Juspion Episode 30: Okay the MBE better pack it in if Miya was kicking their asses lol. This was a great episode minus Gilza's incessant laughing, I could not stand that or her hubris. Juspion was kick ass again and good to see Miya and Anri help save him. The combat with Daileon has gotten so much better and it is amazing to watch. Also, I am happy that Satan Gorth is actually talking now. I can't wait for Boomerang's return next episode too. =)

UltraMan Orb Origin Saga Episode 1: Since TV Nihon subbed it, I figured I'd watch it, since I've been missing Gai. This was amazing, it reminded me of Xenogears/Final Fantasy merged with UltraMan. I just loved seeing Gai and Juggler together and Gai just starting out as Orb. Doctor Psychi or whatever his name is, is a wonderful antagonist right now. I can't wait for more.

Finished episode 35 of Armor Hero or rather Armor Hero: Legend since it turns out the dub just left the entire tagline out of the title.

Anyway, the Shadow King was defeated 2-3 episodes ago and now there's these new villains who are even stronger than him. And they're just going around the city and unleashing a MotW that seems to emit an "older strain of influenza" that allows it kill pretty much every civilian in the scene whenever it shows up.

Also there's a subplot about the Rhino-Man (Mike) just being a dick;

-He fought Dragon-Man (Erik) and put him into the hospital, because... Something about, wanting to be the leader and being able to survive... I think?

-He's trying to turn everyone else on the team against the newly recruited Mastiff-Man (Ivan), because... He thinks Ivan is weak... Despite the fact that Ivan was the second biggest threat for the last arc.

-He's also trying to muscule his way into being the leader because... Actually I have no idea. He's been wanting to be the leader of the team ever since he showed up but I'm pretty sure the only explanation the show has given for that is because he thinks he's the smartest and can be leader the team needs, despite the fact that he impulsive and even falls for the same traps all the other characters do.

Honestly the plot just seems boring at this point, I'll watch a few more episodes and start Legend Heroes and maybe take a look at Armor Hero XT to see if the writing got any better.

This right here is fucking reasons why I hate Mike and another reason I won't spoil. Erik didn't even seem like he wanted to be the leader it was just thrust upon for reasons but whatever. There are more dickish characters later that are part of the worst subplot in the show so have fun with that.

Yeah plot is little dull but I think it gets the job done well enough. I have heard that the sequel series, Armor Hero XT, has much better story and characters.

I don't know if this goes here but I finally watched Shin Godzilla. I'll try to keep this short since this is a movie and one that is long out already, but I liked it, even though I fully expected not to.

It's a fantastic catastrophe movie, I don't even know much about the genre but I imagine that if you watch it and are legitimately terrified then they did something right. I mean shit, when Godzilla got really going and when they had their final plan to stop him underway I couldn't help but think how damn awful all of this is.

It's not a feeling I usually have with Godzilla because I prefer the more campy and fun iterations but since this goes more in line with the first movie I think it works.

Yeah, the whole political talk and the constant subtitled exposition for every fart which enters the point of view is annoying, but I think it adds to the experience like you're watching a real broadcast, a documentary or you're really there.

I was surprisingly not bothered by Godzilla's new origin as well, even though I absolutely prefer the Heisei one, but I could accept it for what it is, same with the overall design. I still hate it but in the movie, I could tolerate it.

I think it's worth a watch if you can catch it on a stream or something, Godzilla fans should definitely watch it, not all will like it but it's something new which worked for me personally.

Next time I want something stupid and cheesy again though, with some real suits and less CGI. For me, Godzilla is still all about Japanese adults in rubber suits beating the everlasting crap out of each other. I found Ultraman as a side-fix but I need some real Godzilla action again sometime in the future!

I decided to power through some more episodes of Armor Hero Legend in the past two days, just finished episode 48 this morning.

So the villains that replaced the Shadow King are called the Servants of the Elements. They're comprised of ethereal beings that possessed the Shadow King's lackeys and random a-holes they found around the city.

While Dragon-Man Erik was in the hospital Rhino-Man Mike found a new person to fill in for Dragon-Man, normally I would say he tried replace Erik, but in all honestly the new guy only shows up whenever the Heroes need to fight a monster. and doesn't ever interact with the rest of the cast outside of battle. So yeah, he's just filling in for Erik.

Eventually the Servants persuade Dragon-Man 2 to join them. He beats up Ivan, and starts helping monsters attack the city. These actions, along with a important note from the old caretaker from Ivan's childhood orphanage saying how Ivan is pure of heart. Result in Mike's general opinion of Ivan taking the biggest 180 I think I've ever seen in toku outside of Makato Fukami telling Jabel to "shove it" after Takeru used his one wish to revive Kanon.

After Mike apologizes to Erik, the entire sub-plot ends with Erik fighting Dragon-Man 2, and regaining the Dragon Armor.

There's actually more stuff after that, but I'll probably cover it and my thoughts about the show and characters after I see the finale.

I started Solbrain today and well, it kind of sucks. I'm bored. I want my Walter and Bikel back. lol I don't know why, but this feels no different than Winspector, just without the charm. Everyone is as wooden as Ryoma was. I did like the VR stuff, but ultimately, I don't see why this series needs to exist. Speaking of pointless existences, the giant firetruck needs to go. God is that thing dumb.

Although, the worst part was episode 3. Yes, I know it actually came first, but holy shit, it was the exact same plot as Ohranger episode 4. Single father cop gets possessed by parasite that turns him into the original form of said parasite, he kidnaps children to replicate himself, and then when things go awry, cop father tries to commmit suicide to stop it, only for the heroes to use fire to remove the creature from the host body, killing it. I know Toei will repeatedly reuse episode scripts, but they at least change them up enough so they never feel like they are the exact same episode. Here, I knew exacty what event was going to happen before it even happened. Super annoying.

Finished the last four episodes of Armor Hero: Legend. Not gonna do a recap because I realized that would probably spoil a bunch of stuff for anyone in the thread who's interested in seeing it. The action was alright, and the plot was simple but decently executed. The characters were just ok, although I really feel Sam got the short the short end of the stick in terms of focus. Overall though, I'd say the show was a good first attempt at making a toku series. I'm definitely gonna watch the first few episodes of Armor Hero XT to see how things improved.

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I've also started watching Legend Heroes. Since the official thread is probably way ahead, I'll post updates and comments on what I've seen over here until I get caught up.

I finished episode 12, the red warrior Cao Cao has just been introduced, and wow his debut fight is... quite the tone setter.

Speaking of fights, one of the things I really like about show are the small details in choreography that help convey the character's personality, especially in their debut fights:
-Gongsun Zan is fast, well rehearsed, and will jab from a distance to study her opponent's quirks.

-Wang Yun is a pure powerhouse, tanking his opponent's blows and knocking them into next Tuesday with a single strike.

-Cao Cao is quick and efficient like Zan, but there's an air of malice in his attacks.

So yeah, really liking the show so far.

Juspion Episodes 31-33: Juspion is badass, Gilza is a great villain, Anri is actually more helpful, and the action scenes are amazing. Short and sweet. Also, Juspion's courage and determination is amazing. =)

After a couple of months of watching, I'm very pleased to say that I have finished Kyojuu Tokusou Juspion. And what a journey this show was. The entire thing was a real roller coaster of emotions for me, especially since this was my first Metal Hero show save for a few episodes of Winspecter. If I could describe Juspion in two words, those words would be Time Capsule. Juspion is, in just about every way possible, a show completely of its time. The outdated fashion, the soundtrack, the aesthetic, the fact that the main character drives around the city in the most boring looking car I've ever seen, everything about this show screams 80s tokusatsu. Above all of that though, the most outdated thing about this show is its villains, the Megabeast Empire, and the methods they use in their attempt to take over the earth.

Using advance technology, and bit of magic, The Megabeast Empire causes chaos in human society not by sending monster after monster to destroy a few buildings and scare a few faceless people but by instead attacking humans at their core. They lie to the innocent to take advantage of their gifts and talents for their own selfish desires, corrupt good people to give into their dark human desires, and torture those who try and stand up to them by destroy their families and forcing them to work for the devil. While this in and of itself isn't foreign to modern tokusatsu, what is foreign is how... real, for lack of a better word, everything is.

The heroes and villains all use realistic looking weapons, they often cause great destruction and chaos using methods that can replicated in real life, and the focus of an episode is often split between Juspion and the helpless victim, often a child, who is forced to watch as either their life or the life of somebody close to them is destroyed without being able to do a thing to stop it. the Megabeast Empire is even willing kill helpless children *on live television* while their parents are forced to watch, further showing just how cruel they are. The fact that there was once a time when a kids shows could do such a thing in such a blunt way leaves me speechless.

Just finished episode 25 of Legend Heroes.

I'm surprised to see Liu Bei get a new form this late in the series that isn't a mid-season upgrade.

More importantly, it was really depressing seeing Xu Shu go. The fight was cool though, it felt like something that usually happens at the series finale or epilogue.

Also it was odd to see Cao Cao not care about the Lu Bu piece, I thought he would spare Lu Bu considering how important he was to Wang Yun as well as being a really powerful ally in general.

So today I watched episodes 5-10 of Solbrain. They were not bad. In fact, some of them were really touching. My favorite episode of this batch is probably the one where the prototype Solbraver suit is stolen. Unfortunately the last few minutes were pretty bad though as after getting to watch a really kick ass fight sequence, some random girl just shows up in the middle of the burning factor. It was like they finished the episode but still needed 2 more minutes of episode and decided to throw in some random rescue bit to make up for it. The girl is never introduced at all before hand and then kind of just disappears after she is hugged by Soljeanne. It made no sense. The episode with the James Bond Wolfman was pretty awesome too though. Actually, maybe I like that one better...

The cast is still card board as far as personalities go, but at least they spent some time to develop them a bit. Except for Dozer. He serves no purpose right now. I also don't know what the point of this show is. It seems like they are just repeating the same stories they already covered with Winspector, just with new merchandise. Not to mention they had 3 bomb plots in those 6 episodes. Can we get some variety?

That one really felt like it was randomly pulled out of the ass, just to show how much of a cool guy Daiki was, compared to the other psycho police guy. Him getting punched by injured Masaki was kinda cathartic though. Wish they just linked both moment properly, instead of conveniently placing a kid in peril right inside the burning factory.

Just finished Legend Heroes 39. In terms of characters so far:

Liu Bei hasn't really gotten much in the last few two-parters, there was a small arc with him and Zhuge Liang, but lately Cao Cao and Sun Ce are the main ones in the spotlight.

I'm also kind of surprised how Cao Cao has become way more protagonistic compared to how he was when he first renamed himself. Especially last episode where he helped patch up a bully's relationship with his parents, what happened to "Evil is only evil"? Admittedly, I could easily be missing the point and this all could just be part of Cao Cao's character arc for the rest of the series.

Sun Ce is... Still just Sun Ce, although I do consider him somewhat well rounded in terms of characterization at this point so I don't really mind his lack of change all that much.

Lastly I'm not really sold on Zhange Jiao as the main villain. He was creepy at first when he appeared sporadically, but as the series continued I just kind of got used to him.

Juspion Episodes 35-36: Were both awesome and amazing episodes. I love getting back to the main plot with the Golden Bird, Eijin, and the Lights that shined on the 7 people. Juspion was completely awesome.

Juspion Episode 39-40 (as I skipped episodes 37 and 38): Both fun, and interesting episodes. Gilmaza is just like her sister. It's nice to add another new villain. Juspion was awesome and the combat and story is great here.

Juspion Episodes 41-43: Just damn this has gotten insanely good, and I can't wait for the final 3 episodes to see how Juspion battles Satan Goth. This has just been amazing is so many different ways.

Juspion Episode 44-46: That was an amazing finale. Loved these episodes and thought it ended fantastically. Easily beats out Space Sheriff Gavan as my favorite Metal Heroes series. The battles and the threat seemed grand and I just loved everything from the 7 lights coming together and more. Well, I'll write more on the whole series later.

EDIT: Oops wrong thread

I just watched the first five episodes of Garo from Kraken's BD and the quality is exceptional. The audio really packs a bunch as my subwoover was constantly booming and the dialog is quite clear despite being only in stereo. The video quality is just as impressive and clean. Gone is the really blurry look, and yet, it still retains its atmosphere. My only complaints are with how generic the disc menu is (it's just the episode titles in front of some gears) and the English subtitles can not be turned off. Translations are spectacular and I haven't noticed any grammatical or spelling errors. In fact, it is pretty nice watching this series subbed again as I haven't watched it subbed since 2006 as I had always rewatched it through my Region 2 DVDs

As always, these episodes are a blast to watch with my favorite being the fifth episode (one that deals with a girl and two guys in a warehouse) because the Horror is so creepy. Although, my favorite design of the five Horrors so far is the chain lady one. So amazing looking. Too bad the second volume doesn't come out until Dec as it would have been nice to watch the whole series this month.

Oh man, I'd forgotten the Garo blu-ray was coming out this month. I thought it was November. Amazon apparently won't have it until next week, but I've already got my pre-order in.

Yeah, I ordered it from Righstuf as they started shipping them last month. Next week is when Samurai Jack comes out to BD so I wanted to get Garo early so I didn't have to buy both at the same time.

Just watched the first 5 episodes of Gridman. Really excited to get around to this since it's been one of those shows that I've always wanted to watch eventually. I think in this particular case the thing keeping me away was it not being subtitled, except I've also been meaning to watch some Toku show or another raw for a while now, so suddenly that seemed like a feature and not a bug.

At any rate, I really enjoyed what I saw. I'll save more elaborate thoughts for further in, but basically, the visuals for the Computer World are fantastic (it's Tsuburaya), and the mundane normal world stuff is entertaining and makes for a nice contrast. Overall it's just a very charming show so far.

Out of curiosity, how well do you understand it without subtitles?

Most Toku shows that are aimed at kids are fine without subs if you know basic Japanese. Every Sentai show I have watched raw and then subbed later on has usually matched what I thought was being said outside of some of the finer deep plot points.

Pretty well. The worst that usually happens is a quick joke flying over my head. If there's some word I don't know that's super important, I can just pause the video and look it up, too.

I always watch the recent Ultraman shows on Tsusburaya's YouTube channel to see them early (I don't pay for Crunchyroll), and ever since the back half of Orb I haven't felt the need to even watch them subtitled later. With Geed I've been pretty consistently getting 90-100% of the dialogue, which is what inspired me to finally watch Gridman.

What Dr Kain says is pretty accurate. Unless an episode of a show comes along where the hero files their taxes or does college level math for 22 minutes, you don't need to have a massive vocabulary.

Just finished watching episode 20 of Gridman, and now that I'm halfway through, I have to say, it's low-key really great. Not obviously special in the way some mindblowingly epic melodrama is, but subtly special in just how confident, competent, and consistent it is as a straightforward episodic hero show.

I'm not quite sure how to start breaking it down but I think the biggest thing to mention is the tone. Gridman is a very lighthearted show, but it also isn't a farce. There's an emphasis on contrasting mundane, almost sitcom-esque plots in the real world with the villains wreaking havoc in the computer world, which is conversely treated fairly seriously, never making the monsters and the threat they pose out to be a joke. There are episodes that lean more heavily towards comedy or drama but in general it's this nice balance that allows you to have plenty of good laughs without the side effect of it being impossible to take the rest of the show seriously.

The comedy is definitely the star of the show, however. Tons of very funny gags every episode all coming from a very likable cast of characters. Naoto and his friends are a pretty cool bunch (I especially like how actively helpful Ippei and Yuka are), but going back to that whole "sitcom-esque" point, their families are also a huge part of the show and the result is a lot of delightful down-to-earth antics. I think Gridman does a particularly great job making its children feel like children, but everyone else is good too. The overall atmosphere of the show is just really nice.

It's no slouch when it comes time for the action, either. It almost goes without saying, since this is a Tsuburaya production, and at that, one that's entire reason for existing was basically to try out fancy new digital effects and filming techniques. The results speak for themselves, and even when you get the occasionally wonky shot here and there, it's more charming than distracting. Tsuburaya just gets how to make this stuff look cool. I can't even begin to articulate how profoundly happy it makes me every time Gridman uses his Fixer Beam at the end of an episode.

So yeah, Gridman. Pretty dang awesome so far. Can't wait to see the rest of it.

So I finished Collection 1 today and the second disc remained just as good quality wise. The episodes are some of the best of the season (especially the gameshow one) while the clip show is... better than a lot more. I haven't watched it since the episode first aired (for obvious reasons), but at least it has some good info and the ending is funny. The only thing I will say I do not like about the subs is Kraken has decided to spell Keru, Beru, and Rusu as Kale, Bell, and Rose. Now that could just be the way they were told to spell them, but it kind of takes away from the meaning in their names. That aside, I have no complaints with this release at all other than why the hell is Collection 2 not out yet!!!!!? lol

I've been very slowly trucking away with Ultraseven (not nearly as fast as I want to get through them) and still having the best time with it. I've noticed there's been a fair few episodes of aliens misunderstanding Earth probes though, so it feels like a lot of this conflict would be fixed if people were just a lot clearer that they came in peace :lol

Episode 17 was another standout one though. Not just because it finally showed Dan's origin, but because it was just one massive homage to Thunderbirds and I loved every second of it. Leaving the underground city shrouded in mystery was a really nice touch as well.

The only thing I didn't like about it though was that Seven didn't save Hiro's mouse as well. After all the attention they gave it I wanted it to make it out alive as well :cry

Orb, up to episode 16 now. For such a short series, I'm floored.

Finished Tiga. It's alright. And I've seen 9 episodes of Garo. Holy shit is Garo great. Goddamn Kaiba destroying demons with swordsmanship and the GORGEOUS toku suits, MMMMMMMM this is good shit

Yes. Yes it is.

Has anyone here seen Metalder? I started it last weekend and I fell in love with it as soon as I watched the first episode. I'm so in love with it that I'm already up to episode 11.

I freaking love Metalder, it's one of my favorite toku shows. I really love the different monster armies.

Got into Garo 2 days ago and just finished watching Ep16 (Kouga VS Priest chess game).
Damn that show is good. If all the Garo series are like this. that's amazing.
I really love the different variations of the Garo Theme song. sometimes sad, sometimes epic.
Battle choreographies out of suits are awesome (it hurts when you go back watching Sentai or KR now ^^)
Show knows how to renew itself. Sometimes Horrific/Serial Killer (that Sculptor episode. brr...), sometimes even funny/JoJo-esque (the game horror) etc...

Really a great show. I feel guilty that i didn't watch it before (considering I'm a fan of JAM Project and know the Garo theme song for many years now)

I was really moved by that Ep16 (that's why I'm posting now), these conversations with the priest, and particularly the one where Kouga explains he realizes Kaoru is important to him and all. wow. really. wow.
I don't know many about cinema/acting/writing and all, but I think that's a great level here.

I'm done with 1st season of Garo.
Really a great show. can't wait to watch what's next
I'll watch the KIBA gaiden next to understand more about Barago

Because if I had some small complains about the show, it's about Barago. We didn't see him much. I didn't expect him to be the doctor we see from the start but I admit I smelled something wrong.
The doctor was the only recurring character without a link to the makai world or have any power. and one of the first time he appeared, the guy had open shirt and all, which, I don't really know why, reminded me of "Isn't that the werewolves style ?" (not only from Twilight, I know I saw this somewhere else).
But then forgot about him.

my other small complain would be that while I understand the vilain has to be stronger for the hero to struggle and all, the final vilains Barago and GULM are too OP. Episode 24 is literally the vilains punching and kicking the heroes and hear many "argh urgh *drops to the ground*". It almost became annoying at some point.


EDIT : Done watching KIBA

Well. It's not like you learn much more about Barago.
Basically his mother died, wanted to be strong as a result, failed to be GARO successor and turned evil ? that's all ?
That's a bit light, but that's ok. I wish the Leah Dizon character wasn't there and gave more time to Barago, but ok.
The last scenes when he fights the golden armor, then messiah + destroy the last piece of light in himself are short but really nice.
I really liked the actor playing Barago.

Yes, I seriously love that series. I pretty much binge-watch it in its entirety just last year. Hell, I'm honestly tempted to watch the series again after the holidays.

Done watching Garo Byakuya no Maju and Red Requiem.

I'm really pleased I started watching GARO. It feels like I'm getting what I lack when I'm watching Kamen Rider. Mainly, very good action scenes out of suit and women able to fight.

Byakuya no Maju :

Wow. Didn't expect Jabi to return after what happened to her in the first main series. That's kinda bad in a way. It feels like anyone can return now.
But on the other side, I'm happy to see her back and to see women fight more.

That White armored Makai Knight played by Kamen Rider Saga actor is really cool looking (even though his attitude is annoying). Nice to see a knight fight with something else than a sword. I hope we continue to get other weapons makai knights.


Red Requiem :

Very cool movie, even if no character returns except Kouga.
You can really tell that the movie was thought to be displayed in 3D. I wish I could have seen it in 3D.

Fight scenes were awesome. Especially the final one VS Karma (speaking of Karma didn't expect a major vilain being played by Saori Hara... ... Don't judge me for knowing her ok :p). That final fight really felt like a fight you could find in Bayonetta video games. And that's really awesome. Final moments of it gave me goosebumps and tears of awesomeness.

Didn't like Rekka's character at first. But that's her trope I guess. That's funny because her name means something like "Raging Fire" but her signature final attacks are Water based. Her father, one of the former master of Kouga is played by that funny journalist guy from KR Ryuuki. that was funny to realize xD



I really liked both movie (though only one is a real theater movie, and you can clearly see it). My only complain would be Kaoru's absence from the 2. It doesn't help the relationship with Kouga to develop :/

Started to watch Metalder and I'm already 3 episodes in. I like how Neros' hordes consist of multiple armies who let their monsters duel against each other in order to decide who'll get his ass handed by Metalder later on. I also really like the idea of a robot hero, who is slowly trying to understand what living as a human is all about.

I love the four monster armies in Metalder. The best part is that all the ones you see in the first episode are around for the long haul. Obviously most eventually have their moment to go up against the hero, but for a lot of them that's pretty far down the road and they're just there in the background for most of the series. It really makes them feel like more than just MotWs.

Watching Garo Makai Senki Episode 9 when suddenly

https://i.imgur.com/YweJdJB.jpg

Where have I seen that before. Oh yeah Ex-Aid Episode 2


https://i.imgur.com/6EMWBOC.jpg



I know that's nothing special in toku. But I always like to realize : "oh it's the place from that time"