I think about some other episodes in Super Sentai. Super Sentai anniversaries tend to throw older fans years back at times. Gaoranger had returned several veterans for its crossover. Boukenger had an encyclopedia. Gokaiger had a lot of cast members resuming their roles. While I don't expect Gokaiger's feat and glory in Zyuohger but I'm expecting a couple more throwbacks to different eras. I'm just launched back to 1984 when the concept of a sixth ranger was still experimented on. Bioman had that episode where Shota Yamamori (played by Seiki Kurosaki) was tested...

While Grown Ups In Spandex is subbing Changeman and Flashman, I felt like the popularity of space-based science fiction like Star Trek, Star Wars and maybe some Marvel Comics series have inspired some characters. Then we had Power Rangers in Space and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy which took Power Rangers into space. Taking Super Sentai into space during the 80s...  Dengeki Sentai Changeman Some Super Sentai powers were taken from alien sources like Denziman and Bioman. Denziman was the start of space themes, Bioman was more on the science theme while having extraterrestrial technology. Changeman then had both space technology and military hardware at their disposal. Their mission is to stop Star King Bazoo from making Earth its next target. Bazoo has a "united alliance of evil" from different planets whom he rules over with an iron fist. The Changemen's severe training soon awakened the Earth Force. The five survivors of the Gozma's initial attack managed...

Considering that Zyuohger is an anniversary season, I guess the series now takes place in the VS. Universe instead of being standalone. This does pose some problems because in Super Sentai, dinosaur extinction varied from show to show. Zyuranger has it as Bandora's fault. Abaranger has it that the dinosaurs were merely transported into another dimension so they're not really extinct. Boukenger has it as Hyde Gene's fault. Go-onger has it as Horonderthal's fault. Kyoryuger has it that the virus, cold and heat trio of the Deboss killed the dinosaurs. So I wonder how are events supposedly reconciled in the whole VS. Universe or are they treated the same way as Super Robot Wars games?! Back to the three mentors and the Zyuohgers. After reading the news from JEFusion  that the three anthropomorphic mentors namely Doggie Kruger, Sha Fu and Torin showing up for the movie, I'm not too surprised either. There's some details that one could see when it came to Tokusatsu...

Considering that Misao Mondo/Zyuoh The World is an anniversary Super Sentai sixth ranger, I thought of writing this post concerning his predecessors. The appearance of yet another sixth ranger having the power of three in Zyuohger is no surprise to me at all! Misao is powered by three Zyumen and has a wolf, crocodile and rhino as part of his symbols. Let's take a look back at the others who have the power of three as well. Shirogane/Gao Silver (25th Anniversary) Gao Silver is the very first sixth ranger who gets a combining mecha instead of a regular non-combining mecha. This may be because Gaoranger is the start of the multi-gattai era and the may be the beginning of a new era of Super Sentai. The Gao Hunter is a combining robot composed of Gao Wolf, Gao Alligator and Gao Hammerhead. He's the very first sixth hero to have not one but three assigned mecha at once. Fair enough, the Gaorangers were getting more than one Gao Animal in their inventory so the sixth rang...

So I read from Tokusatsu News Network a couple of days ago that Jetman, not Carranger saved Super Sentai . I still remembered the shock I had when I realized this fact: Fiveman wasn't well-received and the show was problematic during its airing. I even think that as much as I want to see Fiveman all over again, I still think that GoGoFive is miles better as a family-based Super Sentai. There was the Hirohisa Soda era where he served as the head writer for Goggle V, Dynaman, Bioman, Changeman, Flashman, Maskman, Liveman, Turboranger and Fiveman for nine consecutive seasons. He started to show signs of burning out during Turboranger and met his inevitable burnout during Fiveman. Fiveman nearly cancelled Super Sentai so I guess Jetman was meant to be a "finale" but instead, it opened up another era. Producer Takeyuki Suzuki soon worked with Toshiki Inoue for Chojin Sentai Jetman. The Soda era came to its closure with the great writer meeting his inevitable burnout. I...

After watching GoGoFive's finale arc and remembering Fiveman's finale arc, I thought I might bring up the topic of Empress Meadow and Grand Witch Grandienne. So how were both handled in their respective series? What you see might be my severe and harsh criticism of some of Fiveman's weaker sides as a Super Sentai series. Then again, GoGoFive has its own series of weaknesses too. As said, I'm having a much easier time comparing GoGoFive to Fiveman since Lightspeed Rescue has a much different approach with its team members.  Warning: Spoilers ahead! Read at your own risk!