Now you've pointed it out...I do say that a lot don't I :lol Oh God I won't be able to unotice it now.

And I only have eight episodes of Kyoryuger left so I might finish that, carry on with In Space and then pick up Bouken again when Kyoryuger is done.

Kyoryuger 40 - Although Amy and Souji are still in desperate need of some focus, this Nossan focussed episode was just so damn fun I couldn't help but love it all the same. Nossan really is a badass, when the show wants him to be.

Here I am at the final stretch. When I first watched Kyoryuger when it was first airing, I fell in love with the wonderful production values. But after maybe a month of consistently strong episodes, I found myself thrust face first into almost two months of filler before a sixth ranger appeared and began to tread down the path of the most tired sixth cliches.

Yeah, I was done by this point. And maybe it also defeats the point that I've had to skip like HALF the show to get to this point the second time, but I honestly think that says more about the show than it does me. And isn't it better to enjoy a bands best hits album, than to not appreciate the band at all?

The plot's a mess, the characters are undeveloped, the Ranger suits are boring, the mech gets increasingly worse and yet it's just so fun. Mindless, Michael Bayesque fun maybe, but even when the humour misses - which it often does - the action is always on point. It's gorgeous, high concept, EPIC stuff. And I'm just having a great time.

I remember going into episode 40 thinking "Oh god, this episode sounds like a fanfic Sentai wrote." but was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Super Sentai is no stranger to the arranged dates/marriage interview trope, but I've never seen one so meaningful before.

The only lingering awkwardness is the fact that Candi stole someone else's face. It is nowhere near as poorly realised as Kamen Rider Goo in Fourze, but I think the moments between her and Nossan would have perhaps carried more meaning if she wasn't wearing a literal mask through all of them. But I dunno, maybe that's significant.

Just wait till you get to episode 43 for Souji's awesome focus episode. =)

Kyoryuger 41.

Although the morals of this episode were a little....eh....Kyoryuger is really turning stuff up to eleven. Who knew a Santa based Deboss Monster could be so impressive? And seeing the Kyoryuger fight around the planet in their giant robots? EPIC.

Best of all though is how the show now seems to go out of its way now to find ways to take Daigo out of the equation, I know Utchy doesn't need any more reminders of how badass he is but I'd still rather see him save the day while the Kyoryuger's fight across the world than Daigo just doing everything again.

The Santa Deboss was awesome. I loved watching each mecha fight from around the globe (And I hope you enjoyed Yayoi piloting PlesuOh alone. I don't think she does it again :lol).

The sad thing is she doesn't even pilot it alone in this episode, she has help from the spirit rangers!

Really? I thought they were in SpinoDaiOh in that episode...Huh. Damn :lol

Lol Daigo piloted that one...on his own..duh :lol

Timeranger Episode 4
Can I just that I find it pretty amusing/love how whenever a new monster appears that they say what crime/s he specializes in?

Ohhh Sion. You're always being happy and helpful brings a smile to my face. Though I must admit I'd probably get annoyed by him after a while. On the other hand it is sorta sad to see him getting tossed around by the others. He just wants to help out after all and make everything easier for the group.

The scene with Domon though, that is some funny shit right there.

Well Sion's backstory is sort of sad. However it's pretty cliche. It's one that a lot of other shows, books, and other forms of fiction have done before. The alien child monitored by scientists until he runs away and makes friends with humans. There's nothing wrong with using old stories, but this time it came off as really cliche and kinda boring to me. Couldn't they have at least added on to it to make not be the standard story?

FALCONNNN PUNCH!

Well that was a fairly nice little fight. It was very much different then most of the Sentai fights I've seen. I don't really recall seeing a fight as focused on punching as it was here. The fight felt a bit slow because of this, but it should be that way I suppose. After all it's just punching, there's no need for it to be as fast paced as the other fights tend to be.

You know I don't get something. The mechs are coming to the rangers from the future. But yet to get there they have to fly through the dinosaur age, ancient Egypt, and medieval Japan. Why do they do that? Did Providus hit them so hard that they overshoot the rangers on the first try?

The mecha fight was you standard one so yeah.

Well 4 was an alright episode. It's story while there was sort of dull, and the fights were short. Character development wise, I'd guess Sion was the main receiver of it, though not by much. The only real development for him was him learning that he isn't a waste of space in the team. But that your typical Sentai episode that you see once a season.

Episode 4 was simply alright. Kinda saddens me in a sense to be kinda critical over Sentai. It's the franchise I like the most. Plus each show does follow a stereotypical pattern. Kamen Rider on the other hand is different every season for the most part, which leads to offering more on a critical platform.

Ehhh screw it. It's Sentai and whether I start nitpicking at it, I still love it.

Megaranger!

...Not much happened. Delta Mega got taken over for about 10 minutes, then the problem was fixed. Then Miko and Shun got an episode together, but it didn't really amount to much beyond some interesting portal bits and Shun piloting Galaxy Mega. Their characters didn't grow or change, really. They just interacted with each other more in this episode, was all. The next episode also feels rather filler-ish, unfortunately, too, but after that, I get to the introduction of Mega Silver, so I do have something to look forward to.

Anyway, one constant problem that I've noticed over the past 22 episodes is are the prop suits. While the designs are great, it's painfully obvious when they swap from a "Fight" suit (Where the rangers are smacking around enemies) to a "Firework" suit (Where the rangers are getting hit and the firecrackers go off on them). While I will give leeway, there are times where it's too obvious that they're not trying to hide it.
Worst of all is Galaxy Mega. In the normal suit, it's a thing of beauty. Great details, a nice sense of design and such. But then when it has to get hit, suddenly it's chest goes completely flat and the details on it's arms disappear. The suit shifts kills some of the flow in the combat.
That aside, it's pretty fun.

Does anyone have Megaranger 25 and onward? I can't get those episodes to download. They just stall out on me :S

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...J1GXBN_KHsYbo4

Go nuts.

I'm diving back into Hikari Sentai Maskman after a long break. I watched the first 14 episodes last Fall, but got distracted by life. But frankly, fuck life. I’m making time for Maskman. :lol

To recap my feelings on the first 14 episodes:

- The most striking thing about Maskman is its deadly serious tone. I'm so used to the childish bombast of modern Sentai shows that the seriousness of Maskman is somewhat jarring. In a good way. I think.

- Sometimes the tone is so serious that whenever the show tosses out a, "child of the week," episode, it suffers from severe tonal whiplash. Like, one episode we're watching intense, melodramatic political intrigue unfold within the ranks of Underground Empire Tube, and the next we're watching the Maskmen help some annoying alien child return to his home planet (Also, there are aliens now? What???). The show has a tendency to whip from good storytelling to pandering childishness on a dime.

- Similar to Jetman -- which came several years later -- each of the episodes (without the OP and END sequences) runs about 17min. I'm consistently surprised by how much plot they pack into the short runtime. And how much faster I'm able to get through these series.

- Also similar to Jetman is the romance between Takeru (Red Mask) and Mio. This time it's flipped -- Mio was a member of villain group who disguised herself as a human, as opposed to a human who becomes part of the villain group -- but like in Jetman, it's pretty damn effective. In episode one, when Mio gets sucked into the Earth and Takeru can't save her -- I have to say, I had genuine feels. Can't wait to see how this relationship progresses, seeing as Mio is now frozen in a block of magic ice.

- The hero designs for the show are impeccable. I even like – nay, love – the earrings on the women's helmets. Because they're frequently used as bombs.

- Haruka -- aka, YellowMask -- is a badass female character that seems so far ahead of her time. Her struggle with traditional femininity -- and how it doesn't conform to her brutal ninja upbringing -- is a base part of the character. As such, she feels a lot more progressive than even the most modern Sentai heroines.

- Igam might be my favorite female general of any Sentai I've seen so far. She's a lot like Lady Oscar from Rose of Versailles or Utena from, well, Utena -- a girl who was raised to be a boy so she could inherit the throne of the Underground Empire Tube. She -- and those around her -- refers to herself by male pronouns and considers herself Princess Ial’s older brother. Between Haruka and Igram, the gender politics of the series are pretty forward-thinking. Only time will tell whether they amount to anything, but I applaud Hirohisa Soda for at least broaching some potentially interesting topics.

- I’m really into the team’s cover story. They’ve all been assembled to join a secret government (?) facility because of their awesome Aura Power and exceptional martial arts abilities. And how do they keep their secret? By playing pit crew to Takeru’s hotshot Formula One racer. It’s fantastically absurd, but it works – especially when the team has to sacrifice their Grand Prix dreams to upgrade their F1 racecar into a Maskman super car fit for rescuing a kid and his father from some crazy-ass Mobius Strip dimension.

- Last but not least, Emperor Zeba is fucking fabulous. He’s like a monstrous, Victorian David Bowie. I love every jewel in his crazily-proportioned, bedazzled body.

TL;DR

I'll be picking up where I left off – Episode 15, “Carol Love.”

This is the first Momoko (aka Pink Mask)-centric episode. And as such, it’s about flowers. Cause she’s a girl. I didn’t say this series was completely forward thinking in its presentation of gender, did I?

But it’s not just any flower. It’s a magic flower called a, “Carol Love,” and it rescued Momoko from a scary cave when she was a small child. By lighting up and providing a path to the exit.

In debt to the flower, Momoko has cared for it ever since – even though it only blooms for one day every 5 years. The day that it blooms is very special to her because she’s totally in love with that flower. Like a normal human might love a dog or a cat.

Meanwhile, the Underground Empire Tube sends out a MOW who releases Hell Flowers that wreak havoc on everything they touche. And shock of all shocks -- the Carol Love’s pollen (or whatever it is – it’s visualized as tears dripping from the flower. Cause it’s alive and has feelings. Or something.) has the ability to neutralize the Hell Flowers’ evil power. Because that cave Momoko got lost in as a child? It was really an entrance to the Underground Empire Tube.

So Momoko must decide whether to sacrifice the flower or let the world burn. (Hint: She sacrifices that shit. But it’ll live forever in the hearts of all the people it saved. ‘Cause Sentai.)

While this episode sounds really dumb, it’s actually great. It’s the kind of episode that pre-Zyuranger Sentai excels at – one where a character must make a hard, character defining choice… a choice presented in a truly ludicrous package. In this case Momoko’s choice is between saving the Carol Love and saving the city. Are her feelings more important than the safety of dozens of innocents? Ultimately, the greater good is more precious than her sentimentality. And as absurd as it sounds, the episode succeeds at taking us into Momoko’s world, showing us why she cares about the Carol Love, and making us feel for her loss. The loss may be a flower, but the writer skillfully shows us why the flower is important to Momoko. And her sacrifice in the end reveals Momoko as tougher than we expected.

The episode also provides some interesting world-building. It’s revealed that the Empress who preceded Zeba – Igam and Ial’s mother – was a compassionate pacifist, and the Carol Love was her favorite flower. So there’s more to the Tube than we expected. I’m intrigued.

And, as usual, the action was fantastic.

This episode earns 4/5 exploding helmet-earrings.

Man you make that show sound AMAZING.

When it's good it is amazing.

When it's bad... Let's just say I'm not dwelling on the negative cause if I did, I might never finish the series. But when it's bad, it's terrible.

For example:
- I've found some of the child of the week episodes unbearable.
- This being the 80s, the monsters monsters are rubbery trainwrecks more often than not.
- The giant robot fights are almost entirely stock footage (and they're over in the blink of an eye).
- The pacing is wildly inconsistent.

But when you account for the time period in which it was made and the low production values, the show is really impressive so far. Hell, if you compare it to equivalent seasons of '80s Doctor Who, Maskman is more enjoyable on almost every level.

I will say, flaws and all, it is INFINITELY more engaging than Magiranger, which I'm still semi-hate-watching for LWW.

The fan who likes Jetman and can get past its attendant contextual baggage would probably get really into Maskman.

Makes me wanna watch it, but doesn't it only have like ten episodes subbed?

It's fully subbed by GUIS.

Nah GUIS finished it. Even started on scrubs.

Oh man, I'm gonna get that torrent STARTED.

What is episode zero?

I didn't watch Ep 0. I think it's like a 5min intro to the series? Though I really have no idea.

Megaranger! Mega Silver's debut!

I'm not gonna lie. I'm not a fan. He just seems too...Hmm...I don't know what it is.
He feels like a fan made character. He's in a prototype suit, but somehow superior (Despite the given explanation for why he alone could take down the MotW, he still has a weapon that exceeds everyone else's), he knows all the rangers' secret identities due to his connection with INET (But it's a secret division, so no one knows about it beyond INET's head), and he know's the villain's strategy despite having no way of finding out before the rangers.
I know I'm only basing this on his debut and further episodes could elaborate, but at the moment, he feels like the kind of character a 10 year old would make. Strong, smart, uniquely colored (At the time), and armed with a gunblade. The only thing he's missing is a mecha that's inherently better than the main rangers'.

However, he's not completely unlikable, which is good. He's a complete spaz and not at all the brooding 6th (Very similar to Utsusemimaru. Not as happy-go-lucky as Gai, but not cold like DekaBreak (Whose name I forgot :lol), making him worth watching, and his powers have a strict time limit, giving his fight scenes a sense of urgency, which I like.

That's rule of japanese fiction number 5 :lol. Anything that is a prototype is superior to the mass production version.

*cough cough* Gundam *cough cough*

*coughcoughanymechaanimecoughcough*

I guess after 1986 Ixa and Proto-Birth from KR, I was just expecting prototype to not be Japanese for "God mode" :p

*cougheveryprotoKamenRiderbesidesprotobirthcough*

Yep, that is also why AbareKiller was superior as well. He was in a prototype suit. And honestly, prototypes are more powerful because they are unstable. Unlike in Aba though, MegaSilver is not going to go boom at any moment's notice.

Man, I guess I took a break on Maskman right when everything was about to get badass.

Episode 17 takes us to Kenta's childhood home. Which is a shack. In the woods. Under a magnificent rock face. Where he was trained from childhood in Okinawan Kobudo by brutal, magical monk.

While visiting Kenta's mentor, the Maskmen are attacked by Baraba and his MOW. MOW is like Parasite from Superman comics. He steals each of the Maskmen's Aura Power, except for Kenta. The Maskmen go to recuperate while Black Mask takes on the MOW by himself.

Pretty boilerplate episode here. It's cool seeing Kenta's past with his martial arts mentor. And framing him as badass enough to go after Baraba on his own is fun.

Once again we see a Maskman's back story, and once again it's lonely and brutal. These guys didn't have much of a childhood. They were bread to be weapons. It's a bit sad.

The unsuited action was the highlight of the episode. Really fun fights all around. Black Mask continues to be one of the best designed Sentai members in history.

Overall: A fun, if somewhat empty, episode.

3/5 flaccid Masky Rods.

Having a Ayumi Kinoshita mini marathon started with Kyoryuger 46 now watching Dekaranger 35, following up with the episodes of Kamen Rider W that she was in. Absolute beauty...

Megaranger!

I still have this odd feeling about Mega Silver. Out of suit, he's fun loving and wacky, but in suit he's a bad fan character. His suit's time limit is because it's that much stronger than the others? Able to finish a fight with the killing blow on the literal last second before his timer runs out? The other Megarangers can do nothing but compliment how amazing he is (Aside from Kenta and, sometimes, Kouichirou)? I know they're trying to sell the character, but they're taking it too far.
I know the 6th being better than the other rangers is par for the course for the franchise, but it's a bit much for me to swallow.
They're lucky that, out of suit, he's kind of fun to watch.

Oh, and how fast can the Galaxy Mega and Delta Mega combine?
Thanks to Mega Silver, we have a time frame for what happened in episode 25. When he morphed, that starts the clock for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. In that time, he managed to stop Gurail's plan by destroying his machine, the ranger's freed themselves, and then they fought the 2 monsters. The rangers killed the first one (Who grew) while Silver fought the 2nd one alone. Galaxy and Delta Mega combine, fight the monster, and Super Galaxy Mega and Mega Silver destroy both monsters at the same time, which is also at the literal last second before Silver's suit dissipates due to the time limit running out.

I don't doubt that the mecha can take out a monster that quickly, what with having Gatling cannons for shoulders. But what I want to know is how fast the two can combine. Dayum...

Okay, so since I've found a Facebook playlist, I've been able to catch up on Kyoryuger and watch Gaburincho of Music. As odd as it is to simply name a character "D", I really liked him and I'm glad that he broke the movie villain tradition and survived to see an episode of the show.

I also really loved the episode featuring Utchy trying to correct Ian for his "injustices against womankind" and I found his reactions to ladies hanging on his arms hilarious. Kyoryu Silver's debut, and the "live chanting" for Gigant Bragioh and Gigant Kyoryujin were pretty awesome moments, but I was totally expecting a japanese cover of "We will rock you" to start playing when those transformations happened. I can't be the only one who was expecting that to happen. :lol

Anyway, I've just finished episode 40, and I just love this one. It makes me ship Nossan and Candelira (god damn this episode, manipulating my feelings...), for one thing...and secondly, I loved the Dekaranger reference in this episode. It just cracks me up to no end.

But for me, the biggest spot light and my current favorite moment in Kyoryuger (or at least, somewhere high on my top 5) was Dr Ulshade's transformation into Kyoryu Violet. I really wish we got to see him complete the battle or actually fight before he passed the torch onto Yayoi, but I was happy with what I got from him, if nothing else.

Well...that's 40 episodes and a movie down. Now there are two more movies (which to my knowledge, haven't been subbed and posted yet) and eight episodes left in this brave adventure. Just like the end of Gokaiger and Magiranger's runs, this is pretty bitter-sweet to me.

He does have some moments to fight in the finale at least, even though he does get by far less spotlight than his granddaughter. But they haven't forgotten he still could transform. Actually, even though they are not together on screen, there is a scene with both him an Yayoi being Violet. Though I do wish they would've had their own episode together, be it just a "Let's teach you how to be a Ranger"-episode.

Kyoryuger 42 - "Merry Christsmash."

Man this episode was a lot of fun, seeing the Kyoryuger delivering presents around the world in their giant robot! I wish they did more mech battles, like the one in New York. The scale felt much better than normal and I was actually convinced they were real buildings. Maybe they were, it always does look better when they put the robots between real buildings.

The revelation from Daigo's father that means it turns out that Daigo may not actually be the sun the universe revolves around, was enjoyable, I love how now we're getting towards the end of the show they seem to be trying to downplay Daigo as much as possible.

And yay, the return of Endorf!

M
E
G
A
MEGA

More Megaranger. I like that now even Kenta is acknowledging Kouichirou as leader. I know the show never outright declared Mega Red was leader, but it's nice that they're not trying to be ambiguous.

Anyway, now that they don't have to sell Mega Silver as much, he can start to be part of the team rather than have the group indisposed and require Silver to do all the work. Seeing him team up with Black was nice, and their interaction out of suit had a sense of tension due to their clashing mentalities. Kouichirou wanted Yusaka to take the situation seriously, and Yusaka wanted Kouichirou to calm down. It didn't feel overtly forced, and I could understand why each felt the way they did (Though, Yusaka really did come off as a dick, wanting to leave a mother and her infant completely alone just so he could fight some more).

Also, Yusaka's talk about youth and energy really gives me a Gai feel, from Naruto.
"Naruto came out in--"
Yeah, I know Megaranger is older than that show, but still, that's the best comparison I can make. A man in his twenties so concerned about aging that he does all he can to act like he's still one of the kids. Despite both characters still technically in their prime, because their age is a larger number than the others', they feel the need to do all they can to convince themselves that they're still a youth.
"Naruto sucks."
How insightful.

Anyway, next episode is a Shun episode! Yay! He has the best episodes~

Timeranger Episode 5
Sion's really enjoying cleaning up. Maybe he should work for Keitaro :lol

Well it's safe to say Yuri does not like that guy. Now while I understand why they'd try to stop her when she brought out her blaster, but why say she's acting weird when she was using her vectors? She was just fighting him. True it was more aggressive then she usually fights, but she was landing blows way more then you all did. So yeah, fighting harder and hitting the enemy does not equal strange.

This is pretty much your stereotypical "Ranger's family killed by monster, ranger learns to accept help and that revenge isn't always that great" episode. But it has a pretty nice spin on it here. Yuri is a cop and thus knows the law quite well. But when confronting the monster that killed her family, she turns into a bit of a monster herself, wanting to kill him. I think her being a cop (and the rest of the Timerangers being a police force as well) puts a fairly nice spin on it.

Man she went out of the apartment faster then Grease Lightning. How did she know he attacked? Does she have super human hearing or something and heard Sion?

:lol I love how they had to get dressed just to go outside, see Yuri fly away, and then change into the Timerangers. That's unintentionally funny.

Huh, never knew Blast was secretly Momotaros.

I don't think that's going to help your case Blast. You still killed them. Being asked to do so isn't going to change the fact that you went out and committed the act. If anything you just confirmed what Yuri suspected and pissed her off even more.

Who really killed your family? Who really killed your family! Yuri you dumb bitch Blast killed them! He just straight up told you he did it after being asked to do so by Dolnero! Even if he did it for Dolnero, he himself is still the one who killed them. K I L L E D! It was him who did it, not Dolnero! Don't you fucking listen! Yuri I love you and you but for the love of God you are acting as retarded as fucking Spongebob right now!

I don't think making a tornado is that great of an idea. Wouldn't it stay around and destroy the city?

Well episode 5 was pretty nice. The story in the episode while stereotypical was handled very well, and added a fairly nice twist on the trope. Character development pretty much went to Yuri and was the same old "learning to accept help" idea, though handled quite differently. The action was very nice and I think having such hatred within Yuri made the fights come out in a more emotional and action packed state. The only negative of the episode was Yuri acting a like a complete dumb ass at the end when Blast told the full truth.

Outside of that episode 5 was good as always.

Ok, so. I'm finding Maskman impossible to discuss episode-by-episode. 17min of content just doesn't justify a post on its own. So I'm gonna be going over these in groups now.

Episode 17 - When the team mistakes Takeru as a serial purse thief, he pursues the real culprit, only to get trapped in a Hellish labyrinth dimension by Igam, where he's forced to battle through the labyrinth's psychedelic obstacles. Turns out the Tube's plot this week was to inspire doubt in the team, so Takeru would attempt to solve the problem on his own -- leaving him vulnerable to a one-on-one attack.

Episode 18 - Haruka finds a beloved doll from her childhood at a consignment shop in the city, but when she buys it, she meets a little girl who has been saving her pennies in the hope of one day buying the doll herself. Haruka sets aside her sentimentality and agrees to sell the doll to the kid. But -- gasp! -- the Tube have cursed the doll with a Ground Beast. Their plan? To inspire so much guilt in Haruka that she quits being a Maskman.

The Tube's plans are getting increasingly twisted. At this point, they're playing mind games with the Maskmen. Their plots are all about inspiring doubt and guilt, negative emotions that block them from accessing their Aura Power.

Episode 17 was the weaker of the two. It goes exactly as expected. Takeru gets his ass beat but rallies at the last minute -- vowing to never give up. Meanwhile, the team realize their mistake and save him from the Labyrinth. They learn a lesson about not allowing the Tube to sew dissent among their ranks.

Episode 18 was a little more interesting. It continues to tackle Haruka's gender issues. When she was a child, Haruka loved playing with a pretty porcelain doll, but her ninja clan thought that made her weak and took the doll away. Now, as an adult, she has to decide whether to indulge her nostalgia or make another child happy by giving up the doll. She chooses the latter -- but it ends up making things way worse. Because the Tube have possessed the doll with the intent of killing the child, thereby emotionally crippling Haruka so she'll never be able to access her Aura Power again. Of course, everything ends happily, but the ride was pretty turbulent. And, lest I forget, Takeru bitch-slaps the fuck out of Haruka at one point. It's... kinda great.

These episodes continue the streak of excellent ground fights. Also continued are the less excellent Giant Robo fights. Seriously, these robot fights are so tacked on it's hard to enjoy them. One thing Sentai has improved dramatically over the last 30 years is the quality of the giant sized fights. Which is saying something, considering how superfluous they often feel to this day.

double post, please delete

You really think giant fights have come that far? We agree on a lot of stuff and I haven't seen Maskman to comment but I really don't think the giant fights have come far at all.

I mean when you consider all they can do now with the Henshin Hero segments, it seems inexcusable that we're still using cardboard buildings and cardboard robots completely without any sense of consistent scale, walking through a lifeless and obviously fake soundstage.

The fact I commend giant stuff for not having like wobbly suits or something despite like thirty years of technology going into them really says everything. I hate the mech portion of sentai with a passion, it's a huge reason why I'm a much firmer Rider fan.

It's frustrating too because even in the older series, the integration of giant stuff into real locations actually looked pretty great all things considered, it just always ruined it as soon as two dudes started stumbling about a model train set.