CN Tokusatsu: Xtreme Vanguard Bataar
 

A brand new Tokusatsu project from China, supposedly directed by Koichi Sakamoto:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO0gYCwkHsU

Under normal circumstances I'd be surprised he's on this and not the more established franchise Armor Hero. But apparently Hero Box, the main company holding the rights to Armor Hero, burned so many bridges during the production of Armor Hero Star Ray that I guess another company felt confident in throwing its hat in the ring.

Super cool trailer. Besides the obvious Armor Hero vibes, Fourze and Zero One also immediately come to mind. I'll be happy to watch it, although, considering that this is China, there might not be a fansub.

I hope this gets subbed.

Watched the first episode, pretty good! Only 12 minutes long, which means they had to keep it basic and just focus on debuting the hero, but I can see foreshadowing of a more complex story and what we do get now is at least cool. I especially like the footsoldiers with their striking white masks and being transformed civilians.

My only real complaints are with the visual design of Bataar himself, the overall aesthetic is nice, if a little bit generic, but I don't understand the mismatched red and blue patches, and combined with the complex shapes of the armor they make a cluttered effect that is hard to follow in motion. I do like that he has a subtle goat or ram theme, don't think we've seen that in a main hero before, but I wish it was more emphasized to make him stand out from other toku heroes.

Second episode, also quite good! Again, it keeps things straightforward while laying groundwork for future developments, a smart use of the short episodes that I hope will pay off big if the writers keep it up. The action has a different feel from Rider and Sentai that I can't quite put my finger on, but it's fun.

I'm especially liking how Sun Wan Ning (I had to look up his name, has it been mentioned onscreen even once?) is characterized through his work as a repairman, it makes his drive to help people feel a little more grounded. That plus his moments of cockiness keep him from feeling too bland, even though he is very much a typical toku hero.

Still not the biggest fan of the Bataar suit but it is growing on me, especially when I headcanon the mismatched colors as a sign of the post-apocalyptic future where it was built. When you're throwing together experimental tech while besieged by monsters, a unified color scheme isn't exactly top priority!

Do alert me the show is done airing so I can binge it all.

Something neat I learned: Bataar is a Mongolian word, it means roughly "warrior" or "brave person"

This is also the name of the Mongolian buffalo from the animated series "Kung Fu Panda".

Episode 3, and the secondary hero has arrived! ... well, not quite. He hasn't transformed yet, but he showed up in civilian form and shot the monster with his big high-tech gun, which was quite cool. It's always a treat to see toku heroes contribute to the fight even without their suits. I also liked how after the monster-of-the-week was defeated, Jiang Ling Chuan (thank you writers for saying their names onscreen this time) addressed the cause of the human host becoming so negative to keep it from happening again.

The main hero clashing against the secondary is a classic toku trope, so it is kind of predictable here. But at least they have enough reason to not get along, with Wan Ning being an amateur and Ling Chuan being overly critical that neither one looks like he's just being a jerk.

The suit continues to grow on me, and with the mention of other Divine/Phantom Cores I'm interested to see if they'll give Bataar whole new forms or just power-ups. But the first new Core comes from the as-yet-unnamed (but extremely hot) villain lady, and I'm sure her giving it to Ling Chuan will have zero bad consequences for anyone ever...

It looks good so far. .

Lol yeah she is kinda bad

Episode 4, this one's kind of unusual. Wan Ning continues to establish himself in my eyes as a refreshingly down-to-earth take on the typical toku protagonist, hitting classic story beats - in this case, worrying whether he's worthy to be a hero - but grounding them in things an ordinary person would have to deal with, like being tempted by money and daunted by responsibility. And it looks like his resolve to try his best anyway has caught the attention of another of those robot-spirit-things, so we should be seeing another Phantom Core debut soon!

Ling Chuan's side of the story interested me less, but it made a nice contrast with Wan Ning, showing a character who is aggressively working to make himself a hero. That's admirable, but I can't shake this ominous vibe I'm getting from him. I do like how the Mongolian etymology of his suit's name, Tamir meaning "strength," was directly brought up in-universe. I don't expect it to have much story significance, but I just find it really cool! Then again, I also thought his offer to buy the Phantom Connector last episode was just a one-off joke, and that ended up being important for Wan Ning's characterization in this one.

The fight scene was kind of nothing, which I feel like I should be disappointed by and I'm sure some people will be. But I actually really liked that? There was enough else happening in this episode that I'm glad they didn't try to cram in a big fight with the transformation and finisher and everything. I think that will help future battles feel more meaningful, like they're happening for a reason instead of just to check a box of one fight per episode.

Episode 5, and a new Phantom Core appears! Based on the glimpse of its robot we got last time, I figured it was probably the Boar, but nope, it's the Rat, and it... is... AWESOME! It love that it just adds gauntlets and a scarf onto the base suit, add-ons like that are one of my favorite ways of doing multiple forms in toku. And the shadowy flash-step power it gives Bataar makes for a very cool fight scene, more than making up for the downplayed one last episode.

Sun Wan Ning's repairman job continues to really endear him to me as a kindhearted yet down-to-earth protagonist, and it looks like it's setting up a future development too with that pig doll. Maybe the next core will be the Boar? Speaking of down-to-earth, so far I'm really liking how this show manages to touch on real social issues like workers being mistreated, financial stress and disposable consumer culture without getting overly preachy about them or having them predictably always be the source of the MOTW.

Oh, and Jiang Ling Chuan is there too, I guess... I'm glad they're not rushing his debut as Tamir and actually giving a sense of it taking time to make, but he really did nothing this episode. Well, maybe he'll recognize Hot Evil Lady as the one who gave him that core back in Ep.3 and not fall for whatever trap she has planned?

Episode 6, with not one but TWO new warriors! Ling Chuan makes his long-awaited debut as Tamir, and I really love how his transformation, suit, and fighting style all contrast with Wan Ning as Baatar, more armored and relying on weapons. There's notably no Phantom God involved, which is especially interesting after the beginning of this episode was all about explaining the Phantom Gods. I like it, it symbolizes how Ling Chuan made his power himself, showing his strength but also his flaws. If he's really the hero of humanity he claims to be, why wouldn't the Phantom Gods, who are formed from humanity's hopes, resonate with him? Maybe I'm reading too deep into it, but I'm interested to see where the story goes with this.

And the other new warrior is Hot Evil Lady herself (who I will continue to call that until she gets a proper name), revealing an extremely cool battle form. I think technically it counts as a monster rather than a true "dark" counterpart to Baatar and Tamir, since she only uses a Phantom Core without a belt? But she still gets a fancy transformation sequence, and her design does feel more similar to the heroes in an ominous way, especially the prominent horns and glowing visor on her helmet. The real danger though is how she's clearly a match for Tamir in power, even after getting shot and retreating she still doesn't seem beaten, so I expect she'll be a major threat to our heroes.* Honestly, maybe it's just because I'm a sucker for toku villainesses, but I really loved her fighting debut!

*(Unless this is leading up to her getting destroyed and a new villain stepping in to take her place, but that would be shockingly out-of-nowhere for a show that's had really tight foreshadowing so far.)