[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS THE MOVIE: PROTECT TOKYO ENETOWER!

I don?t really know what I was expecting for a Sentai movie.

Sure you do. You already watched Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Enetan?s a sharp-tongued Buddyroid, but she?s just here for a couple scenes. She?s not really a character, in terms of progressing the story?

A Buddyroid without a partner kind of goes against what Gobusters is about, but I guess I can appreciate how Enertan's un-buddy-like behavior is used as contrast to highlight the qualities of the main 4 and how their bond with their partners makes them stronger. She doesn't progress the story, but I think she does learn something about what it really means to be a Buddyroid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

IT?S TIME FOR Foam Buster!

A joke so good they had to do it twice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 24 - ?A TRES BIEN SUMMER FESTIVAL?

The main thing I liked about this episode is the reveal that the Hiromu we?ve been dealing with over the previous 23 episodes ? the tactless, boastful, occasionally thoughtless show-off ? is the improved version of Hiromu, after a kind middle schooler teacher helped an even-worse version of our favorite Red Buster learn? well, maybe not the value of teamwork and friendship yet, but definitely the concepts of teamwork and friendship. Yes, this is a story about Ryuji and Yoko learning that they could?ve had it so much worse with Hiromu, the end.

We all have some embarrassment about the way we behaved in school, right? It's easy for kids to think their way is the only way, until experience shows how they can develop in to more balanced adults. Even a serious guy like Hiromu had to have a new experience like that so he could truly understand the value of the world he was preparing to fight for. He needed something to get serious about, which means making new connections and fun memories with friends.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

If there?d been more of an age gap, or if the two actors came at it in less of a yearning way, I think I could get on this thing?s wavelength. As it is, I feel like there?re some boundaries being crossed somewhere, and it weirded me out some.

Yeah, I think the problem here is that Suzuki Katsuhiro looks a little too old to be a middle schooler, while the teacher doesn't look much older than him. This kind of thing seems to be a recurring problem for flashbacks, as Kurorin looks the same now as he did 13 years ago, but nobody brings that up like they did for Jin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

IT?S TIME FOR Boundaries!

Speaking of! I sort of can?t believe this story kicked off with Hiromu and Nick taking a day off, and then Ryuji and Yoko showing up to the summer festival unannounced and in uniform, just randomly intruding on whatever Hiromu happened to be doing. It?s completely rude to do all that, and it?s like it never occurred to either one of them. I mean, I know they have other clothes! They just wore them at the end of the movie! And, man, why in the world would they just crash Hiromu?s day off to begin with? That?s psychotic! Leave him alone! You?re both being very weird, right at the start of what would be a very weird episode!

How ironic that Hiromu gets to call out his friends for being insensitive. I guess he's right though, as it's good for personal space to have separate social circles for different settings so I'd also be annoyed if people started interfering in my hobbies that I don't want them involved in. Ryuji is too friendly to get that, but I'd at least expect Yoko to be more considerate of Hiromu's need for privacy.

[Sunred]

Fun fact about the summer movie.

Ene-tan the frog Buster Machine was voiced by Nozomi Tsuji, former member of Morning Musume, an all-female idop group that was huge from the late 90s to around the early 2000s until AKB48 was a thing. She went on to marry Taiyo Sugiura, who played Musashi Haruno/Ultraman Cosmos in the 2001 tokusatsu show Ultraman Cosmos and continues to be active on tv and does youtube stuff too these days.
Steamloid was voiced by Taiten Kusunoki who has voiced four versions of Optimus Prime in the Japanese dubs of RID 2001/Car Robot, Armada/Micron Legend, Cybertron/Galaxy Force, and RID 2015/Adventure. He was also Jazz in the first Michael Bay Transformers movie.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

How ironic that Hiromu gets to call out his friends for being insensitive. I guess he's right though, as it's good for personal space to have separate social circles for different settings so I'd also be annoyed if people started interfering in my hobbies that I don't want them involved in. Ryuji is too friendly to get that, but I'd at least expect Yoko to be more considerate of Hiromu's need for privacy.

It's just super weird that they find out that Hiromu took a rare day off, and their first thought is WE HAVE TO SHOW UP THERE UNANNOUNCED AND EMBARRASS HIM. It's... I can't believe the show didn't even try to contrive a Vagras attack at Hiromu's festival first, to create a reason for Yoko and Ryuji to show up. They're just crashing Hiromu's day off?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

Fun fact about the summer movie.

That was a fun fact, thank you!

[Androzani84]

No update today? Not complaining, just curious.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

No update today? Not complaining, just curious.

I did one Saturday at 2pm, and I'll probably be dropping one tonight very late. Still on schedule!

[Androzani84]

Just saw it. It got skipped over in the “most recent posts” thing due to everyone responding to the movie and or episode 24.

Kind of appropriate, since episode 25 is one I’ve forgotten completely. All I remember is the candelabra Metaloid, and that’s solely by process of elimination because he isn’t in any other episode.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

All I remember is the candelabra Metaloid, and that?s solely by process of elimination because he isn?t in any other episode.

He was a good one! I enjoyed all of his "light" puns!

[Kamen Rider Die]

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 26 - “TINY BUT DEADLY! THE COMMAND CENTER’S S.O.S.!”



Perfect episode!

This one’s a riot from start to finish, with a terrific focus on how Hiromu is an absolutely terrible coworker – maybe my favorite recurring Go-Busters subplot. (As seen in the exceptionally good Mission 7!) Getting to see the terminally-shy Nakamura have to assert herself in the workplace against the perpetually-testy Hiromu… that’s going to be a winner, just on a conceptual level.

The thing that makes this episode truly great, though, is that it never treats this conflict as more than just Workplace Hijinks. Hiromu doesn’t have a mid-battle pep talk where he apologizes for his actions, and Nakamura doesn’t have a crisis of confidence that causes her to let down the team; the story is just Sometimes You Need To Yell At Jerks, and that’s the scope of it. The whole thing gets to be fun, because it always understands how low the stakes really are.

I love it for that? I love that we get this sweet little story of Nakamura being intimated by Hiromu’s… by Hiromu, and then get to go on this little journey with her where she not only yells at him for being a jerk, but she’s the crucial component of the Go-Busters victory over the Vagras. Adorable, and completely minor.

Which is not to say this thing is a slouch in the superhero department, because it’s actually one of the best, most complex problems the Go-Busters have ever needed to solve. Understand that I generally merely tolerate the Buster Machine action on this show, and I thought that its Buster Machine-Scale Only fight scenes were some of the most tense and thrilling sequences to date. The inability to form Go-Buster Oh forces the team to strategize differently, leading to a more rousing Buster Machine sequence than we’ve had in a while. And a whole new configuration, too!

I really thought this one was a front-to-back winner. Every member of the support staff gets a little moment to shine – not just Nakamura, although she shines the brightest – and the Go-Busters have to work as a complete unit in order to overcome not just a cunning Metaroid and a colossal Megazord, but Hiromu’s abrasive personality and intimidating demeanor. Take a guess which of those was the hardest to defeat!



IT’S TIME FOR Eraseroid!

This little guy was, ironically, a big part of this episode’s success. I liked how his basic story paralleled Nakamura’s – a need for respect in the workplace – while also being completely unhinged and consistently hysterical. He just wants Enter to love him! And he defeats Commander and Morishita single-handedly! Terrific concept, perfectly executed.

[Androzani84]

This is probably my favourite from the first half of the series. Which shouldn’t be that big a surprise, it is a Shimoyama episode.

And continuing his theme for this series, the episode focuses on Nakamura, and it helped me remember her name. When you can do a mostly silly episode focused on the help (if it was completely silly, KeshigomeZord would've used his eraser to remove an Enertron tower from existence with a horde of Buglars holding buckets/bowls to scoop up the inside contents) that introduces what is ultimately a one-shot new combo manages to get me more invested than the plot of the show so far, you’ve done something right..

And I note that I’ve alluded to a big shakeup in the second half of the show, and the winds of change start to blow here with the narration for the next time trailer being provided by the Buddyroids arguing rather than the faux-English narrator. And that’s just a small change.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 25 - ?UNRAVEL THE AVATARS? SECRETS!?

Beyond that, I thought the action was strong (that Blue Buster/Escape fight!!!) and the little bits of spookiness were fine. I was probably never going to like an episode where Jin flippantly stonewalls the plot for Reasons, and I guess some solid superhero action couldn?t overcome that personal resistance. Sorry!

While Hiromu has his rivalry with Enter, now Ryuji has started his rivalry with Escape. I enjoyed how the scene used lighting and props in a confined area to sell the destructive power of Berserk Bluebuster and Escape. Even if I don't remember the exact details of how Ryuji's speech ties in to the plot, I'm pretty sure he sounded cool while saying it and I totally get why Escape finds him the most fun to fight after he showed the strength of his determination.

What about that giant chicken though!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 26 - ?TINY BUT DEADLY! THE COMMAND CENTER?S S.O.S.!?

I love it for that? I love that we get this sweet little story of Nakamura being intimated by Hiromu?s? by Hiromu, and then get to go on this little journey with her where she not only yells at him for being a jerk, but she?s the crucial component of the Go-Busters victory over the Vagras. Adorable, and completely minor.

A good reminder that even polite people can get ticked off, similar to Ryuji scolding Gorisaki. Every week, Nakamura does her best to track the Megazord signals and keep the team abreast of new information from the moment she receives it, since her first day on the job in the first episode. She totally deserves respect for that, especially when she manages to do it while also fighting off a Metaloid. MVP of the episode!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

This is probably my favourite from the first half of the series. Which shouldn?t be hat big a surprise, it is a Shimoyama episode.

It's a little surprising, after you previously compared Nakamura to a useless monk apprentice. Glad you enjoyed it though.