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I've gotten so used to the sophisticated wit and characterization of Lupin VS Pat and the intense drama of Gingaman and GoGo-V (not to mention Kamen Rider Build) that I'm bracing myself for the culture shock of going back to Super Ninja Steel's shallow, sitcommy writing. It's still hard to believe this series is from the same showrunner who made Power Rangers so effective and so much like Super Sentai in the years from Turbo to Time Force.
I've gotten so used to the sophisticated wit and characterization of Lupin VS Pat and the intense drama of Gingaman and GoGo-V (not to mention Kamen Rider Build) that I'm bracing myself for the culture shock of going back to Super Ninja Steel's shallow, sitcommy writing. It's still hard to believe this series is from the same showrunner who made Power Rangers so effective and so much like Super Sentai in the years from Turbo to Time Force.
Grease Blizzard was a joy to watch, and those last few minutes were really tugging at the heart strings. What a beautiful scene between Kazumi and Misora. The aftermath was wonderful too. Just... damn.
Utsumi was a cyborg? Say What? Interesting that it was jokingly poked fun at in a previous episode recap. Now it's fact
Kaho Takada might be one of the best actress/actor we've had in recent Kamen Riders in recent years. That's some of the best snotty, ugly crying I've seen in a tokusatsu show so far
I realized that Sento's plan to stop Evolt by merging two Earths is basically a variation on his old mentor Mogami's plan from the crossover movie, although in a less destructive way, presumably.
I haven't seen any other KRs yet for comparison, but I agree, she's remarkably powerful.
It's still discordant for me when the goofy, toyetic tech designs and attacks and the video-gamey music and bombastic voice clips distract from the powerful, poignant dramatic moments. But the latter are strong enough that the goofy stuff doesn't overwhelm them.
That last establishing shot of the city around the tower was shocking. Most of it's already been destroyed. That's a staggering loss of life. I'm starting to see the resolution to the question of how to merge the two worlds' populations. At this rate, there won't be anyone left alive on the World of Build except the main characters. Even if they do defeat Evolt, it'll be kind of a Pyrrhic victory.
Man, I must really have not been paying attention. I only just saw the news from February about the next PR season. I also only just read that Hasbro bought PR from Saban.
This is a first too... going *backward* for a show to adapt, with Go-busters. While a neat idea, I just hope Hasbro never decides to do the same with ToQger.
Super Ninja Steel's shallow, sitcommy writing. It's still hard to believe this series is from the same showrunner who made Power Rangers so effective and so much like Super Sentai in the years from Turbo to Time Force.
I agree wholeheartedly with Christopher here. Though to be honest though the average quality of the writing would jump up a few points if they abandoned the Victor and Monty bits altogether. I mean, holy crap are those bits were especially awful. I mean, they escaped the ship thanks to Monty's uncontrollable farting. Farting. Seriously I wanted to throw something at the TV at that point.
I just finished GoGo-V on Shout! Factory, and I liked it just as much as Gingaman, if not more. It had strong and effective writing and good characterizations, though I admit I had some trouble keeping the middle brothers Shou and Daimon straight. The team being a family, with all the bickering and baggage that entails but with an unbreakable bond uniting and inspiring them, was an effective variation on the team dynamic. It was interesting that the villains, the Psyma or Saima Demon Clan (saima being Japanese for "calamity"), were also a family, three brothers and a sister (and their butler) trying to please their cold and distant archvillain mother, reflecting the four Tatsumi brothers and their sister working with their reserved but fundamentally caring father. Especially toward the end, they really played up the contrast between the Tatsumi's loving bond and the Psyma family's mutual betrayals and hatreds -- although what was really interesting was how some of the Psymas actually did care for each other, making for some moments that were surprisingly touching.
I said at the start that I liked the emphasis on rescue work, but wondered if they'd manage to keep that up or would end up focusing mainly on the fighting. I'd say that they did tend to focus less on rescues as the series went on, but they didn't abandon the theme altogether, and they made a point of bringing it back in the finale. I did find myself wishing at times that they'd done more with the individual 99 Machines doing rescue work, instead of just recycling the exact same footage from the first episode over and over. It would've given it a nice Thunderbirds flavor.
Also, it bugs me a bit that
they showed the Tatsumis going back to their original jobs as firefighter, cop, paramedic, etc. after the Psyma were defeated. I know it's the standard Sentai formula for the team to go back to their regular lives at the end, but in this case it didn't really make sense, given that the GoGo-V systems were designed for rescue work as much as for fighting monsters. Even without monster invasions, the Anti-Hazard Suits, Life Bird, 99 Machines, and other technologies would still be of invaluable benefit to emergency workers. It seems like it would make sense to keep GoGo-V intact as a special rescue force, and even expand to include new members (like poor Kyouko, who wanted to join the team but was excluded for no good reason that I could see).
By the way, it occurred to me... This series aired during 1999-2000 and was overtly set at the same time, with the Kyuukyuu Sentai name being a pun on the homophones for "99" and "Emergency." They even did a New Year's episode in which the Y2K bug was a plot point. But Ohranger four years earlier was also set in 1999. So were both the Baranoia Empire and the Psyma Clan invading Earth at the same time? Super Sentai continuity is a mess.
Apparently Timeranger came out on DVD last month, but I'd assume that Shout! Factory's "Summer of Sentai" is only June-August, so I don't know when they might release it online. All I can find is a blog entry from August 6 saying that more seasons would be streaming "shortly."
Meanwhile, Jetman comes out on DVD next month, the first time Shout! Factory will release a pre-Power Rangers Sentai season.
Well here we go. It was a Sakuya/Touma episode with Sakuya being manipulated into thinking he was taking martial arts lessons. Sakuya was in reality being duped by this weeks ganglar. It was nice at least Touma let Sakuya exact his revenge. I'm sure this episode will be skipped due to the mecha aerobics.
LupinCollection piece was easy to spot. It was Dragon Ranger's/MMPR Green ranger's dagger/ Zyuuosouken. I'm surprised JDF didn't walk in and try to steal it back
Well at least this episode was slightly better than episode 11
As a bonus for getting through that episode. Here's Ohranger robo and Red Puncher dancing
Okay, that was a weird but fun one. Sakuya was dumber than usual, but he caught on eventually. And Tooma's confusion and slow burns were the highlights of the episode.
I noticed that after destroying the monster, the PatRangers used the same "Nimmu kanryou" ("Mission complete") finishing phrase that GoGo-V used at the end of their robot battles (and also, in English, as the closing caption of their episodes). I don't recall them using that phrase here before.
Okay, that was a weird but fun one. Sakuya was dumber than usual, but he caught on eventually. And Tooma's confusion and slow burns were the highlights of the episode.
I noticed that after destroying the monster, the PatRangers used the same "Nimmu kanryou" ("Mission complete") finishing phrase that GoGo-V used at the end of their robot battles (and also, in English, as the closing caption of their episodes). I don't recall them using that phrase here before.
Hmm, somehow I didn't recognize that it was the same phrase. Normally the word kanryou (complete) stands out for me, because it was in the GoBusters theme song and their victory phrase ("Shutdown kanryou"). So it's odd that I didn't notice it in LvP.
No footage of the new cast, just Sentai footage, although it looks like they've given the evil virus a new form (unless I'm forgetting something from GoBusters). The story premise sounds much the same as GoBusters.
No footage of the new cast, just Sentai footage, although it looks like they've given the evil virus a new form (unless I'm forgetting something from GoBusters). The story premise sounds much the same as GoBusters.
Also tomorrow it's back to school! Well not really. Just back to "Ninja Steel" which felt like a summer holiday of sentai and Kamen Rider while it was gone.
Okay episode of LvP -- entertaining as usual, but not a standout. They barely did anything with the aging gimmick -- I expected we'd see one or more of the Rangers get aged, but they didn't bother with it, so it's unclear what purpose it even served. And the new Collection piece's "Magic" power is really weird.
As for Build,
it's still being very intense and dramatic and all, but after Kazumin's sacrifice last week, seeing two more Kamen Riders heroically sacrifice themselves didn't have the same impact -- it just felt a bit repetitive. And I'm not even sure it's going to stick, since we know from the Zi-O trailers that Banjou is still around in the next series. Well, I guess there won't be any more heroic sacrifices, since next week is the finale and it will presumably be focused on how the whole universe-merging thing plays out. (Somehow I thought there would be 50 episodes in all, but apparently not.)
Well, today's Super Ninja Steel return episode was pretty much as expected -- lightweight, fluffy, rushing through the villain plot and Megazord fight, with even the introduction of the new "Blazords" (as in Blaze + Zord, a clumsy name) being rushed. There was a kind of nice attempt to do a story about how what made the Rangers worthy was that they helped people in need rather than just being fighters, but the execution was at the usual superficial level.
The main point of interest was the three mysterious hooded figures who showed up to help the Rangers, the lead one of whom was clearly speaking in Jason David Frank's voice despite the vocal distortion. Clearly this was a setup for Tuesday night's anniversary special. The one surprising bit was their final scene where we saw that Tommy (oops, we're not supposed to know it's Tommy yet) was wearing a Time Force Chrono Morpher. That's got me curious for Tuesday night.
The one surprising bit was their final scene where we saw that Tommy (oops, we're not supposed to know it's Tommy yet) was wearing a Time Force Chrono Morpher. That's got me curious for Tuesday night.
Maybe, but it sounded like Jason Frank's speech rhythm to me. He has a pretty recognizable voice that a bit of electronic distortion couldn't hide. Perhaps there's a story reason why he and Kat (I assume she was the female hooded figure) are using Time Force tech. Besides, we see Tommy holding his original Green Ranger Power Morpher in a publicity photo, but in the trailer we see him as the Black Dino Ranger. So he's evidently not limited to using one Ranger system.
