Jetman 30-32:

Another trilogy of episodes from Inoue kicks off with a bang in 30, as two hapless civilians wandering into a cave accidentally release an ancient demon from his slumber, which is the kind of thing that never ends well for anyone. Even the demon himself is having a rough time of it, because all the killing he's doing (like those two guys in the cave, who die) isn't even helping his own goal. He tries fighting a boxer (who dies), and a traditional Japanese swordsman (who dies), but it's not until he meets the Jetmen that he discovers a true warrior of the modern age whose blood can be used in a sinister ritual to resurrect his two demon masters. Kinda sounds like the plot to yet another crazy guest writer episode, but Inoue has a few tricks up his sleeve. First of all, having these new villains that are completely disconnected from the Vyram allows them to also be in conflict with the show's regular villains, on top of the heroes, and for reasons I'll get into later, I think Radiguet in particular is always at his best when other antagonists come along to challenge him. So that puts a spin on the usual formula for a while. Second, and much more importantly, for all the talk of demons with the bad guys and manufacturing new giant robots with the good guys, this is yet another episode that's at least as focused on people, as tends to be the case with Inoue's scripts for this show. Namely, this is the episode where Kaori officially falls for Gai after all this time. Credit where credit is due, the show actually did put in the work to get us to this point. The whole reason Kaori was interested in Ryuu to begin with was because he exudes nobility, and while Gai never shows that on the surface, there have regularly been notable instances of him looking out for Kaori in particular, whether by providing emotional support, or by risking life and limb to protect her physically. (Both of which he does in this one episode.) The obvious catch there, that Gai himself freely points out, is that it isn't actually kindness if you're doing it to be rewarded, but I can completely buy from Kaori's perspective why she would start looking at Gai the way she does now. I also really liked the actual scene at the end properly cementing the change in their relationship. It's just this completely wordless moment of them sitting under a tree, with Kaori reaching out to hold Gai's bandaged hand from his earlier rescue of her, and it's another thing I imagine people who don't gel with Jetman finding super overplayed and melodramatic, but I sort of disagree. I mean, it's certainly melodramatic, of course (which I wouldn't call a crime in a soap opera), but it's also the kind of scene I can imagine some executive yelling at the staff to basically dumb it down further to talk down to the children watching. To have a scene like that, carried as it solely by the (nicely shot!) visuals and the music, it stuck out to me as another thing I don't see all the time in Super Sentai, and I thought it was a standout moment from an episode that already had a fair bit going for it.

Things only continue to heat up in 31, between Radiguet successfully reviving the other two demons himself to (unsuccessfully) make them his servants, and the ramifications of Gai and Kaori becoming a couple. Starting with that first thing, I was way into the dynamic with the villains here. There's a great gimmick to the demons where they immediately refuse to serve the Vyram in opposition to their desire to wipe out humanity, but like, there's clearly no chance of these two being anything but equally evil, so for the first stretch of the episode, it's a matter of finding out what exactly they find so "wonderful" about the species, and why they're going around saving people from deadly accidents. Turns out we're just a very nutritious part of their diet! I'm honestly surprised how into these dudes I ended up being. They have no right to feel like as natural a part of the plot as they do, but the way they're out to get all the series regulars as this self-motivated third power genuinely added a lot of momentum to the plot. Again, it's always nice watching Radiguet trying to pull a scheme together even as his fellow commanders mock him for his repeated failures. Maria even decides to take things into her own hands, but before I get to that, I need to mention how Gai and Kaori straight up miss out on a fight because they were busy dating. This understandably prompts a chewing out from Ryuu, who gives the usual spiel about the need for self-sacrifice in the name of the greater good, complete with a line about how Gai's attitude is disrupting the team's unity, which I have to admit is a little rich coming from someone who is himself failing to understand or properly empathize with Gai's own point of view. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Gai ends up turning in his transformation braces and running off with Kaori after this. This is Jetman, though, so even something as massive as the team breaking up is only a portion of the *drama* packed into these 20 minutes. Ryuu's own insistence upon keeping personal matters from affecting work gets the most thorough possible test when an attack from one of the demons results in the truth about Maria finally being made explicit. The good news is Rie is alive, and she and Ryuu get to have a touching reunion admidst all this chaos. The bad news is that it doesn't last, because while the team are distracted by the giant robot fight, Radiguet swoops back in to reclaim one of his own, and the episode ends with an extremely distraught Ryuu having his face crushed into the ground under Maria's boot, in what may well be the most effective cliffhanger in this show yet. Lots of people having bad days in this episode, but on the bright side, Tetra Boy gets up and running, and his high-speed fighting style makes the mecha action here a lot of fun.

Heading into 32, everything is going terribly, to put it mildly. Ryuu is in such a state of shock, he's outright rejecting reality to pretend Rie is completely fine; Gai isn't finding freedom as compelling as he expected, and Kaori knows it; and Radiguet is still struggling to make the powers of the demons his own. Starting with that last thing, I totally dig Radiguet? There's this great vibe to him as a main villain, where he doesn't ever feel all-powerful. He *is* very strong and capable, but he's not menacing because of that alone. It's the sense of tenacity that comes across in his actions, and it's particularly apparent in episodes like this. His position as top bad guy is actually extremely precarious, and you see him work to maintain it, in the same way a hero typically works to triumph over a guy like Radiguet. (He even jumps into battle with sword in hand like any cool hero.) For this whole three-parter, he's trying to put together this plan to make the demons his servants, and he's really active about making that happen, even as things keep going wrong, until some particularly devious thinking finally allows him to get what he wants... at least until the heroes inevitably mess that up too. Like I said, they're doing work too. And in Gai's case, it's rather unexpected work, because he of all people ends up being the one who has to snap Ryuu back to reality. The thing is, while I've mentioned before how Gai's primary motivation for joining the team was basically just to hit on Kaori a bunch, the truth of the matter is that from way back in the third episode, it was already apparent that what draws him to the group, so deep down he probably doesn't realize it, is that Gai genuinely respects Ryuu's heroic backbone. He belittles his stuffy ideals constantly, but there's also a part of Gai that's driven to be a better person by the example Ryuu sets. That side of Gai comes out in full force starting as soon as Raita makes the mistake of agreeing how much of a lame hypocrite Ryuu is for immediately letting his personal life get in the way of his job. It doesn't sit right with Gai to have anyone but himself talking smack about Ryuu, and I think it's clear that's because he's worried other people might actually mean it. Even when he confronts a downright delusional Ryuu, he ends up stopping himself short of punching him for once, and instead chooses to simply say that the rest of the team is waiting for him. It's this huge moment for Gai, having essentially got exactly what he initially wanted, to reevaluate what exactly being Black Condor means to him, and as such, by the time Ryuu finally gets over himself, heroically saves the day as always, and caps the episode off by reaching out his hand to shake Gai's, it's not that surprising when Gai chooses to reciprocate with a knowing smile on his face.

Doesn't make it any less awesome, though. You can probably tell from how much I wrote, but I had a fantastic time with these episodes. They smoothly blend the actual Sentai stuff and the romantic drama together throughout to great effect, rather than loading particular parts one way or the other, and the result is the most climactic and exciting group of episodes yet. I went into this show ready to sit here goofing on Inoue for his quirky writing habits, but multi-parters like this have left me genuinely impressed by how well-constructed they honestly are.

Kyo Ryu (Episode 24)

Violet Ranger's entry

I had luckily seen Power Rangers Dino Charge on DVD. The English subs are what would be from a Power Rangers sub from Shout Factory.

As for Kyo the first half was good. If this were Dino Charge #25 will start the 2nd US series due to the Nick split.

Plot wise I've been impressed with the series.

This is one case we would have a tie if I had to choose between Toei and Saban.

I'm so glad to see that you're enjoying Jetman as much as you are. It's really one of the most unique (and, by far, my favorite) sentai out there.

The thing is that... Inoue is one of the best writers to have ever graced Sentai, full stop. His eye for structure, character, drama, tension, and most impressively, escalation of emotional stakes, are unmatched by anyone other than Yasuko Kobayashi, and his willingness to break with convention -- while still respecting said convention -- is truly commendable. He's had some strange hiccups in his career, but even the shows that are the most derided (e.g., Kiva) are spectacularly well-structured on and episode-by-episode basis, even if the extraneous worldbuilding details don't always make a ton of sense (which I know drives a lot of people crazy, but I generally think the vagary adds to his series' uncanny vibe). All writers have their quirky habits, especially ones who are as prolific as Inoue is, but I truly believe that most people who dunk on Inoue don't really have much of an understanding or appreciation for what he does so well, nor do they have much of an understanding of the complexities of real human relationships (sorry, not sorry).

You have a lot of truly, truly excellent storytelling ahead of you as all of the plot threads come to a head. I'm a little jealous I can't relive Jetman for the first time like you are now.

I legitimately don't understand the hate that Kiva gets. It wasn't perfect, but the action was fun, the story hooked me in, I cared about the characters, and I thought it made sense that he mostly used Emperor form. Why would you use a weaker version of your weapon when you have a stronger version with no drawbacks?

Anyways, I watched Gekiranger episode 7 last night. So far, this Five Venoms arc is playing out how I feared it would - I think they should have had a few more "generic" enemies before bringing out the elites. So I enjoyed how they struggled this episode. Long-term, I'm hoping that there's a reason for it - maybe bringing out these elites early means that the stakes will be even higher afterwards? I wouldn't mind it playing out that way.

Also, I'm very pleased that the annoying fly commentator seems to have less and less presence every episode. The first few fights felt like I was reading what was happening in the subtitles instead of watching on-screen. This episode, however, he made a few comments about the fight instead of giving a play-by-play. Hopefully this downward trend continues, or at least stays how it was this episode.

Kyo (Episode 24)
To Qu (Episode 19)
Nin (Episode 25)

I'm at the mid point on Nin. This series could have worked for Ninja Steel had they gone with the Last Ninja plot. However I like this series so far. It'll be interesting with the Galactic Ninjas in this one where I may be at now.

I think I'm one of the few that actually enjoyed Ninninger. Yeah, it didn't have much of an overarching plot, but I tought they handled the MOTW format super well, which kept me interested.

The reasons why people hate Kiva are completely baffling to me. Like, how can you overlook how elegantly they weave the two timelines within each episode and dwell on shit like, "they never explained where the castle dragon came from, so this show sucks." Like -- what!? Why are you complaining about Emperor form when we just witnessed some devastating emotional and thematic parallel artfully drawn between Wataru and Otoya from decades apart?? Are you literally 12 years old???

Is is a perfect show? No. The ending is a little anticlimactic and the treatment of the women characters can be iffy at times (though its treatment is a damn sight better than the majority of other Kamen Rider series of that era). But those are not good enough reasons to completely discount a show that was very well done for like 90% of its run.

So much of my contempt for the larger toku fandom (not Tokunation, you guys are gems, even when I disagree) is crystalized in the nonsense disregard for Kiva.

I'm genuinely glad other people can enjoy stuff like Jetman and Kiva (my least favorite Sentai and Rider!), because I got nothing out of either of those shows besides a colossal headache. After all, imagine how depressing it would be if there was a show that genuinely nobody liked!

I think people's Inoue Tolerance? mostly comes down to a few main factors. How much they enjoy dramatic romantic subplots, how much his emphasis on theme over internal consistency bothers them, and how much his writing quirks like his sense of humor and uh... women problems annoy the viewer. Probably some other stuff too that I can't think of off the top of my head! I personally find his writing misses the mark a lot of the time for me. I'm not a big fan of romance in stories and I tend to find his characters start to fall apart a lot of the time when you look at them outside of that scope. Like in Jetman, I feel like the romance element gets laid on so thick the show just starts to forget having the characters do much else, which is fine if you enjoy that, but I didn't! His general writing style is hit or miss, I find his treatment of women in his shows significantly worse than the majority of other toku writers and his attempts at drama sometimes fall so flat for me they wrap back around into unintentional comedy. That being said, I do like Faiz a lot, the only Inoue show I like as a matter of fact. Seems to me that everyone likes at least one Inoue show, when the elements are mixed just right.

Disagreements with the bulk of your assessments aside (obviously, art is subjective, and I just don't think our brains work the same way, no judgements from me at all), I have a genuine question that I cannot for the life of me understand.

Why are you not a fan of romance in stories?

I hear this said a lot, and it completely baffles me. Romance, or romantic tension of some sort, occurs in many (if not most) situations where groups of people are forced to live and/or work under intense conditions for extended periods of time, so excluding these fundamental relationships from fiction makes stories without them feel a tad hollow and unrealistic (to me). I don't mind when a story doesn't involve romance (even though I feel like it's usually a missed opportunity), but it seems like a deal breaker for a lot of people that dislike seeing romance depicted.

Over the years, I've gone down many rabbit holes trying to understand this preference, but I've never found the answers or perspectives I was looking for. I'm truly, genuinely curious about this because it feels like a completely alien mindset to me; however, it's so common in "genre" circles that I feel compelled to at least understand where it originates.

EDIT: REVISED FOR CLARITY

Kyo - Lu Pat and Kira are in order on a rotation. Zen will soon follow. Kyo and To Qu will drop off after their finales. Also Nin.

I remember all the debat around Tokyuger when it started, how childish it looked, etc, and you know what? By the end of the show, I was in love. Godspeed, you rainbow train kids. Godspeed.

So I can answer this one!
Romance is a tricky topic, and there are a lot of pitfalls in it. Sometimes it feels like it's only included because, well, there has to be a romance, otherwise people won't like it. This can include characters falling for each other for little reason, or in too fast a time, or just because execs believe 'Well, the man and woman have to end up together' - and I'm using that phrasing purely because Queer stories are often written more with the romance in mind, and thus it makes more sense for those to be romance heavy. From another angle, though, look at fanfiction, which has garnered a reputation (lessened in recent years, mind) of just being gay shipping and nothing else, even for characters who don't have that dynamic on screen/page/film. Add to that a common plot in any long-running thing of a "Will they or won't they" romance, which can often progress and regress at the whims of scheduling and renewal, and not for emotional reasons, and people can be burnt out on badly written romances.

But that's just bad romances, right? Well, sometimes it can feel like that's the only choice of relationship on offer. Friendships exist, yes, but they're subservient to the romance. And it erases a large chunk of the prospective relationships available in a person's life in favour of one that's raised above all others in media. Romance is an important factor in people's lives, true, but media often presents it as the only thing that matters. You can save the world, sure, but did you get the girl? Kamen Rider isn't immune to this - think about the Build V-Cins, where suddenly all the main cast outside of Sento are teased with potential women partners. None of this is to say romance is inherently bad, but it often comes across as incredibly prominent in everything, to the point where a series about romance, one with debatable realness (I've not seen beyond the first 10 eps of Kiva, I have no personal stake) can be offputting.

And, just as one final comment, not everyone does feel romance. People are chronically single, unlucky in love, going through a tough time, or just don't feel that kind of attraction. That's up to them personally as to why they might not like the more romantic side of things.

EDIT - I see you've mentioned genre fiction in yours, so that means I can express a thought I wasn't sure about! Genre fiction can come as an escape from many of the trappings of what I wrote above - "Will they or won't they" is a very soap opera genre, and there's a lot more emphasis in some genre stories on the world around the characters rather than the characters themselves. Thus, some people don't like romance stories in those genres because they see 'romance' as a genre in and of itself, like a romcom, and thus it makes the genre fic less unique for being there. I don't entirely agree with that, exploring romance in fantasy and sci-fi settings obviously has its place, but some people would rather avoid the cliches of "fighting for love" entirely and watch for the more fantastical elements.

AkibaSilver already made some good points about it, but I'll add my own thoughts here:

I can't speak for everyone that feels this way obviously, but for me it comes down to a few things. I should probably just get this out of the way first, on a personal level I have no interest in romance and am probably the least thirsty person you'll ever see. So, I suppose due to my lack of personal connection and interest, sticking characters in a romantic subplot is just about the least interesting thing imaginable to me. On a personal experince level, I also haven't encountered co-workers falling for each other very often, so it isn't something that feels realistic either. I like human drama a lot in tokusatsu, you know, characters having a good old existential crisis, fighting, becoming friends or enemies, family drama, etc. Love that stuff, so if a romance is used in a way that complements the rest of the drama and narrative I can like it. I watched Timeranger recently, and actually really enjoyed the romance in that show and how it tied into the overarching theme of living in the present even if things cannot last forever, perhaps enhanced further by the bittersweet nature of it. On a note that AkibaSilver brought up, I also just get *real* tired of seeing romance in almost every piece of media. I think because romance is so widespread, tokusatsu tends to attract people who don't like it, since it is generally light on it compared to other genres, so that might account for the disproportionate amount of people who don't like it you encounter in the community. I hope this makes sense, it is a little hard to put into words.

Anyways, TLDR romance is really prolific and not for everyone, especially when it feels like it comes at the expense of other character relationships and plot beats. Also, guess who JUST realized the reason she doesn't like V-Cinemas is the frequent use of romance plots? I'm sure you'll never guess. :lol

Thanks for being so candid, y'all. This gives me a lot of context that I didn't quite have. It's especially interesting to realize that many of the romance-averse maybe don't feel romantic inclinations at all and find these types of stories boring and unrelatable. And honestly, as a gay dude, I can relate to a lot of the reasons why you wouldn't be thrilled to see yet another (in my case, heteronormative) romance dominate the plot of something you're watching.

On top of that, I also feel annoyed when I'm subjected to bad romantic plots that lack intent and are just there by executive mandate or out of creative laziness -- though, I credit that to bad writing/producing/directing more than I do to the inherent badness of romance as a plot device, and I'd feel the same way about a badly done friendship or a toothless villain or a disappointing climax or badly done anything.

You two definitely don't fall into this category, but the group of anti-romance people that really tick me off are the ones (usually dudes) who balk at any hint of romance due to their indoctrination into a toxically masculine culture that forces them to shut off any vulnerability and automatically associate romance with "vile" femininity. I have lumped people unfairly into this category in the past, so it's nice to know that there are people with more nuanced and humane reasons for their aversion to romance.

Circling back to Jetman, I think the reason that romance plot works for me is that it is specifically not a healthy one, and I think that's by design. The love triangle in Jetman exposes as many (if not more) negative traits in the characters as it does heroic and redemptive ones. Love is responsible for characters doing as many reprehensible things as noble things. It drives people to the brink of madness more often than it leads them to happiness. Seen through that perspective, I find Jetman's emphasis on toxic romance endlessly fascinating... in particular, because all of them resolve in the least stable and healthy ways imaginable. And for this to be the first major romantic arc in Sentai -- one so clearly destructive for all parties involved -- is ballsy as fuck, and I have no idea how Inoue got away with it on a show for eight-year-olds in 1991.

All Ranger shows are unable to be viewed on Toei Toku World Channel due to licence between Hasbro and Shout Factory.

Old news or no this bites.

No problem, I'm glad people on Tokunation are able to talk about their opinions like civilized human beings. Very refreshing compared to many other parts of the internet!

On that note, this was quite a revelation for me, because this is basically exactly how I feel about Faiz, just replace self-destructive romance with self-destructive lack of communication. Faiz fascinated me with how things spiraled out of control and felt like it had something to say about humans and how they struggle to convey their thoughts to others. I had a hard time reading Jetman as satirical on the other hand, too much of it came across as genuinely earnest, which definitely impacted my enjoyment a lot. I can't really blame anyone for being unsure whether to take a given aspect of an Inoue show at face value or not, he often walks a thin line between the two and it's hard to say what his actual intentions are 90% of the time.

Anyways, I'll stop rambling, glad people are having fun. Hopefully no one else watching the show ends up like me and laughs their butt off when Gai dies on a park bench. Absolutely hilarious, no one can convince me this wasn't a stroke of dark comedic genius.

Jetman 33-35:

I hate to be hard on a Kenichi Araki episode at this point, but 33 didn't do a whole lot for me, taken as a whole. The starring monster is still amazing, mind you. Adhesive Cockroach is a delight to watch confound the heroes. There's a whole bit in there where Maria encourages him to enact revenge on humanity on behalf of all the countless cockroaches that have been needlessly slaughtered at the cruel, uncaring hands of our foolish species, and like, right away, I'm way into that. I also love watching this guy in action, with his movements sped up through camera trickery to (very successfully!) convey the creepy feeling of an insect scurrying about the place. And then the most genius part of all of this is how he keeps surviving finishing moves, living up to the stubborn reputation of his motif. This serves a practical purpose in that it justifies the team needing yet another new toy to take him down, but where the episode starts to go wrong is in how that's just about the only thing tying the monster plot into the more personal story that's truly at the core of this one. Which is a bummer, because the way the monsters drive Araki's plots is usually a point of praise from me, but unless I'm maybe missing something thematic, I'm just not seeing that this time. This isn't necessarily a deal-breaker, as long as both sides of the episode are interesting in their own right, but unfortunately, the more human drama here never really clicked with me. It's a toku plot you see all over the place, especially in older shows: a child begrudges a parent for not being around, and eventually comes to understand they had Reasons, or whatever. Okay, that's maybe a little too dismissive, but while this particular instance doesn't fall *completely* into the trap of basically telling the kids at home they just need to suck it up, it still lacks enough nuance to rise above the somewhat trite subject matter in my eyes.

34 though, that one was my jam! Arakawa is back, and as crazy as ever, writing a story that opens with Ryuu betraying his entire team to cut a deal with the Vyram. And yeah, I know there's no way, and you probably know there's no way, but what I think makes this one so great is that, from the perspective of like a seven year old kid without extensive experience with how fiction works, this would be pretty much the single most mind-blowing episode of anything ever. It's just a totally full throttle action thriller right out of the gate, with Ryuu shaking off the rest of the team in an epic vehicle chase scene, and then showing up to negotiate with Grey while rocking a sick new bad boy outfit to complete his turn to the dark side. He's talking about forking over Tetra Boy in exchange for Rie, the team are listening in from the shadows, unable to believe this shocking turn of events, and when Ryuu finally makes the exchange, Grey double-crosses him on the spot and guns Ryuu down right then and there. I was totally floored by the raw intensity of all this, and it's only the first half of the episode. It doesn't even stop being crazy once you get to the back half where the pieces of this mystery start falling into place. The episode is also an excuse to showcase the twisted and surreal layout of the Vyram base by way of a heroic infiltration, and while it's hard to top where the episode started, it never really lets up on the tension to the very end. Even the sketchy explanation for what exactly was going on when Ryuu seemingly got shot to death fits the tone of the episode so well it's mostly just charming. This episode totally rules.

35 provides a swift redemption for Araki though, because I was also pretty into this one. It addresses my chief complaint about the last one by bridging the monster attacks and the human drama with something of a focus on nature. You've got a sickly girl in the hospital who's friends with a dove, and said dove is very upset about all the pollution going on, especially that caused by a certain Poison Gas Rat. So you've got the Vyram with their latest scheme to rub humanity's failings in our faces, making a monster out of illegally dumped toxic waste, and you've got a dove who became friends with someone who nursed him back to health after industrial smog and whatnot had him too sick to even fly. It's a clear through line for the story, and a lot of fun elements spring out of that pretty naturally. Poison Gas Rat himself looks like a D-list Ninja Turtles villain (this is a compliment), and it's easy to hate a bad guy that's going around gassing people. This is also an episode where Radiguet is defeated by a flock of birds, which probably sounds pathetic, but trust me, these are some tough birds. It's hard to not get excited when nature itself is rising up against the main villain. It's also a pretty nice episode for Ako, not because it expands on her character or anything, but simply in how she hangs out with the girl the whole time. The whole episode is a super uplifting narrative about a child finding the courage to stand up to her own problems through seeing the courage of others, and I think it capitalizes nicely on that very direct parallel between her and why the kids watching are probably attracted to superheroes to begin with. Ako is the young one who isn't constantly talking about oddly mature romantic dilemmas, so if you're a little kid, then, yeah absolutely, she's gonna be the one you'd wanna hang out with. She'll even let you shoot the lasers in the giant robot! There's a lot of genuine heart to this episode, and that makes it a very satisfying watch.

And I'm glad to be enjoying Jetman the way I am! There's absolutely a lot about the way Inoue is structuring these stories that I dig, for sure. I didn't really mention this specifically when I was talking about the episodes, but when I realized the plot with Rie was being moved forward because the plot with Kaori and Gai was moving in a direction that would leave Ryuu in need of a new source of drama, I was impressed how quickly Inoue solved that problem. As in, he did it before it had time to become a problem.

Also:

Thank you for saying that second part for me so I didn't have to. :p

Me, having been stalled out for weeks on Kiramager, watching Fish marathon Jetman in like 2 weeks

https://en.meming.world/images/en/6/...This_Power.jpg

Ah yes, episode 35, the one where, as one person put it “Radiguet lost to a f*cking bird”.

And no joke, I thought that episode 34 was an Inoue episode at first, because he employed the same kind of plot with Pink Turbo, FivePink and OhYellow. But then again, the fact it’s the boy doing the fake betrayal should’ve been the tip off.

Oh man, a lot of exciting Inoue and romance talk here. I definitely want to share my opinions on this!

Who among the remaining Five Venoms do you think has the coveted Madoku Ringi? I thought it was cool how they make it seem like one of them is about to use it, but then their Ringi turns out to be something else instead, making it a constant mystery to find out who actually has it. You're almost at the exciting climax for this arc so keep watching!

I feel like I used to be a little unfair to Kiva, even as someone who never actually disliked it. On a rewatch, I picked up on a lot of cool details that I missed before and the stuff I remember disliking wasn't even that bad. So now I think it's an awesome show! Maybe it's like that for other people as well. Maybe people just need to rewatch it to see if they still feel the same way.

True. Even if the most terrible show ever makes at least one person happy, its existence is completely justified!

I can respect that. I think Jetman is a great romance story, but if romance ain't your thing, then it makes sense that the show wouldn't appeal to you. You've totally spelled out what the deal with Inoue is and why fans are so divided about him. He's a man who cares about character interaction and the stories he writes are in service to that, instead of the other way around. He loves to write comedy, drama, romance and tragedy while the Tokusatsu genre is merely a cool backdrop for that. As a result, he usually writes a lot of stuff that people can deem controversial and yeah, I guess some people really do just want a more clear-cut conflict between good and evil, less interpersonal stuff. Morally complicated characters like Gai and Kusaka can be frustrating, but I have to praise Inoue for showing that people aren't always what they appear to be and that there's usually something deeper than that. Humans are great and all, but they're problematic and messed up in a lot of places and I think it's good to confront those problems and strive to become better.

Thanks for saying you enjoyed Faiz, BTW. We can agree on that!

Personally, I still hate ToQGer. Not for the aesthetics or even ToQ-Oh's erotic attack, but for how terrible the story and most of the characters are. It's the only Sentai I gave up on completely and never gave another chance.

But like GoldenXtreme said above, it's good that someone can enjoy it, even if I can't.

I think the abundance of slash fanfiction relative to hetero might be the result of stuff like your example with the Build V-Cinemas, where Ryuuga was forcefully written in to a relationship with Yui, who is almost universally hated by fans for how she comes out of nowhere and is overly rude. If the majority of ships in official media is hetero, I can see why most of the slash ships would be relegated to fanfiction. So probably if there was more of that in official media, then the demand for it in fanfiction would probably decrease. But hey, progress takes time and trying to force it would only slow it down. We just got to be patient.

Romance is definitely a tricky topic though and it has to be handled with care by someone who knows what they're doing. This is why I appreciate Inoue, cause he genuinely cares about the characters and wants to make their actions realistic. In his shows, the plot revolves around those characters, not the other way around. Everything usually happens pretty naturally. For how not to write romance, I refer everybody to the works of Sanjo Riku, who thinks romance can be set up in a single scene without any prior foreshadowing. I think he improved a little with Drive, but only a little.

Not sure if you've watched Ryusoulger, but there's this guy called Bamba, who has a really sensible approach to romance, where he's not averse to it, but he's also totally fine with being single until he meets a special someone. He's more chill about his relationship status and it's a healthier contrast to Canalo, who is always looking for the next rebound. I think that Bamba has the secret to a successful long-term relationship: Patience.

Wild how people can watch the exact same show and come away with completely different conclusions!

Yeah, I wasn't trying to invalidate anyone who writes slashfic as a way of expressing representation when, as you say, hetero stuff is way more common outside of that. I was more phrasing it like how that has come to be seen as representative of fanfic and fan-spaces as a whole, much like how the perception of anime for a while was "Oh so it's weird tentacle stuff and/or Pokemon" which meant anything that wasn't that was ignored. There's nothing wrong with slash fanfic, but sometimes it can feel like fandom is 90% ships, which again, comes back to sex and romance being everywhere.

After almost a whole year of putting it off, I’m finally back to re-watching Megaranger through my copy of the DVD set as released by Shout Factory that I bought myself along with Jetman from Amazon. Just started on the second disc.

Will eventually re-watch Carranger, GoGoFive, and Timeranger somewhere down the line due to being given two of the DVD sets for Christmas from my sister and brother-in-law and the other I bought with an Amazon gift card a friend of mine got for me during the same holiday. Looking forward to seeing them again.

Dang, so much discussion happened since yesterday.

On that note, I think my disdain for toku fans (and anime fans, while we're at it) comes from how so many people seem to judge shows based on things that don't actually matter. I've seen people write off anime because it doesn't have "sakuga" moments. For those who don't know, those are moments when the animation suddenly gets way more impressive. Sure, those are cool, but they're not essential to telling an engaging story. For a more toku-related example, the dragon thing is a perfect example. Or the lizard-motorcycle thing that only showed up for an episode or two. Were those handled perfectly? No. But in all honesty...how much does their mishandling really affect the series?

I'm not who you were asking, but I also don't care much for romance stories. I think the reason is because I hate how much emphasis society puts on relationships. I know so many people who base their entire self-worth on whether they're in a relationship or not, or think entering into a relationship will solve all of their problems. There's also a ton of people who pursue somebody simply because being around them leads to a serotonin release. But that shouldn't be what a relationship is built upon.

It's been a while since I watched it, so I don't remember it perfectly...but I found it hard to believe that their romantic interests in Jetman were based in anything other than lust and impulsive decision-making. Sure, it's realistic, and was well-written. But man, I find it so annoying. I wanted to slap Gai and tell him to stfu for most of it.

Despite that, it was still an enjoyable and engaging story.

Here's the other reason. Romance often feels forced into stories where it doesn't need to exist, simply because of what I said earlier - so many people are obsessed with romance culture.

Well, I'm glad we're on the same page about it being unhealthy behavior. I guess you make a good point - while I do find it annoying that the characters act like that, at the very least, they faced repercussions for their awful behavior. Normally, toxic romantic behavior seems to be applauded (or, at least, it did)

I'm so entirely afraid to watch Faiz because I think I'll be annoyed to no end :lol If one thing bothers me more than toxic relationship behavior, it's toxic lack of communication. I've worked in customer service, currently work in marketing, and all of the people I interact with on a daily basis are non-native English speakers. I have to be careful and clear with my choice of words, and even then, I sometimes falter. But at least I admit that. It's infuriating to me when people don't even try, yet they think they're completely in the right.

Don't feel bad, I started watching Kiramager when it first aired and am only like halfway through :lol

Honestly, I think it's probably not even one of them. The last of the Five Venoms will be defeated, and they won't have the ring. Leo and Mele are going to be like "wtf, I thought one of them had it. Where is it?" and keep searching. That's my prediction.

I'm glad you gave it another shot and found more to appreciate!


Whew. Okay, I'm done.

I haven't seen all of Faiz (just barely started, actually), so it's interesting to hear that people's main complaint with the show (lack of communication) is kinda the whole point of the show... which is something I've long suspected, given Inoue's other work, so I'm excited to see that play out as I continue Faiz.

I wouldn't say that Jetman is satirical, more that it's just pointing out that love is messy, it doesn't heal all wounds, life continues to be fucked up with or without love, and toxic relationships can sometimes be impossible to escape, short of death. Given that Jetman is Inoue's first show as head writer, it's not surprising to me that the point (or, at least, what I see as the point) isn't as clear as it could be. And hey, who knows, I could be bringing more complexity to the show than was intended... but I think I'm following the crumbs Inoue laid out.

A lot of television drama is centered around misunderstanding and miscommunication. But yeah Faiz is particularly heinous.

All this Sentai talk made me want to watch a new one, so I figured it would be fine to watch Gaoranger alongside Skyrider, since it gives me a nice break from the Showa-ness when it gets to be too much. I've always been interested in Gaoranger for some reason, I considered it strongly when picking my first Sentai to watch back in the day, but I wasn't actually sure what to expect. After watching the first 2 episodes I'm actually really struck by how much of a throwback the show feels like? The narration style, the way characters don't use names (I assume this will be a bit of a plot point, but still), the weirdly savage fights that strongly remind me of Amazon, the way the show just thows the main character into the plot with no explanations. It all feels very deliberately retro, so it might be less of a contrast to Skyrider than I initially expected. That said, I'm... intrigued? Like, the start is definitely a lot to take in, what with our animal-empath veterinarian protagonist (who, as far as I can tell, has no relatives and probably lived on the streets given how quickly and willingly he abandoned his old life) getting kidnapped to a floating turtle island so the sentai team can have a new member. It all feels very bizarre, but the show also has a very distinct style to it, and the second episode with Red trying to reason with the monsters was unusual. I'm hoping some of the more novel aspects of this show pay off nicely as it goes along!

Kiramager Episodes 21-22

The 'resolution' of the Mabusheena curse arc, in so much as I'm sure those two Gatherstones will show up later, and it's pretty good. Takamichi finally opening himself up to things other than 'saving Mabushena' has come at a good time, and while Part 1 feels a little half-hearted about being in the plot (it's also a Shiguru episode I'm not sure says much about him), I still enjoyed Fisherman Mask. Part 2 is very good, Jurru's fight with the witch looks sick, and the resolution at the end is great. Good 2-parter.

Jetman 36-37:

Inoue has the team in such an unexpectedly stable place by 36 that he decides to take them all on vacation. And they actually manage to mostly just have a good time! Nobody is throwing punches at each other or running off in emotional fits or anything. It's all really mundane antics, complete with a mandatory gag where role-model of role-models Gai tries to catch a glimpse of the women of the team while they're bathing. Remember kids, if Gai says something is a really good idea, nine times out of ten, it's a really bad idea! For as much as this episode emphasizes how the team is currently *drama*-free, at long last, scenes like that sure highlight how childish these characters can still be. They should maybe take a page from Tran, who... well, I mean, he thinks he's plenty mature, anyway. I don't think I've talked about Tran at all yet? He's just a little kid with a ridiculous techno-wizard looking costume, but like the other three Vyram generals, he's got a lot of presence, and is fun to watch in action. The issue with him is just that, compared to the other three, he tends not to be driving much action at all, and that comes to a head here, with Radiguet, Maria, and Grey all deciding it's the perfect day to make fun of Tran for being a dumb ineffectual kid. I mean, he's not even important to the plot, right? Like any prideful Sentai boss character, he doesn't take insults well, and sets off to ruin the team's vacation with a somewhat gruesome plan involving mind-controlling ants, and lots of things people aren't supposed to be eating whole getting eaten whole. The episode is essentially one last big hurrah for Tran's actor, because when his plan inevitably fails like always, and the other villains ridicule him some more, Tran runs off to sulk in a cave, and gets so angry, he turns into an adult. Which is a completely logical turn of events. I mean, I'm sure that exact situation has happened to all of us.

So yeah, the premise for 37 should be pretty obvious. I think the really amusing thing about the newly matured Tranza is that his game plan for proving how much better he is now still reeks of a child's line of thinking? I'm not sure how deliberate that is, but like, the early stretch of the episode is literally him going up to the men of the Jetmen one by one to show them up at their own games. He's WAY better at fighting than Ryuu! He gets WAY more chicks than Gai! And he can even eat WAY more food than Raita! See how COOL he is now? (He presumably doesn't bother proving his superiority to Ako and Kaori because girls are icky and have cooties.) Honestly, I think the new actor's more subdued performance, at least so far, is a lot less compelling than he used to be, but everything about the way Tranza is written, I thought was great. He's absurdly cocky, physically strong enough to boss everybody around without feeling like he's actually matured enough mentally to have earned that in any way. Despite the setup of him being treated at the runt of the litter prior to his transformation, Tranza doesn't inspire a lot of sympathy. He's just the newest jerk in line acting out, and him arrogantly declaring himself the leader of the Vyram flips the script right back around to make the other three feel like the ones more worth rooting for. After all, Radiguet's the real underdog here. People keep trying to undermine him, and he always winds up back on top through his own hard work, rather than miracle cave transformations, or whatever nonsense got Tranza where he is now.

Real fun set of episodes, all around. There are a lot of nice little moments throughout Inoue uses to keep the momentum going that are hard to touch on in a broad summary, as well. You get a great feel for where the overall story is at right now, and also several small hints of where it's going, like the first clear signs of how much trouble Gai and Kaori are going to have maintaining an actual romantic relationship beyond the initial impassioned declarations of love. Like I said, the team is *drama*-free, currently. But there's all sorts of drama just waiting over the horizon, and this two-parter makes for a smooth transition into a new chapter for the series.

Well, I suppose you could say an obsessive love of tokusatsu is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. :p

(Before you give me too much credit here, I'll remind you of two things though. Jetman is from the era of Sentai where the episodes are 4 minutes shorter, which adds up quick, and while I may be alright at finishing shows, I can be awful about starting them. I've been meaning to watch more than one episode of Ultraman Tiga for like 9 whole years now, just as an example.)

I'm glad someone actually brought up this kind of thing on the internet. There's a time I possibly wouldn't have said this but there is a difference between tolerating nerds as in what you used to imagine which would be a bit like people from an 80s/90s Hollywood family film that would still be at least somewhat pleasant and having too much tolerance for the more common type of nerd these days which, sorry to bring up political discussion but, seem to me to be more right-leaning and not such nice people in my view!

More Fun Fact: Tranza isn't Hirose Yutaka's first time as a Sentai villain, nor his last. He was also Ley Wanda of Flashman and Doctor Kemp of Liveman and he later portrayed Ryo's rival Jin in an extra violent Inoue-written arc of Dairanger.

I've seen 6 episodes of Gaoranger now. I'm really not sure what to make of this show yet, but I thought I'd go over some of my thoughts. The show continues to feel very strange! I'm enjoying it, so many small aspects of it feel unusual, and I'm not sure if it is in a good way or not yet. The show seems fairly lighthearted, if I were to pick the Sentai I find it closest to, I'd say Zyuranger since both have a fairytale-like quality to their stories. I do think I maybe know a spoiler though, either that or I got really mislead somewhere. I think GaoBlue dies? So it might get more serious later on and advance a lot from the fairly basic drama it currently has. I am finding the cast pretty appealing so far, so that's a positive! Yellow in particular surprised me, since he is actually kind of an ass! He isn't a bad guy, but he certainly feels like an unusual kind of character for a Sentai. The dynamic between Blue and Black is cute and White seems intriguing. Red, meanwhile, is the weak link, very much a generic fiery leader type without too much going for him so far.


But yeah, this is a hard one to get a grasp on. I might try and post here a little more often than normal so I can hash my feelings out better, as opposed to my normal modus operandi of only posting at the beginning and end of a show, plus any time something overwhelming good/bad happens. I dunno if I can be like Fish and write a small essay about every episode, but I want to at least write more!

Update

Kyu (Episode 14)

Purple and Orange Ranger are hunting Orange Ranger's brother.

Lu Pat (Episode 10)

Episode 09

The Pats accidentally destroyed a Lupin Collection item due to Red Ranger.

Kira (Episode 10)

Episode 09 -

Sena played a card game with a rival of hers from her younger days and used this in the Rangers' next fight. Also having used quick reflexes to beat their opponent at said game. Then like Red Ranger used the enemy's zord to combine a mega zord.

Jetman 38-39:

Takahiko Masuda adds one last new writer to the show, providing the script for 38, and absolutely nothing else for Super Sentai at all from what I can tell. (Plenty of other toku credits on stuff like Ultraman and Metal Heroes though.) I don't know if it's a masterpiece of Sentai storytelling so good there was no point trying to top it, but it's certainly not so bad you'd never want the guy back at all, either. It's maybe a bit of a basic story, if I wanted to put it critically. Just something that's hitting the important notes without too much flair, but you know, it's hitting them well. You've got a central guest character in the form of a scientist who's an old friend of Ryuu's, envious of how much cooler a life his buddy leads than his boring research job, and he grapples with selfish temptation before ultimately realizing his own value and growing as a person and all that. So there's a clear arc to the plot, and clearly defined stakes with the heroes attempting to analyze a piece of Vyram technology to reveal some kind of weakness, and the Vyram themselves attempting to put the brakes on that plan before their secrets can be exposed. You know what everyone in this narrative wants, and that's a point of praise for it, but it just lacks a little *something*, I guess. Even an invisible chameleon monster whacking people with a big hammer doesn't quite elevate it enough, awesome as that monster is. This is a very serviceable episode that I can't help but feel isn't quite as lively as I'd like.

39 is an extremely lively episode, and Naruhisa Arakawa's very last go at writing Jetman. He went out with a bang, as far as I'm concerned. Gai and Grey head to the casino to face off in a game of chance, with the lives of the other Jetmen as the prize. There. All it takes is one sentence plainly describing the broad premise, and you can probably already tell how awesome this one is. So right from the very concept, it's already a winner of an episode, and the execution does its best to live up to that. Which isn't hard, because just like Grey revealing his two-headed coin at the start, it quickly becomes apparent how much Arakawa has set things up so he can't possibly lose. That fundamental clash of personalities at the center here is already inspired, for one thing. Grey's most interesting gimmick is that, despite being a robot, he's always been the most humanized of the Vyram generals in a way, being shown throughout the series to enjoy the finer things in life, and that makes a gambling showdown with Gai a natural fit for both characters. It's awesome watching them both in action, each trying to bust out their own unique tricks to gain the upper hand. (I adored Grey mathematically calculating the outcome of a roulette spin using his supercomputer of a robot brain, for an easy example.) I guess there's not much more I even need to say that I haven't already. This one is just great. Arakawa came up with a stellar concept, wrote a script that was filled with fun and interesting plot beats (Tetra Boy plays an amazing role here), and the results speak for themselves. Again, I think even back this early in his career, you can tell Arakawa has a serious talent for writing Super Sentai. His handful of episodes for Jetman were consistently some of the most vibrant and fun of the entire series.

More neat!

Watched 2 more episodes of Gaoranger today!


EP 7: This episode really solidified for me that the big appeal of the show so far is the cast. From the amusing little scene at the beginning of everyone hanging out as the base (loved Yellow and his ukulele especially!) to Blue's incredible charm and nice interactions with the kid of the week. They're all just very charismatic! The plot was kind of baffling, as is proving to be par for the course in this show. Still trying to wrap my head around the logistics of how a super-powered ancient divine animal ended up trapped in the form of a random construction crane!


EP 8: This episode, the show tries to convince me that Red is a real, actual veterinarian and not just some strange guy the Gaorangers kidnapped off the streets. It was nice to get a little more background on him, and I was just waiting for the twist that the real reason he kept that photo in his wallet was the dog from the beginning. I think White was the real highlight of this one though, I liked her concern over potentially keeping Red away from his girlfriend and a community that needs him. She comes across as a really gentle and kindly person, but she also has the drive to back it up. I rather like her so far!


So, uh, yeah! This show really feels like some sort of spiritual successor to Zyuranger to me, which isn't a bad thing! Maybe not the most *exciting* thing either, but hey, as long as get some enjoyment out of it I won't mind too much.

Mid point on Kyo.

Now I start next what would be US year 2. (Nick split)

Kyu is getting interesting. Also Lu Pat which I like.

It would be cool if Hasbro adapts Kira. It has way too much potential as a Power Rangers series.

However one rumor said they may make their own from the ground up next year with no adaption or footage.

So we'll see next spring. All I got was live action series.

Not sure what that means. If that does happen I will be totally Toei. Depends on next year.

Kiramager Episode 25

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...744&height=418

Boy, what a perfectly nice guest character! No way they could unleash Sakamoto-levels of horny upon us.

I'm working my way through Saban Era I yet.

Time Ranger is the last series from this group.

The next 2 are Jetix / Disney.

Jetman 40-41:

Kenichi Araki comes up with just about the simplest possible concept for a monster so cool, it can drive an entire two-parter. How can you can go wrong with a space monster that directly neutralizes the Birdonic Waves which power the team? That's what Radiguet is thinking as 40 starts, and right away, this plot is my jam because of that. This is a fantastic episode for the guy, because it so thoroughly demonstrates how much you can't ever count him out. He goes to launch this big plan to show Tranza how it's done, and it's shocking how well it goes over out of the gate. He easily convinces Grey and Maria to follow his leadership, and help drag a fancy rock down from space, and just like the that, the heroes would be toast, several times over even, if not for but a few unforeseen complications. And be fair to Radiguet; why would he ever suspect a team of Neo Jetmen to pop up with the inconvenient possible timing for his plan? Their immunity to the monster's powers throws a huge wrench in Radiguet's scheme... and everything else about them throws off the actual title characters of the show. By design, it's extremely hard to root for these random nobodies in their B movie sci-fi outfits, and even harder to see the side of their stern commander, who not only hates our heroes for being mere civilians, but cares about his own people so little that he'll remind them over the radio how expendable they are as a motivational tactic when they're about to get torn apart along with Jet Icarus. Gai naturally seems ready to give this guy a piece of his mind, but it's actually Ryuu who ends up punching the dude in the face by the end. The team defies orders to head out and rescue the newbies, but the monster's powers result in them losing their ability to transform entirely, ending things in a rather dramatic spot.

Radiguet probably would've won once and for all right then and there, but at the start of 41, Tranza steals the monster's core, leaving its body to be destroyed, all as part of his plan, which is to have the monster sneak aboard Jet Icarus and reconstitute itself inside the team's base and... just generally smash the place up, I guess? Really, it's less about the practicality and 100% about ego. Radiguet was about to prove how cool he is by defeating their greatest foes, so Tranza has to hijack that plan to do a different plan so he can both take credit for the victory while also mocking Radiguet for the failure that Tranza caused. And yeah, for all his confidence, just like Radiguet's frustrated observation at the end of the episode, it really is entirely down to that decision from Tranza that this scheme ends up having the time to fail. It seems promising at first, especially with new commander guy kicking out the powerless old team and clearly cracking under the pressure of the sudden home invasion, but when you make the mistake of giving the protagonists the chance to make a comeback, they're going to use it, you know? So naturally, the new Jetmen come to respect the heroism of the true Jetmen, giving up their own powers to put them back in the fight, resulting in them doing what they do best. The day ends up being saved, and the status quo is restored, with their arrogant new leader being removed from his position because of, you know, his everything. Unfortunately for Radiguet though, the status quo right now means the arrogant new leader of the Vyram is still right where he was at the start. I think I like Radiguet enough to call this a bittersweet ending?

Obviously it's at least a happy ending for the heroes, though. This two-parter was a great time. It's not telling a story with a ton of depth to it, of course. The Neo Jetmen are blank slates not even afforded the luxury of names, for example, but on the other hand, jerky commander guy is at least fleshed out enough to have it explicitly established that his primary motivation is petty jealousy. It's not a plot that desperately needs that sort of substance, though. Like most of Araki's work on this show, these episodes thrive on the sense of tension and excitement created by the villains, and it's easy to want to see the team pull through to beat this seemingly unbeatable monster and prove their worth to stubborn higher-ups and cocky replacements. (It's also easy to root for Radiguet, but again, he's not as lucky by the end.)

*Bonk*, go to Horny Yodenheim.

Anyway, Kiramager continues to be pretty good, going as far as excellent as we reach the mid 20's.

EP 23 - The Gang Entertain Mabusheen's Mum
Nice to see a healthy family relatonship for once in Sentai, and honestly nice to have 'a' family relationship visited at all. It would have been easy to keep her the typical dead idealised mum, but to center what seems like a comedy episode around her, only to end with her being there for her daughter after a song-and-dance number, surprisingly heartwarming. A good one!

EP 24 - The Gang Start a Band
I'm a sucker for stories about the power of music. How it brings us together, how we express ourselves with it, or in this case, how we can use it to get through a bad time. This one hits the mark perfectly for me. 10/10

Ep 25/26 - The Gang hit their mid-season power-up
What can I say about this one that others haven't said better? Obviously, the big Yodonna twist doesn't really work after she became the breakout star of the show, and when a suspicious alien shows up it's kinda obvious what's happening, but it's still good, even if I hope they build on Tametomo and her's bond that gets set here - it's an odd thing to picture her initial episode through to just drop. Episode 26, which basically looks at the perennial Sentai trope of 'Just break your limits! Go all out! Be stronger!" and decides that the message needs a little bit of nuance, is great. The stakes are high, the bow metaphor with King Josph DiamondStar is such an easy way to express the premise so a child can understand it, and the Go Kiramagers are a nice upgrade, always a fan of when it's a team power-up.

Ep 27 - The Gang star in a Gekiranger tribute
So I enjoyed this one. While putting a solid minute of Geki footage may have been on the nose, the plot about Yodonna wanting to test each of the Kiramagers to their limit works well, solid stuff about relying on friends, which is obviously paralleled by SCRTCH's support of the Gekis back in the day. Not having any of the main Gekis show up is a good choice, since otherwise they might easily overshadow the plot as written, and the focus here isn't on the legacy of the past or anything, it's about being able to push yourself because you'll always have your team to fall back on. I do have to ask - why Geki though? Is it the same writer? Same director? The actors were free and they thought 'why not'?

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...744&height=418

Ah yes, the one with the ass who exists purely to show that Radiguet’s “humans are horrible people who should all die” does have some ground. He’s showed up in a few fanfiction crossovers where Jetman is prominent, which probably says something about his appeal.

And just like the blue birdman named Dan reappeared in Zyuranger as the blue hero Dan, the leader of the Jetman team’s replacements later appeared in that show as Geki… the leader of the Jetman team’s replacements.