[GuardianAngel87]

Out of a weird sense of boredom, I started watching the live-action Toku series version of Sailor Moon for the first time.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuardianAngel87

Out of a weird sense of boredom, I started watching the live-action Toku series version of Sailor Moon for the first time.

This is a great thing if you can live with the low budget of the production.

[Mesnick]

Watched Kanpai Senshi After V. Well, the impressions are quite mixed. I'll try to sort them out point by point:
- The concept was stretched out into 12 almost twenty five-minute episodes, which is more suitable for a five-minute sketch.
- A complete lack of action, even the absurdly conventional one shown in the openingю
- The most basic elements of Super Sentai are parodied, which even those who don't know the term know. So that the experienced tokusatsu viewer will yawn and constantly catch himself thinking: "I've heard this before... a hundred times."
- The humor itself is specific and will not appeal to everyone. Perhaps, to make it funnier, you need to get drunk with the characters.
- And to top it off, the jokes are repeated over and over again. I know that's a trope, but it's clearly overused here.
+ The characters turned out to be quite bright and they even have development, both individual and team.
+ The music in the show is excellent and even the uninteresting visuals are worth it.
+ Compared to Akibarenger, Kanpai Senshi is much more suitable for tokusatsu newbies. As I wrote above, even those who have never watched Super Sentai will understand the meaning of this show.
+The plot, while horribly drawn out, was surprisingly engaging. The Ranger swap trope was played out beautifully.
+ And the relationship between the Commander and the Combatant is so good that it deserves a separate point. It is because of them that I do not regret watching this show. Honestly, I would be very happy to see something like this as a C-plot in a real Super Sentai.
To sum it up, as I said, my impressions are controversial. I won't recommend it, and I won't discourage you either. I'll just say that the three-episode rule doesn't work with this show, and the ending is touching in its own way.

[Talisman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuardianAngel87

Out of a weird sense of boredom, I started watching the live-action Toku series version of Sailor Moon for the first time.

It's better than the rough first impression would have you believe.

Takes some wild swerves from the usual story, though (in a good way).

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talisman

.Takes some wild swerves from the usual story, though (in a good way).

Dark Mercury is gorgeous!

[GuardianAngel87]

I am currently 14 episodes into Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and despite its obvious production limitations, I find the show to be pretty enjoyable so far especially in regards to its overall character drama.

[GoldenXtreme]

I finished up Janperson and, like... I think I'm a little obsessed? What the heck, I loved that a ton in spite of some shortcomings!

The show clearly didn't know what it wanted to do at the beginning to be blunt. Janperson is more of a plot device than a character and the small handful of recurring friendly humans get phased out quite quickly. I guess they really wanted to play up the mysterious hero angle, but it was a bit too detached. This isn't to say this part of the show is bad per se, the villains lay on the campy vibes particularly hard early on so I was able to enjoy in in a 70s tokusatsu way at least!

After a while though, the show starts to hone in on a more dramatic angle, with the show hitting its stride with the whole "Janperson has emotional trauma" arc, replacing the enigmatic hero angle with a much more emotional Janperson with a concrete backstory that haunts him, along with finally solidifying some recurring allies for him. It was around this point that I started to really appreciate the suit acting in this show. Having a hero who is always "in-suit" can be difficult, but the actor did a good job with both tender moments and sorrowful ones. The show loses a some of the campy appeal at this point, but more than make up for it with better episodes and characterization.

Then came to point where this show gave me brain worms, lol. Folks, I am 100% obsessed with Gun Gibson. His slow burn arc from anti-villain to anti-hero to just a flat out hero with a reckless streak was well paced and fascinating. He's also dripping with coolness. His relationship with Janperson also greatly enhances both of them, with Janperson getting to act as a mentor who gets Gun Gibson to mellow out and seek something beyond violence and revenge, while Gun Gibson serves to challenge Janperson's sense of justice at times and just proves to be a loyal friend to him. This is it everyone. HEATED DRAMA BETWEEN ROBOTS! The show in general just continued to become more dramatic from that point on, with some really quite daring episodes with interesting social commentary. I do think the actual climax of the show was a bit haphazard, but the final fight was undeniably cool and I couldn't help but smile at the ending.

I really had a blast with the show and it dethroned Winspector as my favorite Metal Hero show quite easily (even if Winspector has more spectacular effects and better pacing). The 90s really were a good era for tokusatsu, eh?

[GuardianAngel87]

^ Whoo-Hoo! We got another Janperson fan in our hands!

Just out of curiosity, what would you say are your favorite episodes of the series?

[GoldenXtreme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuardianAngel87

^ Whoo-Hoo! We got another Janperson fan in our hands!

Just out of curiosity, what would you say are your favorite episodes of the series?

Oooh, there were some really good ones! Some that jumped to mind:

• 42: The one where Janperson breaks Gun Gibson out of prison, choosing to go against the law when he knew it was wrong. Showed how much Janperson had grown and the ending bit with the girl giving Gun Gibson some flowers and him moving into the base with everyone was very sweet.
• 18: This was definitely the moment where I realized the show might have the sauce. Janperson's backstory where he went out of control due to rogue machine learning was genuinely quite horrifying. Kaoru's whole unusual mentality is also demonstrated concisely this episode, so she has a strong debut.
• 29-30: The story with the Jesus End (awesome name) device that will destroy all robots. It's a rather philosophical two parter that addresses the difficulty of humans and robots living together. Gun Gibson comes into a very organic conflict with Janperson here over the whole fact that, you know, he doesn't want to die. Janperson's unwavering faith in humanity is spectacular this episode, and is ultimately what saves him.
• 37: This is the one with the high spec underwater robot that goes on a grief stricken rampage against Janperson. Gun Gibson sees himself in this other robot, but ultimately has to strike him down after realizing his AI has driven too haywire to be saved anymore. Peak sad robot content.

I could go on and on. Tons of great episodes in this one!

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

I finished up Janperson and, like... I think I'm a little obsessed? What the heck, I loved that a ton in spite of some shortcomings!

It's a great show. The idea of ​​a robot hero without a human form is not new, since Janperson does not hide that he is inspired by Robot Detective, but the different time allows it to be revealed better. Plus, compared to Zero-One, which also explores the problems of interaction between people and machines, I like the greater variability of situations and solutions in Janperson.

Quote:

The 90s really were a good era for tokusatsu, eh?

It was definitely a time of diversity and interesting experiments. Perhaps the 70s were better, but for some viewers it was too retro.