I really liked the clearing of the base with which the show began and it?s a shame that similar tactics were not repeated in the future, replaced by more standard action for this franchise.

I watched Gridman the Hyper Agent, a show that handily surpasses its own shortcomings!

This isn't a show with a very high budget and the acting can be a bit awkward (and let's not even get started on the subtitle quality). In many ways it is a show that felt like Tsuburaya's attempt to get back on their feet pre-Tiga. It does a lot with a little however, and was generally a show I watched with a big smile on my face! The small amount of suits and sets are nonetheless used well. The cheesy acting quickly won me over with just how genuine it was. Not only that, but the general energy of the show was just addictive. The plots get more and more ridiculous as the show goes along, but it always maintains a serious passion about what it is doing, preventing it from feeling like some mean-spirited parody. Like yes, three episodes from the end Takeshi is caught peeing in public, which causes him to rewrite the Japanese constitution in retaliation, causing driving the speed limit to be a crime punishable by immediate execution via electric chair. But this is also a show that uses the same episode to explore Naoto's heroism even in the face of not getting credit. I've seen a lot of tokusatsu at this point, but Gridman was both unique and an excellent tribute to why we love tokusatsu heroes. B+, I was really pleased with it!

Milestone show for Tsuburaya at the time as it was created to commemorate the studio's 30th anniversary.

I’m really glad you really liked Gridman, GoldenXtreme. Gridman is honestly one of my personal favorite Toku Series of all time despite the unfortunate poor quality of its English subtitles. Just out of curiosity, what would you say are your favorite episode(s) of the series in your opinion?

In some ways that just adds extra charm for me. Like on one hand, it feels "retro", as in this was all they could muster back in the 90's, they only had Gary to translate who did it as a side-job and was just in it for the money.

Or I sometimes want to believe the characters are actually speaking like that and it's rather funny. Like the bad kid slowly starts to badmouth Khan by pronouncing his name wrong in multiple ways: "Yes, Lord Can Digifur!". Or some scenes are so silly that the actors are phoning it in and saying wrong stuff on purpose.

And at the end of the day, the brain adjusts and filters the trash into sentences I understand. It helps that Gridman is generally so much fun that I didn't mind the terrible subtitles much.

Well, I definitely liked that one episode I mentioned with the constitution getting rewritten. The episode with the hair dryer that turns you into a punk was great too. Then there was the episode where the villains hijacked the Greenwich Observatory to magically change all the clocks in the world. And the one with the smartpillows that get hijacked and trap everyone in a dream with evil clowns and Gridman getting crucified. The two parter where a factory gets hijacked and starts releasing extreme pollution (also a nice episode for Yuka and Naoto's relationship). Oh and the episode where dogs are exploding? And the episode with the fortune telling machine that makes everyone act however Kahn Digifer wants. AND THE EPISODE WITH THE VACUUM CLEANER THAT GOES ROGUE AND SUCKS UP PEOPLE! THE EPISODE WHERE JAPANESE HISTORICAL FIGURE BENKEI GETS SUMMONED TO THE PRESENT AND EATS AT MCDONALDS?!

Have I mentioned that I really enjoyed this show? :lol

This honestly kind of makes me want to watch Gridman again but that won't be for a very long while since I have many Toku series I wanted and/or needed to watch, or in some cases rewatch, as is.

Anyway, I now only have 16 episodes of Jiban left.

I am now down to the final four episodes of Jiban and I should be able to finish this series by the end of this week.

I watched Daigoro vs Goliath - a film dedicated to Tsuburaya's tenth anniversary. A funny comedy children's film about kaiju. The problem itself is quite interesting: what to do with a kind baby monster, which is becoming more and more expensive to feed every day, but it is played out in a comedic manner. However, this problem is considered partly more seriously in the North Korean Pulgasari. As for this film, it has everything you would expect from a Showa kaiju film in general and Tsuburaya in particular. Daigoro is also a good-looking guy, and the opponent with the piglet is also too cartoonish to frighten or anger.
https://tokuzl.net/wp-content/upload...goliath-01.jpg

What did you think of the Queen Cosmo plot twist?

I watched "The God Whale" from 1962. In principle, this is not a tokusatsu, but a jigaigeki about whalers. The whale itself is shown for at most 20 minutes of the film, and the rest of the time is devoted to drinking, fights, funerals, relationships between different characters and their obsession with this whale. The film is brutal, dirty, bloody and hopeless. As a result, everyone is unhappy, and the living are even more unhappy than the dead. However, I only feel sorry for the protagonist’s poor wife. The ending simultaneously refers to the concept of transmigration of souls and to the fairy tale: “By defeating the dragon, you yourself will become a dragon.” It also shows very well how obsession works. I know some will disagree with me, but a lone extremist is nothing more than a local idiot. Problems begin when the radical ideas he birthed capture the masses and even those who do not support them are forced to reckon with them. To sum it up, although this film is listed as Daei's first tokusatsu, fans of the old toku should skip it. But if you want to watch jidaigeki without katanas and samurai, and also see a short, but detailed and well-filmed whale hunt, this film is for you.
https://images.kinorium.com/movie/sh...pg?21464997096

The plot twist itself is fine, I guess, like with Queen Cosmo herself as the show's main villains. I just don't find her to be entirely necessary to the show's overall narrative. Also, I think Mad Garbo just might be my favorite villain for this show even though there are times it doesn't feel like she isn't utilized as much as she should outside of some select episodes.

I think her origin story is thematically appropriate to show the danger of humans abusing science and that Biolon aren't the only ones guilty of this. But yeah, I agree that Mad Garbo is the best villain in the show, as she has the strongest rivalry with Jiban and an honorable side while still being clearly evil. It's cool how there are many intimidating female villains in this show.

So, Spielvan Ep. 23 is more-or-less your standard Showa-Era plot line with a scientist father and one or two kids, but the standard dog aspect has an inclusion which makes wonder if mid-'80s Toei was technically guilty of animal cruelty!

At about 17:20 (give or take), the dog in the episode Tarou lunges forward to save the father and daughter from General Deathzero, but the way he soars through the air and the way he hits the General makes me wonder if a stagehand just grabbed the dog and hurled him forward.

I mean, did they seriously just toss the dog?

Honestly, given the tokusatsu editing, it's impossible to say for sure. That is, in principle, the dog could do everything himself, and the parts were simply cut out. On the other hand, simply tossing a dog is easier, faster and cheaper, because you don?t have to bother with training. By the way, you need to look at the credits. If a trainer is indicated, and even more than one, then most likely the dog did everything himself, and this is simply a fraud in the editing.
P.S. Although this still cannot be compared with killing horses for battle scenes. But Toei is guilty of animal cruelty anyway because of the goldfish killed in Obake Telemonja.
P.P.S. Also, in most of the scenes in old movies where the dog urinates, the dog's paw is actually lifted with a rope and water is sprayed on it.

As of yesterday, I have managed to finish Jiban and I also started on watching Janperson today.

Janperson. Fights. For justice.

My favorite part of Janperson is how the singer thoughtfully asks in the ending line, "Janperson or Janperson?". Putting the emphasis correctly is very important.

Congrats on your 900th post!

Tatewaki is like the Doctor G of Metal Hero with how much he emphasizes the name.

Speaking of Janperson, I am already a quarter through the series and, much to my surprise, I am really enjoying the show far more than I thought I would. I even watched its movie in between episodes.

Ah, Janperson. Episode 40 was the debut work of Yasuko Kobayashi.

I've been keeping up with Avalon, which is a new indie toku production by Sword and Shield Productions. Two episodes are out so far, and I've been enjoying it. I like the general aesthetic it has, and the stunts and comedic beats are surprisingly solid for an indie show. I recommend checking it out if you're into indie stuff.

Holy cow, this is peak! Thanks for the recc, mate.

I am now up to episode 21 of Janperson which is the episode where Gun Gibson makes his first official appearance into the series. I think Janperson might be on its way to becoming one of my favorites within the Metal Heroes franchise.

The robot prison arc is memorable for sure.

It sure is and Gun Gibson himself already showcased a very good first impression.

Not a tokusatsu, but I watched Garo: The Carved Seal of Flames.

Bad, very bad! This just adds more fuel to my semi-joking theory that Yasuko Kobayashi never recovered from the strain of writing Kamen Rider Ryuki! :lolol

I think some of the show's shortcomings are to be expected. The budget was obviously low and stylistically I didn't expect that an anime would be able to match the appeal of live-action wacky wire stunts. But... the show doesn't really redeem itself in any other way. I think I'd genuinely struggle to think of a show with more predictable plot beats than this one, the characters are flimsy, the writing is poor both episode by episode and from an overarching perspective, they barely put any effort into the fake medieval Spain setting. What a disaster! I don't have anything nice to say this time, sorry!

32 episodes into Janperson and this show just gets better and better to the point where it might displaced Spielban as my second favorite Metal Heroes series if this show keeps up this level of quality right up to the very end. Speaking of Metal Heroes, I also just started watching Juspion today and I already finished its first two episodes.

I have just finished watching that particular episode of Janperson. 40 episodes down, 10 to go.

I am now six episodes away from finishing up Janperson. I also watched a few more episodes of Juspion.

I finished with Cutie Honey The Live! I think I saw someone on this forum recently call this Inoue's masterpiece due to its balance of farce and drama. I don't know if I would go quite that far, but it is definitely a show that felt like some sort of trick shot by Inoue that combined all his techniques into one absurd package.

Where do I even start with this thing? It's like the staff combined The Three Stooges, softcore pornography, and Garo (a show it actually shares a lot of staff with). It does that classic Inoue thing where it flips between being completely ridiculous and super dark at the drop of a hat, and sometimes just does both at once for good measure. A bunch of uncomfortable fetish stuff involving high-schooler characters! Kohei Murakami has 4 split personalities and one of them is gay! A fishmonger lady who can shoot missiles out of her flab! Miscommunications! The action is stupidly good? Honestly, by the end of the show I couldn't help but be impressed by the fact Inoue was even more of a freak than I was giving him credit for. There are lots of sub-par elements with the story though, you get the impression 25 episodes wasn't enough to fully explore all their ideas. The plot tends to introduce important elements in a weird order just to sustain a sense of mystery and some characters just don't really make sense. Yuki in particular stood out to me. I think the idea with her is she was driven to extremes by her desire to survive, but the change is extremely abrupt and by the end she's ranting about wanting to rule the world for no reason. What an experience, absolutely unquantifiable.

I remember when this aired I was surprised to see a GARO alumni appear in a comedic role. I was later surprised once again when the same person went on to appear in the Kiva movie and then the show as a totally different character. TL: DR Shoma Yamamoto is awesome. :lolol
And I believe this was where Mikie Hara who played Honey and Ayame Misaki who played Miki made their major tokusatsu debut later going on to appear in Kamen Rider Fourze and Go-Busters respectively. I also remember Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi who played Tadogoro in Kamen Rider Kabuto and Hiroshi Yoshioka who played Gamu in Ultraman Gaia were guest stars in one episode.

Of course, who could forget Mark freakin Musashi in this, also a GARO alumni and suit actor of Nigo in the Kamen Rider: First and Next movies, playing a villain whose catchphrase was simply the expression, "Shit!". :lolol

Well, it should be noted here that the Cutie Honey franchise itself is very freaky, combining children's humor, light porn, outright violence and deep drama since its inception. After all, this is the creation of Go Nagai, the author of Devilman. And Inoue is simply the best person to bring it to the screen.

The first time that happened I laughed so uncontrollably hard. And also the second time, and the time after that, and so on...

Rightfully so. :lolol
I do wanna point out an error that I made, Mark Musashi did suit acting as a Shocker Rider and Tomohiko Akiyama took his place in Kamen Rider The NEXT. And seeing how both were released around the same time back in 2007, I can only assume Mark Musashi probably prioritized Cutie Honey over The NEXT based on what's been made public.

Then he comes back as the voice of mysterious space mercenary Brave Kyoryu Gold, making him one of the actors to portray both a Rider and Ranger. I should watch Cutie Honey The Live sometime.

Watched and finished another pair of episodes of Janperson and am currently trying to figure out which Metal Heroes series I should start on next once I am done with the series. I am considering either Blue SWAT or B-Fighter.

Mark Musashi really made it fun. :lolol

I have managed to finish Janperson today and I am very happy to say that this show is now officially my second favorite Metal Heroes series overall and it is also among my top favorite Toku series of all time list. Janperson just really hit all of the right notes for me and it is a Toku series, Metal Heroes or otherwise, everyone should check out at least once. Also, I decided to start on Blue SWAT as my next series to watch from that franchise.

This time I've finished... Message from Space: Galactic Wars.

I should probably lead with the fact that I'm not much of a Star Wars fan. It's *fine*, but it has never really excited me, even when I was a kid. But this blatant Star Wars rip-off? Loved it! I think a lot of factors contributed to my enjoyment. First of all, this is a true space opera TV show, Earth is only a background detail, with the story almost entirely focuses on a different solar system and it's struggles against the evil emperor who tries to conquer it. The budget seems quite high for a tokusatsu TV show from this time period too. Not only that, but the show is almost abnormally overarching and character driven for a tokusatsu show of the time period (while still having a nice dose of the amusing story jank that makes Showa tokusatsu so fun). Plot elements and recurring characters come up many times, while the main characters are consistently fun to follow. Hayato grows a lot as the show progresses, from a very inexperienced pilot and ninja to someone who is a truly reliable protagonist due to his mentoring from Ryu and numerous real battles that he experiences. Ryu himself is just a charming guy who acts as an interesting counterpoint to Hayato. Plus Ryu and Hayato's brotherly relationship is very nice. Balu and Tonto more act as side, comic-relief characters, but are both pretty fun. All in all, it was a really cool show that balanced silly 70s nonsense with legitimate drama and tragedy. Peak stuff, I feel like I've really been on a roll with the older tokusatsu I've been watching lately.