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01-21-2020, 04:47 PM | #8271 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: CA
Posts: 2,496
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I think the only Super Sentai or Kamen Rider that I watched last year was the Dr Pac-Man movie from Ex-Aid, so I've been craving some lately. Since I never finished Lupat (due to a mixture of depression and not wanting to wait for weekly episodes) I decided to pick it back up and start again from the beginning.
It's a pretty good first episode for a Sentai. I really like the pacing - it almost starts in media res, with the different factions already being at war with each other. I used to prefer when Sentai started off introducing the characters and showing how they got their powers, but this was a nice change of pace. I also really like how they didn't show the mechs in episode one. I've always preferred when the first episode was kept to introducing the characters, their transformations, and the villains, and then setting up the mechs in episode two. So far so good. I only got like 6 episodes in previously, but I loved all 6 of those episodes, so I'm excited to see where it goes from here. Bonus points for the villain being Okuyasu.
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01-23-2020, 03:46 PM | #8272 |
Henshin Heaven
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Inside a Hyper Battle Video, help.
Posts: 1,240
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It's me, I still exist! Furthermore, I finally finished dragging myself through Jetman! It took me over a year I think, but I had my reasons, like being busy with life and also not liking Jetman.
I certainly understand its huge influence, and it definitely feels ahead of its time, but to a modern viewer it just feels like a bad, slightly more modern show than it is. The writing was typical Inoue and the cast was overall really weak, with Grey being the only character I liked instead of being apathetic about. Grey was a total class act though, he rocked. Overall, it wasn't a great show, but I've seen worse. It just wasn't terribly motivating to watch. I have to give a special mention to the incredibly unintentionally funny ending though: I knew the spoiler that Gai ends up dying, but I had assumed it would be some epic heroic sacrifice against the final villain, not Gai getting stabbed by a random street punk and bleeding out on a bench at a wedding while happy music plays. I was in total hysterics!
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01-28-2020, 12:19 AM | #8273 |
Stronger Than You
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: nyet
Posts: 25,326
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Quote:
It's not all bad news though! They did get a spiffy new robot out of the deal. Kakure Dai-Shogun's debut really feels like an event in a way that doesn't always happen in Sentai. Granted, the combination itself isn't treated with a whole lot of fanfare, but the context of this being the end of a huge story arc, and the fact that we saw this thing getting assembled bit by bit over the course of said arc, give it a huge impact anyway. It's also just a plain cool robot that seems to have an easier time moving around than Muteki Shogun, supporting a theory that's been rattling around in my brain ever since the Jusho Fighters showed up out of nowhere. I think the original Jusho and Muteki Shogun ended up being way too bulky as suits, and the show was kind of desperate to get rid of them. Obviously new mechs = new merch, too, but the Fighters were such a weirdly specific, redundant concept (robot guys but... still just robot guys!) it wouldn't surprise me if part of their creation was the staff on the show wanting something slimmer to work with. It would definitely explain why so many of Muteki Shogun's appearances were almost nothing but stock footage if they straight up didn't want to film new material for him whenever it could be avoided. Even Super Muteki Shogun is largely shown standing in place.
But don't worry about the show getting too heavy. You're on your way to meeting Ninjaman
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01-30-2020, 07:11 PM | #8274 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Kakuranger 32-33:
32 goes back to basics after the previous arc, which is a polite way of saying it's an episode where nothing really happens and nobody really learns anything. It's maybe like a quarter of the way there though? We've got Saizou, the guy on the team who has been established to be the most vain, in the spotlight for a plot about a Youkai going around stealing faces. So the concept is actually pretty strong. It's just that this is the kind of episode that isn't too concerned with expanding on the characters, or anything like that. Fortunately, it's also one that's good enough at being weird and silly to pull off coasting by on that alone. Because, crucially, it is fun. You've got great gags like Saizou jokingly suggesting the Youkai must be stealing faces to hang them up and sit around admiring his collection, followed by cutting to the Youkai doing exactly that. You've got some classic Sentai dramedy with Saizou and a little girl having an emotional scene without faces to emote with. It's an episode that probably could've been better, but left me with enough of a smile on my face that I can't care too much. 33 is much the same deal, being little more than another straightforward, no frills, fight the monster plot. It doesn't get particularly wacky, nor does it push the drama any harder than it needs to. A completely serviceable, if safe, episode of Kakuranger. Most of the highlights for me are the more trivial parts. Once again, the show is having a little trouble sticking to a format, because after a string of having the Youkai give their own introductions in this bold new, post-narrator world, Sasuke takes up the job here. Which I don't like as much. The absurdity of the monsters suddenly launching into expository rants fit the atmosphere of Kakuranger perfectly. The mecha action also pulled a trick I don't think I've seen too often (at all?), with Sasuke hopping into God Saruder before the rest of the team gets there, and then having them all show up, already combined into a one-armed Super Kakure Dai-Shogun. It's not really that exciting, I guess. They just took an arm off off the model for a few shots (since Super Kakure Dai-Shogun is just a largely static prop and not a suit), but I don't know. It's weird, and it stood out to me. Either way, it meant more screentime for God Saruder, which I'm totally down for. He even gets to do the finishing move!
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01-31-2020, 01:47 PM | #8275 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,551
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Quote:
Kakuranger 32-33:
32 goes back to basics after the previous arc, which is a polite way of saying it's an episode where nothing really happens and nobody really learns anything. It's maybe like a quarter of the way there though? We've got Saizou, the guy on the team who has been established to be the most vain, in the spotlight for a plot about a Youkai going around stealing faces. So the concept is actually pretty strong. It's just that this is the kind of episode that isn't too concerned with expanding on the characters, or anything like that. Fortunately, it's also one that's good enough at being weird and silly to pull off coasting by on that alone. Because, crucially, it is fun. You've got great gags like Saizou jokingly suggesting the Youkai must be stealing faces to hang them up and sit around admiring his collection, followed by cutting to the Youkai doing exactly that. You've got some classic Sentai dramedy with Saizou and a little girl having an emotional scene without faces to emote with. It's an episode that probably could've been better, but left me with enough of a smile on my face that I can't care too much. 33 is much the same deal, being little more than another straightforward, no frills, fight the monster plot. It doesn't get particularly wacky, nor does it push the drama any harder than it needs to. A completely serviceable, if safe, episode of Kakuranger. Most of the highlights for me are the more trivial parts. Once again, the show is having a little trouble sticking to a format, because after a string of having the Youkai give their own introductions in this bold new, post-narrator world, Sasuke takes up the job here. Which I don't like as much. The absurdity of the monsters suddenly launching into expository rants fit the atmosphere of Kakuranger perfectly. The mecha action also pulled a trick I don't think I've seen too often (at all?), with Sasuke hopping into God Saruder before the rest of the team gets there, and then having them all show up, already combined into a one-armed Super Kakure Dai-Shogun. It's not really that exciting, I guess. They just took an arm off off the model for a few shots (since Super Kakure Dai-Shogun is just a largely static prop and not a suit), but I don't know. It's weird, and it stood out to me. Either way, it meant more screentime for God Saruder, which I'm totally down for. He even gets to do the finishing move! |
01-31-2020, 08:09 PM | #8276 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Kakuranger 34-35:
34 seems to be Hirohisa Soda's attempt to make me eat my words for talking smack about his writing earlier, because it's great. It still feels a lot less thoughtful than the average Sugimura script, but thoughtful isn't what I'm looking for in an episode that pushes Kakuranger to new heights of absurdity when I didn't think it possible. Sunakake-Babaa is among the best worst monster designs in Sentai history. An astonishing amount of care and skill were put into creating a super well-realized, detailed suit (complete with a moving face!)... of a completely absurd abomination of a Youkai who manages to look more stupid than any other monster in the show so far, and this is a show with a proud history of stupid looking monsters! What makes the episode really click into place though, is that this is all playing out against a surprisingly engaging story about Saizou helping some kid learn to make crepes. It works out way better than it has any right to. Naoki is genuinely a likable character, standing out from the usual hordes of random mopey kids by also being proactive about solving his problems. His friendship with Saizou is endearing, and makes Saizou look that much better, too, because we get to see his affable nature in a situation where it actually does someone some good. He's crazy charismatic in this one, even if it's not the kind of charisma he probably thinks he has. Also, more crazy arm antics with Kakure Dai-Shogun this time, with God Logan launching off to attack the monster with its tail blade thing like some sort of extremely elaborate Rocket Punch. Awesome. 35 features the return of Naruhisa Arakawa for his second and final go at writing Kakuranger. I'm sure it was a total coincidence that he only came back to the show after they dropped the narrator, by the way. The best part is, he even puts a clever spin of the new form of narration, having it take the form of a lecture at the school the Youkai are currently brainwashing kids at. Oh yeah! The Youkai are brainwashing kids in this one! Man, there's so much to talk about with this episode I don't even know how to keep it organized. Sentai plots where the villains directly and specifically target the youth like this are something I'm quite fond of. It's a very, very effective way to make the bad guys look as scummy as possible, and yet there's also something so strangely mundane about the sight of a monster in a classroom feeding children propaganda, it's also kind of funny. A perfect fit for Kakuranger, to be sure. Kamaitachi might be my favorite Youkai design in the series, too. The old-school/new-school mix is perfect. Kamaitachi are known for riding on the wind, so obviously the modern version would be wearing a bomber jacket and a jetpack, right? That's totally genius. This episode is wonderful, even if I would've liked to see some mecha action. I mean, come on, a dogfight between a giant Kamaitachi and God Kark? I guess they figured there had to be some limit to how cool things got. Apparently Sasuke doing the monster bio in 33 was just a fluke, by the way. It's back to how it's been right there in 34. Until Arakawa mixes it up in 35, of course. Which means I jumped the gun in assuming the show was changing things again. Which is also exactly why I keep commenting on these things. Kakuranger's inability to make up its mind about minor points like this is totally fascinating to me. Heck, here I am talking about this, and I never even mentioned that the quizzes got discontinued alongside the narrator. Thank you for telling me that, because, even with the episode preview being as blatant as it is, I probably wouldn't have got the reference, on account of only barely knowing about the Fushigi Comedy series. Kakuranger has been a weirdly educational experience with all the things I've had to look up to understand jokes.
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02-01-2020, 10:04 PM | #8277 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Kakuranger 36-37:
Would you believe I totally forgot about Ninjaman for most of the show? Because I kind of don't. Usually there's a real sense of anticipation for these things. You know, every now and then a thought would randomly pop into my head like "oh man, I bet it's gonna be sweet when so-and-so shows up". Like Junior, or Kakure Dai-Shogun, or whatever else. It's that unique kind of excitement of finally sitting down to watch a show you're already somewhat familiar with despite not having seen it. For some reason, though, Ninjaman didn't enter into that this whole time. Which is crazy, right? Because he's the closest thing the show gets to the usual Sixth Ranger, who I'm almost always way into, and in this particular case, we're talking about a guy with a really simple yet memorable design, and the weird gimmick of also being a samurai for some reason. So Ninjaman is definitely awesome, and while I guess I must've been pretty satisfied with Kakuranger beforehand to not notice his absence, I'm happy to have him present. Especially with such a strong debut episode. The narrative here is exceedingly well-constructed. Having Ninjaman introduced as being trapped in some mystic jar that comes crashing down from space is an immediately attention-grabbing opening, and all the other beats spin out from there super naturally. Some kids find him after he lands, and they bond a little bit in a way that quickly establishes his personality, and how bummed out he is at his current state. The bad guys come after them, so of course the Kakurangers arrive on the scene, providing an opportunity for Ninjaman to explain his backstory, since it ties in with theirs. The bad guys hold one of the kids for ransom to get the jar Ninjaman is in, letting him show his heroic nature by actively telling Tsuruhime not to smash it and release him just yet, because he doesn't want to put one of the kids who was so nice to him earlier in danger. It's a very tight plot that does its job of endearing Ninjaman to the audience pretty much perfectly. Episode 37 features the opening and the commercial bumpers finally updating to reflect all the new toys, now that Ninjaman is here. Which isn't important, I know, but I'm kind of committed to commenting on these things at this point. Really, everything I have to say about this episode pertains more to random scattered elements of it. It's certainly a good time, though. You can't go wrong with an episode where the ultimate evil overlord celebrates his birthday by having one of his subordinates try and get the heroes to dance for his amusement. Plus, it features the return of Muteki Shogun after 10 long episodes, complete with a throwaway line of dialogue from Tsuruhime expressing surprise he's still alive, as though anyone seriously believes a robot/god/whatever thing as legendary as him was ever in serious danger back in 27. No, he sets the record straight here, blasting at the series' main villain so hard he retreats immediately, all while still refusing to move his feet, or appear in any significant amount of original footage. Like, even the fact that he shows up here at all could be explained by the fact they were also filming some of those shots of all the mecha together to use in the openings and bumpers. I'm still seriously convinced everybody making the show actively hated using that suit.
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02-02-2020, 01:30 AM | #8278 |
Stronger Than You
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: nyet
Posts: 25,326
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I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Would explain why they made use of the Juusho fighters so often.
"Alright, let's film the kaiju scene" "I ain't gettin in that fuckin suit again."
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02-02-2020, 05:45 PM | #8279 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Kakuranger 38-39:
38 is another Hirohisa Soda episode that really makes me feel bad for basically saying he was all washed-up earlier. I absolutely would've assumed this one was by Sugimura if I wasn't paying attention to the credits. It has the extra emphasis on characterization he usually does, and that's all the better here, because guess whose turn it is in the spotlight again? Aw yeah, that's right. Jiraiya's back at it again, doing what he does best as he tries to keep Ninjaman out of trouble. Quiet sensitive guy plus hot-blooded idiot is inherently a great pairing, and of course I just love how much Jiraiya goes out of his way to care about people. The rest of the Kakurangers run off to go find the Youkai that's brainwashing random civilians, and Jiraiya turns the other way so he can round up Ninjman (with an actual lasso, no less) and drag him to the hospital to personally apologize to one of said random civilian's kids for accidentally harming their mom. And then immediately after that, he's the one trying to cheer Ninjaman up when the civilian's kids inevitably still hate Ninjaman even after he says he's sorry. Jiraiya then sets Ninjaman up with a chance to redeem himself, telling the other Kakurangers Ninjaman's side of things with such passion you'd swear he was feeling these things firsthand. Which makes sense, because he kinda is, with the show drawing a clever little parallel with Jiraiya's difficulty speaking Japanese early on, and how he understands how much it hurts not being able to get across your feelings. All this, and he still finds time to get in two different epic cowboy quickdraw showdowns with the monster. I've said it before and I'll say it again. What a guy! My bias towards Jiraiya definitely colors my opinion here, but I loved this one. 39 gets extremely creative with its premise, when about a minute in, none other than the narrator himself makes his return, popping out of a trash can to... wait. poppingoutofa- Man, and I thought I was too hard on the poor guy! Sugimura apparently actually threw him in the garbage for over a dozen episodes. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment! Anyway, he's back, and the rest of the episode basically takes the format of a documentary about the Kakurangers. It doesn't hugely take advantage of that idea. It's largely just an excuse to let the narrator make up for lost time before he gets thrown off a bridge and ends up needing a neck brace and a sling (are we sure Arakawa didn't write this!?), but it's cute. It's also way overqualified to be the simple clip show it was probably intended as, with only a few major plot points quickly gone over in a way that legitimately might be of interest to anyone who missed some episodes here or there. It doesn't waste time with minutiae, and it isn't a glorified toy catalogue. Although the episode does cap things off with Sasuke doing his usual cloning shtick in God Saruder to get us a dream team of it plus Red Saruder and Battle Saruder, who make their own returns after being absent alongside the narrator. It's a cool little fight, and the unique gimmick complements the overall special feeling of the plot nicely. Definitely a pretty shallow episode, but still loads of fun.
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02-03-2020, 08:21 PM | #8280 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Kakuranger 40-41:
40 didn't offer me a whole lot interesting to talk about! My stance on Hirohisa Soda's episodes may have softened lately, but Susumu Takaku still isn't doing much to impress me. His last episode was 33, and if you read my thoughts on that one, you've read my thoughts on this one. Right down to the spotlight Kakuranger getting to do the Youkai history lesson, even. The big difference is that it's Tsuruhime this time. Which is cool! I'm probably making it sound like this episode was terrible or something, but fundamentally, seeing Tsuruhime be awesome is a good time. It's not that the episode is bad, it's just that it isn't particularly inspired, especially compared to the best the show has to offer. 41, in contrast, gives me yet another chance to give some props to Soda, for coming up with a very offbeat plot that has a unique feel. Instead of focusing on the Kakurangers directly fighting the monster, we get a Youkai (voiced by Shigeru Chiba no less!) who basically summons up his own Sentai of obsessed ghosts to torment the living and generally make a huge mess of the place. We're talking the meanest of the mean here. You've got some lady who really loves jewelry, some guy who really loves food, some crazy dude who really loves riding motorcycles above the speed limit, some maniac who really loves shooting people, and... some old man who really loves his grandson. Yeah, needless to say, there're actually a few wrinkles in the story this time, but even before we get to that, the episode scores major points for just how visually interesting it is seeing the Kakurangers go up against the ghosts. It's absurdly fun and fresh to have villains that are basically regular humans going around doing things like munching on oversized onigiri, or chucking grenades around. Heck, that old man even saves the day at the end in a way I doubt you'd see coming. It's wild action backed up by a solid little plot about the usual mopey kid learning to stand up for himself, done in a way that's hardly original, but was pretty well executed when all is said and done. There's not much to complain about here.
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