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02-18-2022, 04:49 AM | #9191 |
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Join Date: May 2019
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There’s also a slight gag in episode 21 where the broken toy that Poh-tan repairs near the start is Star Five from the previous series.
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02-18-2022, 12:23 PM | #9192 |
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Join Date: Feb 2019
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I was trying to hang back a bit before starting Zen. If my luck holds out I can start Zen in March. That's why I waited on Kira. I was hanging about one back. Also Don Bros. was starting up in March. 2023 for me.
On another note this is more of being able to catch up missed series without the net in my case as the wi fi may not hold for 30 minutes.
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Currently watching Galaxy Man - Aba and To Quger - Don Bros. on DVD. Last edited by wentwood; 02-18-2022 at 02:06 PM.. |
02-18-2022, 08:10 PM | #9193 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Jetman 22-24:
Sometimes you've just gotta wonder how exactly kids at the time felt about this show. Inoue is utterly absorbed in his own romantic drama in 22, to the point there's only the faintest hint of a Vyram scheme for most of the runtime. Sure, you've got a few scenes to remind you Radiguet's pet monster cocoon is going to hatch aaaaaany time now, which *eventually* leads to a confrontation between the Jetmen and the other three Vyram commanders in the closing minutes of the episode, but none of that is evenly remotely driving the plot. There's no interference from the bad guys to set the drama in motion, or that intertwines with the heroes at some point to escalate the situation. This team of superheroes Inoue created are so good at making their own drama that, arguably, what the bad guys accomplish by confronting them is deescalating the tension by getting everyone to focus on their job for a bit, instead of their relationship problems. And this episode is rife with relationship problems. It starts out with Ryuu making an active effort to resolve the tension between him, Gai, and Kaori, and as you probably expect, it goes so poorly that by the end, Ryuu, Gai, and Raita are all smacking each other around in a pond. It's just a total mess all around. You've got Ryuu finally explicitly telling Kaori about how he can't move on from Rie, which ends up meaning nothing, because Kaori can't move on from Ryuu. You've also Ryuu trying to set Gai up with Kaori, which ends up meaning nothing, because Gai reads everything Ryuu does as insensitive meddling. Let me put it this way: Ako is there to see the big pond fight, and she actually wouldn't be eating popcorn if she had any. The situation has degraded that much. This won't be the first time I've said something like this about Jetman, but my biggest reaction to this episode is just sheer awe that it got made. This show's style is truly something else. 23 opens up with everybody coping from last time's events in their own way: Ryuu is burying himself in his work; Raita is stress eating; Kaori won't leave her house; and Gai is hitting up the club. Although, shockingly enough in that last case, Gai actively turns away women who are interested in him because he can't stop thinking about Kaori. When Ryuu was so sure Gai was serious about pursuing a relationship with her, I kind of assumed that was just the usual undue heroic optimism, but maybe he's more sensitive to this stuff than I give him credit for. Not that Ryuu doesn't still have his own quirks. He flips right back to his default settings here, trying to brush the entire incident under the rug by giving a spiel about how everyone needs to remember The Mission takes precedent over everything to Kaori, who actually pushes back to explain to Ryuu that they aren't machines, using those exact words. So once again, there's plenty going on here already, but the Vyram take a much more active role in events this time as the subplot with Semimaru that's been running in the background finally comes to a head, meaning a big scary monster is laying waste to the city, and to Jet Icarus, which ends up an armless pile of scrap after their first fight. All in all, it's an episode that maintains an extremely high level of tension throughout, and makes it feel like a huge turning point is coming for the series, meaning it's very appropriate timing to debut the big second robot for the show, Jet Garuda. (Oh, and the robot also comes courtesy of some dorky kids from another dimension who want to fight the Vyram too, but as you can gather from me calling them dorks, they don't do much to impress in this one.) Credit where credit is due, the purpose of the Reverse Dimension trio becomes a lot clearer in 24. It does a much nicer job tying them into the show's plot, even when it comes to little things like Ryuu observing two warriors in love hoping to find happiness, and clearly feeling a sense of familiarity there. The similarity to his relationship with Rie doesn't exactly amount to much, beyond being an ill omen, but it does a lot to make this whole plot thread feel less out of left field. The remaining member of the trio then, the youngest one, dressed in blue, serves to give Ako someone to hang out with, putting her at the forefront of this episode's emotional arc, which breaks from the previous two parts of this story to do something far, far more straightforward. This is pretty strictly the tale of three dorky kids, and the dorkiest of them all, who eventually rises to save the day even at great personal cost. It's all about good guys taking on the bad guys, all building up to a suitably spectacular debut for the combined Great Icarus, which finally allows our heroes to turn the tables on Semimaru, leaving Radiguet rather devastated, while the other Vyram generals laugh at his misfortune. I guess I could be complaining how much of a sudden swerve the story takes from the usual *drama*, considering how it started, but honestly, it didn't feel all that jarring? If anything, it's actually super refreshing to see that Inoue was both willing and capable of writing an episode of Super Sentai that feels as normal as this one does. These kinds of exciting new robot debuts have a general formula that doesn't really need messing with, and I guess Inoue didn't feel the need to argue with that. (I'm not sure this thought really goes anywhere, but I also found it interesting that with a first part that's basically all romance, a conclusion that's almost entirely superheroics, and a middle that's about half and half, when you view these three episodes as a single big script, it's actually balanced rather evenly between typical Jetman soap opera stuff and traditional Sentai drama.) At least somebody cares about Fiveman merch!
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02-19-2022, 04:42 AM | #9194 |
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Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,554
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So yeah, like the suicidal woman a dozen episodes back, the Back Dimension birdmen have two Sentai veterans among them. The leader is Blue Flash/Bun and the sole girl is Pink Mask/Momoko. As for Dan, the one Ako befriends, he would get his due in the next show as Tricera Ranger… Dan.
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02-19-2022, 06:31 AM | #9195 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,558
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Quote:
So yeah, like the suicidal woman a dozen episodes back, the Back Dimension birdmen have two Sentai veterans among them. The leader is Blue Flash/Bun and the sole girl is Pink Mask/Momoko. As for Dan, the one Ako befriends, he would get his due in the next show as Tricera Ranger? Dan.
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02-19-2022, 01:17 PM | #9196 |
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Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 2,448
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I try to stay away from episode stuff to avoid spoilers.
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Currently watching Galaxy Man - Aba and To Quger - Don Bros. on DVD. |
02-19-2022, 02:04 PM | #9197 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Jetman 25-26:
Kenichi Araki knocks another monster gimmick out of the park in 25, with a spotlight/armadillo (they're working animals into the monsters now) who steals people's shadows and brings them to life as evil doppelgangers, slowly eating away at the very lives of the genuine articles. Which naturally includes four of the Jetmen. I really can't stress enough what a good job this guy does when it comes to crafting a Sentai episode driven by the unique problems a particular villain of the week causes. I have no doubt episodes like this were favorites for the actual children watching Jetman, and that's because, speaking for myself, they really get that childlike part of me fired up, wondering how the heroes are going to come out on top as though that isn't a guaranteed part of the formula. I can't describe it that well if you don't know the feeling yourself, but the fun of an episode like this, it's all in keeping track of all the rules that get established about the monster's powers, and trying to figure out how they fit like pieces in a puzzle to allow the protagonists to triumph in the end. And on top of that, this episode makes a point to emphasize Grey's infatuation with Maria, in that classic (and classy) Sentai villain fashion, where he's portrayed almost like some chivalrous knight who falls in love with a princess or something. Neat episode all around. Naruhisa Arakawa shows he has almost as little restraint as Inoue with 26, which is about Raita becoming worshipped by a primitive culture in prehistoric times, because why not. No, seriously, why not? I have no reason whatsoever to object to a premise this amusing. It's a completely off-the-wall story that doesn't feel anything like a typical Jetman episode or a usual Super Sentai plot, and that's exactly what makes it stick out as being so much darn fun. Even the threat of the team being trapped in the past quickly gives way to lighthearted scenes of Raita revolutionizing a small tribe with his knowledge of modern farming techniques. The dude is thrust into this incredible escapist fantasy scenario, complete with a girl who looks like Kaori falling in love with him, and just like Raita himself, it's so delightful that part of me didn't want it to end. How can any amount of soap opera *drama* or deadly monster battles ever compete with this, you know? I was a big fan of this one, and it's also probably the definitive Jetman episode for people who don't like Jetman. Odd way to praise it, I know, but again: it's an odd episode. Arakawa took a premise that sounds like a joke, and then made the real joke how legitimately entertaining the resulting episode he wrote was.
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02-20-2022, 12:52 PM | #9198 |
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Jetman 27-29:
27 is incredibly surreal, and I am all over it. The first thing in the episode is Ako dying, and the main thrust of the episode ends up being Ryuu's efforts to save the souls of her, Gai, and Raita by projecting his own spirit into the monster-infested underworld and guiding them back to our mortal plane. None of this has anything to do with anything, but it's how matter-of-factly it's all presented that makes it so irresistibly cool. This is another Kenichi Araki script, and once again, it's just perfectly on that wavelength of a child watching a superhero show. You can just show Radiguet levitating himself as part of some weird ritual, say he's using his spiritual powers to defeat the Jetmen, as though that's something he always does, and leave it at that, you know? It's too awesome to bother questioning the logic of. Same deal when some rad old guy monk is brought in to act as an advisor to the team on this unusual case. I don't even slightly care about how this episode does or doesn't fit into the bigger picture of Jetman as a series, because as an episode, it's so dripping with atmosphere and excitement that there just isn't any reason to worry about that kind of thing. 28 is surreal in a different way, being Arakawa's next go at a writing a Jetman episode. His insane idea this time was, very broadly speaking, to do his own take on a "good monster" plot, but he's very much going about that in his own way. It's maybe a little early after the introduction of the Bio Dimensional Beasts for a story about a disgruntled normal style Dimensional Beast trying to prove he still has worth to have the full effect, but the placement is the only thing about this episode I would ever dare to criticize. I know I just said I was all over the last episode's style, but that goes double for this one. I am so into the idea of writing mooks and monsters of the week as blue collar dudes who think of defeating heroes as how they make a living, rather than a twisted ideal to devote their lives to, like the big wigs at the top of the food chain do. Dryer Dimension is mostly doing this out a sense of pride for his work, and he turns out to be a shockingly agreeable person, all things considered. He helps out old ladies, dogs like him... he may be a monster, but he's not a *monster*, if that gets it across. There are all sorts of things I loved about this episode, from how it cleverly works in an obligatory robot fight, to the resolution that's a lot less stock than I expected, and really capped off the whole thing beautifully. I've said it plenty of times before, and I'll say it again: Arakawa knows his stuff. 29 is another from Mami Watanabe, this time joined by a co-writer in the form of Nao... Nao... Naoki Ya... Yawa... Yawatari. Naoki Yawatari! I think! This writer is obscure enough I couldn't even find out how to read the name for sure. The episode was pretty dang good though! It's basically a do-over of the idea of fiery youths from the Reverse Dimension who parallel the heroes a bit, and while I never totally took to those last three in Jet Garuda's debut, I was pretty into these two from right away. It's an episode all about a couple who threaten to have their relationship torn apart by the Vyram, and because we're not worried about introducing a robot or any of that this time, the script is free to focus in way more on that obviously parallel between their situation and Ryuu's loss of Rie. There aren't really any particularly fancy tricks up this one's sleeve, but it's a perfectly nice, straightforward tale that touches just a bit on the corrupting nature of revenge while giving Ryuu plenty of time to shine as a hero who would give anything to make sure the tragedy that befell him never happens to anyone else.
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02-20-2022, 03:14 PM | #9199 |
Precure enthusiast
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: Amongst the Cosmos
Posts: 304
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I've reached ep 20 for Ressha Sentai ToQger!
....Can someone help me, please? I've been grinning so wide and laughing so loud at this show, my face is starting to hurt!? We'd be here forever if i broke every episode down, so here are some general highlights! Akira: Man! He's only been here for a few episodes, but he's an absolute treasure! It's a real nice addition to the cast: a seemingly more serious Ranger to contrast the ToQgers' antics, except he's arguably even more ridiculous than them? The walking death flag jokes, how he enters the scene playing his harmonica, his railway worker outfit, it's all makes for a very memorable new member! Shadow Line: Man, where do I even start with these guys? They're wonderful! I will always enjoy Noir and Nero squabbling over who gets to be in the Emperor's good graces, always fun to see. Schwarz is a really good villain with presence, there's always a momentary "oh no!" feeling when he pulls up on the ToQgers. And Zett! The Emperor of Darkness, obsessed with all things shiny and bright? It's a really fun twist from what I was expecting, (generic big bad who comes on the scene in the last 10 or so episodes) I'm looking forward to seeing what his deal is. Last but not least, Gritta! This soap opera-esque situation for her, I'm super invested in it! That scene where she thinks her only option is to kill Zett with a knife in this back, and Zett nonchalantly says that she won't get anywhere with her hands shaking like that? It's too good!!! I'm hoping things work out for her.... Rainbow Line: I love the ToQgers to pieces, but man, Wagon! The Conductor! and Ticket! It's always fun checking with whatever they're doing wherever the ToQgers are out and about. The running joke at whether Ticket and The Conductor are separate entries or not, it's great. Mio:.....Sadly, As much I'd like to think otherwise, ToQger isn't perfect. The eps I've liked the least(including the ep I barely smiled at all, Episode 9), I've noticed they're all Mio-focused. It's not that I don't like Mio, mind you. I enjoy the "responsible older sister" type characters, so perhaps that's why I'm a bit upset that her episodes are a bit lackluster? If I had to put it bluntly, it almost feel like they don't know what to do with her if she's not looking after the others. I hope she gets better episodes... Anyway! The ToQgers are so lovable! Humor's always on point! Themes are so sweet! Fights are so good! I'm really in love with this show! I really hope the second half of this show will continue to deliver! |
02-20-2022, 06:56 PM | #9200 |
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Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 2,448
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I'm on 18 of To Qu myself. (Orange Ranger entry)
I have to admit the Rangers changing colors is cool. The Shadow Line dark energy plot is pretty solid. My thought is if either Saban or Hasbro were to adapt this we would have a Mega Force theme switch situation. Trains would get swapped out as the main but they would likely keep the rest of it and come up with a main theme for Power Rangers and pull a Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue stunt and the Zords would come out of a zord bay likely. Trains wouldn't be primary theme.
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Currently watching Galaxy Man - Aba and To Quger - Don Bros. on DVD. |
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