I mean... I agree with you.

But the Maskman giant robot fights in this episode are that awful. They are horrible. Luckily, they only last for like 2 minutes. But those 2 minutes are comprised of 60% stock footage. And the non-stock-footage is about as interesting as public access pro wrestling fights.

Sometimes the show will have cool miniature work, like jets bombing cities and stuff. But when it turns into Gattai Robo vs. Giant MOW... uh... no. Just no.

I'm gonna look forward to this when the torrent finishes! :lol

The first time I saw an older Sentai, Liveman, I was surprised by how formulaic and short the fights were when they got into their robots. Nearly every episode was pretty much just one attack, one dodge, one hit by the monster, and then the team slicing down the giant with their sword. If nothing else, choreography has come a long way in the best of times.

Eh, I didn't mind that, at least they were easily skipped and I wouldn't miss anything. More and more frequently modern sentai rests some of its key battles in the hands of the mecha without improving the quality of the actual mech stuff. Really ruins things for me.

Brave 43.

A Souji focused episode...five episodes before the end of the show...which totally takes him out of the action, for most of the episode. Seeing Souji use that super powerful sword technique unmorphed was pretty sweet, but ultimately he finally got a focused episode and it was almost entirely throw away. FUCK.

Brave 44.

This whole episode was a fightscene, so it was fun but I have nothing to say.

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Megaranger!
It feels like back to back filler with this episode and the next. First Mega Yellow's grandmother comes to town, and next up is Mega Pink eating too much.

This episode wasn't a complete waste of time, but it was still filler, when all was said and done. That said, I'm glad it wasn't Mega Silver doing all the work for the 4th episode in a row. Mega Yellow connecting with her grandmother was nice and her learning of the secret identities (Something that the Nezirezi still haven't done yet...) was humorous.

This is exactly what I mean! Sometimes they'll do a special move where they pick up the monster and swing it around -- but that's a rare, special treat. :lol

Compare that to the best of Go-Busters or the early episodes of Kyoryuger. It's a huuuuuuuuge leap.

Now that I'm thinking about it... I wonder if expanded daikaiju fights are how the SS production teams filled the extra time when the show leaped from 17 to 22min.

Speaking of which -- Aoi Kurenai, do you know any resources that might explain why/when the show added 5min to its runtime? Did that happen with Zyuranger? 'Cause I recall Jetman being about 17min/episode as well (minus OP & ED credits).

EDIT: Oh, Google. 5min of research and you give me an answer. It happened with episode 8 of Megaranger, when the show jumped from 5:30PM Fridays to 7:30AM Sundays. Interesting.

Matrixbeast -- have you noticed the change in runtime during your Megaranger-thon?

Well...I've come to this moment again. The end of a season.

Today, I just finished Brave 44-48, and aside from the eventual posting of a subbed version of Kyoryuger vs Go-Busters, and the 100 years later film, that's it for Kyoryuger.

And the end of this journey has left me satisfied. Enemies have come together and saw a good end to their rivalries, great sacrifices have been made, and the world still has hope, despite the looming threat of other dangerous foes.

All in all, I loved experiencing Kyoryuger, and think Toqger is a worthy successor from what I've seen so far...which is all of two episodes. :lol

I hope to complete Shinkenger and Zyuranger soon and talk about them.

Kyoryuger 45.

It's strange, for a show with otherwise such high production values, it was amazing just how bad this episode looked in so many regards. The Feather Edge doesn't even look plastic, let alone metal, so the passing of the sword was so pathetic it was hilarious despite it acting like it was some big epic moment.

Meanwhile I was trying to work out who was the worst looking final villain, Icerond or Lord Deboss. Icerond on the one hand looks like they ran out of money, but Lord Deboss is like the opposite extreme with a suit so garishly overworked it's all the wrong kids of ugly.

Luckily then, the action was absolutely epic. Minus stupid shit like Deboss firing butterflies and questionable moments like why Bragigas would let Daigo's Dad transform after what he did, the action was suitably epic being that we're so close to the end of the series.

Also, oh no Torin died... again, oh the lack of emotional resonance....oh the melodrama!

I actually kinda liked Deboss' final form. The butterfly theme made sense due to his emphasis on his evolution at least to me. It was way better then that joke dinosaur body. That was atrocious.

Yeah the 'wouldn't look out of place in a 60s Godzilla movie' form wasn't nostalgic, it was just shitty. But then honestly for a show that had some initially very impressive mech battles, it has had some REALLY poor ones ever since the show started to rely on them much more for narrative drive.

Plus I dunno, I just didn't expect the destroyer of worlds to look like a camp pantomime villain.

Perhaps that goofy dinosaur lowered my expectations for the character too much.

He doesn't even fit that well thematically with those born from him, since both Chaos, Aigaron, Dogold and Endorf all look suitably badass and monstrous even if they are all made up of silly parts.

Deboss is closer in design to Candi than he is to any of the more serious generals, and even then she has that terrifying gimp mask and he has a pink butterfly for a mouth?

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More Megaranger.
This episode was the epitome of a filler episode.
"So why did you watch it?"
Because not all of us gets someone to analyse each episode and determine whether it's filler or not like Locke and Kyoryu :lol
That aside, it wasn't completely worthless. I got to see Mega Pink use the Battle Riser and be the main pilot of Super Galaxy Mega (She may have done it before, but my memory sucks :lol), but it ultimately wasn't much to talk about.
"What about the random song and dance number?"
We don't speak about that.

I am really lucky to have Lucha condense Kyoryu for me :lol

But... But... He looks like the demon offspring of Slash from Guns & Roses and the Amazon rainforest.

http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__..._True_Form.jpg

http://palhetasebaquetas.files.wordp...2/02/slash.jpg

In other words, Deboss is rad as hell! You're crazy! :lol

Especially how he has folded arms for boobs :lol

See? I told you it'd be worth your time. Once all the bullshit's cleared out of the way.

Oh. My. God. I just noticed that. My mind is blown. Why??? Did Plex have some spare folded-arm parts lying around?

It looks like they recycled C-3P0's midsection for it! :lol

Yeah, Kyoryuger isn't a "good" series but what a lot of the purists forget is that sentai IS a kids show, not some mature adult version of Power Rangers. All sentai needs to be is loud, colourful and fun which is everything Kyoryuger has been, during the twenty or so episodes of the condensed series I've seen.

Also SEE Deboss suit isn't even busy, it's a total clusterfuck.

I actually like the butterfly theme. I don't know why. I guess there's just something humorous about the scourge of the dinosaurs and soon to be scourge of mankind evolves from a giant demon-dino into a butterfly :p
It sounds like something Pokemon would do.

Anyway, Mega Silver. Smart enough to score a job in a secret division of INET. Technical enough to be able to upgrade a prototype suit to the point where it's stronger than the normal ones. Strong enough to be a skilled combatant even out of suit. Important enough that his shenanigans only get him a stern talking to, never fired. Skilled enough to be working on a secret project (Which I'm assuming is the Mega Voyager/Winger). Has an intuition about the Nezire monsters they're fighting that has yet to be wrong.
Owns a gunblade. Owns a hoverboard that can turn into a motorcycle. Everyone on the team loves him because he's just that much better.
And now he's also an incredible chef.

What happens if you merge Tendou from KR Kabuto and Daigo from Kyoryu? I now know...

Kyoryuger 46. What a fantastic way of wrapping up Ian's story.

Aigaron - a comic relief villain who had more character development and a more substantial character arc than the entire Kyoryuger team combined. I dunno what that says more.

The fight between Daigo and his Dad was meh, but seeing Torin literally get sent to hell to vanquish all the evil there was AMAZING, Ian lose his shit and take down Icerondo with Aigaron's crying axe was EPIC, and Souji using Torin's sword was all awesome stuff.

This is one of the best wrap ups for a series I've watched, I'm serious. I'm enjoying the ending of this way more than I did the ending of my favourite sentai, Goseiger.

Alright. Maskman continues.

Episode 19- Akira/Blue Mask focus. While fighting Tube in the mountains, the Maskmen encounter a new general, the Peculiar Ground Beast Anagmus. He has has the ability to increase the other generals' power. During the fight, Anagmus zaps Akira with a Phantom Orb... and it either causes him to lose his memory or causes him to hit his head and lose his memory. Either way -- Akira's memory? Gone. A group of kids find Akira literally adrift in a river -- and wouldn't you know it, they know Akira from his pre-Maskman days. I guess he grew up in these same mountains. It becomes the kids' job to help Akira regain his memory.

Episode 20 - Momoko/Pink Mask focus. While teaching some kids her style of Kendo, Momoko is assaulted by a mysterious woman in black. The arrogant bitch criticizes Momoko's Kendo, comparing it to amateur parlor tricks. She proclaims that her own is stronger and proceeds to steal Momoko's students. But Momoko feels something is amiss -- this woman's Kendo is dark and violent, and she can't let her students fall victim to it. So the two women duke it out until mystery bitch reveals she's actually a Ground Beast in disguise. Still intent on proving the strength of her Kendo -- and to reinforce to her students that one should fight to the bitter end -- Momoko refuses to transform and takes on the beast in her civilian state. She ultimately proves the power of her Kendo -- but too late! Turns out the plan all along was to weaken Momoko so the Maskmen can't efficiently pilot their robot, The Great Five. The Maskmen defeat the enemy, but at the expense of their giant robot, which is swallowed by the Earth. Momoko watches, helpless. What will the team do now?


These episodes are interesting counterpoints to each other. On the one hand, Episode 19 is terrible. It suffers from the shallowness you'd expect from an 80s kids show. The ridiculous coincidences (Akira just happens to be found by some mountain kids he already knows? Really?), the stupid villain plot, the annoying amnesia cliche, the horrible daikaiju fight. Lame, lame, lame, lame. The only stand out element was the ground fighting -- which continues to be stunning.

On the other hand, Episode 20 is fucking awesome. The conflict between the two martial arts badass ladies made this episode feel like a flashback from Kill Bill. Momoko continues to be elevated from standard Pink to tough-as-nails fighter. It's awesome that the female-member-focused episodes continue to be the standouts in this series. And this episode contains actual stakes for the daikaiju fight! Watching the team fail due to Momoko's absence makes it actually thrilling. These guys can't operate effectively without a single member of their team. As with any great Sentai, each member contributes something essential to the whole. Great stuff.

These two episodes represent a lot of what I like and dislike about the show. Two sides of the same coin. The inconsistency makes it a little hard to get through the show -- but the good parts are more than worth the bad.

Timeranger Episode 6
So the monster of the week is a jewel thief, that walks through people and turns into them...huh?

So how did they know it was an imposter exactly? They didn't show the woman turning back into her monster form. And did they just assume that the owner possibly wasn't just dipping into her store's stash to have some gems of her own? Stupid, stupid news.

Oh shit son, bad ass line walk with them being all dapper like!

Apparently everybody loves Tatsuya. They swarmed him like he was freaking Elton John.

:lol at Domon

Is he serious? Well I think he just dun emancipated you suckas.

...You freaking kidding me? This mecha scene sucked and was completely unnecessary. Worst mecha scene (that I have seen) EVER.

Didn't they throw their suits off? So wouldn't after de-morphing they'd only be wearing the suits they're in before the henshin (the grey ones)? Ehhhh Sentai logic at it's finest :lol

Well episode 6 was alright. It served as a nice piece to help develop Tatsuya on his path of forging his own destiny and name. Outside of those aspects, the episode was pretty bad to me (that mecha scene is unexcusable).

Timeranger Episode 7
Lila needs to go into SA: Shopoholics Anonymous.

You can get drunk off of data? I understand Tock's explanation but I don't really think drunk is the right term to use for it. It just doesn't fit right with what they're trying to explain.

Triple A is in the future? Huh, I guess AAA became a pretty big global company in the future. That's pretty cool, though why aren't there any luchas? Or an octagon ring? It isn't the same without those!

*Spit take* Good god the bill! They want close to $10,000?! Man the Londars must really be desperate for some money to charge that much just for an overnight stay. Also why would he have to pay before the surgery takes place, or even before they check out of the hospital?

Okay not going to lie, that was funny.

Well that was quite the nice moment with Domon and the skyline.

Oh cool! A night battle! I love these type of fights! Unfortunately the fight was lackluster. Maybe it's because I haven't watched Sentai in quite and while and have gotten used to rider fights. I hope I don't come down hard on all of these robo fights, as they're some of my favorite parts of Sentai.

Well episode 7 was pretty much the same as episode 6, except this one's action was better, and this one didn't have any character development....so it's not really the same. Ughhh why must I be so critical of Sentai now?

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God. That was a weird moment...

Anyway, I'm glad Girell is getting his comeuppance. Smug, asshole generals like that are neat, but sometimes they overstay their welcome. While he was only around, for a little over 10 episodes, I'm glad he didn't reach the point me saying "Can he please just die" like, say, Lothor, from PR Ninja Storm.
What? Lothor was the main villain? Bullshit.

As for the episode itself, I'm glad that the main engineer of Galaxy Mega isn't some sentimental jerk. He knows it was built to fight, and he's not going to let hundreds die just to save it. It makes for a strong moment as he's willing to make the sacrifice (I don't know if it's actually sacrificed, though, since this episode ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. I'm actually pretty pumped for the next episode!).

Also, I like that they acknowledge Mega Silver's job. He can't just come in and make the save like he's been doing because he needs to work on Mega Voyager. His absence was nice, as it made the rangers feel whole again, ironically. They operated as a team because their superman can't come in and save the day.

Also, I wish I still had my Mega Voyager. Damn...

Left, up, down, right.
VOYAGER SPARTAN!

End of the cliffhanger. I realized after I posted that Galaxy Mega couldn't be destroyed, since Kubota is on board. Still, it was a really nice episode. Mega Voyager looks great and it's finisher is awesome. It's a shame that the rest of it isn't as cool as Galaxy Mega, as it's attacks outside of the finisher leave a lot to be desired. I'm not complaining that it doesn't have a sword, but the utter lack of any weapons beyond the Spartan means that it's fist fighting most of the time...Oh well.
Mega Silver's absence is nice (Though Yusaka does play a larger role in this episode, he doesn't morph), as I love watching a team stand on their own, not relying on a crutch (As Silver has been nothing but a crutch).

Well, next episode, Mega Red finally uses function 03 on the Battle Riser. Took his sweet ass time with it. Hell, he only ever used function 02 once so far >.>

This episode was really nice and, outside of the gags with Mega Red and Rovoyager 01 (Which kind of killed the mood, what with an entire science and engineering division about to die as the Galaxy Mega holds out), quite enjoyable.

http://i.imgur.com/AkhrsV9.gif

Abaranger's painful rampage has come to an end for me. Now on to Gingaman, can't wait to watch that tomorrow. But before I do, can anyone tell me if it's good? Or bad?

I thought it was pretty decent. The heroes are a little bland, and I don't think it's the best show to marathon, but it's a fun show. There are clear divisions in episode arcs, which was rare back then, and there's some fantastic suit work with the Star Beasts in their organic forms.

This is true. It handles the Pirates thing better than Turbo did and there is a lot of fun swordplay.

You'll enjoy it. Or not, taste is subjective.

Also, "Dances with Wolves" on Ice.

Painful rampage? Did you not like it?

So I just watched the opening episode of Maskman.

It's a weird blend of being extremely dated and yet still oddly ahead of its time. Things like the way they used the individual mecha for example, balanced on the back of those greenscreens. Or how the suits are insanely aesthetically pleasing, yet I couldn't really tell you why as they're so basic.

I guess if I can see past the dated production, I may end falling for the concepts.

Kyoryuger 47. The final battle begins and I'm ONE HUNDRED PERCENT SOLD.

I dunno, I just felt everything climaxed together so successfully. Nossan accepting he might die, but only worrying about his family, how much Souji seems like Torin and how overjoyed Ian and Souji are that they get the chance to die at one another's side, Dogold and Utchy fighting side by side before having their final showdown.

I'm just sad because I know with the toku way, this'll all be undone the next episode making it all meaningless. Maybe I just wont watch episode forty eight, and remain to myself that this was always the final episode.

Kyoryuger 48 - Plus final series thoughts.

I know everyone thinks I'm this bitter old bastard who hates everything, and this post isn't going to help my case, but I fucking hate happy endings. Okay, no I don't hate them that's wrong it's just... When everyone lives, everyone is happy, what is the point of it all?

Death is a cheap device to make things seem more immediate than perhaps they are, and after about a century of cheapening death in every single medium ever it seems largely like we've forgotten the importance of death as a narrative device when implemented correctly.

With that in mind, if every hero died and they completely lost the battle and all the rest - sure it would be completely anti climactic but I find it similarly anti climatic if everyone lives. How can I appreciate it was a big epic battle for the entire planet, how can I appreciate all the character moments leading up to this, if all the heroes do is walk away with a bloody nose? And I mean ALL of them, Utchy died in 47 just to wake up in this episode with absolutely no fanfare at all.

In the end, because of how it ended, it never ended up feeling like a big deal at all. There is two ways to ask 'what was the point of all this' at the end of a series, one is because they show left you so emotionally devastated you'll be crying about it for weeks and remember it for months or the other is because a show is so terrified of altering status quo or alienating a single person in an audience of millions that they play the ending as safe as physically possible. And safe is exactly how this ending was played.

Overall that was Kyoryuger's ultimate sin. That it was happy to play it safe, to get by on doing the bare minimum, never trying to attempt anything daring or progressive. No matter what purists say, all sentai exists to do is entertain toddlers and sell toys. In that regard Kyoryuger may very well be the best sentai ever made, it's huge, loud, colourful and has solid effects that make for consistently epic battles throughout the series. But the frustrating thing was, through all the fun, I could never help wriggle free from the feeling that Kyoryuger could and SHOULD have been so much more than it was. I don't even mean in some fanficcy way, if anything these last five or so episodes highlighted the sheer quantity of wasted ideas.

Every character was fascinating, every character had a unique dynamic but minus Daigo - and to some extent Ian and Utchy - evey character was ALSO entirely underdeveloped.

Personally by the end Nossan was the character who infuriated me the most, in how much he was wasted. He may have been another hero with a sister, but it was much more of a family dynamic than a sibling dynamic, thanks to Rika.

I can't think of another sentai hero who has a family, or at least a LIVING family that they actually fight for. It's always their 'nakama'. But of course they used this like what.....twice in the entire run of the whole show? Fucks sake man.

The utterly wasted potential doesn't just hurt Kyoryuger for me, it breaks it. It isn't a bad show, it's an entertaining show but I think if the show had ever attempted to break free of its self imposed shackles it could have been my very favourite show. And so that makes me sad.

I think that was my ultimate frustration with Kyoryuger. It was good, but it had the potential to be so much better. Toei was just too gunshy after their experiment to break the Super Sentai mold with Go-Busters failed.

To be fair, Torin did actually stay dead, even if the Spirit Ranger thing softens the blow. I agree however that Utchi's death being undone was random and a little unnecessary. A happy ending is all the better when its earned- when it costs something. I think Utchi's death was beautifully done, you really felt the devastation of the others and it would have made the feeling of accomplishment of stopping DeBoss if it had come at some cost. Plus, Spirit Rangers are a plot point of the show, even if Utchi had died we'd still have been able to be given a "he's still happy" moment for the kiddos to not feel like their hopes and dreams are crushed, it wouldn't be the "OMG tears" ending that Jetman had.

To have everyone die though, not just Utchi, I think that'd crush the ending a bit too much, especially for the genre as you're watching the show for a good ending where the heroes triumph. I'm happy with the way it turned out minus the random resurrection of Utchi.

Utchy should have died - as for the rest, living is fine if living feels like an achievement.

Ian and Souji seemed almost overjoyed that if they die...they get to die side by side, but within moments the enemy is defeated, the battle is over and there is just...nothing, there is no climax to this realisation. They were never happy that they ended up LIVING together, so why let them live at all?

When Nossan blocks the enemies on the bridge, his only comment is not about himself - but his family - and when he ends up living, does he go rushing to scoop Rika in his arms, overjoyed with the notion that he didn't die for his family? LOL NO he looks at his beast battery and cries about King.

This is where the ending failed for me. Why establish their deaths, allow them all to live, but then never make living feel like something earned? Something achieved? A goal satisfied. It felt like a cop out, not a victory.

Utchy should have become a new generation of Spirit Rangers since Torin and gang moved on to the after life.

Left, up, down, right
Voyager Spartan!

Megaranger!

Kenta finally uses Mode 2 for a second time on his Battle Riser, and just in time for it to do fuck all. Well, he also uses Mode 3 now, too, and it just charges his weapon. Ehh...I think I like the armor In Space used for Mode 3. Sure, the pecs his suit randomly grew didn't make much sense, but it made sense why it was never used up until that point. But apparently INET is just kind of "He'll only ever press one for 20 episodes straight. We'll install Mode 3 when we get around to it..."

Oh well. The crush subplot is cute, and even though it's based entirely around miscommunication, it's not done for lame pseudo-drama BS like other shows. It's played for laughs and it stems not from either party being unwilling to voice their side, but from Kenta just being unable to shut the hell up for 2 minutes so she can speak. Additionally, it's only for one episode, so I can rest well.
Mega Silver makes his first appearance in 4 episodes, which is kind of ironic because, while he appeared out of suit in a major appearance last episode, here he never de-transforms.

This is similar to how I feel. Had it been a bit more ballsy it could have been my favorite Sentai. It had all the right elements and a lot of badass moments. It just... fumbled them throughout.

I do see the reasons why the show plays it so safe so often. It came on the heels of the lowest rated Sentai show in history. Rocking the boat may have seemed like a bad idea to Toei and Bandai. I don't like that mentality, but I at least understand it.

I agree that Utchy should have died. However, I don't think the writers were interested in presenting death as "The End" in any way. Instead, they approached the concept in the bright and optimistic way they approached everything else. The first time we see a Spirit Ranger, we know that even when you stop breathing, life goes on. Maybe the show would have felt more substantial had the creative team approached death more finality -- but I think there was a conscious choice made to make the grave seem less scary, for better or worse. It's certainly an interesting response to Go-Busters' fixation with the permanence of death.

You see that is another thing, I really liked Go-Busters, so Kyoryuger's goal of being the 'anti-Go Busters' was probably always gonna rub me wrong.