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02-04-2016, 01:26 PM | #6821 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,527
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I often hear old school fans say Changeman is Best Sentai, while newer fans seem to love Liveman. Prob has to do with sub availability. |
02-08-2016, 05:22 PM | #6822 |
TN's Resident Gunpla Nut
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 8,955
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Picked up the Dairanger DVD a few days ago so I've been enjoying that.
Was kids getting into trouble a common thing back in 90s sentai? Cause I'm noticing a trend between Zyuranger and Dairanger... Still, they toned it way the hell down with Dairanger and for that I'm thankful. The action is great, though I can't help but feel that someone working on this show watched a little too much Star Wars. |
02-09-2016, 12:19 AM | #6823 |
Sky Henshin!
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Henderson, NV
Posts: 4,778
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I am enjoying the hell out of Liveman, though I am intrigued with Changeman, I guess it might be depending on the person. I haven't found an 80's Sentai that I haven't loved so.
Flashman episodes 6 and 7: I liked episode 6 a lot more than I was expecting. I liked how everyone worked together to get Jin's bike working so they had something to beat the monster. Mainly I liked the teamwork aspect of it showing that the combined pieces of their broken bikes could create something that could work. Jin and Dai were both pretty awesome here. Episode 7 was Bun's focus episode which was a lot of fun with them learning about Balloons lol. I enjoyed that they learned more about things from Earth, and that Bun was wondering what his life would have been like if he wasn't captured. I enjoyed that they think about that stuff. The monster annoyed me in this episode so I'm they just wiped it out pretty easily. Overall enjoying it so far and Mess are interesting villains so I can't wait for more.
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02-09-2016, 01:11 AM | #6824 |
Neppu Yarou.
Join Date: May 2014
Location: TN
Posts: 951
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Just so everyone knows, I'm getting into end series territory here for Maskman, and I have spoilers out the ass in these reviews. Just saying.
Also I planned on reviewing more episodes here but this got kinda long and I've been holding off on this for too long. 42 The focus of this episode is on a young boy named Yuske. He's bullied, cowardly etc. Two bullies in particular pick on him, but Yukse's friend, Kaori, comes to defend him, but this just changes the bullies' target. Yuske is too cowardly to stand up for Kaori, but Takeru shows up to make the bullies buzz off. Yuske is ashamed of his cowardliness and runs way. But hey, it could be worse. Could be raining. After that series of unfortunate events, Yuske takes refuge in a near by cave from a storm. There, he gets hungry and finds some mushrooms. This doesn't lead to a trip, but does lead to him being confronted by Barabara. Turns out the mushrooms are products of Tube called power rolls, which are essentially Popeye's spinach. They increase the users power 10,000 times, and they take ten years to grow. Yuske grabs what few mushrooms there are and runs. Some Tube mooks go after him, but Yuske has become quite powerful and takes them out without even realizing it. Maskmen arrive, fight monsters, Yuske escapes, yadda-yadda. They check up on Yuske, who is of course fine. The team decides to keep an eye on him since it's a little odd for Tube to concern themselves with a kid. The next day, Yuske and Kaori are confronted by the bullies again, but this time Yuske isn't running. He actively taunts them, picks them up and then throws them to the ground. Later in the day, the older brother of one of the bullies confronts Yuske and tries too hit him...only to be poked and sent flying about 60 feet. Not 5 seconds later a Goddamned armed robbery takes place. Yuske stops the car, rips the door off, catches bullets fired at him, and then flips the car. Damn. A bit afterwards, Kaori gets uppity with Yuske, saying he's different, and that the Yuske she knows was kind. The hell is she even talking about? Yukse up to this point hasn't shown anything to imply that he is no longer a good person. At worst, he defends himself and he makes smarmy comments to (keyword here) assholes. The two bullies, the much older and bigger brother of one of the bullies who tried to punch Yuske, and a Goddamned armed robber who shot at him. Hell, that last one shows that he goes beyond only defending himself and actively uses his powers for good, since he interjected himself to stop said robber. He hasn't used his strength to selfishly get things he wants like strong arming a candy shop owner, or even to gain fame. The stupidest thing he's done is go after a criminal without knowing if he himself was bullet proof. Regardless, he still just beats up jerks that have it coming. So I have no idea what Kaori's problem is or why it's brought up. To quote of all things, Mickey Mouse "Nice is not the same as wimpy". Really the only point behind this was to get Kaori to runaway so Tube could capture her. Which they could have done at any point she was away from Yuske... *sigh* Screw it, I'm summarizing the rest of this. Kaori kidnapped. Tube want Super Mushrooms. Speech from Takeru about finding real strength but is still kinda half-assed. Yuske loses powers. Finds courage to save Kaori. Mushrooms destroyed. Fight. Boom. Big. Rawr. Boom. Look this isn't a bad episode, it's just remarkably mediocre and below average as best. Nothing offended me, it's occasionally head scratching, it's four in the morning at the time pf typing this, and I've got other much better episodes to rewatch/review. 43 So in thia episode we have Kiros and a Doggler(Giza) making use of bloodstained soil, in which the legendary Lizar Doggler bled. Yes, Lizar Doggler was so powerful that even his blood can be weaponized. Once again, Zeba bleeds green goop and takes off. Anagmas points out this is no coincidence. The last time Zeba retreated, Kiros had opened Lizar's tomb and sunlight hit it. Now it's bloodstained soil coming into contact with the light. Elsewhere, Akira is riding his bike when he is suddenly assaulted by red bricks, causing him to wreck in a nearby train yard. I really just typed that out. Kiros is specifically targeting Akira for interfering with his original search for Lizar. Akira is able to defend against flying bricks about as well as you'd expect(He even takes one in a less than pleasant area), and is eventually trapped in a Pyramid made of the blood bricks by Giza (heh) Doggler, just as the Maskmen arrive. While trapped inside the pyramid, Akira hears strange cult like chanting. We bare witness the origin of this sound at a gathering, which has many people in fully hooded white robes, chanting in front of a snake like statue and burning sketches of what appears to be Akira. This is legitimately creepy and I dig the hell out of it. The constant chanting causes Akira a great deal of distress, screaming out in agony. The rest of the Maskmen hear his cries but are unable to do much against the pyramid, not to mention Kiros and Giza's interference. Takeru basically figures "screw it" and just calls in the Jet Cannon- which flies into the freaking pyramid. This succeeds in dismantling it, however Akira is suffering some side effects. The chanting continues as well as his distress from it, and on top of that, he is now blind. Akira's reaction is about as harsh as one would expect, leaving the team, and even Kiros, wondering just what the hell happened in there. Kiro's tries to take advantage of Akira's current state, but is held of by Kenta and the rest. Unfortunately this means the blind man wanders aimlessly around the train yard. Akira ends up getting his foot caught in the train tracks, and yeah, train is a commin'. Obviously he gets out but I like how future scenes show that he has a torn sock and a bloody foot as a consequence. Akira decides that- inspite of his condition, he will fight alongside his friends. He rips the sleeve off his shirt, ties a blindfold around his head(I guess just as a mental thing) Awesome. He gets kicked around a bit by Kiros, but soon begins to focus as much as he can on the sounds around him. He ends up getting a punch on Kiros and cutting up a few of the blood bricks from Giza. Interestingly, the bricks leak a green goop. Members of Tube observing the battle notice it is the same as Zeba's, which leads Ingam to proclaim Zeba is Lizar, only to be told off by Anagmas. If that wasn't enough, the chant Akira is hearing is also heard by Igam, who recognizes it, and as soon as that happens, Akira can no longer hear the voices. Big fight scene. I haven't talked much about fight scenes, and part of that is just because reviewing fights scenes in a show that has a lot of them gets redundant. Basically unless a fight scene is extremely impressive, really bad, or plays a role in a key character's demise, they can be summed up mostly as satisfactory. This one is a little different in that it's handled really well given the circumstances surrounding Akira. We saw earlier Akira focusing on sounds, but this doesn't suddenly make him fight like before. He still gets hit a lot more than he normally would. Sometimes he can block an attack, other times he cannot. This remains consistent throughout the episode and I really appreciate that his handicap wasn't just trivial after a certain point. There's also some pretty good camera work with panning around, along with some neat tricks from Akira, like firing his gun while in the holster, and doing an incredibly sensible thing by blocking the monster's attack with one hand and stabbing him with the other. Giza makes a last ditch effort by encasing himself in a pyramid. Boom, grow, decent short mech battle in which Giza gets slung around, that's always fun. But the really interesting part is by the end of all this, Akira is still blind, and the voices are back, causing him anguish once more. This was a really damn good episode. I have nothing to complain about here. Things mesh the way they should, there's questions raised that make me want to watch more episodes, there's some sort of lasting impact from the events, characters acted the way they should. Best part is the next three are also really good. 44. Akira is of course still blind, but he's determined to still be an asset to the team and not be held back. He's training with the rest of the team, encouraging them not to hold back. Kenta and Takeru fire cannon balls at him. Yes. Really. Akira holds up pretty well at first, able to judged their location and slice a few. However the second barrage doesn't go as well. To make matters worse, the cult-like chants begins again. Sure enough, the hooded figures are praying to the snake like statue, which begins to glow. Suddenly, Armor Doggler appears from the statue, and Igam arrives as well. He chastises the group, referring to them as deserters, and that their praying for the Legendary saviour/hero Unas, is pointless, as the tale is just a myth. The real Unas is in actuality a powerful warrior loyal to the Igam family. As it turn out, only Armor Doggler can find him. Most surprising is that the Doggler heads to the surface. The monster's way of finding Unas is...kinda dumb actually. The armor that the Doggler wears floats away and attaches itself to a person, and if it doesn't take(which also injures the target) It's not Unas. This seems very time consuming. To an extent I guess the targets may have something in common, in that they're all active in some way. A Jogger, a dirt bike rider, a soccer player, and a martial artist. Though really only the last two make any great deal of sense. The Maskmen(minus Akira) respond to the Doggler who- get this, is attacking a Bus Driver. Yeah, sure that guy could be a warrior. Takeru shoots the the Doggler, but the blasts bounce right off. Igam states that the armor is unbreakable, and whoever "fits it" actually becomes Unas. Huh. Meanwhile, Akira is stumbling his way through town(Could no one at base watch him?) The armor suddenly leaves the Doggler, flying far and attaching itself to Akira, and curing his blindness in the process. Everyone is shocked by this, including Igam, since this apparently means Akira is originally from the Underground Empire. With Akira now completely under Igam's control, he immediately orders him to attack. Akira by in large starts beating ass, in particular giving Kenta a pretty bad gash on his leg. The Armor not only makes him highly resistant, but also gives him powers, like shooting lightning out of his mouth. Because of course. The team is taken aback at the fact their team mate and close friend, the most light hearted out of the group no less, is so drastically ruthless now. Commander Sugata is also in shock, because he likely brought on a citizen of the underground without even knowing. A member of the Underground Empire watches the events unfold. She runs up to Unas, begging with him, claiming that he's supposed to be a warrior of justice. Unas goes to stab her, but she is saved by Haruka. She and the Maskmen escape to a nearby building in a wooden area, as Igam, the Doggler and Fumin, search. There, the citizen explains that her name is Ise, and that she and many others hid deep underground when Zeba took over. Her and the rest of the refugees prayed for the return on Unas, a legendary knight said to protect citizens of the Underground. However, since the Igam family holds control over Unas, it seems their last hope for salvation has been lost. Shortly there after, the Maskmen are found and a fight ensues. Sugata encourages the team not to give up on Akira, that he fought hard for the team even when he was blind. Now its their turn to fight hard for Akira and save him. Dear lord the fight that follows is short but awesome. The team use their double attack move on the Doggler, followed by Red Mask coming down from the skies, riding the Goddamn jet cannon(Yes this still looks awesome to me) And the music, the music is so good here. I really hope I can find an extended version.(Note:It's "Aura Road, Spurt.") Anyway, monster go boom, grows, and they summon Land Galaxy. They attempt using the Spartan Dash, but the monster is able to block it since they're not at full power with the loss of Akira(not sure how that is since Galaxy Robo doesn't draw power from the team). One may also wonder why not use Great Five instead, since it is capable of forming even with a member down. But remember, it's also really dangerous to do that since it A: Gains power from the team. And B:Requires everyone to be at their station to function(Ep. 20). So Galaxy Robo is still the better option...even if the explanation given is clunky. The MOW manages to capture GR in a net and then attempts to drop kick it, but Galaxy Robo grabs his feet and slings him around like Bowser. After this, they use the finishing move and monster go bye-bye. Now, the scene following is...pretty dumb. Igam, Fumin, and Unas are atop a small hill, taunting the four remaining Maskmen. Why don't they attack? They're right there, the Maskmen are weak right now. I get that this is meant to be symbolic in a way, but there's a way of doing that without having the heroes and villains literally 20 feet from one another. UGH. Despite some head scratching moments, there was still a lot of really great moments in this episode, which ultimately I feel outweighs the more puzzling aspects. There's still plenty of questions to be answered in future episodes concerning Akira, Zeba, and Igam(in fact the preview sets that up) and this does make me want to find out more. Also, I've already finished Maskman, but I will be posting reviews of the remaining episodes later down the line. As for my current viewings I've moved on to Timeranger. I'm already about 11 episodes in and I'm not going to be reviewing those. I will however summarize. I adore this series so far. The quality of the writing is excellent. Each member of the team has already had at least one episode focused on them. Yuuri is quickly becoming one of my favorite pinks. The show has darker yet well handled and written subjects while also still being humorous and fun. Most people in the series actually have common sense. And unless something stupid happens, I would totally buy an entire figuart team because I'm digging all the characters(*sigh*). The only thing that worries me is that these episodes have been so good that I'm wondering is later episodes can keep it up. |
02-11-2016, 08:39 PM | #6825 |
King of the Rolex
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Digital World
Posts: 452
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I'm at Gekiranger episode 13 and I gotta say the show has finally grabbed my interest after the so-so Five Venom Fists storyline. I think Retsu and Mele are my favorite characters so far but that might change because I've heard good things about GekiViolet.
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02-11-2016, 09:37 PM | #6826 |
Stronger Than You
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: nyet
Posts: 25,326
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It makes sense, since I think that's the point where the story really begins.
While I love the 5 deadly venoms personally, it seems a lot of others see them as dull and negligible, which bums me out since, aside from Braco, they were rather energetic characters.
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02-12-2016, 01:59 PM | #6827 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,527
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I'm STILL grinding my way through Megaranger. Have about 5 episodes left.
While there's a lot to like about the show, I find myself with so little enthusiasm to watch it. I guess my issue is it all feels very boilerplate? Like, there's very little that sets it apart from baseline, average sentai. I feel like the heroes being high school students should make things feel less generic than they do, but here I am, in snoozeville. The villains are also pretty one-note, but at least Yugande looks cool as hell (I remember back when I was a kid, the Ecliptor action figure was the only villain toy I ever bought). Megaranger kind of feels like a 90s version of Maskman-- which was, until now, the most generic Sentai series I've seen. I think Megaranger would have benefited from being the 3rd or 4th Sentai show I watched, as opposed to the 16th. At this point, I just need more variation from the norm, I guess. I was really looking forward to the Neziranger arc, but aside from the NeziBlue spotlight episode, I was pretty disappointed. In a way, it reminded me of the disappointment I felt when Ninninger introduced Great Western Youkai as big threats but ultimately featured them as disposable grunts. The Nezirangers were kind of nothing more than glorified MOTWs. Still, great episodes pop up every so often, and that makes the show worthwhile. I guess I just like my sentai with a little more weirdness. Gingaman is next on my list. Hopefully, that satisfies my craving for weird shit. |
02-12-2016, 02:12 PM | #6828 |
Stronger Than You
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: nyet
Posts: 25,326
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Aside from Yuusaku out of suit and Kubota, Megaranger really didn't leave much of an impression on me. It was so underwhelmingly average that it just kind of faded into the background.
While I can easily say that it's not a bad show to watch, it's hard to justify the 5 or 6 more interesting episodes as making it worthwhile.
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02-12-2016, 02:29 PM | #6829 |
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Location: Los Angeles
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Aside from Yuusaku out of suit and Kubota, Megaranger really didn't leave much of an impression on me. It was so underwhelmingly average that it just kind of faded into the background.
While I can easily say that it's not a bad show to watch, it's hard to justify the 5 or 6 more interesting episodes as making it worthwhile. |
02-12-2016, 04:08 PM | #6830 |
Immortal thumbs ups
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 196
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I'm just going to hear by state that Megaranger(and Carranger) is by far my favorite Sentai series I've seen
The theme of the series really works for the time period. There was a lot of experimentation and new ideas put into Megaranger and the technology idea really worked, it was very unique and the season did have the technology/space ideas flowing through it, and it worked considering how in the 1990's people were starting to use technology more and more and slowly integrating it into their everyday lives. The High School aspect of the season really worked with the technology idea, considering when the characters grow up, technology would've been integrated into their lives. The cast is seriously awesome, an extremely likable bunch who portrayed awesome characters, this is legit one of those seasons where I loved all the characters. And we see the growth of these characters, accidentally being thrown into an interdimensional battle and dealing with the struggles of High School, and we see them mature and fight against evil. And each goes through their own struggles, Kenta with leadership and fitting in the Digiken, Kouichiro taking things too seriously, Shun trying to accomplish his dream, Chisato with college admission and her grandma, and Miku trying to be something else than Miku, and it just makes the characters feel more relatable too. They do have their funny moments, but know when to prioritize. Kubota's mentorship is also a great part, offers a father like relationship with the five and really cares about their futures and does anything to make sure nothing happens, because he realizes that he may be leading them to their own death. Yuusaku was a cool guy, a connection from INET to the youthful Megarangers and kinda was a wise mentor to the Megaranger, and he was a great way to introduce a sixth in a period like that. The villains are kinda underdeveloped you could say, Javious was as useless as Dezmuzoryla in Abaranger but Dr. Hinelar's experimentation, logic and thought process makes him one of the more smart villains of Super Sentai. Shibolena and Yugande were kinda underdeveloped but they do serve a purpose as the "field" generals. And Dr.Hinelar's grand scheme and his story line of betrayment is something paying close attention to, and the personal belittlement he does to the Megaranger in the end game is so cruel and crazy considering the stakes. The Nejiranger I think is one of the best parts of this season. Note that Megaranger came at a time where Sentai was experimenting, and the Nejiranger was one of the ideas. Sure they may not be as awesome as you thought they'll be, but they are still awesome. They really keep the Megaranger at a disadvantage, and really also represents Hinelar's expertise and how technology he created to protect the world could be easily overwritten and made for the worst, adding to the technology theme and Hinelar's cruelty; Also stands as Hinelar's greatest achievement. They also make the Megaranger have a near death experience, and had created one of the most heartfelt scenes in Sentai ever; Kubota running to their aid and realizing the mistake he made and how he could be leading them to their own death. And we see the Nejiranger's honor being shattered as their arc progresses, because they learn they have been used as pawns in Hinelar's master plan. But yeah, Megaranger has a lot to like, it has it's fun, but balances out with drama, emotion and recurring motifs that engages the viewer and provokes thoughts, and really is a special series and nailed what it tried to do. I recommend to all, it's a great experience with a lot of heart to it. Holy crap this was longer than I expected it to be.
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